title: Ben Bernanke

text: As the recession began in 2007, many economists urged Bernanke (and the rest of the Federal Open Market Committee) to lower the federal funds rate below what it had done. For example, Larry Summers, later named Director of the White House's National Economic Council under President Obama, wrote in the "Financial Times" on November 26, 2007—in a column in which he argued that recession was likely—that "maintaining demand must be the macro-economic priority. That means the Federal Reserve System has to get ahead of the curve and recognize—as the market already has—that levels of the Federal Funds rate that were neutral when the financial system was working normally are quite contractionary today."


title: Ben Bernanke

text: David Leonhardt of "The New York Times" wrote, on January 30, 2008, that "Dr. Bernanke's forecasts have been too sunny over the last six months. [On] the other hand, his forecast was a lot better than Wall Street's in mid-2006. Back then, he resisted calls for further interest rate increases because he thought the economy might be weakening."


title: Ben Bernanke

text: In a speech at the American Economics Association conference in January 2014, Bernanke reflected on his tenure as chairman of the Federal Reserve. He expressed his hope that economic growth was building momentum and stated that he was confident that the central bank would be able to withdraw its support smoothly.


title: Ben Bernanke

text: In an October 2014 speech, Bernanke disclosed that he was unsuccessful in efforts to refinance his home. He suggested that lenders "may have gone a little bit too far on mortgage credit conditions".


title: Ben Bernanke

text: Since February 2014, Bernanke has been employed as a Distinguished Fellow in Residence with the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution.


title: Ben Bernanke

text: On April 16, 2015, it was announced publicly that Bernanke will work with Citadel, the $25 billion hedge fund founded by billionaire Kenneth C. Griffin, as a senior adviser. In the same month it was revealed that Bernanke would also join PIMCO as a senior advisor.


title: Ben Bernanke

text: In his 2015 book, "The Courage to Act", Bernanke revealed that he was no longer a Republican, having "lost patience with Republicans' susceptibility to the know-nothing-ism of the far right. ... I view myself now as a moderate independent, and I think that's where I'll stay."


title: Ben Bernanke

text: Bernanke published in 2022 his latest book titled "21st Century Monetary Policy: The Federal Reserve from the Great Inflation to COVID-19," where he assesses the successes as well as failures of the Federal Reserve since its inception. The book received a positive review from the New York Times saying the "book is intended to help future generations of economic policymakers, and it probably will."


title: Ben Bernanke

text: Bernanke favors reducing the U.S. budget deficit, particularly by reforming the Social Security and Medicare entitlement programs. During a speech delivered on April 7, 2010, he warned that the U.S. must soon develop a "credible" plan to address the pending funding crisis faced by "entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare" or "in the longer run we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth." Bernanke said that formulation of such a plan would help the economy in the near term, even if actual implementation of the plan might have to wait until the economic outlook improves.


title: Ben Bernanke

text: His remarks were most likely intended for the federal government's executive and legislative branches, since entitlement reform is a fiscal exercise that will be accomplished by the Congress and the President rather than a monetary task falling within the implementation powers of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke also pointed out that deficit reduction will necessarily consist of either raising taxes, cutting entitlement payments and other government spending, or some combination of both.


title: Hiam Abbass

text: Hiam Abbass (, ; born 30 November 1960), also Hiyam Abbas, is a Palestinian actress and film director.


title: Hiam Abbass

text: Hiam Abbass was born in Nazareth, Israel, to a Muslim Arab family. She was raised in the village of Deir Hanna. Since the late 1980s, she has lived in Paris and holds French citizenship.


title: Hiam Abbass

text: During the filming of the Steven Spielberg film "Munich" (2005), Abbass lived in a hotel with the Palestinian Arab and Israeli actors for three months. During that time, they had many discussions that "helped both sides grow closer." In an interview in 2006, Abbass said, "I still remember how difficult it was for the Arab actors to manhandle the Israeli actors in the first scene where the Israeli national team is taken hostage."


title: Hiam Abbass

text: Abbass is known for her roles in "Red Satin" (2002), "Haifa" (1996), "Paradise Now" (2005), "The Syrian Bride" (2004), "Free Zone" (2005), "Dawn of the World" (2008), "The Visitor" (2008), "Lemon Tree" (2008), "Every Day is a Holiday" (2009) and "Amreeka" (2009). In Spielberg's film, depicting the response to the Munich Massacre, she also served as a dialect and acting consultant.


title: Hiam Abbass

text: She directed two short films, "Le Pain" (2001), and "La Danse éternelle" (2004). She portrays humanitarian Hind al-Husseini in Julian Schnabel's film "Miral" (2010), based on the life of Husseini and her orphanage.


title: Hiam Abbass

text: In 2002, she appeared in "Satin Rouge" by Raja Amari, a film about the self-discovery of a middle aged Tunisian widow. She also a similar role in "The Syrian Bride", about a Druze woman eager to break down barriers.


title: Hiam Abbass

text: In 2008, she played the mother of an illegal Syrian immigrant in Tom McCarthy's movie "The Visitor", and the mother of an Iraqi soldier in Abbas Fahdel's film "Dawn of the World".


title: Hiam Abbass

text: Also in 2008, she played the principal role in Israeli director Eran Riklis's film "Lemon Tree" ("Etz Limon" in Hebrew). For this role, she won Best Performance by an Actress at the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. In Jim Jarmusch's 2009 film "The Limits of Control", in the role of Driver, she recites in Classical Arabic one of the film's leitmotif-phrases, "He who thinks he is bigger than the rest must go to the cemetery. There he will see what life really is."


title: Hiam Abbass

text: Abbass also appears in "A Bottle in the Gaza Sea" (2011), a French-Québecois-Israeli film produced by Thierry Binisti. It is based upon the young adult novel "Une bouteille dans la mer de Gaza" by Valérie Zenatti. She plays the role of Naïm's mother.


title: Hiam Abbass

text: In 2012, she was named as a member of the Jury for the Main Competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. She made her directorial feature film debut with "The Inheritance" in 2012.


title: Hiam Abbass

text: Abbass has also acted in four TV shows: "The Promise" (2011), "The State" (2017), "Succession" (2018-present), and "Ramy" (2019-present).


title: Shaka sign

text: The shaka sign, sometimes known as "hang loose" or "right on", is a gesture with friendly intent often associated with Hawaii and surf culture. It consists of extending the thumb and smallest finger while holding the three middle fingers curled, and gesturing in salutation while presenting the front or back of the hand; the wrist may be rotated back and forth for emphasis. The shaka sign should not be confused with the sign of the horns, where the index and pinky finger is extended and the thumb holds down the middle two fingers.


title: Shaka sign

text: According to the "Honolulu Star-Bulletin", prevailing local lore credits the gesture to Hamana Kalili of Laie, who lost the three middle fingers of his right hand while working at the Kahuku Sugar Mill. Kalili was then shifted to guarding the sugar train, and his all-clear wave of thumb and pinkie is said to have evolved into the shaka as children imitated the gesture.


title: Shaka sign

text: Another theory relates the origin of the shaka to the Spanish immigrants, who folded their middle fingers and took their thumbs to their lips as a friendly gesture to represent sharing a drink with the natives they met in Hawaii.


title: Shaka sign

text: The late Lippy Espinda, a used car salesman and Oahu-based entertainer, has also been named as a possible creator of the shaka. Espinda, who frequently appeared as an extra in "Hawaii Five-O" as well as "The Brady Bunch" episodes shot in Hawaii, used the term and the sign during his television ads in the '60s. Though the claim that he is the originator of the shaka sign is debatable, he is credited with increasing its popularity and that of Hawaiian Pidgin as well. The shaka has achieved great popularity in Australia, primarily among teenagers on social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook.


title: Shaka sign

text: The word "shaka" is also used as an interjection expressing approval, which may predate its use for the shaka sign. According to "The Oxford English Dictionary" the origin of the word is uncertain, but it may come from Japanese, where it is a byname for the Buddha.


title: Shaka sign

text: Residents of Hawaii use the shaka to convey the "Aloha Spirit", a concept of friendship, understanding, compassion, and solidarity among the various ethnic cultures that reside in Hawaii, lacking a direct semantic to literal translation. Drivers will often use it on the road to communicate distant greetings along with gratitude.


title: Shaka sign

text: In California, the shaka sign may be referred to as "hang loose" or "hang ten", both associated with surfer culture.


title: Shaka sign

text: In coastal Brazil, the shaka sign, known as the "hang loose" (also derived from an eponymous clothing brand, which uses the shaka as a logo), is a common gesture; Ronaldinho usually celebrated the goals he scored by giving the crowd a double shaka. It is also associated with the Brazilian jiu jitsu community internationally.


title: Shaka sign

text: There are several emoticon representations of the shaka sign, including \,,/, \m/, and \,,_. The earliest known use of the first two, with three commas or a lower case "m" corresponding to a hand's three middle fingers, is from 2006. The last, similar to the first except that it represents the thumb extended horizontally (as if perpendicular to the wrist) is reported, together with the first form, from Brigham Young University in 2016.


title: Shaka sign

text: The sign can also be used to indicate the imbibing of a bottled drink, either alcoholic or non-alcoholic, as attested to below, by placing the thumb to the mouth and motioning the little finger upward as if tipping up a bottle's bottom end. A similar meaning can be achieved by pressing the thumb up against the tip of the nose with the little finger raised upwards parallel to the bridge of the nose. It is referred to as "schooies" in Australia (Australian slang for a schooner)


title: Shaka sign

text: With the thumb held near the ear and the little finger pointed at the mouth, the gesture is commonly understood to mean "call me", as it resembles the handset of a traditional landline telephone.


title: Shaka sign

text: In 2021 it was being reported that the gesture was declining among younger Americans, who favored placing a hand flat against their face, in a manner resembling a smart phone.


title: Shaka sign

text: In Australia and Russia raising the thumb to the mouth while pointing the little finger to the air is seen as an invitation for one to smoke marijuana, the posture resembling the use of a pipe. Similarly in New Zealand, this gesture symbolises smoking a "P" (methamphetamine) pipe, as well as variations of the shaka sign being the recognised gang salute for the Mongrel Mob.


title: Shaka sign

text: Since 2015, fans of Brigham Young University (which has a satellite campus in Hawai'i and is also known colloquially as "the Y") have started using the gesture, in deference to newly hired Kalani Sitake, BYU's Polynesian head football coach, and because of its similarity with the letter Y in the American manual alphabet in American Sign Language. It is also used as a nod of respect to Hamana Kalili, a native Hawaiian Latter-day Saint who, according to locals, is the founder of the popular sign.


title: Shaka sign

text: Texas A&M - Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas uses the shaka as a gesture for students and faculty there. "Shakas up!" is often spoken when giving the Shaka hand sign.


title: O. Henry

text: William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the Magi", "The Duplicity of Hargraves", and "The Ransom of Red Chief", as well as the novel "Cabbages and Kings". Porter's stories are known for their naturalist observations, witty narration and surprise endings.


title: O. Henry

text: William Sidney Porter was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina, during the American Civil War. He changed the spelling of his middle name to Sydney in 1898. His parents were Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–88), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–65). William's parents had married on April 20, 1858. When William was three, his mother died after giving birth to her third child, and he and his father moved into the home of his paternal grandmother. As a child, Porter was always reading, everything from classics to dime novels; his favorite works were Lane's translation of "One Thousand and One Nights" and Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy".


title: O. Henry

text: Porter graduated from his aunt Evelina Maria Porter's elementary school in 1876. He then enrolled at the Lindsey Street High School. His aunt continued to tutor him until he was 15. In 1879, he started working in his uncle's drugstore in Greensboro, and on August 30, 1881, at the age of 19, Porter was licensed as a pharmacist. At the drugstore, he also showed his natural artistic talents by sketching the townsfolk.


title: O. Henry

text: Porter traveled along with James K. Hall to Texas in March 1882, hoping that a change of air would help alleviate a persistent cough he had developed. He took up residence on the sheep ranch of Richard Hall, James Hall's son, in La Salle County and helped out as a shepherd, ranch hand, cook, and baby-sitter. While on the ranch, he learned bits of Spanish and German from the mix of indigenous and immigrant ranch hands. He also spent time reading classic works of literature.


title: O. Henry

text: Porter's health did improve. He traveled with Richard to Austin, Texas, in 1884, where he decided to remain and was welcomed into the home of Richard's friends, Joseph Harrell and his wife. Porter resided with the Harrells for three years. He went to work briefly for the Morley Brothers Drug Company as a pharmacist. Porter then moved on to work for the Harrell Cigar Store located in the Driskill Hotel. He also began writing as a sideline and wrote many of his early stories in the Harrell house.


title: O. Henry

text: As a young bachelor, Porter led an active social life in Austin. He was known for his wit, story-telling and musical talents. He played both the guitar and mandolin. He sang in the choir at St. David's Episcopal Church and became a member of the "Hill City Quartette", a group of young men who sang at gatherings and serenaded young women of the town.


title: O. Henry

text: Porter met and began courting Athol Estes, 17 years old and from a wealthy family. Historians believe Porter met Athol at the laying of the cornerstone of the Texas State Capitol on March 2, 1885. Her mother objected to the match because Athol was ill, suffering from tuberculosis. On July 1, 1887, Porter eloped with Athol and they were married in the parlor of the home of the Reverend R. K. Smoot, pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church, where the Estes family attended church. The couple continued to participate in musical and theater groups, and Athol encouraged her husband to pursue his writing. Athol gave birth to a son in 1888, who died hours after birth, and then daughter Margaret Worth Porter in September 1889.


title: O. Henry

text: Porter's friend Richard Hall became Texas Land Commissioner and offered Porter a job. Porter started as a draftsman at the Texas General Land Office (GLO) on January 12, 1887, at a salary of $100 a month, drawing maps from surveys and fieldnotes. The salary was enough to support his family, but he continued his contributions to magazines and newspapers. In the GLO building, he began developing characters and plots for such stories as "Georgia's Ruling" (1900), and "Buried Treasure" (1908). The castle-like building he worked in was woven into some of his tales such as "Bexar Scrip No. 2692" (1894). His job at the GLO was a political appointment by Hall. Hall ran for governor in the election of 1890 but lost. Porter resigned on January 21, 1891, the day after the new governor, Jim Hogg, was sworn in.


title: O. Henry

text: The same year, Porter began working at the First National Bank of Austin as a teller and bookkeeper at the same salary he had made at the GLO. The bank was operated informally, and Porter was apparently careless in keeping his books and may have embezzled funds. In 1894, he was accused by the bank of embezzlement and lost his job but was not indicted at the time.


title: O. Henry

text: He then worked full-time on his humorous weekly called "The Rolling Stone", which he started while working at the bank. "The Rolling Stone" featured satire on life, people, and politics and included Porter's short stories and sketches. Although eventually reaching a top circulation of 1,500, "The Rolling Stone" failed in April 1895 because the paper never provided an adequate income. However, his writing and drawings had caught the attention of the editor at the "Houston Post".


title: O. Henry

text: Porter and his family moved to Houston in 1895, where he started writing for the "Post". His salary was only $25 a month, but it rose steadily as his popularity increased. Porter gathered ideas for his column by loitering in hotel lobbies and observing and talking to people there. This was a technique he used throughout his writing career.


title: O. Henry

text: While he was in Houston, federal auditors audited the First National Bank of Austin and found the embezzlement shortages that led to his firing. A federal indictment followed, and he was arrested on charges of embezzlement.


title: O. Henry

text: After his arrest, Porter's father-in-law posted his bail. He was due to stand trial on July 7, 1896, but the day before, as he was changing trains to get to the courthouse, he got scared. He fled, first to New Orleans and later to Honduras, with which the United States had no extradition treaty at that time. Porter lived in Honduras for six months, until January 1897. There he became friends with Al Jennings, a notorious train robber, who later wrote a book about their friendship. He holed up in a Trujillo hotel, where he wrote "Cabbages and Kings".


title: O. Henry

text: Porter had sent Athol and Margaret back to Austin to live with Athol's parents. Unfortunately, Athol became too ill to meet Porter in Honduras as he had planned. When he learned that his wife was dying, Porter returned to Austin in February 1897 and surrendered to the court, pending trial. Athol Estes Porter died from tuberculosis (then known as consumption) on July 25, 1897.


title: O. Henry

text: Porter had little to say in his own defense at his trial and was found guilty on February 17, 1898, of embezzling $854.08. He was sentenced to five years in prison and imprisoned on March 25, 1898, at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. Porter was a licensed pharmacist and was able to work in the prison hospital as the night druggist. He was given his own room in the hospital wing, and there is no record that he actually spent time in the cell block of the prison. He had 14 stories published under various pseudonyms while he was in prison but was becoming best known as "O. Henry", a pseudonym that first appeared over the story "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking" in the December 1899 issue of "McClure's Magazine". A friend of his in New Orleans would forward his stories to publishers so that they had no idea that the writer was imprisoned.


title: O. Henry

text: Porter was released on July 24, 1901, for good behavior after serving three years. He reunited with his daughter Margaret, now age 11, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Athol's parents had moved after Porter's conviction.


title: O. Henry

text: Porter's most prolific writing period started in 1902, when he moved to New York City to be near his publishers. While there, he wrote 381 short stories. He wrote a story a week for over a year for the "New York World Sunday Magazine". His wit, characterization, and plot twists were adored by his readers but often panned by critics.


title: O. Henry

text: Porter married again in 1907 to childhood sweetheart Sarah (Sallie) Lindsey Coleman, whom he met again after revisiting his native state of North Carolina. Coleman was herself a writer and wrote a romanticized and fictionalized version of their correspondence and courtship in her novella "Wind of Destiny".


title: O. Henry

text: Porter was a heavy drinker, and by 1908, his markedly deteriorating health affected his writing. In 1909, Sarah left him, and he died on June 5, 1910, of cirrhosis of the liver, complications of diabetes, and an enlarged heart. According to one account, he died of cerebral hemorrhage.


title: O. Henry

text: After funeral services in New York City, he was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina. His daughter Margaret Worth Porter had a short writing career from 1913 to 1916. She married cartoonist Oscar Cesare of New York in 1916; they were divorced four years later. She died of tuberculosis in 1927 and was buried next to her father.


title: O. Henry

text: Most of Porter's stories are set in his own time, the early 20th century. He had an obvious affection for New York City, which he called "Bagdad-on-the-Subway", and many of his stories are set there, while others are set in small towns or in other cities. They frequently feature working class characters, such as policemen and waitresses, as well as criminals and social outcasts. In his day he was called the American answer to French naturalist Guy de Maupassant, whose work was similarly concerned with the struggles of common people and often had twist endings.


title: O. Henry

text: "Cabbages and Kings" was his first collection of stories, followed by "The Four Million". The second collection opens with a reference to Ward McAllister's claim that there were "...only 'Four Hundred' people in New York City who were really worth noticing. But a wiser man has arisen—the census taker—and his larger estimate of human interest has been preferred in marking out the field of these little stories of the Four Million."


title: O. Henry

text: His final work was "Dream", a short story intended for the magazine "The Cosmopolitan". It was never completed.


title: O. Henry

text: Porter used a number of pen names (including "O. Henry" or "Olivier Henry") in the early part of his writing career; other names included S.H. Peters, James L. Bliss, T.B. Dowd, and Howard Clark. Nevertheless, the name "O. Henry" seemed to garner the most attention from editors and the public, and was used exclusively by Porter for his writing by about 1902. He gave various explanations for the origin of his pen name. In 1909, he gave an interview to "The New York Times", in which he gave an account of it:


title: O. Henry

text: William Trevor writes in the introduction to "The World of O. Henry: Roads of Destiny and Other Stories" (Hodder & Stoughton, 1973) that "there was a prison guard named Orrin Henry" in the Ohio State Penitentiary "whom William Sydney Porter ... immortalised as O. Henry".


title: O. Henry

text: According to J. F. Clarke, it is from the name of the French pharmacist Etienne Ossian Henry, whose name is in the "U.S. Dispensary" which Porter used working in the prison pharmacy.


title: O. Henry

text: Writer and scholar Guy Davenport offers his own hypothesis: "The pseudonym that he began to write under in prison is constructed from the first two letters of "Ohio" and the second and last two of "penitentiary"."


title: O. Henry

text: The O. Henry Award is a prestigious annual prize named after Porter and given to outstanding short stories.


title: O. Henry

text: A film was made in 1952 featuring five stories, called "O. Henry's Full House". The episode garnering the most critical acclaim was "The Cop and the Anthem" starring Charles Laughton and Marilyn Monroe. The other stories are "The Clarion Call", "The Last Leaf", "The Ransom of Red Chief", and "The Gift of the Magi".


title: O. Henry

text: "Strictly Business" is a 1962 Soviet comedy film, directed by Leonid Gaidai, based on three short stories by O. Henry: "The Roads We Take", "Makes the Whole World Kin", and "The Ransom of Red Chief". The premiere of the film was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the writer.


title: O. Henry

text: A 1957 television series "The O. Henry Playhouse" was syndicated in 39 episodes to 188 markets. Actor Thomas Mitchell portrayed O. Henry in each episode as he interacted with his characters or related his latest story to his publisher or a friend.


title: O. Henry

text: The 1986 Indian anthology television series "Katha Sagar" adapted several of Henry's short stories as episodes including "The Last Leaf".


title: O. Henry

text: An opera in one long act, "The Furnished Room", with music by Daniel Steven Crafts and libretto by Richard Kuss, is based on O. Henry's story of the same name.


title: O. Henry

text: The O. Henry House and O. Henry Hall, both in Austin, Texas, are named for him. O. Henry Hall, now owned by the Texas State University System, previously served as the federal courthouse in which O. Henry was convicted of embezzlement. The O. Henry House has been the site of the O. Henry Pun-Off, an annual spoken word competition inspired by Porter's love of language, since 1978.


title: O. Henry

text: Porter has elementary schools named for him in Greensboro, North Carolina (William Sydney Porter Elementary) and Garland, Texas (O. Henry Elementary), as well as a middle school in Austin, Texas (O. Henry Middle School). The O. Henry Hotel in Greensboro is also named for Porter, as is US 29 which is O. Henry Boulevard.


title: O. Henry

text: In 1962, the Soviet Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating O. Henry's 100th birthday. On September 11, 2012, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of O. Henry's birth.


title: O. Henry

text: On November 23, 2011, Barack Obama quoted O. Henry while granting pardons to two turkeys named "Liberty" and "Peace". In response, political science professor P. S. Ruckman Jr. and Texas attorney Scott Henson filed a formal application for a posthumous pardon in September 2012, the same month that the U.S. Postal Service issued its O. Henry stamp. Previous attempts were made to obtain such a pardon for Porter in the administrations of Woodrow Wilson, Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan, but no one had ever bothered to file a formal application. Ruckman and Henson argued that Porter deserved a pardon because (1) he was a law-abiding citizen prior to his conviction; (2) his offense was minor; (3) he had an exemplary prison record; (4) his post-prison life clearly indicated rehabilitation; (5) he would have been an excellent candidate for clemency in his time, had he but applied for pardon; (6) by today's standards, he remains an excellent candidate for clemency; and (7) his pardon would be a well-deserved symbolic gesture and more. The pardon remains ungranted.


title: O. Henry

text: In 2021 the Library of America included O. Henry in their list by publishing a collection of 101 of his stories, edited by Ben Yagoda.


title: Politics of India

text: Politics of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution. India is a parliamentary democratic secular republic in which the president of India is the head of state & first citizen of India and the prime minister of India is the head of government. It is based on the federal structure of government, although the word is not used in the Constitution itself. India follows the dual polity system, i.e. federal in nature, that consists of the central authority at the centre and states at the periphery. The Constitution defines the organizational powers and limitations of both central and state governments; it is well recognised, fluid (Preamble of the Constitution being rigid and to dictate further amendments to the Constitution) and considered supreme, i.e. the laws of the nation must conform to it.


title: Politics of India

text: There is a provision for a bicameral legislature consisting of an upper house, the Rajya Sabha (Council of States), which represents the states of the Indian federation, and a lower house, the Lok Sabha (House of the People), which represents the people of India as a whole. The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary, which is headed by the Supreme Court. The court's mandate is to protect the Constitution, to settle disputes between the central government and the states, to settle inter-state disputes, to nullify any central or state laws that go against the Constitution and to protect the fundamental rights of citizens, issuing writs for their enforcement in cases of violation.


title: Politics of India

text: There are 543 members in the Lok Sabha, who are elected using plurality voting (first past the post) system from 543 single-member constituencies. There are 245 members in the Rajya Sabha, out of which 233 are elected through indirect elections by single transferable vote by the members of the state legislative assemblies; 12 other members are elected/nominated by the President of India. Governments are formed through elections held every five years (unless otherwise specified), by parties that secure a majority of members in their respective lower houses (Lok Sabha in the central government and Vidhan Sabha in states). India had its first general election in 1951, which was won by the Indian National Congress, a political party that went on to dominate subsequent elections until 1977, when a non-Congress government was formed for the first time in independent India. The 1990s saw the end of single-party domination and the rise of coalition governments. The latest 17th Lok Sabha elections was conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election commission of India. That elections once again brought back single-party rule in the country, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being able to claim a majority in the Lok Sabha.


title: Politics of India

text: In recent decades, Indian politics has become a dynastic affair. Possible reasons for this could be the party stability, absence of party organisations, independent civil society associations that mobilise support for the parties and centralised financing of elections.


title: Politics of India

text: When compared to other democracies, India has had a large number of political parties during its history under democratic governance. It has been estimated that over 200 parties were formed after India became independent in 1947. And as per the current publication report dated 23 September 2021 from the Election Commission of the India, the total number of parties registered was 2858, with 9 national parties and 54 state parties, and 2796 unrecognized parties working in country. Leadership 2021 from Election Commission of India, the total number of parties registered was 2858, with 8 national parties, 54 state parties and 2796 unrecognised parties. political parties in India is commonly interwoven with well-known families whose dynastic leaders actively play the dominant role in a party. Further, party leadership roles are often transferred to subsequent generations in the same families. The two main parties in India are the Bharatiya Janata Party, commonly known as the BJP, which is the leading right-wing nationalist party, and the Indian National Congress, commonly called the INC or Congress, which is the leading centre-left party. These two parties currently dominate national politics, both adhering their policies loosely to their places on the left–right political spectrum. At present, there are eight national parties and many more state parties.


title: Politics of India

text: Every political party in India, whether a national or regional/state party, must have a symbol and must be registered with the


title: Politics of India

text: Election Commission of India. Symbols are used in the Indian political system to identify political parties in part so that illiterate people can vote by recognizing the party symbols.


title: Politics of India

text: In the current amendment to the Symbols Order, the commission has asserted the following five principles:


title: Politics of India

text: Although a strict anti-defection law had been passed in 1984, there has been a continued tendency amongst politicians to float their own parties rather than join a broad based party such as the Congress or the BJP. Between the 1984 and 1989 elections, the number of parties contesting elections increased from 33 to 113. In the decades since, this fragmentation has continued.


title: Politics of India

text: India has a history of party alliances and breakdown of alliances. However, there are three party alliances regularly aligning on a national level in competing for Government positions. The member parties work in harmony for gratifying national interests, although parties can jump ships.


title: Politics of India

text: India has seen political corruption for decades. Democratic institutions soon became federally owned, dissent was eliminated and a majority of citizens paid the price. The political corruption in India is weakening its democracy and has led to the erosion of trust by the general public in the political system. A good amount of money is required in elections which is source of political-capitalist nexus.


title: Politics of India

text: Pre-election alliances are common in India with parties deciding to share seats. This is seen mainly on a state by state basis rather than on the national level. Candidate selection starts after seat sharing has been agreed by alliance fellows.


title: Politics of India

text: Indian political parties have low level of internal party democracy and therefore, in Indian elections, both at the state or national level, party candidates are typically selected by the party elites, more commonly called the party high command. The party elites use a number of criteria for selecting candidates. These include the ability of the candidates to finance their own election, their educational attainment, and the level of organization the candidates have in their respective constituencies. Quite often the last criterion is associated with candidate criminality.


title: Politics of India

text: Panchayati Raj Institutions or Local self-government bodies play a crucial role in Indian politics, as it focuses on grassroot-level administration in India.


title: Politics of India

text: On 24 April 1993, the Constitutional (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 came into force to provide constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj institutions. This Act was extended to Panchayats in the tribal areas of eight states, namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan from 24 December 1996.


title: Politics of India

text: The Act aims to provide a three-tier system of Panchayati Raj for all States having a population of over 2 million, to hold Panchayat elections regularly every five years, to provide reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Women, to appoint State Finance Commission to make recommendations as regards the financial powers of the Panchayats and to constitute District Planning Committee to prepare a draft development plan for the district.


title: Politics of India

text: As with any other democracy, political parties represent different sections among the Indian society and regions, and their core values play a major role in the politics of India. Both the executive branch and the legislative branch of the government are run by the representatives of the political parties who have been elected through the elections. Through the electoral process, the people of India choose which representative and which political party should run the government. Through elections, any party may gain simple majority in the lower house. Coalitions are formed by the political parties in case no single party gains a simple majority in the lower house. Unless a party or a coalition have a majority in the lower house, a government cannot be formed by that party or the coalition.


title: Politics of India

text: India has a multi-party system, where there are a number of national as well as regional parties. A regional party may gain a majority and rule a particular state. If a party is represented in more than 4 states, it would be labelled a national party (subject to other criteria above). Out of the 72 years of India's independence, India has been ruled by the Congress party for 53 years as of January 2020.


title: Politics of India

text: The party enjoyed a parliamentary majority save for two brief periods during the 1970s and late 1980s. This rule was interrupted between 1977 and 1980, when the Janata Party coalition won the election owing to public discontent with the controversial state of emergency declared by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The Janata Dal won elections in 1989, but its government managed to hold on to power for only two years.


title: Politics of India

text: Between 1996 and 1998, there was a period of political flux with the government being formed first by the nationalist BJP followed by a left-leaning United Front coalition. In 1998, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance with smaller regional parties, and became the first non-INC and coalition government to complete a full five-year term. The 2004 elections saw the INC winning the largest number of seats to form a government leading the United Progressive Alliance, and supported by left-parties and those opposed to the BJP.


title: Politics of India

text: On 22 May 2004, Manmohan Singh was appointed the prime minister of India following the victory of the INC and the left front in the 2004 Lok Sabha election. The UPA ruled India without the support of the left front. Previously, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had taken office in October 1999 after a general election in which a BJP-led coalition of 13 parties called the National Democratic Alliance emerged with a majority. In May 2014, Narendra Modi of BJP was elected as the prime minister.


title: Politics of India

text: Formation of coalition governments reflects the transition in Indian politics away from the national parties toward smaller, more narrowly based regional parties. Some regional parties, especially in South India, are deeply aligned to the ideologies of the region unlike the national parties and thus the relationship between the central government and the state government in various states has not always been free of rancour. Disparity between the ideologies of the political parties ruling the centre and the state leads to severely skewed allocation of resources between the states.


title: Politics of India

text: The lack of homogeneity in the Indian population causes division among different sections of the people based on religion, region, language, caste and ethnicity. This has led to the rise of political parties with agendas catering to one or a mix of these groups. Parties in India also target people who are not in favour of other parties and use them as an asset.


title: Politics of India

text: Some parties openly profess their focus on a particular group. For example, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's focus on the Dravidian population and Tamil identity; Biju Janata Dal's championing of Odia culture; the Shiv Sena's pro-Marathi agenda; Naga People's Front's demand for protection of Naga tribal identity; People's Democratic Party and the National Conference's calling for Kashmiri Muslim identity and Telugu Desam Party's formation in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh by N. T. Rama Rao demanding for rights and needs of people of the state only. Some other parties claim to be universal in nature, but tend to draw support from particular sections of the population. For example, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (translated as National People's Party) has a votebank among the Yadav and Muslim population of Bihar, while the Samajwadi Party has the same votebank in Uttar Pradesh and the All India Trinamool Congress does not have any significant support outside West Bengal.


title: Politics of India

text: The narrow focus and votebank politics of most parties, even in the central government and state legislature, supplements national issues such as economic welfare and national security. Moreover, internal security is also threatened as incidences of political parties instigating and leading violence between two opposing groups of people is a frequent occurrence.


title: Politics of India

text: Economic issues like poverty, unemployment and development are the main issues that influence politics. "Garibi Hatao" (eradicate poverty) has been a slogan of the Congress for a long time. BJP encourages a free market economy. The more popular slogan in this field is "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" (Cooperation with all, progress of all). The Communist Party of India (Marxist) vehemently supports left-wing politics like land-for-all, right to work and strongly opposes neoliberal policies such as globalisation, capitalism and privatisation.


title: Politics of India

text: Terrorism, Naxalism, religious violence and caste-related violence are important issues that affect the political environment of the Indian nation. Stringent anti-terror legislation such as TADA, POTA and MCOCA have received much political attention, both in favour and against, and some of these laws were disbanded eventually due to human rights violations. However, UAPA was amended in 2019 to negative effect vis-á-vis human rights.


title: Politics of India

text: Terrorism has affected politics India since its conception, be it the terrorism supported from Pakistan or the internal guerrilla groups such as Naxalites. In 1991 the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated during an election campaign. The suicide bomber was later linked to the Sri Lankan terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as it was later revealed the killing was an act of vengeance for Rajiv Gandhi sending troops in Sri Lanka against them in 1987.


title: Politics of India

text: The Godhra train killings and the Babri Masjid demolition on 6 December 1992 resulted in nationwide communal riots in two months, with worst occurring in Mumbai with at least 900 dead. The riots were followed by 1993 Bombay bombings, which resulted in more deaths.


title: Politics of India

text: Law and order issues, such as action against organised crime are issues which do not affect the outcomes of elections. On the other hand, there is a criminal–politician nexus. Many elected legislators have criminal cases against them. In July 2008, the "Washington Post" reported that nearly a fourth of the 540 Indian Parliament members faced criminal charges, "including human trafficking, child prostitution, immigration rackets, embezzlement, rape and even murder".


title: Politics of India

text: The Constitution of India lays down that the Head of State and Union Executive is the president of India. They are elected for a five-year term by an electoral college consisting of members of both Houses of Parliament and members of legislative assemblies of the states. The president is eligible for re-elections; however, in India's independent history, only one president has been re-elected – Dr Rajendra Prasad, who was also the first President of India.


title: Politics of India

text: The president appoints the prime minister of India from the party or coalition which commands maximum support of the Lok Sabha, on whose recommendation he/she nominates the other members of the Union Council of Ministers. The president also appoints judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts. It is on the president's recommendation that the Houses of Parliament meet, and only the president has the power to dissolve the Lok Sabha. Furthermore, no bill passed by Parliament can become law without the president's assent.


title: Politics of India

text: However, the role of the president of India is largely ceremonial. All the powers of the president mentioned above are exercised on recommendation of the Union Council of Ministers, and the president does not have much discretion in any of these matters. The president also does not have discretion in the exercise of their executive powers, as the real executive authority lies in the Cabinet.


title: Politics of India

text: On 25 July 2022, Droupadi Murmu was sworn in as India's new president, becoming India's first tribal president. Although largely ceremonial post, Murmu’s election as tribal woman was historic.


title: Politics of India

text: The office of the vice-president of India is constitutionally the second most senior office in the country, after the president. The vice-president is also elected by an electoral college, consisting of members of both houses of Parliament. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the first Vice President of India.


title: Politics of India

text: Like the president, the role of the vice-president is also ceremonial, with no real authority vested in him/her. The vice-president fills in a vacancy in the office of president (till the election of a new president). The only regular function is that the vice-president functions as the "ex officio" Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. No other duties/powers are vested in the office. The current vice-president is Jagdeep Dhankhar.


title: Politics of India

text: The Union Council of Ministers, headed by the prime minister, is the body with which the real executive power resides. The prime minister is the recognized head of the government. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India as well as the longest serving Prime Minister of India till date.


title: Politics of India

text: The Union Council of Ministers is the body of ministers with which the prime minister works with on a day-to-day basis. Work is divided between various ministers into various departments and ministries. The Union Cabinet is a smaller body of senior ministers which lies within the Union Council of Ministers, and is the most powerful set of people in the country, playing an instrumental role in legislation and execution alike.


title: Politics of India

text: All members of the Union Council of Ministers must be members of either House of Parliament at the time of appointment or must get elected/nominated to either House within six months of their appointment.


title: Politics of India

text: It is the Union Cabinet that co-ordinates all foreign and domestic policy of the Union. It exercises immense control over administration, finance, legislation, military, etc. The Head of the Union Cabinet is the prime minister. The current prime minister of India is Narendra Modi.


title: Politics of India

text: India has a federal form of government, and hence each state also has its own government. The executive of each state is the governor (equivalent to the president of India), whose role is ceremonial. The real power resides with the chief minister (equivalent to the prime minister) and the State Council of Ministers. States may either have a unicameral or bicameral legislature, varying from state to state. The chief minister and other state ministers are also members of the legislature.


title: Politics of India

text: Since the 1980s, Indian politics has become dynastic, possibly due to the absence of a party organization, independent civil society associations that mobilize support for the party, and centralized financing of elections. One example of dynastic politics has been the Nehru–Gandhi family which produced three Indian prime ministers. Family members have also led the Congress party for most of the period since 1978 when Indira Gandhi floated the then Congress(I) faction of the party. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party also features several senior leaders who are dynasts. Dynastic politics is prevalent also in a number of political parties with regional presence such as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Indian National Congress (INC), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP), Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(s)), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), National People's Party (NPP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Samajwadi Party (SP), Shiromani Akali Dal (SKD), Shiv Sena (SS), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS),Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), All India Trinamool Congress (AITC)..


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The Subaru EJ engine is a series of four-stroke automotive engines manufactured by Subaru. They were introduced in 1989, intended to succeed the previous Subaru EA engine. The EJ series was the mainstay of Subaru's engine line, with all engines of this series being 16-valve horizontal flat-fours, with configurations available for single, or double-overhead camshaft arrangements (SOHC or DOHC). Naturally aspirated and turbocharged versions are available, ranging from . These engines are commonly used in light aircraft, kit cars and engine swaps into air-cooled Volkswagens, and are also popular as a swap into copy wasserboxer engined Volkswagen T3/Vanagon. Primary engineering on the EJ series was done by Masayuki Kodama, Takemasa Yamada and Shuji Sawafuji of Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru's parent company.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: At the 46th Tokyo Motor Show in October 2019, Subaru announced it would conclude production of the EJ20 by the end of March 2020. At that time, the EJ20 was only being sold in the Japanese domestic market for the WRX STI, and a special "WRX STI EJ20 Final Edition" with a balanced version of the engine was sold to commemorate the end of EJ20 production.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Is not actually a valid code from Subaru, but is mostly used by enthusiasts and mechanics to describe the entire line of turbocharged engines that have been available over time. The practice began with the designation of the USA-spec turbo, commonly referred to as the EJ22T, and the habit of referring to any turbocharged engine as a "T" began. When referring to the EJ20T, one is speaking of one of the following:


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: This updated type of EJ20G was used in all WRX models since early 1992, cylinder head is equipped with hydraulic lifters compared


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: to the rocker arms used in the previous EJ20G. Pistons in this type of EJ20G are all cast aluminum. Closed-deck engine block equipped with


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: piston oil squirters was used until mid 1994. Followed by Open-deck block equipped with piston oil squirters was used very short period of time, Followed by Open-deck block from 1995 until mid 1996 when the first EJ20K WRX engines came out. The open deck block on all EJ20G could be identified by a smoother surface, and a tab on the right surface of the block halves. The EJ20G continued to be used in the WRX Wagon with an Automatic Transmission from 1996 till 1998 when it was replaced by the EJ205.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Power output ranges from at 6000 rpm and for the WRX Wagons to at 6500 rpm and for the WRX STI Version II.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Engines can be identified by coil on plug with 1 M8 bolt per coil and valve covers with 4CAM 16VALVE and horizontal lines above the plug holes. Generally these engines all have the slanted intercooler. Engines from the STI RAs received the upgraded Shim-Under-bucket style lifters unlike the normal HLA buckets the WRX & the WRX STI had. These engines also feature STI factory 8.5:1 forged pistons, lighter valves, the intake valves are marked INKO and the exhaust valves are marked EXKO. The standard HLA valves are I252 and E283 respectively. All WRX Wagon engines and automatic sedan engines came with a TD04 with 90 deg elbow, all manual WRX sedans including STI versions had a TD05 with 90 deg elbow.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: These engines can be identified by smooth valve covers, plug leads and a wasted spark coil in the middle of the intake manifold. In addition, the inlet manifold may be bare aluminum for all WRX models and red for all STI models. The engine utilizes an IHI ball-bearing turbo unit. VF22 on the WRX, either a VF23 or VF24 on the STI. These engines have die-cast pistons for all WRX models, STI and STI typeRA/STI type R models shares exactly the same factory forged pistons.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: This engine series is used for WRX models in the world market outside Japan as of 1999. The Japanese WRX models use the EJ207 from 1999~2001, except the 5-door wagon which also uses the EJ205. After 2001, all WRXs used the EJ205, until 2006 when the USDM WRX model changed engines to the EJ255. The EJ205 has an 8:1-9:1 compression ratio.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: NOTE: The Australian Spec MY00 EJ205 does not have coil on plug but can be identified from the VIN of the vehicle (if known) where the tenth digit will be Y (for year 2000) and the sixth digit will be 8 (for the 2000yr/EJ205)


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The TGV are deleted from the factory. The factory deletion is incomplete, even on the Spec C and even on the Type RA.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The exhaust is compatible all the way to the downpipe to the USDM WRX/Sti. Oxygen sensor is same as USDM EJ205.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The exhaust is completely different/incompatible with the USDM WRX/Sti, all the way from the header to the downpipe. It can be replaced by a USDM exhaust, the USDM does bolt up to the block.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: There is no immobilizer for V8 and for some V9. Although to some V10. Even more from imported models. There were no transponder chip's inside the transmitter housing case.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: When compared with the USDM A/C compressor, the JDM Sti is of a different part number and smaller in size. It is possible that the losses while using it are smaller.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Many have an additional intake air temperature sensor by the throttle body. Its function has been discussed but not completely clarified.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The power steering pump is different. The JDM cars included some Spec C with 13:1 steering rack. The pump remained the same, so it is designed to handle a fast rack.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Some of the Sti engines don't come with provision for cruise control. It is next to impossible to tell which had it.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The turbo inlet has one less connection in it and most likely is of a larger diameter than the USDM, from the factory.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The front Oxygen sensor has been relocated after the turbo, in the downpipe. Different part number 22641AA042.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Based on the same engine platform; the X designation indicates an automatic package, and the Y designation indicates a manual package. The EJ20X engine was introduced in the 2003 Legacy GT, mated to a five-speed automatic transmission, and the EJ20Y engine was introduced in the 2004 Legacy GT, with a five-speed manual transmission.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The EJ20X and EJ20Y are open deck engines whereby the cylinder walls were supported at the three and nine o’clock positions. It came with an aluminium alloy block with bores – with cast iron cylinder liners – and a stroke for a capacity of per cylinder, with thicker cylinder walls than EJ25.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The crankcase for the EJ20X and EJ20Y engines had five main bearings and the flywheel housing was cast with the crankcase for increased rigidity. The EJ20X engine is understood to have a forged crankshaft and connecting rods, but cast aluminium pistons with forged crowns.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The EJ20X and EJ20Y engines had an aluminium alloy cylinder head with cross-flow cooling, double overhead camshafts (DOHC) per cylinder bank and four valves per cylinder that were actuated by roller rocker arms.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The EJ20X and EJ20Y engines were equipped with Subaru's ‘Dual Active Valve Control System’ (‘Dual AVCS’) which provided variable intake and exhaust valve timing. The Legacy GT, the EJ20X engine was fitted with a twin-scroll IHI VF38 turbocharger; the EJ20Y engine, however, had a larger twin-scroll Mitsubishi TD04 HLA 19T turbocharger. For the revised BL.II Legacy GT, both the EJ20X and EJ20Y had an IHI VF44 turbocharger for the initial 2006 model year, replaced the following year with the IHI VF45.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: When swapping over the EJ20X/Y Powertrain over to these models, you have the option to use the twin-scroll turbocharger and JDM headers, up-pipe but you'll need to source/alternate a twin-scroll downpipe to fit along your current exhaust set-up or swap over the USDM Intake Manifold along with the USDM headers, up-pipe, turbocharger and use your existing exhaust set-up.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The EJ20X does not come with timing guides when installing on a manual USDM swap while the EJ20Y does.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: This may refer to a DOHC Sequential Twin Turbo and intercooled engine (EJ20H/EJ20R/EJ206/EJ208). However, similar to the "EJ20T", the term was never used by Subaru. Used from 1994 to 2005 in various iterations listed below. Due to the tight confines of the engine bay, the twin turbo engine was installed in Japanese-spec Legacies and Australian market Liberty B4 models, which were right-hand drive. The Pistons were lighter with a shorter skirt than the WRX EJ20T to allow for higher engine speed.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Rev D EJ208's can be considered a totally different motor to the A/B/C's, they run totally different cams, cam pulleys with different timing marks, different crank sprocket with different timing marks, pink injectors instead of yellow 440's, different intake manifold design. etc.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Beginning in the 1997 model year, the engine for 1997 Legacy and Impreza models had internal and external changes that yield an approximately 10% increase in power and 3% increase in fuel economy.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Accomplishing this involves many factors, one of which is engine friction reduction. The pistons were coated with molybdenum to reduce friction. The thin coating reduces moving friction and reduces cylinder wall scuffing.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The piston skirt was reshaped and the piston weight was reduced by approximately . Compression ratio was increased to 9.7:1 by reshaping the piston crown. This eliminates the clearance that was available between the piston at TDC and the fully opened valve. This transformed the EJ22 into an interference design.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Piston pin offset has been changed to . Piston to cylinder wall clearance has been reduced by increasing the piston diameter. Another source of high engine friction is the valve train. Hydraulic lash adjusters (HLAs) are always in contact with the valves. The hydraulic pressure of the lash adjuster must be overcome during operation and during the most critical time of engine start. To overcome this situation and to contribute to the total reduction of friction loss, 1997 and later SOHC engines have solid valve adjusters. The scheduled service of this valve train is set at . SOHC engines now use an adjustment screw to adjust valve clearance. Engines with the earlier HLA are recommended to use 10W30 or 10W40 oil year-round; 5W30 can be used at very low winter temperatures. The roller rocker cam follower system that was introduced on the Impreza engines, is installed on all 1996 model year and later engines. The roller assemblies are not serviceable separately, but the rocker arms may be serviced as individual units. The carbon composition head gaskets with integrated o-rings are interchangeable from left to right on 1990 to 1994 NA engines only.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Other engine modifications (1997): The intake manifold has been reshaped to increase the airflow mass and speed, contributing to improved low and mid engine speed operation. Components located on the intake manifold have been relocated as compared to the 1996 models. EGR Solenoid, Purge Control Solenoid, etc.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: All engine for 1999 are the Phase 2 design. The Phase 2 engines are a SOHC design, with a newly designed cylinder head. Changes in the Phase 2 engines are as follows:


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Phase two closed deck, based on the North American 1991-94 Legacy Turbo EJ22T engine uses the same casting marks but with a updated thrust bearing to position #5 instead of #3. It Uses identical cylinder heads and IHI RHF 5HB turbocharger as a EJ20K STi but with a unique closed deck crank case. The pistons and connecting rods are stock not forged. Although being closed deck, the block does not feature oil squirters for piston cooling, opposed to the EJ20G closed deck block and the USDM-only Legacy EJ22T closed deck block. Popular press often states the power of this engine was more than the factory stated 280 ps, citing that 280 ps was the maximum allowable power car companies in Japan could advertise at the time due to the gentleman's agreement. 305 hp, 300 hp+ "Way more than 280hp", are some examples, though it is impossible to truly substantiate these claims.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: There were two variations of the EJ25D sold in the US market. The engine was introduced in 1996 in the Legacy 2.5GT, LSi, and Legacy Outback. That version of the engine used Hydraulic Lash Adjuster (HLA) heads, was recommended to be run on 91 octane fuel, had lower power and torque ratings than the later '97-99 EJ25D, and was only offered with an automatic transmission. In 1997 a revised engine was introduced that used heads with shimmed bucket lifters (versus the HLAs), was designed to run on 87 octane fuel, and was available with either a manual or automatic transmission. Because of the DOHC valve architecture, the spark plugs are more difficult to service in comparison to SOHC variations. The DOHC engines are therefore installed with platinum spark plugs and an extended spark plug service life of . The EJ25D uses smaller rod journals due to the phase 1 EJ25 offset grind crankshaft design, compared to the EJ22 of the same year, and the engines which use a rod journal. As well, the EJ25D from the 1999 Outback is a one-year only factory hybrid, which uses the phase 2 case halves with an 8 bolt bell housing (as opposed to the 4 bolt bell housing used until 1998), uses a phase 2 crankshaft and rods with rod journals, but retains the same pistons as the 1997-1998 variant to maintain the same compression ratio. The 1996 EJ25D uses different pistons than what was used for 1997–1999, which will increase the compression ratio significantly if combined with 1997-1999 EJ25D heads.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: For the Japanese Domestic Market, the EJ25D was advertised from Jan 1994, and available from October 1994 in the 250T model legacy, and later in the Grand Wagon/Lancaster. It was of the same basic design as the US market hydraulic EJ25D, with HLA, but had a compression ratio of 9.5:1. These HLA heads had a somewhat hemi style combustion chamber design. The engine was "Facelifted" with the introduction of the BG9B in mid 1996, to have higher compression, 10.7:1, and solid lifters. The solid lifter heads had a cloverleaf style combustion chamber.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The EJ251SOHC was the first version of a long line of single overhead cam engines by Subaru for the US market. The EJ251 was soon replaced by the EJ253 in many models due to its improved cooling to aid in head gasket life and improved engine management and sensors. The EJ251 commonly experienced head gasket failures resulting in interior channel breaches or exterior fluid leaks due to the continued use of a single layer coated gasket first introduced on the EJ25D. Intake volume is calculated by the use of a MAP sensor, unlike the EJ253 which uses a MAF sensor. Compression ratio is 10:1.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The EJ252 was only briefly used in North America alongside the EJ251 in the USDM Legacy Outback for the 2000 and 2001 Model Years. They are most commonly found in MY00 Legacy Outbacks manufactured before the end of 1999 while MY00 Legacy Outbacks manufactured in 2000 are rarely designated with EJ252 codes in the VIN. While Subaru has not provided a direct list of revisions between the EJ251 and less common EJ252, there is some degree of information suggesting the EJ252 was simply an alternate version of the EJ251 made to meet California Emissions Standards when the SOHC EJ engines were first introduced in North America. Power output has been reported as ISO 115 kW (156 hp) but is often speculated to share the same specs with the largely identical EJ251. From unofficial analysis, the EJ251 shares the same with block, cams, heads, pistons, connecting rods with the EJ252. The only notable differences confirmed are unique intake manifold and throttle body designs to accommodate the different MAP sensor location and IACV location. They also have different cam and crank sprocket reluctor configuration.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: SOHC - at 5600 rpm, torque at 4400 rpm. Intake volume is regulated by use of a MAF sensor, unlike the EJ251 which is regulated by a MAP sensor.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: PZEV-equipped 2007 and up models have ISO at 5600 rpm, torque at 4000 rpm Compression ratio is 10.0:1.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: 254 was a 2.5-litre DOHC AVCS motor. This was the first appearance of AVCS (Alongside the EJ204) on an EJ.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: DOHC 16-valve turbo with sodium-filled valves originally designed for North American market, now sees usage in some European Imprezas and Legacy models destined for South Africa and Liberty models for Australia. Power


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Used in the 2005 and 2006 Legacy, as well as the 2004 and 2005 Forester. This engine uses the same shortblock and heads as the EJ257 in US 04-06 STI.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Used in the 2006-2008 WRX, the 2007-2009 Legacy, and the 2006+ Forester. This is the newer AIS equipped EJ255, which uses a slightly different AB630 shortblock, as well as the AB820 heads. The only difference in the shortblock of this EJ255 and the 04-06 EJ257 is the pistons. They are of nearly the same construction, but have a slightly larger dish volume. for the USA market, the EJ255 version 2 engine made an appearance in the 2.5GT trim model of the Impreza, borrowing the engine from the 2008 WRX (the 2009 wrx got an increase in power)


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Used in the 2010-2012 Legacy. It has Dual-AVCS, 9.5:1 CR pistons, E25 heads with provisions for a scavenge oil pump turbo. The passenger intake camshaft is notched to spin the scavenge pump. The oil pan has an additional mounting bolt and the one of the oil pan bolt has change position compare to the variations of the EJ255.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: DOHC four valves per cylinder fuel feed by Sequential Multipoint Fuel Injection (SMPFI) turbo. Denoting the STI variant of the EJ25, Originally designed for the North American Impreza STI in 2004 with Single AVCS and DBW. 2004-2007 STI models used the same shortblock, B25 heads, and valvetrain as the EJ255 in MY 2005-2006 Legacy GT and the same block as the 2004-2005 Forester XT. Later years used revised block, piston, connecting rods, crankshaft and heads to further improve performance and durability. Notably, the adoption of much improved Dual-AVCS W25 cylinder heads and an improved cylinder block design. MY19 variants of the engine feature a further revised piston design cast from a new alloy for increased strength, further improvements to the general valvetrain, a new ECU and revised engine programming that improved response and widened the torque curve. The engine has an increased redline of 6700 rpm over the WRX EJ255 variant.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: 2004 Legacy, Legacy GT and Legacy Outback (Only Sold in California and New England). Also sold in 2005 Legacy and Outback non turbo models. Engine has a unique setup, most notable is the oval, single port exhaust , three catalytic converters and five air/fuel and oxygen sensors. These engines were also all drive by wire (DBW), and had a three piece intake manifold with a tumble valve in the center section.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: All the EJ series share compatibility and construction similarity and are 16 valved engines. The EJ series started with the EJ15, a single overhead cam (SOHC) and makes ~, then the EJ16, a single overhead cam (SOHC). Later followed by the EJ20, a single overhead cam and the EJ22, a single overhead cam. The EJ20 turbocharged version was developed with dual overhead cams, as well as non-turbo DOHC engines and DOHC twin-turbos. The EJ18 and EJ20 were most popular in Europe.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: The SOHC EJ Subaru boxer engines were non-interference engines through 1995, run by a single timing belt driving both cams (both sides of the engine) and the water pump. Because they are non-interference engines, if the timing belt fails, the engine of the models up to 1995 will not be damaged. The oil pump is driven directly from the crank shaft and the waterpump by the timing belt. All DOHC and 1998-up SOHC EJ engines are interference engines, if the timing belt fails the valves will likely be damaged.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: All Subaru EJ engines have a 1-3-2-4 firing order, which, given the longer exhaust runners on cylinders 2 and 4 causes the characteristic "subaru boxer rumble".


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Some of the 2005 and later Subaru vehicle Engines (especially the turbo charged engines) are using CAN bus as their sole Vehicle/Vessel speed input channel. When those ABS Speed signal are removed, the ECU will force the Engine to run in limp home mode. This has posed some challenge for people who try to use the same automotive boxer and engines on Aerospace application, engine replacement for aged Subaru vehicles, and VW Vanagon modifications, etc.


title: Subaru EJ engine

text: Subaru Turbo Boxer engine won 'best engine' in the 2.0 to 2.5 litre category in both the 2006 and 2008 International Engine of the Year awards. It also won a place on the list of Ward's 10 Best Engines in 2004 and 2010.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Leopold III (3 November 1901 – 25 September 1983) was King of the Belgians from 23 February 1934 until his abdication on 16 July 1951. At the outbreak of World War II, Leopold tried to maintain Belgian neutrality, but after the German invasion in May 1940, he surrendered his country, earning him much hostility, both at home and abroad.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Leopold's act was declared unconstitutional by Prime Minister Hubert Pierlot and his cabinet, who moved to London to form a government-in-exile, while Leopold and his family were placed under house arrest. In 1944, they were moved to Germany and then Austria, before being liberated by the Americans, but banned for some years from returning to Belgium, where his brother Prince Charles, Count of Flanders, had been declared regent. Leopold's eventual return to his homeland in 1950 nearly caused a civil war, and under pressure from the government, he abdicated in favour of his son Baudouin in July 1951.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Leopold's first wife, Astrid of Sweden, was killed in a road accident while on a driving holiday in Switzerland in August 1935, being much mourned by the public. His morganatic second marriage, to Lilian Baels in captivity in 1941, was contrary to Belgian law, which stipulates that the civil marriage has to occur before a religious marriage, and she was never permitted the title of queen.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Prince Leopold was born in Brussels, the first child of Prince Albert, Duke of Brabant, heir to the Belgian throne, and his consort, Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria. In 1909 his father became King of the Belgians, as Albert I, and Prince Leopold became Duke of Brabant.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: In August 1914, when Belgium was invaded by Germany, King Albert allowed Leopold, then aged twelve, to enlist in the Belgian army as a private and fight in defence of the kingdom. However, in 1915, with Belgium almost entirely occupied by the Germans, Leopold was sent to join Eton College, while his father fought on in France.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: After the war, in 1919, the Duke of Brabant visited the Old Mission and Saint Anthony Seminary in Santa Barbara, California.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: He married Princess Astrid of Sweden in a civil ceremony in Stockholm on 4 November 1926, followed by a religious ceremony in Brussels on 10 November. The marriage produced three children:


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: On 29 August 1935, while the king and queen were driving along the winding, narrow roads near their villa at Küssnacht am Rigi, Schwyz, Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Lucerne, Leopold lost control of the car which plunged into the lake, killing Queen Astrid.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Leopold married Lilian Baels on 11 September 1941 in a secret religious ceremony, with no validity under Belgian law. They originally intended to wait until the end of the war for the civil marriage, but as the new "Princess of Réthy" was soon expecting their first child, the ceremony took place on 6 December 1941. They had three children in total:


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: When World War II broke out in September 1939, the French and British governments immediately sought to persuade Belgium to join them. Leopold and his government refused, maintaining Belgium's neutrality. Belgium considered itself well-prepared against a possible invasion by Axis forces, for during the 1930s the Belgian government had made extensive preparations to deter and repel an invasion of the country by Germany such as the one that had occurred in 1914.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: On 10 May 1940, the Wehrmacht invaded Belgium. On the first day of the offensive, the principal Belgian strong point of Fort Eben-Emael was overwhelmed by a daring paratroop operation and the defensive perimeter thus penetrated before any French or British troops could arrive. After a short running battle that eventually involved the armies of all four belligerents, Belgium was overwhelmed by the numerically superior and better-prepared Germans.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Nevertheless, the Belgian perseverance prevented the British Expeditionary Force from being outflanked and cut off from the coast, enabling the evacuation from Dunkirk. Alan Brooke who commanded II Corps of the BEF thought that the 10th Belgian Division was in the wrong place and wanted to deploy north of Brussels to avoid "double-banking". He was advised by Roger Keyes to see the king, and on 12 May was "making progress in getting matters put right" in discussion with the king in English, but was interrupted (twice) by the king's advisor who spoke to the king in French (in which Brooke was fluent). The advisor was insistent that the Belgian division could not be moved and the BEF should be stopped further south and clear of Brussels; Brooke said he was not putting the whole case to the king; he found that arguing with the advisor was a sheer waste of time as he cared little about the BEF and most of his suggestions were "fantastic". The king's advisor Raoul Van Overstraeten was not the Chief of Staff, as Brooke had assumed - Van Overstraeten had refused that rank - but the king's aide-de-camp, with the rank of Major-General, and would not give up the Louvain front. The French liaison officer, General Champon, told Brooke that Van Overstraeten had ascendancy over the king and had taken control, so it was useless to see the Chief of Staff. Later (15 May) Brooke found that the BEF was likely to "have both flanks turned" with French defeats, and started withdrawal on 16 May.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: After his military surrender, Leopold (unlike Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands in a similar predicament) remained in Brussels to surrender to the victorious invaders, while his entire civil government fled to Paris and later to London.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: On 24 May 1940, Leopold, having assumed command of the Belgian Army, met with his ministers for the final time. The ministers urged the king to leave the country with the government. Prime Minister Hubert Pierlot reminded him that capitulation was a decision for the Belgian government, not the king. The king indicated that he had decided to remain in Belgium with his troops, whatever the outcome. The ministers took this to mean that he would establish a new government under the direction of Hitler, potentially a treasonous act. Leopold thought that he might be seen as a deserter if he were to leave the country: "Whatever happens, I have to share the same fate as my troops." Leopold had long had a difficult and contentious relationship with his ministers, acting independently of government influence whenever possible, and seeking to circumvent and even limit the ministers' powers, while expanding his own.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: French, British, and Belgian troops were encircled by German forces at the Battle of Dunkirk. Leopold notified King George VI by telegram on 25 May 1940 that Belgian forces were being crushed, saying "assistance which we give to the Allies will come to an end if our army is surrounded". Two days later (27 May 1940), Leopold surrendered the Belgian forces to the Germans.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Prime Minister Pierlot spoke on French radio, saying that the king's decision to surrender went against the Belgian Constitution. The decision, he said, was not only a military decision but also a political decision, and the king had acted without his ministers' advice, and therefore contrary to the Constitution. Pierlot and his Government believed this created an "impossibilité de régner":


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: It was impossible, however, to summon the Belgian Chamber of Representatives or Belgian Senate at this time, or to appoint a regent. After the liberation of Belgium in September 1944, the government asked Leopold's brother, Prince Charles, to serve as regent.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: After Leopold's surrender, the British press denounced him as "Traitor King" and "King Rat"; the "Daily Mirror" published a picture of Leopold with the headline "The Face That Every Woman Now Despises". A group of Belgian refugees in Paris placed a message at King Albert's statue denouncing his son as "your unworthy successor". French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud accused Leopold of treason. Flemish historians Valaers and Van Goethem wrote that Leopold III had become "The scapegoat of Reynaud", because Reynaud was likely already aware that the Battle of France was lost.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Leopold's surrender was also decried by Winston Churchill. In the House of Commons on 4 June 1940 he said:


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: At the last moment when Belgium was already invaded, King Leopold called upon us to come to his aid, and even at the last moment we came. He and his brave, efficient army, nearly half a million strong, guarded our left flank and thus kept open our only line of retreat to the sea. Suddenly, without prior consultation, with the least possible notice, without the advice of his ministers and upon his own personal act, he sent a plenipotentiary to the German Command, surrendered his army and exposed our whole flank and means of retreat.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: In 1949, Churchill's comments about the events of May 1940 were published in "Le Soir" (12 February 1949). Leopold's former secretary sent a letter to Churchill saying that Churchill was wrong. Churchill sent a copy of this letter to the King's brother, Prince Charles, via his secretary André de Staercke. In his own letter Churchill wrote,


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: With regards to King Leopold, the words which I used at the time in the House of Commons are upon record and after careful consideration I do not see any reason to change them (...) it seemed to me and many others that the king should have been guided by the advice of his ministers and should not have favoured a course which identified the capitulation of the Belgian Army with the submission of the Belgian State to Herr Hitler and consequently taking them out of the war. Happily this evil was averted, and in the end, all came right. I need scarcely say that nothing I said at the time could be interpreted as a reflection upon the personal courage or honour of King Leopold.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: De Staercke replied that Churchill was right: "The Prince, Monsieur Spaak [Belgian Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak] and I read your text, which states the precise truth and seems perfect to us."


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Belgian historian Francis Balace wrote that capitulation was inevitable because the Belgian Army was not able to fight any longer against the German army. Even Churchill admitted that their position was perilous. In a telegram to Field Marshal Lord Gort on 27 May, only one day before the Belgian capitulation, he wrote, "We are asking them to sacrifice themselves for us."


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Upon Leopold's surrender, the government ministers left for exile, mostly in France. When France fell at the end of June 1940, several ministers sought to return to Belgium. They made an overture to Leopold but were rebuffed:


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Pierlot and his government saw that Western Europe had been conquered by the Germans completely and tried to make amends to their king. Would it be possible for them to return to Belgium and form a new government? Leopold showed his stubborn nature; he was insulted by his ministers... His reply was short: "The situation of the king is unaltered; he does not engage in politics and does not receive politicians.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Because of the great popularity of the king, and the unpopularity of the civil government from the middle of 1940, the government crisis persisted. "The Royal Articles" state:


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: This refusal [of the king to reconcile with the ministers] left the ministers with no other option than to move to London, where they could continue their work representing the independent Belgium. From the time of their arrival in London, they were confident about an Allied victory and soon were treated with respect by the Allies... Pierlot and Spaak helped to build Leopold's reputation as a heroic prisoner of war and even said that the Belgians should support their king. But they had no idea what Leopold was doing in the Royal Castle of Laeken. He refused to reply to their messages and stayed cool toward them. What was he doing in the castle? Was he collaborating, did he oppose the Germans, or had he decided to just shut his mouth and wait to see how things would go?


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: On 2 August 1940, several ministers conferred in Le Perthus in France near the Spanish border. Prime Minister Pierlot and Foreign Minister Spaak were persuaded to go to London, but they were able to start out for London only at the end of August and could travel only via neutral Spain and Portugal. When they reached Spain, they were arrested and detained by the regime of Francisco Franco; they finally arrived in London on 22 October.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Leopold rejected cooperation with the government of Nazi Germany and refused to administer Belgium in accordance with its dictates; thus, the Germans implemented a military government. Leopold attempted to assert his authority as monarch and head of the Belgian government, although he was a prisoner of the Germans. Despite his defiance of the Germans, the Belgian government-in-exile in London maintained that the king did not represent the Belgian government and was unable to reign. The Germans held him at first under house arrest at the Royal Castle of Laeken. Having since June 1940 desired a meeting with Adolf Hitler in respect of the situation of Belgian prisoners of war, Leopold III finally met with him on 19 November 1940. Leopold wanted to persuade Hitler to release Belgian POWs, and issue a public statement about Belgium's future independence. Hitler refused to speak about the independence of Belgium or issue a statement about it. In refusing to publish a statement, Hitler preserved the king from being seen as cooperating with Germany, and thus engaged in treasonous acts, which would likely have obliged him to abdicate upon the liberation of Belgium. "The [German] Chancellor saved the king two times."


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: On 11 September 1941, while a prisoner of the Germans, Leopold secretly married Lilian Baels in a religious ceremony that had no validity under Belgian law, which required a religious marriage to be preceded by a legal or civil marriage. On 6 December, they were married under civil law. The reason for the out-of-order marriages was never officially made public.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Jozef-Ernest Cardinal van Roey, Archbishop of Mechelen, wrote an open letter to parish priests throughout the country announcing Leopold's second marriage on 7 December. The letter from the Cardinal revealed that the king's new wife would be known as Princesse de Réthy, not Queen Lilian, and that any children they had would have no claim to the throne. Leopold's new marriage damaged his reputation further in the eyes of many of his subjects.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: The ministers made several efforts during the war to work out a suitable agreement with Leopold III. They sent Pierlot's son-in-law as an emissary to Leopold in January 1944, carrying a letter offering reconciliation from the Belgian government-in-exile. The letter never reached its destination, however, as the son-in-law was killed by the Germans en route. The ministers did not know what happened either to the message or the messenger and assumed that Leopold was ignoring them.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Leopold wrote his "Political Testament" in January 1944, shortly after this failed attempt at reconciliation. The testament was to be published in case he was not in Belgium when Allied forces arrived. The testament, which had an imperious and negative tone, considered the potential Allied movement into Belgium an "occupation", not a "liberation". It gave no credit to the active Belgian resistance. The Belgian government-in-exile in London did not like Leopold's demand that the government ministers involved in the 1940 crisis be dismissed. The Allies did not like Leopold's repudiation of the treaties concluded by the Belgian government-in-exile in London. The United States was particularly concerned about the economic treaty it had reached with the government-in-exile that enabled it to obtain Congolese uranium for America's secret atom bomb program, which had been developed for use against Germany (although, as it turned out, Germany surrendered before the first bomb was ready).


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: The Belgian government did not publish the "Political Testament" and tried to ignore it, partly for fear of increased support for the Belgian Communist party. When Pierlot and Spaak learned of its contents in September 1944, they were astonished and felt deceived by the king. According to André de Staercke, they were dismayed "in the face of so much blindness and unawareness".


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Churchill's reaction to the Testament was simply, "It stinks." In a sentence inspired by a quote of Talleyrand about the Bourbons after the restoration of the French monarchy in 1815, Churchill declared, "He is like the Bourbons, he has learned nothing and forgotten nothing."


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: In 1944, Heinrich Himmler ordered Leopold deported to Germany. Princess Lilian followed with the family in another car the following day under an SS armed guard. The Nazis held the family in a fort at Hirschstein in Saxony from June 1944 to March 1945, and then at Strobl, Austria.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: The British and American governments worried about the return of the king. Charles W. Sawyer, US Ambassador to Belgium, warned his government that an immediate return by the king to Belgium would "precipitate serious difficulties". "There are deep differences even in the royal family and the situation holds dynamite for Belgium and perhaps for Europe". "The Foreign Office feared that an increasing minority in French-speaking Wallonia would demand either autonomy or annexation to France. Winant, the American Ambassador to the Court of Saint James's, reported a Foreign Office official's concern regarding irredentist propaganda in Wallonia." and that "the French Ambassador in Brussels... is believed to have connived in the spreading of this propaganda".


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Leopold and his companions were liberated by members of the United States 106th Cavalry Group in early May 1945. Because of the controversy about his conduct during the war, Leopold III and his wife and children were unable to return to Belgium and spent the next six years in exile at Pregny-Chambésy near Geneva, Switzerland. A regency under his brother Prince Charles had been established by the Belgian legislature in 1944.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Van den Dungen, the rector of the Free University of Brussels, wrote to Leopold on 25 June 1945 about concerns for serious disorder in Wallonia, "The question is not if the accusations against you are right or not [but that...] you are no longer a symbol of Belgian unity."


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Gillon, the President of the Belgian Senate, told the king that there was a threat of serious disorder: "If there are only ten or twenty people killed, the situation would become terrible for the king."


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: The president of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, Frans Van Cauwelaert, was concerned that there would be a general strike in Wallonia and revolt in Liège. He wrote, "The country is not able to put down the disorders because of the insufficient forces of the police and a lack of weapons."


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: In 1946, a commission of inquiry exonerated Leopold of treason. Nonetheless, controversy concerning his loyalty continued, and in 1950, a referendum was held about his future. Fifty-seven per cent of the voters favoured his return. The divide between Leopoldists and anti-Leopoldists ran along the lines of socialists and Walloons who were mostly opposed (42% favourable votes in Wallonia) and Christian Democrats and Flemish who were more in favour of the king (70% favourable votes in Flanders).


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: On his return to Belgium on 22 July 1950, Leopold was met with one of the most violent general strikes in the history of Belgium. Three protesters were killed when the gendarmerie opened automatic fire upon the protesters. The country stood on the brink of civil war, and Belgian banners were replaced by Walloon flags in Liège and other municipalities of Wallonia. To avoid tearing the country apart, and to preserve the monarchy, Leopold decided on 1 August 1950 to withdraw in favour of his 20-year-old son Baudouin. His abdication took effect on 16 July 1951. In this postponed abdication the king was, in effect, forced by the government of Jean Duvieusart to offer to abdicate in favour of his son.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Leopold and his wife continued to advise King Baudouin until the latter's marriage in 1960. Some Belgian historians, such as Vincent Delcorps, speak of there having been a "diarchy" during this period.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: In retirement, he followed his passion as an amateur social anthropologist and entomologist and travelled the world, collecting zoological specimens. Two species of reptiles are named after him, "Gehyra leopoldi" and "Polemon leopoldi".


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: He went to Senegal and strongly criticized the French decolonization process, and he explored the Orinoco and the Amazon with Heinrich Harrer.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Leopold died in 1983 in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert ("Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe") following emergency heart surgery. He was interred next to Queen Astrid in the royal vault at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken. Leopold's second wife, the Princess de Réthy, was later interred with them.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: As of 2019, two of Leopold's grandsons are reigning monarchs: Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg since 2000, and King Philippe of Belgium since 2013.


title: Leopold III of Belgium

text: Winston Churchill, Speech to the House of Commons Delivered on June 4 1940 ("We shall fight on the beaches . . .")


title: Ukiyo-e

text: Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica. The term translates as "picture[s] of the floating world".


title: Ukiyo-e

text: In 1603, the city of Edo (Tokyo) became the seat of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate. The "chōnin" class (merchants, craftsmen and workers), positioned at the bottom of the social order, benefited the most from the city's rapid economic growth, and began to indulge in and patronise the entertainment of kabuki theatre, geisha, and courtesans of the pleasure districts; the term ("floating world") came to describe this hedonistic lifestyle. Printed or painted ukiyo-e works were popular with the "chōnin" class, who had become wealthy enough to afford to decorate their homes with them.


title: Ukiyo-e

text: The earliest ukiyo-e works emerged in the 1670s, with Hishikawa Moronobu's paintings and monochromatic prints of beautiful women. Colour prints were introduced gradually, and at first were only used for special commissions. By the 1740s, artists such as Okumura Masanobu used multiple woodblocks to print areas of colour. In the 1760s, the success of Suzuki Harunobu's "brocade prints" led to full-colour production becoming standard, with ten or more blocks used to create each print. Some ukiyo-e artists specialized in making paintings, but most works were prints. Artists rarely carved their own woodblocks for printing; rather, production was divided between the artist, who designed the prints, the carver, who cut the woodblocks, the printer, who inked and pressed the woodblocks onto handmade paper, and the publisher, who financed, promoted, and distributed the works. As printing was done by hand, printers were able to achieve effects impractical with machines, such as the blending or gradation of colours on the printing block.


title: Ukiyo-e

text: Specialists have prized the portraits of beauties and actors by masters such as Torii Kiyonaga, Utamaro, and Sharaku that came in the late 18th century. The 19th century also saw the continuation of masters of the ukiyo-e tradition, with the creation of the artist Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa", one of the most well-known works of Japanese art, and the artist Hiroshige's "The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō". Following the deaths of these two masters, and against the technological and social modernization that followed the Meiji Restoration of 1868, ukiyo-e production went into steep decline. However, the 20th century saw a revival in Japanese printmaking: the ("new prints") genre capitalized on Western interest in prints of traditional Japanese scenes, and the ("creative prints") movement promoted individualist works designed, carved, and printed by a single artist. Prints since the late 20th century have continued in an individualist vein, often made with techniques imported from the West.


title: Ukiyo-e

text: Ukiyo-e was central to forming the West's perception of Japanese art in the late 19th century, particularly the landscapes of Hokusai and Hiroshige. From the 1870s onwards, Japonisme became a prominent trend and had a strong influence on the early Impressionists such as Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet and Claude Monet, as well as having an impact on Post-Impressionists such as Vincent van Gogh, and Art Nouveau artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.


title: Ukiyo-e

text: Japanese art since the Heian period (794–1185) had followed two principal paths: the nativist tradition, focusing on Japanese themes, best known by the works of the Tosa school; and Chinese-inspired in a variety of styles, such as the monochromatic ink wash paintings of Sesshū Tōyō and his disciples. The Kanō school of painting incorporated features of both.


title: Ukiyo-e

text: Since antiquity, Japanese art had found patrons in the aristocracy, military governments, and religious authorities. Until the 16th century, the lives of the common people had not been a main subject of painting, and even when they were included, the works were luxury items made for the ruling samurai and rich merchant classes. Later works appeared by and for townspeople, including inexpensive monochromatic paintings of female beauties and scenes of the theatre and pleasure districts. The hand-produced nature of these limited the scale of their production, a limit that was soon overcome by genres that turned to mass-produced woodblock printing.