title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Emperor Joseph II himself took charge of Francis' development. His disciplinarian regime was a stark contrast to the indulgent Florentine Court of Leopold. The Emperor wrote that Francis was "stunted in growth", "backward in bodily dexterity and deportment", and "neither more nor less than a spoiled mother's child." Joseph concluded that "the manner in which he was treated for upwards of sixteen years could not but have confirmed him in the delusion that the preservation of his own person was the only thing of importance."


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Joseph's martinet method of improving the young Francis was "fear and unpleasantness." The young Archduke was isolated, the reasoning being that this would make him more self-sufficient as it was felt by Joseph that Francis "failed to lead himself, to do his own thinking." Nonetheless, Francis greatly admired his uncle, if rather feared him. To complete his training, Francis was sent to join an army regiment in Hungary and he settled easily into the routine of military life. He was present at the siege of Belgrade which occurred during the Austro-Turkish War.


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: After the death of Joseph II in 1790, Francis' father became Emperor. He had an early taste of power while acting as Leopold's deputy in Vienna while the incoming Emperor traversed the Empire attempting to win back those alienated by his brother's policies. The strain took a toll on Leopold and by the winter of 1791, he became ill. He gradually worsened throughout early 1792; on the afternoon of 1 March Leopold died, at the relatively young age of 44. Francis, just past his 24th birthday, was now Emperor, much sooner than he had expected.


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: As the head of the Holy Roman Empire and the ruler of the vast multi-ethnic Habsburg hereditary lands, Francis felt threatened by the French revolutionaries and later Napoleon's expansionism as well as their social and political reforms which were being exported throughout Europe in the wake of the conquering French armies. Francis had a fraught relationship with France. His aunt Marie Antoinette, the wife of Louis XVI and Queen consort of France, was guillotined by the revolutionaries in 1793, at the beginning of his reign, although, on the whole, he was indifferent to her fate.


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Later, he led the Holy Roman Empire into the French Revolutionary Wars. He briefly commanded the Allied forces during the Flanders Campaign of 1794 before handing over command to his brother Archduke Charles. He was later defeated by Napoleon. By the Treaty of Campo Formio, he ceded the left bank of the Rhine to France in exchange for Venice and Dalmatia. He again fought against France during the War of the Second Coalition.


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: On 11 August 1804, in response to Napoleon crowning himself as emperor of the French earlier that year, he announced that he would henceforth assume the title of hereditary emperor of Austria as Francis I, a move that technically was illegal in terms of imperial law. Yet Napoleon had agreed beforehand and therefore it happened.


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: During the War of the Third Coalition, the Austrian forces met a crushing defeat at Austerlitz, and Francis had to agree to the Treaty of Pressburg, which greatly weakened Austria and brought about the final collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. In July 1806, under massive pressure from France, Bavaria and fifteen other German states ratified the statutes founding the Confederation of the Rhine, with Napoleon designated Protector, and they announced to the Imperial Diet their intention to leave the Empire with immediate effect. Then, on 22 July, Napoleon issued an ultimatum to Francis demanding that he abdicate as Holy Roman Emperor by 10 August. Five days later, Francis bowed to the inevitable and, without mentioning the ultimatum, affirmed that since the Peace of Pressburg he had tried his best to fulfil his duties as emperor but that circumstances had convinced him that he could no longer rule according to his oath of office, the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine making that impossible. He added that "we hereby decree that we regard the bond which until now tied us to the states of the Empire as dissolved" in effect dissolving the empire. At the same time he declared the complete and formal withdrawal of his hereditary lands from imperial jurisdiction. After that date, he reigned as Francis I, Emperor of Austria.


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In 1809, Francis attacked France again, hoping to take advantage of the Peninsular War embroiling Napoleon in Spain. He was again defeated, and this time forced to ally himself with Napoleon, ceding territory to the Empire, joining the Continental System, and wedding his daughter Marie-Louise to the Emperor. The Napoleonic wars drastically weakened Austria, making it entirely landlocked and threatened its preeminence among the states of Germany, a position that it would eventually cede to the Kingdom of Prussia.


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In 1813, for the fifth and final time, Austria turned against France and joined Great Britain, Russia, Prussia and Sweden in their war against Napoleon. Austria played a major role in the final defeat of France—in recognition of this, Francis, represented by Clemens von Metternich, presided over the Congress of Vienna, helping to form the Concert of Europe and the Holy Alliance, ushering in an era of conservatism in Europe. The German Confederation, a loose association of Central European states was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to organize the surviving states of the Holy Roman Empire. The Congress was a personal triumph for Francis, who hosted the assorted dignitaries in comfort, though Francis undermined his allies Tsar Alexander and Frederick William III of Prussia by negotiating a secret treaty with the restored French king Louis XVIII.


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The violent events of the French Revolution impressed themselves deeply into the mind of Francis (as well as all other European monarchs), and he came to distrust radicalism in any form. In 1794, a "Jacobin" conspiracy was discovered in the Austrian and Hungarian armies. The leaders were put on trial, but the verdicts only skirted the perimeter of the conspiracy. Francis' brother Alexander Leopold (at that time Palatine of Hungary) wrote to the Emperor admitting "Although we have caught a lot of the culprits, we have not really got to the bottom of this business yet." Nonetheless, two officers heavily implicated in the conspiracy were hanged and gibbeted, while numerous others were sentenced to imprisonment (many of whom died from the conditions).


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Francis was from his experiences suspicious and set up an extensive network of police spies and censors to monitor dissent (in this he was following his father's lead, as the Grand Duchy of Tuscany had the most effective secret police in Europe). Even his family did not escape attention. His brothers, the Archdukes Charles and Johann had their meetings and activities spied upon. Censorship was also prevalent. The author Franz Grillparzer, a Habsburg patriot, had one play suppressed solely as a "precautionary" measure. When Grillparzer met the censor responsible, he asked him what was objectionable about the work. The censor replied, "Oh, nothing at all. But I thought to myself, 'One can never tell'."


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In military affairs Francis had allowed his brother, the Archduke Charles, extensive control over the army during the Napoleonic wars. Yet, distrustful of allowing any individual too much power, he otherwise maintained the separation of command functions between the Hofkriegsrat and his field commanders. In the later years of his reign he limited military spending, requiring it not exceed forty million florins per year; because of inflation this resulted in inadequate funding, with the army's share of the budget shrinking from half in 1817 to only twenty-three percent in 1830.


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Francis presented himself as an open and approachable monarch (he regularly set aside two mornings each week to meet with his imperial subjects, regardless of status, by appointment in his office, even speaking to them in their own language), but his will was sovereign. In 1804, he had no compunction about announcing that through his authority as Holy Roman Emperor, he declared he was now Emperor of Austria (at the time a geographical term that had little resonance). Two years later, Francis personally wound up the moribund Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Both actions were of dubious constitutional legality.


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: To increase patriotic sentiment during the war with France, the anthem "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" was composed in 1797 to be sung as the Kaiserhymne to music by Joseph Haydn. The lyrics were adapted for later Emperors and the music lives on as the Deutschlandlied.


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: On 2 March 1835, 43 years and a day after his father's death, Francis died in Vienna of a sudden fever aged 67, in the presence of many of his family and with all the religious comforts. His funeral was magnificent, with his Viennese subjects respectfully filing past his coffin in the chapel of Hofburg Palace for three days. Francis was interred in the traditional resting place of Habsburg monarchs, the Kapuziner Imperial Crypt in Vienna's Neue Markt Square. He is buried in tomb number 57, surrounded by his four wives.


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Francis passed on a main point in the political testament he left for his son and heir Ferdinand: to "preserve unity in the family and regard it as one of the highest goods." In many portraits (particularly those painted by Peter Fendi) he was portrayed as the patriarch of a loving family, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: From his first wife Elisabeth of Württemberg, one daughter, and his second wife Maria Teresa of the Two Sicilies, eight daughters and four sons:


title: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

text: From 1806 he used the titles: "We, Francis the First, by the Grace of God Emperor of Austria; King of Jerusalem, Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia and Lodomeria; Archduke of Austria; Duke of Lorraine, Salzburg, Würzburg, Franconia, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola; Grand Duke of Cracow; Grand Prince of Transylvania; Margrave of Moravia; Duke of Sandomir, Masovia, Lublin, Upper and Lower Silesia, Auschwitz and Zator, Teschen and Friule; Prince of Berchtesgaden and Mergentheim; Princely Count of Habsburg, Gorizia and Gradisca and of the Tirol; and Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria".


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: Andrew Thomas McCarthy (born November 29, 1962) is an American actor, travel writer, and television director. He is most known as a member of the Brat Pack, with roles in 1980s films such as "St. Elmo's Fire", "Pretty in Pink", and "Less than Zero". He is ranked No. 40 on VH1's 100 Greatest Teen Stars of all-time list. As a director, he is known for his work on the Emmy Award-winning series "Orange Is the New Black".


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: McCarthy was born in Westfield, New Jersey, the third of four boys. His mother worked for a newspaper, and his father was involved in investments and stocks. McCarthy moved to Bernardsville, New Jersey, as a teenager and attended Bernards High School and the Pingry School, a preparatory academy. At Pingry, he played the Artful Dodger in "Oliver!", his first acting role. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at NYU for acting, but was expelled after two years.


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: McCarthy's first major role was in the 1983 comedy "Class" opposite Jacqueline Bisset. He involuntarily became a member of the 1980s Hollywood group of young actors known as the "Brat Pack". The group starred in a few films, among them "St. Elmo's Fire" and "Pretty in Pink". McCarthy appeared in the 1987 films "Mannequin" and "Less than Zero", a cinematic adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's novel. In 1985, McCarthy starred with Donald Sutherland and Kevin Dillon in "Heaven Help Us" (also known as "Catholic Boys") as Michael Dunn. McCarthy made his Broadway debut in "The Boys of Winter." He quickly returned to Hollywood in 1988 to star in several films, such as "Fresh Horses" and "Kansas". He had another hit with the 1989 comedy film "Weekend at Bernie's".


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: He returned to Broadway to star in "Side Man", and the production won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Play. In 2003 McCarthy was set to guest star in two episodes of "". Due to bad relations with actor Vincent D'Onofrio, series creator Dick Wolf decided against it. Wolf later stated, "Mr. McCarthy engaged in fractious behavior from the moment he walked on the set." McCarthy fired back in a statement of his own saying, "I was fired because I refused to allow a fellow actor to threaten me with physical violence, bully me and try to direct me." Despite this incident, he later guest starred in an episode of "" (with Chris Noth, not D'Onofrio) that originally aired in November 2007. In 2004, he played Dr. Hook in "Kingdom Hospital". He appeared in five episodes of the 2005 NBC television series "E-Ring". In 2008, he starred in the NBC television series "Lipstick Jungle" as billionaire Joe Bennett and had a minor role in "The Spiderwick Chronicles".


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: McCarthy directed several episodes of the hit CW television series "Gossip Girl", including "Touch of Eva" in the fourth season.


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: In 2010 and 2011, he appeared in the hit USA show "White Collar". He returned to the series in the next season to direct the episode "Neighborhood Watch". In 2015, he directed three episodes in Season 2 of the NBC hit television show "The Blacklist" starring James Spader and Megan Boone. In 2016, he starred in the short-lived ABC drama "The Family".


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: Since 2020, he has had a recurring role in NBC's TV series "Good Girls". In April 2022, McCarthy joined the cast of "The Resident" as Ian Sullivan (guest season 5) a renowned pediatric surgeon and Cade's estranged father. On July 11, 2022, it was announced that he was promoted to series regular for the sixth season.


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: McCarthy began travel writing and served as an Editor at Large at "National Geographic Traveler" magazine. In 2010, McCarthy was escorted out of an underground church in Lalibela, Ethiopia, for entering the site without documentation. He had been in the church on assignment for the travel magazine "Afar". McCarthy's book "The Longest Way Home: One Man's Quest for the Courage to Settle Down" was published in 2012.


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: In February 2015, "National Geographic" published McCarthy's account, titled "A Song for Ireland", of his return to the house in the townland of Lacka West in the parish of Duagh in County Kerry in Ireland from which his great-grandfather John McCarthy had emigrated in the late 1800s.


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: McCarthy has received several awards from SATW (Society of American Travel Writers), including Travel Journalist of the Year in 2010.


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: In 2017, Algonquin Books published McCarthy's YA novel, "Just Fly Away". The novel became a "New York Times" bestseller.


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: McCarthy's memoir about his life and career in the 1980s, titled "Brat: An '80s Story", was released in May 2021 by Grand Central Publishing.


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: In 1992, McCarthy entered a detoxification program and has been sober since. In 2004, he announced that he once had a serious alcohol problem, which began at age 12.


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: In 1999, McCarthy married his college sweetheart Carol Schneider 20 years after they first dated. He later stated his reasons for tracking her down after they had drifted apart: "I ran into someone who said they had seen Carol and her boyfriend and they seemed really happy, and for some reason it bothered me for a week. I called her and asked her if she was really with this guy and asked her out for coffee." In 2002, Schneider gave birth to a son, Sam, who also became an actor. McCarthy and Schneider divorced in 2005.


title: Andrew McCarthy

text: Full Info Including Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD produced by Al Gomes and A. Michelle of Big Noise


title: LeVar Burton

text: Levar Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host, best known for playing Geordi La Forge in "" (1987–1994). He also played Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries "Roots" (1977), and was host of the PBS Kids educational television series "Reading Rainbow" for more than 23 years (1983–2006). He received 12 Daytime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award as host and executive producer of "Reading Rainbow".


title: LeVar Burton

text: His other roles include Cap Jackson in "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" (1977), Donald Lang in "Dummy" (1979), Tommy Price in "The Hunter" (1980), which earned him an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, and Martin Luther King Jr. in "Ali" (2001). Burton received the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards for his narration of the book "The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr." In 1990, he was honored for his achievements in television with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.


title: LeVar Burton

text: Burton was chosen as the Grand Marshal of the 2022 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, on October 5, 2021. He presided over the parade and the afternoon Rose Bowl Game on January 1, 2022.


title: LeVar Burton

text: Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. was born in Landstuhl, West Germany. His mother, Erma Gene (née Christian), was a social worker, administrator, and educator, while his father and namesake was a photographer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps stationed at Landstuhl at the time of his son's birth. Burton and his two sisters were raised by his mother in Sacramento, California.


title: LeVar Burton

text: As a teen, Burton, who was raised Catholic, entered St. Pius X Minor Seminary in Galt, California, intending to become a priest. At 17, questioning the Catholic faith, he changed his vocation to acting, and at 19, while an undergraduate at the University of Southern California, he won a starring role in the 1977 television miniseries "Roots".


title: LeVar Burton

text: Burton made his acting debut in 1976 with "Almos' a Man", a film based on the Richard Wright short story "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," in which he stars alongside Madge Sinclair.


title: LeVar Burton

text: Burton's breakthrough role was as the young Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries "Roots" (1977), based on the by Alex Haley. Burton has described his first day playing Kunta as the start of his professional career. As a result of his performance, he was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series category.


title: LeVar Burton

text: He reprised the role of Kunta Kinte in the 1988 television film "". When asked about the societal influence of "Roots", Burton is quoted as saying: "It expanded the consciousness of people. Blacks and whites began to see each other as human beings, not as stereotypes. And if you throw a pebble into the pond, you're going to get ripples. I think the only constant is change, and it's always slow. Anything that happens overnight is lacking in foundation. "Roots" is part of a changing trend, and it's still being played out."


title: LeVar Burton

text: Burton was the host and executive producer of "Reading Rainbow" starting in 1983 for PBS. The series ran for 23 seasons.


title: LeVar Burton

text: After "Reading Rainbow" went off the air in 2006, Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, acquired the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ, a new media company for children. " Reading Rainbow" was reimagined as an all new application for the iPad in 2012, and was an immediate success, becoming the number-one educational application within 36 hours. At RRKIDZ, Burton serves as co-founder and curator-in-chief, ensuring that the projects produced under the banner meet the high expectations and trust of the "Reading Rainbow" brand.


title: LeVar Burton

text: On May 28, 2014, Burton and numerous coworkers from other past works started a Kickstarter campaign project to bring back "Reading Rainbow". To keep with the changing formats to which young children are exposed, his efforts are being directed at making this new program web based, following the success of the tablet application he helped create in recent years. His desire is to have the new "Reading Rainbow" be integrated into the classrooms of elementary schools across the country, and for schools in need to have free access. The Kickstarter campaign has since raised more than $5 million, reaching triple its goal in only three days.


title: LeVar Burton

text: In 2017, Burton was sued by the public broadcasting company WNED-TV for alleged copyright infringement for use of the Reading Rainbow brand in marketing the new iPad app and other online media. RRKIDZ later became known as LeVar Burton Kids and the iPad app, Skybrary.


title: LeVar Burton

text: In 1986, Gene Roddenberry approached Burton with the role of Lieutenant Junior Grade Geordi La Forge in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" television series. The character is blind but is granted "sight" through the use of a prosthetic device called a VISOR worn over his eyes. La Forge began as the USS "Enterprise"'s helmsman, and as of the show's second season, had become its chief engineer. At the time, Burton was considerably better known than Patrick Stewart in the United States, due to his roles in "Roots" and "Reading Rainbow". When the show premiered, the Associated Press stated that Burton's role was essentially the "new Spock". In a 2019 interview, Burton laughed in disbelief at the idea, stating "that speculation never came to fruition." Burton also portrayed La Forge in the subsequent feature films based on "Star Trek: The Next Generation", from "Star Trek Generations" (1994) to "" (2002). He directed two episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and several episodes of "", "", and "". He is set to reprise the role of LaForge in the third and final season of "".


title: LeVar Burton

text: Burton played a role as a visitor to "Fantasy Island", guest star on “The Love Boat”, was a participant in "Battle of the Network Stars", a guest of the "Muppet Show"s televised premiere party for the release of "The Muppet Movie", and a frequent guest on several game shows.


title: LeVar Burton

text: In 1987, Burton played Dave Robinson, a journalist (sports writer), in the third season of "Murder, She Wrote", episode 16 – "Death Takes a Dive", starring Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher.


title: LeVar Burton

text: Burton accepted an invitation to host "Rebop", a multicultural series designed for young people aged 9–15, produced by WGBH for PBS.


title: LeVar Burton

text: On television, Burton has helped dramatize the last days of Jim Jones's suicide cult in Guyana, the life and times of Jesse Owens, and the life of the nine-year-old Booker T. Washington. He portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in the 2001 film "Ali". He also portrayed Detroit Tiger Ron LeFlore in the television movie "One in a Million, The Ron LeFlore Story".


title: LeVar Burton

text: In 1992, a clip of Burton's voice was sampled by DC Talk for the track "Time is..." on their album "Free at Last". The sample is at the very end of the song, in which Burton can be heard saying: "Whoa, wait a minute."


title: LeVar Burton

text: He has also lent his voice to several animated projects, including Kwame in the cartoon series "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" (1990–1993) and "The New Adventures of Captain Planet" (1993–1996), "Family Guy", "" and "Gargoyles". Burton is on the audio version of "" by Christopher Paul Curtis. Burton has been cast as voice actor for "Black Lightning" in "" DVD.


title: LeVar Burton

text: Burton appeared several times as a celebrity guest on the Dick Clark-hosted "$25,000 and $100,000 Pyramids", from 1982 until 1988. Burton also was the strongest link in the special "Star Trek" episode of "The Weakest Link". He defeated his final opponent Robert Picardo and won $167,500 for his charity, Junior Achievement of Southern California, a record for the show at that time and the largest amount won in any Celebrity Edition of the show (it was later surpassed by a $188,500 win in a "Tournament of Losers" episode).


title: LeVar Burton

text: Burton is the host and executive producer of a documentary titled "The Science of Peace", which was in production as of 2007. It investigates the science and technology aimed at enabling world peace, sometimes called peace science. The film explores some of the concepts of shared noetic consciousness, having been sponsored in part by the Institute of Noetic Sciences.


title: LeVar Burton

text: He appeared in an April Fool's episode of "Smosh" pretending to have taken over the channel and making various edits at popular Smosh videos.


title: LeVar Burton

text: He makes occasional appearances on "This Week in Tech", where he is a self-proclaimed "nerd", and also participated in the Consumer Electronics Show 2010.


title: LeVar Burton

text: In 2010, he made an appearance on "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" as the ghost of himself in the episode "Greene Machine".


title: LeVar Burton

text: In February 2011, Burton made an appearance as himself on NBC's "Community" in the episode "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking", and then again in January 2014's "Geothermal Escapism".


title: LeVar Burton

text: Burton has appeared as a fictionalized, humorous version of himself on "The Big Bang Theory", first appearing in the episode "The Toast Derivation", in which he almost attends a party thrown by Sheldon (before swearing off Twitter), in November 2012 in the episode "The Habitation Configuration", in which he appears on "Fun With Flags" in exchange for lunch and gas money, and again in the November 2014 episode "The Champagne Reflection", in which he returns for the 232nd episode of "Fun With Flags" in exchange for Sheldon deleting his contact details.


title: LeVar Burton

text: In 2012, he had a recurring role as dean Paul Haley on the TNT series "Perception". For the second season (2013), he became part of the regular cast.


title: LeVar Burton

text: In 2014, he had a guest appearance in an introduction section for the 200th episode of Achievement Hunter's show, "Achievement Hunter Weekly Update" (AHWU). In May 2014, he appeared as a guest on the YouTube channel "SciShow", explaining the science behind double, tertiary, and quaternary rainbows. Late in 2014, he had another guest appearance on a 24-hour Extra Life, a fundraising organization for Children's Miracle Network hospitals, stream by Rooster Teeth. Burton has also taped a recycling field trip for YouTube.


title: LeVar Burton

text: In 2017, Burton began a podcast, "LeVar Burton Reads". Each episode features Burton reading a short story. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he continues to read on his podcast and also give live readings three times a week during a Twitter livestream focused at different times to different children, young adults, and adult audiences.


title: LeVar Burton

text: In November 2020, he appeared as himself on "The Eric Andre Show". His segment was a callback to Lance Reddick's interview (2013) in which he mentioned LeVar by name and dressed as an amalgam of Kunta Kinte and Geordi La Forge.


title: LeVar Burton

text: Burton served as a guest host on "Jeopardy!" from July 26 to July 30, 2021. This came after a petition asking the show's producers to select him was signed by more than 250,000 fans. Unfortunately, the ratings were less than ideal due to tapering audience curiosity and forced viewership competition with NBC's coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which trampled syndicated shows across the board. He has been very critical of the show's guest host process, claiming that the show's then executive producer Mike Richards didn't believe that he wanted the job and that he lied to him about not wanting the job and that he wouldn't trust the executive producer if he were to do it all again.


title: LeVar Burton

text: Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Burton directed episodes for each of the various "Star Trek" series then in production. He has directed more "Star Trek" episodes than any other former regular cast member.


title: LeVar Burton

text: He has also directed episodes of "Charmed", "JAG", "Las Vegas", and "Soul Food: The Series", as well as the miniseries "Miracle's Boys" and the biopic "The Tiger Woods Story". He also directed the 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie "Smart House" starring Katey Sagal, Kevin Kilner and Jessica Steen. In August 2020, it was revealed that Burton will sit in the director's chair for "Two-Front War" from Lou Reda Productions, a multi-perspective docuseries will give "an emotionally raw look at the connection between the fight for civil rights in America and the struggle for equality of Black soldiers in Vietnam".


title: LeVar Burton

text: His first theatrical film direction was "Blizzard" (2003), for which he received a "Best of Fest" award from the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, and a Genie Award nomination for his work on the film's theme song, "Center of My Heart".


title: LeVar Burton

text: LeVar Burton married Stephanie Cozart, a professional make-up artist, on October 3, 1992. Burton has two children, son Eian Burton Smith and daughter Michaela "Mica" Jean Burton. The family lives in Sherman Oaks, California.


title: LeVar Burton

text: Burton does not identify with any religion, saying: "I walked away from the seminary, I walked away from Catholicism, I walked away from organized religion because I felt that there was more for me to explore in the world, and that I could do that without adhering to one specific belief system or another."


title: LeVar Burton

text: In 2012, Burton joined the board of directors for the AIDS Research Alliance, a non-profit, medical research organization dedicated to finding a cure for AIDS.


title: LeVar Burton

text: In 2016, Burton was one of the five inaugural honorees to the Sacramento Walk of Stars. In 2019, Councilmember Larry Carr, representing the Meadowview neighborhood, led the renaming of Richfield Park to LeVar Burton Park in his honor. The park is in the Meadowview neighborhood, near the house where Burton and his sisters grew up.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: Donovan Mitchell Jr. (born September 7, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Spida", he was drafted in the first round of the 2017 NBA draft with the 13th overall pick. He is a three-time NBA All-Star.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: Mitchell played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals, earning first-team all-conference honors in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 2017. As a rookie with the Utah Jazz, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team and won the Slam Dunk Contest in 2018. He was traded from the Jazz to the Cavaliers in 2022.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: Mitchell was born on September 7, 1996, to parents Donovan Sr. and Nicole in Elmsford, New York. His mother, who is of Panamanian descent, is a teacher and his father is a former Minor League Baseball player. With his father serving as a director of player relations for the New York Mets, Mitchell spent his childhood around Major League Baseball locker rooms. At seven years old, he looked up to star pitcher of the Mets' minor-league system Scott Kazmir and later to David Wright, who was the first poster he hung on his wall. Mitchell has one younger sister named Jordan. He played AAU basketball for both The City and the Riverside Hawks programs out of New York City. In 2010, Mitchell was present at the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich (Conn.) when LeBron James announced his decision to sign with the Miami Heat.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: Mitchell attended Canterbury School in New Milford for his first two years of high school, after having graduated from Greenwich Country Day School likewise in Connecticut. Besides basketball, Mitchell played baseball for Canterbury. Yet his high school baseball career ended in his sophomore year after incurring injury; dashing for a pop-up in the infield, Mitchell collided with a catcher, who suffered a broken jaw while he received a broken wrist as a result. It also ended his upcoming AAU season. For his junior and senior years, his mother transferred him to Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Making basketball his focus and availing of Brewster's nationally prominent program, Mitchell garnered considerably more attention from college basketball coaches. He quickly proved popular among his new schoolmates; so much so, he ran for senior prefect at the end of his junior year. He also acted in the school musical and gave tours to visiting students in his role as a member of the Gold Key Club. He won two prep school national championships with Brewster's team. As he would later do in college, Mitchell spent his summers playing in streetball games at the famed Rucker Park in New York City. At an event sponsored by Under Armour on a Brooklyn basketball court, he did a dunk that went on to be featured on Sports Center. Mitchell was invited to play in the regional game for the Jordan Brand Classic, ranking twenty-seventh in the 2015 class by one recruiting service and forty-third by another. He committed to the University of Louisville to play college basketball.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: Mitchell opted to wear number 45 on his jersey in appreciation for Michael Jordan, who took the same number during his baseball career and the early part of his NBA comeback in 1995. As a freshman at the University of Louisville, Mitchell started in no more than five games and averaged 7.4 points, 1.7 assists, and 3.4 rebounds for the season.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: Over his sophomore season, Mitchell averaged 15.6 points, 2.7 assists, and 4.9 rebounds per game, while shooting 46.3 percent from the floor as well as 35.4 from behind the arc and 80.6 percent from the free-throw line. He was named to the First Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference. Though he did not immediately hire an agent, Mitchell declared for the 2017 NBA draft on the heels of his sophomore campaign.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: Mitchell was drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the 13th overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft only to be traded to the Utah Jazz for the 24th pick (Tyler Lydon) and Trey Lyles. On July 5, 2017, Mitchell signed a four-year rookie scale contract with the Jazz. On July 11, 2017, Mitchell signed a multi-year shoe deal with Adidas. Later that day, Mitchell scored 37 points against the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2017 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, the most by any player during the 2017 NBA Summer League. In his NBA debut on October 18, 2017, Mitchell registered 10 points and four assists against the Denver Nuggets. On December 1, 2017, he scored a career-high 41 points in a 114–108 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. He set the Jazz scoring record for a rookie and became the first NBA rookie to score 40 points in a game since Blake Griffin in 2011. He surpassed Darrell Griffith's team-record 38 in 1981. Mitchell also became the seventh rookie in franchise history to have a 30-plus point game, as well as the first to have a 40-plus point game. On January 4, 2018, Mitchell was named the Western Conference Rookie of the Month for December 2017 after averaging 23.1 points, 3.4 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in 34.3 minutes per game during the month of December. On January 15, 2018, Mitchell surpassed Karl Malone for most 20+ points games during a rookie season when he had his 19th 20+ point game. On February 2, 2018 Donovan recorded his second 40-point game of his rookie season against the Phoenix Suns, becoming the first rookie guard to notch two 40-point games since Allen Iverson in 1996–97. On February 5, 2018, Donovan was named by the NBA as an injury replacement for Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon (strained left hip flexor) for the 2018 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. He won the contest scoring a 48 and 50 in the first round, then a 50 and 48 in the final round being the first rookie to win the contest since Zach LaVine. On March 1, 2018, Mitchell was named as the Western Conference Rookie of the month for the third time that season for games played in February. On April 10, he set a rookie record for most three-pointers in a season with 186 three-pointers during a 119–79 win over the Golden State Warriors. On April 12, at the end of the regular season, Mitchell was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month for March and April.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: In Mitchell's playoff debut against the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 15, he recorded 27 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists. He bruised his foot during the game and was questionable for Game 2, but was able to play, scoring 28 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter to lead the Jazz to a 102–95 win. Mitchell set a new record for points by a shooting guard in the team's first two postseason games with 55 points, breaking Michael Jordan's record of 53 points. Mitchell led the Jazz to a 4–2 series win over the Thunder, averaging 28.5 points a game on 46.2 percent shooting. His 171 points in the series were the third-most ever by a rookie in his first six playoff games, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain. His 38 points in Game 6 (on 14-of-26 shooting) marked the highest scoring output by a rookie in a series-clinching win since 1980. On May 22, 2018, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: On October 24, 2018, Mitchell scored a season-high 38 points in a 100–89 win over the Houston Rockets. On January 25, 2019, Mitchell recorded his first and only double-double of the season, with 24 points and 11 assists, in a 106–102 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves Mitchell recorded a total of five 30-point games in the month of January, including three consecutive such games, earning him Western Conference Player of the Week for the week of January 6–13. On February 22, Mitchell tied his season-high 38 points in a 148–147 double overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. On March 2, Mitchell scored a career-high 46 points in 115–111 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Six days later, Mitchell once again recorded 38 points in a 114–104 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. On March 29, Mitchell scored 35 points in a 128–124 victory over the Washington Wizards. On April 29, Mitchell tied his career-high 46 points in the regular season finale, as the Jazz topped the Denver Nuggets, 118–108.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: The Jazz would once again be eliminated in the postseason by the Rockets in five games, this time in the first round. Mitchell struggled mightily in the first two games, being held to just 19 and 11 points respectively. He scored 34 points in the 104–101 loss in Game 3 before scoring 31 points in Game 4, the lone Utah victory.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: Mitchell opened the 2019–20 season with a 32-point, 12-assist performance in a 105–95 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on October 23, 2019. On November 3, Mitchell scored a then season-high 36 points in a 105–94 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. On November 23, he surpassed that season-high with 37 points in a 128–120 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. On December 28, Mitchell recorded 30 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists in a 120–107 win over the Clippers. On January 16, 2020, Mitchell tied his career-high 46 points in a 138–132 overtime loss to the Pelicans. On January 30, Mitchell was named an All-Star for the first time in his career, being selected as a Western Conference reserve for the 2019 NBA All-Star Game. On February 24, Mitchell scored 38 points in a 131–111 loss to the Phoenix Suns, before scoring 37 points two days later, in a 114–103 loss to the Boston Celtics.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: On March 11, 2020, Mitchell and teammate Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in the NBA suspending its season. The league was later reinstated within the NBA Bubble four months later, where the Jazz obtained the sixth seed and faced the Denver Nuggets in the first round. On August 17, 2020, Mitchell scored 57 points in a 125–135 overtime loss to the Nuggets, the third most in playoff history. Six days later, he scored 51 points to join Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson as the only players to score 50 or more points twice in a playoff series.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: During the shortened 2020 offseason, Mitchell signed a five-year rookie extension with the Jazz, paying him at least $163 million with an incentivized maximum of $195 million.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: On February 23, 2021, Mitchell was named a Western Conference reserve for the 2021 NBA All-Star Game, marking his second consecutive All-Star selection. Despite a mid-April ankle sprain against the Indiana Pacers, which would sideline Mitchell for the final sixteen games of the regular season, the Jazz finished with the NBA’s top seed and home-court advantage throughout the entire postseason for the first time since 1997–98.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: After defeating the Memphis Grizzlies in the First Round in five games, Utah would advance to play the Los Angeles Clippers in the Conference Semi-Finals, where in Game 1, Mitchell would score 45 points in a 112–109 victory. He followed that performance with a 37-point outing in Game 2, as Utah topped the Clippers 117–111 en route to a 2–0 series lead. Mitchell had a huge Game 6 with 39 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists on 12-of-27 shooting (9-of-15 from three) despite being questionable with an ankle injury. The Jazz were eliminated after their fourth straight loss to Clippers.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: On February 3, 2022, Mitchell was named a Western Conference reserve for the 2022 NBA All-Star Game, marking his third consecutive All-Star selection. On April 16, during Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs, he logged 32 points, six rebounds, and six assists in a 99–93 win over the Dallas Mavericks. Utah would go on to lose to Dallas in six games despite Mitchell’s 23-point, 8-rebound and 9-assist outing in a tightly contested 98–96 loss in Game 6. After another playoff disappointment, the Jazz decided to trade both Mitchell and Gobert in the off-season.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: On September 1, 2022, Mitchell was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, and Ochai Agbaji, three first round picks, and two pick swaps. He made his regular season debut on October 19, putting up 31 points and nine assists in a 108–105 loss to the Toronto Raptors. On October 28, Mitchell scored a then season-high 41 points in a 132–123 overtime win over the Boston Celtics. He and teammate Caris LeVert each had 41 points. The last time the Cavaliers had multiple 40-point scorers was Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals, when LeBron James and Kyrie Irving both had 41. The next game, Mitchell tied his career-high with 12 assists and scored 38 points in a 121–108 win over the New York Knicks. On December 6, Mitchell scored a season-high 43 points on 17-of-27 shooting from the field in a 116–102 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: During the 2017–18 season, Mitchell appeared on the cover of "Slam" and starred in a documentary called "Rookie on the Rise". The docu-series follows Mitchell on his race for the Rookie of the Year.


title: Donovan Mitchell

text: Mitchell is a fan of the New York Mets and frequently attends games during the offseason. Mitchell's father, Donovan Sr., has worked for the Mets for over twenty years.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: In Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus (, ) are twin brothers whose story tells of the events that led to the founding of the city of Rome and the Roman Kingdom by Romulus, following his fratricide of Remus. The image of a she-wolf suckling the twins in their infancy has been a symbol of the city of Rome and the ancient Romans since at least the 3rd century BC. Although the tale takes place before the founding of Rome around 750 BC, the earliest known written account of the myth is from the late 3rd century BC. Possible historical bases for the story, and interpretations of its various local variants, are subjects of ongoing debate.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: Romulus and Remus were born in Alba Longa, one of the many ancient Latin cities near the future site of Rome. Their mother, Rhea Silvia, was a vestal virgin and the daughter of the former king, Numitor, who had been displaced by his brother Amulius. In some sources, Rhea Silvia conceived them when their father, the god Mars, visited her in a sacred grove dedicated to him.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: Seeing them as a possible threat to his rule, King Amulius ordered them to be killed and they were abandoned on the bank of the river Tiber to die. They were saved by the god Tiberinus, Father of the River, and survived with the care of others, at the site of what would eventually become Rome. In the most well-known episode, the twins were suckled by a she-wolf, in a cave now known as the Lupercal. Eventually, they were adopted by Faustulus, a shepherd. They grew up tending flocks, unaware of their true identities. Over time, they became natural leaders and attracted a company of supporters from the community.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: When they were young adults, they became involved in a dispute between supporters of Numitor and Amulius. As a result, Remus was taken prisoner and brought to Alba Longa. Both his grandfather and the king suspected his true identity. Romulus, meanwhile, had organized an effort to free his brother and set out with help for the city. During this time they learned of their past and joined forces with their grandfather to restore him to the throne. Amulius was killed and Numitor was reinstated as king of Alba. The twins set out to build a city of their own.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: After arriving back in the area of the seven hills, they disagreed about the hill upon which to build. Romulus preferred the Palatine Hill, above the Lupercal; Remus preferred the Aventine Hill. When they could not resolve the dispute, they agreed to seek the gods' approval through a contest of augury. Remus first saw six auspicious birds but soon afterward Romulus saw 12, and claimed to have won divine approval. They disputed the result: Remus insulted Romulus' new city and was killed, either by Romulus or by one of his supporters. Romulus then went on to found the city of Rome, its institutions, government, military and religious traditions. He reigned for many years as its first king.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: The origins of the different elements in Rome's foundation myth are a subject of ongoing debate. They may have come from the Romans' own Italic origins, or from Hellenic influences that were included later. Definitively identifying those original elements has so far eluded classicists. Roman historians dated the founding of Rome around 753 BC, but the earliest known written account of the myth is from the late 3rd century BC. There is an ongoing debate about how and when the "complete" fable came together.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: Some elements are attested earlier than others, and the storyline and the tone were variously influenced by the circumstances and tastes of the different sources as well as by contemporary Roman politics and concepts of propriety. Whether the twins' myth was an original part of Roman myth or a later development is the subject of an ongoing debate. Sources often contradict one another. They include the histories of Livy, Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Tacitus as well as the work of Virgil and Ovid.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: Quintus Fabius Pictor's work became authoritative to the early books of Livy's "Ab Urbe Condita", Dionysius of Halicarnassus's "Roman Antiquities", and Plutarch's "Life of Romulus".


title: Romulus and Remus

text: These three works have been among the most widely read versions of the myth. In all three works, the tales of the lupercal and the fratricide are overshadowed by that of the twins' lineage and connections to Aeneas and the deposing of Amulius. The latter receives the most attention in the accounts. Plutarch dedicates nearly half of his account to the overthrow of their uncle.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: Dionysius cites, among others, the histories of Pictor, Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Cato the Elder, Lucius Cincius Alimentus.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: The first book of Dionysius' twenty-volume history of Rome does not mention Remus until page 235 (chapter 71). After spending another 8 chapters discussing the background of their birth in Alba, he dedicates a total of 9 chapters to the tale (79–87). Most of that is spent discussing the conflict with Amulius.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: He goes on to discuss the various accounts of the city's founding by others, and the lineage and parentage of the twins for another 8 chapters until arriving at the tale of their abandonment by the Tiber. He spends the better part of the chapter 79 discussing the survival in the wild. Then the end of 79 through 84 on the account of their struggle with Amulius. 84 with the non-fantastical account of their survival 294. Finally 295 is the augury 85–86, 87–88 the fratricide.303


title: Romulus and Remus

text: Livy discusses the myth in chapters 4, 5, and 6 of his work's first book. p. 7 parentage 4 p. 8 survival. p. 8 the youth. 5 9–10 the struggle with Amulius. 6 p. 11 (the beginning only) the augury and fratricide.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: Plutarch relates the legend in chapters 2–10 of "the Life of Romulus". He dedicates the most attention, nearly half the entire account, to conflict with Amulius.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: "Fasti", the epic Latin poem by Ovid from the early 1st century AD, contains a complete account of the twins' tale. Notably, it relates a tale wherein the ghost of Remus appears to Faustulus and his wife, whom the poet calls "Acca". In the story, Remus appears to them while in bed and expresses his anger at Celer for killing him and his own, as well as Romulus' unquestioned fraternal love.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: "Roman History" by Cassius Dio survives in fragment from various commentaries. They contain a more-or-less complete account. In them, he mentions an oracle that had predicted Amulius' death by a son of Numitor as the reason the Alban king expelled the boys. There is also a mention of "another Romulus and Remus" and another Rome having been founded long before on the same site.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: This work contains a variety of versions of the story. In one, there is a reference to a woodpecker bringing the boys food during the time they were abandoned in the wild. In one account of the conflict with Amulius, the capture of Remus is not mentioned. Instead, Romulus, upon being told of his true identity and the crimes suffered by him and his family at the hands of the Alban king, simply decided to avenge them. He took his supporters directly to the city and killed Amulius, afterwards restoring his grandfather to the throne.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: Modern scholarship approaches the various known stories of Romulus and Remus as cumulative elaborations and later interpretations of Roman foundation-myth. Particular versions and collations were presented by Roman historians as authoritative, an official history trimmed of contradictions and untidy variants to justify contemporary developments, genealogies and actions in relation to Roman morality. Other narratives appear to represent popular or folkloric tradition; some of these remain inscrutable in purpose and meaning. Wiseman sums the whole as the mythography of an unusually problematic foundation and early history.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: The three canonical accounts of Livy, Dionysius, and Plutarch provide the broad literary basis for studies of Rome's founding mythography. They have much in common, but each is selective to its purpose. Livy's is a dignified handbook, justifying the purpose and morality of Roman traditions of his own day. Dionysius and Plutarch approach the same subjects as interested outsiders, and include founder-traditions not mentioned by Livy, untraceable to a common source and probably specific to particular regions, social classes or oral traditions. A Roman text of the late Imperial era, "Origo gentis Romanae" (The origin of the Roman people) is dedicated to the many "more or less bizarre", often contradictory variants of Rome's foundation myth, including versions in which Remus founds a city named Remuria, five miles from Rome, and outlives his brother Romulus.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: Roman historians and Roman traditions traced most Roman institutions to Romulus. He was credited with founding Rome's armies, its system of rights and laws, its state religion and government, and the system of patronage that underpinned all social, political and military activity. In reality, such developments would have been spread over a considerable span of time. Some were much older and others much more recent. To most Romans, the evidence for the veracity of the legend and its central characters seemed clear and concrete, an essential part of Rome's sacred topography. One could visit the Lupercal, where the twins were suckled by the she-wolf, or offer worship to the deified Romulus-Quirinus at the ""shepherd's hut"", or see it acted out on stage, or simply read the Fasti.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: The legend as a whole encapsulates Rome's ideas of itself, its origins and moral values. For modern scholarship, it remains one of the most complex and problematic of all foundation myths, particularly in the manner of Remus's death. Ancient historians had no doubt that Romulus gave his name to the city. Most modern historians believe his name a back-formation from the name Rome; the basis for Remus's name and role remain subjects of ancient and modern speculation. The myth was fully developed into something like an "official", chronological version in the Late Republican and early Imperial era; Roman historians dated the city's foundation to between 758 and 728 BC, and Plutarch reckoned the twins' birth year as 771 BC. A tradition that gave Romulus a distant ancestor in the semi-divine Trojan prince Aeneas was further embellished, and Romulus was made the direct ancestor of Rome's first Imperial dynasty. Possible historical bases for the broad mythological narrative remain unclear and disputed. The image of the she-wolf suckling the divinely fathered twins became an iconic representation of the city and its founding legend, making Romulus and Remus preeminent among the feral children of ancient mythography.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: Current scholarship offers little evidence to support any particular version of the Roman foundation myth, including a historical Romulus or Remus. Starting with Fabius Pictor, the written accounts must have reflected the commonly-held history of the city to some degree. The archaeologist Andrea Carandini is one of very few modern scholars who accept Romulus and Remus as historical figures, and dates an ancient wall on the north slope of the Palatine Hill to the mid-8th century BC and names it the "Murus Romuli".


title: Romulus and Remus

text: Ancient pictures of the Roman twins usually follow certain symbolic traditions, depending on the legend they follow: they either show a shepherd, the she-wolf, the twins under a fig tree, and one or two birds (Livy, Plutarch); or they depict two shepherds, the she-wolf, the twins in a cave, seldom a fig tree, and never any birds (Dionysius of Halicarnassus).


title: Romulus and Remus

text: The Franks Casket, an Anglo-Saxon ivory box (early 7th century AD) shows Romulus and Remus in an unusual setting, two wolves instead of one, a grove instead of one tree or a cave, four kneeling warriors instead of one or two gesticulating shepherds. According to one interpretation, and as the runic inscription ("far from home") indicates, the twins are cited here as the "Dioscuri", helpers at voyages such as Castor and Polydeuces. Their descent from the Roman god of war predestines them as helpers on the way to war. The carver transferred them into the Germanic holy grove and has Woden's second wolf join them. Thus the picture served—along with five other ones—to influence "wyrd", the fortune and fate of a warrior king.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: The myth has been an inspiration to artists throughout the ages. Particular focus has been paid to the rape of Ilia by Mars and the suckling of the twins by the she-wolf.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: In the late 16th century, the wealthy Magnani family from Bologna commissioned a series of artworks based on the Roman foundation myth. The artists contributing works included a sculpture of Hercules with the infant twins by Gabriele Fiorini, featuring the patron's own face. The most important works were an elaborate series of frescoes collectively known as "Histories of the Foundation of Rome" by the Brothers Carracci: Ludovico, Annibale, and Agostino Carracci.


title: Romulus and Remus

text: The "Loggia di Romolo e Remo" is an unfinished, 15th century fresco by Gentile da Fabriano depicting episodes from the legend in the Palazzo Trinci.


title: Strike (TV series)

text: Strike (also known as C. B. Strike internationally) is a British crime drama television programme based on the book series "Cormoran Strike" by J. K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The programme was first broadcast on BBC One on 27 August 2017, after receiving an advance premiere at the British Film Institute on 10 August 2017.


title: Strike (TV series)

text: The programme follows Cormoran Strike (Tom Burke), a war veteran turned private detective operating out of a tiny office in London's Denmark Street, who uses his unique insight and his background as a Special Investigation Branch investigator to solve complex cases that have eluded the police along with his assistant, subsequently business partner, Robin Ellacott (Holliday Grainger).


title: Strike (TV series)

text: Eleven episodes across four series have been broadcast to date, each series adapting the novels "The Cuckoo's Calling" (2013), "The Silkworm" (2014), "Career of Evil" (2015) and "Lethal White" (2018), respectively. A fifth series, consisting of four episodes that adapt the novel "Troubled Blood" (2020), was released on 11 December 2022.


title: Strike (TV series)

text: The programme premiered on 1 June 2018 in the United States on Cinemax and in Canada on HBO Canada. Following the fourth series, the programme was exhibited in the United States on HBO.


title: Strike (TV series)

text: On 10 December 2014, it was announced that the "Cormoran Strike" novel series, written by J. K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, would be adapted for television by the BBC, for broadcast on BBC One, beginning with "The Cuckoo's Calling". Two years later, it was confirmed that the series would total seven episodes of sixty minutes, with shooting to begin in London in the autumn of 2016. Tom Burke was announced in the role of Cormoran Strike in September 2016, while Holliday Grainger was announced in the role of Robin Ellacott in November 2016.


title: Strike (TV series)

text: Ben Richards adapted "The Cuckoo's Calling", and Tom Edge adapted "The Silkworm", "Career of Evil" and "Lethal White". Richards stated that the series is "very different tonally and visually from other crime dramas". He compared "Strike" to the British detective television show "Morse". Similarly, Edge commented that "people use old-fashioned as a pejorative word, but to me that's part of why these books, and, I hope, the TV series, works so well."


title: Strike (TV series)

text: "The Cuckoo's Calling" received generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave it an approval rating of 82%, based on 17 reviews, and an average score of 6.6/10. The website's critics consensus reads "The TV adaptation of "C. B. Strike" delivers an entertaining detective series that faithfully and effectively adheres to genre tropes." Morgan Jeffery of "Digital Spy", who reviewed the first episode, praised both Burke and Grainger's performances, calling Burke's performance a "revelation".


title: Strike (TV series)

text: Similarly, the adaptation of "The Silkworm" was met with positive reviews, with critics again praising Burke and Grainger's performances. However, the first episode was criticised for showing a suicide scene on World Suicide Prevention Day, making some viewers claim that this scene was insensitive.


title: Strike (TV series)

text: "Career of Evil" holds an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 8 reviews, and an average score of 7/10.


title: Strike (TV series)

text: "Lethal White" holds a 73% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 11 reviews, and an average score of 5.6/10.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai Ing-wen (; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician serving as president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2016. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai is the first female president of Taiwan. She served as chair of the DPP from 2020 to 2022, and also previously from 2008 to 2012 and 2014 to 2018.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai grew up in Taipei and studied law and international trade, and later became a law professor at Soochow University School of Law and National Chengchi University after earning an LLB from National Taiwan University and an LLM from Cornell Law School. She later studied law at the London School of Economics and Political Science, with her thesis titled ""Unfair trade practices and safeguard actions"," and was awarded a Ph.D. in law from the University of London. In 1993, as an independent (without party affiliation), she was appointed to a series of governmental positions, including trade negotiator for WTO affairs, by the then ruling party Kuomintang (KMT) and was one of the chief drafters of the special state-to-state relations doctrine under the President Lee Teng-hui.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: During the first term of Chen Shui-bian's presidency, Tsai served as Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council. She joined the DPP in 2004 and served briefly as a DPP-nominated at-large member of the Legislative Yuan, and was then appointed as Vice Premier under Premier Su Tseng-chang until the cabinet's mass resignation in 2007. Following the DPP's defeat in the presidential election in 2008, she was elected as party chair of the DPP, but she resigned when the party lost the presidential election in 2012.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai ran for New Taipei City mayorship in the 2010 municipal elections but was defeated by the KMT candidate, Eric Chu. In April 2011, Tsai became the first female nominated by a major party as a presidential candidate in the history of Taiwan after defeating her former superior, Su Tseng-chang, in the DPP's primary by a slight margin. In the fifth presidential election in 2012, she was defeated by the then-president Ma Ying-jeou, but she won her first term of presidency in the 2016 presidential election by a landslide in a rematch against Chu. In the 2020 election, she was re-elected as president with an increased share of the vote. Tsai is the second president from the Democratic Progressive Party, and the first popularly elected president to have never served as Mayor of Taipei.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai was named one of "Time"'s most influential people of 2020 and was #9 on Forbes's most powerful women and #2 female politician after Kamala Harris of 2021. Internationally, Tsai has been praised for her response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and for standing up to pressure from Beijing. Tsai resigned as head of the Democratic People's Party (DPP) in November 2022, citing her party's poor performance in local elections earlier that month.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai was born at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Zhongshan District, Taipei City on 31 August 1956, the youngest of nine (or eleven) children. Her father, Tsai Chieh-sheng (1918–2006), was a businessman who ran an auto repair shop, and her mother Chang Chin-fong (1925–2018) was a housewife. Her given name, Ing-wen (英文), was chosen by genealogical naming practices. While these suggested the spelling 瀛文, her father felt that the character 瀛 had too many strokes and decided to replace it with the character 英. During her middle school period, she studied at Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School. She studied law at the behest of her father. After graduating at the College of Law, National Taiwan University, in 1978, Tsai obtained a Master of Laws at Cornell University Law School in 1980. She then studied law at the London School of Economics and was awarded a Ph.D. in law from the University of London in 1984. Upon her return to Taiwan, she taught law at the School of Law of Soochow University and National Chengchi University, both in Taipei.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai was also appointed to the Fair Trade Commission and the Copyright Commission. She served as consultant for the Mainland Affairs Council and the National Security Council. She also led the drafting team on the Statute Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau ().


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: In 2000, Tsai was given the high-profile appointment of chair of the Mainland Affairs Council. Confirming the widely held belief that she maintained Pan-Green sympathies, Tsai joined the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2004. She was subsequently nominated by the DPP to be a candidate in the 2004 legislative election and was elected as a legislator-at-large.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On 26 January 2006, Tsai was appointed to the post of vice president of the Executive Yuan, a position commonly referred to as vice premier. She concurrently served as chairwoman of the Consumer Protection Commission.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On 17 May 2007, Tsai, along with the rest of the cabinet of out-going Premier Su Tseng-chang, resigned to make way for incoming Premier Chang Chun-hsiung and his cabinet. Premier Chang named Chiou I-jen, the incumbent secretary-general of the Presidential Office to replace Tsai as vice premier. She then served as the chair of TaiMedBiologics, a biotechnology company based in Taiwan. The Kuomintang accused Tsai of contracting government work out to TaiMedBiologics during her term as vice premier, while planning to leave the government and lead the company afterward. She was later cleared of all alleged wrongdoing.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: In Kuomintang candidate Ma Ying-jeou's search for his running mate for the 2008 ROC presidential election, Tsai, a DPP member, was surprisingly suggested. Ma stated that there were no set criteria for a running mate, that his search would not be defined by gender, occupation, or even political party affiliations.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On 19 May 2008, Tsai defeated Koo Kwang-ming in the election for DPP chair, and succeeded outgoing Frank Hsieh as the 12th-term chair of the party. She was the first woman to chair a major Taiwanese political party.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai took office on 20 May 2008, the same day Ma Ying-jeou was inaugurated as president. She said that DPP would work to deepen the Taiwanese localization movement while defending social justice. She criticized Ma for mentioning closer Cross-Strait relations but nothing about Taiwan's sovereignty and national security.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai questioned Ma's stance on Taiwan's sovereign status. Ma emphasized the importance of the so-called 1992 Consensus and called Tsai a Taiwan independence extremist. Tsai criticized Ma's government for not answering her question and labeling others.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: After former President Chen Shui-bian's acknowledgment of transferring past campaign funds overseas, Tsai apologized to the public and also said that the DPP would not try to cover up for Chen's alleged misdeeds. The Clean Government Commission was set up to investigate corruption within the DPP.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On 25 April 2010, Tsai participated in a televised debate against President and Kuomintang chairman Ma Ying-jeou over a proposed trade agreement, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA); while President Ma believed ECFA would increase Taiwanese exports to mainland China and lower unemployment rates, Tsai said it "will force Taiwan to open up for cheap Chinese exports eventually" and certain domestic industries will be harmed by the mainland trade invasion. Tsai also said that the pact "will make Taiwan lose its independence in cross-strait relations and become a Chinese parasite" and that Taiwan should negotiate with China under the multilateral-framework World Trade Organization, which would offer more trade protections and emphasize Taiwan's distinct status.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Under Tsai's leadership, along with some of KMT's unpopular policies, the DPP regained momentum in elections of 2009, after major defeats from 2006 to 2008. In 2010, she was re-elected as the chair of the DPP.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai made a controversial statement in May 2010 claiming that the Republic of China was a "government-in-exile" non-native to Taiwan; however on 8 October 2011, two days prior to the 100-year anniversary celebrations of the Double Ten Day, Tsai changed her statement, stating that "The ROC is Taiwan, Taiwan is the ROC, and the current ROC government is no longer ruled by a non-native political power".


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai resigned as chair of the DPP after losing her 2012 presidential election bid to incumbent Ma Ying-jeou.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On 15 March 2014, Tsai announced that she would once more run for party chief of the DPP against incumbent Su Tseng-chang and Frank Hsieh. However, both Su and Hsieh dropped out of the election in the aftermath of the Sunflower Student Movement. Tsai defeated Kaohsiung County deputy commissioner Kuo Tai-lin by 79,676 votes.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai led the DPP to an historic victory in the local elections held on 29 November 2014, in which the party secured leadership of 13 of Taiwan's 22 municipalities and counties. The DPP's stunning victory in the elections strengthened Tsai's position within the party and placed her as the front-runner in the 2016 Presidential Elections; she announced her second bid for the Presidency on 15 February 2015. On 16 January 2016, she won the election by a landslide, winning 56.12% of votes, beating her opponent Eric Chu, who won 31.07% of the votes.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On 24 November 2018, she resigned as leader of the Democratic Progressive Party and refused Premier William Lai's resignation after a major defeat in local elections.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai resumed the Democratic Progressive Party leadership from Cho Jung-tai on 20 May 2020, when she was inaugurated for her second presidential term. She resigned as party leader following the 2022 Taiwanese local elections.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On 11 March 2011, Tsai Ing-wen officially announced her run for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Progressive Party. On 27 April 2011, Tsai became the first female presidential candidate in Taiwan after she defeated former Premier Su Tseng-chang by a small margin in a nationwide phone poll (of more than 15,000 samples) that served as the party's primary. Tsai ran against incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang and James Soong of the People First Party in the 5th direct presidential election, which was held on 14 January 2012. Garnering 45% of the vote, she conceded defeat to President Ma in an international press conference, resigning her seat as Chairman of the DPP.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On 15 February 2015, Tsai officially registered for the Democratic Progressive Party's presidential nomination primary. Though William Lai and Su Tseng-chang were seen as likely opponents, Tsai was the only candidate to run in the primary and the DPP officially nominated her as the presidential candidate on 15 April.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: During summer of 2015, Tsai embarked on a visit to the United States and met a number of US policy makers including Senators John McCain and Jack Reed. In her speech addressing Taiwanese diaspora on the east coast of the United States, Tsai signaled a willingness to cooperate with the rising Third Party coalition in Taiwan in the incoming general election. On 14 November, Tsai's campaign announced that she had chosen Chen Chien-jen as DPP vice presidential candidate. On 16 January 2016, Tsai won the presidential election, beating her opponent Eric Chu by a margin of 25.04%. Tsai was inaugurated as president on 20 May 2016.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: After her election, Tsai was named one of "The 100 Most Influential People" in TIME magazine 2 May 2016 issue.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai announced on 19 February 2019 via an interview with CNN that she would run for reelection as president in 2020. She registered to run in the Democratic Progressive Party presidential primary on 21 March 2019. Tsai defeated William Lai in the primary, and the Democratic Progressive Party nominated her as its candidate for the 2020 presidential election on 19 June 2019. Tsai and Lai formed the Democratic Progressive Party ticket on 17 November 2019.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai supports strong and stable relationships between Taiwan (ROC) and the United States. In early December 2016, Tsai held an unprecedented telephone call with President-elect Donald Trump. This was the first time that the President of ROC spoke with the president or president-elect of the United States since 1979. Afterwards, she indicated there had been no major "policy shift".


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: In January 2021, Tsai met with United States Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft by video link. Craft said: "We discussed the many ways Taiwan is a model for the world, as demonstrated by its success in fighting Covid-19 and all that Taiwan has to offer in the fields of health, technology and cutting-edge science... the U.S. stands with Taiwan and always will." Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian said: "Certain U.S. politicians will pay a heavy price for their wrong words and deeds." On her last day in office later that month, Craft called Taiwan "a force for good on the global stage -- a vibrant democracy, a generous humanitarian actor, a responsible actor in the global health community, and a vigorous promoter and defender of human rights."


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: The DPP's traditional position on the issue of cross-strait relations is that the Republic of China, widely known as Taiwan, is already an independent state governing the territories of Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu Islands, and the island of Taiwan, thus rendering a formal declaration of independence unnecessary. While Tsai has never departed fundamentally from the party line, her personal approach to the issue is nuanced and evolving.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: During the 2012 presidential election cycle, Tsai said that she disagreed with the 1992 Consensus as the basis for negotiations between Taiwan and mainland China, that such a consensus only served to buttress the "One China Principle", and that "no such consensus exists" because the majority of the Taiwanese public does not necessarily agree with this consensus. She believed that broad consultations should be held at all levels of Taiwanese society to decide the basis on which to advance negotiations with Beijing, dubbed the "Taiwan consensus". During the 2016 election cycle, Tsai was notably more moderate, making "maintaining the status quo" the centerpiece of party policy. She vowed to work within the Republic of China governing framework in addition to preserving the progress made in cross-strait relations by previous governments, while preserving "freedom and democracy" for the residents of Taiwan.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai believes in the importance of economic and trade links with mainland China, but publicly spoke out against the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), a preferential trade agreement that increased economic links between Taiwan and mainland China. She generally supports the diversification of Taiwan's economic partners.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: In response to the death of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died of organ failure while in government custody, Tsai pleaded with the Communist government to "show confidence in engaging in political reform so that the Chinese can enjoy the God-given rights of freedom and democracy".


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai has accused the Communist Party of China's troll army of spreading fake news via social media to influence voters and support candidates more sympathetic to Beijing ahead of the 2018 Taiwanese local elections.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: In January 2019, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), had announced an open letter to Taiwan proposing a one country, two systems formula for eventual unification. Tsai responded to Xi in a January 2019 speech by stating that Taiwan rejects "one country, two systems" and that because Beijing equates the 1992 Consensus with "one country, two systems", Taiwan rejects the 1992 Consensus as well.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai expressed her solidarity with Hong Kong protesters, remarking that Taiwan's democracy was hard-earned and had to be guarded and renewed. Pledging that as long as she was Taiwan's president, she would never accept "one country, two systems", Tsai cited what she considered to be the constant and rapid deterioration of Hong Kong's democracy over the course of 20 years.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai has traditionally been supportive of disadvantaged groups in society, including the poor, women and children, Taiwanese indigenous peoples, and LGBT groups. She favours government action to reduce unemployment, introducing incentives for entrepreneurship among youth, expanding public housing, and government-mandated childcare support. She supports government transparency and more prudent and disciplined fiscal management.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai advocated for the non-partisanship of the president of the Legislative Yuan, the increase in the number of "at-large" seats in the legislature, the broadening of participation among all political parties and interest groups. She supports proactively repairing the damage done to Taiwanese aboriginal groups, as well as the government actions in the February 28 Incident and during the phase of White Terror. She has also called for the de-polarization of Taiwanese politics, and advocates for a more open and consensus-based approach to addressing issues and passing legislation.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai supports LGBT rights and has endorsed same-sex marriage to be legalised in Taiwan. On 21 August 2015, the day of the annual Qixi Festival, she released a campaign video in which three same-sex couples actors appeared. On 31 October 2015, when the biggest gay pride parade in Asia was held in Taipei, Tsai expressed her support for same-sex marriage. She posted a 15-second video on her Facebook page saying "I am Tsai Ing-wen, and I support marriage equality" and "Let everyone be able to freely love and pursue happiness". However during the presidency, Tsai delayed the process to legalize same-sex marriage due to opposition from conservative and religious groups. After the 2018 Taiwanese referendum, Tsai led the government to legalize same-sex marriage outside of the Civil Code.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: In the inauguration speech for her first term, Tsai stated policy goals such as pension reform, long-term care for the elderly, transitional justice, and judicial reform. She outlined an economic policy of diversification via the New Southbound Policy as well as prioritization of innovative industries. In terms of cross-strait policy, she acknowledged the 1992 Consensus without agreeing to it and called for continued cross-strait dialogue.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: In her second inauguration speech, Tsai outlined her major goals in her second term, including instituting a lay judge system, lowering the voting age from 20 to 18, and establishing a human rights commission under the Control Yuan. She also outlined her economic policy, which included transitioning from manufacturing to high-tech industries, with a focus on existing semiconductor and information and communications technology industries, cybersecurity, biotechnology and healthcare, domestic production of military equipment, green energy and strategically-critical industries. She proposed goals for defense reform, including a focus on asymmetric warfare, maintenance of a military reserve force, and reform in management to reflect a democratic society. On cross-strait issues, she explicitly rejected the one country, two systems model proposed by Beijing and expressed a desire for both sides to coexist peacefully.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Under the Tsai administration, military spending has risen in Taiwan relative to GDP. The defense budget was set to $327 billion NTD in 2018 and $346 billion in 2019. The defense budget in 2020 was set to $411 billion NTD, estimated to be 2.3% of GDP, representing an 8.3% increase in total spending over the previous year and a 0.2% increase in percentage of GDP. In 2021 it was set to $453 billion NTD, estimated to be 2.4% of GDP, and a 4.4% increase over the previous year.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: The administration has also focused on defensive self-sufficiency and developing indigenous industries, such as in submarines and missiles. The AIDC T-5 Brave Eagle indigenous jet trainer, which started development in 2017, successfully conducted its first test flight in 2020. On 29 June 2020, Tsai announced measures to shore up Taiwan's military reserves, including assigning them the same combat gear as active servicemembers and synchronization of mobilization. The first domestically-produced rapid mine-laying ship was delivered on 4 August 2020, and construction on an indigenous diesel submarine began in November 2020. The navy's first indigenous amphibious transport dock was launched on April 13, 2021; named Yu Shan after the mountain with the same name and built by CSBC, it will replace the aging ROCN Hsu Hai (formerly the USS Pensacola).


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On 11 March 2022, a soldier wrote to Tsai, reporting that insufficient basic logistic supply compelled combatants to purchase equipment from outsider suppliers at their own expense for two years, then being disqualified as non-standard upon inspection, in contrast of the reserve trainees receiving new sets; and appealed to abolish the mandatory diary writing for examination. The classified "2022006470" document was somehow illegally leaked from the presidential palace to the media with his identity exposed on 18 March, then Minister of National Defense, Chiu Kuo-cheng reacted: "I will not let him get away with it", "Fix the crying baby!"; but later clarified after being questioned by the parliament members in the Legislative Yuan, that he just disgusts the coward behavior behind his back, and the critique unfair to the preparatory staff. The case raised the society concern on the standard operating procedure practice on the data security breach to the presidential office.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Under Tsai, several countries which had formally recognized the Republic of China (ROC) switched recognition to the People's Republic of China (PRC): São Tomé and Príncipe in 2016, Panama in 2017, the Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso and El Salvador in 2018, and the Solomon Islands and Kiribati in 2019, and Nicaragua in 2021. This continued a trend that was temporarily halted under an unofficial "diplomatic truce" during the Ma Ying-jeou administration where the PRC ceased to court official diplomatic allies of the ROC.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: At the same time, the Tsai administration saw breakthroughs in Taiwan's unofficial relations with the United States. On 9 August 2020, the United States Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar of the Trump administration became the highest-level Cabinet member to visit Taiwan since the diplomatic break between the ROC and the United States in 1979. In April 2021, the United States ambassador to Palau made an official visit to Taiwan, the first time a US ambassador had done so since the US switched recognition from the ROC to the PRC in 1979. In the same month, the United States President Joe Biden also sent an official delegation including former senator Chris Dodd to Taiwan.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On November 3, 2021 the first official European Union delegation arrived in Taiwan led by French MEP Raphael Glucksmann, and consisting of Lithuanian MEPs Andrius Kubilius and Petras Auštrevičius, Czech MEP Markéta Gregorová, Austrian MEP Andreas Schieder, Greek MEP Georgios Kyrtsos and Italian MEP Marco Dreosto. The visit followed an official tour of Central Europe by foreign minister Joseph Wu which included an unofficial visit to Brussels.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: During her first inauguration speech, Tsai acknowledged that the talks surrounding the 1992 Summit took place but does not agree that a "consensus" was ever reached by both sides. She credited the talks with spurring 20 years of dialogue and exchange between the two sides. She hoped that exchanges would continue on the basis of these historical facts, as well as the existence of the Republic of China constitutional system and democratic will of the Taiwanese people. In response, Beijing called Tsai's answer an "incomplete test paper" because Tsai did not agree to the content of the 1992 Consensus. On 25 June 2016, Beijing suspended official cross-strait communications, with any remaining cross-strait exchanges thereafter taking place through unofficial channels.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: In January 2019, Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), wrote an open letter to Taiwan, proposing a one country, two systems formula for eventual unification. Tsai responded to Xi in a January 2019 speech by stating that Taiwan rejects "one country, two systems" and that because Beijing equates the 1992 Consensus with "one country, two systems", Taiwan rejects the 1992 Consensus as well. During her second inauguration speech, Tsai rejected one country, two systems explicitly again and reaffirmed her previous stance that cross-strait exchanges should be held on the basis of parity between the two sides. She further remarked that cross-strait relations had reached a "historical turning point."


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On October 10, 2021 During her speech on the Double Tenth Day, President Tsai solemnly rejected the idea of "complete unification of Chinese motherland" through a peaceful unification under "One country, two systems" proposed by the Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the 72nd Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. She insisted "the two sides (The ROC and PRC) of the Taiwan Strait do not belong to each other" (海峽兩岸互不隸屬).


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: The Tsai administration has stated an electricity supply goal of 20% from renewables, 30% from coal and 50% from liquefied natural gas by 2025.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Bills under the umbrella of the Forward-Looking Infrastructure initiative have been used to fund green energy initiatives. The administration plans to install 1,000 wind turbines on land and offshore and has contracted Ørsted of Denmark to install 900 MW of capacity and wpd of Germany to install 1 GW of capacity. Taiwan's first offshore wind farm, Formosa I, consisting of 22 wind turbines expected to produce 128 MW, is slated to begin operations at the end of 2019. The government also purchased 520 MW of solar capacity in 2017 and more than 1 GW in 2018; total capacity was 2.8 GW at the end of 2018, with the government planning to deploy an addition 1.5 GW of solar power in 2019 and 2.2 GW in 2020.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: The government approved amendments to the Electricity Act on 20 October 2016 to break up the state-owned monopoly Taipower into subsidiaries and further liberalize the power sector by allowing companies to sell electricity to users directly rather than selling through Taipower. In particular, the generation and distribution divisions of Taipower are to be separated. Amongst the stated motivations for liberalisation was to allow for the direct purchase of green energy by consumers. The plan also included emissions controls, the creation of a regulatory agency, mandatory reserve margins (waived for start-up green energy companies), and measures for price stabilization. The plan was met with protests by Taipower employees.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: Tsai campaigned on a promise to make Taiwan nuclear-free by 2025, which was codified into law on 11 January 2017 via amendments to the Electricity Act. An energy blackout due to an unrelated operational mistake have led some to question the nuclear phase-out. According to the results of the 2018 referendum, this provision was abolished on 7 May 2019. Nonetheless, the administration has maintained a goal of phasing out nuclear energy. The controversial nuclear waste site on Orchid Island and the dangers of nuclear power plants in a seismic activity area (Taiwan is in a region of the world very prone to large earthquakes and tsunamis) like what happened at Fukushima in Japan in 2011 influenced Tsai and her party to make Taiwan nuclear power-free by 2025. While the nuclear energy referendum guaranteed that nuclear energy would not be abolished in 2018 Tsai decided to not renew the three remaining nuclear power plants' licenses which would expire after 40 years. Of the three active nuclear power plants as of 2016, the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant was shut down in July 2019, the Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant will be decommissioned in March 2023, and the final nuclear power plant to shut down will be the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant in May 2025.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On 5 July 2017, the first Forward-Looking Infrastructure Bill passed the Legislative Yuan. The bill provided $420 billion NTD in funds over a period of 4 years toward infrastructure projects in light-rail infrastructure, water supply infrastructure, flood control measures, and green energy, talent development, urban and rural infrastructure, digital infrastructure and food safety. Other projects include improving road safety and aesthetics, locally oriented industrial parks, recreation centers, bicycle paths, and public service centers for long-term care.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: The Tsai administration proposed a lay judge system modelled after Japan's over a jury system proposed by the New Power Party. The Citizen Judges Act was passed on 22 July 2020, instituting a lay judge system with three professional judges along six lay judges. The law is set to take effect in 2023.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On 1 January 2017, the amended Labour Standards Law (commonly referred to as 一例一休 ), which was passed on 6 December 2016 by the legislature, took effect. The amendments stipulated, with some exceptions, a 40-hour five-day work week with one compulsory rest day and one flexible rest day. On the flexible rest day, workers may work for overtime pay, and the compulsory rest day guaranteed that workers could not work more than six days in a row. The amendments also reduced the number of national holidays from 19 to 12, eliminating Youth Day, Teachers’ Day, Retrocession Day, Chiang Kai-shek's birthday, Sun Yat-sen's birthday, Constitution Day and the day following New Year's Day. Prior to the amendments, the Labor Standards Act stipulated a maximum of 84 hours of work in any given 14 day period. The amendments were met with protests from labor groups, who opposed the reduction of national holidays and demanded that work on flexible rest days should result in compensatory vacation days in addition to overtime pay.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: After taking effect, the amendments were criticized for their lack of flexibility, resulting in a net decrease in total pay and an increase in cost of living, and for having an overly complicated scheme for calculating overtime pay, leading the administration to further revise the Labor Standards Act. On 1 March 2018, the second revision of the Labor Standards Act came into effect. The revisions relaxed the previous regulations by stipulating two compulsory rest days for each 14 day period rather than one compulsory rest day for each 7 day period, meaning that workers could work for 12 days in a row. The revisions also simplified the formula for overtime pay. The revisions were met with protests and hunger strikes by labor groups.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: The Tsai administration took actions to preserve languages facing a crisis of inheritance and to put them on more equal footing to Mandarin. Previously, the only national language was Mandarin; during her administration, the national languages of Taiwan were eventually broadened to include Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, 16 indigenous Formosan languages, Taiwanese Sign Language and the Matsu dialect of Eastern Min spoken on the Matsu Islands.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: The Indigenous Languages Development Act took effect on 14 June 2017, designating 16 indigenous Formosan languages as national languages. Hakka was made a national language via amendments to the Hakka Basic Act on 29 December 2017. On 25 December 2018, the sweeping National Languages Development Act passed the legislature, creating broadcast services for each national language of Taiwan, providing interpreters for all national languages in the legislature, guaranteeing access to public services in each language (including legislative, and introducing elective language classes in primary schools. The act also directed the government to work with civic groups to create standard orthographies for each national language, and to develop a plan for preserving and revitalizing threatened languages. It furthermore automatically designated, in Article 3, all languages of all ethnic groups in Taiwan as national languages, thus clearing the way for Taiwanese Hokkien, Taiwanese Sign Language, and the Matsu dialect to become national languages.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On 15 August 2019, the government amended the Enforcement Rules of the Passport Act to allow for the use of romanizations of names in any national language (Hakka, Hoklo or indigenous languages) in passports.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: On 27 September 2021, Legislator Chen Po-wei of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party spoke Taiwanese during a session questioning the . The Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng responded by asking Chen to speak Mandarin to allow for easier communication, and would not lengthen the session to accommodate the interpretive service, after which the exchange became heated. Chen later apologized on Facebook, saying that the language barrier led to contextual errors. The parliamentary interpretation service stipulated by the National Languages Development Act were temporarily suspended pending improvements.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: The New Southbound Policy was launched on 5 September 2016 with the intent to make Taiwan less dependent on Mainland China and to improve Taiwan's cooperation with other countries. The 18 countries the New Southbound Policy targeted for increased cooperation are: Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Australia and New Zealand. The policy designated areas of cooperation in trade, technology, agriculture, medicine, education, and tourism. In mid-2019, the Taiwanese government announced that since the implementation of the policy, bilateral trade between Taiwan and the targeted countries increased by 22%, while investment by targeted countries increased by 60%. Further, the number of medical patients from targeted countries increased by 50%, the number of visitors increased by 58%, and the number of students increased by 52%. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan donated 1 million masks to countries targeted in the New Southbound Policy.


title: Tsai Ing-wen

text: International observers have noted that Taiwan's pre-reform pension system was due to default by 2030 for civil servants and 2020 for the military. Pension reform was passed via two separate bills, one dealing with civil servants and schoolteachers on 27 June 2017 and another dealing with military veterans on 20 June 2018. On 1 July 2018, the pension reforms came into effect. Civil servants, upon retirement, have a choice between receiving pensions in monthly instalments subject to a preferential interest rate or via a lump sum. Under the reforms, the previous preferential interest rate for those who opted for monthly instalments would be gradually reduced from 18% to 0% over the span of 30 months. Civil servants who opted for a lump sum would see their interest rates decreased from 18% to 6% over a period of 6 years. The reforms were estimated to affect 63,000 military veterans, 130,000 public servants and 140,000 schoolteachers. The reforms simultaneously set minimum monthly pensions for schoolteachers and civil servants at $32,160 NTD and for military veterans at $38,990 NTD. The reforms also raised the minimum retirement age to 60 from 55, to increase by 1 per year until the retirement age reaches 65. Though the reforms were met with protests from government retirees and veterans, polls have shown that the majority of Taiwanese are satisfied with the outcome of the pension reforms. After a legal challenge by the KMT, the Constitutional Court found most of the pension reform constitutional, while striking down clauses regarding the suspension of pensions for retirees that took jobs later in the private sector.