Taxonomy.

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the double-spurred spurfowl in his "Ornithologie" based on a specimen that had been collected in Senegal. He used the French name "La Perdrix du Sénégal" and the Latin "Perdix Senegalensis". Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his "Systema Naturae" for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the double-spurred spurfowl. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name "Tetrao bicalcaratus" and cited Brisson's work. The specific epithet "bicalcaratus" combines the Latin "bi" meaning "two" and "calcaris" meaning "spur". The species is now placed in the genus "Pternistis" that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. A phylogenetic study published in 2019 found that the double-spurred spurfowl is sister to Heuglin's spurfowl.  Three subspecies are now recognised:

Description.

The double-spurred spurfowl is in length. The male is mainly brown, sparingly streaked and spotted darker and cream above, chest and flank feathers are dark brown edged and centrally spotted cream. The face is pale cream finely flecked with dark brown, and the head features a chestnut crown and white supercilium. It has a chestnut neck collar, white cheek patches and brown wings. The male usually has two spurs on each leg, the upper one being blunt. The legs are dull green. The female is similar in appearance, but usually lacks spurs and is slightly smaller and less robustly built. Males weigh around and females around. Young birds are almost indistinguishable from adult females after the post juvenile moult at several weeks old, males take several months to develop any spurs. Breeding is unlikely until the birds are in their second year.

Distribution and habitat.

This bird is found in open habitats with trees. It nests in a lined ground scrape laying 5 to 7 eggs. The double-spurred spurfowl takes a wide variety of plant and insect food. This is a very unobtrusive species, best seen in spring when the male sings a mechanical "krak-krak-krak" from a mound. It has a pheasant's explosive flight, but prefers to creep away unseen.

The double-spurred spurfowl ("Pternistis bicalcaratus") is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. Like most spurfowls, it is restricted to Africa. It is a resident breeder in tropical west Africa, but there is a small and declining isolated population in Morocco.


Description.

From Frank Finn's The Game Birds of India & Asia (1911):  This species is easily distinguished from most of our partridges by its large size and comparatively long legs; as in the last species, the sexes are alike in plumage, but the cock is easily distinguishable by his spurs. The upper plumage is brown barred with buff, and the outer tail-feathers chestnut, as in the grey partridge; but the throat is bright rust-red, and the rest of the under-parts brown longitudinally streaked with white. The bill is blackish, the eyes dark, and the feet dull red. The cock of this species, which is a little larger than the hen, will measure fifteen inches, though his tail is only a little over four; the wing is more than seven inches, and the shank two-and-a-quarter.  The swamp partridge, as its name implies, has a habitat quite different from our other species, affecting high grass and cane-brakes near the edges of rivers and jheels, though it will come into cultivated ground to feed. It haunts the alluvial plains of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, extending from Pilibhit to the extremity of Assam and Cachar, and even occurs occasionally on the Khasi plateau; but it is not found in the Sundarbans. Very little is known about its breeding, but on two occasions five eggs of the species have been taken in April; they were cream-coloured and slightly speckled.  Owing to the localities which it frequents, the swamp partridge is usually shot from elephants; but Blanford states that he has shot it on foot near Colgong, in grass only three or four feet high. He says it much resembles the common grey partridge in its edible qualities, as it also does in its call ; and it is equally pugnacious. Mr. Hume, in the "Game-birds of India," falls foul of his artist for representing this species standing in water like a wading-bird. No doubt the draughtsman represented it thus in ignorance, but it would be interesting to know if this, one of the very few swamp-haunting birds in the pheasant family, ever does voluntarily go into water in the wild state. The keeper of the aviary in which a specimen of this species was confined in the London Zoo told me that he had seen it standing in water.

Distribution.

The Sukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve in Nepal represents the western limit of its distribution.

The swamp francolin ("Francolinus gularis"), also called swamp partridge, is a partridge species native to the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India and Nepal. It is considered extinct in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.


Life.

Hungarian provenance and early years.

István Szende was born in Szombathely, then on the western edge of the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary. Max Szende (1872–1921), his father, was an insurance company worker. With his elder brother László, István grew up in a prosperous liberal-Jewish family and acquired a sold classical education, largely free of Jewish religious elements. He attended school locally, moving on to a Roman Catholic secondary school. Szombathely was a multi-cultural city. His mother Elisabeth (1874–1944), who came from a German-speaking family, ensured that he grew up fluently bilingual, and he also

Vienna and Budapest.

In the end, he stayed at Vienna University only till 1921, which was the year in which his father died. He returned to Hungary, which in 1918 had become a separate country. He did not return to Szombathely, however, but relocated to Budapest where his brother László, now a newly qualified architect, was living. Still aged only 20, he enrolled at the university, studying Law and Political sciences. By now he was finding publishers for book reviews and short essays. He also intensified his contacts with political intellectuals. After a brief period of radical and communist government, the new Hungarian state had become conservative and authoritarian which made open support for communism dangerous. Szende moved in socialist left-wing circles in which membership of the Social Democratic Party provided a mantle of acceptability for his continuing interest in Marxist philosophy, an area in which by now he was also lecturing.  He concluded his studies in 1924 and received his doctorate from Budapest University in 1925. By this time it seems that he was devoting more time to political activity. In 1926 he was arrested and accused of having "insulted the Minister for Justice" in an article he had written. On a second occasion, he was arrested for "inciting class hatred" in a lecture delivered to members of the Metal Workers' Trades Union,

Berlin.

In Berlin Szende rented a small room on the south side of the city centre (). He was short of money and hungry. His expulsion the previous year from the Communist Party meant there was no instant network of supportive comrades. In the end it was through his wife, still in Budapest, that he gained an entry into the socialist milieu through an old friend from Yugoslavia who was living in Berlin. He was introduced to whose mother, Clara Zetkin, despite having herself been recently been excluded from the Communist Party, was already an iconic figure for the German left. On Clara Zetkin's recommendation he joined the newly formed Communist Party of Germany - Opposition ("" Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands"" / KPO), an alternative Communist Party set up by some of those excluded by the increasingly hardline Communist Party of Germany. He was not hugely active within the PO, but he nevertheless later

Nazi Germany.

The Nazi take-over at the start of 1933 completely changed the political backdrop, and after the Reichstag fire at the end of February 1933 the new government accelerated the transformation of Germany into a one-party dictatorship. Having already anticipated that the period of Nazi government would be no passing trend, but a sustained and long-term threat, the SAPD was in many ways better prepared to transform itself into an underground movement than the larger Communist Party and SPD. Szende was quick to respond to the challenge of sustaining party political work under conditions of illegality. His choice of a party cover name, "Stefan", nevertheless indicates a certain naivete in aspects of his approach. In August 1933 the Gestapo broke the national leadership of the SAPD, which included the arrest of the party's Berlin region leader, Max Köhler. Stefan Szende now took over the party leadership in Berlin.  He himself was arrested by the Gestapo on 22 November 1933. As a survivor, he was later able to write about his experiences during the ensuing months in considerable detail. Other SAPD party activists were arrested at the same time. Since Szende was both the leader, for Berlin, of the illegal SAPD and a foreign stateless Jew, he was in particular danger from the sinister fantastical obsessions of his captors.Those arrested were taken to the "Maikowski House", a former trades union building in Berlin-Charlottenburg which had been taken over as a head office by local Nazi para-militaries (SA). His interrogators included Karl Ernst and Prince August Wilhelm, a younger son of the former Kaiser. During the next few weeks Szende was repeatedly interrogated and badly tortured, but the torturers, for reasons of their own, took care to see to it that he did not actually die. He was repeatedly asked about his part in the international Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy in which the interrogators insisted he was involved. They also repeatedly asked him about his connections with Leon Trotsky who at this stage was evidently demonised by the followers of Hitler just as thoroughly as by the followers of Stalin.  On 1 December 1933 the SAPD prisoners were transferred to the "Columbia House" concentration camp at Berlin-Tempelhof where nightly torture sessions by the SS guards were part of the routine. For interrogation sessions, Szende was taken to the Gestapo main office at Prince Albrecht Street 8 where his lead interrogator, Commissar von Plotho, had special responsibility for investigating the SAPD members. Szende was again identified as a Jewish intellectual foreigner and as a socialist, which meant he was singled out for special persecution back in the "Columbia House" concentration camp. By this time he was suffering not merely from the daily beatings at the concentration camp, but also from the long term injuries to his genitals, which were treated cruelly and painfully with Silver nitrite by a doctor who was entirely open in sharing his

The trial.

On 20 March 1934 Szende was one of fourteen prisoners taken into investigative custody at Berlin's. By this time he was close to broken, spiritually and physically, by four months as a guest of the Nazi concentration camp system. Under most circumstances, transfer to the Moabit penitentiary would have been an unwelcome development. However, although he remained in state custody, Stefen Szende was no longer subjected to regular physical assaults and more serious tortures inflicted by officers of the SA and SS. He would later recall his time as a prisoner at Moabit as "quiet" (""ruhig""). He now had plenty of time for reading (although the only available reading material in the jail was "Nazi literature"). Somehow he also managed to teach himself English during this time. The prison, located inside the Berlin city limits, was also easier for his wife to reach. Erszi Szende was living in Berlin's Schöneberg quarter. In the end she was permitted three visits during Stefan's incarceration in Moabit, on 2 July, 13 October and 16 November 1934, and was able to bring him books.  He became aware of the reason for his transfer to towards the end of 1934. The state was preparing a court case against 24 former SAPD leaders, identified in documents as "Köhler and comrades" (""Köhler und Genossen""), to be heard in the newly created special "People's Court" (""Volksgerichtshof""). Charges covered "continuing with a banned [political] party" (""Fortführung einer verbotenen Partei""). For Szende, as the former leader of the SAPD in Berlin, there was a supplementary charge of "High treason, committed in connection with abroad". This could have led to a death sentence. The legally stateless former Hungarian was in greater danger than his German co-accused. Whereas the hatred he had encountered in the concentration camps was focused largely on his Jewishness, the greater concern now was that he had taken part in illegal political work in Germany despite not being German.  The state assigned Szende a defence lawyer who was both a Nazi Party member and an officer of the SS. He was nevertheless, in Szende's view, a business-like and correct lawyer who did not permit any personal prejudices to compromise his legal duties. He even permitted Szende's wife sight of the papers submitted by the prosecution. She was able to communicate their contents. This contributed to triggering a widespread protest campaign – organised, for the most part, from outside Germany – against the prosecution of the "Köhler and comrades" group. This went hand in had with a trial process which was, by the later standards of Nazi Germany, curiously open and objective. Looking back, Szende later speculated that in 1934 the Nazi state was still keen to establish international legitimacy for their new "People's Court". A key focus of the protest campaign was the threat of a death sentence for Stefen Szende. A so-called "Lawyers' action" was masterminded by his former SAPD comrade, Willy Brandt, who by now was living in exile in Norway. Brandt organised a letter, signed by a number of Norwegian lawyers, in which the dubious legal basis for the

Exile in Prague.

By the time Szende reached Prague, there was already a large group of exiled SAPD activists there, and he was able to resume his own political activism more or less where he had left off in 1933. Soon after his arrival he became the leader os the SAPD group in the city. He found he had become something of an iconic figure among party comrades as someone who had survived Gestapo detention and Nazi imprisonment and was already able to relate and write down his experiences with an unusual degree of precision. However, the party office did nothing to feed the family. As refugees Stefan and Erszi Szende were not permitted to work they were dependent for their survival on charitable support from support committees. The extent of their poverty was barely dented by occasional payments for articles that Stefan Szende contributed to German-language newspapers such as the Prager Tagblatt, Der Sozialdemokrat and Die Neue Weltbühne. His wife also obtained (probably illegal) domestic work.  Eventually, the Szendes were able to afford a small apartment in Prague's Vinohrady quarter, in the western part of the city. Along with financial insecurity they also faced political and legal insecurity because of their refugee status, and exacerbated by Stefan's statelessness. The authorities were suspicious. When King Carol of Romania visited Prague, Szende was arrested and detained because of a vague suspicion that as a stateless political refugee from both Germany and Hungary, he might easily be plotting to assassinate the king. For these reasons and more, it seems reasonable to conclude that any plans Stefan Szende may have had to settle permanently in Czechoslovakia were quickly set aside. Growing ructions within the exiled SAPD leadership, which soon led to a party split, only added to his difficulties.  As chair of

Swedish home: the evolution of a Social Democrat.

He travelled with his wife and daughter via Warsaw and Riga to Stockholm where party comrades quickly helped them find a two-room apartment. Although the trades union support committee provided financial help only after several applications, their arrival in Stockholm was significantly less precarious than their arrival in Prague nearly two years earlier. In Sweden there was still a functioning SAPD group, in which Szende soon became a leading figure. The Szendes were fascinated by the extent of general welfare provision already operating in Sweden, through which they were immediately, and without having to pay, able to attend the local school and learn Swedish. But they also faced difficulties. There was widespread mistrust of the large number of refugees arriving from Nazi Germany, and the only work Erszi could find was washing dishes. Stefan Szende's hopes of building a career as an academic were quickly dashed. Little by little he established himself in intellectual circles, however, joining the "Clarté" group through which contacts were built and opportunities began to open up. Early on he obtained work presenting – in Swedish – a course on Socialism to a group of workers in the food sector, which enabled and required him rapidly to enhance his mastery of the language. He also resumed his activities as a writer.  A co-operative publishing house was found to publish Stefan Szende's first book, "Das Mächtespiel an der Donau" (""Power games on the Danube"") in 1938. The book dealt with the relationships in international politics and, more specifically, German foreign policy. The book provided the basis for Szende's reputation as an expert on international politics and greatly raised his profile. He followed through with a series of newspaper articles, including some published in the nationally distributed Dagens Nyheter. There were also more books, of which "Europäische Revolution" (""European Revolution""), published in 1943, is regarded as his most important. More generally, his various books and articles in various media contributed insights both inside and outside Germany to the "German question" which preoccupied many in Europe as the Second World War ran its course. He also became increasingly involved in popular education within Sweden, becoming a respected lecturer. One of his books, "Wohlstand, Frieden und Sicherheit" (""Welfare, Peace and Security"") was adopted as a teaching text by the Swedish Education Organisation and used in secondary schools. By this time his commitment to education was becoming more important to him than party political involvement. From 1942 he was also engaged in the trades union association, contributing regularly to its weekly news magazine. He worked with August Enderle on a proposal which they published for re-establishment of trades unions in post-Nazi Germany. He also worked for HeHalutz, the Zionist socialist youth organisation, delivering lectures and engaging in education projects, although he himself never became a member.  As his written work focused on political developments in Europe, and his own early adulthood in central Europe became overlaid with more recent experiences, Stefan Szende was forced to confront his own very personal experience of the

Postwar opportunities.

After the war ended, formally in May 1945, Stefan Szende reportedly received several lucrative offers to return to Germany and become an editor in chief or publisher of a newspaper, or even a government minister. He preferred to preserve his independence and freedom, however, notably in respect of his fifteen-year-old daughter, and in the end the family stayed in Sweden, unlike Szende's friend Willy Brandt. In Sweden, Stefan Szende pursued with his journalistic and literary career. In 1947 he became editor for Agence Européenne de Presse, acquiring the news agency in 1949. Being the agency's representative for Sweden enabled him to remain in the country, and in 1950, after twenty-two years in which he had been legally stateless,

Stefan Szende (born István Szende: 10 April 1901 – 5 May 1985) was a Hungaro-Swedish political scientist, politician, journalist and writer who during the Nazi years became an anti-fascist resistance fighter and a victim of the concentration camp system.


Resolution.

Observations.

The preamble of the resolution praised the citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who participated in general elections on July 30, 2006, underlining their importance as a foundation for long term peace and stability in the country. Furthermore, the Council commended MONUC, the United Nations Development Programme, the EUFOR RD Congo and African partners, particularly South Africa, for their roles in the election process. It stressed the role of the Congolese government for ensuring security during the election period.  Meanwhile, the resolution condemned violence from August 20–22, 2006, between security forces loyal to two opposing presidential candidates, as well as continuing hostilities by militias and foreign groups in the east of the country. It deplored violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the need for the crimes to be brought to justice. The illegal flow of weapons into and within the country—in contravention of resolutions 1493 (2003) and 1596 (2005)—was also condemned.

Acts.

The Chapter VII resolution extended the mandate of MONUC until February 15, 2007 at its current strength. The temporary redeployment of one infantry battalion, medical hospital and 50 military observers from the United Nations Operation in Burundi (ONUB) to MONUC was renewed until December 31, 2006. The Secretary-General Kofi Annan was asked to take steps towards the downsizing of the additional strength by February 15, 2007. MONUC's mandate would be reviewed after the completion of the electoral process.  The Council called on the Congolese authorities to ensure free, fair and transparent elections, where security forces had to remain impartial throughout. It reiterated the importance of the cantonment of non-police security forces in the capital Kinshasa. Furthermore, the authorities were urged to refrain from using violence or threat of the use of force in order to prevent elections.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1711, adopted unanimously on September 29, 2006, after recalling all previous resolutions concerning the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including resolutions 1565 (2004), 1592 (2005), 1596 (2005), 1621 (2005), 1628 (2005), 1635 (2005), 1671 (2006) and 1693 (2006), and resolutions 1650 (2005), 1669 (2006), 1692 (2006) on the situation in Burundi and the African Great Lakes region, the Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) until February 15, 2007.


Major Competitions History.

In 1956 Winter Olympics she won the silver medal in the giant slalom event. In the slalom competition she finished fifth and had a 13th-place finish in the downhill contest.  Four years later, at the Squaw Valley, California Winter Olympics, she finished 16th in the 1960 slalom event, 21st in the giant slalom competition, and 39th in the downhill contest.  Frandl was disappointed with these results. She explained that she had been on the top of her form in the events leading up to the Olympics and expected to place well. There was very little snow in the Sierras until just before the Olympics. Finally, the area received a good snowfall, just in time to keep the events from being cancelled or postponed.  Frandl and some of her friends and teammates went out to ski the fresh powder snow. Unfortunately, while coming down one run, the tip of one of Frandl's skis went under a log hidden just under the newly fallen snow. Her shin hit the log hard, scraping it and straining her leg. Frandl believed that the injury possibly prevented her from winning another Olympic Medal.  Frandl had excellent results at the 1958 World Championships, with a Silver in Slalom and Bronze in the Combined.

Personal life.

After retiring Frandl worked as a ski instructor in Austria. In one of her classes she met US Air Force officer Patrick Crotty. They eventually married and had three children, Monica, Patrick Jr., and Joseph.  Patrick's career took Putzi and their family to many places, and whenever there was a ski resort close enough Putzi would teach skiing. Among the places she taught were Mad River Mountain and Copper Mountain. She worked at Copper during the 2008-2009 season but decided to concentrate on her "second love", tennis in 2009-2010. She lives in Centennial, Colorado.

Josefine "Putzi" Frandl (later "Crotty", born July 5, 1930) is an Austrian former alpine ski racer. She was among the world's best ski racers in the mid-1950s. She competed in the 1956 Winter Olympics, the 1958 Alpine World Ski Championships and the 1960 Winter Olympics.


Plot Overview.

Friedrich Schneider is a young Jewish boy growing up in an apartment house in Germany, with the narrator as his neighbour and friend. The story starts in 1925 and finishes in 1942 when the narrator is 17. Though the story is told by his non-Jewish friend (Hans Peter Richter or the narrator), Friedrich is the protagonist. We can assume he is Hans Peter Richter. The narrator tells of the persecution of the Jews through Friedrich's eyes. Friedrich is forced to switch to a Jewish school and is thrown out of swimming pools and movie theaters. An angry mob goes to his house and kills his mother (see Pogrom). His father gets fired and has an emotional breakdown. Friedrich finds a girlfriend, Helga, whom he likes, but soon he must stop seeing her, or she will be sent to a concentration camp. Friedrich and his father are forced to do whatever they can to make money to survive. Friedrich helps his father hide a rabbi in their house, but soon Friedrich's father and the rabbi are arrested, and Herr Schneider was probably sent to a concentration camp. Friedrich, who was not home when the police came, now must live in hiding.  During an air raid, Friedrich begs to be allowed into the air raid shelter but is kicked out by the air-raid warden, Herr Resch, who was also their landlord. After the raid, the narrator, his family, Herr Resch, and his wife return to the house. They notice Friedrich on the stoop, apparently unconscious. Herr Resch decides to get rid of him by kicking him, and they realise that Friedrich is dead, killed by shrapnel (not specified). Resch then remarks that Friedrich has died a better death than was expected.

Setting the Scene (1925).

The novel begins with the introduction of a garden gnome named Polycarp. The narrator talks about how he and Friedrich never met: their parents lived in a different apartment building, which was owned by a man named Herr Johann Resch. At first, the Schneiders and the narrator's family were more and dangerous where he can not have in his life because he is dealing with so much already acquaintances, but with the births of the narrator and Friedrich a week apart, they become better friends. The Schneiders' religion is not revealed in this chapter, though it is assumed they are Christian because of how well-off they are. The narrator's father is unemployed, and the birth of the narrator puts a financial strain on his family. However, the narrator is still well received and feels welcomed in his home.

Potato Pancakes (1929).

One day when Friedrich and the narrator are four years old, Friedrich stays with the narrator's family while his mother attends to some business at City Hall. At first, the narrator is reluctant to share his toys with Friedrich and blocks the way to his room, but Friedrich doesn't seem to mind. He takes out a cuckoo whistle and begins blowing into it, and the narrator is fascinated by it. Friedrich gives him the whistle, and the narrator allows Friedrich to play with his toys. They later help the narrator's mother to make potato pancakes, and eventually, both children fight for the first pancake. When Friedrich drops the pancake, they decided to share and eat it from the ground. Because of the mess, the mother allows them to take a bath together, an activity both enjoy very much. This becomes the foundation of their friendship.

Snow (1929).

With the arrival of winter, snow is everywhere, so deep only the tip of Polycarp, Herr Resch's garden gnome, shows above the mounds. Spotting Friedrich and his mother out playing in the snow, the narrator urges his mother to hurry and take him outside. However, his mother is busy with her work, and when she has finally completed it, she goes out with the narrator to play in the snow.

Grandfather (1930).

Hans's grandfather comes to visit and learns of Han's interactions with the Jewish Friedrich. Han's grandfather forbids Hans from playing with Friedrich anymore, although nobody listens.

Friday Evening (1930).

Hans sits in on the majority of a traditional Friday night Jewish tradition (the Sabbath) after playing with Friedrich all day. He gets to see how the Jewish people worship and what they do at the Sabbath dinner. Hans leaves politely shortly after Hans' Mother comes home.

School Begins (1931).

On the first day of school, shortly after school lets out, Hans and Friedrich's families both have a day out at the amusement park. However, since Hans and his family are poor, they are helpless to Schneider's generosity, which makes them feel even poorer. When Hans' father finally jumps at the chance to buy them all photos and licorice, the family has to go without lunch.

The Way to School (1933).

Friedrich and Hans see a doctors' sign with "Jew" scrawled over it, they go to tell the doctor, but he already knows. They see a crowd of people outside a shop, so they push through and see a man with a swastika on his arm and a sign stating "don't buy from Jews" blocking the door. An old lady pushes past the man saying she wants to buy from the shop and everyone stares at her.

The "Jungvolk" (1933).

Hans and Friedrich attend a Hitler Youth camp. The leader explains why the Jews are Germany's enemy. While every other youth can repeat this mantra with no problem, Friedrich finds it hard to repeat. This is the first time Friedrich discovers Hitler's hatred for Jews. He is devastated. He runs out, and Hans is left watching.

The Ball (1933).

Hans and Friedrich were playing with a ball when Hans accidentally threw it into a shopkeeper's window, breaking it. A crowd gathers around. The woman accuses Friedrich of breaking her shop window and trying to steal and insulted him for being a Jew. Hans immediately confessed to breaking her window and denied that Friedrich was trying to steal. The woman disbelieved him. Someone had called the police, and the woman explained the attempted 'burglary' of her shop, while Hans defended Friedrich. Then, Herr Schneider came and the woman explained the situation to him, leaving out her insinuation about Jews. Herr Schneider agreed to pay her for the damage, if the police let Friedrich free.

Conversation On The Stairs (1933).

Herr Resch confronts Herr Schneider on the house's stairwell and asks them to leave, calling Hans' Father to bear witness. Hans' father denied. Herr Schneider reminds Herr Resch of the tenant's agreement, but Herr Resch doesn't care. Herr Schneider begs for time to find another apartment.

Herr Schneider (1933).

Herr Schneider loses his job because he is a Jew.

The Hearing (1933).

Herr Resch sues Herr Schneider and tries to make him to move out of the apartment. In the court, the attorney of Herr Resch reveals that Herr Schneider is a Jew. However, Herr Scheider also reveals that he lived in Herr Resch's house for ten years and Herr Resch did not find anything wrong with that until a short time ago. In the end, Herr Schneider is allowed to continue staying in the house. At this point, Friedrich suddenly cries out. The judge calls Friedrich up and assured him that he will see that justice is done.

Reception.

The novel won the Batchelder Award in 1972.

Friedrich (initially published in German as Damals war es Friedrich) is a novel about two boys and their families as they grow together during Hitler's rise to power and reign in Germany in the 1930's. It is by the author Hans Peter Richter.


Etymology.

This is the third U.S. Navy warship with the name USS "Mason". The first, in service from 1920 to 1941, was named for John Young Mason, well known for his service as the Secretary of the Navy for two American Presidents. The second was named for Ensign Newton Henry Mason, a Naval Aviator who was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. This ship is named for the crew of the second as this was the first ship in the US Navy with this distinction of a predominantly black crew.

Operational history.

USS "Mason" conducted her maiden deployment with the Carrier Strike Group in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2004. "Mason" returned home after six months on 18 April 2005.  On 3 October 2006, "Mason" departed Naval Station Norfolk for a seven-month deployment to the Persian Gulf in support of the Global War on Terrorism. She participated in Exercise Neon Falcon. "Mason" returned home in May 2007.  "Mason" deployed with the aircraft carrier on 12 September 2008 for a scheduled deployment.  On 12 March 2011, she sailed through the Suez Canal en route to the Mediterranean, to support possible humanitarian or military action in response to the Libyan Civil War. In April 2011, a boarding team from the ship successfully liberated five Yemeni hostages from eleven Somali pirates who had taken over the Yemeni-flagged ship. The pirates had seriously injured two other fishermen in their attack, left the wounded ashore, and then taken "Nasri" to sea as a pirate mothership. Assault weapons, ammunition, rocket propelled grenades, and launchers were destroyed by the boarding team.  On 22 July 2013, she deployed to the 5th and 6th Fleet area of responsibility as part of the "Harry S. Truman" Carrier Strike Group. "Mason" returned to her homeport on 18 April 2014.  On 7 November 2015, "Mason", acting as the flagship for Destroyer Squadron 26, completed the first East Coast Passing Exercise with the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army-Navy [PLA(N)] ships and U.S. Navy warships.  On 23 May 2017, "Mason" was awarded the 2016 Battenberg Cup, signifying she was the best all-around ship or submarine in the United States Navy's Atlantic Fleet based on crew achievements. "Mason" was only the fifth destroyer in the last 111 years to receive the award.

Attacks off the coast of Yemen.

On 3 October 2016, "Mason" was deployed off the coast of war-torn Yemen (along with,, and ) following an attack on the United Arab Emirates operated. According to an unnamed US Department of Defense official, the purpose for sending the ships was "to ensure that shipping continues unimpeded in the strait and the vicinity."  On 9 October 2016, "Mason", operating near the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, was targeted by two missiles fired from Houthi-controlled territory. Both missiles fell short and crashed into the water. The Houthi insurgency denied launching the attack on the warship. The United States Naval Institute reported that "Mason" fired two SM-2 Standard missiles and one RIM-162 ESSM missile to intercept the two missiles as well as deploying its Nulka missile decoy. One of two U.S. defense officials cited anonymously added that it was not clear whether the incoming missiles had been shot down or crashed into the water on their own. This marked the first recorded instance of ship-based anti-air missiles being fired from vertical launching cells in combat in response to an actual inbound missile threat (during the Persian Gulf War's Battle of Bubiyan, a British warship intercepted an Iraqi Silkworm missile though that ship was not equipped with VLS).  On 12 October 2016 "Mason" was again targeted by missiles fired from Yemeni territory while operating in the Bab el-Mandeb strait. "Mason" was not hit by the two missiles, which were fired from near the city of Al Hudaydah. While the Navy is not certain whether the first incoming missile was intercepted or it just fell into the sea, officials claim "Mason" successfully intercepted the second missile at a distance of about. On 13 October 2016, the US attacked three radar sites in Houthi-held territory which had been involved in the earlier missile attacks with cruise missiles launched from. The Pentagon assessed that all three sites were destroyed.  On 15 October 2016, "Mason" was targeted in a third attack by five anti-ship cruise missiles while operating in the Red Sea north of the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The Navy Times reported the "Mason" fired a radar decoy, an infrared decoy, and several SM-2 Standard missiles in response, either neutralizing or intercepting four of the five incoming missiles. The Navy claims the fifth incoming missile was neutralized by a radar decoy launched from, after "Mason" alerted her to the threat.  She is currently homeported in Norfolk, Virginia.

Coat of arms.

Shield.

"The shield has background of white with a double chevron across the center. Above are opposing lions and below is a gold trident."  The traditional U.S. Navy colors were chosen for the shield because dark blue and gold represents the sea and excellence respectively. The United States representing colors, red, white and blue, are all represented. The double chevron is to honor DD 191 and DE 529, the former ships named USS Mason. The facing lions are adapted from the Mason family Coat of Arms, denote the Atlantic and Pacific campaigns of World War II. The trident, symbol of sea prowess, represents "Mason’s" modern warfare capabilities which include; AEGIS weapon system, Cooperative Engagement Capability, and Theater Ballistic Missile Defense.

Crest.

"The crest consists of a helm, crossing swords behind and a combined anchor and cross surrounded by a wreath."The helm is symbolic to strong defense with power projection. The anchor refers to the namesake of DD 191, John Young Mason, who was the Secretary of the Navy under President John Tyler and James K. Polk. The cross is in reference to Newton Henry Mason's Distinguished Flying Cross award. The wreath represents all the awards, honors and achievements of the past ships with the namesake Mason and crews who served them.

Motto.

"The motto is written on a scroll of white with a red trim."The ships motto is "Proudly We Serve". The motto is in honor of the high achievement of the African American crew of DE-529 who made history with their selfless bravery in defense of the U.S. in World War II and also marks their contribution to the eventual desegregation of the U.S. Navy.

Seal.

"The coat of arms in full color as in the blazon, upon a white background enclosed within a dark blue oval border edged on the outside with a gold rope and bearing the inscription "USS Mason" at the top and "DDG 87" in the base all gold."

USS "Mason" (DDG-87) is an in the United States Navy. She is named in honor of the non-segregated crew serving onboard USS MASON (DE-259). This ship is the 37th destroyer of its class. USS "Mason" was the 21st ship of this class to be built at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, and construction began on 19 January 2000. She was launched and christened on 23 June 2001. On 12 April 2003, a commissioning ceremony was held at Port Canaveral, Florida. She is currently homeported in Norfolk, Virginia.


Early life and college years.

Olivier Saint-Jean was born in Maisons-Alfort near Paris from parents who were natives of French Guiana. His mother George Goudet was a professional basketball player. After graduating from Lycee Aristide Briand in 1993, Abdul-Wahad first played college basketball for two years at Michigan and transferred to San Jose State in 1995. Abdul-Wahad was part of the San Jose State team that won the 1996 Big West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament and made the NCAA tournament despite a 13-16 record. He changed his name to Tariq Abdul-Wahad after converting to Islam in 1997.

Professional career.

He was known as a defensive specialist, but his playing time was restricted in later seasons due to injuries. He only played in 236 out of a possible 788 games. In the whole 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons Abdul-Wahad was on the Dallas Mavericks' roster on injured reserve, as he was permanently unable to play. He was released by Mavericks on 28 September 2005, during training camp prior to the 2005–06 season. In November 2006 Italian team Climamio Bologna invited Abdul-Wahad to a try out, but he was not signed.  His No. 3 jersey was retired by San Jose State in 2002, however the banner hanging in the Event Center Arena refers to him as Olivier Saint-Jean, the name he used while in college.  Abdul-Wahad's peak year as a pro was with the Sacramento Kings in the lockout-shortened 1999 NBA season, when he was a starter for the team. They pushed the Utah Jazz to the brink of elimination but lost in the fifth and final game of the series.

National team career.

Abdul-Wahad (as Oliver Saint Jean) played for the France men's national under-18 basketball team at the 1992 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship where his team won gold.

Post-playing years.

In 2005, Abdul-Wahad played the part of King Negus of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in the video play "Mercy to Mankind: Part 1, The Prophecy Fulfilled", sponsored by the MAS (Muslim American Society) Youth Chapter, Dallas, Texas.  Abdul-Wahad finished his B.A. in art history at San Jose State University in 2008 and enrolled in the M.A. program at San Jose State afterwards. He later started a clothing business in Brazil with a friend and a television production company in France.  On July 21, 2011, the Division II Cal State Monterey Bay Otters women's basketball team hired Abdul-Wahad as an assistant coach.  Abdul-Wahad became head varsity boys' basketball coach at Lincoln High School of San Jose, California in 2012.

Tariq Abdul-Wahad (born Olivier Michael Saint-Jean; November 3, 1974) is a French basketball coach and former player. As Olivier Saint-Jean, he played college basketball at Michigan and San Jose State. In 1997, the Sacramento Kings selected Saint-Jean in the first round of the NBA draft as the 11th overall pick, and Saint-Jean converted to Islam and changed his name to Tariq Abdul-Wahad. From 1997 to 2003, Abdul-Wahad played in the NBA for the Kings, Orlando Magic, Denver Nuggets, and Dallas Mavericks. He was the first player to be raised in France and play in the NBA.


Location.

The weir and lock are located behind the Nussdorf station of the Emperor Franz Joseph Railway. Although they are named after a suburb in the 19th district of Vienna, Döbling, they actually fall within the jurisdiction of the 20th district, Brigittenau.

Earlier constructions.

Before the construction of the weir and lock in Nussdorf, the Donaukanal was protected from floating ice and to a large extent also from flooding by the Wilhelm von Engerth’s floating barrier, the Schwimmtor. The Schwimmtor remained in service until World War I and was finally scrapped in 1945.

The weir and lock in Nussdorf.

The weir and lock in Nussdorf and the Kaiserbadwehr (another weir) were the only hydraulic engineering works that were ever realised as part of the plan to create a harbour in the Donaukanal. Two further weir and lock arrangements had been envisaged near the Ostbahnbrücke and directly before the harbour in Freudenau.  The construction of the weir and lock was necessary to protect the new developments on the canal (the metropolitan railway, the tributary canals and later the harbour and ships) from floods and ice, but also to maintain sufficient water in the canal so that ships could pass. Wilhelm von Engerth's Schwimmtor provided satisfactory protection from floating ice, but it only gave a very limited degree of control over the amount of water in the canal. In particular because of the need to protect the tributary canals built along the Donaukanal, it was essential that the level of water in the canal did not rise by more than 80 centimetres.

Nussdorf weir.

The Nussdorf weir was built between August 1894 and 1899. The walls were finished in 1897 and the steel construction was mounted by August 1898. The administration building and the chain magazine followed in 1899. Otto Wagner was employed by the transport commission for the project; the architectural plans for the weir and the Schemerlbrücke, the adjoining buildings and (possibly) the lock are the work of Sigmund Taussig. Because of the site's highly visible location – at the point at which the Donaukanal leads away from the Danube towards the centre of Vienna – Otto Wagner considered the weir (technically a needle dam but also a bridge weir) as the gate to the city and thus designed it to be particularly impressive. It features imposing columns topped with lions made of bronze. These lions are the work of Rudolf Weyr and were later the model for the logo of Gräf & Stift, an Austrian automobile producer.  The weir passed its first test in 1899, when the land on the Donaukanal was successfully protected from flooding.  The needle dam was replaced with a modern segment weir during improvements carried out on Vienna's defenses against flooding between 1971 and 1975. The new weir featured barriers that could be lowered to the bottom of the canal. Between 2004 and 2005, the Nussdorf power station was built downstream of the weir and lock without any visible changes to the historical appearance of the area. The power station's 12 turbines produce around 28 gigawatt hours per year and thus provide electricity for approximately 10,000 households.

Schemerlbrücke.

The'("Schemerl bridge"), also known as'("lions bridge"), is named after Josef Schemerl Ritter von Leytenbach, k. k. Hofrat and Hofbauratsdirektor, who developed the first plans to regulate the Danube in 1810. His plans were not realised. He died in 1844.  The bridge is referred to using a range of variations of its name:  The truss bridge was built between 1894 and 1898. Its span measures 49 metres, arching over both the 40-metre wide canal and the 9-metre wide towpath. The construction of the bridge was made necessary for structural reasons; the three main bearing walls and the strong horizontal bar support both the weight of the bridge and the pressure created by the damming of the water in the canal (the weir is also referred to as a bridge weir as a result). The Schemmerlbrücke was however also needed for the weir machinery. In April 1945, the Schemmerlbrücke, along with the other bridges over the Donaukanal, was intentionally rendered unusable. In 1947, a wooden structure was built which made it possible for pedestrians to cross the canal. Between 1953 and 1955, the bridge was repaired and in 1978 it was thoroughly restored.

Nussdorf lock.

In contrast to the Nussdorf weir, the Nussdorf lock is not very well known. Construction on the lock also began in August 1894. The chamber lock is 85 metres long and 15 metres wide, but at the same time, a canal 20 metres wide, 3.5 metres deep and with an embankment slope of 1:2 had to be built to make it possible to use the lock. This canal made it necessary to build two railway bridges for the Donauuferbahn as well as a road bridge between Nussdorf and Handelskai. It is not known for sure whether this lock was also designed by Otto Wagner, how it survived World War II, and why it was renovated between 1964 and 1966. Presumably, it was too small for modern ships and its technical features needed updating. On 25 November 1966, the City of Vienna announced that the Stadtrat Kurt Heller had officially opened the fully mechanised lock.  To ensure that sufficient water was available for the lock even when the surrounding canals are blocked with ice, a tributary canal was also built.

Administration building.

The three- to four-storey administration building that stands near the weir and lock was designed by Otto Wagner and built in secessionist style. The building's roof features a platform that served as an observation post.

Chain magazine.

The chain magazine is located to the south of the administration building and is a one- to two-storey building.

The Nussdorf weir and lock are works of hydraulic engineering located in the Viennese suburb of Nussdorf at the point where the Donaukanal leaves the Danube. The weir and lock were built following the adoption of a new law in July 1892, which also authorised the construction of the Wiener Stadtbahn and the transformation of the Donaukanal into a winter harbour.


Background.

In 1763, Johann Nicolaus von Hontheim, auxiliary bishop of Trier, under the pseudonym "Justinus Febronius", wrote about Gallicanism in. Von Hontheim's ideas became known as Febronianism. His ideas were shared by some influential archbishops of Germany, who were encouraged and supported by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, who arrogated to himself both temporal and spiritual jurisdiction. As early as 1769, representatives of von Erthal, Maximilian Franz, and Clemens Wenceslaus met in Koblenz and wrote a list of thirty-one articles mostly directed against the Roman Curia.  In February 1785, Pope Pius VI erected the Apostolic Nunciature to Bavaria in Munich to represent the Holy See in the territories of Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, which then comprised the Electorate of Bavaria, the Rhine Palatinate, the Duchy of Jülich and the Duchy of Berg. Archbishop Giulio Cesare Zoglio was appointed as nuncio with jurisdiction in those territories.  Pius VI erected this nunciature on the request of Charles Theodore, who was loath to have parts of his territory under the spiritual jurisdiction of bishops who, being electors like himself, were his equals than his subordinates. He had previously suggested to the Elector-Archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Trier to appoint special vicars-general for their districts in his territory. Upon their refusal he requested Pius VI to erect separate dioceses for his territory, but in deference to the wishes of the three elector-archbishops, the pope also refused. Finally the Elector of Bavaria asked for the above-mentioned nunciature, and despite the protests of the archbishops his wish was granted.  Meanwhile, Cardinal Carlo Bellisomi, the Apostolic Nuncio to Cologne, was transferred to Lisbon, and Archbishop Bartolomeo Pacca was appointed to succeed Bellisomi as nuncio. Archbishop Maximilian Franz, a brother of Joseph II, refused to see Pacca, and none of the three elector-archbishops honoured Pacca's credentials. Despite protests, both Pacca and Zoglio began to exercise their powers as nuncios.

The " of Ems".

Relying on the support which Joseph II had promised, the three elector-archbishops and the Archbishop of Salzburg planned concerted action against Rome and sent their representatives to Ems to hold a congress. Von Erthal, was represented by his auxiliary bishop, ; Franz, by his privy councillor Heinrich von Tautphäus; Clemens Wenceslaus, by his privy councillor and official representative in temporal matters, Joseph Ludwig Beck; Colloredo, by his consistorial councillor, Johann Michael Bönicke. On 25 August 1786, these representatives signed the " of Ems", consisting of twenty-three articles which aimed to make the archbishops within the Holy Roman Empire practically independent of the Holy See.  The maintains that all prerogatives and reservations which were not actually connected with the primacy during the first three centuries owe their origin to the pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, universally acknowledged as false, and, hence, that the bishops must look upon all interference of the Roman Curia with the exercise of their episcopal functions in their own dioceses as encroachments on their rights. Upon these principles the four archbishops requested that:  The articles advocated for independence of the archbishops from the pope; the four archbishops ratified the articles and sent them to Joseph II for his support.

Aftermath.

Joseph II was pleased with the articles but, on the advice of his council and especially Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg, did not unconditionally support the articles for political reasons. In November 1786, Joseph II made his support dependent on the condition that the archbishops gain the consent of their suffragan bishops, the superiors of the exempt monasteries, and the imperial estates into whose territories their spiritual jurisdiction extends. The suffragan bishops, especially the prince-bishops August Philip of Limburg Stirum of Speyer and Franz Ludwig von Erthal of Würzburg-Bamberg (brother of Friedrich Karl von Erthal), protested against the articles and saw the anti-papal procedure of the four archbishops as an attempt to increase their own power. The Elector of Bavaria likewise remained a defender of the pope and his nuncio at Munich, and even the Protestant King Frederick II of Prussia was an opponent of the and favoured Pacca.  Still the four archbishops insisted on their demands. When Pacca granted a matrimonial dispensation from the second degree of consanguinity to Prince von Hohenlohe-Bartenstein and Countess Blankenheim, Maximilian Franz forbid Pacca from exercising any jurisdiction in the Archdiocese of Cologne. The archbishops themselves now began to grant dispensations from such degrees of relationship as were not contained in their ordinary quinquennial faculties, just as if the was in full force.  When Pacca, by order of the pope, informed the pastors that all marriages contracted without Holy See dispensations were invalid, the four archbishops ordered their pastors to return the circular to the nuncio and to obtain all future dispensations directly from their ordinaries, the archbishops. The Church in Germany was now near to a schism. At that time, von Erthal of Mainz needed the services of Rome. He desired Karl Theodor von Dalberg as coadjutor, and, to obtain the consent of Rome, he withdrew, at least apparently, from the and obtained a renewal of his quinquennial faculties from Rome on 9 August 1787. Similarly the Archbishop of Trier asked for quinquennial faculties as Bishop of Augsburg, but not as Archbishop of Trier.  Von Erthal's submission to Rome was only a pretended one. He continued his opposition and on 2 June 1788, requested Joseph II, in the name of himself and the three other archbishops, to bring the affair concerning both nuncios before a Diet. The archbishops discovered that all the imperial estates were opposed to the and that a diet would rather retard than accelerate the fulfilment of their wishes. For this reason they wrote to the Holy See, in December 1788, asking the pope to withdraw the faculties from both nuncios and send legates to the imperial estates with authorized to negotiate an agreement with the archbishops.  Pius VI replied to the in 1789. Pius VI refuted all the arguments of the archbishops against papal nunciatures, argued it was wrong for the archbishops to rebel against papal authority, explained that the pope cannot send representatives to states who have no right to pass judgment on ecclesiastical affairs, and admonished the archbishops to give up their untenable position towards the Holy See.  Clemens Wenceslaus, desired an amicable settlement of the affair, publicly withdrew from the on 20 February 1790, and admonished his colleagues to follow his example. They, however, continued their opposition and on occasion of the imperial capitulation of Emperor Leopold II (1790) and that of Emperor Franz II (1792) obtained the promise that their complaints concerning the nunciatures would be attended to as soon as possible by a decree of the Diet. The threatening progress of the French Revolution finally changed the attitude of the Archbishops of Cologne and Salzburg, but the Archbishop of Mainz clung to the until the victorious French army invaded his electorate, and he was deprived of all his possessions west of the Rhine, at the Peace of Campo Formio, in 1797.

The Congress of Ems was a meeting set up by the four prince-archbishops of the Holy Roman Empire, and held in August 1786 at Bad Ems in the Electorate of Trier. Its object was to protest against papal interference in the exercise of episcopal powers, and to fix the future relations between the participating archbishops and the pope. Representatives of the three elector-archbishops: Friedrich Karl von Erthal of Mainz, Maximilian Franz of Cologne, Clemens Wenceslaus of Trier, as well as of Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus von Colloredo of Salzburg took part.


History.

Linguistic rights became more and more prominent throughout the course of history as language came to be increasingly seen as a part of nationhood. Although policies and legislation involving language have been in effect in early European history, these were often cases where a language was being imposed upon people while other languages or dialects were neglected. Most of the

Theoretical discussion.

Language rights + human rights = linguistic human rights (LHR).

Some make a distinction between language rights and linguistic human rights because the former concept covers a much wider scope. Thus, not all language rights are LHR, although all LHR are language rights. One way of distinguishing language rights from LHR is between what is necessary, and what

Individual linguistic rights.

The most basic definition of linguistic rights is the right of individuals to use their language with other members of their linguistic group, regardless of the status of their language. They evolve from general human rights, in particular: non-discrimination, freedom of expression, right to private life, and the right of members of a linguistic minority to use their language with other members of their community.  Individual linguistic rights are provided for in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Linguistic rights can be applied to the private arena and the public domain.

Private use of language.

Most treaties or language rights documents distinguish between the private use of a language by individuals and the use of a language by public authorities. Existing international human rights mandate that all individuals have the right to private and family life, freedom of expression, non-discrimination and/or the right of persons belonging to a linguistic minority to use their language with other members of their group. The United Nations Human Rights Committee defines privacy as: "... the

Linguistic rights in the public domain.

The public domain, with respect to language use, can be divided into judicial proceedings and general use by public officials.  According to Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, individuals have the right to a fair trial. Therefore, in the name of fairness of judicial proceedings, it is an established linguistic right of an individual to an interpreter when he or she does not understand the language used in criminal court proceedings, or in a criminal accusation. The public authorities must either use the language which the individual understands, or hire an interpreter to translate the proceedings,

Collective linguistic rights.

Collective linguistic rights are linguistic rights of a group, notably a language group or a state. Collective rights mean "the right of a linguistic group to ensure the survival of its language and to transmit the language to future generations". Language groups are complex and more difficult to demarcate than states. Part of this difficulty is that members within language groups assign different roles to their language, and there are also difficulties in defining a language.

Territoriality vs. personality principles.

The principle of territoriality refers to linguistic rights being focused solely within a territory, whereas the principle of personality depends on the linguistic status of the person(s) involved. An example

Negative vs. positive rights.

Negative linguistic rights mean the right for the exercise of language without the interference of the State. Positive linguistic

Assimilation-oriented vs. maintenance-oriented.

Assimilation-oriented types of language rights refer to the aim of the law to assimilate all citizens within the country, and range from prohibition to toleration. An example of prohibition type laws is the treatment of Kurds in Turkey as well as Turks in Iran, where they

Overt vs. covert.

Another dimension for analyzing language rights is with degree of overtness and covertness. Degree of overtness refers to the extent laws or covenants are explicit with respect to language rights, and covertness the reverse. For example, Indian laws are overt

Criticisms of the framework of linguistic human rights.

Some have criticized linguistic rights proponents for taking language to be a single coherent construct, pointing out instead, the difference between language and speech communities, and putting too much concern over inter-language discrimination rather than intra-language discrimination.  Other issues pointed out are the assumptions that the collective

Practical application.

Linguistic rights manifest as legislation (the passing of a law), subsequently becoming a statute to be enforced. Language legislation delimiting official usage can by grouped into official, institutionalizing, standardizing, and liberal language legislation, based on its function. "Official legislation makes languages official in the domains of legislation, justice, public administration, and education, [commonly according to territoriality and personality]. Various combinations of both principles are also used... Institutionalizing legislation covers the unofficial domains of labour, communications, culture, commerce, and business..."  In relation to legislation, a causal effect of linguistic rights is language policy. The field of language planning falls under language policy. There are 3 types of language planning: status planning (uses of language), acquisition planning (users of language), and corpus planning (language itself).

Language rights at international and regional levels.

International platform.

The Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights was approved on 6 June 1996 in Barcelona, Spain. It was the culmination of work by a committee of 50 experts under the auspices of UNESCO. Signatories were 220 persons from over 90 states, representing NGOs and International PEN Clubs Centres. This Declaration was drawn up in response to calls for linguistic rights as a fundamental human right at the 12th Seminar of the International Association for the Development of Intercultural Communication and the Final Declaration of the General Assembly of the International Federation of Modern Language Teachers. Linguistic rights in this Declaration stems from the language community, i.e., collective rights, and explicitly includes both regional and immigrant minority languages.  Overall, this document is divided into sections including: Concepts, General Principles, Overall linguistic regime (which covers Public administration and official bodies, Education, Proper names, Communications media and new technologies, Culture, and The socioeconomic sphere), Additional Dispositions, and Final Dispositions. So for instance, linguistic rights are granted equally to all

Regional platform.

Language rights in different countries.

Australia.

Zuckermann et al. (2014) proposed the enactment of "Native Tongue Title", an ex gratia compensation scheme for the loss of indigenous languages in Australia: "Although some Australian states have enacted ex gratia compensation schemes for the victims of the Stolen Generations policies, the victims of linguicide (language killing) are largely overlooked... Existing grant schemes

Austria.

Under the Austrian Constitutional Law (1867), Article 8(2) grants the right to maintenance and development of nationality and language to all ethnic minorities, equal rights to

Canada.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) grants positive linguistic rights, by guaranteeing state responsibility to the French and English language communities. Section 23 declares three types of rights for Canadian citizens speaking French or English as their mother tongue and are minorities in a region. The first accords right of access to instruction in the medium of

China.

The Standard Chinese is promoted, which has been seen as damaging to the varieties

Croatia.

Croatian language is the stated to be the official language of Croatia in Article 3 of the Croatian constitution. The same Article of Constitution stipulates that in some of local units, with the Croatian language and Latin script, in official use may be introduce another language and Cyrillic or some other

Finland.

Finland has one of the most overt linguistic rights frameworks. Discrimination based on language is forbidden under the basic rights for all citizens in Finland. Section 17 of the Constitution of Finland explicitly details the right to one's language and culture, although these languages are stated as either Finnish or Swedish. This right applies to in courts of law and other authorities, as well as translated official documents. There is also overt obligation of the state to provide for the "cultural and societal needs

India.

The constitution of India was first drafted on January 26, 1950. It is estimated that there are about 1500 languages in India. Article 343–345 declared that the official languages of India for communication with centre will be Hindi and English. There are 22 official languages identified by constitution. Article 345 states that "the Legislature

Ireland.

Language rights in Ireland are recognised in the Constitution of Ireland and in the Official Languages Act.  Irish is the national and first official language according to the Constitution (with English being a second official language). The Constitution permits the public to conduct its business – and every part of its business – with the state solely through Irish.  On 14 July 2003, the President

Mexico.

Language rights were recognized in Mexico in 2003 with the General Law of Linguistic Rights for the Indigenous Peoples which established a framework for the conservation, nurturing and

Pakistan.

Pakistan uses English (Pakistani English) and Urdu as official languages. Although Urdu serves as the national language and lingua franca and is understood by most of the population, it is natively spoken by only 8% of the population.

Philippines.

Article XIV, Sections 6–9 of

Poland.

The Republic of Poland declares that it shall apply the European Charter for Regional

Spain.

Spanish language is the stated to be the official language of Spain in Article 3 of the Spanish constitution, being the learning of this language compulsory by this same article.

Sweden.

In ratifying the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Sweden declared five national minority languages: Saami, Finnish, Meänkieli, Romani, and Yiddish. Romani and Yiddish are

United States.

Language rights in the United States are usually derived from the Fourteenth Amendment, with its Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses, because they forbid racial and ethnic discrimination, allowing language minorities to use this Amendment to claim their language rights. One example of use of the Due Process Clauses is the "Meyer v. Nebraska" case which held that a 1919 Nebraska law restricting foreign-language education violated the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Two other cases of major importance to linguistic rights were the "Yu Cong Eng v. Trinidad" case, which overturned a language-restrictive legislation in the Philippines, declaring that piece of legislation to be "violative of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Philippine Autonomy Act of Congress", as well as the "Farrington v. Tokushige" case, which ruled that the governmental regulation of private schools, particularly to restrict the teaching of languages other than English and Hawaiian, as damaging to the migrant population of Hawaii. Both of these cases were influenced by the Meyer case, which was a precedent.

Disputes over linguistic rights.

Basque, Spain.

The linguistic situation for Basque is a precarious one. The Basque language is considered to be a low language in Spain, where, until about 1982, the Basque language was not used in administration. In 1978, a law was passed allowing for Basque to be used in administration side by side with Spanish in the Basque autonomous communities.  Between 1935 and 1975, the period of

Faroe Islands.

The Faroese language conflict, which occurred roughly between 1908 and 1938, has been described as political and cultural in nature. The two languages competing to become the official language of the Faroe Islands were Faroese and Danish. In the late 19th and early 20th

Nepal.

The Newars of Nepal have been struggling to save their Nepal Bhasa language, culture and identity since the 1920s. Nepal Bhasa was suppressed during the Rana (1846–1951) and Panchayat (1960–1990) regimes leading to language decline. The Ranas forbade writing in Nepal Bhasa and authors were jailed or exiled. Beginning in 1965, the Panchayat system eased out regional languages from the radio and educational institutions, and protestors were put in prison.  After the reinstatement of democracy in 1990, restrictions on publishing were relaxed; but attempts to gain usage in local state entities side by side

Sri Lanka.

The start of the conflict regarding languages in Sri Lanka goes as far back as the rule of the British. During the colonial period, English had a special and powerful position in Sri Lanka. The British ruled in Sri Lanka from the late eighteenth century to 1948. English was the official language of administration then. Just before the departure of the British, a "swabhasha" (your own language) movement was launched in a bid to phase out English slowly, replacing it with Sinhala or Tamil. However, shortly after the departure of the British the campaign, for various political reasons, evolved from advocating Sinhala and Tamil replacing English to just Sinhala replacing English.  In 1956, the first election after independence, the opposition won and the official language was declared to be Sinhala. The Tamil people were unhappy, feeling that they were greatly disadvantaged. Because Sinhala was now the official language, it made it easier for the people whose mother tongue was Sinhala to enter into government sector and also provided them with an unfair advantage in the education system. Tamils who also did not understand Sinhala felt greatly inconvenienced as they had to depend on others to translate official documents for them.  Both the Tamil and Sinhala-speaking people felt that language was crucial to their identity. The Sinhala people associated the language with their rich heritage. They were also afraid that, given that there were only 9 million speakers of the language at that time, if Sinhala was not the only official language it would eventually be slowly lost. The Tamil people felt that the Sinhala-only policy would assert the dominance of the Sinhalese people and as such they might lose their language, culture and identity.  Despite the

Linguistic rights are the human and civil rights concerning the individual and collective right to choose the language or languages for communication in a private or public atmosphere. Other parameters for analyzing linguistic rights include the degree of territoriality, amount of positivity, orientation in terms of assimilation or maintenance, and overtness.


Population.

Almost 150,000 people inhabit Baix Camp. The population has risen gently since the middle of the twentieth century, with population growth averaging 1.5% annually during the last three decades. Growth is not evenly distributed, however, but is strongly focused on Reus, the industrial and commercial centre of the region. Around two third of the inhabitants of Baix Camp live in Reus, which from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries was the second most populous city in Catalonia, after Barcelona. Taking Catalonia as a whole, the place of Reus in the population rankings has now slipped to tenth. Within Baix Camp, the only other municipality with more than 10,000 inhabitants is Cambrils.

Economy.

In the agricultural sector almonds and hazelnuts are a major crops, together representing 30% of primary sector production. Viticulture has never regained the level of dominance that it enjoyed before the European Phylloxera epidemic that peaked in the 1870s. High dependency on almonds and hazelnuts nevertheless leaves the entire regional economy vulnerable to declining world market prices that have accompanied increased globalization of the agricultural sector. Some price protection is afforded to growers by protected designation for "Hazelnuts from Reus" which actually covers not just production from Reus but also that from neighboring Alt Camp, Tarragonès, Priorat, Conca de Barberà and Terra Alta.

Municipalities.

After the capital Reus, the major cities are Cambrils and Mont-roig del Camp; other significant towns are Riudoms and Selva del Camp.  Smaller municipalities:

Baix Camp is a comarca of Catalonia. It is one of the three comarques into which Camp de Tarragona was divided in the comarcal division of 1936.


Plot.

Despite her pessimistic outlook on life, Rita Boyle, a liberal, free-spirited, aspiring graphic designer working part-time as a bartender, falls in love with Peter Hoskins, the conservative employee of a Chicago publishing house. At their wedding, they are approached by Julius, a lonely elderly man who requests permission to kiss Rita. When he does, their spirits somehow switch places, leaving Peter with the aged man's soul residing in his newlywed bride, and her soul in his cancer-riddled body. Peter eventually sees beyond the physical and embraces the beautiful soul he loves. Only after convincing both Rita and Julius why they switched (she was afraid of life and wanted to be an old person who had already gone through the fears life would throw at her, he was afraid of dying and wanted to be young again), and how they did not have these fears anymore, are they able to return to their rightful bodies.

Production.

The film's title is derived from the Duke Ellington/Irving Gordon/Irving Mills tune of the same name, which is heard performed by Deborah Harry during the opening credits. The soundtrack also includes the Cole Porter song "Every Time We Say Goodbye" performed by Annie Lennox, "The More I See You" and "I Had the Craziest Dream" by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon, "A Certain Smile" by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster, "The Very Thought of You" by Ray Noble, "Sweet Jane" by the Cowboy Junkies, and "Someone Like You" by Van Morrison. In the beginning, Rita dances to the song "I Touch Myself" by Divinyls.

Reception.

Box office.

The film grossed $20,006,730 in the US and $2,690,961 internationally for a total worldwide box office of $22,697,691.

Critical response.

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes compiled reviews retrospectively to give it a score of 63% based on 24 reviews.  In his review in "The New York Times", Vincent Canby said, "The sad news about this movie adaptation is that it functions as a cruel critique of the problems that, for whatever reason, did not seem important in the stage production. This "Prelude to a Kiss" is not only without charm and wit, but it's also clumsily set forth: many people seeing it may wonder what, in heaven's name, is going on. The opened-up film lumbers like someone on crutches. Against the literal surroundings of Chicago, the North Shore and Jamaica, Peter, Rita and Julius become perfunctory characters, interesting only for the bizarre situation in which they are caught. They lack any convincing particularity or idiosyncrasy. The same dialogue that served well enough on the stage now sounds arch and coy or metaphysically flat."  Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" said of the film, "[A]lthough it could probably do more with its story, what it does is gentle and moving. The film is fairly hard to categorize, which is one of its strengths. Of the dialogue, I'll say how unusual it is for Hollywood characters to talk longingly and thoughtfully about our search for happiness in this world where most assuredly we will die. "Prelude to a Kiss" is the kind of movie that can inspire long conversations about the only subject really worth talking about, the meaning of it all. The emotional heart of the movie belongs to the old guy, Walker, a New York stage actor who got his first starring role at 71. He is wonderful here. He begins as a block of human wood, an old man who looks as if he has not one single thing to say, and then he develops eloquently into a person of poetry and longing. He is, in many of his scenes, literally playing a woman in her 20s. How he does it – how he gets away with it – is through not just craft, but heart."  In "Rolling Stone", Peter Travers stated, "Craig Lucas's prince of a play has been turned into a toad of a movie. The disappointment is rending, since Lucas and director Norman René made magic onstage. The play challenges us to make an imaginative leap into the wild blue. The film, however much it flails, stays resolutely earthbound."  Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" graded the film C- and added, "Why is "Prelude to a Kiss" such a washout? I'm afraid it's because the play itself is a whimsically inept piece of high kitsch – a "Twilight Zone" for yuppie soft-heads. The characters aren't fleshed out as human beings; they seem like urban types concocted in screenwriting class. And so the ethereality of the premise never takes hold."  In "Variety", Todd McCarthy observed, "Thanks to a magnetic cast and intelligent adaptation, "Prelude to a Kiss" has made a solid transfer from stage to screen. Back in the 1930s or '40s, this sort of sophisticated, literary-oriented treatment of a simple romantic idea would have been the norm. Today's general audiences, however, may be put off by the quick-witted talk and mildly confused by the central device, despite its resemblance to "Ghost"... Baldwin and Ryan make such a winning pair. Looking great and playing a normal guy whose optimism has prevailed over his troubled past, Baldwin is a romantic lead both men and women can enjoy watching. Cuter-than-cute, almost too adorable for words, Ryan rambunctiously embodies the life force even when playing a basically aimless young woman, and the film suffers during her prolonged absence in the later stages."  Rita Kempley of "The Washington Post" said, "Packed with cheap sentiment and puerile romanticism, "Prelude to a Kiss" oozes sugarcoated comfort as might a drugstore valentine crushed enthusiastically to the recipient's heaving bosom. A faithful adaptation of Craig Lucas's popular play, it proves a feast for love gourmands, especially those with an appetite for body-swapping. The less starry-eyed viewers will remain starved for the comparative profundity of a leaky "Love Boat" rerun."

Accolades.

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Prelude to a Kiss is a 1992 American romantic fantasy film directed by Norman René and starring Alec Baldwin, Meg Ryan, and Sydney Walker. It is based on the 1988 play of the same title.


Biography.

Early life.

Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Brown was a notable graduate of Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, California, where he played high school baseball with Darryl Strawberry. The 1979 Crenshaw High Cougars baseball team was the subject of Michael Sokolove's "The Ticket Out: Darryl Strawberry and the Boys of Crenshaw".  Brown was selected by the Giants in the second round (44th overall) during the 1979 amateur draft.

Professional baseball career.

San Francisco Giants.

After a steady climb through the Giants minor league system, Brown made his major league debut for them in 1984 as a September call-up. In his first full season in 1985, Brown batted.261 with 16 home runs and 61 runs batted in (RBIs) for the last-place Giants, made the All-Rookie team, and finished fourth in the National League Rookie of the Year voting; Brown also led the NL in times being hit by pitch (11). In 1986, Brown batted.317 and made the NL All-Star team after hitting nearly.350 in the season's first half. The same season, he was involved in an infamous brawl.  At the end of 1986 he complained of shoulder soreness. That offseason, an examination by Dr. Frank Jobe in Los Angeles discovered that there was indeed a serious problem, and surgery was performed that winter. The following season, with Brown hitting a paltry.242 after 38 games, the Giants sent him packing on July 5 along with Keith Comstock, Mark Davis, and Mark Grant in a midseason trade to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Kevin Mitchell, Dave Dravecky, and Craig Lefferts.

San Diego Padres and Detroit Tigers.

Brown's play declined further as the year progressed, and he ended the year with a.237 average; the Giants went on to win the NL West division, and the Padres finished in last place. After dropping to a.235 average in 1988 for San Diego, Brown was dealt to the Detroit Tigers and was out of baseball by 1989 at the age of 28. In his career he batted.269 with 38 home runs, 184 RBIs, 164 runs, 410 hits and 21 stolen bases in 449 games.

Life after baseball.

After retirement, Brown lived in Houston, Texas with his wife Lisa and their two children, Paris Brown and Gordon Pickett. In 2004, Brown worked in Iraq driving an 18-wheel truck delivering diesel fuel for Halliburton. He took fire on numerous occasions, including in a convoy that was attacked on April 9, 2004, in which six Halliburton drivers and one soldier were killed and another driver kidnapped and later released. By 2006, Brown had returned to the United States.  Brown died at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston on December 26, 2006, nearly a month after he suffered burns in a fire at a vacant house he owned in Sugar Land, Texas. He was 45 years of age.

John Christopher Brown (August 15, 1961 – December 26, 2006) was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball during the 1980s, most notably with the San Francisco Giants.


History.

The village of Lonau goes back to a settlement that was established here as a consequence of the setting up of iron ore mines and iron smelting huts at the beginning of the 16th century.  Lonau was first mentioned in the records in ducal tax documents from 1615, although a smithy in Lonau had been named in 1525.

Geography.

Lonau lies in the South Harz, in the middle of the Harz National Park at a height of 355 to 430 m above sea level and has 350 inhabitants (as at 1 January 2011).  The village is divided into three areas: Unterdorf, Kirchtal and Mariental. The Church of St. Michael is roughly in the centre of the village at the junction of all three districts. The Kleine Lonau stream flows through Mariental and the Große Lonau through Kirchtal. After merging in the village centre the river Große Lonau flows down to Herzberg.  Surrounding hills include the Heuer to the southwest, the Braakberg to the west and north, the Kargeskopf to the north, the Franzosenkopf and the Großer Mittelberg to the northeast, the Langfast to the east, the Hirtenberg to the southeast and the Großer Teichtalskopf to the south.

Tourism and sights.

Lonau is mainly visited in summer by holiday walkers and in winter by cross country skiers. The main sights in and around Lonau are the capercaillie enclosure ("Auerhahngehege"), the mountain inn of Hanskühnenburg, the surrounding beech woods, the parish church and the Lonau Waterfall, which is actually in Herzberg. For holidaymakers there are several restaurants, a campsite, the spa park, a lido and a minigolf course. At least five checkpoints in the Harzer Wandernadel system are easily reached on foot from Lonau: "Kastanienplatz" (no. 149), "Köte am Schindelkopf" (no. 143), Hanskühnenburg (no. 144), "Waidmannsruhe" (no. 148) and the Großer Knollen (no. 150).  "References":

Lonau is a small village with a population of about 345 situated at an elevation of about 400m in the Harz Mountains of Northern Germany. Besides the clean air and lush forests, it is famous for the capercaillie. It belongs to the city of Herzberg am Harz which is about 4 km to the south. The rivers Große Lonau and Kleine Lonau join here.


Structural description.

Zennor Quoit is located on the West Penwith moors about a mile to the east of the village of Zennor (OS coordinate SW468380). It is accessed by the B3306 road about two miles from St. Ives. From the road, the site may be reached via a trail from a spot named "Eagle's Nest" (OS coordinate SW468387).  The quoit measures in total in diameter. Five stones support the roof, a massive slab measuring and weighing an estimated, which has slipped from its original position, with one end resting on the ground. The chamber itself consists of seven upright stones and was originally covered by a cairn. It had a small porch at its entrance for the purpose of entering the chamber and also had an antechamber with an even smaller entrance.

History.

The chamber dates to between 2500–1500 BC and is one of eight remaining quoits on the West Penwith moors. Archaeological evidence unearthed on the site has indicated that the chamber was used for the burial of bodies which at some point would be cremated and removed and replaced with others. The purpose of the exterior stones are believed to have been for resting the dead bodies against for the flesh to be devoured by birds before burial. Excavations at the site have revealed flint and Neolithic style pottery and cremated bones.  A local legend is associated with the chamber in that it is said that the quoit possesses mystical powers and that removed stones from the structure would soon mysteriously find their way back in the middle of the night. In 1754 and in 1769, before the roof had fallen, the quoit was analysed by the antiquary Dr. William Borlase (1695–1772), who described and provided detailed drawings of it and published some of his findings in his "Antiquities of Cornwall" (1769).  In 1861, a local farmer proposed to convert the monument into a cattle–shed by removing one of the upright pillars and drilling a hole in the sloping capstone. The vandalism soon reached the disapproving ears of the villagers of Zennor and the local vicar, William Borlase (a great grandson of Dr. William Borlase), intervened and successfully offered a financial incentive of five shillings to the farmer to build it elsewhere, although he had already built stone posts on the site to erect it. Traces of drill–holes can still be seen in the stone  In 1882, a member of the Borlase family came to the defence of the quoit again when the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society visited the site. The following account was reported:  Every year, the Old Cornwall Society meets behind the chamber on Midsummer's Eve and lights a ritual bonfire.

Literature.

Charles Taylor Stephens (d. 1863 in St Ives) was a shoemaker and the local postman from St Ives to Zennor who wrote a poem about the attempt to convert the quoit into a cattleshed. He was also employed by Robert Hunt to help in the collecting of folk tales from the Zennor area.

Zennor Quoit is a ruined megalithic burial chamber or dolmen, located on a moor about a mile (1.6 km) east of the village of Zennor, Cornwall, England, UK. It dates to 2500–1500 BC. Aside from the roof, which collapsed some time between 1770 and 1865, the chamber is in good condition.


Family.

He was the son of the teacher Franz Xaver Fraundorfer and his wife Franziska, née Bauer. Fraundorfer married on October 14, 1893 Helene Fraundorfer-Mühlthaler. They had one son.

Career.

After his abitur in 1874 Frauendorfer studied Jurisprudence at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. After graduation, he joined the Royal Bavarian State Railways. Here he worked until August 1, 1899, most recently as General Council. Then Fraundorfer became an Oberregierungsrat in the Bavarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Transport Department. On August 1, 1900 he was promoted to Ministerialrat. Fraundorfer was awarded on October 21, 1901 the Knight's Cross of the Merit of the Bavarian Crown. This encumbered him in the German Aristocracy to personal nobility. After entry in the Matricula he therefore was allowed to be called "Ritter (knight) von Frauendorfer".  He officiated from January 1, 1904 until his retirement on February 12, 1912 as Minister of the newly established Ministry of Transport Affairs in Bavaria and was decisive involved in the electrification of the railways in Bavaria. For his merits Fraundorfer was meanwhile on 14 September 1908 raised by Prince Regent Luitpold to the hereditary peerage. Since 1905 he was also freeman of the town Landshut.  1916 Fraundorfer and Edgar Jaffé founded the "European political and economic newspaper "; it was published by a brother of Jaffé in Berlin From November 8, 1918 to March 17, 1919 as well from 16 March to 1 April 1920, he was again Bavarian Minister of Transport Affairs in the state governments. This was followed by his appointment as Secretary of State and head of the Department Bayern in the Ministry of Transportation.  Fraundorfer was a member of the Corps Makaria Munich 1874 and Teutonia Halle (1903). He became engaged to Alma Wild, the daughter of his corp brother Albert Wild. She died before the marriage. Introduced by Wild in the Numismatics, Fraundorfer was chairman of the Bavarian Numismatic Society. When he was accused of forgery of numerous ancient coins, he took 1921 his life.

Heinrich von Frauendorfer (born 1855 in Höll; died July 23, 1921 in Geiselgasteig) was a German politician and Transport Minister in the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Munich Soviet Republic.


History.

The line was planned from 1869 by the "Bavarian Eastern Railway" () as a short cut between Nuremberg and Regensburg, over 40 km shorter than the line via Hersbruck, Amberg and Schwandorf opened in 1859, which is now the Nuremberg–Schwandorf line and part of the Regensburg–Hof line.  The line was originally built as a single track and was duplicated between 1894 and 1896. It was electrified in 1950. On 15 June 1988 construction began on the second line of the Nuremberg S-Bahn. The Nuremberg–Feucht section has been modified so that S-Bahn trains run on their own tracks next to the mainline tracks; these were opened on 21 November 1992. The Felstor tunnel in the Naab valley, with a length of 16 metres (according to other sources: 10 metres) was the shortest railway tunnel in Germany until 31 May 2010, when its roof was removed with explosives because its renovation was considered too expensive.

Opening dates.

The line was opened in three stages: The reason for the different opening dates was a delay in completing the Laber viaduct between Neumarkt and Seubersdorf.

Route.

Starting at Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof, the line turns southeast and passes through the Nuremberg districts of Gleißhammer, Zerzabelshof and Langwasser and past the Lorenzer Reichwald (national forest) to Feucht, where the route to Altdorf branches off. From there it runs almost directly to Schwarzenbruck and crosses the Schwarzach river just past Ochenbruck station. The route now crosses the first ridge of the Franconian Alb, eventually reaching Postbauer-Heng. There, the route bends to the east, runs through a gap between the Grünberg and Tyrolberg mountains and enters the Neumarkt basin. It runs across the basin in a straight line to the southeast partly on embankments through Pölling to Neumarkt station, from where the former Sulz Valley Railway branched off to the south. Passing the Neumarkt district of Hasenheide, the line swings south and above Sengenthal the line begins to climb the Franconian Alb. Only remnants are left of the former George Behringer KG (HeidelbergCement) siding.  Shortly after Sengenthal the line turns east and runs to Deining station. The line crosses a valley on an embankment and gains height and shortly afterwards reaches the European Watershed at a height of about 510 m above sea level. After about two kilometres, the route crosses the impressive Laber Viaduct over the valley of the Weiße Laber. The line now runs roughly south-east through the furrowed valleys of the Franconian Alb, some of which are crossed on bridges and some partly on embankments. There are deep cuttings through major ranges, including near Kleinalfalterbach and Seubersdorf. Nearby is Seubersdorf station, where a junction to a branch line to Velburg was planned. The line continue through cuttings and embankments to Parsberg station, which also serves as the unloading station for the transfer of military vehicles to the nearby Hohenfels Military training camp.  Above Mausheim the line reaches the high plateau of the Franconian Alb and runs to Beratzhausen station, which is located on the southern slopes of the valley of the Schwarze Laber above the village of Beratzhausen. The line soon crosses the valley and reaches Laaber station on the northern slope of the valley. The line runs further to the southeast above the valley of the Schwarze Laber, reaching Undorf station, and turns to the east towards the Naab. It passes through Etterzhausen and then runs east on the slope above the valley of the Naab.  The line crosses the Danube at the confluence of the Naab and the Danube Valley Railway from Ingolstadt and runs directly to the east. It runs through the Regensburg district of Prüfening and the Regensburg freight yard and finally reaches Regensburg Hauptbahnhof.

Upgrading.

The line is completely double track and electrified. In 2007 the route was upgraded for active tilting, including work on overhead lines, signalling and bridges at a cost of € 6.7 million.  Between Nuremberg Hauptbahnhof and Feucht the S-Bahn line between Nuremberg and Feucht runs parallel as one or two tracks. Between Reichwald junction (near Feucht) and Nuremberg Hbf the tracks are shared with the Nuremberg–Munich high-speed line. The line-speed is 160 km/h.

Transport associations.

The Nuremberg–Parsberg section of the line is served by Regionalbahn line R5 of the "Greater Nuremberg Transport Association" ("Verkehrsverbund Großraum Nürnberg", VGN). Between Neumarkt and Regensburg the line is integrated in the "Regensburg Transport Association" ("Regensburger Verkehrsverbund", RVV).

Operations.

Long-distance services consist of InterCity Express (ICE-T) services, operated with class 411 and 415 rolling stock, and a pair InterCity services hauled by Class 101 locomotives. Austrian Federal Railways locomotives are no longer used for passenger transport on the line.  Regional transport includes Regional-Express (RE) trains on the Nuremberg–Neumarkt–Parsberg–Beratzhausen–Regensburg route, continuing to Munich, normally composed of class 111 electric locomotives and double deck carriages. Regionalbahn (RB) trains are operated between Nuremberg and Neumarkt and between Neumarkt and Regensburg. Some trains run continuously from Nuremberg to Regensburg. The trains are composed of n-coach sets, hauled by class 143 electric locomotives on the Nuremberg–Neumarkt section or class 111 locomotives between Neumarkt and Regensburg.  The Nuremberg–Neumarkt section is operated as line S4 of the Nuremberg S-Bahn with class 143 electric locomotives and sets of “x” carriages, while awaiting an approval for class 442 (Talent 2) electric multiple units to operate in Nuremberg.

The Nuremberg–Regensburg railway is a 100 km-long mainline railway in the German state of Bavaria that runs from Nuremberg via Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz and Parsberg to Regensburg. It is one of the main routes to Austria for passengers and a link for regional transport between the Nuremberg region and the major centre of Regensburg. It is also one of the major routes for freight traffic to Eastern Europe. The line was opened by the Bavarian Eastern Railway Company between 1871 and 1873.