title: Zihuatanejo

text: Another festival is the Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival which is held in March; it is a week-long event held at multiple locations every night, with a children's show as well as a free public show at the main plaza. The Zihua Guitar Fest brings guitarists from all over the world such as Canadian artist Adrian Raso, Los Angeles’ artist Omar Torrez, South Africa's Margarets Daughter, Nashville's Eric McFadden and Texas-based Los Pistoleros to name a few. This festival prides itself in drawing tourism to the area which helps support the many small family-owned businesses. This festival began in 2004 and has been a big hit for locals as well as tourists.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: The port is mainly used by fishermen who arrive to the docks every morning with their catch, "pangas" and other boats that ferry passengers to places like Las Gatas beach, and fishing charters. There is also a cruise ship greet and rest area for passenger who visit the town. Sport fishing is a major draw to this part of Zihuatanejo. In February 2001, "Sport Fishing Magazine" rated the Zihuatanejo area second worldwide for sailfishing, based on the number of strikes per day and other factors. Yearly, on the first weekend of May, Zihuatanejo hosts the International Sailfish Tournament. The event brings hundreds of fishermen and boats into town in the hopes of winning one of the many prizes offered for largest sailfish, marlin and dorado.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: Fish that can be caught here include roosterfish, jacks, snook, grouper and small tuna close to shore between Wamaluli Point and Morro de Pampanoa, but they are not the main attraction here. Most of the sport fishing occurs offshore, about five miles out. Billfish of one of the major attractions. Sport fishing operations exist here using boats such as super pangas and luxury cruisers. Sailfish and marlin can be had, caught, and released. The seas can be very choppy near the shore but calm farther out. Most visitors come for these two fish, which are available year-round. Blue and black marlin are available much of the year, with February and March being the best months. Several huge fish have been caught here such as the black marlin caught just a offshore. Other fish include skipjack tuna and yellowfin tuna.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: Cruises often stop at Zihuatanejo, the city having become a major cruise stop and a major attraction for its beaches. The city is also famous for its catamaran tours, most popular and known is Picante Cruises, operating in both Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa bay where snorkeling, spinnaker flying, and sunset cruises are offered.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: The "Museo Arqueológico de la Costa Grande" (Archeological Museum of the Costa Grande) is located at the southern end of the municipal beach and the Paseo de los Pescadores. It has six rooms that document the history, archeology, and culture of this part of the Guerrero coast. Many of the artifacts are from as far away as the Olmec and Toltec civilizations, as both explored this area. Room one of the museum displays artifacts from settlements established on the coasts of Jalisco, Nayarit, Colima and Guerrero. Room two houses ceramics and carvings from the area of Cerro de la Madera, in Zihuatanejo, among others. Room three features the Tierras Prietas site, the cultivation of food plants and use of natural resources such as the bajareque technique of walls made of interwoven branches and clay. Room 4 covers aspects of village life and cultural exchange from 200 to 750 A.C.; the introduction of ball games and new pottery techniques. Room five contains pieces from the Aztec period from 1487 to the 1520s, when the province of Cihuatlan was established, and tribute was paid to the Aztecs by the local population in shells, chocolate, basketry and textiles. Room six covers the colonial period and search for a maritime route to the west during the 16th and 17th centuries. During this time the ports of Zihuatanejo and Acapulco were important points of reference for Spanish and other navigators.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: The town of Zihuatanejo's main attraction is its bay, which is well-protected from open ocean. It is a favorite place to moor boats from small private ones to large yachts during the winter months. The bay's width varies from between in width and averages deep. It is mostly surrounded by beaches, most of which have gentle waves. On land the bay is surrounded by the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains. Development of this area has caused some environmental problems. The town's five water treatment plants can no longer keep up with demand, with some untreated wastewater and sediment flowing into the bay. There has also been some wholesale destruction of the hills right on the bay to create development space, and there is concern about damage to the local coral reef. Some development projects, such as a dock for cruise ships and Punta del Mar (a complex of hotels, villas, pools and a marina) have been delayed due to the need for environmental impact studies.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: The ring of beaches of Zihuatanejo Bay begins with the Municipal Beach which is in front of the town center and next to the port. From there, there is a cement and sand walkway that leads to Playa Madera (Wood Beach). It is a stretch of light-colored sand between the municipal beach and Playa La Ropa. The waves here are gentle with the occasional wave. This beach contains a number of bay-view restaurants, bungalows, condominiums and hotels, as well as a walkway that extends the length of the beach. Part of the beach is covered in pebbles.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: Moving away from the town center along the bay, the next beach is called Playa La Ropa (Clothes Beach). The name Playa La Ropa (Clothes Beach) refers to the sinking of a merchant ship near the bay during colonial times. Its cargo of fine silks, belts, cloaks and fabrics from Bombay washed up in this beach. This beach is about long and considered the best for swimming as there is little wave action. During the winter months, many sailboats moor here. Just behind the beach, the land rises suddenly into cliffs, which are dotted with hotels, large residences and guest houses.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: A number of these hotels sponsor the local turtle conservation campaign, setting up fenced-off areas in which turtle eggs found along the beach are gathered and protected during incubation from August through December. After hatching, the baby turtles are kept in tubs and released periodically into the ocean at sunset. These hotels invite guests to help with the release.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: The beach contains a very small fenced estuary which is home to several crocodiles. They have lived here for years and are well-fed by the local restaurants, although they are still wild creatures.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: In a parking lot at the end of La Ropa Beach, one of the parking spaces has become a place of reverence for the Virgin of Guadalupe. According to local reports, an image of the virgin appeared on the bole of a plum tree on 27 November 2006. This is considered by many to be a miracle, especially as it occurred shortly before the Virgin's feast day of 12 December. The tree has a base constructed around it with stairs allowing visitors to see the image more easily. There are places to deposit candles and offerings and flowers have been planted around the tree. On 12 December, a mass and candlelit vigil is held here.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: Playa Las Gatas (Cats Beach) is on the opposite side of the bay from town, is accessible only by boat as there are no paved roads that lead to here and a small, poorly defined, rocky footpath leading from Playa La Ropa. Las Gatas was originally named for a small cat shark that used to inhabit these waters. It is located at the entrance to the bay at a place called Punta del Rey (King's Point). This leaves the area open to ocean breezes. Wave action is stronger, but not as strong as those beaches that face the open ocean as there is a coral reef and a man-made stone barrier in front of it. According to legend, Purépecha chief Calzontzin had a stone barrier built here to keep the waves down and the sea creatures out, creating a kind of swimming pool. Las Gatas is the most popular snorkeling beach in Zihuatanejo. Gear can be rented at Carlo Scuba, along with PADI instruction and certification. Colorful tropical fish can be seen along the man-made breakwater, as well as the abundant coral and sea urchins. At the far end of the beach surfing is possible, and a path leads to the lighthouse on the point of the bay.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: The town of Zihuatanejo is the seat of the municipality of Zihuatanejo de Azueta and as such is the governmental authority for approximately 416 communities, with a total population of 104,609 as of 2005, and an area of . There are small indigenous communities in the municipality which speak Nahuatl and Tlapaneco. Population increase for the period of 1995-2000 was 1.85 percent, with a population density of just under fifty people per square km. The greatest population increase was seen in the 1980s when the municipality jumped from 25,751 to 63,366 residents.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: The municipality borders the municipalities of Coyuca de Catalán, Coahuayutla de José María Izazaga, Petatlán and La Unión de Isidoro Montes de Oca, as well as the Pacific Ocean. Altitude varies from between above sea level. Much of the municipality (70%) is rugged terrain with the rest being semi-flat or flat. Major peaks here are the Sierra de la Cuchara and the Cumbre de la Peatada. Major rivers here include the Verde and the Ixtapa. There are also a number of small streams such as the Real, Pantla, Zapote, and Lagunillas.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: The climate is warm and mostly moist, with an average temperature of . The rainy season is from June to September. Land wildlife mostly consists of small mammals, bats, and lizards. The bay contains fish such as red snapper, bass other fish and sea turtles. Because of the climate's temperature and humidity, the beaches of Zihuatanejo are apt for the incubation of various sea turtles eggs such as the leatherback, hawksbill and olive ridley. The annual program for the collection and protection of turtle eggs starts at the beginning of June and lasts until the end of December. 31 December is celebrated with a massive baby turtle release along the coasts north and south of Zihuatanejo bay. The program consists of twenty one incubation corrals, along of beaches. These corrals protect the thousands of turtle eggs collected during this time period by government staff and trained volunteers. After birth, they are kept here until they grow large enough to avoid most natural predators and increase their chances of survival.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: The most important economic activity for the municipality is tourism, with the major attractions being the beaches. Most international visitors come between November and December and most Mexican tourists come in December, April, July and August. Seventy-one percent of the municipality's population is engaged in the commercial and tourism sector of the economy. Outside of Zihuatanejo Bay, some of most important beaches include Quieta Beach, Majahua Beach and Playa Larga. Prior to the 1970s, economic activity was based on fishing and agriculture. At that time, the federal government decided to make a planned resort at Ixtapa, just north of the municipal seat of Zihuatanejo, constructed on what was once a coconut plantation and mangrove estuary. It is a complete tourist center with a hotel strip long, white sands, shopping centers, restaurants, nightclubs, golf courses, residences.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: To the south of Zihuatanejo Bay, there are a number of beaches and a lagoon on the way to the regional airport. Playa Larga (Long Beach), Playa Blanca (White Beach) and Las Pozas (The Wells) are parts of the same long stretch of white sand that runs from north west of the airport, past the airport and down to Barra de Potosí. Total length of these beaches in about . Swimming is strongly discouraged off any of these beaches as they face open ocean and have heavy undertows riptides and current. Behind the beaches are coconut groves, small huts and mango trees. Cacti grow on the hillsides, sometimes down to the beach itself. Actitivies that are recommended for this area include whale watching from December to February and dolphin watching all year round, both of which can be done from the beach. There is horseback riding on the beaches and into the adjoining hills. The beach is dotted with open-air restaurants with roofs thatched with palm fronds, tree branches and flower. Volleyball net and soccer posts are set up in front of many of the restaurants as well.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: On the southern end of these beaches is the village of Barra de Potosí. There is a lagoon here, called Laguna de Potosí and islets called Morros de Potosí. The lagoon area has a large mangrove estuary filled with bird wildlife. Birdwatching, kayaking and fishing are popular here. The lagoon opens to the ocean and the beaches contain many "enramadas", palm-thatched outdoor restaurants. Many of these enramadas are decorated with colorful paper or plastic cutouts, especially during the Christmas season. The Morros de Potosí are offshore and is a popular place for snorkeling, with red-billed tropicbirds, brown boobies and brown pelicans nesting on the rocks. In the winter season the bay hosts humpback whales, mother/calf pairs and some males are seen leaping from the water. There is a whale study project, Whales of Mexico, that takes place in the winter as well.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: Inland there are a couple of attractions. La Vainilla is an ecological park located from the town of Zihuatanejo on the hilly terrain of the foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains. It covers approximately , and contains 428 species of plants. These are distributed in three plant communities; bosque tropical subcaducifolio (semi-evergreen seasonal forest), bosque tropical caducifolio (deciduous seasonal forest) and bosque en galleria (gallery forest), with the first type most prevalent. There is also one small archeological site named Tierras Prietas.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: Aside from tourism, fishing continues to be a way of life for a large number of families, bringing in seafood such as shark, clams, oysters, red snapper, bass and mugil. The increasing popularity of the area as a sportfishing destination has given new impetus to its livelihood, and traditional fishing is being supplemented with fish farms. The fish caught and produced mainly goes to local, regional and state markets. As in the past, much of the forest area here is still exploited for timber. Timber area covers of the municipality and woods obtained include pine, cedar, mahogany and oak. There is also some livestock-raising, mostly in the south of the municipality, and coffee-growing in the north. Crops are planted on only seven percent of the territory, but include corn, beans, sorghum and sesame seed.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: The local specialty is "huachinango" or whole red snapper, usually prepared "Veracruzana" (with savory tomato sauce) or "al mojo de ajo" (with garlic sauce).


title: Zihuatanejo

text: Zihuatanejo can be reached by air, bus and highway and has its own airport, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International. Flights are available from Mexico City, several provincial cities, and various places in the United States and Canada.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: Airlines: Aeromexico, Interjet, Air Canada (seasonal), Alaska Airlines, American Airlines (seasonal), Delta Air Lines (seasonal), Sun Country Airlines (seasonal), United Airlines, WestJet.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: Charter Lines: Apple Vacations, Champion Air, Funjet Vacations, MLT Vacations, Ryan International, Sunwing Vacations, and others.


title: Zihuatanejo

text: Bus Lines: Autovias, Costa Line, Estrella de Oro, Estrella Blanca, La Linea Plus, Parhikuni, Primera Plus and Tap.


title: United Nations Climate Change conference

text: The United Nations Climate Change Conferences are yearly conferences held in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They serve as the formal meeting of the UNFCCC parties (Conference of the Parties, COP) to assess progress in dealing with climate change, and beginning in the mid-1990s, to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol to establish legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Starting in 2005 the conferences have also served as the "Conference of the Parties Serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol" (CMP); also parties to the convention that are not parties to the protocol can participate in protocol-related meetings as observers. From 2011 to 2015 the meetings were used to negotiate the Paris Agreement as part of the Durban platform, which created a general path towards climate action. Any final text of a COP must be agreed by consensus.


text: The first UNFCCC Conference of the Parties took place from 28 March to 7 April 1995 in Berlin, Germany.


text: COP 2 took place from 8–19 July 1996 in Geneva, Switzerland. Its ministerial declaration was noted (but not adopted) on 18 July 1996, and reflected a United States position statement presented by Timothy Wirth, former Under Secretary for Global Affairs for the United States Department of State at that meeting, which:


text: COP 3 took place on 1-11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. After intensive negotiations, it adopted the Kyoto Protocol, which outlined the greenhouse gas emissions reduction obligation for Annex I countries, along with what came to be known as Kyoto mechanisms such as emissions trading, clean development mechanism and joint implementation. In a separate decision of the Conference of Parties, countries agreed to a range of national security exemptions which stated that bunker fuels and emissions from multilateral military operations would not be part of national emissions totals and would be reported outside of those totals. Most industrialized countries and some central European economies in transition (all defined as Annex B countries) agreed to legally binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of an average of 6 to 8% below 1990 levels between the years 2008–2012, defined as the first emissions budget period. The United States would be required to reduce its total emissions an average of 7% below 1990 levels; however Congress did not ratify the treaty after Clinton signed it. The Bush administration explicitly rejected the protocol in 2001.


text: COP 4 took place on 2-14 November 1998 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It had been expected that the remaining issues unresolved in Kyoto would be finalized at this meeting. However, the complexity and difficulty of finding agreement on these issues proved insurmountable, and instead the parties adopted a two-year "Plan of Action" to advance efforts and to devise mechanisms for implementing the Kyoto Protocol, to be completed by 2000. During COP4, Argentina and Kazakhstan expressed their commitment to take on the greenhouse gas emissions reduction obligation, the first two non-Annex countries to do so.


text: COP 5 took place between 25 October and 5 November 1999, in Bonn, Germany. It was primarily a technical meeting, and did not reach major conclusions.


text: COP 6 took place on 13–25 November 2000, in The Hague, Netherlands. The discussions evolved rapidly into a high-level negotiation over the major political issues. These included major controversy over the United States' proposal to allow credit for carbon "sinks" in forests and agricultural lands that would satisfy a major proportion of the U.S. emissions reductions in this way; disagreements over consequences for non-compliance by countries that did not meet their emission reduction targets; and difficulties in resolving how developing countries could obtain financial assistance to deal with adverse effects of climate change and meet their obligations to plan for measuring and possibly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.


text: In the final hours of COP 6, despite some compromises agreed between the United States and some EU countries, notably the United Kingdom, the EU countries as a whole, led by Denmark and Germany, rejected the compromise positions, and the talks in The Hague collapsed. Jan Pronk, the President of COP 6, suspended COP-6 without agreement, with the expectation that negotiations would later resume. It was later announced that the COP 6 meetings (termed "COP 6 bis") would be resumed in Bonn, Germany, in the second half of July. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the parties to the UNFCCC, COP 7, had been set for Marrakech, Morocco, in October–November 2001.


text: COP 6 negotiations resumed on 17–27 July 2001, in Bonn, Germany, with little progress having been made in resolving the differences that had produced an impasse in The Hague. However, this meeting took place after George W. Bush had become the President of the United States and had rejected the Kyoto Protocol in March 2001; as a result the United States delegation to this meeting declined to participate in the negotiations related to the Protocol and chose to take the role of observer at the meeting. As the other parties negotiated the key issues, agreement was reached on most of the major political issues, to the surprise of most observers, given the low expectations that preceded the meeting. The agreements included:


text: A number of operational details attendant upon these decisions remained to be negotiated and agreed upon, and these were the major issues considered by the COP 7 meeting that followed.


text: At the COP 7 meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, from 29 October to 10 November 2001, negotiators wrapped up the work on the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, finalizing most of the operational details and setting the stage for nations to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. The completed package of decisions is known as the Marrakech Accords. The United States delegation maintained its observer role, declining to participate actively in the negotiations. Other parties continued to express hope that the United States would re-engage in the process at some point and worked to achieve ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by the requisite number of countries to bring it into force (55 countries needed to ratify it, including those accounting for 55% of developed-country emissions of carbon dioxide in 1990). The date of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (August–September 2002) was put forward as a target to bring the Kyoto Protocol into force. The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa.


text: Taking place from 23 October to 1 November 2002, in New Delhi COP 8 adopted the Delhi Ministerial Declaration that, amongst others, called for efforts by developed countries to transfer technology and minimize the impact of climate change on developing countries. It is also approved the New Delhi work programme on Article 6 of the Convention. The COP8 was marked by Russia's hesitation, stating that it needed more time to think it over. The Kyoto Protocol could enter into force once it was ratified by 55 countries, including countries responsible for 55 per cent of the developed world's 1990 carbon dioxide emissions. With the United States (36.1 per cent share of developed-world carbon dioxide) and Australia refusing ratification, Russia's agreement (17% of global emissions in 1990) was required to meet the ratification criteria and therefore Russia could delay the process.


text: COP 9 took place on 1–12 December 2003 in Milan, Italy. The parties agreed to use the Adaptation Fund established at COP7 in 2001 primarily in supporting developing countries better adapt to climate change. The fund would also be used for capacity-building through technology transfer. At COP9, the parties also agreed to review the first national reports submitted by 110 non-Annex I countries.


text: COP10 discussed the progress made since the first Conference of the Parties 10 years ago and its future challenges, with special emphasis on climate change mitigation and adaptation. To promote developing countries better adapt to climate change, the Buenos Aires Plan of Action was adopted. The parties also began discussing the post-Kyoto mechanism, on how to allocate emission reduction obligation following 2012, when the first commitment period ends.


text: COP 11/CMP 1 took place between 28 November and 9 December 2005, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the first "Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol" (CMP 1) since their initial meeting in Kyoto in 1997. It was one of the largest intergovernmental conferences on climate change ever. The event marked the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol. Hosting more than 10,000 delegates, it was one of Canada's largest international events ever and the largest gathering in Montreal since Expo 67. The Montreal Action Plan was an agreement to "extend the life of the Kyoto Protocol beyond its 2012 expiration date and negotiate deeper cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions". Canada's environment minister at the time, Stéphane Dion, said the agreement provides a "map for the future".


text: COP 12/CMP 2 took place on 6–17 November 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya. At the meeting, BBC reporter Richard Black coined the phrase "climate tourists" to describe some delegates who attended "to see Africa, take snaps of the wildlife, the poor, dying African children and women". Black also noted that due to delegates concerns over economic costs and possible losses of competitiveness, the majority of the discussions avoided any mention of reducing emissions. Black concluded that was a disconnect between the political process and the scientific imperative. Despite such criticism, certain strides were made at COP12, including in the areas of support for developing countries and clean development mechanism. The parties adopted a five-year plan of work to support climate change adaptation by developing countries, and agreed on the procedures and modalities for the Adaptation Fund. They also agreed to improve the projects for clean development mechanism.


text: COP 13/CMP 3 took place on 3–15 December 2007, at Nusa Dua, in Bali, Indonesia. Agreement on a timeline and structured negotiation on the post-2012 framework (the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol) was achieved with the adoption of the Bali Action Plan (Decision 1/CP.13). The Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA) was established as a new subsidiary body to conduct the negotiations aimed at urgently enhancing the implementation of the Convention up to and beyond 2012. Decision 9/CP.13 is an Amended to the New Delhi work programme. These negotiations took place during 2008 (leading to COP 14/CMP 4 in Poznan, Poland) and 2009 (leading to COP 15/CMP 5 in Copenhagen).


text: COP 14/CMP 4 took place on 1–12 December 2008 in Poznań, Poland. Delegates agreed on principles for the financing of a fund to help the poorest nations cope with the effects of climate change and they approved a mechanism to incorporate forest protection into the efforts of the international community to combat climate change.


text: The overall goal for the COP 15/CMP 5 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Denmark was to establish an ambitious global climate agreement for the period from 2012 when the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol expires. However, on 14 November 2009, the "New York Times" announced that "President Obama and other world leaders have decided to put off the difficult task of reaching a climate change agreement... agreeing instead to make it the mission of the Copenhagen conference to reach a less specific "politically binding" agreement that would punt the most difficult issues into the future". Ministers and officials from 192 countries took part in the Copenhagen meeting and in addition there were participants from a large number of civil society organizations. As many Annex 1 industrialized countries are now reluctant to fulfill commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, a large part of the diplomatic work that lays the foundation for a post-Kyoto agreement was undertaken up to the COP15.


text: The conference did not achieve a binding agreement for long-term action. A 13-paragraph 'political accord' was negotiated by approximately 25 parties including US and China, but it was only 'noted' by the COP as it is considered an external document, not negotiated within the UNFCCC process. The accord was notable in that it referred to a collective commitment by developed countries for new and additional resources, including forestry and investments through international institutions, that will approach US$30 billion for the period 2010–2012. Longer-term options on climate financing mentioned in the accord are being discussed within the UN Secretary General's High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing, which is due to report in November 2010. The negotiations on extending the Kyoto Protocol had unresolved issues as did the negotiations on a framework for long-term cooperative action. The working groups on these tracks to the negotiations are now due to report to COP 16 and CMP 6 in Mexico.


text: The outcome of the summit was an agreement adopted by the states' parties that called for the US$100 billion per annum "Green Climate Fund", and a "Climate Technology Centre" and network. However the funding of the Green Climate Fund was not agreed upon. Nor was a commitment to a second period of the Kyoto Protocol agreed upon, but it was concluded that the base year shall be 1990 and the global warming potentials shall be those provided by the IPCC.


text: All parties "Recognizing that climate change represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet, and thus requires to be urgently addressed by all Parties". It recognizes the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report goal of a maximum 2 °C global warming and all parties should take urgent action to meet this goal. It also agreed upon greenhouse gas emissions should peak as soon as possible, but recognizing that the time frame for peaking will be longer in developing countries, since social and economic development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of developing countries.


text: The conference agreed to a start negotiations on a legally binding deal comprising all countries, to be adopted in 2015, governing the period post 2020. There was also progress regarding the creation of a Green Climate Fund (GCF) for which a management framework was adopted. The fund is to distribute US$100 billion per year to help poor countries adapt to climate impacts.


text: While the president of the conference, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, declared it a success, scientists and environmental groups warned that the deal was not sufficient to avoid global warming beyond 2°C as more urgent action is needed.


text: The Conference produced a package of documents collectively titled "The Doha Climate Gateway". The documents collectively contained:


text: Russia, Belarus and Ukraine objected at the end of the session, as they had a right to under the session's rules. In closing the conference, the President said that he would note these objections in his final report.


text: COP 19 was the 19th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 9th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (the protocol having been developed under the UNFCCC's charter). The conference was held in Warsaw, Poland from 11 to 23 November 2013. The most prominent result was the adoption of the Warsaw Framework for REDD-plus.


text: On 1–12 December 2014, Lima, Peru, hosted the 20th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 10th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (the protocol having been developed under the UNFCCC's charter). The pre-COP conference was held in Venezuela.


text: The COP 21 was held in Paris from 30 November to 12 December 2015. Negotiations resulted in the adoption of the Paris Agreement on 12 December, governing climate change reduction measures from 2020. The adoption of this agreement ended the work of the Durban platform, established during COP17. The agreement will enter into force (and thus become fully effective) on 4 November 2016. On 4 October 2016 the threshold for adoption was reached with over 55 countries representing at least 55% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions ratifying the Agreement.


text: A focal issue of COP 22 is that of water scarcity, water cleanliness, and water-related sustainability, a major problem in the developing world, including many African states. Prior to the event a special initiative on water was presided by Charafat Afailal, Morocco's Minister in Charge of Water and Aziz Mekouar, COP 22 Ambassador for Multilateral Negotiations. Another focal issue was the need to reduce greenhouse emissions and utilize low-carbon energy sources. Peter Thomson, President of the UN General Assembly, called for the transformation of the global economy in all sectors to achieve a low emissions global economy.


text: COP 23 was held on 6–17 November 2017. On Friday, 18 November 2016, the end of COP 22, the Chairperson of COP 23 from Fiji announced that it would be held in Bonn, Germany. (COP 23/CMP 13).


text: Fijian Prime Minister and incoming President of COP 23, Frank Bainimarama, on 13 April launched the logo for this year's United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be held at UN Campus, Bonn in November.


text: The Polish government's vision for presidency states that the organisation of COP 24 will provide an opportunity for convincing other countries that Poland does not hamper the process of tackling dangerous climate change and that Poland is one of the leaders of this process.


text: The Climate Change Conference of UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies was convened in Bonn, Germany, from 17 to 27 June 2019.


text: The 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the UNFCCC was planned to take place from 11 to 22 November 2019 in Brazil. Upon election as President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro withdrew Brazil from hosting the event.


text: COP 25 was then planned to take place in Parque Bicentenario Cerrillos in Santiago de Chile, Chile from 2 to 13 December with a pre-sessional period from 26 November to 1 December 2019 with up to 25,000 delegates scheduled to attend. However, following the 2019 Chilean protests, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announced Chile's withdrawal from hosting the summit in late October 2019. UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa stated that organizers were "exploring alternative hosting options". Then Spain offered, and was appointed, as the new host.


text: COP 26 was originally scheduled to take place from 9 to 19 November 2020, in Glasgow, United Kingdom, but was postponed to 31 October to 12 November 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


text: COP 27 was originally expected to take place in November 2021, but was moved to 2022 due to the rescheduling of COP 26 from 2020 to 2021. It took place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.


text: COP 28 will take place in the United Arab Emirates. The summit will be held at Expo City Dubai from November 4-6th, 2023.


text: In 2022, Australia announced plans to host COP29 along with its Pacific island neighbours, and discussed this at the Pacific Islands Forum.


text: Bulgaria also expressed its desire to host COP29. President Rumen Radev presented Bulgaria's candidacy to host the UN international forum in 2024. This happened at the Climate Change Conference in Egypt.


text: In 2022, during his statement at COP27, elected-president Lula said he would seek to make Brazil the host of COP30 in 2025 and would aim to put the venue in one of the country's Amazon states (most of them in the north region), rather than the more populous coastal region. This would be the first time that Brazil, which is home to 60% of the Amazon Rainforest, the world's largest intact forest, hosts the event.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: John Edward Poynder Grigg (15 April 1924 – 31 December 2001) was a British writer, historian and politician. He was the 2nd Baron Altrincham from 1955 until he disclaimed that title under the Peerage Act on the day it received Royal Assent in 1963.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Grigg edited the "National and English Review" (1954–1960) as his father had done. He was a liberal Tory but was defeated at the 1951 and 1955 general elections. In an article for the "National and English Review" in August 1957, Grigg argued that Queen Elizabeth II's court was too upper-class and British, and instead advocated a more "classless" and Commonwealth court. His article caused a furore and was attacked by the majority of the press, with a minority, including the "New Statesman" and Ian Gilmour's "The Spectator", agreeing with some of Grigg's ideas.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Born in Westminster, Grigg was the son of Edward Grigg, 1st Baron Altrincham and his wife, Joan, daughter of politician John Dickson-Poynder, 1st Baron Islington. Edward Grigg was a "Times" journalist, Liberal, and later Conservative, MP, Governor of Kenya, and member of Winston Churchill's wartime government. His mother organised nursing and midwifery in Kenya.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: From Eton, Grigg joined the British Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into his father's regiment, the Grenadier Guards, in 1943 during the Second World War (1939–1945). While in the British Army, Grigg served as an officer of the Guard at St James's Palace and Windsor Castle, Berkshire, and saw action as a platoon commander in the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, part of the 5th Guards Armoured Brigade of the Guards Armoured Division, against the German Army in France and Belgium. Towards the end of the war, he became an intelligence officer.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: After the war, Grigg read Modern History at New College, Oxford. While at Oxford University, he gained a reputation for academic excellence, winning the University Gladstone Memorial Prize in 1948. In the same year, after graduating with second-class honours, Grigg joined the "National Review", which was owned and edited by his father.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: A liberal Tory, and later a supporter of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, Grigg sought election to the House of Commons. He stood for election for the recently created Oldham West at the 1951 general election, but was defeated by the sitting member Leslie Hale. Grigg contested the seat again in the 1955 general election but was similarly unsuccessful. With his father's death in December 1955, Grigg inherited the title of Baron Altrincham, which seemingly ended any hope of him being able to stand again as a candidate. Nonetheless, Grigg refused to apply for a writ of summons to exercise his right to a seat in the House of Lords.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: When Tony Benn (the Viscount Stansgate) succeeded in obtaining passage of the Peerage Act, Grigg was the second person (after Benn himself) to take advantage of the new law and disclaim his peerage. In 1997, he wrote that he was "entirely opposed to hereditary seats in Parliament" and added that at that time in 1963 he "felt honour-bound to disclaim, though it was a bore to have to change my name again". Grigg never achieved his ambition of election to the Commons, and he subsequently left the Conservative Party for the SDP in 1982.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: As his father's health failed during the first few years of the 1950s, Grigg assumed most of the managerial and editorial duties of the now-renamed "National and English Review". By the time of his father's death in December 1955, Grigg had taken over the editorship formally, and began to edit the "Review" into a publication more reflective of his views.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: In 1956, Grigg attacked Anthony Eden's Conservative government for its handling of the Suez Crisis, and pressed for an immediate withdrawal of British forces from Port Said. He followed his father in championing reform of the House of Lords, although he added that, in lieu of reform, abolition might be the only alternative. He also advocated the introduction of women priests into the Anglican Church.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Grigg was a committed monarchist. When talking to the journalist Robert Lacey about his public criticisms of the Royal Family, Grigg defended himself against the idea that he was an anti-monarchist: "That is like saying that an art critic is anti-art. I love the monarchy. Constitutional monarchy is Britain's greatest invention."


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: In an August 1957 article, "The Monarchy Today", Grigg argued his opinions on the young Queen Elizabeth II and her Court. Of the Royal Family, he said: “They have to perform the seemingly impossible task of being at once ordinary and extraordinary”:


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Grigg was critical of the Debutantes' Parties: "... a grotesque survival from the Monarchy's 'hierarchical' past": "These Parties should certainly have been quietly discontinued in 1945. They pander to snobbishness and give the Queen the appearance of standing at the apex of an aristocratic and plutocratic pyramid. People have a right to 'bring out' their daughters in whatever way they please, but the Crown's benison should be reserved for those who have qualified for it by public service."


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Continuing on with the theme of aristocracy, he wrote: "The present composition of the Court emphasizes the social lopsidedness to which the Monarchy is still prone. The Queen's entourage – those who serve her from day to day, who accompany her when she travels and sit with her when she eats – are almost without exception people of the 'tweedy' sort. Such people may be shrewd, broad-minded and thoroughly suitable for positions at Court, but the same is true of many who are not 'tweedy'; and the fact that the Queen's personal staff represents almost exclusively a single social type creates an unfortunate impression... The Queen should surely now be surrounded by advisers and companions with as many different backgrounds as possible. A truly classless and Commonwealth Court would not only bear eloquent witness to the transformed nature of the Monarchy, but would also give the Queen and her Family the advantage of daily contact with an interesting variety of personalities and points of view."


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Grigg was critical of the Queen's style of public speaking, describing it as "frankly 'a pain in the neck:


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Grigg's article was featured in the national press, and caused an international furore in which he was criticised by, amongst others, Geoffrey Fisher, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Within the first two days of the controversy that followed its publication, Grigg was invited to discuss his article with Martin Charteris, the Queen's assistant private secretary. During a political meeting at Eton thirty years later, Charteris publicly thanked Grigg for his work: "You did a great service to the monarchy and I'm glad to say so publicly."


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: At the time in 1957, as Lord Altrincham, Grigg was denounced by Altrincham Town Council for his views. A statement issued by the Council on 6 August stated: “We the elected representatives of the ratepayers of this Ancient Town of Altrincham present at this informal meeting most strongly deplore the article written by Lord Altrincham and wish to completely disassociate this borough from the comments and statements contained in that article. At the same time we desire that it should be known by her Majesty the Queen that no town has a greater sense of loyalty and devotion to the Crown than the borough of Altrincham.”


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: At the start of the controversy, Grigg was invited by Granada Television to be interviewed on their news programme "Impact". The interview took place on the evening of 6 August 1957, and was conducted by Robin Day. Grigg defended his article in front of Day, stating that he did not wish to apologise or retract what he had written, but saying that he did regret that anyone should have thought he was hostile to the Queen. He said that his aim had been to bring about a change in the atmosphere which surrounded the Queen and the Monarchy across the whole country.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: After the interview, Grigg left Television House in the company of Ludovic Kennedy. As the two of them came out onto the street, Philip Kinghorn Burbidge, a member of the far-right, extreme-nationalist League of Empire Loyalists, came up to them and slapped Grigg's face, saying: "Take that from the League of Empire Loyalists." Burbidge, who was 64 years old, was taken away by the police. Grigg said of the incident: "There was no strength behind the blow. I have not had to have any attention. There were quite a lot of bystanders who saw this happen. They all seemed tremendously friendly towards me."


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Burbidge later pleaded guilty to a charge of using insulting behaviour. He was fined 20 shillings. The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Sir Laurence Dunne, said of him: "I suppose 96 per cent of the population of this country were disgusted and offended by what was written, but I suppose that 99.9 per cent recurring of these would hesitate to select you as their champion. Your action only made a most unsavoury episode more squalid. In a case like this the weapon to be used is the weight of public opinion and not to make it the excuse for a gutter brawl."


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Burbidge himself said: "Such actions are foreign to my nature. Due to the scurrilous attack by Lord Altrincham I felt it was up to a decent Briton to show resentment. What I feared most was the overseas repercussions and publication in American newspapers. I thought our fortunes were at a low ebb and such things only made them more deplorable."


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Robert Menzies, the Prime Minister of Australia, was publicly critical of Grigg, describing his article as "shocking criticism": "It is a pity that it should have been lifted out of a journal with not a very great circulation and given an audience of many millions in the world Press. I think the Queen performs her duties in the Royal office with perfection, with great poise, great character, and great intelligence. If it is now to be said that she reads a speech I might say that many of the great statesmen of the world will have to face the same charge and had better be criticised for it."


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Grigg responded to Menzies' criticism in a front page interview with the "Melbourne Herald". "He is stuffily subservient... typical of the worst attitude towards the Crown... he puts the Queen on a pedestal and genuflects. He simply blindly worships the Sovereign as someone above criticism. Far from doing the Queen service he is doing her a disservice. I regard his attitude as disgusting, and if it were accepted by most of the Queen's subjects - ordinary people like you and me – the monarchy would be in grave danger. Please don't think I haven't great respect for Mr. Menzies. In the sort of Commonwealth court I visualize I would like to see men of Mr. Menzies' brilliance around the Queen, but not men of his particular view - by that, I don't mean his political view, but his approach towards the Monarchy."


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Grigg also commented on the advice Menzies had given to the Queen during her 1954 tour of Western Australia. He said there had been a mild outbreak of poliomyelitis at the time. Although the risk of the Queen catching polio was minute, especially when compared to that for the thousands of people who crowded into the streets to see her, as a result of Menzies' advice, the Queen did not shake hands with anyone during her entire visit there. Of the Queen, Grigg said: “I feel that if the situation was put to her properly she would have seen that it wasn't the way a Sovereign acts.”


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Grigg took part in another Granada broadcast, "Youth Wants To Know", this time from Granada Studios in Manchester. He stood by his criticism of the Queen spending a whole week watching racing at Goodwood: "She takes quite a lot of holidays as it is... If this were pointed out to her, I'm sure she would be the first to see it." Grigg also stated his belief that "the reason that our monarchy is so strong is that it is subject to comment and criticism." He said that he had not foreseen his article gaining "such very large publicity" and declared: "One can be clumsy and nevertheless have convictions."


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Looking back, Grigg was critical of 1950s royal coverage, citing what he called its "blandness and servility": "I was rather worried by the general tone of comment, or the absence of comment really in regards to the monarchy - the way we were sort of drifting into a kind of Japanese Shintoism, at least it seemed to me, in which the monarchy was not so much loved as it should be and cherished, but worshipped in a kind of quasi-religious way. And criticism of the people who were actually embodying it at the time was completely out."


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: The "National and English Review" closed in June 1960, with its 928th and last issue. At the same time, Grigg started working at "The Guardian", which had just relocated to London from its original home in Manchester. For the rest of the decade he wrote a column, entitled "A Word in Edgeways", which he shared with Tony Benn.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: At that same time, in late 1960s, Grigg turned his attention to the project that would occupy him for the remainder of his life: a multi-volume biography of the British prime minister David Lloyd George. The first volume, "The Young Lloyd George", was published in 1973. The second volume, "Lloyd George: The People's Champion", which covered Lloyd George's life from 1902 to 1911, was released in 1978 and won the Whitbread Award for biography for that year. In 1985 the third volume, "Lloyd George, From Peace To War 1912–1916", was published and subsequently received the Wolfson prize. When he died in 2001 Grigg had nearly completed the fourth volume, "Lloyd George: War Leader, 1916–1918"; the final chapter was subsequently finished by historian Margaret MacMillan (Lloyd George's great-granddaughter) and the book published in 2002. In all the volumes, Grigg showed a remarkable sympathy, and even affinity, for the "Welsh Wizard", despite the fact that their domestic personalities were very different. Historian Robert Blake judged the result to be "a fascinating story and is told with panache, vigour, clarity and impartiality by a great biographer."


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Grigg also wrote a number of other books, including: "Two Anglican Essays" (discussing Anglicanism and changes to the Church of England), "Is the Monarchy Perfect?" (a compendium of some of his writings on the Monarchy), a biography of Nancy Astor; Volume VI in the official history of "The Times" covering the Thomson proprietorship; and "The Victory that Never Was", in which he argued that the Western Allies prolonged the Second World War for a year by invading Europe in 1944 rather than 1943.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Grigg married Belfast native Patricia Campbell, who worked at "National and English Review", on 3 December 1958 at St Mary Magdalene Church, Tormarton, Gloucestershire. They later adopted two boys.


title: John Grigg (writer)

text: Grigg is portrayed by John Heffernan in the Netflix series "The Crown". The show’s historical consultant, Robert Lacey said, “I am very glad we’ve got this whole episode on Lord Altrincham, who is a well-known figure in England, and now will become so around the world."


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: David Schumacher (born 23 October 2001) is a German racing driver, son of former Formula One driver Ralf Schumacher, nephew of seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher, and cousin of former Formula One driver Mick Schumacher. He is currently competing in the 2022 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters with Mercedes-AMG Team Winward.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: Schumacher began karting at a young age, alongside his cousin Mick. From there he competed in multiple karting championships under his mother's maiden name Brinkmann. In 2017, David's last year in karts, he chose to race with the Schumacher name and finished as runner-up in the DKM Championship to Dennis Hauger in the senior class.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: In August 2017, it was announced that Schumacher would graduate to single-seaters, competing for his father's US Racing outfit in the 2018 ADAC Formula 4 Championship. In January 2018, he made his single-seater debut, contesting the Formula 4 UAE Championship with Rasgaira Motorsports Team from the second round onwards. Claiming three wins, Schumacher ended the season as vice-champion to Charles Weerts.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: In ADAC Formula 4, Schumacher scored a consistent string of points finishes, with three 4th places being his best finishes, and ended the season 9th in the championship. His results translated into eight race wins in the Rookies' Cup and he claimed the title of rookie champion.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: Schumacher competed in the final two rounds of the 2018 Euroformula Open Championship with RP Motorsport. He was ineligible to score points as a guest driver, but claimed two 4th-place finishes at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. These results placed him 6th in the Spanish Formula 3 championship, which is made up of three rounds from the Euroformula Open championship.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: In January 2019, Schumacher was named as part of Pinnacle Motorsport's three car line-up for the Asian F3 Winter Series. He competed in two of the championship's three rounds, taking a podium finish at the Buriram International Circuit and finishing 8th in the championship.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: In March 2019 it was announced that Schumacher would compete in the inaugural season of the Formula Regional European Championship, returning to the US Racing team co-owned by his father. He claimed four race victories over the season, including two consecutively at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, as well as five other podium finishes, five pole positions and three fastest laps. He ended the season 4th in the championship.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: In September 2019 Schumacher made his debut in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, standing in at Campos Racing for the injured Alex Peroni at the final round in Sochi. Schumacher finished the two races in 22nd and 20th. Schumacher made his first appearance at the Macau Grand Prix in November, racing for Sauber Junior Team by Charouz. He placed 23rd in qualifying, fell back to 25th in the qualifying race and finished 21st in the main race. In December he took part in the second round of the MRF Challenge Formula 2000 series at Bahrain International Circuit, taking both pole positions of the weekend and finishing all four races on the podium, including a victory in the second race.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: In February 2020 it was confirmed that Schumacher would return to the FIA Formula 3 Championship, racing full-time with Charouz Racing System. However, following the Spanish round, he left Charouz to join Carlin Racing. He did not score any points, had a best finish of 12th at the Austria feature race, and finished the championship in 28th place.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: In February 2021 it was announced that Schumacher would race for Trident Racing in the 2021 season. On 4 July 2021 he achieved his first FIA F3 points, podium and victory in race 2 of the third round at the Red Bull Ring, having started the race from reverse-grid pole. Throughout the next two rounds, the German would go on to finish in the points in all but one race, even scoring his second podium of the year in the second race at Spa-Francorchamps, where him and teammate Jack Doohan gave Trident their first one-two finish in their Formula 3 history.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: At Zandvoort, Schumacher qualified a career best of 2nd, behind Dennis Hauger. During the feature race, with 3 laps to go, Schumacher was running in 2nd place until Victor Martins made a failed attempt to pass Schumacher, taking him out while trying to overtake him. Schumacher's 5th place the race before proved to be his last points finish during the season, as he finished 14th and 15th in the final round. He ended the season with just 55 points, compared to his teammates Doohan and Novalak with 179 and 147 points respectively. He still however, helped Trident clinch the constructors' championship by 4 points.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: In April 2022 it was announced that Schumacher would return to Charouz Racing System, the team which he drove for in 2020, to replace Ayrton Simmons at the Imola round. He started 29th and last for both of the races, but recovered to finish 18th and 12th in the races. Due to DTM commitments, Schumacher was replaced by Lirim Zendeli for the Barcelona round. At Zandvoort, Schumacher made his second appearance of the season with Charouz, as Christian Mansell returned to his main campaign in the Euroformula Open. Schumacher once again returned to DTM that clashed with the Monza season finale and was replaced by Alessandro Famularo. Schumacher ended the championship 28th overall, highest of the non-scorers and even ahead of some full-timers.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: He left Formula 3 at the conclusion of the 2021 season to join the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for its 2022 campaign.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: Schumacher's family includes his father, former Formula One driver Ralf, his uncle, seven-time Formula One world champion Michael, and his cousin, Formula One driver Mick. He is also in a relationship with Hungarian racing driver Vivien Keszthelyi.


title: David Schumacher (racing driver)

text: Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: Election is a 1999 American black comedy film directed by Alexander Payne from a screenplay by Payne and Jim Taylor, based on Tom Perrotta's 1998 novel of the same name.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: The plot revolves around a student body election and satirizes politics and high school life. The film stars Matthew Broderick as Jim McAllister, a popular high school social studies teacher, and Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick, an overachieving student whom he dislikes. When Tracy runs for student government president, Jim sabotages her candidacy by backing a rival candidate and tampering with the ballot count.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: Although not a success at the box office, "Election" received widespread critical acclaim. The film received an Academy Awards nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Golden Globe nomination for Witherspoon for Best Actress, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film in 1999.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: Jim McAllister teaches U.S. history and civics at the fictitious Carver High School, located in suburban Omaha, Nebraska. Tracy Flick is an overachieving senior and one of Jim's students. Jim's colleague and best friend Dave lost his job and his wife after statutorily raping Tracy. While Jim felt Dave needed to suffer the consequences, he resents Tracy for having emerged unscathed.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: Appalled by Tracy's unopposed run for student government president, Jim persuades Paul Metzler, a popular football player, to enter the race. Paul is sidelined from football with a broken leg and finds his candidacy gives him purpose. It also infuriates Tracy, who resents Paul's popularity and privileged upbringing.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: Tammy Metzler, Paul's adopted younger sister, is dumped by her girlfriend Lisa, who becomes Paul's girlfriend and campaign manager. Tammy exacts revenge by running for president on a nihilistic platform that student government is a sham. In her speech at a school assembly, she denounces the election and vows to dissolve student government if she wins. She rallies the students to a rowdy standing ovation, but the principal retaliates by suspending her.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: Tracy sees that one of her campaign posters has come unstuck from the wall. She tries to secure it but accidentally rips the poster apart. In a fit of rage, she destroys the other candidates' campaign posters and discards them in a dumpster, unaware that Tammy sees her. The next day, Jim confronts Tracy with his suspicion that she removed the posters. Tracy feigns innocence and trades threats with Jim. She is saved by Tammy, who appears with the torn posters and claims responsibility. Tammy is expelled, her name is struck from the ballot, and her parents enroll her in a private Catholic school for girls, much to her delight.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: The day before the election, Jim has a tryst with Linda, Dave's ex-wife. Linda asks Jim to rent a motel room for an afterschool rendezvous, but she fails to show. When Jim drives to Linda's house to find her, he is stung by a bee on his eyelid. He returns home to find Linda and his wife Diane talking. Knowing his encounter with Linda has been exposed, he spends the night in his car.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: Jim oversees the tally of the ballots, which finds Tracy winning by a single vote. He secretly disposes of two of Tracy's ballots, throwing the election to Paul. The ballots are later discovered, and Tracy becomes president. Jim elects to resign, and notes that the election rigging made headlines across the USA due to Internet discussion. Diane divorces Jim, taking the house and most of their joint assets.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: Divorced and humiliated, Jim moves to New York City, becomes a tour guide at the American Museum of Natural History, and begins dating a new woman. Paul develops an active social life at the University of Nebraska, though without Lisa, who dumps him. Tammy finds a new girlfriend at her all-girls school. Tracy attends Georgetown University, only to be dismayed most of her classmates got admitted through sliding by on connections, considering it a rehash of high school. Tracy misses Dave's intellect and wonders if he became a novelist as she believed he would be; the film shows Dave working in a big box store.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: On a visit to Washington, D.C., Jim spots Tracy getting into a limousine with a congressman. Infuriated that she will go through life as she did at Carver, he hurls a cup of soda at the limo's backglass. The film ends with Jim working at the museum lecturing a group of elementary students: an overeager little girl, blonde like Tracy, is the only one to respond.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: Producers Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa sent director Alexander Payne an unpublished manuscript from novelist Tom Perrotta called "Election" in 1996. Payne was initially uninterested in directing a high school movie, but changed his mind after he read the manuscript. "It was set in a high school, but it wasn’t a high school story, per se. Also what attracted me was the formal exercise of doing a movie with multiple points of view and multiple voice-overs," said Payne. The novel's rights were sold to Payne in January 1997 and it was officially published in March 1998.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: The novel was inspired by two key events. The first was the 1992 United States presidential election, in which Ross Perot entered as a third-party candidate (a move echoed by Tammy Metzler). The second was a 1992 incident at Memorial High School in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in which a pregnant student was elected homecoming queen, but staff announced a different winner and burned the ballots to cover it up.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: The film uses a number of stylized techniques in its storytelling, particularly through the use of freeze frames, flashbacks and voiceovers, which allow sections of the narrative to be delivered from the points of view of the four main characters.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: The film was primarily shot on location around the Omaha metro area in the fall of 1997, most notably in Papillion, Bellevue and the Dundee neighborhood. Papillion-La Vista Senior High School portrayed the fictitious Carver High School with many of the background extras being actual enrolled students at the time. Minor scenes were filmed at Younkers in Westroads Mall, the Old Market and the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: The film's original ending, which was received poorly by test audiences, was not known until a rough workprint of it was found in a box of VHS tapes at a yard sale in 2011. This ending also appears in the third draft of the script, which can be read online. It is faithful to the book: Jim stays in Omaha and is hired as a used car salesman by one of his former students instead of moving to New York. Tracy encounters Jim while looking to buy a car and the two settle their differences before she has him sign her yearbook.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: "Election" was not a box office success as it grossed only $17.2 million against a budget of $8.5-$25 million.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: "Election" received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 92%, based on 114 reviews, with an average rating of 7.90/10. The critical consensus reads, ""Election" successfully combines dark humor and intelligent writing in this very witty and enjoyable film." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 83 out of 100, based on 33 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B−" on scale of A to F. It later placed at #5 in the first annual Village Voice Film Poll.


title: Election (1999 film)

text: Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half out of four stars, praising Witherspoon and Payne, and saying, "...here is a movie that is not simply about an obnoxious student, but also about an imperfect teacher, a lockstep administration, and a student body that is mostly just marking time until it can go out into the world and occupy valuable space". Todd McCarthy of "Variety magazine" wrote: "Brandishes the sort of intelligent wit and bracing nastiness that will make it more appealing to discerning adults than to teens who just want to have fun." Desson Howe from "The Washington Post" recommended the film, saying it was "the satire of the season, a hilarious, razor-sharp indictment of the American Dream," also praising Payne for finding "a perfect fulcrum between humor and tragedy, between black comedy and poignancy."


title: Election (1999 film)

text: "Election" is ranked #61 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies", #389 on "Empire"'s "500 Greatest Movies of All Time" and #9 on "Entertainment Weekly"'s list of the "50 Best High School Movies", while Witherspoon's performance was ranked at #45 on the list of the "100 Greatest Film Performances of All Time" by "Premiere".


title: Election (1999 film)

text: "Election" was released on DVD on October 19, 1999, and Blu-ray on January 20, 2017. A special edition Blu-ray was released by The Criterion Collection on December 16, 2017, with a 4K restoration of the film.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal, abbreviated to Thubten Gyatso (; 12 February 1876 – 17 December 1933) was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet, enthroned during a turbulent era and the collapse of the Qing Empire. Referred to as "the Great Thirteenth", he is also known for redeclaring Tibet's national independence, and for his reform and modernization initiatives.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: In 1878 he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. He was escorted to Lhasa and given his pre-novice vows by the Panchen Lama, Tenpai Wangchuk, and named "Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal". In 1879 he was enthroned at the Potala Palace, but did not assume political power until 1895, after he had reached his maturity.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: Thubten Gyatso was an intellectual reformer and skillful politician. He was responsible for countering the British expedition to Tibet, restoring discipline in monastic life, and increasing the number of lay officials to avoid excessive power being placed in the hands of the monks.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: The 13th Dalai Lama was born in the village of Thakpo Langdun, one day by car, south-east from Lhasa, and near Sam-ye Monastery, Tak-po province, in June 1876 to parents Kunga Rinchen and Lobsang Dolma, a peasant couple. Laird gives his birthdate as 27 May 1876, and Mullin gives it as dawn on the 5th month of the Fire Mouse Year (1876).


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: Agvan Dorzhiev (1854–1938), a Khori-Buryat Mongol, and a Russian subject, was born in the village of Khara-Shibir, not far from Ulan Ude, to the east of Lake Baikal. He left home in 1873 at age 19 to study at the Gelugpa monastery, Drepung, near Lhasa, the largest monastery in Tibet. Having successfully completed the traditional course of religious studies, he began the academic Buddhist degree of Geshey Lharampa (the highest level of 'Doctorate of Buddhist Philosophy'). He continued his studies to become Tsanid-Hambo, or "Master of Buddhist Philosophy". He became a tutor and "debating partner" of the teenage Dalai Lama, who became very friendly with him and later used him as an envoy to Russia and other countries.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: After the British expedition to Tibet by Sir Francis Younghusband in early 1904, Dorzhiev convinced the Dalai Lama to flee to Urga in Mongolia, almost to the northeast of Lhasa, a journey which took four months. The Dalai Lama spent over a year in Urga and the Wang Khuree Monastery (to the west from the capital) giving teachings to the Mongolians. In Urga he met the 8th Bogd Gegeen Jebtsundamba Khutuktu several times (the spiritual leader of Outer Mongolia). The content of these meetings is unknown. According to report from A.D. Khitrovo, the Russian Border Commissioner in Kyakhta Town, the Dalai Lama and the influential Mongol Khutuktus, high lamas and princes "irrevocably decided to secede from China as an independent federal state, carrying out this operation under the patronage and support from Russia, taking care to avoid the bloodshed". The Dalai Lama insisted that if Russia would not help, he would even ask Britain, his former foe, for assistance.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: After the Dalai Lama fled, the Qing dynasty immediately proclaimed him deposed and again asserted sovereignty over Tibet, making claims over Nepal and Bhutan as well. The Treaty of Lhasa was signed at the Potala between Great Britain and Tibet in the presence of the Amban and Nepalese and Bhutanese representatives on 7 September 1904. The provisions of the 1904 treaty were confirmed in a 1906 treaty signed between Great Britain and China. The British, for a fee from the Qing court, also agreed not to annex Tibetan territory or to interfere in the administration of Tibet, while China agreed not to permit any other foreign state to interfere with the territory or internal administration of Tibet.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: The Dalai Lama is thought to have been involved with the anti-foreign 1905 Tibetan Rebellion. The British invasion of Lhasa in 1904 had repercussions in the Tibetan Buddhist world, causing extreme anti-western and anti-Christian sentiment among Tibetan Buddhists. The British invasion also triggered intense and sudden Qing intervention in Tibetan areas, to develop, assimilate, and bring the regions under strong Qing central control. The Tibetan Lamas in Batang proceeded to revolt in 1905, massacring Chinese officials, French missionaries, and Christian Catholic converts. The Tibetan monks opposed the Catholics, razing the Catholic mission's Church, and slaughtering all Catholic missionaries and Qing officials. The Manchu Qing official Fengquan was assassinated by the Tibetan Batang Lamas, along with other Manchu and Han Chinese Qing officials and the French Catholic priests, who were all massacred when the rebellion started in March 1905. Tibetan Gelugpa monks in Nyarong, Chamdo, and Litang also revolted and attacked missions and churches and slaughtered westerners. The British invasion of Lhasa, the missionaries, and the Qing were linked in the eyes of the Tibetans, as hostile foreigners to be attacked. Zhongtian (Chungtien) was the location of Batang monastery. The Tibetans slaughtered the converts, torched the building of the missionaries in Batang due to their xenophobia. Sir Francis Edward Younghusband wrote that "At the same time, on the opposite side of Tibet they were still more actively aggressive, expelling the Roman Catholic missionaries from their long-established homes at Batang, massacring many of their converts, and burning the mission-house." There was anti Christian sentiment and xenophobia running rampant in Tibet.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: In October 1906, John Weston Brooke was the first Englishman to gain an audience with the Dalai Lama, and subsequently he was granted permission to lead two expeditions into Tibet. Also in 1906, Sir Charles Alfred Bell, was invited to visit Thubten Chökyi Nyima, the 9th Panchen Lama at Tashilhunpo, where they had friendly discussions on the political situation.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: The Dalai Lama later stayed at the great Kumbum Monastery near Xining and then travelled east to the most sacred of four Buddhist mountain in China, Wutai Shan located 300 km from Beijing. From here, the Dalai Lama received a parade of envoys: William Woodville Rockhill, the American Minister in Peking; Gustaf Mannerheim, an Imperial Russian army colonel, who later became the Marshal of Finland and the 6th President of Finland; a German doctor from the Peking Legation; an English explorer named Christopher Irving; R.F. Johnson, a British diplomat from the Colonial Service; and Henri D'Ollone, the French army major and viscount. The Dalai Lama was mounting a campaign to strengthen his international ties and free his kingdom from Chinese rule.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: In June 1908, C.G.E. Mannerheim met Thubten Gyatso in Wutai Shan during the course of his expedition from Turkestan to Peking. Mannerheim wrote his diary and notes in Swedish to conceal the fact that his ethnographic and scientific party was also an elaborate intelligence gathering mission for the Imperial Russian army. The 13th Dalai Lama gave a blessing of white silk for the Russian Czar. Worried about his safety, Mannerheim gave Tibet's spiritual pontiff a Browning revolver and showed him how to reload the weapon.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: In September 1908, the Dalai Lama was granted an audience with the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi. The emperor tried to stress Tibet's subservient role, although the Dalai Lama refused to kowtow to him. He stayed in Beijing until the end of 1908.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: When he returned to Tibet in December 1908, he began reorganising the government, but the Qing sent a military expedition of its own to Tibet in 1910 and he had to flee to India.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: In 1911 the Qing dynasty was overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution and by the end of 1912 the last Qing troops had been escorted out of Tibet.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: In 1895, Thubten Gyatso assumed ruling power from the monasteries which had previously wielded great influence through the Regent. Due to his two periods of exile in 1904–1909, to escape the British invasion of 1904, and from 1910 to 1913 to escape a Chinese invasion, he became well aware of the complexities of international politics and was the first Dalai Lama to become aware of the importance of foreign relations. The Dalai Lama, "accompanied by six ministers and a small escort" which included his close aide, diplomat and military figure Tsarong Dzasa, fled via Jelep La to Sikkim and Darjeeling, where they stayed almost two years. During this period he was invited to Calcutta by the Viceroy, Lord Minto, which helped restore relations with the British.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: Thubten Gyatso returned to Lhasa in January 1913 with Tsarong Dzasa from Darjeeling, where he had been living in exile. The new Chinese government apologised for the actions of the previous Qing dynasty and offered to restore the Dalai Lama to his former position. He replied that he was not interested in Chinese ranks and was assuming spiritual and political leadership of Tibet.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: After his return from exile in India in 1913, Thubten Gyatso assumed control of foreign relations and dealt directly with the Maharaja and the British Political officer in Sikkim and the king of Nepal rather than letting the Kashag or parliament do it.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: Documents from Russian Foreign Ministry archives contain detailed argumentation of the 13th Dalai Lama that Tibet was never a part of China. Thubten Gyatso declared independence from China in early 1913 (13 February), after returning from India following three years of exile. He then standardized the Tibetan flag in its present form. At the end of 1912 the first postage stamps of Tibet and the first bank notes were issued.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: Thubten Gyatso built a new medical college (Mentsikang) in 1913 on the site of the post-revolutionary traditional hospital near the Jokhang.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: Legislation was introduced to counter corruption among officials, a national taxation system was established and enforced, and a police force was created. The penal system was revised and made uniform throughout the country. "Capital punishment was completely abolished and corporal punishment was reduced. Living conditions in jails were also improved, and officials were designated to see that these conditions and rules were maintained."


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: A secular education system was introduced in addition to the religious education system. Thubten Gyatso sent four promising students to England to study, and welcomed foreigners, including Japanese, British and Americans.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: As a result of his travels and contacts with foreign powers and their representatives (e.g., Pyotr Kozlov, Charles Alfred Bell and Gustaf Mannerheim), the Dalai Lama showed an interest in world affairs and introduced electricity, the telephone and the first motor cars to Tibet. Nonetheless, at the end of his life in 1933, he saw that Tibet was about to retreat from outside influences.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: In the last decade of his life, the Dalai Lama's personal attendant, Thubten Kunphela rose to power and led several important projects for the modernization in Tibet. In 1931, a new factory complex consisting of currency mints and munition factories was established in Trapchi, with its machines driven by power from the first hydroelectric plant in Tibet. A modern army regiment was created in the same year, after the conflict broke out in Eastern Tibet.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: In 1930, Tibetan army invaded the Xikang and the Qinghai in the Sino-Tibetan War. In 1932, the Muslim Qinghai and Han-Chinese Sichuan armies of the National Revolutionary Army led by Chinese Muslim General Ma Bufang and Han General Liu Wenhui defeated the Tibetan army during the subsequent Qinghai–Tibet War. Ma Bufang overran the Tibetan armies and recaptured several counties in Xikang province. Shiqu, Dengke, and other counties were seized from the Tibetans. The Tibetans were pushed back to the other side of the Jinsha river. Ma and Liu warned Tibetan officials not to dare cross the Jinsha river again. Ma Bufang defeated the Tibetans at Dan Chokorgon. Several Tibetan generals surrendered, and were demoted by the Dalai Lama. By August, the Tibetans lost so much land to Liu Wenhui and Ma Bufang's forces that the Dalai Lama telegraphed the British government of India for assistance. British political pressure led to Nanjing declaring a ceasefire. Separate truces were signed by Ma and Liu with the Tibetans in 1933, ending the fighting.


title: 13th Dalai Lama

text: Approximately 6,000 monasteries were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, destroying the vast majority of historic Tibetan architecture.


title: Private investigator

text: A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators often work for attorneys in civil and criminal cases.


title: Private investigator

text: In 1833, Eugène François Vidocq, a French soldier, criminal, and privateer, founded the first known private detective agency, "Le Bureau des Renseignements Universels pour le commerce et l'Industrie" ("The Office of Universal Information For Commerce and Industry") and hired ex-convicts. Much of what private investigators did in the early days was to act as the police in matters for which their clients felt the police were not equipped or willing to do. Official law enforcement tried many times to shut it down. In 1842, police arrested him in suspicion of unlawful imprisonment and taking money on false pretences after he had solved an embezzlement case. Vidocq later suspected that it had been a set-up. He was sentenced to five years and fined 3,000 francs, but the Court of Appeals released him. Vidocq is credited with having introduced record-keeping, criminology, and ballistics to criminal investigation. He made the first plaster casts of shoe impressions. He created indelible ink and unalterable bond paper with his printing company. His form of anthropometrics is still partially used by French police. He is also credited for philanthropic pursuits – he claimed he never informed on anyone who had stolen for real need.


title: Private investigator

text: In the United Kingdom, Charles Frederick Field set up an enquiry office upon his retirement from the Metropolitan Police in 1852. Field became a friend of Charles Dickens, and the latter wrote articles about him. In 1862, one of his employees, the Hungarian Ignatius Paul Pollaky, left him and set up a rival agency. Although little-remembered today, Pollaky's fame at the time was such that he was mentioned in various books of the 1870s and immortalized as "Paddington" Pollaky for his "keen penetration" in the 1881 comic opera, "Patience".


title: Private investigator

text: In the United States, Allan Pinkerton established the Pinkerton National Detective Agency – a private detective agency – in 1850. Pinkerton became famous when he foiled a plot to assassinate then President-elect Abraham Lincoln in 1861. Pinkerton's agents performed services which ranged from undercover investigations and detection of crimes, to plant protection and armed security. At the height of its existence, the number of Pinkerton National Detective Agency active agents and reserves rivaled the number of active soldiers and reserves in the United States Army. Allan Pinkerton hired Kate Warne in 1856 as a private detective, making her the first female private detective in America.


title: Private investigator

text: A larger role for this new private investigative industry was to assist companies in labor disputes. Some early private investigators provided armed guards to act as a private militia. During the union unrest in the US in the late 19th century, industrialists would hire Pinkerton agents as undercover operatives to infiltrate and disrupt union activity or serve as armed guards for factories. In the aftermath of the Homestead Riot of 1892, several states passed so-called "anti-Pinkerton" laws restricting the importation of private security guards during union strikes. The federal Anti-Pinkerton Act of 1893 continues to prohibit an "individual employed by the Pinkerton Detective Agency, or similar organization" from being employed by "the Government of the United States or the government of the District of Columbia."


title: Private investigator

text: Pinkerton agents were also hired to track western outlaws Jesse James, the Reno brothers, and the Wild Bunch, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.


title: Private investigator

text: Many private detectives/investigators with special academic and practical experience often work with defense attorneys on capital punishment and other criminal defense cases. Others are insurance investigators who investigate suspicious claims. Before the advent of no-fault divorce, many private investigators sought evidence of adultery or other conduct within marriage to establish grounds for a divorce. Despite the lack of legal necessity for such evidence in many jurisdictions, according to press reports, collecting evidence of spouses' and partners' adultery or other "bad behaviour" is still one of their most profitable undertakings, as the stakes being fought over now are child custody, alimony, or marital property disputes.


title: Private investigator

text: Private investigators can also perform due diligence for an investor considering investing with an investment group, fund manager, or other high-risk business or investment venture. This could help the prospective investor avoid being the victim of fraud. A licensed and experienced investigator could reveal the investment is risky and/or the investor has a suspicious background. This is called investigative due diligence, and is becoming more prevalent in the 21st century with the public reports of large-scale Ponzi schemes and other fraudulent investment vehicles.


title: Private investigator

text: There are also cases of corrupt private detectives who, at times, have been known to work for criminals such as stalkers and crime bosses to track down escaped victims, rival criminals and/or witnesses that have gone into hiding or to gather compromising evidence against witnesses, informants, prosecutors and/or police investigators that could be used in upcoming trials.


title: Private investigator

text: Private investigators also engage in a variety of work not often associated with the industry in the mind of the public. For example, many are involved in process serving, the personal delivery of summons, subpoenas, and other legal documents to parties in a legal case. The tracing of absconding debtors can also form a large part of a PI's work load. Many agencies specialize in a particular field of expertise. For example, some PI agencies deal only in tracing.


title: Private investigator

text: A handful of firms specialize in technical surveillance counter-measures, sometimes called electronic counter measures, which is the locating and dealing with unwanted forms of electronic surveillance (for example, a bugged boardroom for industrial espionage purposes). This niche service is typically conducted by those with backgrounds in intelligence/counterintelligence, executive protection, and a small number from law enforcement entities whose duties included the covert installation of eavesdropping devices as a tool in organized crime, terrorism and narco-trafficking investigations.


title: Private investigator

text: Other PIs, also known as corporate investigators, specialize in corporate matters, including antifraud work, loss prevention, internal investigations of employee misconduct (such as Equal Employment Opportunities violations and sexual harassment), the protection of intellectual property and trade secrets, antipiracy, copyright infringement investigations, due diligence investigations, malware and cyber criminal activity, and computer forensics work. Some PIs act as professional witnesses where they observe situations with a view to reporting the actions or lack of them to a court or to gather evidence in antisocial behavior.


title: Private investigator

text: An undercover investigator, undercover detective, or undercover agent is a person who conducts investigations of suspected or confirmed criminal activity while impersonating a disinterested third party. Undercover investigators often infiltrate a suspected insurgent group, posing as a person interested in purchasing illegal goods or services with the ultimate aim of obtaining information about their assigned target.


title: Private investigator

text: Many undercover investigators carry hidden cameras and recorders strapped to their bodies to help them document their investigations. The period of the investigation could last for several months, or in some extreme cases, years. Due to the dangerous nature of the job, their real identities are kept secret throughout their active careers.


title: Private investigator

text: Economic investigations, business intelligence and information on competitors, security advice, special security services information, criminal investigation, investigations background, and profile polygraph tests are all typical examples of such a role.


title: Private investigator

text: Certain types of undercover investigators, depending on their employer, will investigate allegations of abuse of workman's compensation. Those claiming to be injured are often investigated and recorded with a hidden camera/recorder. This is then presented in court or to the client who paid for the investigation.


title: Private investigator

text: Many jurisdictions require PIs to be licensed. Depending on local laws, they may or may not carry a firearm. Equipment can vary greatly, but generally involves a wide variety of surveillance equipment and recording devices. While PIs may investigate criminal matters, they typically do not hold any law enforcement authority by virtue of the position, regardless of licensure. Private investigators’ authority is usually identical to other citizens’ (off-duty or retired law enforcement officers serving as a PI may retain their police powers at all times, depending on the jurisdiction). They are expected to keep detailed notes and to be prepared to testify in court regarding any of their observations on behalf of their clients, irregular hours may also be required when performing surveillance work. Great care is required to remain within the scope of the law; otherwise, the private investigator may face criminal charges. However, there are also cases across the world, of corrupt or rogue private investigators who have obtained people's private data and information through illegal means. These include phone hacking, pretexting, identity theft and other illegal means of accessing government, insurance and police databases to obtain highly sensitive private information on their targets.


title: Private investigator

text: Private investigators in Australia must be licensed by the licensing authority relevant to the state where they are located. This applies to all states except the Australian Capital Territory. Companies offering investigation services must also hold a business licence and all their operatives must hold individual licences. Generally, the licences are administered and regulated by the state police; however, in some states, this can also be managed by other government agencies.


title: Private investigator

text: To become registered in New South Wales requires a CAPI licence, which can be applied for through the NSW Police Force website.


title: Private investigator

text: The Australian Capital Territory does not require PIs to be licensed, although they are still bound by legislation. PIs working in the ACT cannot enter the NSW area without a CAPI license, else they will be in breach of the law.


title: Private investigator

text: In Queensland, a private investigator need to be licensed under the Queensland Government and apply for a private investigator licence by completing an application for a security provider licence. Applicant will need to have a criminal history check and submit fingerprint.


title: Private investigator

text: In 2001, the government passed the licensing of private investigators and private investigation firms in the UK over to the Security Industry Authority (SIA), which acted as the regulatory body from then on. However, due to the cutbacks of this agency, licensing of private investigators in the UK was halted indefinitely. At present, no government-backed authorities in the UK license private investigators.


title: Private investigator

text: The SIA have announced that PIs in the UK were to become licensed for the first time from May 2015, but this is only the scheduled date for the issue to be discussed in parliament. In December 2014, Corporate Livewire produced an article written by a UK private investigator at BAR Investigations, addressing the issues surrounding private investigation in the UK.


title: Private investigator

text: Private investigators in the United States may or may not be licensed or registered by a government licensing authority or state police of the state where they are located. Licensing varies from state to state and can range from: a) no state license required; b) city or state business license required (such as in five states (Idaho, Alaska, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Wyoming); c) to needing several years of experience and licensing-related training classes and testing (as is the case with Virginia, West Virginia, and California). In many states, companies offering investigation services must hold an agency license, and all of their investigators or detectives must hold individual licenses or registrations; furthermore, certain states such as Washington have separate classes of licensing for roles such as trainers of private investigators. A few reciprocity agreements allow a detective working in one state to continue work in another for a limited time without getting a separate license, but not all states participate in these agreements.


title: Private investigator

text: In 1877, Colorado became the first state in the union to institute licensing requirements for private investigators, as stated in the 1877 Legislative Manual. In 1977, when El Paso County challenged a local security company's right to conduct investigations without a license, Colorado Supreme Court declared the licensing law too vague because it didn't adequately define a "detective business" and struck it down. Following this, several private investigators formed Professional Private Investigators Association of Colorado (PPIAC) in order to try to get the licensing laws reinstated, but the bills died in the General Assembly. On June 10, 2011, Governor John Hickenlooper signed into law Colorado House Bill 1195, which reinstated licenses for private investigators on voluntary basis effective July 1, 2012. A license applicant would have to be of 21 years of age or older, hold United States citizenship and have at least 4,000 hours of work experience as an investigator or part of a local, state or federal law enforcement agency; or 2,000 hours with post-secondary education.


title: Private investigator

text: On June 6, 2014, Hickenlooper signed into law Senate Bill 133, which effective June 1, 2015, made licensure mandatory. This split the licenses into two categories: Class I, requiring the applicant to be 21 years of age or older, hold United States citizenship and pass the Colorado Jurisprudence Exam. Class II requires in addition to Class I requirements a minimum of 4,000 hours of work experience as an investigator or part of a local, state or federal law enforcement agency. In 2019, following a review, the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies' Office of Policy, Research and Regulatory Reform suggested licensure requirement elimination, predicting "little to no consumer harm". In June 2020, Governor Jared Polis vetoed House Bill 1207 to keep licensure requirements, causing the licensure requirements to expire on August 31, 2021.


title: Private investigator

text: Florida has 3 types of licenses - Class CC for private investigator intern, C for private investigator, and MA for manager of a private investigative agency. As Class C license requires at least 2 years of experience, most applicants start with Class CC, which allows them to work under a sponsorship of a licensed Class C investigator.


title: Private investigator

text: For a Private Investigator License in New York, an investigator needs 3 years of verifiable experience, and to pass a NY State Department of State Division of licensing Services exam.


title: Private investigator

text: In 1893 a federal law was passed explicitly barring the government from employing the Pinkerton Detective Agency or a similar agency.


title: Private investigator

text: Private investigators in Canada are licensed at the provincial level by the appropriate body. For instance, in the province of Ontario, private investigators are licensed and regulated by the Ministry of Community Safety & Correctional Services (MCSCS). In the province of Alberta, private investigators are licensed and regulated by the Alberta Justice and Solicitor General. Similar licensing requirements apply in other provinces and territories of Canada. As per the Ontario text of the Private Security and Investigative Services Act of 2005, private investigators are forbidden from referring to themselves as detective or private detective. In order to become a licensed private investigator, you must be 18 years of age or older in Ontario (in other Provinces and territories of Canada the eligible age to work may be higher); have a clean criminal record or obtain a waiver; and submit a correctly completed application for a license. You are required to complete 50-hours of basic training with an accredited source such as a university, college, or through private agencies licensed to administer the course. Upon completion of basic training, individuals are required to write and pass the basic test to obtain a private investigator's license.