title: Corruption

text: The political act of graft is when funds intended for public projects are intentionally misdirected to maximize the benefits to private interests of the corrupt individuals.


title: Corruption

text: While bribery is the use of positive inducements for corrupt aims, extortion and blackmail centre around the use of threats. This can be the threat of physical violence or false imprisonment as well as exposure of an individual's secrets or prior crimes.


title: Corruption

text: This includes such behavior as an influential person threatening to go to the media if they do not receive speedy medical treatment (at the expense of other patients), threatening a public official with exposure of their secrets if they do not vote in a particular manner, or demanding money in exchange for continued secrecy. Another example can be a police officer being threatened with the loss of their job by their superiors, if they continued with investigating a high-ranking official.


title: Corruption

text: Influence peddling is the illegal practice of using one's influence in government or connections with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential treatment, usually in return for payment.


title: Corruption

text: Networking (both Business and Personal) can be an effective way for job-seekers to gain a competitive edge over others in the job-market. The idea is to cultivate personal relationships with prospective employers, selection panelists, and others, in the hope that these personal affections will influence future hiring decisions. This form of networking has been described as an attempt to corrupt formal hiring processes, where all candidates are given an equal opportunity to demonstrate their merits to selectors. The networker is accused of seeking non-meritocratic advantage over other candidates; advantage that is based on personal fondness rather than on any objective appraisal of which candidate is most qualified for the position.


title: Corruption

text: Abuse of discretion refers to the misuse of one's powers and decision-making facilities. Examples include a judge improperly dismissing a criminal case or a customs official using their discretion to allow a banned substance through a port.


title: Corruption

text: Favouritism, nepotism and clientelism involve the favouring of not the perpetrator of corruption but someone related to them, such as a friend, family member or member of an association. Examples would include hiring or promoting a family member or staff member to a role they are not qualified for, who belongs to the same political party as you, regardless of merit.


title: Corruption

text: Corruption can negatively impacts the economy both directly, through for example tax evasion and money laundering, as well as indirectly by distorting fair competition and fair markets, and by increasing the cost of doing business. It is strongly negatively associated with the share of private investment and, hence, it lowers the rate of economic growth.


title: Corruption

text: Corruption reduces the returns of productive activities. If the returns to production fall faster than the returns to corruption and rent-seeking activities, resources will flow from productive activities to corruption activities over time. This will result in a lower stock of producible inputs like human capital in corrupted countries.


title: Corruption

text: Corruption creates the opportunity for increased inequality, reduces the return of productive activities, and, hence, makes rent-seeking and corruption activities more attractive. This opportunity for increased inequality not only generates psychological frustration to the underprivileged but also reduces productivity growth, investment, and job opportunities.


title: Corruption

text: Some expert have suggested that corruption actually stimulated economic growth in East and Southeast Asian countries. An often cited example is South Korea, where president Park Chung-hee favoured a small number of companies, and later used this financial influence to pressure these chaebol to follow the government's development strategy. This 'profit-sharing' corruption model incentivizes government officials to support economic development, as they would personally benefit financially from it.


title: Corruption

text: According to the amended Klitgaard equation, limitation of monopoly and regulator discretion of individuals and a high degree of transparency through independent oversight by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the media plus public access to reliable information could reduce the problem. Djankov and other researchers have independently addressed the role information plays in fighting corruption with evidence from both developing and developed countries. Disclosing financial information of government officials to the public is associated with improving institutional accountability and eliminating misbehavior such as vote buying. The effect is specifically remarkable when the disclosures concern politicians' income sources, liabilities and asset level instead of just income level. Any extrinsic aspects that might reduce morality should be eliminated. Additionally, a country should establish a culture of ethical conduct in society with the government setting the good example in order to enhance the intrinsic morality.


title: Corruption

text: Creating bottom-up mechanisms, promoting citizens participation and encouraging the values of integrity, accountability, and transparency are crucial components of fighting corruption. As of 2012, the implementation of the "Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres (ALACs)” in Europe had led to a significant increase in the number of citizen complaints against acts of corruption received and documented and also to the development of strategies for good governance by involving citizens willing to fight against corruption.


title: Corruption

text: The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA, USA 1977) was an early paradigmatic law for many western countries i.e. industrial countries of the OECD. There, for the first time the old principal-agent approach was moved back where mainly the victim (a society, private or public) and a passive corrupt member (an individual) were considered, whereas the active corrupt part was not in the focus of legal prosecution. Unprecedented, the law of an industrial country directly condemned active corruption, particularly in international business transactions, which was at that time in contradiction to anti-bribery activities of the World Bank and its spin-off organization Transparency International.


title: Corruption

text: As early as 1989 the OECD had established an ad hoc Working Group in order to explore "the concepts fundamental to the offense of corruption, and the exercise of national jurisdiction over offenses committed wholly or partially abroad." Based on the FCPA concept, the Working Group presented in 1994 the then "OECD Anti-Bribery Recommendation" as precursor for the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions which was signed in 1997 by all member countries and came finally into force in 1999. However, because of ongoing concealed corruption in international transactions several instruments of Country Monitoring have been developed since then by the OECD in order to foster and evaluate related national activities in combating foreign corrupt practices. One survey shows that after the implementation of heightened review of multinational firms under the convention in 2010 firms from countries that had signed the convention were less likely to use bribery.


title: Corruption

text: In 2013, a document produced by the economic and private sector professional evidence and applied knowledge services help-desk discusses some of the existing practices on anti-corruption. They found:


title: Corruption

text: In recent years, anti-corruption efforts have also been criticised for overemphasising the benefits of the eradication of corruption for economic growth and development, following a diversity of literature which has suggested that anti-corruption efforts, the right kind of institutions and "good governance" are key to economic development. This criticism is based on the observed fact that a variety of countries, such as Korea and China but also the USA in the 19th and early 20th century, saw high economic growth and broader socio-economic development coinciding with significant corruption


title: Corruption

text: In some countries people travel to corruption hot spots or a specialist tour company takes them on corruption city tours, as is the case in Prague. Corruption tours have also occurred in Chicago and Mexico City.


title: Corruption

text: Films about corruption include "Runaway Jury", "The Firm", "Syriana", "The Constant Gardener", and "All the President's Men".


title: Corruption

text: Though corruption is often viewed as illegal, a concept of "legal corruption" has been described by Daniel Kaufmann and Pedro Vicente. It might be termed as processes which are corrupt, but are protected by a "legal" (that is, specifically permitted, or at least not proscribed by law) framework.


title: Corruption

text: In 1994, the German Parliamentary Financial Commission in Bonn presented a comparative study on "legal corruption" in industrialized OECD countries They reported that in most industrial countries foreign corruption was legal, and that their foreign corrupt practices ranged from simple, through governmental subsidization (tax deduction), up to extreme cases as in Germany, where foreign corruption was fostered, whereas domestic was legally prosecuted.


title: Corruption

text: The German Parliamentary Financial Commission rejected a Parliamentary Proposal by the opposition, which had been aiming to limit German foreign corruption on the basis of the US "Foreign Corrupt Practices Act" (FCPA from 1977), thus fostering national export corporations. In 1997 a corresponding OECD Anti-Bribery Convention was signed by its members.


title: Corruption

text: It took until 1999, after the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention came into force, that Germany withdrew the legalization of foreign corruption.


title: Corruption

text: A study on foreign corrupt practices of industrialized OECD countries 1994 (Parliamentary Financial Commission study, Bonn) indicates widespread acceptance of bribes in business practices.


title: Corruption

text: Belgium: bribe payments are generally tax deductible as business expenses if the name and address of the beneficiary is disclosed. Under the following conditions kickbacks in connection with exports abroad are permitted for deduction even without proof of the receiver:


title: Corruption

text: In the absence of the required conditions, for corporate taxable companies paying bribes without proof of the receiver, a special tax of 200% is charged. This special tax may, however, be abated along with the bribe amount as an operating expense.


title: Corruption

text: Denmark: bribe payments are deductible when a clear operational context exists and its adequacy is maintained.


title: Corruption

text: France: basically all operating expenses can be deducted. However, staff costs must correspond to an actual work done and must not be excessive compared to the operational significance. This also applies to payments to foreign parties. Here, the receiver shall specify the name and address, unless the total amount in payments per beneficiary does not exceed 500 FF. If the receiver is not disclosed the payments are considered "rémunérations occult" and are associated with the following disadvantages:


title: Corruption

text: Japan: in Japan, bribes are deductible as business expenses that are justified by the operation (of the company) if the name and address of the recipient is specified. This also applies to payments to foreigners. If the indication of the name is refused, the expenses claimed are not recognized as operating expenses.


title: Corruption

text: Canada: there is no general rule on the deductibility or non-deductibility of kickbacks and bribes. Hence the rule is that necessary expenses for obtaining the income (contract) are deductible. Payments to members of the public service and domestic administration of justice, to officers and employees and those charged with the collection of fees, entrance fees etc. for the purpose to entice the recipient to the violation of his official duties, can not be abated as business expenses as well as illegal payments according to the Criminal Code.


title: Corruption

text: Luxembourg: bribes, justified by the operation (of a company) are deductible as business expenses. However, the tax authorities may require that the payer is to designate the receiver by name. If not, the expenses are not recognized as operating expenses.


title: Corruption

text: Netherlands: all expenses that are directly or closely related to the business are deductible. This also applies to expenditure outside the actual business operations if they are considered beneficial to the operation for good reasons by the management. What counts is the good merchant custom. Neither the law nor the administration is authorized to determine which expenses are not operationally justified and therefore not deductible. For the business expense deduction it is not a requirement that the recipient is specified. It is sufficient to elucidate to the satisfaction of the tax authorities that the payments are in the interest of the operation.


title: Corruption

text: Austria: bribes justified by the operation (of a company) are deductible as business expenses. However, the tax authority may require that the payer names the recipient of the deducted payments exactly. If the indication of the name is denied e.g. because of business comity, the expenses claimed are not recognized as operating expenses. This principle also applies to payments to foreigners.


title: Corruption

text: Switzerland: bribe payments are tax deductible if it is clearly operation initiated and the consignee is indicated.


title: Corruption

text: US: (rough résumé: "generally operational expenses are deductible if they are not illegal according to the FCPA")


title: Corruption

text: UK: kickbacks and bribes are deductible if they have been paid for operating purposes. The tax authority may request the name and address of the recipient."


title: Corruption

text: Referring to the recommendation of the above-mentioned Parliamentary Financial Commission's study, the then Kohl administration (1991–1994) decided to maintain the legality of corruption against officials exclusively in foreign transactions and confirmed the full deductibility of bribe money, co-financing thus a specific nationalistic corruption practice (§4 Abs. 5 Nr. 10 EStG, valid until 19 March 1999) in contradiction to the 1994 OECD recommendation. The respective law was not changed before the OECD Convention also in Germany came into force (1999).


title: Corruption

text: According to the Parliamentary Financial Commission's study, however, in 1994 most countries' corruption practices were not nationalistic and much more limited by the respective laws compared to Germany.


title: Corruption

text: Particularly, the non-disclosure of the bribe money recipients' name in tax declarations had been a powerful instrument for Legal Corruption during the 1990s for German corporations, enabling them to block foreign legal jurisdictions which intended to fight corruption in their countries. Hence, they uncontrolled established a strong network of clientelism around Europe (e.g. SIEMENS) along with the formation of the European Single Market in the upcoming European Union and the Eurozone.


title: Corruption

text: Moreover, in order to further strengthen active corruption the prosecution of tax evasion during that decade had been severely limited. German tax authorities were instructed to refuse any disclosure of bribe recipients' names from tax declarations to the German criminal prosecution. As a result, German corporations have been systematically increasing their informal economy from 1980 until today up to 350 bn € per annum (see diagram on the right), thus continuously feeding their black money reserves.


title: Corruption

text: In 2007, Siemens was convicted in the District Court of Darmstadt of criminal corruption against the Italian corporation Enel Power SpA. Siemens had paid almost €3.5 million in bribes to be selected for a €200 million project from the Italian corporation, partially owned by the government. The deal was handled through black money accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein that were established specifically for such purposes.


title: Corruption

text: Because the crime was committed in 1999, after the OECD convention had come into force, this foreign corrupt practice could be prosecuted. It was the first time a German court of law convicted foreign corrupt practices like a national practice, although the corresponding law did not yet protect foreign competitors in business.


title: Corruption

text: During the judicial proceedings it was disclosed that numerous such black accounts had been established in the past decades.


title: Corruption

text: Philosophers and religious thinkers have responded to the inescapable reality of corruption in different ways. Plato, in "The Republic", acknowledges the corrupt nature of political institutions, and recommends that philosophers "shelter behind a wall" to avoid senselessly martyring themselves.


title: Corruption

text: The New Testament, in keeping with the tradition of Ancient Greek thought, also frankly acknowledges the corruption of the world (ὁ κόσμος) and claims to offer a way of keeping the spirit "unspotted from the world." Paul of Tarsus acknowledges his readers must inevitably "deal with the world," and recommends they adopt an attitude of "as if not" in all their dealings. When they buy a thing, for example, they should relate to it "as if it were not theirs to keep." New Testament readers are advised to refuse to "conform to the present age" and not to be ashamed to be peculiar or singular. They are advised not be friends of the corrupt world, because "friendship with the world is enmity with God." They are advised not to love the corrupt world or the things of the world. The rulers of this world, Paul explains, "are coming to nothing" While readers must obey corrupt rulers in order to live in the world, the spirit is subject to no law but to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. New Testament readers are advised to adopt a disposition in which they are "in the world, but not of the world." This disposition, Paul claims, shows us a way to escape "slavery to corruption" and experience the freedom and glory of being innocent "children of God".


title: Uralic languages

text: The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (which alone accounts for more than half of the family's speakers), Finnish, and Estonian. Other significant languages with fewer speakers are Erzya, Moksha, Mari, Udmurt, Sami, Komi, and Vepsian, all of which are spoken in northern regions of Scandinavia and the Russian Federation.


title: Uralic languages

text: The name "Uralic" derives from the family's original homeland ("Urheimat") commonly hypothesized to have been somewhere in the vicinity of the Ural Mountains.


title: Uralic languages

text: Finno-Ugric is sometimes used as a synonym for Uralic, though Finno-Ugric is widely understood to exclude the Samoyedic languages. Scholars who do not accept the traditional notion that Samoyedic split first from the rest of the Uralic family may treat the terms as synonymous.


title: Uralic languages

text: The first plausible mention of a people speaking a Uralic language is in Tacitus's "Germania" (c. 98 AD), mentioning the "Fenni" (usually interpreted as referring to the Sami) and two other possibly Uralic tribes living in the farthest reaches of Scandinavia. There are many possible earlier mentions, including the Iyrcae (perhaps related to Yugra) described by Herodotus living in what is now European Russia, and the Budini, described by Herodotus as notably red-haired (a characteristic feature of the Udmurts) and living in northeast Ukraine and/or adjacent parts of Russia. In the late 15th century, European scholars noted the resemblance of the names "Hungaria" and "Yugria", the names of settlements east of the Ural. They assumed a connection but did not seek linguistic evidence.


title: Uralic languages

text: The affinity of Hungarian and Finnish was first proposed in the late 17th century. Three candidates can be credited for the discovery: the German scholar Martin Vogel, the Swedish scholar Georg Stiernhielm and the Swedish courtier Bengt Skytte. Vogel's unpublished study of the relationship, commissioned by Cosimo III of Tuscany, was clearly the most modern of these: he established several grammatical and lexical parallels between Finnish and Hungarian as well as Sami. Stiernhielm commented on the similarities of Sami, Estonian and Finnish, and also on a few similar words between Finnish and Hungarian. These authors were the first to outline what was to become the classification of the Finno-Ugric, and later Uralic family. This proposal received some of its initial impetus from the fact that these languages, unlike most of the other languages spoken in Europe, are not part of what is now known as the Indo-European family. In 1717, Swedish professor Olof Rudbeck proposed about 100 etymologies connecting Finnish and Hungarian, of which about 40 are still considered valid. Several early reports comparing Finnish or Hungarian with Mordvin, Mari or Khanty were additionally collected by Leibniz and edited by his assistant Johann Georg von Eckhart.


title: Uralic languages

text: In 1730, Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published his book ("The Northern and Eastern Parts of Europe and Asia"), surveying the geography, peoples and languages of Russia. All the main groups of the Uralic languages were already identified here. Nonetheless, these relationships were not widely accepted. Hungarian intellectuals especially were not interested in the theory and preferred to assume connections with Turkic tribes, an attitude characterized by Merritt Ruhlen as due to "the wild unfettered Romanticism of the epoch". Still, in spite of this hostile climate, the Hungarian Jesuit János Sajnovics travelled with Maximilian Hell to survey the alleged relationship between Hungarian and Sami. Sajnovics published his results in 1770, arguing for a relationship based on several grammatical features. In 1799, the Hungarian Sámuel Gyarmathi published the most complete work on Finno-Ugric to that date.


title: Uralic languages

text: Up to the beginning of the 19th century, knowledge on the Uralic languages spoken in Russia had remained restricted to scanty observations by travelers. Already Finnish historian Henrik Gabriel Porthan had stressed that further progress would require dedicated field missions. One of the first of these was undertaken by Anders Johan Sjögren, who brought the Vepsians to general knowledge and elucidated in detail the relatedness of Finnish and Komi. Still more extensive were the field research expeditions made in the 1840s by Matthias Castrén (1813–1852) and Antal Reguly (1819–1858), who focused especially on the Samoyedic and the Ob-Ugric languages, respectively. Reguly's materials were worked on by the Hungarian linguist Pál Hunfalvy (1810–1891) and German Josef Budenz (1836–1892), who both supported the Uralic affinity of Hungarian. Budenz was the first scholar to bring this result to popular consciousness in Hungary, and to attempt a reconstruction of the Proto-Finno-Ugric grammar and lexicon. Another late-19th-century Hungarian contribution is that of Ignácz Halász (1855–1901), who published extensive comparative material of Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic in the 1890s, and whose work is at the base of today's wide acceptance of the inclusion of Samoyedic as a part of Uralic. Meanwhile, in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, a chair for Finnish language and linguistics at the University of Helsinki was created in 1850, first held by Castrén.


title: Uralic languages

text: In 1883, the Finno-Ugrian Society was founded in Helsinki on the proposal of Otto Donner, which would lead to Helsinki overtaking St. Petersburg as the chief northern center of research of the Uralic languages. During the late 19th and early 20th century (until the separation of Finland from Russia following the Russian revolution), the Society hired many scholars to survey the still less known Uralic languages. Major researchers of this period included Heikki Paasonen (studying especially the Mordvinic languages), Yrjö Wichmann (studying Permic), Artturi Kannisto (Mansi), Kustaa Fredrik Karjalainen (Khanty), Toivo Lehtisalo (Nenets), and Kai Donner (Kamass). The vast amounts of data collected on these expeditions would provide edition work for later generations of Finnish Uralicists for more than a century.


title: Uralic languages

text: The Uralic family comprises nine undisputed groups with no consensus classification between them. (Some of the proposals are listed in the next section.) An agnostic approach treats them as separate branches.


title: Uralic languages

text: Traces of Finno-Ugric substrata, especially in toponymy, in the northern part of European Russia have been proposed as evidence for even more extinct Uralic languages.


title: Uralic languages

text: All Uralic languages are thought to have descended, through independent processes of language change, from Proto-Uralic. The internal structure of the Uralic family has been debated since the family was first proposed. Doubts about the validity of most or all of the proposed higher-order branchings (grouping the nine undisputed families) are becoming more common.


title: Uralic languages

text: A traditional classification of the Uralic languages has existed since the late 19th century. It has enjoyed frequent adaptation in whole or in part in encyclopedias, handbooks, and overviews of the Uralic family. Otto Donner's model from 1879 is as follows:


title: Uralic languages

text: At Donner's time, the Samoyedic languages were still poorly known, and he was not able to address their position. As they became better known in the early 20th century, they were found to be quite divergent, and they were assumed to have separated already early on. The terminology adopted for this was "Uralic" for the entire family, "Finno-Ugric" for the non-Samoyedic languages (though "Finno-Ugric" has, to this day, remained in use also as a synonym for the whole family). Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic are listed in ISO 639-5 as primary branches of Uralic.


title: Uralic languages

text: The following table lists nodes of the traditional family tree that are recognized in some overview sources.


title: Uralic languages

text: Little explicit evidence has however been presented in favour of Donner's model since his original proposal, and numerous alternate schemes have been proposed. Especially in Finland, there has been a growing tendency to reject the Finno-Ugric intermediate protolanguage. A recent competing proposal instead unites Ugric and Samoyedic in an "East Uralic" group for which shared innovations can be noted.


title: Uralic languages

text: The Finno-Permic grouping still holds some support, though the arrangement of its subgroups is a matter of some dispute. Mordvinic is commonly seen as particularly closely related to or part of Finno-Samic. The term "Volgaic" (or "Volga-Finnic") was used to denote a branch previously believed to include Mari, Mordvinic and a number of the extinct languages, but it is now obsolete and considered a geographic classification rather than a linguistic one.


title: Uralic languages

text: Within Ugric, uniting Mansi with Hungarian rather than Khanty has been a competing hypothesis to Ob-Ugric.


title: Uralic languages

text: Lexicostatistics has been used in defense of the traditional family tree. A recent re-evaluation of the evidence however fails to find support for Finno-Ugric and Ugric, suggesting four lexically distinct branches (Finno-Permic, Hungarian, Ob-Ugric and Samoyedic).


title: Uralic languages

text: One alternate proposal for a family tree, with emphasis on the development of numerals, is as follows:


title: Uralic languages

text: Another proposed tree, more divergent from the standard, focusing on consonant isoglosses (which does not consider the position of the Samoyedic languages) is presented by Viitso (1997), and refined in Viitso (2000):


title: Uralic languages

text: The grouping of the four bottom-level branches remains to some degree open to interpretation, with competing models of Finno-Saamic vs. Eastern Finno-Ugric (Mari, Mordvinic, Permic-Ugric; *k > ɣ between vowels, degemination of stops) and Finno-Volgaic (Finno-Saamic, Mari, Mordvinic; *δʲ > *ð between vowels) vs. Permic-Ugric. Viitso finds no evidence for a Finno-Permic grouping.


title: Uralic languages

text: Extending this approach to cover the Samoyedic languages suggests affinity with Ugric, resulting in the aforementioned East Uralic grouping, as it also shares the same sibilant developments. A further non-trivial Ugric-Samoyedic isogloss is the reduction *k, *x, *w > ɣ when before *i, and after a vowel (cf. *k > ɣ above), or adjacent to *t, *s, *š, or *ś.


title: Uralic languages

text: The inverse relationship between consonant gradation and medial lenition of stops (the pattern also continuing within the three families where gradation "is" found) is noted by Helimski (1995): an original allophonic gradation system between voiceless and voiced stops would have been easily disrupted by a spreading of voicing to previously unvoiced stops as well.


title: Uralic languages

text: A computational phylogenetic study by Honkola, et al. (2013) classifies the Uralic languages as follows. Estimated divergence dates from Honkola, et al. (2013) are also given.


title: Uralic languages

text: Basic vocabulary of about 200 words, including body parts (e.g. eye, heart, head, foot, mouth), family members (e.g. father, mother-in-law), animals (e.g. viper, partridge, fish), nature objects (e.g. tree, stone, nest, water), basic verbs (e.g. live, fall, run, make, see, suck, go, die, swim, know), basic pronouns (e.g. who, what, we, you, I), numerals (e.g. two, five); derivatives increase the number of common words.


title: Uralic languages

text: The following is a very brief selection of cognates in basic vocabulary across the Uralic family, which may serve to give an idea of the sound changes involved. This is not a list of translations: cognates have a common origin, but their meaning may be shifted and loanwords may have replaced them.


title: Uralic languages

text: Orthographical notes: The hacek denotes postalveolar articulation ( , , ) (In Northern Sami, ( ), while the acute denotes a secondary palatal articulation ( , , ) or, in Hungarian, vowel length. The Finnish letter and the letter in other languages represent the high rounded vowel ; the letters and are the front vowels and .


title: Uralic languages

text: As is apparent from the list, Finnish is the most conservative of the Uralic languages presented here, with nearly half the words on the list above identical to their Proto-Uralic reconstructions and most of the remainder only having minor changes, such as the conflation of *ś into /s/, or widespread changes such as the loss of *x and alteration of *ï. Finnish has even preserved old Indo-European borrowings relatively unchanged as well. (An example is "porsas" ("pig"), loaned from Proto-Indo-European "*porḱos" or pre-Proto-Indo-Iranian "*porśos", unchanged since loaning save for loss of palatalization, *ś > s.)


title: Uralic languages

text: The Estonian philologist Mall Hellam proposed cognate sentences that she asserted to be mutually intelligible among the three most widely spoken Uralic languages: Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian:


title: Uralic languages

text: However, linguist Geoffrey Pullum reports that neither Finns nor Hungarians could understand the other language's version of the sentence.


title: Uralic languages

text: No Uralic language has exactly the idealized typological profile of the family. Typological features with varying presence among the modern Uralic language groups include:


title: Uralic languages

text: Many relationships between Uralic and other language families have been suggested, but none of these is generally accepted by linguists at the present time: All of the following hypotheses are minority views at the present time in Uralic studies.


title: Uralic languages

text: The Uralic–Yukaghir hypothesis identifies Uralic and Yukaghir as independent members of a single language


title: Uralic languages

text: family. It is currently widely accepted that the similarities between Uralic and Yukaghir languages are due to ancient contacts. Regardless, the hypothesis is accepted by a few linguists and viewed as attractive by a somewhat larger number.


title: Uralic languages

text: The Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis associates Uralic with the Eskimo–Aleut languages. This is an old thesis whose antecedents go back to the 18th century. An important restatement of it was made by Bergsland (1959).


title: Uralic languages

text: Uralo-Siberian is an expanded form of the Eskimo–Uralic hypothesis. It associates Uralic with Yukaghir, Chukotko-Kamchatkan, and Eskimo–Aleut. It was propounded by Michael Fortescue in 1998. It is currently the most supported hypothesis regarding close relatives of Uralic. Modern supporters include Morris Swadesh, Juha Janhunen and Häkkinen. Michael Fortescue (2017) presents new linguistic evidence along with several genetic studies which support a common origin of the included groups, with a suggested homeland somewhere in Northeast Asia.


title: Uralic languages

text: Theories proposing a close relationship with the Altaic languages were formerly popular, based on similarities in vocabulary as well as in grammatical and phonological features, in particular the similarities in the Uralic and Altaic pronouns and the presence of agglutination in both sets of languages, as well as vowel harmony in some. For example, the word for "language" is similar in Estonian ("keel") and Mongolian ("хэл" ("hel")). These theories are now generally rejected and most such similarities are attributed to language contact or coincidence.


title: Uralic languages

text: The Indo-Uralic (or "Indo-Euralic") hypothesis suggests that Uralic and Indo-European are related at a fairly close level or, in its stronger form, that they are more closely related than either is to any other language family.


title: Uralic languages

text: The hypothesis that the Dravidian languages display similarities with the Uralic language group, suggesting a prolonged period of contact in the past, is popular amongst Dravidian linguists and has been supported by a number of scholars, including Robert Caldwell, Thomas Burrow, Kamil Zvelebil, and Mikhail Andronov. This hypothesis has, however, been rejected by some specialists in Uralic languages, and has in recent times also been criticised by other Dravidian linguists, such as Bhadriraju Krishnamurti.


title: Uralic languages

text: Nostratic associates Uralic, Indo-European, Altaic, Dravidian, and various other language families of Asia. The Nostratic hypothesis was first propounded by Holger Pedersen in 1903 and subsequently revived by Vladislav Illich-Svitych and Aharon Dolgopolsky in the 1960s.


title: Uralic languages

text: Eurasiatic resembles Nostratic in including Uralic, Indo-European, and Altaic, but differs from it in excluding the South Caucasian languages, Dravidian, and Afroasiatic and including Chukotko-Kamchatkan, Nivkh, Ainu, and Eskimo–Aleut. It was propounded by Joseph Greenberg in 2000–2002. Similar ideas had earlier been expressed by Heinrich Koppelmann in 1933 and by Björn Collinder in 1965.


title: Uralic languages

text: The linguist Angela Marcantonio has argued against the validity of several subgroups of the Uralic family, as well against the family itself, claiming that many of the languages are no more closely related to each other than they are to various other Eurasian languages (e.g. Yukaghir or Turkic), and that in particular Hungarian is a language isolate.


title: Uralic languages

text: Marcantonio's proposal has been strongly dismissed by most reviewers as unfounded and methodologically flawed. Problems identified by reviewers include:


title: Uralic languages

text: A more ambiguous review comes from linguist Edward Vajda, who does not, however, specialize in Uralic languages. Although he also rejects all of the book's new proposals (including the author's dismissal of Uralic as a language family), he agrees that Marcantonio has raised a number of worthwhile questions that both Uralicists and non-Uralicists should aim to answer seriously.


title: Uralic languages

text: Various unorthodox comparisons have been advanced. These are considered at best spurious fringe-theories by specialists:


title: Bachelor of Fine Arts

text: A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases.


title: Bachelor of Fine Arts

text: The Bachelor of Fine Arts degree differs from a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in that the majority of the program consists of a practical studio component, as contrasted with lecture and discussion classes.


title: Bachelor of Fine Arts

text: A Bachelor of Fine Arts degree will often require an area of specialty such as acting, architecture, musical theatre, game design, animation, ceramics, computer animation, creative writing, dance, dramatic writing, drawing, fashion design, fiber, film production, graphic design, illustration, industrial design, interior design, metalworking, music, new media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, stage management, technical arts, television production, visual arts, or visual effects. Some schools instead give their students a broad education in many disciplines of the arts.


title: Bachelor of Fine Arts

text: Although a Bachelor of Fine Arts is traditionally considered a four-year degree, a BFA program may take shorter or longer to complete because of the amount of studio course work required. After completing this degree, the learner may acquire postgraduate degree; Master of Fine Arts.


title: Bachelor of Fine Arts

text: A typical BFA program in the United States consists of two-thirds study in the arts, with one-third in more general liberal arts studies. For a BA in Art, the ratio might be reversed. The National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), which accredits Bachelor's of Fine Arts programs in visual art and design in the United States, states that "the professional degree (BFA) focuses on intensive work in the visual arts supported by a program of general studies," whereas "the liberal arts degree (BA) focuses on art and design in the context of a broad program of general studies."


title: Bachelor of Fine Arts

text: In the United Kingdom, BA Fine Arts is equivalent to BFA. Specific degrees such as the Bachelor of Dance or Bachelor of Drama are used by some performing arts institutions in Australia, the US, and much of Europe.


title: Bachelor of Fine Arts

text: In India, a Fine Arts undergraduate degree may also be known as BVA (Bachelor of Visual Arts). It is usually a four year program in which the first year is preparatory session. By the second year, learners have a specialization such as Painting, Photography and more. However, some institutions have 3 year curriculum in which students are already opted for their specialization. Specializations such as Acting, Dancing, Singing, etc. would come under Bachelor of Performing Arts (BPA).


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is a 2015 spy film directed by Guy Ritchie and written by Ritchie and Lionel Wigram. It is based on the 1964 MGM television series of the same name, which was created by Norman Felton and Sam Rolfe. The film stars Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicki, and Hugh Grant. The film was produced by RatPac-Dune Entertainment, and Davis Entertainment, while Turner Entertainment Co., the original TV series current holder, was also involved.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: In 1993, John Davis obtained the rights for a film adaptation based on the original series. However, the film fell into development limbo due to multiple script rewrites. Over the years, Matthew Vaughn, David Dobkin, and Steven Soderbergh were optioned for directing until Ritchie signed on in March 2013. The film premiered at Barcelona on August 2, 2015 and was released on August 14, 2015, by Warner Bros. It received mixed reviews from critics and was a box office bomb, grossing only $107 million worldwide on a $75–84 million budget.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: In 1963, at the height of the Cold War, ex-United States Army Sergeant and professional thief-turned-CIA-Agent Napoleon Solo extracts Gaby Teller, daughter of Dr. Udo Teller, a missing alleged Nazi scientist-turned United States collaborator at the end of World War II, from East Berlin, evading KGB Agent Illya Kuryakin. He later reports to his superior, Sanders, who reveals that Gaby's maternal uncle Rudi works in a shipping company owned by Alexander and Victoria Vinciguerra, a wealthy Nazi sympathizer couple who intend to use Teller to build their own private nuclear weapon and give it to lingering Nazi elements. Due to the potentially world-ending nature of this crisis, the CIA and KGB have reluctantly teamed up, and Solo and Kuryakin are ordered to stop the Vinciguerras from succeeding, with both men secretly assigned to steal Udo Teller's research for their respective governments.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: The trio travels to Rome, where Gaby and Kuryakin reluctantly pose as an engaged couple, and Solo pretends to be an antiquities dealer. Solo deduces they are being monitored and instructs Kuryakin not to defend himself from muggers so as to preserve this cover. Despite their hostilities towards each other, Kuryakin heeds his advice and does not react when his father's prized watch is stolen. Later, at an auto racing event promoted by the Vinciguerras, Solo and Gaby flirt with Victoria and Alexander to obtain information about Teller. Meanwhile, Kuryakin acquires evidence the Vinciguerras were recently exposed to radiation, indicating that their weapon is near completion.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: Solo and Kuryakin begrudgingly join forces to break into a Vinciguerra shipping yard, in which they find traces of uranium. After accidentally setting off the alarm, they escape into the water but find their way blocked. During a scuffle with the guards, Kuryakin nearly drowns. Solo escapes but surprises himself by returning to save Kuryakin. Although a suspicious Victoria pursues them with her henchmen, Solo and Kuryakin manage to slip past into their own rooms undetected. Victoria and Solo spend the night together. The following day, Gaby meets with Rudi and Alexander to discuss a job, but unexpectedly betrays Kuryakin and Solo to them. Kuryakin escapes but Victoria drugs and captures Solo and takes him to a nearby warehouse. There, Rudi, who is revealed as an infamous Nazi war criminal, tortures Solo in an electric chair. Solo is rescued by Kuryakin, who tortures Rudi. Rudi reveals that the weapon is hidden in an island fortress where Gaby has been reunited with her father; while Solo and Kuryakin discuss what they should do with Rudi, the chair malfunctions and causes a fire which kills him. Solo and Kuryakin travel to the fortress.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: To protect Gaby, Dr. Teller pretends to resume work on the weapon but intends to sabotage it. Victoria quickly sees through this deception, and has Alexander imprison Gaby as an incentive. Victoria kills Teller as soon as he has finished the weapon.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: Meanwhile, Solo and Kuryakin are approached by Alexander Waverly, a high-ranking MI6 Agent who reveals that Gaby is an undercover agent under his employment. He and members of the Special Boat Service help Solo and Kuryakin infiltrate the Vinciguerras's compound. While they search the compound, Solo finds Kuryakin's stolen watch on a guard. Alexander Vinciguerra then attempts to escape with Gaby and the warhead, but is intercepted and killed. Solo retrieves the disc with Teller's research, but realizes that the warhead Vinciguerra was taking with him was a non-nuclear secondary missile. Victoria has left undetected on another boat with the real warhead. Solo is able to contact Victoria via radio and keep her on the line long enough for Waverly to locate her and launch a homing missile, destroying the nuclear weapon and the boat, ostensibly taking Victoria with them.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: Kuryakin is ordered by his commander to kill Solo and steal the disc. Furious at the order, but threatened with being sent to Siberia if he fails, a broken Kuryakin confronts Solo in his hotel room. When Solo produces Kuryakin's father's stolen watch, Kuryakin admits what his assignment was, only to have Solo reply that he knew this, and had the same orders. They instead share a drink on the terrace and burn the contents of the disc, so as to not give either of their countries the upper hand in the arms race. Reuniting with Gaby and Waverly, they are told that the trio has been reassigned to a new international organization under Waverly's command. Waverly gives them a new mission in Istanbul under a new codename: U.N.C.L.E.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: Producer John Davis optioned the film rights to the 1960s TV series in 1993, setting up a development deal for an adaptation with Warner Bros. and series producer Norman Felton. Davis has estimated that he commissioned 12 or 14 different scripts over the course of 20 years, with writers Jim and John Thomas, John Requa, Glenn Ficarra, and Scott Z. Burns. Quentin Tarantino was briefly attached following the success of "Pulp Fiction", but opted to make "Jackie Brown" instead. "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." continued to labor in development hell with directors Matthew Vaughn and David Dobkin. Steven Soderbergh was attached to direct Scott Z. Burns' screenplay, with production slated to begin in March 2012. Executives from Warner Bros. wanted the budget to stay below $60 million, but Soderbergh felt that amount would not be adequate to fund the 1960s-era sets, props, and international settings required for the film. Emily Blunt was nearly cast as the female lead, but she left the project shortly after Soderbergh departed in November 2011.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: Guy Ritchie signed on in March 2013. On July 31, 2013, it was announced that Ritchie's adaptation would start filming in September 2013 in London and Italy. The final production budget was approximately $75 million US.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: In November 2010, George Clooney showed interest in the film, and was in talks for the lead role of Napoleon Solo, but he left in September 2011 due to a recurring back injury. After Clooney's departure, actors including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ryan Gosling, Channing Tatum, Alexander Skarsgård, Ewan McGregor, Robert Pattinson, Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Michael Fassbender, Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Kinnaman, Russell Crowe, Chris Pine, Ryan Reynolds, and Jon Hamm were considered for the lead role. On March 18, 2013, Tom Cruise was in early talks to take the lead in the film. Armie Hammer was cast in the second lead role as Illya Kuryakin on April 24, 2013, with Cruise set as Solo. Swedish actress Alicia Vikander joined the film on May 8, 2013, as the female lead. On May 23, 2013, Cruise dropped out of the film, due to his commitment to "". British actor Henry Cavill replaced Cruise. Elizabeth Debicki was cast in a femme fatale role on July 31, 2013; Rose Byrne and Charlize Theron were earlier considered for the same part. On August 8, 2013, Hugh Grant joined the cast as Alexander Waverly, the head of United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E). Jared Harris was cast as Sanders on September 4, 2013, and Luca Calvani was cast as a villain, Alexander. Simona Caparrini was also cast to play Contessa.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: Principal photography on the film commenced on September 9, 2013. In October 2013, filming was being under way at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, Royal Victoria Docks, London and Goodwood Motor Racing Circuit in West Sussex, UK.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: Two locations stood in place for Berlin sites on either side of the wall: the public toilet fight between Solo and Kuryakin was shot in Regent's Park in London, while the car chase during the movie's first act was shot in Chatham Historic Dockyard, Kent UK.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: Director Guy Ritchie finalized the script throughout production: "He's quite intuitive and tends to constantly rewrite stuff, which he does even when they're shooting. He'll rewrite things in the morning if they're shooting that day, working with the actors if something doesn't feel right." says long term collaborator David Allcock.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: The musical score for "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." was composed by Daniel Pemberton. A soundtrack album was released by WaterTower Music on August 7, 2015. A behind the scenes video was also released. The musical score received many glowing reviews with the LA Times noting "it is composer Daniel Pemberton who in some ways seems to understand the idea of the movie even better than Ritchie, his score featuring breathy flutes, twangy guitar, spooky harpsichord and pounding drums and organ capturing the mixture of pastiche, homage and a twist of the new in a way the rest of the film rarely matches."


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: The film was scheduled for a January 16, 2015 release, but on August 12, 2014, Warner Bros moved the film's release date from January 16, 2015 to August 14, 2015.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." grossed $45.4 million in North America and $64.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $109.8 million, against a production budget of $75 million. "The Hollywood Reporter" estimated the film lost the studio at least $80 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: The film grossed $900,000 from its early Thursday screenings and $4.8 million on its opening day. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $13.4 million, which was about $5 million below expectations, finishing third at the box office. In its second weekend it dropped 45% to $7.3 million, finishing fifth.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: It opened in Russia with $3.1 million. In the United Kingdom, it opened alongside Sony Pictures' "Pixels", earning $2.3 million, debuting at number 4 for Friday-to-Sunday, while "Pixels" was at No. 1 with $4.2 million, including previews during the week. Warner Bros did not preview "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." Across Asia, it generated $2.7 million from six countries and $1.7 million in Australia.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 68% based on 291 reviews, with an average rating of 6.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""The Man from U.N.C.L.E." tries to distract from an unremarkable story with charismatic stars and fizzy set pieces, adding up to an uneven action thriller with just enough style to overcome its lack of substance." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: In April 2017, it was reported that Wigram was working on the script for a sequel at the suggestion of Hammer. Cavill stated that he would be excited to return for the sequel.


title: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (film)

text: A 3D action game based on the film titled "Mission: Berlin" was released on iOS and Android. It featured sneaking, shooting, and getting in and out of drivable vehicles in the style of open world games. The player can choose to play as Solo or Kuryakin. There was also a multiplayer death match. As of December 2018, the game has been removed from both marketplaces.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: The fourth season of the American television series "" follows the crew of the USS "Discovery", more than 900 years after the events of "", as they help rebuild the United Federation of Planets following a cataclysmic event. They soon face an unprecedented space anomaly that causes destruction across the galaxy. The season was produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment, with Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise serving as showrunners.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Michael Burnham, captain of the "Discovery", along with the returning Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Wilson Cruz, Blu del Barrio, David Ajala, and Tig Notaro. Active development on the season began by January 2020. More time was spent writing than previous seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which inspired the space anomaly that the characters face in the season. Burnham's new role as captain is also explored following her promotion at the end of the . The fourth season was officially announced in October 2020, and filming took place in Toronto, Canada, from November 2020 to August 2021. New filming processes were implemented to ensure safety during the pandemic, which caused some production delays, and a video wall was constructed to allow for filming in front of real-time computer-generated backgrounds.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: The season premiered on the streaming service Paramount+ on November 18, 2021, and the first seven episodes were released through December 30, 2021. The remaining six episodes were released from February 10 to March 17, 2022. Internationally, the season's release on Netflix was cancelled days before the premiere to allow a 2022 debut on Paramount+ for most other countries; after fan backlash, the series was made available early in some countries through Pluto TV or digital purchase. The season was estimated to have high viewership and audience demand, and received positive reviews as well as several awards and nominations. A was ordered in January 2022.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: Active development on a 13-episode fourth season of "" began by January 2020, during production on the series' . By March, a was also in development with the intention of production on the fourth and fifth seasons taking place back-to-back, but these plans were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Pre-production on the fourth season began in Toronto, Canada, on August 17. Executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise, the co-showrunners of the series, officially announced the season on October 16, the day after the third season premiered. Filming was scheduled to begin on November 2.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: The series' writers room began working on the season remotely by August 2020. Pandemic-related production delays allowed them to get "quite ahead in scripts" compared to previous seasons, according to Kurtzman. He soon confirmed that all seasons after the third would continue to be set in the 32nd century. Writing for the fourth season ended in mid-May 2021, and took place entirely via Zoom so the writers room never met in person. Because they, and the rest of the world, were impacted by the pandemic during the creation of the season, the writers wanted to acknowledge it in some way without literally including a pandemic in the story. Paradise explained that "Star Trek" series have always reflected the real world in this way, and the season's story was designed to be a metaphor for the pandemic without being one-to-one: the main "antagonist" of the season is a giant, destructive space anomaly that the characters do not understand. To establish the impact that this anomaly can have rather than just explain how big and destructive it is, the writers chose to have it destroy the planet Kwejian—the homeworld of Cleveland "Book" Booker—in the season's first episode. This has an ongoing effect on Book throughout the season, and the writers wanted to test his relationship with protagonist Michael Burnham.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: The third season ends with Burnham becoming the captain of "Discovery", which star Sonequa Martin-Green said was a new beginning for the series. Paradise said the character had "grown in many ways" over the first three seasons, and the fourth would see her continue to grow as captain. The writers approached Burnhams's character arc in each episode by asking what her journey as a captain would be, and by the season finale she has learned to deal with captain-specific issues such as making tough calls and navigating political situations. The previous captain of "Discovery", Saru, begins the season on his homeworld of Kaminar but eventually returns to the ship. He develops a relationship with T'Rina, the president of Ni'Var, which is a storyline that the writers decided to explore after seeing unexpected chemistry between the two characters during the third season.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: Paradise said the writers always intended to form a "really lovely" family unit in the third season with Paul Stamets and Hugh Culber, a gay couple, and the non-binary Adira. This is extended to Adira's transgender boyfriend Gray, who is dead but whose consciousness is still connected to Adira. The third season promised that Gray would be "seen" by everyone, in a metaphor for representation, and the fourth season does this by transferring his consciousness into a synthetic body (the same technology that was used for Jean-Luc Picard in the of ""). Actor Ian Alexander had a lot more "hands-on involvement" with Gray's storyline in the fourth season. Another metaphor for representation is seen in the storyline for Zora, "Discovery" advanced computer. She becomes sentient in the season, and is deemed to be a new lifeform that officially joins Starfleet. This is similar to the android Data in the series "".


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: After revealing that Earth is no longer part of the United Federation of Planets in the third season, the writers knew that it would be a big moment for the series to have Earth rejoin the Federation and decided that this would be a two-season arc that concludes in the fourth-season finale. They wanted the season to explore ethical questions in a similar way to "" and "The Next Generation", to make "Discovery" feel more like traditional "Star Trek". The season also explores the mental health struggles of some characters, which was relevant to the creative team due to the real-world impacts of the pandemic. For Species 10-C, an unknown species that created the destructive anomaly, they wanted to create a species that was unlike any seen before in "Star Trek" or other science fiction franchises. They especially wanted the species to be difficult to communicate with, so the characters could not rely on their universal translators, and worked with science consultant Erin Macdonald as well as METI (Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) to understand what the new species could be.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: The season stars the returning Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham, Doug Jones as Saru, Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets, Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly, Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber, and David Ajala as Cleveland "Book" Booker, as well as Blu del Barrio reprising their recurring guest role as Adira Tal from the third season. Tig Notaro was asked to reprise her recurring guest role of Jett Reno in the season for two different filming blocks. She chose not to travel to Toronto for filming in November 2020 due to the pandemic, but hoped that conditions would be safer in May 2021 to allow her to travel for the second block; Notaro confirmed in May 2021 that she was in Toronto to film all of her scenes for the season over two weeks. Notaro is credited as a main cast member for her appearances in the season. Despite Tilly leaving "Discovery" in the fourth episode, Wiseman remained a series regular and returned for the season finale.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: Other guest stars reprising their roles from the third season include Oded Fehr as Admiral Charles Vance, Ian Alexander as Gray Tal, Bill Irwin as Su'Kal, Tara Rosling as Ni'Var President T'Rina, Annabelle Wallis as the voice of Zora, Sonja Sohn as Burnham's mother Gabrielle, David Cronenberg as Dr. Kovich, Phumzile Sitole as Earth General Diatta Ndoye, and former main cast member Rachael Ancheril as Commander Nhan. Kenneth Mitchell, who made guest appearances as different characters in the previous seasons, said in August 2021 that he would have a unique role in the fourth season after the progression of his ALS diagnosis limited his ability to move and speak un-aided; he is represented by the USS "Mitchell", a starship named for the actor that appears in the season finale. New recurring guests for the season include Chelah Horsdal as Laira Rillak, the Federation President, Shawn Doyle as Ruon Tarka, and Hiro Kanagawa as Dr. Hirai. In the season finale, politician and activist Stacey Abrams appears as the President of United Earth. Paradise and Kurtzman had contacted Abrams about making the appearance knowing that she was already a fan of the series and franchise, and they did not include her name in documentation for filming to help keep her role a secret.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: Additionally, Osric Chau portrays Tarka's missing friend Oros, Rothaford Gray is introduced as Book's father Tareckx, and Ache Hernandez and Luca Doulgeris return as Book's brother Kyheem and nephew Leto, respectively. The crew of "Discovery" also return for the season, including Emily Coutts as pilot Keyla Detmer, Patrick Kwok-Choon as tactical officer Gen Rhys, Oyin Oladejo as operations officer Joann Owosekun, Ronnie Rowe Jr. as communications officer R.A. Bryce, Sara Mitich as Nilsson, David Benjamin Tomlinson as Linus the Saurian, and Raven Dauda as Dr. Tracy Pollard. Rowe has a smaller role than previously after being cast in the series "The Porter", and Bryce is replaced as communications officer in some episodes by Christopher, who is portrayed by Orville Cummings.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: The crew of the "Discovery" were given the primarily gray uniforms of other 32nd-century Starfleet officers at the end of the third season, but the producers soon realized that those costumes clashed with the "Discovery"s existing gray hallway sets. Costume designer Gersha Phillips looked at various options that still kept the gray color and settled on more colorful costumes that have a gray stripe on the front. The uniforms use the same primary colors as "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (red for command, gold for operations, and blue for science) but with white uniforms for medical officers like in previous "Discovery" seasons. The new uniforms also have matching dress-uniform variants. The EV spacesuits seen in the season are the sixth or seventh iteration designed for the series. Phillips said they wanted each version to be more sleek and more comfortable than the last.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: For the first episode's opening sequence, Phillips mistakenly assumed that Burnham's mission with Book was a courier mission and designed a leather coat for Martin-Green to wear. The producers corrected her that it was actually a Starfleet mission but asked her to keep the coat and just make it "cleaner" and Starfleet-appropriate. Martin-Green loved wearing the coat and felt it showed Burnham's "boldness" now that she is captain, while Phillips noted that it was now available to use as a uniform-variant for all Starfleet officers on the series. The Kelpien costumes on Kaminar were designed to be more organic than the Starfleet uniforms, but Phillips still wanted them to be sleek to match the aesthetic of the 32nd century. Saru wears a special pin on his chest to represent that he is a councilmember on Kaminar, and prop master Mario Moreira explained that the pin was designed to reflect Kaminar's two cultures which have united since the earlier seasons: a central stone represents the obelisks of the Ba'ul people, surrounded by flowing lines that evoke the Kelpiens' movements and the seaweed that they collect. The props department questioned whether Saru should continue to wear this pin once he returns to his Starfleet uniform but realized that there was precedent for this in the cultural sash worn by Worf in "The Next Generation". Zora and Gray play a Trill board game in "Stormy Weather" that was designed by Moreira's team to be a futuristic version of chess. He said there were many discussions about the design and rules for the game. For the casino in "All In", writer Sean Cochran used his father's knowledge as a gambling expert along with a hired consultant to help inform what details were needed on set. The props team played all of the card games before filming, reverse-engineered from the desired results, to ensure that the cards could be played in the correct order by the actors during filming. The set for the casino was a re-dressing of the space station set from the first episode.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: The producers wanted to match the writers' unique approach to Species 10-C by designing creatures that did not look like any other aliens from science fiction, working with Glenn Hetrick of Alchemy Studio, who provides special makeup and prosthetics for the series, and creature designer Neville Page to create them. Executive producer and producing director Olatunde Osunsanmi did not want the creatures to be able to walk, and thought was put into what a creature would biologically need to be able to float. Osunsanmi also wanted them to be "skyscraper tall", but their size had to be reduced so they could still fit in frame with the humanoid characters.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: Filming began at Pinewood Toronto Studios in Toronto, Canada, on November 2, 2020, under the working title "Mill Street". Production was previously expected to take place from July 2020 to January 2021, filming back-to-back with a potential fifth season, but these plans were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Kurtzman said in October 2020 that filming would be a "systematised, militarised operation" due to the pandemic, explaining that the season's crew would work in "pods" to minimize the potential spread of the virus. The cast traveled to Toronto early to quarantine for 14 days, per the Canadian government's requirements, and during filming the cast and crew were tested for COVID-19 three times a week. Jones said filming was slower because of the precautions taken on set; each episode took one day longer to film than in previous seasons.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: Kurtzman revealed in October 2020 that Paramount+ was constructing a video wall to allow for virtual production on the season as well as the series "", utilizing technology similar to the StageCraft system that was developed for the Disney+ series "The Mandalorian". The new virtual set was built in Toronto by visual effects company Pixomondo, and features a 270-degree, by horseshoe-shaped LED volume with additional LED panels in the ceiling to aid with lighting. The technology uses the game engine software Unreal Engine to display computer-generated backgrounds on the LED screens in real-time during filming, which visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman noted was especially useful for creating the planets that are visited in the series; due to the pandemic, the production was unable to film on location outside of North America to portray alien planets as they did for the third season. The virtual stage was still being installed by the time production took a break for Christmas in late December. The majority of filming for the first two episodes had been completed by then, but scenes requiring the video wall were set to be filmed after the break once the technology was ready. Zimmerman oversaw the installation and use of the volume remotely from Los Angeles, and said the production design and art departments were involved with the visual effects earlier than usualn since they needed to be ready for filming in the volume. Doug McCullough took over as production designer for the season, and used the technology to create environments that otherwise would not have been possible, such as the large prison in "The Examples". Other virtual locations included the "Discovery" shuttle bay (which appeared in previous seasons without the technology), the Kaminar Council Chamber, and the Federation Headquarters shuttle bay. Almost every episode of the season used virtual production for at least one scene.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: Philip Lanyon was the lead director of photography for the season after previously working on an episode of "Discovery" second season and also serving as lead director of photography for the of "". Franco Tata and Chris Mably were also cinematographers for the fourth season. Lanyon began his work on the season by developing a "visual mood board" for the cinematography with Osunsanmi. The season was filmed with Arri Alexa Mini, Mini LF, and SXT cameras, and Lanyon brought back Cooke Optics' Anamorphic/i Special Flare lenses from his previous "Star Trek" work because they gave him control over the lens flares that arise from all of the practical light on the "Discovery" sets. He also chose to start using Anamorphic/i Full Frame Plus SF lenses on the season, believing that the full frame format of those lenses created a cleaner image and allowed him to get closer to the actors with a wider field of view without distorting the image in the way that some wide-angle lenses do. The full frame lenses were just used for the virtual production scenes on the season's first eleven episodes, and the softer backgrounds created by the lenses helped control artefacts from the LED screens such as moiré patterns. Lanyon and Osunsanmi then used the full frame format as the primary lenses for the last two episodes of the season. Lanyon felt the cinematography for the season, especially with the addition of virtual production, gave it a "bigger world" with a different visual style when compared to the first three seasons. Coincidentally, cinematographer Glen Keenan chose to use the full frame lenses on "Strange New Worlds" around the same time that Lanyon selected them for this season.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: Film composer and editor John Ottman, a big "Star Trek" fan, directed the fourth episode of the season. Ottman helped Kurtzman oversee the editing of the third season in return for getting to direct in the fourth. On April 22, 2021, production on the season was paused after a "Zone A" individual (referring to key cast members as well as the crew who are in contact with them) came in "close proximity" away from set with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. This was detected through Ontario's contact tracing system, and the individual began 14 days of quarantine. The rest of the season's almost 80-person production were not required to quarantine and filming was set to start again on May 6. There was also a lockdown in the Toronto area at that time, but film and television productions were allowed to continue. One of the series' pandemic protocols saw the bridge crew of "Discovery" rotated so the same actors would not always be on set. This is explained in the series by Burnham requiring all crewmembers to take time off for their mental and emotional health. Production for the season was originally set to end on June 10, but pandemic delays meant this end date was extended to August or September. In mid-July, Martin-Green said they had "a little bit more [filming] to do" for the season, and much of the cast wrapped for the season by early August. It was during August that Abrams travelled to Toronto to film her appearance for the finale, and she requested that the cast and crew not spoil the events of the season for her so she could still watch it as a fan. Paradise travelled to Toronto on August 9 for the final weeks of pickup shots and location shooting, and announced that filming for the season had been completed on August 23.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: In addition to working on the season's virtual production effects throughout pre-production and filming, Pixomondo also provided "post-shoot touchup work" to remove the seams between the video wall and ceiling, as well as traditional visual effects such as digital matte paintings. Other visual effects vendors for the season included Crafty Apes VFX, Outpost VFX, Switch VFX, and Gradient Effects. Outpost worked on episodes eight and nine, creating the dead planet that Book and Tarka hide near and adapting the series' programmable matter effects—which were developed by Pixomondo for the third season—to be used as a weapon by Tarka.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: Composer Jeff Russo confirmed in December 2020 that he would begin work on the fourth season once the third season was completed. By April 2021, he was considering using musical themes in the season that he had composed for Noah Hawley's planned "Star Trek" film before that project was put on pause in August 2020. "Stormy Weather" features Wallis's Zora singing the song of the same name, first sung by Ethel Waters in 1933. This song was included on a soundtrack album for the season alongside selections from Russo's score. The album is being released digitally by Lakeshore Records on August 26, 2022. All music by Jeff Russo:


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: In February 2021, Martin-Green appeared in a marketing campaign for Super Bowl LV advertising the rebranded streaming service Paramount+. Martin-Green then revealed the first teaser for the season during a panel for the "First Contact Day" virtual event on April 5, 2021, celebrating the franchise on the fictional holiday marking first contact between humans and aliens in the "Star Trek" universe. The teaser revealed the season's new uniforms. A full trailer and key art poster were revealed during a panel for the season at New York Comic-Con in October. Multiple commentators discussing the trailer highlighted Burnham's new role as captain. Scott Snowden at "Space.com" felt the approach to Burnham had not changed despite the promotion, and said the trailer's premise of "a strange anomaly threatens the entire galaxy" was essentially the same as the third season's story.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: The season premiered on Paramount+ in the United States on November 18, 2021, and the first seven episodes were released through December 30. The remaining six episodes were released from February 10 to March 17. Bell Media broadcast the season in Canada on the specialty channels CTV Sci-Fi Channel (English) and Z (French) on the same day as the U.S., before streaming episodes on Crave.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: Netflix originally held the streaming rights for the season in another 188 countries as with the previous seasons, but two days before the season's international debut, ViacomCBS announced that it had bought back the international streaming rights to "Discovery" from Netflix effective immediately. This meant the season would be streamed in other countries on Paramount+ once the service was available there some time in 2022. The announcement led to backlash from international fans for its timing and the fact that the season would not be available in other countries at the same time as it was released in the U.S. and Canada. On November 24, ViacomCBS acknowledged the backlash and said the season would be made available internationally through several avenues: it would begin releasing on Paramount+ for markets where the service had already launched, starting with the first two episodes on November 26; episodes would air multiple times a week on the free streaming service Pluto TV in other territories; and episodes would be available for digital purchase in some countries.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: The season was released on DVD, Blu-Ray, and Limited Edition Steelbook formats in the U.S. on December 6, 2022. The release includes over 90 minutes of bonus features, including deleted scenes, a gag reel, audio commentary for the season finale, and featurettes on the making of the season, filming during the COVID-19 pandemic, Burnham becoming captain, and the introduction of virtual production technology.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: In December 2021, Paramount+ revealed that "Star Trek: Discovery" was the most watched series on the streaming service for its inaugural year. Audience demand analytics company Parrot Analytics, who estimate streaming viewership based on global "demand expressions", listed "Discovery" as the 15th most in-demand streaming series of 2021 and calculated that it was 19 times more in-demand than the average United States series. It was the only Paramount+ series in Parrot's top 20 list for the year. Whip Media, who track viewership data for the 19 million worldwide users of their TV Time app, ranked "Discovery" in the top 10 original streaming series for U.S. viewership the week of the season's premiere, as well as each week from the third episode's release until the end of the season's first half. The series returned to the top 10 list for the release of the season's last four episodes. According to anti-piracy analytics firm MUSO, who measure global unlicensed streaming and torrent data, the fourth season of "Discovery" was one of the 10 most-pirated series in November and December 2021.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported 93% approval with an average rating of 8.10/10 based on 14 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Michael Burnham finally comes into her own—and so does "Discovery"—in a confident fourth season that embraces the series' more heartfelt take on the "Star Trek" mythos."


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)

text: The season is one of 200 television series that received the ReFrame Stamp for the years 2021 to 2022. The stamp is awarded by the gender equity coalition ReFrame and industry database IMDbPro for film and television projects that are proven to have gender-balanced hiring, with stamps being awarded to projects that hire female-identifying people, especially women of color, in four out of eight key roles for their production.


title: Excalibur

text: Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone (the proof of Arthur's lineage) are not the same weapon, though in some modern incarnations they are either the same or at least share their name. In Welsh, it is called "Caledfwlch"; in Cornish, "Calesvol" (in Modern Cornish: "Kalesvolgh"); in Breton, "Kaledvoulc'h"; and in Latin, "Caliburnus". Several similar swords and other weapons also appear in this and other legends.


title: Excalibur

text: The name "Excalibur" ultimately derives from the Welsh Caledfwlch (and Breton "Kaledvoulc'h", Middle Cornish "Calesvol"), which is a compound of ' "hard" and ' "breach, cleft". Caledfwlch appears in several early Welsh works, including the prose tale "Culhwch and Olwen" (c. 11th–12th century). The name was later used in Welsh adaptations of foreign material such as the "Brut"s (chronicles), which were based on Geoffrey of Monmouth. It is often considered to be related to the phonetically similar "Caladbolg", a sword borne by several figures from Irish mythology, although a borrowing of "Caledfwlch" from Irish "Caladbolg" has been considered unlikely by Rachel Bromwich and D. Simon Evans. They suggest instead that both names "may have similarly arisen at a very early date as generic names for a sword". This sword then became exclusively the property of Arthur in the British tradition.


title: Excalibur

text: Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his "Historia Regum Britanniae" ("The History of the Kings of Britain", c. 1136), Latinised the name of Arthur's sword as Caliburnus (potentially influenced by the Medieval Latin spelling of Classical Latin , from Greek [] "steel"). Most Celticists consider Geoffrey's "Caliburnus" to be derivative of a lost Old Welsh text in which (Old Welsh ) had not yet been lenited to (Middle Welsh or ). In the late 15th/early 16th-century Middle Cornish play "Beunans Ke", Arthur's sword is called "Calesvol", which is etymologically an exact Middle Cornish cognate of the Welsh "Caledfwlch". It is unclear if the name was borrowed from the Welsh (if so, it must have been an early loan, for phonological reasons), or represents an early, pan-Brittonic traditional name for Arthur's sword.


title: Excalibur

text: In Old French sources this then became "Escalibor", "Excalibor", and finally the familiar "Excalibur". Geoffrey Gaimar, in his Old French "Estoire des Engleis" (1134–1140), mentions Arthur and his sword: "this Constantine was the nephew of Arthur, who had the sword Caliburc" (""). In Wace's "Roman de Brut" (c. 1150–1155), an Old French translation and versification of Geoffrey's "Historia", the sword is called "Calabrum", "Callibourc", "Chalabrun", and "Calabrun" (with variant spellings such as "Chalabrum", "Calibore", "Callibor", "Caliborne", "Calliborc", and "Escaliborc", found in various manuscripts of the "Brut").


title: Excalibur

text: In Chrétien de Troyes' late 12th-century Old French "Perceval", Arthur's knight Gawain carries the sword "Escalibor" and it is stated, "for at his belt hung Escalibor, the finest sword that there was, which sliced through iron as through wood" (). This statement was probably picked up by the author of the "Estoire Merlin", or Vulgate Merlin, where the author (who was fond of fanciful folk etymologies) asserts that Escalibor "is a Hebrew name which means in French 'cuts iron, steel, and wood (; note that the word for "steel" here, achier, also means "blade" or "sword" and comes from medieval Latin , a derivative of "sharp", so there is no direct connection with Latin in this etymology). It is from this fanciful etymological musing that Thomas Malory got the notion that Excalibur meant "cut steel" ("the name of it,' said the lady, 'is Excalibur, that is as moche to say, as Cut stele").


title: Excalibur

text: In Arthurian romance, a number of explanations are given for Arthur's possession of Excalibur. In Robert de Boron's "Merlin", the first tale to mention the "sword in the stone" motif c. 1200, Arthur obtained the British throne by pulling a sword from an anvil sitting atop a stone that appeared in a churchyard on Christmas Eve. In this account, as foretold by Merlin, the act could not be performed except by "the true king", meaning the divinely appointed king or true heir of Uther Pendragon. The scene is set by different authors at either London (Londinium) or generally in Logres, and might have been inspired by a miracle attributed to the 11th-century Bishop Wulfstan of Worcester. As Malory related in his most famous English-language version of the Arthurian tales, the 15th-century "Le Morte d'Arthur": "Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England." After many of the gathered nobles try and fail to complete Merlin's challenge, the teenage Arthur (who up to this point had believed himself to be son of Sir Ector, not Uther's son, and went there as Sir Kay's squire) does this feat effortlessly by accident and then repeats it publicly. The identity of this sword as Excalibur is made explicit in the Prose "Merlin", a part of the "Lancelot-Grail" cycle of French romances (the "Vulgate Cycle").


title: Excalibur

text: Eventually, in the cycle's finale Vulgate "Mort Artu", when Arthur is at the brink of death, he orders Griflet to cast Excalibur into the enchanted lake. After two failed attempts (as he felt such a great sword should not be thrown away), Griflet finally complies with the wounded king's request and a hand emerges from the lake to catch it. This tale becomes attached to Bedivere, instead of Griflet, in Malory and the English tradition. However, in the "Post-Vulgate Cycle" (and consequently Malory), Arthur breaks the Sword from the Stone while in combat against King Pellinore very early in his reign. On Merlin's advice, he then goes with him to be given Excalibur by a Lady of the Lake in exchange for a later boon for her (some time later, she arrives at Arthur's court to demand the head of Balin). Malory records both versions of the legend in his "Le Morte d'Arthur", naming each sword as Excalibur.


title: Excalibur

text: In Welsh legends, Arthur's sword is known as "Caledfwlch". In "Culhwch and Olwen", it is one of Arthur's most valuable possessions and is used by Arthur's warrior Llenlleawg the Irishman to kill the Irish king Diwrnach while stealing his magical cauldron. Though not named as Caledfwlch, Arthur's sword is described vividly in "The Dream of Rhonabwy", one of the tales associated with the "Mabinogion" (as translated by Jeffrey Gantz): "Then they heard Cadwr Earl of Cornwall being summoned, and saw him rise with Arthur's sword in his hand, with a design of two chimeras on the golden hilt; when the sword was unsheathed what was seen from the mouths of the two chimeras was like two flames of fire, so dreadful that it was not easy for anyone to look."


title: Excalibur

text: Geoffrey's "Historia" is the first non-Welsh source to speak of the sword. Geoffrey says the sword was forged in Avalon and Latinises the name "Caledfwlch" as "Caliburnus". When his influential pseudo-history made it to Continental Europe, writers altered the name further until it finally took on the popular form "Excalibur" (various spellings in the medieval Arthurian romance and chronicle tradition include: "Calabrun", "Calabrum", "Calibourne", "Callibourc", "Calliborc", "Calibourch", "Escaliborc", and "Escalibor"). The legend was expanded upon in the Vulgate Cycle and in the Post-Vulgate Cycle which emerged in its wake. Both of them included the Prose "Merlin", however the Post-Vulgate authors left out the original "Merlin" continuation from the earlier cycle, choosing to add an original account of Arthur's early days including a new origin for Excalibur. In some versions, Excalibur's blade was engraved with phrases on opposite sides: "Take me up" and "Cast me away" (or similar). In addition, it said that when Excalibur was first drawn in combat, in the first battle testing Arthur's sovereignty, its blade shined so bright it blinded his enemies.


title: Excalibur

text: In the later romance tradition, including Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur", Excalibur's scabbard is also said to have powers of its own, as any wounds received while wearing it would not bleed at all, thus preventing the wearer from ever bleeding to death in battle. For this reason, Merlin chides Arthur for preferring the sword over its sheath, saying that the latter is the greater treasure. The scabbard is, however, soon stolen from Arthur by his half-sister Morgan le Fay in revenge for the death of her beloved Accolon having been slain by Arthur with Excalibur in a duel involving a false Excalibur (Morgan also secretly makes at least one duplicate of Excalibur during the time when the sword is entrusted to her by Arthur earlier in the different French, Iberian and English variants of that story); the sheath is then thrown by her into a lake and lost. This act later enables the death of Arthur, deprived of its magical protection, many years later in his final battle. In Malory's telling, the scabbard is never found again; in the Post-Vulgate, however, it is recovered and claimed by another fay, Marsique, who then briefly gives it to Gawain to help him fight Naborn (Mabon) the enchanter.


title: Excalibur

text: In some French works, such as Chrétien's "Perceval" and the Vulgate "Lancelot", Excalibur is wielded also by Gawain, Arthur's nephew and one of his best knights; this is in contrast to most versions, where Excalibur belongs solely to Arthur. A few texts, such as the English Alliterative "Morte Arthure" and one copy of the Welsh "Ymddiddan Arthur a'r Eryr", tell of Arthur using Excalibur to kill his son Mordred.


title: Excalibur

text: Historically, a sword identified as Excalibur (Caliburn) was supposedly discovered during the purported exhumation of Arthur's grave at Glastonbury Abbey in 1191. On 6 March 1191, after the Treaty of Messina, either this or another claimed Excalibur was given as a gift of goodwill by the English king Richard I of England (Richard the Lionheart) to his ally Tancred, King of Sicily. It was one of a series of Medieval English symbolic Arthurian acts, such as associating the crown won from the slain Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd with the crown of King Arthur.


title: Excalibur

text: The challenge of drawing a sword from a stone (placed on the river just outside Camelot) also appears in the later Arthurian story of Galahad, whose achievement of the task indicates that he is destined to find the Holy Grail, as also foretold in Merlin's prophecies. This powerful yet cursed weapon, known as the Adventurous Sword among other names, has also come from Avalon; it is first stolen and wielded by Balin until his death while killing his own brother, then is briefly taken up by Galahad, and eventually is used by Lancelot to give his former friend Gawain a mortal wound in their long final duel. In "Perlesvaus", Lancelot pulls other weapons from stone on two occasions. In the Post-Vulgate "Merlin", Morgan creates the copies of Excalibur itself as well as of its scabbard.


title: Excalibur

text: In Welsh mythology, the Dyrnwyn ("White-Hilt"), one of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain, is said to be a powerful sword belonging to Rhydderch Hael, one of the Three Generous Men of Britain mentioned in the Welsh Triads. When drawn by a worthy or well-born man, the entire blade would blaze with fire. Rhydderch was never reluctant to hand the weapon to anyone, hence his nickname Hael "the Generous", but the recipients, as soon as they had learned of its peculiar properties, always rejected the sword. There are other similar weapons described in other mythologies as well. Irish mythology mentions a weapon Caladbolg, the sword of Fergus mac Róich, which was also known for its incredible power and was carried by some of Ireland's greatest heroes. The name, which can also mean "hard cleft" in Irish, appears in the plural, "caladbuilc", as a generic term for "great swords" in "Togail Troi" ("The Destruction of Troy"), a 10th-century Irish translation of the classical tale. A sword named Claíomh Solais, which is an Irish term meaning "sword of light", or "shining sword", appears in a number of orally transmitted Irish folk-tales. The Sword in the Stone has an analogue in some versions of the story of Sigurd, whose father, Sigmund, draws the sword Gram out of the tree Barnstokkr where it is embedded by the Norse god Odin. A sword in the stone legend is also associated with the 12th-century Italian Saint Galgano in the tale of "Tuscany's Excalibur".


title: Excalibur

text: Other weapons have been associated with Arthur. Welsh tradition also knew of a dagger named Carnwennan and a spear named Rhongomyniad that belonged to him. Carnwennan ("little white-hilt") first appears in "Culhwch and Olwen", where Arthur uses it to slice the witch Orddu in half. Rhongomyniad ("spear" + "striker, slayer") is also mentioned in "Culhwch", although only in passing; it appears as simply Ron ("spear") in Geoffrey's "Historia". Geoffrey also names Arthur's shield as Pridwen; in "Culhwch", however, Prydwen ("fair face") is the name of Arthur's ship while his shield is named Wynebgwrthucher ("face of evening").


title: Excalibur

text: In the Alliterative "Morte Arthure", a Middle English poem, Clarent is the royal sword of peace meant for knighting and ceremonies as opposed to battle, which Mordred stole and then used to kill Arthur at Camlann. The Prose "Lancelot" of the "Vulgate Cycle" mentions a sword called Sequence (also Secace or Seure) as borrowed from Arthur by Lancelot.


title: Cuban Revolution

text: The Cuban Revolution () was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in court, Fidel Castro organized an armed attack on the Cuban military's Moncada Barracks. The rebels were arrested and while in prison formed the 26th of July Movement. After gaining amnesty the M-26-7 rebels organized an expedition from Mexico on the Granma yacht to invade Cuba. In the following years the M-26-7 rebel army would slowly defeat the Cuban army in the countryside, while its urban wing would engage in sabotage and rebel army recruitment. Over time the originally critical and ambivalent Popular Socialist Party would come to support the 26th of July Movement in late 1958. By the time the rebels were to oust Batista the revolution was being driven by the Popular Socialist Party, 26th of July Movement, and the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil.


title: Cuban Revolution

text: The rebels finally ousted Batista on 31 December 1958, replacing his government. 26 July 1953 is celebrated in Cuba as (from Spanish: "Day of the Revolution"). The 26th of July Movement later reformed along Marxist–Leninist lines, becoming the Communist Party of Cuba in October 1965.


title: Cuban Revolution

text: The Cuban Revolution had powerful domestic and international repercussions. In particular, it transformed Cuba–United States relations, although efforts to improve diplomatic relations, such as the Cuban thaw, gained momentum during the 2010s. In the immediate aftermath of the revolution, Castro's government began a program of nationalization, centralization of the press and political consolidation that transformed Cuba's economy and civil society. The revolution also heralded an era of Cuban medical internationalism and Cuban intervention in foreign conflicts in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Several rebellions occurred in the six years following 1959, mainly in the Escambray Mountains, which were defeated by the revolutionary government.


title: Cuban Revolution

text: The Republic of Cuba at the turn of the 20th century was largely characterized by a deeply ingrained tradition of corruption where political participation resulted in opportunities for elites to engage in wealth accumulation. Cuba's first presidential period under Don Tomás Estrada Palma from 1902 to 1906 was considered to uphold the best standards of administrative integrity in the history of the Republic of Cuba. However, a United States intervention in 1906 resulted in Charles Edward Magoon, an American diplomat, taking over the government until 1909. It has been debated whether Magoon's government condoned or in fact engaged in corrupt practices. Hugh Thomas suggests that while Magoon disapproved of corrupt practices, corruption still persisted under his administration and he undermined the autonomy of the judiciary and their court decisions. Cuba's subsequent president, José Miguel Gómez, was the first to become involved in pervasive corruption and government corruption scandals. These scandals involved bribes that were allegedly paid to Cuban officials and legislators under a contract to search the Havana harbour, as well as the payment of fees to government associates and high-level officials. Gómez's successor, Mario García Menocal, wanted to put an end to the corruption scandals and claimed to be committed to administrative integrity as he ran on a slogan of "honesty, peace and work". Despite his intentions, corruption actually intensified under his government from 1913–1921. Instances of fraud became more common while private actors and contractors frequently colluded with public officials and legislators. Charles Edward Chapman attributes the increase of corruption to the sugar boom that occurred in Cuba under the Menocal administration. Furthermore, the emergence of World War One enabled the Cuban government to manipulate sugar prices, the sales of exports and import permits.


title: Cuban Revolution

text: Alfredo Zayas succeeded Menocal from 1921–1925 and engaged in what Calixto Maso refers to as the "maximum expression of administrative corruption". Both petty and grand corruption spread to nearly all aspects of public life and the Cuban administration became largely characterized by nepotism as Zayas relied on friends and relatives to illegally gain greater access to wealth. Due to Zaya's previous policies, Gerardo Machado aimed to diminish corruption and improve the public sector's performance under his successive administration from 1925 to 1933. While he was successfully able to reduce the amounts of low level and petty corruption, grand corruption still largely persisted. Machado embarked on development projects that enabled the persistence of grand corruption through inflated costs and the creation of "large margins" that enabled public officials to appropriate money illegally. Under his government, opportunities for corruption became concentrated into fewer hands with "centralized government purchasing procedures" and the collection of bribes among a smaller number of bureaucrats and administrators. Through the development of real estate infrastructures and the growth of Cuba's tourism industry, Machado's administration was able to use insider information to profit from private sector business deals.