title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: In early April 2020 and again in June 2020, Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to oil production cuts. The price of oil became negative on 20 April. Oil production can be slowed, but not stopped completely, and even the lowest possible production level resulted in greater supply than demand; those holding oil futures became willing to pay to offload contracts for oil they expected to be unable to store.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: Beginning in 2014, U.S. shale oil production increased its market share; as other producers continued producing oil, prices crashed from above $114 per barrel in 2014 to about $27 in 2016. In September 2016, Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to cooperate in managing the price of oil, creating an informal alliance of OPEC and non-OPEC producers that was dubbed "OPEC+." By January 2020, OPEC+ had cut oil production by 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd), with Saudi Arabia making the largest reductions in production.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, factory output and transportation demand fell, bringing overall demand for oil down as well, and causing oil prices to fall. On 15 February 2020, the International Energy Agency forecasted that demand growth would fall to the lowest rate since 2011, with full-year growth falling by 325,000 barrels per day to 825,000 barrels per day, and a first quarter contraction in consumption by 435,000 barrels per day. Although demand for oil was falling globally, a drop in demand in China's markets, the largest since 2008, triggered an OPEC summit in Vienna on 5 March 2020. At the summit, OPEC agreed to cut oil production by an additional 1.5 million barrels per day through the second quarter of the year (a total production cut of 3.6 million bpd from the original 2016 agreement), with the group expected to review the policy on 9 June during their next meeting. OPEC called on Russia and other non-OPEC members of OPEC+ to abide by the OPEC decision. On 6 March 2020, Russia rejected the demand, marking the end of the unofficial partnership, with oil prices falling 10% after the announcement.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: Earlier in February 2020, the Trump administration had put sanctions on Russia's largest oil company Rosneft. Russia may have seen the oil war as a way to retaliate against U.S. sanctions, some media outlets claim.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: Russian and Saudi officials both deny the existence of a price war against each other or any other country. Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that new planned contracts can be implemented immediately if necessary. During the negotiations, Russian officials have argued that it was too early for cuts before understanding the full impact the virus outbreak has on oil prices, and that an existing shortfall of about one million barrels a day, caused by the political turmoil in Libya, was helping to offset a slump in demand at the time.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: Pavel Sorokin from the Russian Ministry of Energy doubted that the cuts would work with stating following quotes: "We cannot fight a falling demand situation when there is no clarity about where the bottom is." "It is very easy to get caught in a circle when, by cutting once, you get into an even... worse situation in say two weeks: oil prices would shortly bounce back before falling again as demand continued to fall." when asked in interviews. More reports confirm the Russian side made a proposal to extend the current OPEC+ combined cuts of 1.7 million barrels per day for at least 3 months, in order to assess the real impact the coronavirus crisis has on oil demand before more cuts, with OPEC refusing ultimately.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: On 8 March 2020, Saudi Arabia announced unexpected price discounts of $8 to $6 per barrel to customers in Europe, Asia, and the United States. The announcement triggered a free fall in oil prices and other consequences that day, with brent crude falling by 30%, the largest drop since the Gulf War. The West Texas Intermediate, a grade of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing fell 20%. On 9 March 2020, stock markets worldwide reported major losses thanks in part to a combination of price war and fears over the coronavirus pandemic. Effects were felt outside of oil prices and stock markets as well; following the announcement, the Russian ruble fell 7% to a 4-year low against the U.S. dollar. In the days after the announcement, oil prices and markets recovered somewhat, with oil prices increasing by 10%, and most stock markets recovering the day after Black Monday. On 10 March, Saudi Arabia announced that it would increase its production from 9.7 million barrels per day to 12.3 million, while Russia planned to increase oil production by 300,000 barrels per day. At the time, Aramco's short term oil production capacity was around 12 million bpd (sustained at 10.5 million bpd), and the firm has been instructed to expand this to 13 million.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: As demand continued to fall dramatically, oil prices went down further, reaching a 17-year low on 18 March where Brent was priced at $24.72 a barrel and WTI at $20.48 a barrel.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: Oil prices remained depressed for the rest of March. On 2 April, U.S. President Donald Trump, after significant internal pressure, called Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, threatening to withdraw U.S. military support if OPEC and its allies did not cut oil production. The following day, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered energy minister Alexander Novak to prepare an extraordinary OPEC meeting and stated that global production could be cut by 10 million barrels. In response to Putin's statement, oil prices jumped. Even with a 10 million bpd cut, the International Energy Agency estimated that global oil stockpiles would still increase by 15 million bpd. IEA's director, Fatih Birol, stated that 50 million jobs related to oil refining and retail was at risk globally. US oil prices increased by 25% on 2 April, the biggest one-day increase in history. Brent oil increased to $32 on 3 April.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: Later on 3 April, Saudi foreign and energy ministers released statements criticising Putin, blaming Russia for not taking part in the OPEC+ agreement.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: On 9 April, Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to oil production cuts. Reuters reported that "If Saudi Arabia failed to rein in output, US senators called on the White House to impose sanctions on Riyadh, pull out US troops from the kingdom and impose import tariffs on Saudi oil."


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: OPEC expected demand to fall by 6.8 million bpd, later to reduce by up to 35 million bpd. On 9 April, OPEC and Russia agreed to reduce by 10 million bpd. USA expected its production to fall by 2 million bpd at the end of the year. OPEC requested Mexico to cut by 400,000 bpd. Mexico proposed to cut its oil production by 100,000 bpd for two months, from 1.781 mbd to 1.681 mbd.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: The WTI delivery price difference between months resulted in unusually high contango; purchasing cheap physical oil to storage for later sale.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: On 20 April the price of WTI oil for May delivery (expiring on 21 April) fell into negative territory (-$37/bbl) for the first time in recorded history due to depressed demand and insufficient storage capacity, particularly at the WTI measuring location in Cushing, Oklahoma where pipelines meet and working capacity is around 76 million barrels (technical storage capacity is 92 million barrels). On 24 April, Cushing reached nearly 64 million barrels, or 81% of capacity. Gasoline prices also fell. 104 oil tankers came to U.S. shores to offload more oil.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: While WTI fell on 20 April, some Canadian oil fell to $0, shutting down some production, and Brent oil fell to $18/bbl.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: Oil revenue is a significant government income for several oil producing countries. Low oil price put pressure on state financials.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: Saudi Aramco announced a cut in capital expenditures from $35–40 billion planned to $25–30 billion. The government also increased its debt ceiling from 30 to 50 percent of GDP, due to both oil prices and the impact of the pandemic, and planned to cut its spending by 5 percent as its budget deficit was expected to increase from 6 to 9 percent.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: The Russian government had initially forecast that it would run a surplus of 930 billion roubles ($11.4 billion) in 2020, but following the outbreak of the price war stated that it expected to run at a deficit. The ruble has dropped, having fallen over 30 percent between the start of 2020 and 18 March.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: Prior to opening on 9 March 2020 (Monday), the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures market fell over 1,300 points and suspended trading as a result due to a combination of coronavirus concerns and the oil price war. On Monday, 9 March 2020, stock markets globally experienced major point drops due to a combination of panic over the COVID-19 pandemic and the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. The Dow Jones fell over 2,000 points, or 7.8%, exceeding the futures market prediction and becoming the largest point drop in its history. Other stock markets were similarly affected, with the S&P 500 contracting by 7.6% and the NASDAQ Composite contracting by 7.2%. Italy's FTSE MIB suffered the largest drop in percentage, with the index falling 11%. In the United States, the drops triggered circuit breakers designed to prevent stock market crashes, leading to 15-minute pauses in trading.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: In response to the drop in price, multiple oil producers in North America cut the drilling of new wells. Shale oil producers in North America generally require oil prices above $40 per barrel to sustain operations, and the cuts in new oilfields is expected to nullify the expected growth in US oil production. At $35 per barrel of crude oil, only 16 shale producers could operate new wells profitably, and most producers had expected a per barrel price of $55–65 in 2020. Consultancy Wood Mackenzie estimated that with Brent at $25/barrel, 10% of oil production globally would not be able to cover its base operating cost, particularly heavy crude oil producers such as Venezuela, Mexico and oil sands in Canada, where the price dipped below $5 per barrel. The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts show that U.S. crude oil production would fall from 13.2 million bpd in May 2020 to 12.8 million bpd in December 2020 due to the price war, and would then fall to 12.7 million bpd in 2021.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: In the US, Whiting Petroleum Corporation, which produced 120,000 barrels per day, was the first major producer to declare bankruptcy due to the oil price crash. Diamond Offshore Drilling, an offshore drilling contractor, also filed for bankruptcy, citing the price war and the drop in oil demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: Iraqi and Kuwaiti oil producers also announced price discounts to their buyers, though Iraq's discount was lower than that of Saudi Arabia's. The United Arab Emirates also announced an increase in production to 4 million barrels per day, higher than the country's estimated output capacity of 3.5 million bpd.


title: 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war

text: Norway, Europe's largest oil exporter, saw a drop in its currency to historic lows against the Euro, with the Norwegian Central Bank preparing a currency intervention for the first time in two decades. Nigeria's Central Bank also devalued its naira against the dollar, while the country's stock market and bond prices (alongside Angola's) fell.


title: Bill English

text: Sir Simon William English (born 30 December 1961) is a New Zealand former National Party politician who served as the 39th prime minister of New Zealand from 2016 to 2017 and as the 17th deputy prime minister of New Zealand and minister of finance from 2008 to 2016 under John Key and the Fifth National Government.


title: Bill English

text: A farmer and public servant before entering politics, English was elected to the New Zealand Parliament in as the National Party's candidate in the Wallace electorate. He was elevated to Cabinet in 1996 and in 1999 was made minister of finance, although he served for less than a year due to his party's loss at the 1999 general election. In October 2001, English replaced Jenny Shipley as the leader of the National Party (and consequently as Leader of the Opposition). He led the party to its worst defeat at the 2002 general election, and as a consequence, in October 2003 he was replaced as leader by Don Brash.


title: Bill English

text: In November 2006, after Brash's resignation, English became deputy leader under John Key. After National's victory at the 2008 general election, he became deputy prime minister and was also made minister of finance for the second time. Under English's direction New Zealand's economy maintained steady growth during National's three terms of government. He became a list-only MP after stepping down as an electorate MP at the 2014 general election.


title: Bill English

text: John Key resigned as leader of the National Party and prime minister in December 2016. English won the resulting leadership election unopposed and was sworn in as prime minister on 12 December 2016. His tenure was only ten months, and included a three-month election campaign. In the 2017 general election, National won the largest number of seats but fell short of a majority. The parties holding the balance of power declined to support the existing government, and English was subsequently replaced as prime minister by Jacinda Ardern, leader of the Labour Party. English initially continued on as Leader of the Opposition, but resigned as leader of the National Party on 27 February 2018 and left parliament two weeks later.


title: Bill English

text: English is the eleventh of twelve children of Mervyn English and Norah (née O'Brien) English. His parents purchased "Rosedale", a mixed sheep and cropping farm in Dipton, Southland from Mervyn's uncle, Vincent English, a bachelor, in 1944. English was born in the nearby town of Lumsden.


title: Bill English

text: English attended St Thomas's School in Winton, then boarded at St. Patrick's College in Upper Hutt, where he became head boy. He played in the first XV of the school's rugby team. English went on to study commerce at the University of Otago, where he was a resident at Selwyn College, and then completed an honours degree in English literature at Victoria University of Wellington.


title: Bill English

text: After finishing his studies, English returned to Dipton and farmed for a few years. From 1987 to 1989, he worked in Wellington as a policy analyst for the New Zealand Treasury, at a time when the free market policies favoured by Labour's finance minister Roger Douglas (known collectively as "Rogernomics") were being implemented.


title: Bill English

text: English joined the National Party in 1980, while at Victoria University. He served for a period as chairman of the Southland branch of the Young Nationals, and became a member of the Wallace electorate committee. After moving to Wellington, he served for periods on the Island Bay and Miramar electorate committees, respectively.


title: Bill English

text: At the 1990 general election, English stood as the National candidate in Wallace, replacing the retiring Derek Angus, and was elected with a large majority. He would hold this seat, renamed Clutha-Southland in 1996, until 2014. He and three other newly elected National MPs (Tony Ryall, Nick Smith, and Roger Sowry) were soon identified as rising stars in New Zealand politics, and at various points were dubbed the "brat pack", the "gang of four", and the "young Turks". In his first term in parliament, English chaired a select committee into social services. He was made a parliamentary under-secretary in 1993, serving under the Minister of Health.


title: Bill English

text: In early 1996, English was elevated to cabinet by Prime Minister Jim Bolger, becoming the Minister for Crown Health Enterprises and Associate Minister of Education (to Wyatt Creech). He was 34 at the time, becoming the cabinet's youngest member. After the 1996 general election, the National Party was forced into a coalition with New Zealand First to retain government. In the resulting cabinet reshuffle, English emerged as Minister of Health. However, as a condition of the coalition agreement, NZ First's Neil Kirton (a first-term MP) was made Associate Minister of Health, effectively becoming English's deputy. This arrangement was described in the press as a "shotgun marriage", and there were frequent differences of opinion between the two ministers. After their relationship became unworkable, Kirton was sacked from the role in August 1997, with the agreement of NZ First leader Winston Peters.


title: Bill English

text: As Minister of Health, English was responsible for continuing the reforms to the public health system that National had begun after the 1990 general election. The reforms were unpopular, and health was perceived as one of the government's weaknesses, with the health portfolio consequently being viewed as a challenge. English believed that the unpopularity of the reforms was in part due to a failure in messaging, and encouraged his National colleagues to avoid bureaucratic and money-focused language (such as references to "balance sheets" and "user charges") and instead talk about the improvements to services the government's reforms would bring. He also rejected the idea that public hospitals could be run as commercial enterprises, a view which some of his colleagues had previously promoted.


title: Bill English

text: By early 1997, as dissatisfaction with Bolger's leadership began to grow, English was being touted as a potential successor, along with Jenny Shipley and Doug Graham. His age (35) was viewed as the main impediment to a successful leadership run. National's leadership troubles were resolved in December 1997, when Bolger resigned and Shipley was elected to the leadership unopposed. English had been a supporter of Bolger as leader, but Shipley reappointed him Minister of Health in her new cabinet.


title: Bill English

text: English was promoted to Minister of Finance in a reshuffle in January 1999, a position which was at the time subordinate to the Treasurer, Bill Birch. After a few months, the pair switched positions as part of Birch's transition to retirement, with English assuming the senior portfolio. In early interviews, he emphasised his wish to be seen as a pragmatist rather than an ideologue, and said that the initiatives of some of his predecessors (Roger Douglas's "Rogernomics" and Ruth Richardson's "Ruthanasia") had focused on "fruitless, theoretical debates" when "people just want to see problems solved".


title: Bill English

text: After the National Party lost the 1999 election to Helen Clark's Labour Party, English continued on in the shadow cabinet as National's spokesperson for finance. He was elected deputy leader of the party in February 2001, following the resignation of Wyatt Creech, with Gerry Brownlee being his unsuccessful opponent.


title: Bill English

text: In October 2001, after months of speculation, Jenny Shipley resigned as leader of the National Party after being told she no longer had the support of the party caucus. English was elected as her replacement unopposed (with Roger Sowry as his deputy), and consequently became Leader of the Opposition. However, he did not openly organise against Shipley, and according to "The Southland Times" "there was almost an element of 'aw, shucks, I'll do it then' about Mr English's ascension".


title: Bill English

text: Aged 39 when he was elected, English became the second-youngest leader in the National Party's history, after Jim McLay (who was 38 when elected in 1984). He also became only the third Southlander to lead a major New Zealand political party, after Joseph Ward and Adam Hamilton. However, English failed to improve the party's performance. In the 2002 election, National suffered its worst electoral defeat ever, gaining barely more than twenty percent of the vote. English described it as "the worst day of my political life". Both party insiders and the general public were split as to how much to blame him for the loss, but most of the party believed that English would be able to rebuild National's support.


title: Bill English

text: By late 2003, however, National's performance in opinion polls remained poor. The party had briefly increased its popularity in the year following the election, but by October its support had fallen to levels only slightly better than what it achieved in the last ballot. English also appeared in a boxing match for a charity against entertainer Ted Clarke. This did not boost his polling or that of the National party either, with suggestions that it devalued his image as a serious politician. Don Brash, former governor of the Reserve Bank and a relative newcomer to politics, began to build up support to replace English. On 28 October, Brash gained sufficient backing in Caucus to defeat English in a leadership contest.


title: Bill English

text: On 2 November 2003, when Brash changed responsibilities for certain MPs, English became National's spokesman for education, ranked at fifth place in the party's parliamentary hierarchy. He remained in parliament after the 2005 election. In his new shadow education portfolio, English performed strongly, and remained a party favourite despite his election defeat as leader in 2002, eventually being returned to the finance portfolio in August 2004 as deputy spokesman (while still retaining responsibility for education).


title: Bill English

text: After the resignation of Don Brash, English aspired to replace Gerry Brownlee as deputy leader. In November 2006, Brownlee stepped aside and English also took over the deputy leadership and the finance portfolio.


title: Bill English

text: At the 2008 election, English was re-elected by his electorate, winning by a margin of about 15,500 votes. He became Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand and Minister of Finance in the fifth National Government, being sworn into office on 19 November 2008. He was also made Minister of Infrastructure, an entirely new position, although he held that title for only a single term of parliament.


title: Bill English

text: The pairing of John Key as leader of the National Party and English as his deputy has been compared to that of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating (in Australia) and Tony Blair and Gordon Brown (in the UK).


title: Bill English

text: English acceded to the role of Finance Minister in the continuing wake of the financial crisis. In response to New Zealand's rising debt, English made budget deficit-reduction his main priority. His first budget outlined three focuses in New Zealand's financial recovery: "improving the business environment and removing roadblocks to growth; investment in productive infrastructure; and improving the way government works". One of his first acts was creating the National Infrastructure Unit, charged with formulating a plan for infrastructure projects and investments. He commissioned a government-wide spending review, with an aim to reducing government expenditure—with the exceptions of a two-year stimulus package and long-term increases on infrastructure spending.


title: Bill English

text: In April 2011, the Opposition criticised English for suggesting that New Zealand businesses could use New Zealand's low wages to help it compete with Australia. The National Government campaigned for re-election in 2011 on its economic record. The Government boasted growth for five consecutive quarters up to mid-2010, totalling 1.6% of real GDP.


title: Bill English

text: At the 2014 general election, English retired as an electorate MP and contested the election as a party-list candidate only.


title: Bill English

text: Strong growth resulted in a surplus of $473 million for the 2015/16 financial year, projected to rise to $8.5 billion by 2020/21. In his 2016 Economic and Fiscal Update address, English stated that reducing debt and tackling the costs of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake were higher priorities than reducing rates of tax.


title: Bill English

text: In 2009, the media, including TVNZ and TV3 revealed that English was receiving about NZ$900 a week as part of a living allowance for ministers, to live in his own NZ$1.2 million Wellington home. At the time, English also received $276,200 in his annual salary as Deputy Prime Minister. It was also revealed other ministers with homes in the capital city were also claiming accommodation allowances. On 3 August 2009, Prime Minister John Key started a review of the housing allowances claimed by cabinet ministers. English subsequently paid back $12,000 and only claimed about $24,000 a year in living allowances. The Auditor-General's office said in September 2009 that they were making "preliminary enquiries" into parliamentary housing expenses in response to a letter of complaint from Progressive party leader Jim Anderton. Two days later English stated that he would no longer take up any housing allowance and had paid back all the allowance he had received since the November 2008 election.


title: Bill English

text: John Key resigned on 12 December, and endorsed English as his successor in the resulting leadership election. Following the drop-out of both Judith Collins and Jonathan Coleman from the leadership election, English was sworn in as the 39th Prime Minister of New Zealand on 12 December 2016.


title: Bill English

text: English appointed his first cabinet on 18 December. In a reshuffle, he appointed Steven Joyce to succeed him as Finance Minister, while most ministerial portfolios remained the same.


title: Bill English

text: In February 2017, English did not attend Waitangi Day commemorations at the historic treaty grounds, reportedly in response to the Ngāpuhi iwi's decision to stop the Prime Minister from speaking at the marae. Ngāpuhi have protested the Government's negotiation of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), which the iwi believe infringes upon Māori sovereignty, and thus does not adhere to the Treaty of Waitangi. English had been invited to attend in an official capacity; his non-attendance was criticised by a Ngāpuhi elder and Opposition leader Andrew Little.


title: Bill English

text: In his first overseas trip as Prime Minister, English travelled to Europe to discuss trade ties, including a prospective New Zealand–European Union free trade agreement. He first travelled to London on 13 January 2017 to meet British Prime Minister Theresa May. Discussing trade relations, English said the two nations were "natural partners" and would "continue to forge ties" after the UK's withdrawal from the EU. He also arranged to meet with London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In a meeting with Merkel, English received crucial backing from Germany for a trade deal with the EU. On 16 January, English stated that his government would continue to promote TPPA, despite the United States' decision to withdraw from the agreement. He explained that Southeast Asian countries would now be treated as a priority in negotiations—he also asserted that the United States was ceding influence to China by its rejection of the trade pact.


title: Bill English

text: At a press conference at the Beehive on 1 February 2017, English announced that the 2017 general election would be held on 23 September. The Prime Minister later confirmed that his party would approach ACT, United Future and the Māori Party if confidence and supply agreements were required to form a government following the election. In his second cabinet reshuffle on 24 April, English appointed Gerry Brownlee as his new Foreign Affairs Minister; he also promoted Nikki Kaye to the portfolio of Education Minister, and moved Mark Mitchell into the cabinet to become Defence Minister. The reshuffle was perceived as an election preparation.


title: Bill English

text: On 13 February 2017, English welcomed Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to Wellington. The two leaders reaffirmed their shared trade agenda, and discussed changes to the Australian citizenship pathway which will affect permanent residents originating from New Zealand.


title: Bill English

text: On 19 June, it was reported that Todd Barclay, who succeeded English as MP for Clutha-Southland, had clandestinely recorded one of his employee's conversations the previous year, and that John Key's leaders' budget was used to pay a confidential settlement after the employee resigned. English admitted that he had been aware of the illegal recording and the settlement, and thus implicated in the scandal.


title: Bill English

text: During the 2017 National campaign launch, English introduced a $379 million social investment package including digital learning academies for high school students, more resources for mathematics, and boosting support for teaching second languages in schools, and maintaining National Standards in the school curriculum. Prime Minister English also sought to defend National's financial management and economic track record and claimed that the opposition Labour Party would raise taxes. Early opinion polling had forecast a poor showing in the election for the Labour Party, but in early August 37-year-old Jacinda Ardern took over as Labour leader and seemingly energised younger voters.


title: Bill English

text: At the 2017 general election, National won the largest share of the party vote (44.4%) and the largest number of seats (56) in the House Representatives. However, National lacked enough seats to govern alone due to two of the party's support partners, the Māori Party and United Future, losing their parliamentary seats. In response, English stated that the party would be entering into talks to form a coalition with New Zealand First. Following talks with the two largest parties, New Zealand First entered a coalition arrangement with the Labour Party. English was succeeded as prime minister by Jacinda Ardern on 26 October.


title: Bill English

text: English was re-elected as National Party leader on 24 October 2017. At the time of his re-election, English announced his intention to stay on as leader until the next general election. On 13 February 2018, however, he stood down as National Party leader due to personal reasons, and instructed the party to put into motion the processes to elect a new leader. He also retired from Parliament. English's resignation followed weeks of speculation that he would step aside for a new leader. On 27 February, he was succeeded as party leader by Simon Bridges as the result of the leadership election held that day.


title: Bill English

text: In 2018, English joined the board of Australian conglomerate, Wesfarmers. English serves in Chairmanships of Mount Cook Alpine Salmon, Impact Lab Ltd and Manawanui Support Ltd. He is also a director of The Instillery, Centre for Independent Studies and The Todd Corporation Limited, and is a member of the Impact Advisory Group of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.


title: Bill English

text: English is regarded as more socially conservative than his predecessor, John Key. He has stated his opposition to voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, same-sex civil unions, and the decriminalisation of prostitution. As Prime Minister he opposed any "liberalisation" of abortion law.


title: Bill English

text: In 2004, English voted against a bill to establish civil unions for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. In 2005, he voted for the Marriage (Gender Clarification) Amendment Bill, which would have amended the Marriage Act to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. English voted against the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, a bill that legalised same-sex marriage in New Zealand. However, in December 2016 he stated, "I'd probably vote differently now on the gay marriage issue. I don't think that gay marriage is a threat to anyone else's marriage".


title: Bill English

text: In 2009, English voted against the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill, a bill aimed at amending the Misuse of Drugs Act so that cannabis could be used for medical purposes.


title: Bill English

text: English met his future wife, Mary Scanlon, at university. She was studying medicine at the time, and became a general practitioner. Both her parents were immigrants, her father being Samoan and her mother Italian, born on the island of Stromboli. They have six children: a daughter and five sons.


title: Bill English

text: English is a practising Roman Catholic, but has stated that he considers his religious beliefs personal and thus separate from politics.


title: Bill English

text: In June 2002, English took part in TV3's "Fight For Life", a celebrity boxing fundraiser to raise money for the Yellow Ribbon anti-youth-suicide campaign, influenced by the death of a teenage nephew in 1997. He lost a split decision to former university colleague Ted Clarke.


title: Bill English

text: In the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours, English was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services of over 27 years to the State.


title: NASA Astronaut Group 22

text: NASA Astronaut Group 22 (nicknamed "The Turtles") is a group of twelve NASA astronauts selected in June 2017. They were joined by two Canadian Space Agency astronauts for training.


title: NASA Astronaut Group 22

text: NASA announced the creation of this astronaut group in November 2015 and accepted applications for astronaut hires from December 2015 through February 2016. A record number of applications - over 18,300 - were received. The final group of twelve selected candidates was publicly announced on June 7, 2017. The class was introduced at a press conference at the Johnson Space Center by U. S. Vice President Mike Pence. The ages of the seven men and six women ranged from 29 to 42 at the time of announcement.


title: NASA Astronaut Group 22

text: The Group 22 Astronaut Candidates arrived at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for training in August 2017, and when their approximately two-year-long training program was complete in January 2020, they became available for future missions.


title: NASA Astronaut Group 22

text: The group earned their "Turtles" nickname after experiencing flooding from Hurricane Harvey shortly after arriving at NASA. The name was chosen by the preceding astronaut group, "The 8-Balls", according to NASA traditions.


title: NASA Astronaut Group 22

text: The first astronauts of this astronaut group to fly to space, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron on SpaceX Crew-3 took a toy stuffed turtle as zero-g indicator, to pay a tribute to their astronaut group.


title: Tumescence

text: Tumescence is the quality or state of being tumescent or swollen. Tumescence usually refers to the normal engorgement with blood (vascular congestion) of the erectile tissues, marking sexual excitation, and possible readiness for sexual activity. The tumescent sexual organ in males is the penis and in females is the clitoris and other parts of the genitalia like the vestibular bulbs. Arteries in the penis dilate to increase blood volume.


title: Tumescence

text: Detumescence is the reversal of this process, by which blood leaves the erectile tissue, returning the erectile tissue to the flaccid state. Something that causes an erection is sometimes referred to as a tumefier (tumefyer) or tumescer.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: Ball's Pyramid is an erosional remnant of a shield volcano and caldera lying southeast of Lord Howe Island in the Pacific Ocean. It is high, while measuring in length and only across, making it the tallest volcanic stack in the world. Ball's Pyramid is part of the Lord Howe Island Marine Park in Australia and is over northeast of Sydney, New South Wales.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: Steep, eroded, and formed 6.4 million years ago, Ball's Pyramid is positioned in the centre of a submarine shelf and is surrounded by rough seas, making any approach difficult.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: The pyramid is named after Royal Navy Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, who reported discovering it in 1788. On the same voyage, Ball also reported discovering Lord Howe Island.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: In "The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay with an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson and Norfolk Island" (1789), Arthur Phillip gives this description of the area around Ball's Pyramid.. before describing Lord Howe Island:


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: There lies about four miles from the south-west part of the pyramid, a dangerous rock, which shows itself a little above the surface of the water, and appears not to be larger than a boat. Lieutenant Ball had no opportunity of examining whether there is a safe passage between them or not.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: In May 1853, Henry Mangles Denham with and surveyed the area around Lord Howe Island including Ball's Pyramid, producing the first chart of the pyramid.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: The first recorded person to go ashore is believed to have been Henry Wilkinson, a geologist at the New South Wales Department of Mines, in 1882.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: In 1964, a team from Sydney attempted to climb to the summit of the pyramid. However, the climbers were forced to turn back on the fifth day as they ran short of food and water. The expedition was the idea of Australian adventurer Dick Smith, who was a member of Rover Scouts at the time. The expedition also involved other members of the Scouting movement and other people. Smith went on the expedition, but did not attempt the climb due to an unexpected medical operation two weeks before the expedition.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: Ball's Pyramid was first climbed on 14 February 1965 by Bryden Allen, John Davis, Jack Pettigrew and David Witham of the Sydney Rock Climbing Club. Jack Hill of New Zealand then climbed to the summit with Pettigrew on the following day. Don Willcox and Ben Sandilands were part of the support team.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: In 1979, Smith returned to the pyramid, together with climbers John Worrall and Hugh Ward. They successfully reached the summit and unfurled a flag of New South Wales provided to them by Premier Neville Wran.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: Climbing was banned in 1982 under amendments to the Lord Howe Island Act, and in 1986, all access to the island was banned by the Lord Howe Island Board. In 1990, the policy was relaxed to allow some climbing under strict conditions, which in recent years has required an application to the relevant state minister.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: Like Lord Howe Island and the Lord Howe Seamount Chain, Ball's Pyramid is based on the Lord Howe Rise, part of the submerged continent of Zealandia. Ball's Pyramid has a few satellite islets. Observatory Rock and Wheatsheaf Islet lie about west-northwest and west-southwest respectively, of the western extremity of Ball's Pyramid. Southeast Rock is a pinnacle located about southeast of Ball's Pyramid.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: The shelf is in length and averages in width and lies under an average depth of of water. It is separated by a submarine canyon from another shelf on which Lord Howe Island is located. The cliffs of the stack continue under the water surface to the level of the shelf.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: A "Melaleuca howeana" shrub was found growing on Ball's Pyramid. The bush was growing in a small crevice where water was seeping through cracks in the underlying rocks. This moisture supported relatively lush plant growth which had, over time, resulted in a buildup of plant debris several metres deep.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: Ball's Pyramid supports the last known wild population of Lord Howe Island stick insect ("Dryococelus australis").


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: Following the last sighting of the Lord Howe Island stick insect on Lord Howe Island in 1920, the species was presumed extinct. Evidence of continued survival on Ball's Pyramid was discovered during the 1964 climb when a dead specimen was found and photographed. Throughout the following years, several more dead specimens were discovered, but attempts to find live specimens were unsuccessful.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: In 2001, a team of entomologists and conservationists landed on Ball's Pyramid to chart its flora and fauna. As they had hoped, they discovered a population of the Lord Howe Island stick insect living in an area of , at a height of above the shoreline, under a single "M. howeana" shrub. The population was extremely small, with only 24 individuals. Two pairs were brought to mainland Australia, and new populations have been successfully bred with the ultimate goal of reintroduction to Lord Howe Island.


title: Ball's Pyramid

text: In 2014 an unauthorised climbing team sighted live stick insects in an exposed position below the summit of Ball's Pyramid in a thicket of sedge plants, suggesting that the insect's range on Ball's Pyramid is more widespread than previously held and its food preferences are not limited to "Melaleuca howeana".


title: Norm of the North

text: Norm of the North is a 2016 computer-animated adventure comedy film directed by Trevor Wall and written by Daniel R. Altiere, Steven M. Altiere, and Malcolm T. Goldman. It features the voices of Rob Schneider, Heather Graham, Ken Jeong, Colm Meaney, Loretta Devine, Gabriel Iglesias, Michael McElhatton, and Bill Nighy, and is an international co-production of the United States, India, and Ireland. The UK version of the film features the voice of James Corden instead of Michael McElhatton. It was produced by Splash Entertainment and Telegael, and distributed by Lionsgate.


title: Norm of the North

text: "Norm of the North" was theatrically released on January 15, 2016, and grossed $30.5 million on an $18 million budget. It received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics, and temporarily held a rare rating of 0% on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, and is also considered to be the one of the worst animated movies of all time. The film was followed by three direct-to-video sequels: "Norm of the North: Keys to the Kingdom", released February 12, 2019; "Norm of the North: King Sized Adventure", released June 11, 2019; and "Norm of the North: Family Vacation", released February 25, 2020.


title: Norm of the North

text: Norm the polar bear is the son of the King of the Arctic. In his youth, he realizes his ability to speak to humans, a trait shared only by his grandfather. Because of this, he is made an outcast from the other animals, only being accepted by Socrates, a wise seagull, and Elizabeth, a female polar bear whom Norm is in love with.


title: Norm of the North

text: Years later, Norm's grandfather has become the world's most famous polar bear and human tourists are filling the Arctic. Socrates shows Norm and three Arctic lemmings a luxury condo that has been installed on the ice. Inside this condo is Vera, a representative for wealthy developer Mr. Greene. After Norm saves Vera from an avalanche, she tells him to find an actor to play a polar bear for their campaign. Norm denies this, but soon falls in love with Vera much to the jealousy of the lemmings. When his grandfather embarrasses him in front of the sea lions, Norm chases a boy named Pedro who then discovers Norm. But just before Pedro and Norm could get together, Norm is knocked unconscious by a tranquilizer dart and taken away from the Arctic leaving Pedro saddened about what happened and the Lemmings are also taken as well much to the horror of his grandfather.


title: Norm of the North

text: The next morning, they wake up in New York City. Norm freaks out by this, but discovers Vera who has come to New York City as well. The Lemmings discover a filming Studio and they go in. However a man wearing some white glasses tries to attack Norm by struggling and strangling him in ropes. Norm manages to regain his strength and takes off the white glasses and is shocked by discovering that the disguise was Pedro. After hearing that Pedro works at the filming Studio, the two become friends and Norm apologizes for chasing him.


title: Norm of the North

text: In the city, Norm pretends to be an actor and auditions for Pedro's commercial and is taken to dinner by Vera. The two celebrate and are succeeded by all of the hosts. During a public incident in the restaurant, Norm subdues Pedro gaining the attention of the media and heightening for approval ratings. Pedro decides to hire Norm as his mascot.


title: Norm of the North

text: Before going on a television show, Norm meets Vera's daughter Olympia, who tells Norm to raise Greene's approval ratings and then speak out against him to save the Arctic. Norm's popularity heightens the approval ratings, but Pedro struggles to make a commercial Norm dreams of by playing recorded dialogue stating that Norm supports Greene's developments.


title: Norm of the North

text: While filming about Norm's entire life, the lemmings go wild during the show breaking the camera and knocking out the camera woman. Pedro is fired from his job and is locked out before he could eventually apologize. Norm then has an argument with his grandfather about disobeying him and runs away. He then goes hungry and tries to get chili dogs, but is chased by the chilidog man. Meanwhile his grandfather is heartbroken and decides to go apologize to Norm, but he is captured by the animal control thinking he is a beast. Norm notices this and tries to rescue him, but fails.


title: Norm of the North

text: Defeated, Norm is comforted by Vera and Olympia, who reveals that Greene is developing more homes to install in the Arctic. Norm and the lemmings discover that Greene is bribing a high-ranking member of the Polar Council, and exposes this to Pablo, one of Greene's investors. Vera resigns her position and is hired by Pablo, while Norm and the lemmings chase the truck holding the houses.


title: Norm of the North

text: The animal control sends the truck carrying Norm's grandfather, and Norm is captured as well. After being freed by the lemmings, Norm and his grandfather get to the boat carrying the houses to the Arctic, and they are able to detach the houses. The Lemmings and Pedro distract the animal control by pretending that another animal is on the loose. Just as they are about to succeed however, Norm is separated from Pedro and his grandfather.


title: Norm of the North

text: Norm awakens in the Arctic and is reunited with the lemmings and the other animals. Because of his heroism, Norm is crowned the King of the Arctic, but not before his grandfather and Pedro arrives. Meanwhile, the filming Studio is rebuilt and Pedro is rehired and Vera and Olympia are happy with Pablo as their new boss, while Norm and Elizabeth are allowed in the city and have three children together.


title: Norm of the North

text: Director Trevor Wall provides the voice for some of the lemmings throughout the film, although he is not credited. As Nicolas Atlan described the lemmings, “We thought it would be hysterical to combine Norm, the largest creature in the Arctic, with lemmings that are small and indestructible. They can get squashed, they can get stomped on, they can have an elevator close on them, but like Silly Putty, they bounce right back into their original shape."


title: Norm of the North

text: Two mobile apps were released to promote the film as well as four clips on Lionsgate's YouTube channel and two theatrical trailers. Television commercials were played on several channels. A promotional account for the film on Twitter was created in January 2015. Similar to other brands, posts from this account began to take a more personal and ironic tone to 2020, alluding to current events and the film’s negative reception. However, the account gradually took on a darker tone though 2021 going into 2022, with references to pornography and drugs being featured in tweets. It is unknown if the account was hacked or if Lionsgate adopted an edgier marketing campaign for the film.


title: Norm of the North

text: , "Norm of the North" has grossed $17 million in North America and $10.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $30.5 million, against a budget of $18 million.


title: Norm of the North

text: The film was released on January 15, 2016, alongside "" and "Ride Along 2". It grossed $9.4 million from 2,411 theaters over its opening four-day Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, finishing 6th at the box office.


title: Norm of the North

text: , on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 6%, based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 3.10/10. The site's critical consensus read, "A pioneering feat in the field of twerking polar bear animation but blearily retrograde in every other respect, "Norm of the North" should only be screened in case of parental emergency." Shortly after release in January 2016, it temporarily had a rating of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 35 reviews at the time, all of which were negative. On Metacritic, as of August 2020, the film had a score of 21 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Norm of the North

text: Critic Mark Dujsik gave the film 1 out of 4 possible stars, writing that ""Norm of the North" doesn't care about the environment, the animals of the Arctic, or even kids for that matter. It wants to be 'cute and marketable' as cheaply as possible". James White of "Empire" gave the film 1 out of 5 possible stars, writing that "we wouldn't recommend you watch it even after you've burned through every other possibility – and that includes a blank screen". Mark Kermode of "The Observer" called the film a "dull ... below-par "Ice Age"-style tale in which the highlight is a group of vulgar lemmings". Michael Rechtshaffen of "The Los Angeles Times" called the film "blandly uninspired", and Soren Andersen of "The Seattle Times" called the film an "idiotic animated comedy", writing that "No child should be exposed to this".


title: Norm of the North

text: Geoff Berkshire of "Variety" called the film a "blandly executed pic" that "will quickly head south to an ancillary afterlife". Katie Rife of "The A.V. Club" gave the film a "D" grade, writing that "this is a movie for children. But using that as a justification for lazy work, as if kids are inherently too dumb to know the difference, isn't just condescending. In a post-Pixar world, where audiences have become accustomed to quality animated family films, it's a waste of money". Stephen Schaefer of "The Boston Herald" gave the film a grade of "B−", writing that, despite being "hardly original ... 'Norm' has oodles of charm, a razor-sharp wit, and pacing that should keep even preschoolers attentive".


title: Norm of the North

text: Edwin L. Carpenter of The Dove Foundation gave the film its Family-Approved seal, writing that "your kids will enjoy Norm's company–he's funny and a role model for doing the right thing."


title: Norm of the North

text: Prior to the official theatrical release of the film, two 45-minute direct-to-DVD sequels were announced, titled "Norm of the North: Back to the City" and "Norm of the North: The Arctic All-Stars".


title: Norm of the North

text: On January 22, 2018, it was announced that production on a sequel produced by Assemblage Entertainment, along with Splash Entertainment, Lionsgate and DFG Family, had begun. The resulting film, "Norm of the North: Keys to the Kingdom" was given a limited theatrical release on January 11, 2019, with a home release on February 12, 2019.


title: Norm of the North

text: In 2019, two more sequels were announced, "Norm of the North: King Sized Adventure" and "Norm of the North: Family Vacation". "Norm of the North: King Sized Adventure" was released on Blu-ray, DVD and digital on June 11, 2019 and "Norm of the North: Family Vacation" was released on DVD, digital and on-demand on February 25, 2020.


title: Andreas Skov Olsen

text: Andreas Skov Olsen (; born 29 December 1999) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Belgian First Division A side Club Brugge and the Denmark national team.


title: Andreas Skov Olsen

text: Olsen started his career at local club, ASGI from Alsønderup, outside of Hillerød, but later joined the FC Nordsjælland at the age of 12.


title: Andreas Skov Olsen

text: Already at the age of 17, Olsen was called up by the coach of the Danish national under-21 football team, to replace an injured Kasper Junker in June 2017. He then got his debut for the U21 national team in a game against Sweden U21.


title: Andreas Skov Olsen

text: The winger got his first senior call up on 17 July 2017, where he sat on the bench for the whole game against OB. He was also with the first team squad in Sweden in the summer 2017, where he played a in a friendly match.


title: Andreas Skov Olsen

text: Olsen got his debut for FC Nordsjælland on 23 July 2017 at the age of 17. He started on the bench, but replaced Emiliano Marcondes in the 95th minute in a 3–2 victory against Brøndby IF in the Danish Superliga. Few days later, he played 72 minutes in a Danish Cup game against amateur side Vejgaard B, where he both scored and assisted a goal.


title: Andreas Skov Olsen

text: On 12 July 2018, Olsen scored his first European goal in a Europa League Qualifier against Cliftonville.


title: Andreas Skov Olsen

text: Olsen was officially promoted to the first team squad from the summer 2018. Olsen had a turbulent first half season in the Danish Superliga scoring 11 goals despite his young age. He ended the season scoring 22 league goals.


title: Andreas Skov Olsen

text: On 24 July 2019, it was confirmed, that Olsen had left Denmark after two seasons in the Danish Superliga, to join Italian Serie A club Bologna.


title: Andreas Skov Olsen

text: On 28 January 2022, Bologna announced Olsen's transfer to Club Brugge in Belgium, where he signed a four-and-a-half-year contract. He made his debut on 2 February in a Belgian Cup match against Gent, coming off the bench for Ruud Vormer at half-time and providing the decisive assist for Charles De Ketelaere, securing a 1–0 win for his team. On 17 July 2022, Olsen scored the winning goal for Club in the 2022 Belgian Super Cup against Gent.


title: Andreas Skov Olsen

text: Olsen was called up to the senior Denmark squad for the UEFA Nations League matches against Belgium and England in September 2020. He made his debut on 7 October 2020 in a friendly against Faroe Islands and scored a goal in a 4–0 win.


title: Andreas Skov Olsen

text: In June 2021, he was included in the national team's bid for 2020 UEFA Euro, where the team reached the semi-finals.


title: Charity (practice)

text: The practice of charity is the voluntary giving of help to those in need, as a humanitarian act, unmotivated by self-interest. There are a number of philosophies about charity, often associated with religion.


title: Charity (practice)

text: The word "charity" originated in late Old English to mean a "Christian love of one's fellows", and up until at least the beginning of the 20th century, this meaning remained synonymous with charity. Aside from this original meaning, "charity" is etymologically linked to Christianity, with the word originally entering into the English language through the Old French word "charité", which was derived from the Latin "caritas", a word commonly used in the Vulgate New Testament to translate the Greek word "agape" (), a distinct form of love (see the article: Charity (virtue)).


title: Charity (practice)

text: Over time, the meaning of "charity" has evolved from one of "Christian love" to that of "providing for those in need; generosity and giving", a transition which began with the Old French word "charité". Thus, while the older Douay-Rheims and King James versions of the Bible translate instances of "agape" (such as those that appear in 1 Corinthians 13) as "charity", modern English versions of the Bible typically translate "agape" as "love".


title: Charity (practice)

text: Charitable giving is the act of giving money, goods or time to the unfortunate, either directly or by means of a charitable trust or other worthy cause. Charitable giving as a religious act or duty is referred to as almsgiving or alms. The name stems from the most obvious expression of the virtue of charity; giving the recipients of it the means they need to survive. The impoverished, particularly those widowed or orphaned, and the ailing or injured, are generally regarded as the proper recipients of charity. The people who cannot support themselves and lack outside means of support sometimes become "beggars", directly soliciting aid from strangers encountered in public.


title: Charity (practice)

text: Some groups regard charity as being distributed towards other members from within their particular group. Although giving to those nearly connected to oneself is sometimes called charity—as in the saying "Charity begins at home"—normally charity denotes giving to those not related, with filial piety and like terms for supporting one's family and friends. Indeed, treating those related to the giver as if they were strangers in need of charity has led to the figure of speech "as cold as charity"—providing for one's relatives as if they were strangers, without affection.


title: Charity (practice)

text: Most forms of charity are concerned with providing basic necessities such as food, water, clothing, healthcare and shelter, but other actions may be performed as charity: visiting the imprisoned or the homebound, ransoming captives, educating orphans, even social movements. Donations to causes that benefit the unfortunate indirectly, such as donations to fund cancer research, are also charity.


title: Charity (practice)

text: With regards to religious aspects, the recipient of charity may offer to pray for the benefactor. In medieval Europe, it was customary to feast the poor at the funeral in return for their prayers for the deceased. Institutions may commemorate benefactors by displaying their names, up to naming buildings or even the institution itself after the benefactors. If the recipient makes material return of more than a token value, the transaction is normally not called charity.


title: Charity (practice)

text: In the past century, many charitable organizations have created a "charitable model" in which donators give to conglomerates give to recipients. Examples of this include the Make a Wish Foundation (John Cena holds the title for most wishes granted by a single individual, with over 450 wishes) and the World Wildlife Fund. Today some charities have modernized, and allow people to donate online, through websites such as JustGiving. Originally charity entailed the benefactor directly giving the goods to the receiver. This practice was continued by some individuals, for example, "CNN Hero" Sal Dimiceli, and service organizations, such as the Jaycees. With the rise of more social peer-to-peer processes, many charities are moving away from the charitable model and starting to adopt this more direct donator to recipient approach. Examples of this include Global Giving (direct funding of community development projects in developing countries), DonorsChoose (for US-based projects), Kiva (funding loans administered by microfinance organizations in developing countries) and Zidisha (funding individual microfinance borrowers directly).


title: Charity (practice)

text: Institutions evolved to carry out the labor of assisting the poor, and these institutions, called charities, provide the bulk of charitable giving today, in terms of monetary value. These include orphanages, food banks, religious institutes dedicated to care of the poor, hospitals, organizations that visit the homebound and imprisoned, and many others. Such institutions allow those whose time or inclination does not lend themselves to directly care for the poor to enable others to do so, both by providing money for the work and supporting them while they do the work. Institutions can also attempt to more effectively sort out the actually needy from those who fraudulently claim charity. Early Christians particularly recommended the care of the unfortunate to the charge of the local bishop.


title: Charity (practice)

text: There have been examinations of who gives more to charity. One study conducted in the United States found that as a percentage of income, charitable giving increased as income decreased. The poorest fifth of Americans, for example, gave away 4.3% of their income, while the wealthiest fifth gave away 2.1%. In absolute terms, this was an average of $453 on an average income of $10,531, compared to $3,326 on an income of $158,388.


title: Charity (practice)

text: Studies have also found that "individuals who are religious are more likely to give money to charitable organizations" and they are also more likely to give more money than those who are not religious. Among those individuals are members of American religious communities, about whom the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding conducted a recent study regarding philanthropic and charitable giving. The study found that American Muslim donation patterns when it comes to charitable giving align mostly with other American faith groups, like Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish communities, but that American Muslims were more likely to donate out of a sense of religious obligation and a belief that those who have ought to give to those who do not. The study also found that most American faith groups prioritize charity towards their own houses of worship when it comes to monetary donations, and then other causes. Muslims and Jews contributed more than other religious groups to civil rights protection organizations, while white Evangelical Christians, followed by Protestants and then Catholics, were the most likely to make charitable contributions to youth and family services.


title: Charity (practice)

text: A study from 2021 found that when prospective donors were asked to choose between two similar donation targets, they were more likely to opt out of donating altogether.


title: Charity (practice)

text: A philosophical critique of charity can be found in Oscar Wilde's essay "The Soul of Man Under Socialism", where he calls it "a ridiculously inadequate mode of partial restitution . . . usually accompanied by some impertinent attempt on the part of the sentimentalist to tyrannise over [the poor's] private lives", as well as a remedy that prolongs the "disease" of poverty, rather than curing it.


title: Charity (practice)

text: Wilde's thoughts are cited with approval by Slavoj Žižek, and the Slovenian thinker adds his description of the effect of charity on the charitable:


title: Charity (practice)

text: Friedrich Engels, in his 1845 treatise on the condition of the working class in England, points out that charitable giving, whether by governments or individuals, is often seen by the givers as a means to conceal suffering that is unpleasant to see. Engels quotes from a letter to the editor of an English newspaper who complains that


title: Charity (practice)

text: The American theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr also opined that charity could more than often act as a substitute for real justice. In his 1932 work "Moral Man and Immoral Society" he criticized charities funding Black education, writing that the "white philanthropy" failed to make a "frontal attack upon the social injustices" from which the Black Americans suffered. He wrote: "We have previously suggested that philanthropy combines genuine pity with the display of power and that the latter element explains why the powerful are more inclined to be generous than to grant social justice."


title: Charity (practice)

text: The philosopher Peter Singer opposes charity on the grounds that the interests of all people should count equally since their geographic location or citizenship status does not affect their obligations towards society.


title: Charity (practice)

text: The Institute of Economic Affairs published a report in 2012 called "Sock Puppets: How the government lobbies itself and why", which criticized the phenomenon of governments funding charities which then lobby the government for changes which the government wanted all along.


title: Charity (practice)

text: Increasing awareness of poverty and food insecurity has led to debates among scholars about the needs-based versus the rights-based approach. The needs-based approach solely provides recipients what they need, not expecting any action in response. Examples of needs-based approaches include charitable giving, philanthropy, and other private investments. A rights-based approach, on the other hand, includes participation from both ends, with the recipients being active influences on policies. Politically, a rights-based approach would be illustrated in policies of income redistribution, wage floors, and cash subsidies. Mariana Chilton, in the "American Journal of Public Health", suggested that current government policies reflect the needs-based approach. Chilton argued this leads to a misconception that charity is the cure for basic needs insecurity, and this misconception drives the government to avoid welfare reform and instead to rely on charitable organizations and philanthropists. Amelia Barwise supported Chilton's argument by describing the consequences of philanthropy. Using an example of Michael Bloomberg's donation of $1.8 billion to Johns Hopkins University for student debts, Barwise questioned the most effective use for this money. She listed one motivation of philanthropy as to avoid paying federal taxes, so the donor may be recognized for their generosity and send their earned money to organizations they are passionate about. Barwise therefore implied that Bloomberg's actions resemble this motivation, since he has saved $600 million in federal taxes and donated the money to his alma mater. Furthermore, this non-politicized idea of philanthropy and charitable giving is linked to the government's approach to poverty. Barwise said that Americans have an innate distrust of the government, causing them to favor private and de-politicized actions such as charity. Her research explores consequences of philanthropic actions and how the money can be used more effectively. First, Barwise stated that since philanthropy allows for tax evasion, which decreases opportunities for welfare policies that would support all low-income workers. Furthermore, philanthropy can diminish the institution's mission and give more power and influence to the donor.


title: Charity (practice)

text: Acknowledging these consequences of philanthropy and the diminishing of public funding, Mariana Chilton offered solutions through the rights-based approach. Chilton argued that the government should adopt a more rights-based approach to include more people in their policies and significantly improve basic needs insecurity. She called for government accountability, an increase of transparency, an increase of public participation, and the acknowledgement of vulnerability and discrimination caused by current policies. She argued for increased federal legislation that provides social safety nets through entitlement programs, recognizing SNAP as a small example. Chilton concluded with a list of four strategies for a national plan: 1) increase monitoring to assess threats to food insecurity, 2) improve national, state, and local coordination, 3) improve accountability, and 4) utilize public participation to help construct policies.


title: Charity (practice)

text: In medieval Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries, Latin Christendom underwent a charitable revolution. Rich patrons founded many leprosaria and hospitals for the sick and poor. New confraternities and religious orders emerged with the primary mission of engaging in intensive charitable work. Historians debate the causes. Some argue that this movement was spurred by economic and material forces, as well as a burgeoning urban culture. Other scholars argue that developments in spirituality and devotional culture were central. For still other scholars, medieval charity was primarily a way to elevate one's social status and affirm existing hierarchies of power.


title: Charity (practice)

text: In religious Judaism, "tzedakah"—a Hebrew term literally meaning righteousness but commonly used to signify "charity"—refers to the religious obligation to do what is right and just. Because it is commanded by the Torah and not voluntary, the practice is not technically an act of charity; such a concept is virtually nonexistent in Jewish tradition. Jews give tzedakah, which can take the form of money, time and resources to the needy, out of "righteousness" and "justice" rather than benevolence, generosity, or charitableness. The Torah requires that 10 percent of a Jew's income be allotted to righteous deeds or causes, regardless if the receiving party is rich or poor. However, if one regards Judaism in its wider modern meaning, acts of charity can go far beyond the religious prescriptions of "tzedakah" and also beyond the wider concept of ethical "obligation". See also mitzvot and halukkah.


title: Charity (practice)

text: Zakat is one of the five pillars upon which the Muslim religion is based, where 2.5% of one's saving is compulsory to be given as Zakat per Islamic calendar year, provided that the saving is beyond the threshold limit, called Nisab, usually determined by the religious authority.


title: Charity (practice)

text: Sadaqa is voluntary charity or contribution. Sadaqah can be given using money, personal items, time or other resources. There is no minimum or maximum requirement for Sadaqa. Even smiling to other people is considered a Sadaqah.


title: Charity (practice)

text: The practice of charity is called "Dāna" or "Daana" in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. It is the virtue of generosity or giving. Dāna has been defined in traditional texts, state Krishnan and Manoj, as "any action of relinquishing the ownership of what one considered or identified as one's own, and investing the same in a recipient without expecting anything in return". Karna, Mahabali and Harishchandra are heroes also known for giving charity.


title: Charity (practice)

text: The earliest known discussion of charity as a virtuous practice, in Indian texts, is in Rigveda. According to other ancient texts of Hinduism, dāna can take the form of feeding or giving to an individual in distress or need. It can also take the form of philanthropic public projects that empower and help many.


title: Charity (practice)

text: Dāna leads to one of the perfections ("pāramitā"). This can be characterized by unattached and unconditional generosity, giving and letting go.


title: Charity (practice)

text: Historical records, such as those by the Persian historian Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī who visited India in early 11th century, suggest "dāna" has been an ancient and medieval era practice among Indian religions.


title: Charity (practice)

text: Effective altruism is a philosophy and social movement that uses evidence and reasoning to determine the most effective ways to benefit others. Effective altruism encourages individuals to consider all causes and actions and to act in the way that brings about the greatest positive impact, based upon their values. It is the broad, evidence-based and cause-neutral approach that distinguishes effective altruism from traditional altruism or charity. Effective altruism is part of the larger movement towards evidence-based practices.


title: Charity (practice)

text: While a substantial proportion of effective altruists have focused on the nonprofit sector, the philosophy of effective altruism applies more broadly to prioritizing the scientific projects, companies, and policy initiatives which can be estimated to save lives, help people, or otherwise have the biggest benefit. People associated with the movement include philosopher Peter Singer, Facebook co founder Dustin Moskovitz, Cari Tuna, Oxford-based researchers William MacAskill and Toby Ord, professional poker player Liv Boeree, and writer Jacy Reese Anthis.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: Mary Helen MacKillop RSJ (15 January 1842 – 8 August 1909) was an Australian religious sister who has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church, as St Mary of the Cross. Of Scottish descent, she was born in Melbourne but is best known for her activities in South Australia. Together with Julian Tenison-Woods, she founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (the Josephites), a congregation of religious sisters that established a number of schools and welfare institutions throughout Australia and New Zealand, with an emphasis on education for the rural poor.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: The process to have MacKillop declared a saint began in the 1920s, and she was beatified in January 1995 by Pope John Paul II. Pope Benedict XVI prayed at her tomb during his visit to Sydney for World Youth Day 2008 and in December 2009 approved the Catholic Church's recognition of a second miracle attributed to her intercession. She was canonised on 17 October 2010, during a public ceremony in St Peter's Square at the Vatican. She is the first Australian to be recognised by the Catholic Church as a saint. Mary MacKillop is the patron saint of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: Mary Helen MacKillop was born on 15 January 1842 in what is now the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria (at the time part of an area called Newtown in the then British colony of New South Wales), to Alexander MacKillop and Flora MacDonald. Although she continued to be known as "Mary", when she was baptised six weeks later she received the names Maria Ellen.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: MacKillop's parents lived in Roybridge (), Lochaber, Inverness-shire, Scotland, prior to emigrating to Australia. Others on both sides of the family had emigrated previously. MacKillop visited the village in the 1870s where St Margaret's, the local parish church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, now has a shrine to her.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: MacKillop's father, Alexander MacKillop, was born in Perthshire. He began his studies for the priesthood at age twelve, and two years later went to the Scots College in Rome; he also studied at Blairs College in Kincardineshire, but at the age of 29 left, just before he was due to be ordained. He migrated to Australia and arrived in Sydney in 1838. MacKillop's mother, Flora MacDonald, born in Fort William, had left Scotland and arrived in Melbourne in 1840. Her father and mother married in Melbourne on 14 July 1840. MacKillop was the eldest of their eight children. Her younger siblings were Margaret ("Maggie", 1843–1872), John (1845–1867), Annie (1848–1929), Alexandrina ("Lexie", 1850–1882), Donald (1853–1925), Alick (who died at 11 months old) and Peter (1857–1878). Donald became a Jesuit priest and worked among the Aboriginal peoples in the Northern Territory. Lexie became a member of the Good Shepherd Sisters in Melbourne.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: MacKillop was educated at private schools and by her father. She received her First Holy Communion on 15 August 1850 at the age of nine. In February 1851, Alexander MacKillop left his family behind after having mortgaged the farm and their livelihood and made a trip to Scotland lasting some 17 months. Throughout his life he was a loving father and husband but not successful as either a farmer or gold prospector. Consequently, the family faced many hardships.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: MacKillop started work at the age of 16 as a clerk in a stationery store in Melbourne. To provide for her needy family, in 1860 she took a job as governess at the estate of her aunt and uncle, Alexander and Margaret MacKillop Cameron in Penola, South Australia where she was to look after their children and teach them. Already set on helping the poor whenever possible, she included the other farm children on the Cameron estate as well. This brought her into contact with Fr Julian Tenison-Woods, who had been the parish priest in the south east since his ordination to the priesthood in 1857 after completing his studies at Sevenhill.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: MacKillop stayed for two years with the Camerons before accepting a job teaching the children of Portland, Victoria in 1862. Later she taught at the Portland school and after opening her own boarding school, Bay View House Seminary for Young Ladies, now Bayview College, in 1864, was joined by the rest of her family.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: In 1866, Julian Tenison-Woods invited MacKillop and her sisters Annie and Lexie to come to Penola and to open a Catholic school. Woods was appointed director of education and became the founder, along with MacKillop, of a school they opened in a stable there. After renovations by their brother, the MacKillops started teaching more than 50 children. At this time MacKillop made a declaration of her dedication to God and began wearing black.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: On 21 November 1866, the feast day of the Presentation of Mary, several other women joined MacKillop and her sisters. MacKillop adopted the religious name of "Sister Mary of the Cross" and she and Lexie began wearing simple religious habits. The small group began to call themselves the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart and moved to a new house in Grote Street, Adelaide. There they founded a new school at the request of the bishop, Laurence Sheil OFM.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: The "rule of life" developed by Woods and MacKillop for the community emphasized poverty, a dependence on divine providence, no ownership of personal belongings, faith that God would provide and willingness to go where needed. The rule of life was approved by Bishop Sheil. By the end of 1867, ten other women had joined the Josephites, who adopted a plain brown religious habit. Due to the colour of their attire and their name, the Josephite sisters became colloquially known as the "Brown Joeys".


title: Mary MacKillop

text: In an attempt to provide education to all the poor, particularly in rural areas, a school was opened in Yankalilla, South Australia, in October 1867. By the end of 1869, more than 70 members of the Sisters of St Joseph were educating children at 21 schools in Adelaide and the country. MacKillop and her Josephites were also involved with an orphanage; neglected children; girls in danger; the aged poor; a reformatory (in Johnstown near Kapunda); and a home for the aged and incurably ill. Generally, the Josephite sisters were prepared to follow farmers, railway workers and miners into the isolated outback and live as they lived.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: In December 1869, MacKillop and several other sisters travelled to Brisbane to establish the order in Queensland. They were based at Kangaroo Point and took the ferry or rowed across the Brisbane River to attend Mass at St Stephen's Cathedral. Two years later, she was in Port Augusta, South Australia for the same purpose. The Josephite congregation expanded rapidly and, by 1871, 130 sisters were working in more than 40 schools and charitable institutions across South Australia and Queensland.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: MacKillop clashed with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brisbane, James Quinn, over the control of the many schools she established; MacKillop believed the sisters should control the schools while Quinn believed the diocese should control them. In 1879, relationships between them had deteriorated to the point that Quinn directed the sisters to leave his diocese. Despite protests by the laity, Quinn was determined and MacKillop and her Josephite sisters had left the diocese by mid-1880 with other Catholic orders taking over the operation of their schools. When the Diocese of Rockhampton was excised from the Brisbane diocese on 29 December 1882, it enabled MacKillop and her sisters to return to Queensland, where they established a school in Clermont and then in other places within the new diocese.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: In 1881, Elzear Torreggiani, then Bishop of Armidale and a Capuchin who had worked in both North Wales at Pantasaph and London at Peckham, prior to being consecrated in London in 1879, for the Armidale Diocese; established Mother Mary MacKillop's Sisters of St Joseph at Tenterfield and defended their power of central government at the 1885 Plenary Council.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: During the time Torreggiani was Bishop of Armidale the Sisters of St Joseph established foundations at Tenterfield (1880), Inverell (1880), Narrabri (1882), Glen Innes (1883), Uralla (1886), Quirindi (1888), Hillgrove (1889), Tingha (1890), Bingara (1902), Walgett (1902), Warialda (1904) and Manilla (1904). Subsequently, the sisters established Bundarra (1908), Barraba (1910), Boggabri (1911), Tamworth West (1919), Dungowan (1930), Tamworth South (1954), Lightning Ridge (1980), Mungindi (1995) and Attunga (1995). Wee Waa and Werris Creek were also "Motor Mission" centres.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: Bishop Sheil spent less than two years of his episcopate in Adelaide and his absences and poor health left the diocese effectively without clear leadership for much of his tenure. This resulted in bitter factionalisms within the clergy and disunity among the lay community. After the founding of the Josephites, Sheil appointed Woods as director general of Catholic education. Woods came into conflict with some of the clergy over educational matters and local clergy began a campaign to discredit the Josephites. As well as allegations of financial incompetence, rumours were also spread that MacKillop had a drinking problem. A 2010 investigation by the Revd Paul Gardiner, chaplain of the Mary MacKillop Penola Centre, found no evidence to support these allegations. In fact, it was widely known that she drank alcohol on doctor's orders to relieve the symptoms of dysmenorrhea, which often led to her being bedridden for days at a time.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: Father Charles Horan OFM met with Sheil on 21 September 1871 and convinced him that the Josephites' constitution should be changed in a way that could have left the Josephite nuns homeless; the following day, when MacKillop apparently did not accede to the request, Sheil excommunicated her, citing insubordination as the reason. Candid coverage in the Catholic newspaper "The Irish Harp and Farmers' Herald" earned for its editor C. J. Fox ostracism and expulsion from the Catholic Association of which he was president. Though the Josephites were not disbanded, most of their schools were closed in the wake of this action. Forbidden to have contact with anyone in the church, MacKillop was given the rent-free use of two houses in Flinders Street, Adelaide by prominent Jewish merchant Emanuel Solomon and was also sheltered by Jesuit priests. Some of the sisters chose to remain under diocesan control, becoming popularly known as "Black Joeys".


title: Mary MacKillop

text: On his deathbed, Sheil instructed Horan to lift the excommunication on MacKillop. On 21 February 1872, he met her on his way to Willunga and absolved her in the Morphett Vale church. An episcopal commission later completely exonerated her.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: After the acquisition of the Mother House in Kensington in 1872, MacKillop made preparations to leave for Rome to have the "Rule of Life" of the Sisters of St Joseph officially approved.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: MacKillop travelled to Rome in 1873 to seek papal approval for the religious congregation and was encouraged in her work by Pope Pius IX. The authorities in Rome made changes to the way Josephite sisters lived in regards to their commitment to poverty and declared that the superior general and her council were the authorities in charge of the congregation. They assured MacKillop that the congregation and their "Rule of Life" would receive final approval after a trial period. The resulting alterations to the "Rule of Life" regarding ownership of property caused a breach between MacKillop and Woods, who felt that the revised document compromised the ideal of vowed poverty and blamed MacKillop for not getting the document accepted in its original form. Before Woods' death on 7 October 1889, he and MacKillop were personally reconciled, but he did not renew his involvement with the congregation.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: During this period, the Josephites expanded their operations into New South Wales and New Zealand. MacKillop relocated to Sydney in 1883 on the instruction of Bishop Reynolds of Adelaide.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: When MacKillop returned to Australia in January 1875, after an absence of nearly two years, she brought approval from Rome for her sisters and the work they did, materials for her school, books for the convent library, several priests and most of all, 15 new Josephites from Ireland. Regardless of her success, she still had to contend with the opposition of priests and several bishops. This did not change after her unanimous election as superior general in March 1875.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: The Josephites were unusual among Catholic church ministries in two ways. Firstly, the sisters lived in the community rather than in convents. Secondly the congregation's constitutions required administration by a superior general chosen from within the congregation rather than by the bishop, which was uncommon in its day. However, the issues which caused friction were that the Josephites refused to accept government funding, would not teach instrumental music (then considered an essential part of education by the church) and were unwilling to educate girls from more affluent families. This structure resulted in the sisters being forced to leave Bathurst in 1876 and Queensland by 1880 due to the local bishops' refusal to accept this working structure.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: Notwithstanding all the trouble, the congregation did expand. By 1877, it operated more than 40 schools in and around Adelaide, with many others in Queensland and New South Wales. With the help from Benson, Barr Smith, the Baker family, Emanuel Solomon and other non-Catholics, the Josephites, with MacKillop as their leader and superior general, were able to continue the religious and other good works, including visiting prisoners in jail.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: After the appointment of Roger Vaughan as Archbishop of Sydney in 1877, life became a little easier for MacKillop and her sisters. Until his death in 1882, the Revd Joseph Tappeiner had given MacKillop his solid support and, until 1883, she also had the support of Bishop Reynolds of Adelaide.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: After the death of Vaughan in 1883, Patrick Francis Moran became archbishop. Although he had a somewhat positive outlook toward the Josephites, he removed MacKillop as superior general and replaced her with Bernard Walsh.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: Pope Leo XIII gave official approval to the Josephites as a congregation in 1885, with its headquarters in Sydney.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: On 31 May 1886, Mary MacKillop's mother, Flora MacKillop was travelling from Melbourne to Sydney in the SS Ly-ee-Moon, to visit Mary and another daughter who was also a nun. The ship struck a reef near the Green Cape Lighthouse. Flora, along with 70 others, died.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: Although still living through alms, the Josephite sisters had been very successful. In South Australia, they had schools in many country towns including, Willunga, Willochra, Yarcowie, Mintaro, Auburn, Jamestown, Laura, Sevenhill, Quorn, Spalding, Georgetown, Robe, Pekina, Appila and several others. MacKillop continued her work for the Josephites in Sydney and tried to provide as much support as possible for those in South Australia. In 1883 the order was successfully established at Temuka in New Zealand, where MacKillop stayed for over a year. In 1889 it was also established in the Australian state of Victoria.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: During all these years MacKillop assisted Mother Bernard with the management of the Sisters of St Joseph. She wrote letters of support, advice and encouragement or just to keep in touch. By 1896, MacKillop was back in South Australia, visiting fellow sisters in Port Augusta, Burra, Pekina, Kapunda, Jamestown and Gladstone. That same year, she travelled again to New Zealand, spending several months in Port Chalmers and Arrowtown in Otago. During her time in New Zealand with the Sisters of St Joseph, a school was established in Arrowtown, near Queenstown, South Island. Located in the grounds of St Patrick's Church, the small yellow cottage now known as Mary MacKillop cottage was originally built as a miner's house around 1870. It was bought by the church and incorporated into the church school in 1882 and then in 1897, MacKillop had the cottage and some of the school converted to a convent for the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart who worked in New Zealand and Australia.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: In 1897, Bishop Maher of Port Augusta arranged for the Sisters of St Joseph to take charge of the St Anacletus Catholic Day School at Petersburg (now Peterborough).


title: Mary MacKillop

text: MacKillop founded a convent and base for the Sisters of St Joseph in Petersburg on 16 January 1897. "On January 16th, 1897, the founder of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, Mother Mary of the Cross, arrived in Petersburg to take over the school. She was accompanied by fellow Sisters Benizi (who was placed in charge of the school), M. Joseph, Clotilde and Aloysius Joseph. They were met at the station by the priest Norton who took them to the newly blessed convent, purchased for them on Railway Terrace." The property at 40 Railway Terrace is identified as the convent by a plaque placed by the Catholic diocese of Peterborough.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: After the death of Mother Bernard, MacKillop was once more elected unopposed as superior general in 1899, a position she held until her own death. During the later years of her life she had many problems with her health which continued to deteriorate. She suffered from rheumatism and after a stroke in Auckland, New Zealand in 1902, became paralysed on her right side. For seven years, she had to rely on a wheelchair to move around, but her speech and mind were as good as ever and her letter writing had continued unabated after she learned to write with her left hand. Even after suffering the stroke, the Josephite nuns had enough confidence in her to re-elect her in 1905.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: MacKillop died on 8 August 1909 at the Josephite convent in North Sydney. The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal Moran, said: "I consider this day to have assisted at the deathbed of a saint." She was laid to rest at the Gore Hill cemetery, a few kilometres up the Pacific Highway from North Sydney.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: After MacKillop's burial, people continually took earth from around her grave. As a result, her remains were exhumed and transferred on 27 January 1914 to a vault before the altar of the Virgin Mary in the newly built memorial chapel in Mount Street, North Sydney. The vault was a gift of Joanna Barr Smith, a lifelong friend and admiring Presbyterian.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: In 1925, the Mother Superior of the Sisters of St Joseph, Mother Laurence, began the process to have MacKillop declared a saint and Michael Kelly, Archbishop of Sydney, established a tribunal to carry the process forward. The process for MacKillop's beatification began in 1926, was interrupted in 1931 but began again in April 1951 and was closed in September of that year. After several years of hearings, close examination of MacKillop's writings and a 23-year delay, the initial phase of investigations was completed in 1973.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: After further investigations, MacKillop's "heroic virtue" was declared in 1992. That same year, the church endorsed the belief that Veronica Hopson, apparently dying of leukaemia in 1961, was cured by praying for MacKillop's intercession; MacKillop was beatified on 19 January 1995 by Pope John Paul II. For the occasion of the beatification, the Croatian-Australian artist Charles Billich was commissioned to paint MacKillop's official commemorative.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: On 19 December 2009, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued a papal decree formally recognising a second miracle, the complete and permanent cure of Kathleen Evans of inoperable lung and secondary brain cancer in the 1990s. Kathleen Evans went on to publish in 2012 with Penguin Books, "The Story Behind Saint Mary MacKillop's second Miracle." Her canonisation was announced on 19 February 2010 and subsequently took place on 17 October 2010. This made her the first Australian to be recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: In the week leading up to her canonisation, the Australian federal government announced that it was protecting the use of MacKillop's name for commercial purposes. According to a statement from the office of the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, the only other individual Australian whose name has similar protection is Australian cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman. Australia Post issued an official postage stamp to recognise MacKillop's canonisation.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: An estimated 8,000 Australians were present in Vatican City to witness the ceremony. The Vatican Museum held an exhibition of Aboriginal art to honour the occasion titled "Rituals of Life". The exhibition contained 300 artifacts which were on display for the first time since 1925.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: MacKillop is remembered in numerous ways, particularly in Australia. Things named for her include the electoral district of MacKillop in South Australia and several MacKillop colleges. In 1985, the Sisters of St Joseph approached one of Australia's foremost rose growers to develop the Mary MacKillop Rose. MacKillop was the subject of the first of the "Inspirational Australians" one dollar coin series, released by the Royal Australian Mint in 2008.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: Several Australian composers have written sacred music to celebrate MacKillop. For the occasion of her beatification the MacKillop Secretariat commissioned eight composers in 1994 to write some of the first liturgical hymns to MacKillop. These were published in 1995 by the Secretariat as an anthology entitled "If I Could Tell The Love of God". Hymns specifically used in St Mary of the Cross celebrations include "A Saint for Today" and "Mary MacKillop, Woman of Australia" by Josephite Sister Margaret Cusack and "If I Could Tell The Love of God", "In Love God Leads Us" and "Psalm 103" by Jesuit Priest Christopher Willcock.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: In 2009 Nicholas Buc was commissioned by the Shire of Glenelg to write an hour-long cantata mass for the centenary of the death of MacKillop. It was premiered by the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic in Portland, Victoria. The "Mass of Mary McKillop" is a setting for congregational singing, composed by Joshua Cowie.


title: Mary MacKillop

text: In 2000, the State Transit Authority named a Sydney Harbour SuperCat ferry after MacKillop. In 2008, a railway bridge in Adelaide was named Mary MacKillop Bridge.


title: Eden (musician)

text: Jonathon Ng (born 23 December 1995), known professionally as Eden (stylised as EDEN), is an Irish musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and occasional model. He formerly operated as The Spab Project and later The Eden Project, an alias that was discontinued in 2015. Ng's work as The Eden Project typically featured more conventional styles of electronic dance music such as dubstep and drum and bass, while Eden saw him venturing into a more indie pop style.


title: Eden (musician)

text: Ng released six EPs and over 70 songs and remixes as The Eden Project. As Eden, he launched his own record label, MCMXCV, on which his debut EP "End Credits" was released. His second EP, "I Think You Think Too Much of Me", was released in August 2016, debuting at No. 43 on the Irish Albums Chart as his first charting music. Eden's debut studio album "Vertigo" was released on 19 January 2018 and was supported by a world tour. In February 2020 Ng released his sophomore studio album called “No Future” which is also followed up by another world tour. “No Future” made it to the top 150 of the all-genres album charts and to the top 10 of the alternative album charts upon one day after release. On September 9th 2022 Ng released his third studio album “ICYMI”.


title: Eden (musician)

text: Jonathon was born on 23 December 1995 to an Irish mother and a Hong Kong father in Dublin, Ireland. From the age of seven, he was trained in classical violin. He later taught himself the piano, guitar, and drums. He attended and graduated from Blackrock College, Dublin.


title: Eden (musician)

text: Ng began independently releasing tracks as The Eden Project in 2013, achieving popularity through promotion networks. In 2014 he released the album "Kairos", in which the tracks "Statues" and "Chasing Ghosts" saw him experimenting with a more subdued alternative style of music. He also was a vocalist in "Iris" (performed by Exit Friendzone) and made track "Lost". Both tracks along with "Chasing Ghosts" were released on NoCopyrightSounds. In October 2014 he released the "Entrance" EP, whose indie track "Circles" contrasted his familiar electronic style. His most popular tracks were deviations from his usual sound. On 10 December 2014 he was featured on the track "Scribble" by New York-based producer Puppet, which was released through Monstercat.