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Gynecologic hemorrhage

Gynecologic hemorrhage represents excessive bleeding of the female reproductive system. Such bleeding could be visible or external, namely bleeding from the vagina, or it could be internal into the pelvic cavity or form a hematoma. Normal menstruation is not considered a gynecologic hemorrhage, as it is not excessive. Hemorrhage associated with a pregnant state  or during delivery is an obstetrical hemorrhage.

Types

 * Metrorrhagia (metro = womb, -rrhagia = excessive flow ) is uterine bleeding at irregular intervals, particularly between the expected menstrual periods.
 * Postcoital bleeding is vaginal bleeding after sexual intercourse.

Causes
Causes of gynecologic bleeding include:

Hormonal
Anovulation is a common cause of gynecological hemorrhage. Under the influence of estrogen the endometrium (uterine lining) is stimulated and eventually such lining will be shed off (estrogen breakthrough bleeding). The anovulation chapter discusses its multiple possible causes. Longstanding anovulation can also lead to endometrial hyperplasia and facilitate the development of endometrial cancer.

Neoplasm

 * 1) Cancer of the uterus is always a concern, specifically when the bleeding occurs after menopause. Other types of cancer include cervical cancer; bleeding in that case can sometimes be triggered by postcoital bleeding. Cancers of the vagina or fallopian tubes are rare causes of hemorrhage.
 * 2) Uterine fibroids represent a common, benign condition that may lead to bleeding, specifically if the lesion affects the uterine cavity.
 * 3) Polyps of the uterine lining are a common cause of bleeding, but such bleeding tends to be light.

Trauma

 * 1) Sexual assault and rape can lead to injury and gynecological hemorrhage.
 * 2) Accidents to the lower abdomen may lead to internal or external bleeding.

Bleeding disorder
Women with a bleeding disorder may be prone to more excessive bleeding. A hematologic work-up should discover the cause.

Other
On occasion an ovarian cyst can rupture and give rise to internal hemorrhage. This may occur during ovulation or as a result of endometriosis.

If the pregnancy test is positive, consider pregnancy related bleeding (see obstetrical hemorrhage), including miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy.

Diagnosis
A history will establish if the condition is acute or chronic, and if external circumstances are involved. A gynecologic examination is usually complemented by a gynecologic ultrasonography. A blood count determines the degree of anemia and may point out bleeding problems. The pregnancy test is important, particularly as bleeding in early pregnancy presents as gynecological hemorrhage and ectopic pregnancy can be fatal. Diagnosis is broadly classified into supportive and definitive investigations:

Supportive

 * 1) Complete blood count to assess degree of anemia.
 * 2) Ultrasonography to rule out uterine lesions, PID.

Definitive

 * 1) Pregnancy test for those who are not yet post menopausal mandatory.
 * 2) Speculum examination to take samples for pap smear.
 * 3) Dilation and curettage to get samples for histology and also control the bleeding if associated with abortion.
 * 4) Colposcopy.

Definition
Menstruation occurs typically monthly, lasts 3–7 days, and involves up to 80 ml blood. Bleeding in excess of this norm in a nonpregnant woman constitutes gynecologic hemorrhage. In addition, early pregnancy bleeding has sometimes been included as gynecologic hemorrhage, namely bleeding from a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy, while it actually represents obstetrical bleeding. However, from a practical view, early pregnancy bleeding is usually handled like a gynecological hemorrhage.

First aid
Gynecologic hemorrhage needs to be evaluated as soon as possible by a physician. The amount and duration of bleeding will dictate whether a bleeding event is an emergency event.

Treatment
Treatment depends on diagnosis and may include hormonal therapy, iv fluids, blood transfusion, and/or a dilation and curettage. Internal bleeding requires laparoscopy or abdominal surgery, in rare and extreme cases a hysterectomy is performed.

title: Gynecologic hemorrhage


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Gendarmenmarkt

The is a square in Berlin and the site of an architectural ensemble that includes the Berlin concert hall, along with the French and German Churches. In the centre of the square stands a monumental statue of poet Friedrich Schiller. The square was created by Johann Arnold Nering at the end of the seventeenth century as the Linden-Markt and reconstructed by Georg Christian Unger in 1773. The Gendarmenmarkt is named after a Prussian cuirassier regiment called the Gendarmen, which had stables at the square until 1773.

During World War II, most of the buildings were badly damaged or destroyed. They have all been restored.

Origins
The square was originally built in 1688. It was a marketplace and part of the city's Western expansion of Friedrichstadt, one of Berlin's emerging quarters.

Französischer Dom
The French Cathedral (in German: Französischer Dom, where Dom refers to the "dome" and not to a cathedral. Neither the French nor the German Church was ever the seat of a bishop. The terminology is a relic of francophone Frederick the Great, who was instrumental in enhancing the Gendarmenmarkt) is the older of the two churches and was built by the Huguenot community between 1701 and 1705. It was modelled after the destroyed Huguenot church in Charenton-Saint-Maurice, France. The tower and porticoes, designed by Carl von Gontard, were added to the building in 1785. The French Church has a viewing platform, a restaurant and a Huguenot museum.

Deutscher Dom
The German Cathedral (in German: Deutscher Dom) is located to the south of the Gendarmenmarkt. It has a pentagonal structure and was designed by Martin Grünberg and built in 1708 by Giovanni Simonetti. This church belonged to the Lutheran community. It too was modified in 1785 by Carl von Gontard, who built the domed tower. The German Church was completely destroyed by fire in 1945, during World War II. After German reunification it was rebuilt, finished in 1993 and re-opened in 1996 as a museum of German history.

Konzerthaus
The Konzerthaus Berlin is the most recent building on the Gendarmenmarkt. It was built by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1821 as the Schauspielhaus. It was based on the ruins of the National Theatre, which had been destroyed by fire in 1817. Parts of the building contain columns and some outside walls from the destroyed building. Like the other buildings on the square, it was also badly damaged during World War II. The reconstruction, finished in 1984, turned the theatre into a concert hall. Today, it is the home of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin.

The Gendarmenmarkt hosts one of Berlin's most popular Christmas markets.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Gendarmenmarkt


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Lesser flamingo

The lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor) is a species of flamingo occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and western India. Birds are occasionally reported from further north, but these are generally considered vagrants.

Characteristics
The lesser flamingo is the smallest species of flamingo, though it is a tall and large bird by most standards. The species can weigh from 1.2 to 2.7 kg. The standing height is around 80 to 90 cm. The total length (from beak to tail) and wingspan are in the same range of measurements, from 90 to 105 cm. Most of the plumage is pinkish white. The clearest difference between this species and the greater flamingo, the only other Old World species of flamingo, is the much more extensive black on the bill. Size is less helpful to distinguish the two species, unless they occur together, since the sexes of each species also differ in height.

The extinct species Phoeniconaias proeses in the same genus, from the Pliocene of Australia, is thought to have been even smaller.

The lesser flamingo may be the most common species of flamingo, with a population that (at its peak) probably numbered up to two million individual birds. This species feeds primarily on Spirulina, algae which grow only in very alkaline lakes. Presence of flamingo groups near water bodies is an indication of sodic alkaline water which is not suitable for irrigation use. Although blue-green in colour, the algae contain the photosynthetic pigments that give the birds their pink colour. Their deep bill is specially adapted for filtering tiny food items. Other forms of algae taken are Synechocystis minuscula, Synechococcus pevalekii, Synechococcus elongatus, Monoraphidium minutum, Oscillatoria sp. and Lyngbya sp. This species will also feed, to a lesser extent, on small invertebrates: copepods (Paradiaptomus africanus), diatoms (Navicula) and rotifers (Brachionus), as well as microscopic alkaliphilic cyanobacteria (Arthrospira fusiformis, A. maxima).

Predators
Lesser flamingos are prey to a variety of species, including marabou storks, vultures, baboons, African fish eagles, jackals, hyenas, foxes, Great white pelicans, Martial Eagle, and big cats.

Breeding
In Africa, where they are most common, the lesser flamingos breed principally on the highly caustic Lake Natron in northern Ngorongoro District in Arusha Region of Tanzania. Their other African breeding sites are at Etosha Pan, Makgadikgadi Pan, and Kamfers Dam. The last confirmed breeding season at Aftout es Saheli in coastal Mauritania was in 1965. Breeding occurred at Lake Magadi in Kenya in 1962 when Lake Natron was unsuitable due to flooding. In the early 20th century, breeding was also observed at Lake Nakuru.

The species also breeds in southwestern and southern Asia. In 1974, they bred at the Rann of Kutch, but since then, only at the Zinzuwadia and Purabcheria salt pans in northwestern India. Some movement of individuals occurs between Africa and India.

Like all flamingos, they lay a single chalky-white egg on a mound they build of mud. Chicks join creches soon after hatching, sometimes numbering over 100,000 individuals. The creches are marshalled by a few adult birds that lead them by foot to fresh water, a journey that can reach over 20 mi.

Threats
Despite being the most common species of flamingo, it is classified as near threatened due to its declining population and the low number of breeding sites, some of which are threatened by human activities.

The population in the two key East African lakes, Lake Nakuru and Lake Bogoria, have been adversely affected in recent years by suspected heavy metal poisoning, while its primary African breeding area in Lake Natron is currently under threat by a proposed soda ash plant by Tata Chemicals. The only breeding site in South Africa, situated at Kamfers Dam, is threatened by pollution and encroaching development. East African soda lake productivity declines due to rising water levels are another threat to the lesser flamingo.

title: Lesser flamingo


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Unter den Linden

Unter den Linden (, "under the linden trees") is a boulevard in the central Mitte district of Berlin, Germany. Running from the Spree River to the Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the linden trees (known as lime in the UK and Ireland, not related to citrus lime) that line the grassed pedestrian mall on the median and the two broad carriageways. The avenue links numerous Berlin sights, landmarks and rivers for sightseeing.

Overview
Unter den Linden runs east–west from the Berlin Palace, the former main residence of the royal House of Hohenzollern, reconstructed (after the demolition of the communist Palace of the Republic) on its old site opposite the Lustgarten park, to Pariser Platz and Brandenburg Gate. Major north–south streets crossing Unter den Linden are Friedrichstraße and Wilhelmstrasse, both meeting at Mehringplatz and running across the Friedrichstadt, a city expansion founded in 1691.

Eastward the boulevard crosses the Spree river, slightly kinked due to the oblique position of the long side of the palace compared to the boulevard, at the Lustgarten with Berlin Cathedral, and continues as Karl-Liebknecht-Straße, itself continued as Prenzlauer Allee, to the northern outskirts. The western, dead straight continuation behind Brandenburg Gate is the Straße des 17. Juni (formerly Charlottenburger Chaussee), which in turn is extended to the west by the straight sequence of Bismarckstrasse and Kaiserdamm, an axis, widened in 1904, that runs from Berlin Palace more than 10 kilometers across the city to the western outskirts where, slightly elevated, one can survey the length of the axis. The extension of the Linden alley to this gigantic axis was inspired by the Boulevards of Paris. The Kurfürstendamm, the magnificent shopping mile in the historically elegant west of Berlin, was similarly inspired.

Unter den Linden, which sits at the heart of the historic section of Berlin, developed from a bridle path laid out by Elector John George of Brandenburg in the 16th century to reach his hunting grounds in the Tiergarten from his palace. It was replaced by a boulevard of linden trees when the Electress Dorothea Sophie planned a new suburb in 1674, named after her Dorotheenstadt. She is said to have planted the first linden tree in 1680. Parts of the fortification of Berlin built in the aftermath of the Thirty Years' War (the baroque Berlin Fortress) were later integrated into the boulevard, around the historic Opernplatz, the present-day Bebelplatz, visible until today as there are no trees on this stretch up to the palace on the Spree river island itself. Bebelplatz itself was planned by Frederick the Great as a much larger Forum Fridericianum, albeit on a smaller scale actually realized with his State Opera, St. Hedwig's Cathedral, the Old Library Building and the Palace of Prince Henry, today the main building of Humboldt University, giving the square an almost complete surround of 18th-century buildings.

By the 19th century, as Berlin grew and expanded to the west, Unter den Linden became the most renowned and grandest street in Berlin. In 1851 the famous equestrian statue of Frederick the Great, designed by Christian Daniel Rauch, was erected on the central strip. Johann Strauss III wrote the waltz "Unter den Linden" in 1900. In the course of the building of the Nord-Süd-Tunnel for the Berlin S-Bahn in 1934–35, most of the linden trees were cut down and during the last days of World War II the remaining trees were destroyed or cut down for firewood. The present-day linden were replanted in the 1950s.

As the location of the pre-1914 German Foreign Ministry building, "the Under den Linden" was sometimes used as a shorthand for the German government when talking of German foreign policy.

Points of interest
Since 1937, the numbering of the properties on the street has started at the Schlossbrücke (Palace Bridge), which connects Unter den Linden with the Lustgarten and Museum Island. The reconstructed Alte Kommandantur is at No. 1, standing opposite the Zeughaus arsenal, the oldest building on Unter den Linden, built between 1695 and 1706, now the seat of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, No. 2. Buildings along the street include (from east to west) the Crown Prince's Palace (the former palace of the Hohenzollern crown princes), at No. 3, opposite the Neue Wache war memorial, No. 4, Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s masterpiece built in 1817. Further along, on Bebelplatz, the Berlin State Opera, No. 7, colloquially called Lindenoper, St. Hedwig's Cathedral and the Altes Palais, No. 9, (Old Palace, Berlin) a favourite Neoclassical residence of Emperor Wilhelm I; next, on the north side lies the main building of the Humboldt University, No. 6, and House I of the Berlin State Library, No. 8. At the western end are the Russian Embassy (former Soviet Embassy, Nos. 63-65, the Hungarian Embassy, No. 76, standing at the junction with Wilhelmstrasse, and finally the Hotel Adlon, No. 77, at the corner of Pariser Platz, which has been completely rebuilt on the site of the pre-war hotel. Well-known statues of Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt in front of the university as well as of the Prussian generals Scharnhorst and Bülow, also adorn the street. A street sign carrying the name Unter den Linden dating from before the 1930s was taken away by British forces and can now be seen at the Imperial War Museum, London.

title: Unter den Linden


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Ford Focus

The Ford Focus is a compact car (C-segment in Europe) manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1999. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worldwide. The original Focus was primarily designed by Ford of Europe's German and British teams. Production of the fourth generation Focus began in 2018 in Germany and China.

Naming
The decision to name the new car the "Ford Focus" was made in early 1998, as Ford's senior management had been planning to keep the "Escort" nameplate for its new generation of small family cars. A last-minute problem arose in July 1998 when a Cologne court, responding to a case brought by the publisher Burda, ordered Ford to avoid the name "Focus" for the cars in the German market since the name was already taken by one of its magazines (Focus). This eleventh-hour dispute was resolved, however, and the car was launched with the name Focus.

First generation (C170; 1998)
Ford of Europe introduced the Focus in 1998 to the European market as a replacement for the Ford Escort. The Focus Mk 1 was awarded the 1999 European Car of the Year award. The project manager for the Ford Focus at Dunton was Rose Mary Farenden.

Ford of North America began marketing the Focus in September 1999 for the 2000 model year, with some changes from the European version. The car was launched as a three-door hatchback, four-door sedan, and five-door wagon; a five-door hatchback debuted in 2001.

In 2002, Ford launched its highest performance version of the Focus, called the Focus RS. It came with a 2.0-litre turbocharged Duratec RS engine, a Quaife ATB limited-slip differential, an AP Racing clutch, and a revolutionary design front suspension strut system called "Revo-knuckle"- as marketed by Ford, Sachs Racing dampers Brembo brakes, 18” O.Z Racing alloy wheels, Michelin Pilot Sport tyres and a host of other performance changes, combined with a much more aggressive appearance, and was available only in Ford's Imperial blue. Tickford Engineering won the engineering contract for the research, development and to oversee production of the Mk 1 Focus RS. Tickford made substantial modifications to the base unit, with up to 70% of the base components either updated, re-engineered or completely redesigned. Despite the development being carried out in the United Kingdom, Ford produced the Focus RS in the Saarlouis plant in Germany between 2002 and 2003 making a limited run of 4501 cars only. This original Focus RS was only available in Europe; just under half (2147) of these were sold in the UK.

For decades, in the U.S., small cars like the Focus were seen as a tool to draw in younger buyers looking for a cheap basic transportation and to increase auto makers' fleet average fuel economies to meet U.S. federal standards. Ford was said not to be concerned about losing money on the Focus so the company could sell gas guzzlers for big profits. However, recent sales of new Focuses have been able to maintain lower or overall discounting incentive rates than many competing vehicles in its class. Many industry insiders view cars like the Focus as 'compliance cars' because of their role in helping to bring up the corporate fleet average fuel economy to meet current fuel-economy standards.

Europe (C307; 2004)

The second generation Focus was launched at the Paris Motor Show on September 25, 2004, as a three and five-door hatchback and an estate, although the new car was previewed, in 4-door sedan form, as the "Focus Concept" developed by Ford Europe at the Beijing Motor Show in mid-2004.

The basic suspension design, which contributed much to the Mk 1's success, was carried over largely unchanged from its predecessor. Along with a 10 percent stiffer bodyshell, according to Ford this offers a better ride, but critics claimed the car lacked the precise and poised handling of the Mk 1. The same body styles as the Mk 1 Focus were offered, though the sedan did not appear until mid-2005. A two-door coupé-cabriolet with a retractable hardtop was added to the line-up in 2007.

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

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

In 2005, Ford released a MK.II version of Ford's sports division of Focus, the Focus ST. This one produced 225 bhp and could achieve a 0 - 60 mph time of 6.4 seconds, and a 152 mph top speed, using a 2.5-litre, five-cylinder turbocharged engine originating from Volvo.

2007–2008 saw a minor facelifted version introduced, featuring Ford's Kinetic Design philosophy. Major changes included a new bonnet with more creases, the removal of all mouldings along the doors and sides, new sculpted pull back headlights, and the big trapezoidal lower grille.

In 2009, the new Focus RS was launched, with a modified version of the 2.5-litre engine found in the ST.

North America (C170; 2007)

For the North American market, development followed a separate path. Since debuting at the 2007 North American International Auto Show, the restyled 2008–2011 generation was available as a two-door coupe and four-door sedan; the hatchbacks and wagon were discontinued. The interior was redesigned, including new seats, a new dashboard design with message center on top of the dashboard, ambient lighting, dashboard panels that simulate brushed aluminum, and Ford's voice-controlled Sync audio/Bluetooth system. Also included in the redesign was a support beam behind the dashboard for extra structural rigidity.

Though informally considered as the second generation, it was never officially referred to as such by Ford since its platform was the same as the first generation.

Third generation (C346; 2010)
For the third generation, Ford reunited both international and North American models by releasing the international Mk 3 worldwide. The previous North American version was discontinued, and the new model was launched simultaneously in North America and Europe in early 2011, both having started production late in 2010.

Ford unveiled the Ford Focus at the 2010 North American International Auto Show. The car shown was a five-door hatchback model, also debuting a new 2.0-litre direct injection inline-four engine. A five-door station wagon was also made available at launch. The new generation launched simultaneously in North America and Europe in early 2011, with production having started in late 2010. Production in Asia, Africa, Australia and South America was scheduled to follow later but the plan for Australian production was later dropped and that market and New Zealand were supplied, along with Asia, from a new factory in Thailand where output began in June 2012.

Ford previewed the third generation facelifted model at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show. The updated version features a new redesigned front end design, incorporating Ford's new family grille and slimline headlights.

The Focus RS returned in 2015 now sporting an updated 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine. Built in Ford's Germany plant Saarlouis, the Focus RS was updated to be given an advanced all-wheel drive system that could send full power to the rear wheels if allowed.

Fourth generation (C519; 2018)

On April 10, 2018, Ford unveiled the Eurasian-market versions of the fourth-generation Focus, to mark the brand's 20th anniversary. As in the previous generation, the model is available with sedan, hatchback and estate body styles. A crossover-inspired trim level known as the Active is available with the hatchback and estate body styles. The car also has a Vignale luxury trim level.

The exterior features a sportier design, while Ford described its interior as being simpler. The company also emphasized technology featured in the new model, including the Sync 3 infotainment system, FordPass Connect, and the CoPilot360 driver assistance suite.

In April 2018, Ford announced that all passenger vehicles but the Mustang would be discontinued in the North American market, in order to focus on trucks and SUVs. The Focus Active was intended to be the only version of the model available in the market, but Ford cancelled these plans in August 2018 over tariffs imposed by the U.S. government on exports from China, as the model would be manufactured in the country.

Ford limited sales of fourth generation Focus in its 4-door saloon form in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Turkey, Cyprus as well as many Asian and African countries. Ford no longer offers the Focus in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan due to a broader reorganization of their European branch.

In April 2020, Ford confirmed there are no plans for a fourth-generation Focus RS model due to pan-European emissions standards and high development costs.

In October 2021, the model received a facelift for the European market.

In 2022, it was announced that Ford would discontinue the Focus by 2025, as part of a pivot towards crossover vehicles and electrification.

Rallying
The first Focus World Rally Car made its debut in rallying and the World Rally Championship on the 1999 Monte Carlo Rally with Colin McRae and Simon Jean-Joseph at the wheels of the two cars, replacing the Escort. It was immediately on the pace, setting many fastest stage times, but an illegal water pump meant that the two cars were excluded from that event. McRae went on to give the Focus WRC its maiden victory on the Safari Rally in February of the same year, and took victory again in the following rally, the Rally Portugal.

The MkI Focus WRC went on to achieve further victories over the years for McRae, Carlos Sainz, and Markko Märtin from then until it was phased out in favour of the MkII offering in late 2005. This car, a winner in both Marcus Grönholm's and Mikko Hirvonen's hands in the two-car factory BP-Ford World Rally Team that contested the 2006 World Rally Championship, duly racked up the manufacturers' title, spelling the end of a formidable twenty-seven-year wait for such an honour in this series for the Blue Oval. The team successfully defended the manufacturers' title in the 2007 season. The Focus WRC was used until the 2010 season, when it was announced that the new Fiesta would replace it from 2011 onwards.

All the rally cars were built, prepared, and run for Ford by M-Sport, the motorsport team based in Cockermouth, Cumbria in Northern England. The team was managed by Malcolm Wilson, a well known British former rally driver.

Touring cars
Besides rallies, the Focus has also been used in the SCCA Speed World Challenge Touring Car Series, the TC 2000, resulting champion in 2003, 2005, 2010, and 2012.

A Focus was entered into the 2006 Swedish Touring Car Championship season.

The Ford Focus ST made its debut in the 2009 British Touring Car Championship season, with Arena Motorsport. During its second season, the car ran on liquefied petroleum gas, taking the first BTCC win for a car powered by this fuel at Brands Hatch. In 2011, Arena (also known as Team AON) shifted to the newer Focus Mk3, while Motorbase Performance drove the ST version. Both cars had engines built to the Next Generation Touring Car engine rules. Motorbase continues to compete with the Ford Focus ST.

This car won four drivers' championships of the Argentine TC 2000/Súper TC 2000 championship (2003, 2005, 2010 and 2012). The first three of the Oreste Berta Ford YPF team with official support from Ford Argentina.

Arena Motorsport entered two Ford Focus Mk3s in the 2012 World Touring Car Championship season for Tom Chilton and James Nash. The best result was a sixth place by Nash in the Race of Morocco.

In 2008 Ford South Africa entered two modified Focus ST models into Class T (reserved for turbocharged production vehicles) of the local Bridgestone Production Car Championship (essentially a Touring Car formula). They secured the Class T driver's titles in 2009 and 2011.

The car had success in the 2013 China Touring Car Championship, and won its class in the 2014 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour. The Focus that raced in the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour was powered by a 5.0 L Ford Coyote V8 engine.

Future
Ford of Europe's chairman and former president, Stuart Rowley has told journalists in June 2022 that Ford plans to end production of the Focus at the Saarlouis plant in Germany around 2025. There was no indication of when production would end in China.

title: Ford Focus


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Mrs Craddock

Mrs Craddock is a novel by William Somerset Maugham first published in 1902.

Plot introduction
Set in the final years of the 19th century, Mrs Craddock is about a young and attractive woman of independent means who marries beneath her. As he had written about a subject that was considered daring at the time, Maugham had some difficulty finding a publisher. Completed in 1900, the novel was eventually published in 1902 by William Heinemann, but only on the condition that the author took out passages which, according to Heinemann, might have offended the readers. A successful and popular book, Mrs Craddock was reissued in 1903 and again in 1908. In 1938 the first non-Bowdlerized version, stylistically improved by Maugham, came out.

Plot summary
On her 21st birthday, when she comes into her deceased father's money, Bertha Ley announces, to the dismay of her former guardian, that she is going to marry 27-year-old Edward Craddock, her steward. Herself a member of the landed gentry, Bertha has been raised to cultivate an "immoderate desire for knowledge" and to understand, and enjoy, European culture of both past and present ages. In particular, during long stays on the Continent, she has learned to appreciate Italy's tremendous cultural heritage. A "virtuous" girl, her views on womanhood are thoroughly traditional. She has no doubts about her role in life, which will be to serve and obey her future husband. When Bertha encourages reluctant Edward Craddock, whom she has known since their childhood, to propose to her, she is certain that she will find absolute fulfilment and happiness in her marriage, even if it means abandoning city life and its pleasures for the Kentish coast "to live as her ancestors had lived, ploughing the land, sowing and reaping; but her children, the sons of the future, would belong to a new stock, stronger and fairer than the old. The Leys had gone down into the darkness of death, and her children would bear another name. […] She felt in herself suddenly the weariness of a family that had lived too long; she knew she was right to choose new blood to mix with the old blood of the Leys. It needed the freshness and youth, the massive strength of her husband, to bring life to the decayed race." (Ch.8)

The man selected by Bertha in an almost Darwinian fashion to accomplish all this is described by the narrator as little more than a noble savage, "the unspoiled child of nature, his mind free from the million perversities of civilization" (Ch.7). Edward Craddock may be tall, strong, handsome, and practically free from sin ("He simply reeks of the Ten Commandments"), but at the same time he is hardly educated, unimaginative, and unnecessarily headstrong. Subconsciously justifying her decision to marry him, Bertha boosts his ego by constantly telling him that he will rise above himself if he is given the chance to do so, and accordingly transfers all powers to manage her estate to her husband. As time goes by, Craddock turns into the archetypal country squire, accepted, respected, even adored and envied by the community, who have no idea that in the meantime his wife has drawn her own, less favourable, conclusions about their married life.

After their honeymoon, which they spend in London, Bertha soon realises that her husband is a bore and, what is more, rather insensitive to her needs. Time and again she pokes fun at his inferior taste in music, his inability and unwillingness to read books, and his chauvinism. She is disappointed at the routine that dominates their marriage and at the lack of attentions he pays her. It gradually dawns upon her that Edward lives in a world of his own, in which the death of a cow causes him more grief than that of a beloved person. When, a bit more than a year into their marriage, Bertha is eight months pregnant and has a premonition that there might be complications during birth, he assures her that "it's nothing to make a fuss about", his insight stemming from his own experience: "He had bred animals for years, and was quite used to the process that supplied him with veal, mutton and beef for the local butchers. It was a ridiculous fuss that human beings made over a natural and ordinary phenomenon." (Ch.16)

However, their son is stillborn, and Bertha is told that she will not be able to have children in future either. The ensuing crisis makes her doubt that God exists, while the vicar's sister, a friend of theirs, asserts that "we should be thankful for the cross we have to bear. It is, as it were, a measure of the confidence that God places in us." (Ch.18) Finding no solace in religion—at least that kind of religion—but at the same time unable to get over the loss of her son and also increasingly disgusted by her husband's matter-of-fact behaviour, Bertha escapes her dreary surroundings and finds refuge in London, where she moves into her aunt's flat. Mary Ley, in her late forties and unmarried, senses right from the start that Bertha means to leave her husband for good but, for the sake of her niece's peace of mind, is not prepared to broach the subject. Edward, on the other hand, is happily unaware of his wife's intentions, considering himself nothing more than a grass widower and urging his wife in several letters to come home as soon as she has fully recovered. After a prolonged trip with her aunt to Paris, made under the pretext of intending to buy dresses, Bertha, for want of any other reasonable course of action, returns to Kent and her husband, thus erroneously confirming Edward in his belief that her going away was just a passing phase.

While his wife settles down to a life of quiet despair and excruciating boredom, Edward Craddock, who has become a stranger to her, embarks on a career in politics. Elected County Councillor for the Conservative Party, he immediately starts dreaming of climbing the ladder of success even further and becoming a member of parliament (MP). Five years after her wedding, aged only 26, Bertha not only feels that she has aged prematurely; she is also aware of the fact that in the eyes of the local community she has become a mere appendage to her husband. Never having had anyone to confide in, she at long last picks Dr Ramsay, the local GP and her former guardian, to tell him the truth about the passionate hatred she feels for Edward and to ask for the doctor's help. "I know him through and through", Bertha says of her husband, "and he's a fool. You can't conceive how stupid, how utterly brainless he is. He bores me to death. […] Oh, when I think that I'm shackled to him for the rest of my life I feel I could kill myself." (Ch.27)

Again Bertha escapes to the Continent, again with her aunt, this time to Rome (while Edward Craddock has not once in his life been abroad). Claiming that her delicate health demands spending the winter in a warm climate, she is back in London in the following spring after having enjoyed six months of freedom but now must face reality again and no longer delay her return to her husband. This is when 19-year-old Gerald Vaudrey, a cousin of hers she has never met before, enters her life. Gerald, handsome and still looking like a schoolboy, is to stay in London for a couple of weeks to wait for his passage to the United States, where he has been assigned to go by his parents as a punishment for his misdemeanours. Visiting his—and Bertha's – aunt, he is introduced to his cousin at Mary Ley's flat, and from the moment they first set eyes on each other Bertha and Gerald are curiously attracted to each other. They go off almost every day exploring the sights of London, and 26-year-old Bertha, unable as well as unwilling to face the facts, feels flattered by the youth's many attentions. She just does not really want to believe that Gerald has been expelled from his parental home after seducing the maid; she refuses to see a womaniser in Gerald and, although she tries hard to resist her feelings, genuinely falls in love with the boy.

At the very last moment, on the eve of Gerald's departure, it occurs to Bertha that she might "give Gerald the inestimable gift of her body", as "there is one way in which a woman can bind a man to her for ever, there is one tie that is indissoluble; her very flesh cried out, and she trembled at the thought." (Ch.31) The young couple are already alone in their aunt's flat, but Mary Ley comes home early from a dinner to which she has been invited, suspecting that they could be meeting secretly, and prevents any sexual activity. Gerald Vaudrey leaves for the States on the following morning. When, two weeks later, Bertha receives a letter from America, she puts it on the mantelpiece, where she looks at it for a month. Only then does she burn it, without ever having opened it. To her, having achieved this means that she has got over her infatuation.

Again Bertha Craddock returns to her husband and, after that "mere spring day of happiness" with Gerald, prepares for "the long winter of life". Four years later, when she is 30, Edward Craddock breaks his neck in a riding accident, and, seeing his body being carried into the house, Bertha, for the first time since her wedding, feels free. Similar to the old custom of damnatio memoriae in the Roman Empire, she destroys all of Edward's photographs and all of his letters to her.

Read on

 * A Woman Killed with Kindness (1603), an early example of domestic drama written by Thomas Heywood, is about the marriage of a country gentleman going awry, and about his bitter revenge.
 * The Woman Who Did (1895) by Grant Allen is the story of a "New Woman" who, as opposed to Bertha Craddock, refuses to be submissive.
 * Liza of Lambeth (1897) is Maugham's depiction of working class life in Victorian London.
 * E. M. Forster's Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905) is about a misalliance and one family's reaction to it.
 * In Ellen Glasgow's novel Virginia (1913), the protagonist, whose outlook on life is quite similar to Bertha's, sacrifices herself for her family but in the end does not get what she would deserve.
 * In Francis Iles's novel Before the Fact (1932), which is also set among the landed gentry (and which was filmed in 1941 by Alfred Hitchcock as Suspicion), a wealthy young woman becomes the wife, and eventually the victim, of a ruthless criminal.
 * Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love (1945) is about the lives and loves of an unconventional British upper-class family in rural England before and during the Second World War.

title: Mrs Craddock


text:
Talk:Voice of America

Wikipedia Ambassador Program assignment
This article is the subject of an educational assignment at Georgetown University supported by the Wikipedia Ambassador Program during the 2011 Spring term. Further details are available on the course page.

Above message substituted from on 14:37, 7 January 2023 (UTC)

A Propaganda Outlet
Why do some users have a hard time accepting VOA as a propaganda outlet for the American government while easily labeling say RT America as a propaganda outlet for the Russian government. Oh I get it, Wikipedia is a biased online encyclopedia! Case closed. 91.146.137.194 (talk)

 * First provide arguments, you aren´t a God or something similar to say "some people" and speak bad about "those people" just because they do not see things from your point of view, Wikipedia belongs to everyone and if something is added to the article That may affect the balance of the same in a considerable way, that first has to be discussed. be a little more formal and stop using this part of this FREE ENCYCLOPEDIA to use it as a forum. This is not a site to contribute your personal opinions, it gives an idea that can IMPROVE THIS ARTICLE and later I and more people will discuss in a friendly way what can be done. THAT'S MUCH BETTER THAN GIVING AN UNSIGNED, IRRELEVANT COMMENT TO IMPROVE THIS ARTICLE. Thank you. Oh, by the way, sign your responses so you can face the consequences of tone comments like this. This encyclopedia is not the  biased encyclopedia  because for that we have people and Wikipedians of all points of view, with the aim of making our articles have a neutral point of view. So if you detect bias, please report it and do not make unpleasant and unhelpful comments to the encyclopedia article. Thanks for your time. --OfficeBlue (talk) 22:54, 9 January 2021 (UTC)

 * Of course the VOA is a propaganda outlet. I don't know why anyone would contest that fact. Binksternet (talk) 21:34, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

 * I agree with your point that the VOA is a propaganda medium, I mean that this encyclopedia, although it may contain biases, we are not totally biased by elements such as the strict NPOV policy. Therefore, although we can point out that we cannot defend positions such as "VOA is not a propaganda medium" or "yes it is", we cannot point them out and say that they are the majority of publishers, and that this encyclopedia is biased, by themselves. How it happened with the premise of the individual who started this thread. --OfficeBlue (talk) 01:29, 18 January 2021 (UTC)

'Trump presidency politicization efforts' section
I'd like to raise several concerns regarding the section Voice of America. It seems to me that this section more properly belongs in the article U.S. Agency for Global Media. Much of the information discussed there deals with broader issues than just what happened at VOA, and concerns other networks managed by the USAGM, the overall USAGM management issues, the board appointments, etc. It makes more sense to move over this section to U.S. Agency for Global Media and leave a relatively short paragraph with a redirect in the VOA article. However, the other issue I see here is the length of the section. Even in the VOA article, the section appears to be overly long and exessively detailed, probably in the need of compression. If moved over to U.S. Agency for Global Media, in its current form the section would overwhelm that article and create significant WP:BALANCE problems there. So I am not sure what exactly should be done here and in which order, and extra opinions would be welcome. Nsk92 (talk) 16:39, 23 January 2021 (UTC)

The claim that Ted Lipien's "official" blog supported turning VOA into Trump propaganda outlet is false and not supported by any citations. BBGWatch.com and USAGMWatch.com are not official blogs of any person but are managed by unpaid volunteer citizen journalists, some of them former VOA reporters, all of whom express their support for the VOA Charter and have repeatedly criticized all violations of the VOA Charter, both on the left and on the right, and have called for accurate, balanced and comprehensive factual reporting by the Voice of America. BBGWatch.com and USAGMWatch.com do not support Trump propaganda or propaganda of any kind and state it on their websites. and Ted Lipien is also not a former political VOA "official" but an independent journalist and a media freedom advocate who has been registered as an independent voter for some years and is not a supporter of former President Trump. He was promoted from within the Voice of America after he was VOA Polish Service chief during Poland's struggle for democracy and later VOA Eurasia Division director. Coldwarbroadcasting (talk) 20:19, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
 * The sentence in the article that you object to is directly supported by the source cited, the Washington Post article (see the citation tag ref number [118] at the end of the sentence in question in the article), and in addition by the NPR source you cite yourself here . The WaPo sources directly says: "Lipien is a former VOA official." Note that the current text does not say that Lipien's blogs are "official" blogs, or that Lipien is a Trump voter or a Trump supporter. Instead the sentence says: "Pack named Ted Lipien, a former VOA official whose blog praised his efforts to change VOA into a pro-Trump propaganda outlet, as head of RFE/RL ..." That characterization is essentially supported by the WaPo source cited: "Lipien is a former VOA official who has run a blog titled BBG-USAGM Watch that is a forum for critical former VOA employees (BBG refers to USAGM’s former name). The blog has repeatedly asserted that VOA’s programming favors liberal views. It has also reported and commented favorably on Pack’s efforts to restructure the operation since he assumed the top job in June." However, since the source indeed does not mention Trump at all, I'll reword the relevant sentence in the article to correspond more closely to what the source actually says. Nsk92 (talk) 20:57, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

 * This is an exceptionally well written section. This story seems to be more about the U.S. Agency for Global Media, rather than about VOA. But VOA played the central role. So belongs here. My very best wishes (talk) 03:34, 3 June 2021 (UTC)

 * I won't weigh in on the factual accuracy of the section, but it is WAY too long. The organization is over 70 years old, but this 4 year period dominates the history section. If an editors wants to maintain the text, please consider making a separate article. I will soon pare it down to a summary. Ashmoo (talk) 12:49, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 15:35, 2 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Flag of Kerala.png

What do superscript R and T mean?
What is the meaning of the superscript "R"s and "T"s in the "Current languages" section? Normally I'd expect them to be hyperlinked to some sort of explanation at the bottom of the section or article. -- Beland (talk) 20:22, 30 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Prior to a set of IP edits, there was a note saying "(radio programs are marked with an "R"; TV programs with a "T")". The IP edit also removed some of the languages. I don't have time to investigate further though. --Pokechu22 (talk) 20:33, 30 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Well spotted! I will restore the note. -- Beland (talk) 00:37, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

The members of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light whom were seeking safety in the EU are detained by the Turkish border police.
The members of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light whom were seeking safety in the EU are detained by the Turkish border police.

https://www.eureporter.co/world/turkey/2023/05/24/over-100-church-members-beaten-and-arrested-at-the-turkish-border/

https://sofiaglobe.com/2023/05/24/members-of-religious-minority-seeking-asylum-pushed-back-at-turkish-bulgarian-border/ 197.40.194.112 (talk) 22:09, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

Historical VOA/Ethiopia section worth restoring
In early 2008 there. There is some old talk page discussion (just two comments) that seems to have one person arguing that the sources are mostly pro-ET-govt, and the other talking about a VOA/Ethiopia crisis and restoring the material. The sources would have to be checked - probably many may be only on Wayback; the WP:RELTIME violations would have to be fixed; and the general NPOV would have to be checked. The material was by an IP editor who only did, and nobody seemed to notice the deletion. Boud (talk) 23:45, 14 September 2023 (UTC)

 * The report by Annette Sheckler - former Horn of Africa service chief for a year - is a good source. I couldn't find much else that was usable - mostly dead urls, repeat references that were given independent numbers. An incident of Ethiopian authorities apparently blocked VOA + Deutsche Welle for a brief period but doesn't really fit in this article. Any good journalism source should expect to be censored in countries with governments intolerant of independent media; VOA has almost certainly been censored many times in many countries. The ref could be put into something like a section of Censorship in Ethiopia.In my rewrite, although I browsed the old text, I wrote new text based on the sources - there wasn't much point trying to follow the old text. Boud (talk) 22:22, 17 September 2023 (UTC)

Why was "propaganda" removed?
VOA has been described multiple times as propaganda. This was reflected in the opening sentence of the article until just the other day. When I pointed out on another article that VOA is not a great source for objective analysis of the Ukraine war due to an inherent COI, someone came over here and removed the word propaganda. The reason for removal is apparently that it's on our list of "contentious labels". It is not. Given the strong appetite for value-laden labels on Wikipedia that I've seen elsewhere, I don't understand why we would whitewash this article by removing the description of VOA as "propaganda".

The article is still categorized under "United States Government Propaganda Organizations". And here's another RS describing VOA as propaganda. Here's a relevant passage:

VOA was also prohibited from broadcasting to American citizens until 2013, under the Smith-Mundt Act, which was intended to "protect the American public from propaganda actions by their own government". There's no evidence that VOA's content changed after 2013 such that it no longer qualified as propaganda - on the contrary, the 2013 amendment is a recognition that American citizens cannot and are not shielded from American propaganda in the internet age.

We should either re-insert the description, or step back and have a broader conversation about contentious labels.

I would be open to significantly increasing the scope of the "contentious labels" list, and have advocated this in the past. But that's a separate discussion. Currently, propaganda is not on the list. Philomathes2357 (talk) 20:29, 5 November 2023 (UTC)

 * Why was it added to the first line? It was already in the lead in a better place with context
 * I see you tried to edit another page and explain it by justifying propaganda being in the first sentence here and that you were warned about WP:EDITWARRING on that page
 * If you think propaganda is DUE in the lead, improve the reference thats there. Dont need to add another, extra dont need it in the lead and dont need to add it without sources Softlem (talk) 20:36, 5 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Well, I do not think calling it a propaganda outlet in wikivoice in the first sentence would follow WP:NPOV. There is not really any mention of this viewpoint (in regards to VoA today) in the body except concerns about increasing politicization, so there should be an expansion of this first. The lead could also be expanded to mention its role during the Cold War. Mellk (talk) 20:41, 5 November 2023 (UTC)
 * I agree that calling it propaganda in wikivoice in the first sentence is WP:UNDUE and violates WP:NPOV. I also am deeply worried about how Philomathes2357 made this edit primarily to justify an edit warring edit at Scott Ritter. USNavelObservatory (talk) 20:45, 5 November 2023 (UTC)
 * There's an exhaustive list? The one at WP:CONTENTIOUS ends with an ellipsis (...) so I took it as non-exhaustive. There are other words I'd consider contentious that are missing too, like, say, fascist or fringe science. And, if I could digress for a second, I suppose it depends on context, like the word "communist" would be contentious for a modern American politician but not for a Soviet politician.
 * To clarify, when I removed it (twice) it was primarily because it was uncited. If it weren't contentious language, I would have acted differently, like maybe putting a citation needed on it instead since I don't actually know enough about VOA to judge. On the other hand, the most recent removal was done by @Prolog who seems to have actually read the source that was added.
 * Also, I'm not familiar with the Ukraine war discussion you're talking about. Maybe you confused my edit with Prolog's?
 * If you're seeing contentious language elsewhere, you should remove it (or if you're not sure, tag it or bring it up on talk). Just because one article has a problem doesn't mean another article should too.
 * — W.andrea (talk) 00:00, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
 * @W.andrea you know, you're right. I'm not a fan of these value-laden descriptors in the opening paragraph of an article, either, especially when they're in Wikivoice. But I've seen them defended passionately elsewhere, so I figured that they should at least be evenly applied. But that's wrong - you are right to remove it. I actually agree that WP:CONTENTIOUS should be expanded, and should include words like fascist, fringe, and far-left/right, among others. This would provide more clarity to less-experienced editors, and avoid squabbles over the use of those words. I'd be open to including propaganda/propagandist as well. Maybe we should bring this up at the relevant noticeboard? Philomathes2357 (talk) 07:26, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
 * I agree with the above Stalinist57 (talk) 15:03, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Alright, I never realized I was involved in a editing war. I change the text simply because I checked the China Central Television wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Central_Television
 * In this page, it's pretty clear that the term "a propaganda outlet" appears in the very first sentence so I think it's a common practice to add this term to all other similar platform.
 * In this case, I would suggest to remove "propaganda outlet" in China Central Television's wiki page to avoid double standard and follow WP:NPOV. Ureal (talk) 05:58, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
 * In this page, it's pretty clear that the term "a propaganda outlet" appears in the very first sentence so I think it's a common practice to add this term to all other similar platform. No
 * In this case, I would suggest to remove "propaganda outlet" in China Central Television's wiki page to avoid double standard and follow WP:NPOV. Theres no double standard, you tried to add something to the lead that was already there. Following NPOV means not saying it again and again in the lead, not removing it from other pages where its sources Softlem (talk) 11:03, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Still, in CCTV page, the same term "propaganda" is repetively stated multiple times. Given these two institutions are similar in terms of functionality, can you justify why does this two pages is treated differently? Ureal (talk) 09:06, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Repetively stated in the lead Ureal (talk) 09:06, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
 * In this case, I would suggest to remove "propaganda outlet" in China Central Television's wiki page to avoid double standard and follow WP:NPOV. Theres no double standard, you tried to add something to the lead that was already there. Following NPOV means not saying it again and again in the lead, not removing it from other pages where its sources Softlem (talk) 11:03, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Still, in CCTV page, the same term "propaganda" is repetively stated multiple times. Given these two institutions are similar in terms of functionality, can you justify why does this two pages is treated differently? Ureal (talk) 09:06, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Repetively stated in the lead Ureal (talk) 09:06, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

CIA black op site
I added this context to the rumor. It was immediately reverted by a brand new IP editor with the edit summary "the ref does not refer to the rumor, denied, by unnamed persons, as saying this was a cia site, so this is irrelevant". I don't see the justification for this deletion. Since it was reverted, instead I added the material and the sourcing for it. --David Tornheim (talk) 07:54, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
 * , "See also" links go into a dedicated section at the end of the article. Such links should not be inserted into the body of the article. Please see MOS:SEEALSO. Cullen328 (talk) 08:03, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

The new editor acting under various IP addresses, keeps trying to force in their preferred version. I have reverted back to the long-standing status quo and am happy to discuss how to make the section WP:NPOV. My edit summary was:
 * Restore back to the long-standing status quo of 2/6/24 before new IP editor started changing this section to make it less WP:NPOV that the original. IPs version does not reflect the articles accurately and instead focuses too heavily on official denials rather than the cause of the rumor (see CIA_black_sites), past suspicions of the site, and reporters flocking to the site.  Discuss:  Talk:Voice_of_America

I suggest we work on a compromise agreeable to all. I think we might agree that the original title "Relay station used as a CIA black site" makes it sound too much like the rumor was true. (Based on the WP:RS I have read, I do not believe that to be the case. But my research would be considered WP:OR.)  The IP's far-too wordy version ("Unconfirmed and denied rumor that Thai relay station was used to interrogate terrorists") over-emphasizes the denials. There must be some middle-ground, which I tried to establish in my previous edit ("Rumor that Thai relay station was used as CIA black op site"). Other than the title, I had copied and pasted the material (and WP:RS) directly from the first paragraph of CIA_black_sites. --David Tornheim (talk) 09:40, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Voice of America


text:
Culture of North Korea

The contemporary culture of North Korea is based on traditional Korean culture, but has developed since the division of Korea in 1945. Juche, officially the Juche idea, is the state ideology of North Korea; It is considered a variation of Marxist-Leninism. Juche displays Korea's cultural distinctiveness as North Korea is the creator and sole adopter of the ideology.

Art in North Korea is primarily didactic, where cultural expression serves as an instrument for inculcating Juche ideology and the need to continue the struggle for revolution and reunification of the Korean Peninsula. Foreign governments and citizens, especially Americans, are depicted negatively as imperialists; while revolutionary heroes and heroines are seen as saintly figures who act from the purest of motives. The three most consistent themes are martyrdom during the revolutionary struggle (depicted in literature such as The Sea of Blood), the happiness of the present society, and the genius of the leader.

Kim Il Sung has been described as a writer of "classical masterpieces" during the anti-Japanese struggle. Novels created under his direction include The Flower Girl, The Sea of Blood, The Fate of a Self-Defense Corps Man, and The Song of Korea; these are considered "prototypes and models of Juche literature and art." A 1992 newspaper report describes Kim in semi-retirement as writing his memoirs—"a heroic epic dedicated to the freedom and happiness of the people."

Due to North Korean Isolationism, the general population has little or no exposure to foreign cultural influences apart from performances by song-and-dance groups and other entertainers brought in periodically for limited audiences. These performances, such as the Spring Friendship Art Festival held annually in April, are designed to show that the peoples of the world, like the North Koreans themselves, love and respect the country's leader. During the 1980s and the early 1990s, the North Korean media credits Kim Jong Il for making the country a "kingdom of art." The North Korean Media claims Kim Jong Il is supposedly personally responsible for cultural policy.

Pyongyang and other large cities offer the broadest selection of cultural expression. "Art Propaganda squads" travel to production sites in the provinces to perform poetry readings, one-act plays, and songs in order to "congratulate workers on their successes" and "inspire them to greater successes through their artistic agitation." Such squads are prominent in the countryside during the harvest season and whenever "speed battles" to increase productivity are held.

North Korean society and culture through the lens of theater, film, and everyday performance make up an ideology-shaping matrix that not only entertains but also organizes and mobilizes society. The culture has a tremendous influence on the daily lives of people in North Korea.

Guidance and control
The state and the Korean Workers' Party control the production of literature and art. In the early 1990s, there was no evidence of any underground anti-regime literary or cultural movements such as the samizdat in the Soviet Union or those that exist in the People's Republic of China. The party exercises control over culture through its Propaganda and Agitation Department and the Culture and Arts Department of the KWP's Central Committee. The KWP's General Federation of Korean Literature and Arts Unions, the parent body for all literary and artistic organizations, also directs cultural activity. Due to widespread media control, some analysts have characterized North Koreans as censorees. These media of paintings, songs, movies, and mass games tell the story of Kim Il Sung as the father of the nation and provides guidance on how to behave as "model citizens" of North Korea.

Cultural expression
The general theme of cultural expression is to take the best aspects from the past while discarding capitalistic elements. Popular vernacular styles and themes in literature, art, music, and dance are esteemed as they are seen as expressing the unique spirit of the Korean nation. Ethnographers restore and reintroduce cultural forms that have a proletarian or folk spirit and that encourages the development of a collective consciousness. Lively, optimistic musical and choreographic expressions are emphasised. Group folk dances and choral singing are traditionally practiced in some but not all parts of Korea and were being promoted throughout North Korea in the early 1990s among school and university students. Farmers' musical bands have also been revived.

Literature, music, and film

Literature is dominated by political themes. A series of historical novels—Pulmyouui yoksa (Immortal History)— depict the heroism and tragedy of the pre-liberation era. The Korean War is the key theme of Korea Fights and The Burning Island. Since the late 1970s, five “great revolutionary plays” have been promoted as models of the party's literature: The Shrine for a Tutelary Deity, a theatrical rendition of The Flower Girl, Three Men, One Party, A Letter from a Daughter, and Hyolbun mangukhoe (Resentment at the World Conference). The North Korean population also has access to limited literature from around the world, including the Harry Potter series.

Korean revolutionary opera, derived from traditional Korean operas, known as ch'angguk, are often variations on Korean folk songs. Old fairy tales have also been changed to include revolutionary themes. As part of the party's policy of preserving the best from Korea's past, premodern vernacular works such as the Sasong kibong (Encounter of Four Persons) and the Ssangch'on kibong (Encounter at the Two Rivers) have been reprinted with edits to suit that purpose as well.

Musical compositions include the "Song of General Kim Il Sung", "Long Life and Good Health to the Leader", and "We Sing of His Benevolent Love"—hymns that praise the nation's leader. According to a North Korean writer, "Our musicians have pursued the party's policy of composing orchestral music based on famous songs and folk songs popular among our people and produced numerous instrumental pieces of a new type." This music includes a symphony based on the theme of The Sea of Blood, which has also been made into a revolutionary opera.

In February 2008, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra became the first U.S. orchestra to perform in North Korea, albeit for a handpicked "invited audience". The concert was broadcast on national television. The Christian rock band Casting Crowns played at the annual Spring Friendship Arts Festival in April 2007, held in Pyongyang.

Motion pictures are recognized as "the most powerful medium for educating the masses" and play a central role in social education. According to a North Korean source, "films for children contribute to the formation of the rising generation, with a view to creating a new kind of man, harmoniously evolved and equipped with well-founded knowledge and a sound mind in a sound body." One of the most influential films, An Jung-geun Shoots Ito Hirobumi, tells of the assassin who killed the Japanese resident-general in Korea in 1909. The protagonist is portrayed as a courageous patriot, but one whose efforts to liberate Korea were frustrated because the masses had not been united under "an outstanding leader who enunciates a correct guiding thought and scientific strategy and tactics." Folk tales such as "The Tale of Chun Hyang", about a nobleman who marries a servant girl, and "The Tale of On Dal" have also been made into films.

Kim Jong Il showed interest in or perhaps even obsession with cinema. The North Korean leader reportedly had a huge library of Western and Asian movies. In the 1980s, he even ordered the kidnapping of two South Korean movie-makers and forced them to make films for the North Korean state.

Australian filmmaker Anna Broinowski gained access to North Korea's film industry through British filmmaker Nick Bonner, who facilitated meetings between Broinowski and prominent North Korean filmmakers to assist Broinowski with the production of Aim High in Creation!, a film project based on Kim Jong-il's manifesto. Broinowski explained in July 2013, prior to the screening of the film at the Melbourne International Film Festival:

A friend gave me Kim Jong Il's manifesto on how to make the 'perfect socialist film', The Cinema and Directing (1987). I was immediately fascinated by his often counter-intuitive (for a Westerner at least) filmmaking rules. And I began to wonder: what would a film by Westerners, strictly adhering to Kim Jong Il's rules, be like? Could it have the same power over western audiences that North Korean films have over Kim Jong Il's 23 million citizens? ... I wanted to humanise the North Koreans in the minds of viewers constantly bombarded by the mainstream Western media's depiction of North Koreans as victimised, brainwashed automatons.

A version of Broinowski's work was screened in Pyongyang, but the director believes that the documentary version of the film will not be allowed into the country.

A study commissioned by the U. S. State Department shows that, despite extremely strict regulations and draconian penalties, North Koreans, particularly elite elements, have increased access to news and other media outside the state-controlled media authorized by the government. While access to the Internet is tightly controlled, listening to the radio and viewing DVDs is increasing, and receiving television broadcasts from neighboring states is also possible in border areas. A South Korean professor claimed that the spread of cheap, Chinese-made "portable TVs" (EVD players) in North Korea is making it harder for authorities to crack down on citizens watching South Korean-made videos. Uriminzokkiri is a Korean news website that frequently posts propaganda including the United States attack video published in 2013.

Visual arts
Historically, graphic design in North Korea was influenced by the Soviet bloc and by Korean tradition. It has tended to use a "Korean palette" of bright colours. In around 2005, digital design replaced hand-drawn graphics, and the Western influence became stronger.

Architecture and city planning
The most distinct and impressive form of contemporary cultural expression in North Korea is architecture and city planning. Pyongyang, almost completely destroyed by the United States during the Korean War, has been rebuilt on a grand scale. Many new buildings have been constructed during the 1980s and 1990s in order to enhance Pyongyang's status as a capital.

Major structures are divided architecturally into three categories: monuments, buildings that combine traditional Korean architectural motifs and modern construction, and high-rise buildings of a modern design. Examples of the first include the Ch'ollima Statue; a twenty-meter high bronze statue of Kim Il Sung in front of the Museum of the Korean Revolution (itself, at 240,000 square meters, one of the largest structures in the world); the Arch of Triumph (similar to its Parisian counterpart, although a full ten meters higher); and Juche Tower, 170 meters high, built on the occasion of Kim's seventieth birthday in 1982.

The second architectural category makes special use of traditional tiled roof designs and includes the People's Palace of Culture and the Grand People's Study House, both in Pyongyang, and the International Friendship Exhibition Hall at Myohyang-san. The latter building displays gifts given to Kim Il Sung by foreign dignitaries. In light of North Korea's current close relationship to China, and during the Choson Dynasty, it is significant that the section of the hall devoted to gifts from China is the largest.

The third architectural category includes high-rise apartment complexes and hotels in the capital. The most striking of these buildings is the Ryugyong Hotel, unfinished as of now (with construction halted from 1992 - April 2008). Described as one of the world's tallest hotels at 105 stories, its triangular shape looms over north-central Pyongyang. The Koryo Hotel is an ultramodern, twin-towered structure forty-five stories high.

Much construction occurred before celebrations of Kim Il Sung's eightieth birthday, including the building of grand apartment complexes and the Reunification Highway, a four-lane road connecting the capital and the Demilitarized Zone. According to a journalist writing in the Far Eastern Economic Review, the highway is "an impressive piece of engineering" that "cuts a straight path through mountainous terrain with 21 tunnels and 23 bridges on the 168 kilometers route to P'anmunjm." As in many other construction projects, the military provided the labor. North Korea has stated its hope that upon eventual reunification the highway will carry back-and-forth traffic.

Mass games

North Korea is famous for its "mass games". Mass games are the culminating annual celebrations of the state leader's birthdays and the rituals commemorating the foundation of the state: On the birthdays of Kim Il Sung (April 15, 1912), the founding father of North Korea, and Kim Jong Il (born February 16, 1942), the former leader of the state. These are exhibitions where thousands of North Koreans perform highly choreographed dances, especially traditional dances, and gymnastics, often engaging in simultaneous rhythms of movement. The performers sing and chant their loyalties to Kim il-sung, the KWP, and to the principle of Juche.

title: Culture of North Korea


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Star Alliance

Star Alliance is an airline alliance headquartered in Singapore. Founded on 14 May 1997, it was the world's first global airline alliance. As of April 2024, it is also the world's largest airline alliance by market share, with 17.4% of the market share, compared to 13.7% of SkyTeam and 11.9% of Oneworld.

Star Alliance has 26 member airlines that operate a combined fleet of over 5,000 aircraft, serving more than 1,290 airports in 195 countries on more than 19,000 daily departures. The alliance has a two-tier rewards program, Silver and Gold, with incentives including priority boarding and upgrades. Like other airline alliances, Star Alliance airlines share airport terminals (known as co-locations), and many member planes are painted in the alliance's livery.

1997–1999: Founding and early years
On May 14, 1997, an agreement forming the Star Alliance was announced with five airlines across three continents: United Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Thai Airways International, Air Canada, and Lufthansa. The alliance chose Young & Rubicam for advertising, with a budget of $25 million (€18 million). The airlines shared the star logo from the beginning, with its five points representing the founding airlines. The alliance adopted its first slogan, "The Airline Network for Earth", with its goal being "an alliance that will take passengers to every major city on Earth".

The now defunct Brazilian airline VARIG joined Star Alliance on 22 October 1997, extending the alliance into South America. Also joining were Ansett Australia and Air New Zealand, expanding Star Alliance to Australia and the Pacific. With the addition of the latter two carriers, the alliance served 720 destinations in 110 countries with a combined fleet of 1,650 aircraft. The next airline to join the alliance is Japan's All Nippon Airways on 15 October 1999, making it the second Asian airline in the alliance.

2000s: Expansion and first decade
During the early 2000s, a number of airlines joined Star Alliance; the Austrian Airlines Group (Austrian Airlines, Tyrolean Airways and Lauda Air) joined on 26 March 2000 and Singapore Airlines on 1 April. BMI (British Midland) and Mexicana joined on 1 July, bringing the alliance's membership to 13. With Singapore Airlines' entry into the alliance, Thai Airways considered moving to OneWorld, but eventually decided to remain. The addition of BMI made London Heathrow the only European hub with two alliances. During the year, Emirates considered joining Star Alliance, but decided against it. That year the now-defunct BWIA West Indies Airways, which had entered an alliance with United Airlines, considered becoming a member but did not. In 2000, the alliance also opened its first three business centers (in Los Angeles, Frankfurt, and Bangkok) and announced the formation of an Alliance Management Team (AMT), the partnership's executive body. In September 2001, Ansett Australia (the alliance's only Australian member) left Star Alliance due to bankruptcy, giving most of the Australian market to Qantas (a Oneworld member). That year, Star Alliance announced the appointment of a new CEO, Jaan Albrecht.

Partner airlines promoted the Star Alliance brand with a ‘Round the World’ ticket (RWT) that offered choices of 19,000, 21,000, and 23,000 miles with stopovers of 15 cities valid for one year. RWT was path-breaking in that travel buffs could visit destinations of their choice by charting a yearlong itinerary without disrupting work commitments. Until then, tourists took annual vacations of two or three weeks, often settling for lesser-known destinations because flights were overbooked during the peak holiday season. Customer loyalty ratings went up, driven by the underlying message – Forget about the countries and cities. Go where the RWT ticket takes you!

Asiana Airlines joined the alliance on March 1st, 2003, Spanair on May 1st, 2003, followed by LOT Polish Airlines (Poland's flag carrier) joining in October. Around this time, Mexicana Airlines left the alliance after deciding not to renew a codeshare agreement with United Airlines, later joining Oneworld. US Airways joined the alliance in May 2004, becoming its second US-based airline. In November Adria Airways, Blue1 and Croatia Airlines joined the alliance as its first three regional members.

Although Star Alliance invited Lineas Aereas Azteca in 2005 to join in mid-2007, the airline filed for bankruptcy. TAP Air Portugal joined on 14 March 2005, adding African destinations to the network. In April 2006, Swiss International Air Lines, the alliance's sixth European airline, and South African Airways (its first African carrier) became the 17th and 18th members.

By May 2007, Star Alliance's 10th anniversary, its members had a combined 16,000 daily departures to 855 destinations in 155 countries and served 406 million passengers annually. The alliance introduced Biosphere Connections, a partnership with UNESCO, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands to promote environmental sustainability.

"Today, nearly 30% of global air travellers use the services of our member carriers or, looking at it from an overall industry perspective, two-thirds of worldwide air travellers use one of the three airline alliances."

- Jaan Albrecht, former Star Alliance CEO

VARIG left the alliance on 31 January 2007, and the two Chinese airlines, Air China and Shanghai Airlines, joined on 12 December.

On 1 April 2008, Turkish Airlines joined the alliance after a 15-month integration process beginning in December 2006, becoming its 20th member. EgyptAir, Egypt's national airline and Star Alliance's second African carrier, joined on 11 July 2008.

On 27 October 2009, Continental Airlines became the 25th member of Star Alliance after leaving SkyTeam three days earlier. According to alliance CEO Jaan Albrecht, "Bringing Continental Airlines into Star Alliance has been a truly unique experience. This is the first time an airline has moved directly from one alliance to another, and I would like to thank all those involved in ensuring a smooth switch". At the time, it was rumored that the switch was Continental's first move in a planned merger with United Airlines. Two months later, Brussels Airlines joined the alliance.

2010s: Further expansion and second decade of operations
Brazilian carrier TAM Airlines joined Star Alliance on 13 May 2010, increasing its foothold in South America. Aegean Airlines, Greece's largest airline by number of passengers, joined on 30 June.

Shanghai Airlines left the alliance on 31 October 2010 when it merged with China Eastern Airlines, a SkyTeam member. On 29 September, the chief executive board approved Ethiopian Airlines as Star Alliance's 30th member, though Ethiopian did not officially join the alliance until December of the following year. In 2010 the alliance flew to 1,172 airports in 181 countries, with about 21,200 daily departures.

Since 2011, the alliance has gained several large members, but it has lost others due to collapse or mergers. On 13 December 2011, Ethiopian Airlines joined, adding five countries and 24 destinations to the alliance's map.

2012 and 2013 were tumultuous years for Star Alliance, starting with two key departures but ending with a major move into Latin America. In Europe, Spanair ceased operations, and BMI left after being acquired by International Airlines Group (IAG), the parent company of Oneworld members Iberia and British Airways. BMI was integrated into British Airways. In North America, Continental merged with United Airlines, reducing Star Alliance's membership further, even if it effectively remained in the alliance after the merger. On 21 June, though, Avianca, TACA Airlines and Copa Airlines joined, massively increasing the alliance's Latin American presence. In November, Blue1 left after becoming an affiliate of parent Scandinavian Airlines. and Shenzhen Airlines joined, augmenting Air China's Chinese network. Taiwanese carrier EVA Air then joined on 18 June 2013, and after TACA's integration into Avianca, the alliance grew to 28 members, making it the largest of the three major airline alliances. On 13 December, Air India was again invited to begin an integration process with Star Alliance and joined the alliance on 11 July 2014.

Following this string of expansions, 2014 opened with two major departures through mergers. First, Brazilian carrier TAM Airlines merged with LAN Airlines to become LATAM Airlines Group, leaving the alliance without a presence in the world's fifth-largest country. Next, US Airways completed its merger with American Airlines and also left the alliance. Both parent companies stayed with Oneworld. On 24 June, though, the alliance finally approved Air India, which joined on 11 July, leaving the alliance at 27 members.

Future expansion centers around the addition of Connecting Partners, subsidiaries or partners of alliance members which will add connectivity to the alliance without becoming full members. Avianca Brasil joined in this way on 22 July 2015, bringing the alliance back into the Brazilian market and partially filling the void left by TAM. South African Airways' low-cost subsidiary, Mango, was initially announced to join as a Connecting Partner in Q3 2016, but has since been delayed. Juneyao Airlines, which codeshares with Shenzhen Airlines, joined as a Connecting Partner on 23 May 2017. On 20 August 2019, Star Alliance announced affiliate member Avianca Brasil's exit from the alliance from 1 September 2019. The departure, however, won't affect Avianca's membership. On 30 September 2019, Adria Airways ceased operations, and the airline exited the alliance on 2 October 2019.

2020s: 25th anniversary and restructuring of several member airlines
The now-defunct regional subsidiary of Thai Airways, Thai Smile joined as a Connecting Partner in February 2020. On January 2024, the Thai Smile brand was discontinued and folded into the parent airline as a result of the reorganization of Thai Airways International following bankruptcy.

On 16 November 2020, Asiana Airlines announced their plans to exit the alliance. Asiana will merge with Korean Air, the South Korean Government confirmed, in a $1.6 billion acquisition by the SkyTeam member. In 2022, Lufthansa announced plans to buy a 40% stake in ITA Airways, a SkyTeam member. If this goes through, then they will become a member of Star Alliance.

Scandinavian Airlines will leave the alliance on 31 August 2024 to join SkyTeam after Air France–KLM purchased a minority shareholding.

In July 2024, the European Commission approved Lufthansa Group's purchase of a 41% stake in ITA Airways, a Skyteam member. ITA would join Star Alliance in 2026 or 2027.

Intermodal partners
Since August 2022, the German railway provider Deutsche Bahn has been the first intermodal partner of the Star Alliance, whose airlines have been able to assign their own flight numbers for trains.

Frequent flyer programs, Star Alliance Silver and Gold status
Status miles can be earned across all Star Alliance member airlines’ frequent flyer programmes with only one frequent flyer card and attain Star Alliance Silver status or progress to Gold status, as membership in any Star Alliance airline program gives full access to the whole Star Alliance network with no need to register with any additional programme.

The more a customer flies on the Star Alliance network, the faster miles or points can be earned, which can be used redeem for a reward ticket or upgrade, along with several other rewards in specific airlines. Customers will have to provide their frequent flyer number when booking flights or when checking in whenever they fly with any Star Alliance member airline in eligible booking classes, for miles or points to be credited to their account.

The higher tier status levels of each member airlines’ frequent flyer programmes are mapped against the two uniformly recognised Star Alliance status levels Star Alliance Silver and Star Alliance Gold. These two status levels entitle special Star Alliance premium customer benefits and privileges. Several programs have premium statuses beyond Gold, but these statuses are still regarded under Gold status in the overall Star Alliance network.

Star Alliance Silver grants customers within the frequent-flyer program access to priority reservations waitlist and priority airport stand-by. Star Alliance Gold is given to customers who have reached a higher level of a member airline's frequent-flyer program. Benefits are priority reservations waitlist, airport stand-by, check-in and baggage handling; an additional checked luggage allowance of 20 kg (or one extra piece, where the piece rule applies), and access to designated Star Alliance Gold lounges the day and place of departure with the presentation of a Star Alliance boarding pass. Some airlines also offer preferred seating (an exit seat or a special section of the plane); guaranteed seating on fully booked flights, subject to the booking class code and notice period, and free upgrades in the form of a voucher, certificate or automatic upgrade at check-in. United restricts US lounge access for their Gold Members to long-haul international passengers; Gold members from other carriers are welcome in US lounges run by United on all itineraries.

It is possible to join multiple member airline frequent flyer programmes. However, as they are each managed separately, miles or points can neither be transferred between programs nor be consolidated into a single program. Therefore, using a single frequent flyer programme provides a faster path towards attaining Star Alliance Silver or Star Alliance Gold.

Codeshares
The common use of codeshare agreements led to suspicions of anti-competitive behaviour; the alliance was suspected by the European Union of being a virtual merger of its members, and speculation existed that if government regulations were relaxed the members would merge into one corporation.

Star Alliance integrated a "regional" concept in 2004, which helped it penetrate markets with smaller regional carriers. To join, regional Star Alliance members had to be sponsored by an alliance member. The alliance no longer designates airlines as "regional" members, now referring to its 27 airlines as "members".

In 2007, alliance members flew 18,521 daily flights to 1,321 airports in 193 countries with a fleet of 4,025 aircraft. Its members carried a total of 627.52 million passengers, with revenue of US$156.8 billion (€145 billion). It had 28 percent of the global market based on revenue passenger kilometres (RPK). All alliance carriers combined employed over 405,000 pilots, flight attendants, and other staff.

Livery and logo
Some Star Alliance members paint some of their aircraft with the alliance livery, usually a white fuselage with "Star Alliance" across it and a black tail fin with the alliance logo; the colour or design of the engine cowlings or winglets remains, depending on the member's livery. Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand were two exceptions: Singapore Airlines formerly kept its logo on the tails of its aircraft, but now uses the Star Alliance logo on white tails, while Air New Zealand now uses full black livery with reversed colored original Star Alliance livery elements. Asiana Airlines was the first Star Alliance member to paint its aircraft in the current Star Alliance livery. Aircraft painted in an airline's regular livery have the Star Alliance logo between the cockpit and the first set of cabin doors, except double deck airliner like Boeing 747 and Airbus A380, which printed Star Alliance logo behind cockpit, and airliner with narrow space between the cockpit and the cabin door like the McDonnell Douglas DC-9\MD-80 and Comac ARJ21, which printed the Star Alliance logo under the cockpit or on the first cabin door.

title: Star Alliance