title: Arlene Francis

text: The original show, which featured guests whose occupation, or "line," the panelists were to guess, became one of the classic television game shows, noted for the urbanity of its host and panelists.


title: Arlene Francis

text: She appeared on other game shows, including "Match Game", "Password", "To Tell the Truth", and other programs produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, including a short-lived hosting stint on the Goodson-Todman show "By Popular Demand", replacing original host Robert Alda.


title: Arlene Francis

text: According to "TV Guide", Francis was the highest-earning game show panelist in the 1950s, making $1,000 () per show on the prime time version of "What's My Line?". By contrast, the second-highest-paid panelists on TV, Dorothy Kilgallen and Faye Emerson, received $500 () per appearance.


title: Arlene Francis

text: Francis was the emcee on the last episodes of "The Comeback Story", a short-lived 1954 reality show on ABC in which mostly celebrities shared stories of having overcome adversity in their personal lives.


title: Arlene Francis

text: Francis was a pioneer for women on television, one of the first to host a program that was not musical or dramatic in nature. From 1954 to 1957, she was host and editor-in-chief of "Home," NBC's hour-long daytime magazine program oriented toward women, which was conceived by network president Pat Weaver to complement the network's "Today" and "Tonight" programs. In 1954, she appeared on the cover of "Newsweek" magazine. She hosted "Talent Patrol" in the mid 1950s. In 1962, Francis was one of numerous people recruited to guest host "Tonight" during an interval period before Johnny Carson took over as host from Jack Paar. This made her the first woman to host not only "Tonight" but a national late-night U.S. network talk show.


title: Arlene Francis

text: She acted in a few Hollywood films, debuting in the role of a streetwalker who falls prey to mad scientist Bela Lugosi in "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1932). In her memoir, Francis said she was cast for the movie even though her only acting experience at the time was in a small Shakespearean production in a convent school she had attended. Some sixteen years later, she appeared in the film version of Arthur Miller's play "All My Sons" (1948) with Edward G. Robinson.


title: Arlene Francis

text: In the 1960s, Francis made three films: "One, Two, Three" (1961), directed by Billy Wilder and filmed in Munich, in which she played James Cagney's wife; "The Thrill of It All" (1963) with Doris Day and James Garner; and, in 1968, the television version of the play "Laura", which she had played on stage several times. Her final film performance was in Wilder's "Fedora" (1978).


title: Arlene Francis

text: In 1978, Francis wrote her autobiography, "Arlene Francis: A Memoir", with longtime friend Florence Rome. In 1960, she wrote "That Certain Something: The Magic of Charm", and she published a cookbook, "No Time for Cooking", in 1961. She was a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors from 1980–82. Francis also guested on television programs including "Mrs. G. Goes to College" in 1962 in the episode "The Mother Affair".


title: Arlene Francis

text: Francis was married twice. Her first marriage, from 1935 to 1945, was to Neil Agnew, an executive with Paramount Pictures; they divorced in 1945.


title: Arlene Francis

text: She wrote of this experience in her 1978 autobiography: Having made the actual physical break, it was easier for me than I had thought to explain to Neil some of what I felt, what I had been feeling for so long a time. Not all, of course. There were areas which I couldn't discuss even then, which would be too hurtful to him, I felt. I saw him fairly often, and he courted me as though we had just met, but I was building up strengths which enabled me to resist not only his blandishments (including a lovely little house which he bought in New York as an enticement to get me to change my mind) but those of my parents, who also would have given anything to see me go back to the status which had been quo. As she disclosed in her autobiography, she admitted she never should have married Neil Agnew because she wasn't in love with him. During the marriage, she met producer and actor Martin Gabel and fell in love with him. He encouraged her to divorce Agnew, which was one of the sources of her torment because her parents loved Agnew like a son. After Francis divorced him to marry Gabel, they initially did not like Gabel for several reasons, including her divorce.


title: Arlene Francis

text: Francis's marriage to Gabel lasted from 1946 until his death in 1986. Gabel was a frequent guest panelist on "What's My Line?". The couple, who often exchanged endearments on the show, had a son, Peter Gabel, born January 28, 1947, a legal scholar associated with New College of California in San Francisco. Peter Gabel was an associate editor of "Tikkun", a Jewish-community commentary magazine. While working as a tour guide at the 1964 New York World's Fair, Peter surprised his mother as a contestant on "What's My Line?".


title: Arlene Francis

text: Francis and her husband settled a lawsuit for $185,000 in June 1962 that had been filed by the widow of a Detroit man who was killed when a dumbbell fell from the Gabel family's eighth-floor Ritz Tower apartment and struck him on the head while he was visiting New York to celebrate his birthday. Francis, Gabel, and their son Peter were vacationing in Connecticut when the 1960 incident happened. Francis had instructed their maid to shampoo the carpet while they were away. The maid kept windows open for a long time to minimize the smell of the shampoo. The dumbbell was part of the equipment that Francis used for her regular exercise of weightlifting.


title: Arlene Francis

text: On May 26, 1963, Francis was involved in a serious car accident while driving alone from a theater on Long Island to the Manhattan studio where she was expected for a live telecast of "What's My Line?". The force from a car that struck her car caused her to skid on the wet surface of the Northern State Parkway, jump the highway's concrete divider, and collide with a car containing five passengers, one of whom was killed. Francis suffered a broken collarbone, a concussion and many cuts and bruises.


title: Arlene Francis

text: Francis was known for wearing a heart-shaped diamond pendant, a gift from Gabel, which she wore on nearly all of her "What's My Line" appearances. A mugger robbed her of the pendant as she was leaving a New York City taxi in 1988.


title: Arlene Francis

text: Francis died at the age of 93 on May 31, 2001, in San Francisco, California, from Alzheimer's disease and cancer. She is interred in Roosevelt Memorial Park in Trevose, Pennsylvania.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: Black and Blue is a 2019 American action thriller film directed by Deon Taylor from a screenplay by Peter A. Dowling. The film stars Naomie Harris, Tyrese Gibson, Frank Grillo, Mike Colter, Reid Scott, and Beau Knapp, and follows a rookie police officer who goes on the run after she witnesses her colleagues commit a murder.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: The film had its world premiere at the Urbanworld Film Festival on September 21, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 25, 2019, by Sony Pictures Releasing. It received mostly mixed reviews from critics.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: U.S. Army veteran Alicia West returns to her hometown of New Orleans, where she joins the city's police department and is partnered with the easygoing Kevin Jennings. Their beat includes the deprived slum neighborhood where West grew up, and during one patrol she meets an old friend, Milo "Mouse" Jackson, who now works as a convenience store clerk. However, he acts as if he doesn't know her, as the community is deeply distrustful of the police.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: In order for Jennings to get home to date-night with his wife, West takes his place in a double shift with another patrolman, Deacon "Deek" Brown. During their shift he gets a call on his personal phone and drives to a derelict power station, ostensibly to meet an informant; when they arrive, he orders West to wait in the car while he heads in alone. Soon afterward, West hears gunfire coming from the building and rushes in to help, wearing a bulletproof vest fitted with a body camera, only to stumble upon Brown and two narcotics detectives, Terry Malone and Smitty, executing three unarmed drug pushers in cold blood after a botched drug deal. Malone attempts to explain away the incriminating situation, but Smitty panics upon seeing West's bodycam and shoots her. She is protected by her vest but stumbles backward onto a weak section of flooring and falls several stories.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: Despite being badly injured in the fall, West manages to escape, with Malone, Smitty and Brown in pursuit. She flags down a passing squad car and asks for help from the two patrolmen inside, but quickly realizes that they are also part of Malone's network of corrupt cops, forcing her to flee again. She eventually finds sanctuary in the store where Mouse works, though he is at first reluctant to help and considers turning her over to her pursuers. Unsure who in the police department she can trust, West calls the off-duty Jennings and asks him to give her a lift to a police station so that she can upload her bodycam footage to the police mainframe and thereby get incontrovertible evidence against Malone and his cohorts on the record. However, during the drive Jennings inadvertently reveals that he already knew Malone was crooked, and West, realizing that he intends to set her up, slugs him and leaves him handcuffed to the steering wheel.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: Malone frames West for the shootings at the power station; drug kingpin Darius Tureau, who's nephew Zero was one of the victims, puts out a hit on West. Hunted by both the police and Darius' gang, West is again forced to seek shelter from Mouse, this time at his apartment. He takes her in, but his neighbor tips off the gangsters, who try to kill her. She manages to escape, but Mouse is captured. Unwilling to leave Mouse to his fate, West surrenders to Darius, explaining that she has proof of her innocence in the form of her bodycam footage. Darius has his computer expert hack the bodycam and learns the truth.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: Before Darius can act on this revelation, however, the police raid the apartment block. In the confusion of the raid Smitty kills Brown (in revenge for an earlier spat over who was to blame for the fiasco at the power station) and is then killed himself by West, while Malone kills Darius and most of his gang and begins searching the block for West. Knowing that she cannot escape, West gives the bodycam and her jacket to Mouse, who with this disguise is able to slip through the police cordon, steal Malone's car, and race to the police station, where he uploads the bodycam footage to the mainframe.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: Back at the apartment block, Malone manages to corner West, leading to a hand-to-hand struggle which eventually takes them out onto the courtyard in front of a crowd of local residents. West manages to get hold of Malone's gun but is forced to drop it when armed police arrive to break up the fight. However, at that moment the precinct captain, having seen the vital bodycam footage, radios the SWAT team and orders them to stand down. Malone tries to kill West with his gun, but he is shot and incapacitated by Jennings, West's repentant partner.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: The wounded Malone is arrested and charged for the murders of the three drug dealers, while West's name is cleared, earning her the respect both of her fellow police officers and of her old neighborhood. Sometime later, she visits her mother's grave with Milo. Milo tells her he owes her his life and kisses her on the forehead in thanks, and the two leave together.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: In August 2017, it was announced Screen Gems had acquired Peter A. Dowling's spec script "Exposure", and Sean Sorensen would produce the film under his Royal Viking Entertainment banner. In August 2018, it was announced Deon Taylor would direct the film, and Roxanne Avent would serve as an executive producer under her Hidden Empire Film Group banner. In December 2018, Naomie Harris joined the cast of the film, which was retitled from "Exposure" to "Black and Blue". In January 2019, Frank Grillo, Reid Scott, Tyrese Gibson, Beau Knapp, Mike Colter and Nafessa Williams joined the cast of the film. In March 2019, James Moses Black joined the cast of the film. In April 2019, Frankie Smith joined the cast of the film.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: The movie was shot using CineAlta cameras, Sony α7S II and Sony Xperia 1 smartphones. All these devices are marketed and manufactured by Sony, the parent company of Sony Pictures and Screen Gems.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: "Black and Blue" had its world premiere at the Urbanworld Film Festival on September 21, 2019. It was released on October 25, 2019. It was previously scheduled to be released on September 20, 2019.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: In the United States and Canada, "Black and Blue" was released alongside "The Current War" and "Countdown", and was projected to gross $8–11 million from 2,062 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $3.1 million on its first day, including $675,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $8.3 million, finishing sixth; social media monitor RelishMix said the low figure was blamed on audiences being "bored with this type of cop thriller". In its second weekend the film fell 50% to $4.1 million, finishing eighth.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of and an average rating of , based on reviews. The site's critics consensus reads, ""Black and Blue" is elevated by Naomie Harris' central performance, even if the end result suffers from a simplistic treatment of topical themes." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 80%, including an average 4 out of 5 stars.


title: Black and Blue (2019 film)

text: Candice Frederick of "TheWrap" wrote, ""Black and Blue" is chock-full of heart-pounding car chases and suspenseful moments that are certain to entertain mainstream audiences, but the film falters when it attempts, beyond its title, to reflect a necessary and under-discussed conversation about societal issues."


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: Grand Canyon National Park, located in northwestern Arizona, is the 15th site in the United States to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often considered one of the Wonders of the World. The park, which covers of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties, received more than six million recreational visitors in 2017, which is the second highest count of all American national parks after Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Grand Canyon was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979. The park celebrated its 100th anniversary on February 26, 2019.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: The Grand Canyon became well known to Americans in the 1880s after railroads were built and pioneers developed infrastructure and early tourism. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt visited the site and said, The Grand Canyon fills me with awe. It is beyond comparison—beyond description; absolutely unparalleled through-out the wide world ... Let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is. Do nothing to mar its grandeur, sublimity and loveliness. You cannot improve on it. But you can keep it for your children, your children's children, and all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: Despite Roosevelt's enthusiasm and strong interest in preserving land for public use, the Grand Canyon was not immediately designated as a national park. The first bill to establish Grand Canyon National Park was introduced in 1882 by then-Senator Benjamin Harrison, which would have established Grand Canyon as the third national park in the United States, after Yellowstone and Mackinac. Harrison unsuccessfully reintroduced his bill in 1883 and 1886; after his election to the presidency, he established the Grand Canyon Forest Reserve in 1893. Theodore Roosevelt created the Grand Canyon Game Preserve by proclamation on November 28, 1906, and the Grand Canyon National Monument on January 11, 1908. Further Senate bills to establish the site as a national park were introduced and defeated in 1910 and 1911, before the Grand Canyon National Park Act was finally signed by President Woodrow Wilson on February 26, 1919. The National Park Service, established in 1916, assumed administration of the park.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: The creation of the park was an early success of the conservation movement. Its national park status may have helped thwart proposals to dam the Colorado River within its boundaries. (Later, the Glen Canyon Dam would be built upriver.) A second Grand Canyon National Monument to the west was proclaimed in 1932. In 1975, that monument and Marble Canyon National Monument, which was established in 1969 and followed the Colorado River northeast from the Grand Canyon to Lees Ferry, were made part of Grand Canyon National Park. In 1979, UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site. The 1987 the National Parks Overflights Act found that


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: "Noise associated with aircraft overflights at the Grand Canyon National Park is causing a significant adverse effect on the natural quiet and experience of the park and current aircraft operations at the Grand Canyon National Park have raised serious concerns regarding public safety, including concerns regarding the safety of park users."


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: In 2010, Grand Canyon National Park was honored with its own coin under the America the Beautiful Quarters program. On February 26, 2019, the Grand Canyon National Park commemorated 100 years since its designation as a national park.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: The Grand Canyon had been part of the National Park Service's Intermountain Region until 2018. Today, the Grand Canyon is a part of Region 8, also known as the Lower Colorado Basin.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: The Grand Canyon, including its extensive system of tributary canyons, is valued for its combination of size, depth, and exposed layers of colorful rocks dating back to Precambrian times. The canyon itself was created by the incision of the Colorado River and its tributaries after the Colorado Plateau was uplifted, causing the Colorado River system to develop along its present path.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: The primary public areas of the park are the South and North Rims, and adjacent areas of the canyon itself. The rest of the park is extremely rugged and remote, although many places are accessible by pack trail and backcountry roads. The South Rim is more accessible than the North Rim and accounts for 90% of park visitation.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: The park headquarters are at Grand Canyon Village, not far from the South Entrance to the park, near one of the most popular viewpoints.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: Most visitors to the park come to the South Rim, arriving on Arizona State Route 64. The highway enters the park through the South Entrance, near Tusayan, Arizona, and heads eastward, leaving the park through the East Entrance. Interstate 40 provides access to the area from the south. From the north, U.S. Route 89 connects Utah, Colorado, and the North Rim to the South Rim. Overall, some 30 miles of the South Rim are accessible by road.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: The North Rim area of the park is located on the Kaibab Plateau and Walhalla Plateau, directly across the Grand Canyon from the principal visitor areas on the South Rim. The North Rim's principal visitor areas are centered around Bright Angel Point. The North Rim is higher in elevation than the South Rim, at over of elevation. Because it is so much higher than the South Rim, it is closed from December 1 through May 15 each year, due to the enhanced snowfall at elevation. Visitor services are closed or limited in scope after October 15. Driving time from the South Rim to the North Rim is about 4.5 hours, over .


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: Grand Canyon Village is the primary visitor services area in the park. It is a full-service community, including lodging, fuel, food, souvenirs, a hospital, churches, and access to trails and guided walks and talks.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: Several lodging facilities are available along the South Rim. Hotels and other lodging include El Tovar, Bright Angel Lodge, Kachina Lodge, Thunderbird Lodge, and Maswik Lodge, all of which are located in Grand Canyon Village, and Phantom Ranch, located on the canyon floor. There is also an RV Park named Trailer Village. All of these facilities are managed by Xanterra Parks & Resorts, while the Yavapai Lodge (also in the village area) is managed by Delaware North.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: On the North Rim there is the historic Grand Canyon Lodge managed by Forever Resorts and a campground near the lodge, managed by the national park staff.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: According to the Köppen climate classification system, Grand Canyon National Park has five climate zones; Cold Semi-Arid ("BSk"), Humid Continental Dry Cool Summer ("Dsb"), Humid Continental Dry Warm Summer ("Dsa"), Warm Summer Mediterranean ("Csb"), and Hot Summer Mediterranean ("Csa"). The plant hardiness zone at Grand Canyon Visitor Center is 7a with an average annual extreme minimum temperature of 3.3 °F (−15.9 °C).


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: There are few roads on the North Rim, but there are some notable vehicle-accessible lookout points, including Point Imperial, Roosevelt Point, and Cape Royal. Mule rides are also available to a variety of places, including several thousand feet down into the canyon.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: Many visitors to the North Rim choose to make use of the variety of hiking trails including the Widforss Trail, Uncle Jim's Trail, the Transept Trail, and the North Kaibab Trail. The North Kaibab Trail can be followed all the way down to the Colorado River, connecting across the river to the South Kaibab Trail and the Bright Angel Trail, which continue up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: The Toroweap Overlook is located in the western part of the park on the North Rim. Access is via unpaved roads off Route 389 west of Fredonia, Arizona. The roads lead through Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument and to the overlook.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: A variety of activities at the South Rim cater to park visitors. A driving tour () along the South Rim is split into two segments. The western drive to Hermit's Point is with several overlooks along the way, including Mohave Point, Hopi Point, and the Powell Memorial. From March to December, access to Hermit's Rest is restricted to the free shuttle provided by the Park Service. The eastern portion to Desert View is , and is open to private vehicles year round.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: Walking tours include the Rim Trail, which runs west from the Pipe Creek viewpoint for about of paved road, followed by unpaved to Hermit's Rest. Hikes can begin almost anywhere along this trail, and a shuttle can return hikers to their point of origin. Mather Point, the first view most people reach when entering from the south entrance, is a popular place to begin.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: Private canyon flyovers are provided by helicopters and small airplanes out of Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Grand Canyon National Park Airport. Due to a crash in the 1990s, scenic flights are no longer allowed to fly within of the rim within the Grand Canyon National Park. Flights within the canyon are still available outside of park boundaries.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: The Grand Canyon Conservancy is an organization dedication to the conservation of the Grand Canyon National Park. Currently, it has four main challenges to complete.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: The U.S. government halted development of a 1.6 million acre area including the national park from 1966 to 2009, known as the Bennett Freeze, because of an ownership dispute between Hopi and Navajo.


title: Grand Canyon National Park

text: The Grand Canyon Association (GCA) is the National Park Service's official nonprofit partner. It raises private funds to benefit Grand Canyon National Park by operating retail shops and visitor centers within the park, and providing educational opportunities about the natural and cultural history of the region.


title: Magnificat

text: The Magnificat (Latin for "[My soul] magnifies [the Lord]") is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated into the liturgical services of the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion. Its name comes from the incipit of the Latin version of the text.


title: Magnificat

text: The text of the canticle is taken from the Gospel of Luke () where it is spoken by Mary upon the occasion of her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth. In the narrative, after Mary greets Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist, the latter moves within Elizabeth's womb. Elizabeth praises Mary for her faith (using words partially reflected in the Hail Mary), and Mary responds with what is now known as the Magnificat.


title: Magnificat

text: The Magnificat is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn. Within the whole of Christianity, the canticle is most frequently recited within the Liturgy of the Hours. In Western Christianity, the Magnificat is most often sung or recited during the main evening prayer service: Vespers in the Catholic and Lutheran churches, and Evening Prayer (or Evensong) in Anglicanism. In Eastern Christianity, the Magnificat is always sung at Matins. The Magnificat may also be sung during worship services, especially in the Advent season during which these verses are traditionally read.


title: Magnificat

text: Mary's Magnificat, recorded only in Luke's Gospel, is one of four hymns, distilled from a collection of early Jewish-Christian canticles, which complement the promise-fulfillment theme of Luke's infancy narrative. These songs are Mary's Magnificat; Zechariah's Benedictus (1:67–79); the angels' "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" (2:13–14); and Simeon's (2:28–32). In form and content, these four canticles are patterned on the "hymns of praise" in Israel's Psalter. In structure, these songs reflect the compositions of pre-Christian contemporary Jewish hymnology. The first stanza displays graphically a characteristic feature of Hebrew poetry—synonymous parallelism—in ascribing praise to God: "my soul" mirrors "my spirit"; "proclaims the greatness" with "has found gladness"; "of the Lord" with "in God my Savior." The balance of the opening two lines bursts out into a dual "Magnificat" of declaring the greatness of and finding delight in God. The third stanza again demonstrates parallelism, but in this instance, three contrasting parallels: the proud are reversed by the low estate, the mighty by those of low degree, and the rich by the hungry.


title: Magnificat

text: Although there is some scholarly discussion of whether the historical Mary herself actually proclaimed this canticle, Luke portrays her as the singer of this song of reversals and the interpreter of the contemporary events taking place. Mary symbolizes both ancient Israel and the Lucan faith-community as the author/singer of the "Magnificat".


title: Magnificat

text: The canticle echoes several biblical passages, but the most pronounced allusions are to the Song of Hannah, from the Books of Samuel (). Scriptural echoes from the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings complement the main allusions to Hannah's "magnificat of rejoicing". Along with the "Benedictus", as well as several Old Testament canticles, the "Magnificat" is included in the Book of Odes, an ancient liturgical collection found in some manuscripts of the Septuagint.


title: Magnificat

text: As with other canticles and psalms, Western liturgical tradition usually adds the doxology known as Gloria Patri to the end of the Magnificat. This is not found in the original text.


title: Magnificat

text: In a style reminiscent of Old Testament poetry and song, Mary praises the Lord in alignment with this structure:


title: Magnificat

text: In Eastern Orthodox worship, the "Ode of the Theotokos" is accompanied by the following refrain sung between the verses (a sticheron) and a megalynarion, which is the second part of the "Axion Estin" hymn:


title: Magnificat

text: In the Oriental Orthodox Church Scripture of Ethiopia according to the "Ye' Luqas Wongel," Gospel of Luqas (Luke):


title: Magnificat

text: The text forms a part of the daily office in the Roman Catholic Vespers service, the Lutheran Vespers service, and the Anglican services of Evening Prayer, according to both the "Book of Common Prayer" and "Common Worship". In the "Book of Common Prayer" Evening Prayer service, it is usually paired with the . The "Book of Common Prayer" allows for an alternative to the "Magnificat"—the "Cantate Domino", Psalm 98—and some Anglican rubrics allow for a wider selection of canticles, but the "Magnificat" and remain the most popular. In Anglican, Lutheran, and Catholic services, the "Magnificat" is generally followed by the "Gloria Patri". It is also commonly used among Lutherans at the Feast of the Visitation (July 2).


title: Magnificat

text: In Eastern Orthodox liturgical practice, the "Magnificat" is always sung during the Matins service before the "Irmos" of the ninth ode of the canon. After each biblical verse, i.e. as a sticheron, the following megalynarion or troparion is sung:


title: Magnificat

text: More honourable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim, without corruption thou gavest birth to God the Word: true Theotokos, we magnify thee.


title: Magnificat

text: As a canticle, the "Magnificat" has frequently been set to music. Most compositions were originally intended for liturgical use, especially for Vesper services and celebrations of the Visitation, but some are also performed in concert.


title: Magnificat

text: As the Magnificat is part of the sung Vespers, many composers, beginning in the Renaissance, set the words to music, for example Claudio Monteverdi in his "Vespro della Beata Vergine" (1610). Henry Dumont, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, 10 settings (H.72, H.73, H.74, H.75, H.76, H.77, H.78, H.79, H.80, H.81), Vivaldi composed a setting of the Latin text for soloists, choir, and orchestra, as did Johann Sebastian Bach in his Magnificat (1723, rev. 1733). Other notable examples include C.P.E. Bach's Magnificat and two extant settings by Jan Dismas Zelenka (ZWV 106 is missing).


title: Magnificat

text: Anton Bruckner composed a Magnificat for soloists, choir, orchestra, and organ. Rachmaninoff and, more recently, John Rutter also composed a setting, inserting additions into the text.


title: Magnificat

text: Dieter Schnebel wrote a Magnificat in 1996/97 for small choir (schola), percussion and additional instruments ad libitum. Arvo Pärt composed a setting for choir a cappella. Kim André Arnesen's Magnificat for choir, strings, piano, and organ premiered in 2010. The Taizé Community have also composed an ostinato setting of the text.


title: Magnificat

text: Together with the , the Magnificat is a regular part of the Anglican Evensong. The "Mag and Nunc" has been set by many composers – such as Thomas Tallis, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Herbert Sumsion, Charles Wood and John Tavener – of Anglican church music, often for choir a cappella or choir and organ. Since the canticles are sung every day at some cathedrals, Charles Villiers Stanford wrote a Magnificat in every major key, and Herbert Howells published 18 settings over his career, including the "Collegium Regale" setting and the "Magnificat and Nunc dimittis" for St Paul's Cathedral.


title: Magnificat

text: An Eastern Orthodox setting of the Magnificat (text in Latin and English) is to be found in the 2011 "All-night Vigil" (Section 11) by the English composer Clive Strutt.


title: Magnificat

text: Maria Luise Thurmair wrote in 1954 the lyrics for a popular German ecumenical hymn based on the Magnificat, "Den Herren will ich loben", set to a 1613 melody by Melchior Teschner (that of Valet will ich dir geben). Krzysztof Penderecki composed an extended Magnificat for the 1200th anniversary of the Salzburg Cathedral in 1974, for bass soloist, men's and boys' voices, two mixed choirs and orchestra.


title: Magnificat

text: The oratorio "Laudato si'" composed in 2016 by Peter Reulein on a libretto by Helmut Schlegel includes the full Latin text of the Magnificat, expanded by writings of Clare of Assisi, Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis.


title: Magnificat

text: In Nicaragua, the "Magnificat" is a favorite prayer among many peasants and is often carried as a sacramental. During the Somoza years, "campesinos" were required to carry proof of having voted for Somoza; this document was mockingly referred to as a "Magnificat".


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: Dirty Work is a 1998 American buddy black comedy film directed by Bob Saget. Based on the short story "Vengeance is Mine Inc." by Roald Dahl, the film follows long-time friends Mitch (Norm Macdonald) and Sam (Artie Lange) who start a revenge-for-hire business, and work to fund heart surgery for Sam's father Pops (Jack Warden). When they take on work for an unscrupulous businessman (Christopher McDonald), in order to be paid, they create a revenge scheme of their own. Traylor Howard also stars and notable cameo appearances include Don Rickles, Rebecca Romijn, John Goodman, Gary Coleman, Chevy Chase, David Koechner, Chris Farley (in his final film appearance), and Adam Sandler as Satan.


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: The film was the first starring vehicle for Macdonald and Lange, and the directorial debut of Saget, coming one year after he left his long-running role as host of "America's Funniest Home Videos".


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: Though "Dirty Work" received largely negative critical reviews upon its 1998 release and was a financial disappointment, it has since become a cult classic and has been reappraised more positively by some critics. Co-star Artie Lange later became a regular on "The Howard Stern Show", where the film was sometimes discussed. A sequel was planned but ultimately canceled following both Macdonald and Saget's deaths in 2021 and 2022 respectively.


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: Growing up, friends Mitch Weaver and Sam McKenna are taught by Sam's hard-nosed father, "Pops" McKenna, not to "take crap from anyone". To that end, the pair plant a bunch of guns in a schoolyard bully's desk and have him arrested for gun possession; next, they catch a kid-fondling crossing guard in the act, after having applied Krazy Glue to the seat of Mitch's pants.


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: As adults, after losing fourteen jobs in three months and being dumped by his girlfriend, Mitch moves in with Sam and Pops, who then has a heart attack. In the hospital, Pops confides that, because of their parents' swinging lifestyle, he is also Mitch's father, meaning that Mitch and Sam are half-brothers. Even though Pops' heart is failing, Dr. Farthing, a hopeless gambler, will raise Mr. McKenna's position on the transplant waiting list if he is paid $50,000, to save himself from his bookie. Mitch and Sam get jobs in a cinema with an abusive manager and exact their revenge by showing "Men In Black (Who Like To Have Sex With Each Other)" to a packed house and get their manager fired. The other workers congratulate them and suggest they go into business.


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: Mitch and Sam open "Dirty Work", a revenge-for-hire business (the Dirty Work phone number is "555-0187", a fictitious number used later on "Saturday Night Live".). Mitch falls for a woman named Kathy who works for a shady used car dealer. After publicly embarrassing the dealer during a live television commercial (Mitch: "Here’s another dead hooker in this trunk!"), the duo exacts increasingly lucrative reprisals for satisfied customers until they interfere with unscrupulous local property developer Travis Cole. Cole tricks them into destroying "his" apartment building (actually owned by Mr. John Kirkpatrick, the landlord), promising to pay them enough to save Pops. Afterwards, Cole reneges, revealing that he is not the owner and that he had them vandalize the building so that he could buy it cheaply, evict the tenants (including Kathy's grandmother), and build a parking lot for his beloved opera house. Unknown to Cole, Mitch's "note to self" mini-tape recorder captures this confession.


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: Mitch and Sam plot their revenge on Cole, using the tape to set up an elaborate trap. Using skunks, a loyal army of prostitutes, homeless men, a noseless friend, brownies with hallucinogenic additives, and Pops, they ruin the opening night of "Don Giovanni", an opera sponsored prominently by Cole. With the media present, Mitch plays back Cole's confession over the theater's sound system. Cole sees that his public image is being tarnished and agrees to pay the $50,000. In the end, Cole is punched in the stomach, arrested and jailed, his dog is raped by a skunk, Pops gets his operation, and Mitch gets the girl. Dr. Farthing overcomes his gambling habit, but gets beaten to death by the bookies anyway. "That's it. Bye!"


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: Filmed at Wycliffe College and elsewhere around Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the film was produced for an estimated $13 million.


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: In his first appearance on "The Howard Stern Show" on September 18, 2008, Chevy Chase discussed the film's production and release with Artie Lange. According to Chase, he was impressed by the original script's raunchy, R-rated, "over the top" tone (particularly a filmed but ultimately cut gag involving Macdonald and Lange delivering donuts that had been photographed around their genitals) and, Lange related, went so far as to beg Macdonald not to allow any changes—to "keep it funny". Lange said the studio insisted on a PG-13 rating and moved the film's release from the February dump months to June, where it fared poorly against blockbusters like "Godzilla".


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: During production, Norm Macdonald was embroiled in a feud with Don Ohlmeyer, then an executive with NBC. Ohlmeyer, a friend of O. J. Simpson, took offense at Macdonald's frequent and pointed jokes about Simpson on "Weekend Update" and had Macdonald fired from the position. Ohlmeyer went further and refused to sell advertising space or air commercials for "Dirty Work". NBC eventually relented (Ohlmeyer was forced into retirement not long afterward) a week after the film premiered.


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: "Dirty Work" was Chris Farley's last-released film appearance, filmed before his fatal drug overdose in December 1997.


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: Norm Macdonald offered Howard Stern the role of Satan but he declined. Adam Sandler was eventually cast instead.


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: Critics mostly gave negative reviews. It was referred to as a "leaden, taste-deprived attempted comedy" and "a desert of comedy" with only infrequent humor in "The New York Times". The "Los Angeles Times" described it as "a tone-deaf, scattershot and dispiritingly cheesy affair with more groans than laughs", and though Macdonald "does uncork a few solid one-liners", his lack of conviction in his acting "is amusing in and of itself, but it doesn't help the movie much".


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: The "San Francisco Chronicle" recommended the film only for "people who like stupid lowdown vulgar comedy. I had a few good laughs."


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: It has a 14% critic rating at Rotten Tomatoes, averaged from 28 reviews. The film has been described as a "cult classic". In his column, "My Year Of Flops", critic Nathan Rabin describes "Dirty Work" as an example of "the ironic dumb comedy, the slyly postmodern lowbrow gag-fest that so lustily, nakedly embraces and exposes the machinations and conventions of stupid laffers that it becomes a sort of sublime bit of meta-comedy".


title: Dirty Work (1998 film)

text: When asked about a sequel in 2018, Macdonald stated "It was an R-rated movie, so we made it that way, then they made it [PG-13], so half the movie had to be cut. So it's hard for me to see it objectively. There might be another one coming now, I guess." Macdonald did not elaborate further regarding the potential sequel. Bob Saget spoke about the sequel in May 2021 in an interview with Kevin Hart on his podcast, "Comedy Gold Minds". Hart praised the film's moments and innovations, to which Saget replied, "you want to be in the sequel, we're making it?". Hart said he would do a cameo without hesitation, declaring "Dirty Work" to be one of his favorite movies of all time. Macdonald died four months later in September 2021, essentially ending talks of a sequel; followed soon after by Saget’s death in January 2022.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: Minecraft is a media franchise developed from and centered around the video game of the same name. Primarily developed by Mojang Studios, the franchise consists of five video games, along with various books, merchandise, events, and an upcoming theatrical film. Microsoft acquired Mojang Studios in 2014, alongside the "Minecraft" franchise and its editions.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: "Minecraft" is a 3D survival sandbox game developed and published by Mojang, spanning multiple platforms. It was originally created by the independent video game designer Markus Persson in 2009, before giving the development to Jens Bergensten in 2011. The game has no specific goals to accomplish, allowing players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game. Gameplay is in the first-person perspective, with the core gameplay modes being survival, in which players must acquire resources to build the world and maintain health (optionally with a "hardcore" limit, which deletes the world after the player dies); and creative, in which players have unlimited resources, never hunger and are able to fly. The game world is composed of voxels—cubes, commonly called "blocks"—representing various materials, such as dirt, stone, ores, tree trunks, water, and lava, which are arranged in a 3-dimensional grid. Gameplay revolves around picking up and placing these objects as the player pleases, while being able to move freely around the world.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: "Minecraft: Story Mode", an episodic spin-off game developed by Telltale Games in collaboration with Mojang, was announced in December 2014. Consisting of five episodes plus three additional downloadable episodes, the standalone game is a narrative and player choice-driven, and it was released on Windows, OS X, iOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One via download on 13 October 2015. A physical disc that grants access to all episodes was released for the aforementioned four consoles on 27 October. Wii U and Nintendo Switch versions were available in 2017. Since 25 June 2019, it is only available on Netflix, where only the first five episodes are available. The first trailer for the game was shown at Minecon on 4 July 2015, revealing some of the game's features. In "Minecraft: Story Mode", players control Jesse (voiced by Patton Oswalt and Catherine Taber), who sets out on a journey with his or her friends to find The Order of the Stone—four adventurers who slayed an Ender Dragon—in order to save their world. Brian Posehn, Ashley Johnson, Scott Porter, Martha Plimpton, Dave Fennoy, Corey Feldman, Billy West and Paul Reubens portray the rest of the cast.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: The second season was released from July to December 2017. It continued the story from the first season, with the player's choices affecting elements within "Season Two". Patton Oswalt, Catherine Taber, Ashley Johnson, and Scott Porter were confirmed to continue voicework for the new season. The game supports the new Crowd Play feature that Telltale introduced in "", allowing up to 2,000 audience members to vote on decisions for the player using Twitch or other streaming services. It was shut down along with the original "Minecraft: Story Mode", on 25 June 2019.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: "Minecraft Earth" was an augmented reality sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. A spin-off of the video game "Minecraft", it was first announced in May 2019, and was available on Android, iOS, and iPadOS. The game allowed players to interact with the world and build Minecraft-style structures and objects that will persist and can be modified by other players. The game implemented the resource-gathering and many of the other features of the original game in an augmented-reality setting. The game had a beta release in July 2019. The game was free-to-play, and was released in early access in October 2019. The game was shut down on 30 June 2021 and players who made in-game purchases on the app received a free copy of the Bedrock Edition.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: "Minecraft Dungeons" is a dungeon crawler video game developed by Mojang Studios and Double Eleven. It was published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a spin-off of "Minecraft" and was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on 26 May 2020. The game received mixed reviews; many deemed the game fun and charming, with praise for its visuals and music. However, its simple gameplay and use of procedural generation received a more mixed reception, with its short story and lack of depth criticized.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: It is a hack and slash-styled dungeon crawler, rendered from an isometric perspective. Players explore procedurally generated and hand crafted dungeons filled with new variants of existing Minecraft monsters and also deal with traps, puzzles, bosses and finding treasure.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: In early 2021, Mojang announced an arcade adaptation version of "Minecraft Dungeons" associated with collectible cards.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: "Minecraft Legends" is an upcoming action-strategy game developed by Mojang Studios and Blackbird Interactive, announced on 12 June 2022 and set for a 2023 release.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: A documentary about the development of Mojang and "Minecraft" was released in December 2012. Titled "Minecraft: The Story of Mojang", the film was produced by 2 Player Productions.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: In 2012, Mojang received offers from Hollywood producers who wanted to produce "Minecraft"-related TV shows; however, Mojang stated they would only engage in such projects when "the right idea comes along."


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: Two years later, in February 2014, an attempt to crowdfund a fan film through Kickstarter was shut down after Markus 'Notch' Persson declined to let the filmmakers use the license, the given reason being that the Kickstarter was set up before any agreement with Mojang had been made. That same month Persson revealed that Mojang was in talks with Warner Bros. Pictures regarding an official "Minecraft" film, which would be produced by Roy Lee and Jill Messick and was "in its early days of development" by October of that year. The film was initially going to be directed by Shawn Levy and written by Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney, but they all dropped out in December.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: In July 2015, Rob McElhenney was hired as the director. According to McElhenney, he had been drawn to the film based on the open-world nature of the game, an idea Warner Bros. had initially agreed with and provided him with a preliminary US$150 million budget for. In 2016, early production started on the film, including having had given a release date of 24 May 2019, Jason Fuchs set to write the script, and Steve Carell contracted to star.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: McElhenney's "Minecraft" film "slowly died on the vine," and due to scheduling conflicts, he left the film in August 2018, and Fuchs was replaced with Aaron and Adam Nee, resulting in a delayed release date.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: In January 2019, Peter Sollett was announced to write and direct the film, featuring an entirely different story from McElhenney's version. In June 2019, Allison Schroeder was hired to write the film with Sollett still remaining as director. The film was scheduled to be released in theaters on 4 March 2022. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Warner Bros. removed the film from their release schedule in October 2020. Sollett instead directed "Metal Lords", which was released exclusively on Netflix in April 2022. That same month, production on the "Minecraft" film was announced to be moving forward without Sollett and Schroeder, now with Jared Hess set to direct and Jason Momoa in early talks to star. The film was also confirmed to be live-action.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: Three tabletop games have been produced as official tie-in games for "Minecraft". The first two are both card games, namely "Minecraft Card Game?", produced by Mattel in 2015, and "Uno Minecraft", produced by Mattel in 2016.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: Towards the end of 2019, "Minecraft: Builders & Biomes", a board game version of "Minecraft", was announced. The game was geared towards the family market, catered for 2–4 players, and was published by Ravensburger. Players explore the Overworld, build structures, and mine resources in a quest to score the most points. At the end of 2020, an expansion for the tabletop game was released, titled "Minecraft: Farmer's Market Expansion", which introduced a new farm biome that enabled players to produce vegetables.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: The first Lego set based on "Minecraft" was released on 6 June 2012. The set, called "Micro World", centres around a microscale representation of a forest from the game and includes Lego versions of the game's default player character and a creeper. Mojang submitted the concept of "Minecraft" merchandise to Lego in December 2011 for the Lego Cuusoo program, from which it quickly received 10,000 votes by users, prompting Lego to review the concept. Lego Cuusoo approved the concept in January 2012 and began developing sets based on "Minecraft". Two more sets based on the Nether and village areas of the game were released on 1 September 2013. A fourth Micro World set, the End, was released in June 2014. Six more, larger Lego minifigure scale, sets became available November 2014, with more released every year since.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: Mojang often collaborates with Jinx, an online game merchandise store, to sell "Minecraft" merchandise, such as clothing, foam pickaxes, and toys of creatures in the game. By May 2012, over 1 million dollars were made from "Minecraft" merchandise sales. T-shirts and socks were the most popular products. In March 2013 Mojang signed a deal with the Egmont Group, a children's book publisher, to create "Minecraft" handbooks, annuals, poster books, and magazines. As part for the Steve DLC for "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate", Masahiro Sakurai said that an Amiibo for Steve might be made by Nintendo in the future. The Amiibo has a tentative release date of 2022 and a page on the Nintendo UK Website.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: Minecon (stylized as "MineCon" or "MINECON") is an official convention dedicated to "Minecraft". The first one was held in November 2011 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. All 4,500 tickets for MineCon 2011 were sold out by 31 October. The event included the official launch of "Minecraft"; keynote speeches, including one by Persson; building and costume contests; "Minecraft"-themed breakout classes; exhibits by leading gaming and "Minecraft"-related companies; commemorative merchandise; and autograph and picture times with Mojang employees and well-known contributors from the "Minecraft" community. After MineCon, there was an "Into The Nether" after-party with deadmau5. Free codes were given to every attendee of MineCon that unlocked alpha versions of Mojang's "Scrolls", as well as an additional non-Mojang game, "Cobalt", developed by Oxeye Game Studios. Similar events occurred in MineCon 2012, which took place in Disneyland Paris in November. The tickets for the 2012 event sold out in less than two hours. MineCon 2013 was held in Orlando in November. MineCon 2015 was held in London in July. MineCon 2016 was held in Anaheim in September. MineCon 2017 was held as a livestream instead of being held at a show floor. Titled "MINECON Earth", it was streamed live in November.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: MineCon Earth 2018 followed the same format as the 2017 event, but was renamed in 2019 to "MINECON Live" to avoid confusion with Mojang's augmented-reality game, "Minecraft Earth".


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: In MineCon Live 2019, Mojang announced a new convention, called Minecraft Festival. It was announced would be an in-person event to be held 25–27 September 2020, in Orlando, Florida. The event has been postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: On 3 September 2020, it was announced by Mojang that a new livestreamed event would be taking place to replace the postponed Minecraft Festival. It took place on 3 October 2020, showing the features of Minecraft's "Caves and Cliffs" update. The second Minecraft Live took place on 16 October 2021 and showcased more of the Caves and Cliffs part 2 update, along with announcing and showing of features for the Wild Update. The third Minecraft Live took place on 15 October 2022 and announced more of the features in the Wild Update.


title: Minecraft (franchise)

text: The Minecraft franchise covers a wide range of content. In late 2021, videos of "Minecraft" hit 1 trillion views on YouTube. The "Minecraft" video game is known as the best-selling video game of all time surpassing "Tetris" and "Grand Theft Auto V" with over 238,000,000 copies sold as seen on List of best-selling video games.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin Shinawatra (; ; ; Chinese: 丘達新; ; born 26 July 1949), is a Thai businessman, politician and visiting professor. He served in the Thai Police from 1973 to 1987, and was the Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin founded the mobile phone operator Advanced Info Service and the IT and telecommunications conglomerate Shin Corporation in 1987, ultimately making him one of the richest people in Thailand. He founded the Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT) in 1998 and, after a landslide electoral victory, became prime minister in 2001. He was the first democratically elected prime minister of Thailand to serve a full term and was re-elected in 2005 by an overwhelming majority.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin declared a "war on drugs" in which more than 2,500 people were killed. Thaksin's government launched programs to reduce poverty, expand infrastructure, promote small and medium-sized enterprises, and extend universal healthcare coverage. Thaksin took a strong-arm approach against the separatist insurgency in the Muslim southern provinces.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: His decision to sell shares in his corporation for more than a billion tax-free dollars generated considerable controversy. A citizens' movement against Thaksin, called People's Alliance for Democracy or "Yellow Shirts", launched mass protests, accusing him of corruption, abuse of power, and autocratic tendencies. Thaksin called snap elections that were boycotted by the opposition and invalidated by the Constitutional Court.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin was overthrown in a military coup on 19 September 2006. His party was outlawed and he was barred from political activity. Thaksin has since lived in self-imposed exile except for a brief visit to Thailand in 2008. He was sentenced "in absentia" to two years in jail for abuse of power. From abroad he has continued to influence Thai politics, through the People's Power Party that ruled in 2008, and its successor organisation Pheu Thai Party, as well as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship or "Red Shirt" movement. His younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra was the prime minister of Thailand from 2011 to 2014.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin's great-grandfather, Seng Saekhu, was an immigrant from Meizhou, Guangdong, China, who arrived in Siam in the 1860s and settled in Chiang Mai in 1908. His eldest son, Chiang Saekhu, was born in Chanthaburi in 1890 and married a Thai woman named Saeng Samana. Chiang's eldest son, Sak, adopted the Thai surname "Shinawatra" in 1938 because of the country's anti-Chinese movement, and the rest of the family also adopted it.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Seng Saekhu had made his fortune through tax farming. Chiang Saekhu/Shinawatra later founded Shinawatra Silks and then moved into finance, construction, and property development. Thaksin's father, Loet, was born in Chiang Mai in 1919 and married Yindi Ramingwong. Yindi's father, Charoen Ramingwong (born: Wang Chuan Cheng), was a Hakka immigrant who married Princess Chanthip na Chiangmai, a minor member of the Lanna (Chiang Mai) royalty.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In 1968, Loet Shinawatra entered politics and became an MP for Chiang Mai. Loet Shinawatra quit politics in 1976. He opened a coffee shop, grew oranges and flowers in Chiang Mai's San Kamphaeng District, and opened two cinemas, a gas station, and a car and motorcycle dealership. By the time Thaksin was born, the Shinawatra family was one of the richest and most influential families in Chiang Mai.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin was born in San Kamphaeng, Chiang Mai Province. He is a Theravada Buddhist. He lived in the village of San Kamphaeng until he was 15, then moved to Chiang Mai to study at Montfort College. At 16, he helped run one of his father's cinemas.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin married Potjaman Damapong in July 1976. They have one son, Panthongtae and two daughters, Pinthongtha and Paethongtarn. They divorced in 2008. Thaksin's youngest sister, Yingluck Shinawatra (; ), is said to have entered politics in 2011 at her brother's request as leader of the pro-Thaksin Pheu Thai Party. She was later elected prime minister on 3 July 2011. Thaksin received a doctorate in criminology at Sam Houston State University. Thaksin lectured at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of Mahidol University in 1979.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin was a member of the 10th class of the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School, and was then admitted to the Thai Police Cadet Academy. Graduating in 1973, he joined the Royal Thai Police. He received a master's degree in criminal justice from Eastern Kentucky University in the United States in 1975, and three years later was awarded a doctorate in criminal justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Returning to Thailand, he reached the position of Deputy Superintendent of the Policy and Planning Sub-division, General Staff Division, Metropolitan Police Bureau, before resigning his commission in 1987 as a Police Lieutenant Colonel and leaving the police. His former wife, Potjaman Damapong, is the sister of Police General Priewpan Damapong and now uses her mother's maiden name.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin and his wife began several businesses while he was still in the police, including a silk shop, a cinema, and an apartment building. All were failures and left him over 50 million baht in debt, which is equal to £108318.11. In 1982, he established ICSI. Using his police contacts, he leased computers to government agencies with modest success. However, later ventures in security systems (SOS) and public bus radio services (Bus Sound) all failed. In April 1986, he founded Advanced Info Service (AIS), which started as a computer rental business.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In 1987 Thaksin resigned from the police. He then marketed a romance drama called "Baan Sai Thong", which became a popular success in theatres. In 1988, he joined Pacific Telesis to operate and market the PacLink pager service, a modest success, though Thaksin later sold his shares to establish his own paging company.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In 1989, he launched IBC, a cable television company. At that time, Thaksin had a good relationship with Chalerm Yoobumrung, the minister of the Prime Minister's Office, who was in charge of Thai press and media. It is a question whether Chalerm granted the right to Thaksin to establish IBC to benefit his close friend, seeing that the project had been denied by the previous administration. However, it turned out to be a money loser and he eventually merged the company with the CP Group's UTV.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In 1989, Thaksin established a data networking service, Shinawatra DataCom, today known as Advanced Data Network and owned by AIS and TOT. Many of Thaksin's businesses were later consolidated as Shin Corporation.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Advanced Info Service (AIS) was given a monopoly contract by Thaksin's military contacts in 1986 and used the GSM-900 frequency band. AIS grew rapidly and became the largest mobile phone operator in Thailand.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In 1990, Thaksin founded Shinawatra Satellite, which has developed and operated four Thaicom communications satellites.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In 1999, the Shinawatra family spent some one billion baht establishing Shinawatra University in Pathum Thani. It offers international programs in engineering, architecture, and business management, though it ranks quite low in international rankings.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In 2000, Thaksin acquired the ailing iTV television station from the Crown Property Bureau, Nation Multimedia Group, and Siam Commercial Bank.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin entered politics in late 1994 through Chamlong Srimuang, who had just reclaimed the position of Palang Dharma Party (PDP) leader from Boonchu Rojanastien. In a subsequent purge of Boonchu-affiliated PDP cabinet ministers, Thaksin was appointed Foreign Minister in December 1994, replacing Prasong Soonsiri. Thaksin left Palang Dharma along with many of its MPs in 1996, and founded the populist Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party in 1998. After a historic election victory in 2001, he became prime minister, the country's first to serve a full term.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin introduced a range of policies to alleviate rural poverty. Highly popular, they helped reduce poverty by half in four years. He launched the country's first universal healthcare program, the 30-baht scheme, as well as a notorious drug suppression campaign. Thaksin embarked on a massive program of infrastructure investment, including roads, public transit, and Suvarnabhumi Airport. Nevertheless, public sector debt fell from 57 percent of GDP in January 2001 to 41 percent in September 2006. Levels of corruption were perceived to have fallen, with Transparency International's "Corruption Perceptions Index" improving from 3.2 to 3.8 between 2001 and 2005. The Thai Rak Thai party won in a landslide in the 2005 general election, which had the highest voter turnout in Thai history.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Twelve years later, after Thaksin was removed from power, Chamlong Srimuang expressed regret at getting "such a corrupt person" into politics. The PDP soon withdrew from the government over the Sor Por Kor 4-01 land reform corruption scandal, causing the government of Chuan Leekpai to collapse.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Chamlong, strongly criticised for mishandling internal PDP politics in the last days of the Chuan-government, retired from politics and hand-picked Thaksin as new PDP leader. Thaksin ran for election for the first time for the constitutional tribunal and lost.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin joined the government of Banharn Silpa-Archa and was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Bangkok traffic. In May 1996, he and four other PDP ministers quit the Banharn Cabinet (while retaining their MP seats), prompting a Cabinet reshuffle. Many have claimed that Thaksin's move was designed to help give Chamlong Srimuang a boost in the June 1996 Bangkok Governor elections, which Chamlong returned from retirement to contest. But Chamlong lost to Bhichit Rattakul, an independent.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Chamlong's failure to buttress the PDP's failing power base in Bangkok amplified divisions in the PDP, particularly between Chamlong's "temple" faction and Thaksin's. Soon afterwards, Chamlong announced he was retiring again from politics.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin and the PDP pulled out of the Banharn-government in August 1996. In a subsequent no-confidence debate, the PDP gave evidence against the Banharn government, and in September 1996 Banharn dissolved Parliament.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin announced he would not run in the subsequent November 1996 elections but would remain as leader of the PDP. It suffered a fatal defeat in the elections, winning only one seat, and soon imploded, with most members resigning.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 15 August 1997, Thaksin became Deputy Prime Minister in Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's government, after the Thai baht was floated and devalued on 2 July 1997, sparking the Asian financial crisis. He held the position for only three months, leaving on 14 November when Chavalit resigned.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: During a censure debate on 27 September 1997, Democrat Suthep Thaugsuban accused Thaksin of profiting from insider information about the government's decision to float the baht, but the next Democrat party-led government did not investigate the accusations.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: During this period, Thaksin also served on the Asia Advisory Board of the Washington, D.C. based Carlyle Group until he resigned upon becoming Prime Minister in 2001.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin founded the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) ('Thais Love Thais') party in 1998 along with Somkid Jatusripitak, PDP ally Sudarat Keyuraphan, Purachai Piumsomboon, and 19 others.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: With a populist platform often attributed to Somkid, TRT promised universal access to healthcare, a three-year debt moratorium for farmers, and one million baht locally managed development funds for all Thai villages.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: After Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai dissolved parliament in November 2000, TRT won a sweeping victory in the January 2001 elections, the first held under the Constitution of 1997. At the time, some academics called it the most open, corruption-free election in Thai history. Thai Rak Thai won 248 parliamentary seats (more than any other party previously) and needed only three more seats to form a government. Nonetheless, Thaksin opted for a broad coalition to gain total control and avoid a vote of no confidence, with the Chart Thai Party (41 seats) and the New Aspiration Party (36 seats), while absorbing the smaller Seritham Party (14 seats). Thaksin became Prime Minister of Thailand on 9 February 2001.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin Shinawatra was the first prime minister of Thailand to complete a full term in office, and his rule is generally agreed to have been one of the most distinctive in the country's modern history. He initiated many eye-catching policies that distinguished him from his predecessors. They affected the economy, public health, education, energy, social order, drug suppression and international relations. He gained one re-election victory.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin's most effective policies were reducing rural poverty and the introduction of universal healthcare, allowing him to gather the hitherto-neglected support of the rural poor, especially in the populous northeast.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: His cabinet consisted of a broad coalition of academics, former student leaders, and former leaders of the Palang Dharma Party, including Prommin Lertsuridej, Chaturon Chaisang, Prapat Panyachatraksa, Surapong Suebwonglee, Somkid Jatusripitak, Surakiart Sathirathai, and Sudarat Keyuraphan. Traditional regional power brokers also flocked to his government.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: However, his government was increasingly accused of dictatorship, demagogy, corruption, conflicts of interest, human rights offences, acting undiplomatically, using legal loopholes and displaying hostility towards a free press. A highly controversial leader, he has also been the target of numerous allegations of lèse majesté, treason, usurping religious and royal authority, selling assets to international investors, and religious desecration.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin's government designed its policies to appeal to the rural majority, initiating programs like village-managed microcredit development funds, low-interest agricultural loans, direct injections of cash into village development funds (the SML scheme), infrastructure development, and the One Tambon One Product (OTOP) rural, small, and medium enterprise development program.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin's economic policies helped Thailand recover from the 1997 Asian financial crisis and substantially reduce poverty. GDP grew from 4.9 trillion baht in 2001 to 7.1 trillion baht in 2006. Thailand repaid its debts to the International Monetary Fund two years ahead of schedule.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Income in the northeast, the poorest part of the country, rose by 46 percent from 2001 to 2006. Nationwide poverty fell from 21.3 to 11.3 percent. Thailand's Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, fell from .525 in 2000 to .499 in 2004 (it had risen from 1996 to 2000). The Stock Exchange of Thailand outperformed other markets in the region. After facing fiscal deficits in 2001 and 2002, Thaksin balanced the national budget, producing comfortable fiscal surpluses for 2003 to 2005. Despite a massive program of infrastructure investments, a balanced budget was projected for 2007. Public sector debt fell from 57 percent of GDP in January 2001 to 41 percent in September 2006. Foreign exchange reserves doubled from US$30 billion in 2001 to US$64 billion in 2006.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Critics say Thaksinomics is little more than a Keynesian-style economic stimulus policy re-branded. Others claimed that the policies got the rural poor "hooked on Thaksin's hand-outs."


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin helped legalise Thailand's massive underground lottery system numbers game (Thai: หวย) to be run by the Government Lottery Office. Lottery sales of approximately 70 billion baht (US$2 billion) were used for social projects, including the "One District, One Scholarship" program. The Thaksin government also privatised MCOT, a large television and radio broadcaster.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: After the 2006 coup, many of Thaksin's economic policies were ended, the OTOP program was rebranded, the Government Lottery Office's program was deemed illegal, and the government nationalised several media outlets and energy companies. However, economists from the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) published a report indicating that many of the populist policies had not boosted the economy and some were by coincidence.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: According to World Bank Thailand has recentralized rather than decentralized during his administration.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: One of Thaksin's educational reforms was school decentralisation, as mandated by the 1997 Constitution. It was to delegate school management from the over-centralized and bureaucratised Ministry of Education to Tambon Administrative Organizations (TAOs), but met with massive widespread opposition from Thailand's 700,000 teachers, who would be deprived of their status as civil servants. Teachers also feared that TAOs lacked the ability to manage schools. In the face of massive teacher protests and several threats of school closure, Thaksin compromised and gave teachers whose schools were transferred to TAO management two years to transfer to other schools.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Other intended policy changes included learning reform and related curricular decentralisation, mostly through greater use of holistic education and less use of rote learning.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: To increase access to universities by lower income people, Thaksin initiated the Student Loan Fund (SLF) and Income Contingency Loan (ICL) programs. He initiated the ICL program to increase access to higher education, whereby needy students could secure a loan to support their studies from vocational to university levels. Thai banks had traditionally not given educational loans. The ICL, however, required recipients to start repayments when their salaries reached 16,000 baht a month, with interest equivalent to inflation from the day the loan was granted. The SLF had an eligibility limit on family income, but interest was 1 per cent starting a year after graduation. The programs were merged and the income limit modified after Thaksin's government was overthrown.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin was one of the first supporters of Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, with the Thai Ministry of Education committing to purchase 600,000 units. The junta later cancelled the project.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin also initiated the controversial "One District, One Dream School" project, aimed at developing the quality of schools to ensure that every district had at least one high-quality school. It was criticised, with claims that the only beneficiaries were Thaksin and companies selling computers and educational equipment. Many schools fell deeply into debt in implementing the project, receiving inadequate financial support from the central government.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In addition, he altered the state university entrance system, which had relied exclusively on nationally standardised exams. Thaksin pushed for greater weighting of senior high-school grades in the hope of focusing students on classroom learning rather than private entrance exam tutoring.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin initiated two key healthcare policies: subsidised universal health care (UHC) in 2002 and low-cost universal access to anti-retroviral HIV medication (ARVs). Thaksin's 30 baht per visit UHC program won the praise of the general public, but was criticised by many physicians and officials. Prior to the program's introduction, a large portion of the population had no health insurance and only limited access to healthcare. The program helped increase healthcare access from 76% of the population to 96%. At its outset, UHC was reviled as a "populist" policy. Post-coup public health minister Mongkol Na Songkhla called the 30 baht program a "marketing gimmick". Nearly half of UHC patients were dissatisfied with the treatment they received. The program has downsides: excessive workloads for health care providers, crowded waiting rooms, and insufficient time spent diagnosing each patient, and costs have tripled from 56 million baht in 2006 to 166 million baht in 2019, but still remain below one percent of GDP. On balance, as a "Bangkok Post" columnist put it, "... the criticism was wrong. It has become the country's most valuable state welfare service..."


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: From 2001 to 2004, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS as well as the overall prevalence rate "noticeably declined".


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 14 January 2003, Thaksin launched a campaign to rid "every square inch of the country" of drugs in three months. It consisted of changing the punishment policy for drug addicts, setting provincial arrest and seizure targets including "blacklists", awarding government officials for achieving targets and threatening punishment for those who failed to make the quota, targeting dealers, and "ruthless" implementation. In the first three months, Human Rights Watch reports that 2,275 people were extrajudicially executed. The government claimed that only around 50 of the deaths were at the hands of the police, the rest being drug traffickers who were being silenced by their dealers and their dealers' dealers. Human rights critics claimed a large number were extrajudicially executed.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Bhumibol also asked the commander of the police to investigate the killings. Police Commander Sant Sarutanond reopened investigations into the deaths, and again claimed that few of the deaths were at the hands of the police.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The war on drugs was widely criticised by the international community. Thaksin requested that the UN Commission on Human Rights send a special envoy to evaluate the situation, but said in an interview, "The United Nations is not my father. I am not worried about any UN visit to Thailand on this issue."


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: After the 2006 coup, the military junta appointed a committee to investigate the anti-drug campaign. Former Attorney General Kanit Na Nakorn led the committee. Concerning the committee's results "The Economist" reported in January 2008: "Over half of those killed in 2003 had no links to the drugs trade. The panel blamed the violence on a government 'shoot-to-kill' policy based on flawed blacklists. But far from leading to the prosecutions of those involved, its findings have been buried. The outgoing interim prime minister, Surayud Chulanont, took office vowing to right Mr Thaksin's wrongs. Yet this week he said there was insufficient evidence to take legal action over the killings. It is easy to see why the tide has turned. Sunai Phasuk, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, a lobbying group, says that the panel's original report named the politicians who egged on the gunmen. But after the PPP won last month's elections, those names were omitted."


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: While he was opposition leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva accused Thaksin of crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the campaign. After being appointed Prime Minister, Abhisit opened an investigation into the killings, claiming that a successful probe could lead to prosecution by the International Criminal Court. Former attorney-general Kampee Kaewcharoen led the investigation and the investigation committee was approved by Abhisit's Cabinet. Abhisit denied that the probe was politically motivated. Witnesses and victims were urged to report to the Department of Special Investigation, which operated directly under Abhisit's control.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In energy policy, the Thaksin government continued the Chuan Leekpai government's privatisation agenda, but with important changes. Whereas the Chuan government's post-Asian financial crisis policies sought economic efficiency through industry fragmentation and wholesale power pool competition, Thaksin's policies aimed to create national champions that could reliably support stronger economic growth and become important players in regional energy markets. Thaksin also initiated a policy to encourage renewable energy and energy conservation. Many Thaksin-era energy policies were reversed following the 2006 coup.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: A resurgence in violence began in 2001 in the three southernmost provinces of Thailand with their Muslim, ethnic Malay majority. There is much controversy about the causes of this escalation. Attacks after 2001 concentrated on police, the military, and schools, but civilians (including Buddhist monks) are also regular targets. Thaksin was widely criticised for his management of the situation.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Of three key controversial incidents, the first was the Army's storming of the Krue Se Mosque, where protesters had holed up and were killed.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The second, in October 2004, was the killing of 84 Muslim demonstrators at Tak Bai, when the Army broke up a peaceful protest. Hundreds of detainees were forced at gunpoint to lie shackled and prone in Army trucks, stacked like cordwood. The trucks were delayed from moving to the detainment area for hours. The 84 victims were reported to have been asphyxiated, crushed or died of overheating. The precise nature and cause of death have been subject to controversy and doubt because of lack of transparency and absence of depth in investigations made. There are other reports of many more deaths but these have not been substantiated.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In a third incident, Muslim lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit disappeared, allegedly abducted and killed by police for his role in defending alleged insurgents who claimed to have been tortured. Despite witness testimony and forensic evidence during the court of police investigations and court trials, all allegations against police said to be involved were dropped and the enforced disappearance case closed.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin announced an escalation of military and police activity in the region. In July 2005, Thaksin enacted an Emergency Decree to manage the three troubled provinces. Several human rights organisations expressed their concerns that the decree might be used to violate civil liberties.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In March 2005, Thaksin established the National Reconciliation Commission, chaired by former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun to oversee efforts to bring peace to the troubled South. In its final report in June 2006, the commission proposed introducing elements of Islamic law and making Pattani-Malay (Yawi) an official language in the region along with Thai. The Thaksin administration assigned a government committee to study the report, but nothing came of it.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin blamed Malaysia's jungle that has occasionally been used to train Islamic militants to cause violence in the south and Indonesia for being an inspiration to the militants.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: One of the most visible of Thaksin's administrative reforms was the restructuring of government department and ministries, labelled the "big bang." It was hailed as a "historic breakthrough" and "the first major reorganization of ministries since King Chulalongkorn set up Thailand's modern system of departmental government in 1897." Plans had been studied for years to loosen perceived rigidities and inertia of the old system but were not implemented until the Thaksin government. https://web.archive.org/web/20071016205115/http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=19066


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The restructuring was designed to streamline the bureaucracy and focus it on performance and results. New ministries were carved out in Social and Human Security Development, Tourism and Sports, Natural Resources and Environment, Information and Communication Technology, and Culture.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin transformed the role of provincial governors to that of active policy managers. Historically, central government ministries operated in the provinces through field offices headed by senior officials who reported back to Bangkok, while the Interior Ministry appointed provincial governors whose role was largely ceremonial.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: A key component of Thaksin's administrative reform policy, the "CEO-governors" epitomised what was called his "transformation of the operating style of the traditional bureaucracy into a more results-oriented instrument that would be responsive." Piloted in 2001 and introduced in all provinces in October 2003, CEO-governors were put in charge of planning and co-ordinating provincial development and became accountable for overall provincial affairs. The "CEO governors" were assisted by "provincial CFOs" from the Ministry of Finance who reported directly to each governor. Governors were authorised to raise funds by issuing bonds and were given an intensive training course. After the coup, the junta reverted the role of governors.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The Thaksin era also saw the opening of a number of government one-stop service centres to reduce red tape for anything from investment to utilities and ID-card processing.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin initiated negotiations for several free trade agreements with China, Australia, Bahrain, India, and the US. The latter especially was criticised, with claims that high-cost Thai industries could be wiped out.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thailand joined the US-led invasion of Iraq, sending a 423-strong humanitarian contingent. It withdrew its troops on 10 September 2004. Two Thai soldiers died in Iraq in an insurgent attack.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin announced that Thailand would forsake foreign aid, and work with donor countries to assist in the development of neighbours in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin was repeatedly attacked for acting undiplomatically with foreign leaders and the international community. Besides his famous swipe at the UN (see The 'war on drugs' above), there were also allegations of gaffes at international meetings.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin was keen to position Thailand as a regional leader, initiating various development projects in poorer neighbouring countries like Laos. More controversially, he established close, friendly ties with the Burmese dictatorship, including extending the impoverished country a 4 billion baht credit line so it could conclude a satellite telecom deal with his family business.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin energetically supported his former foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai's somewhat improbable campaign to become UN Secretary General.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Despite debate and long abandonment of the plan due to the stability of the ground for the location of the airport, the Thaksin government pushed to complete the construction of the new Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The airport was opened a week after Thaksin's government was overthrown.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Members of Thaksin's government were accused of corruption in the Suvarnabhumi Airport project. These allegations were used by the military junta to justify the 2006 coup. The junta initiated several investigations into the airport. Nevertheless, investigative panels found that damage to the airport was "minute" and "common." The cost of repairing the damage was estimated at less than one percent of the total airport cost. The junta was accused by its opponents of delaying airport repairs and intensifying the airport's problems to pin further blame on the Thaksin government.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin was accused of "policy corruption", such as infrastructure and liberalisation policies that, while legal "...abuse the public's interest..." Supannee Chai-amporn and Sirinthip Arun-rue of the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) claimed that policy corruption caused the state to spend 5 to 30 percent more than it otherwise should have spent, costing the state an additional 400 billion baht. Thaksin critics point to more examples of corruption: the Thailand Board of Investment's (BOI) granting tax breaks worth a total of 16.4 billion baht to Shin Satellite for its iPSTAR project in 2003, and the Transport Ministry's decision the same year to abolish the minimum air fare of 3.8 baht per kilometre when Shin Corporation was about to consummate a joint venture with low-cost carrier AirAsia.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: After the 2006 coup, the military junta-appointed Assets Examination Committee froze Thaksin's assets based on charges of policy corruption.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin denied the allegations. "They just made up a beautiful term to use against me. There's no such thing in this government. Our policies only serve the interests of the majority of the people", he said. From 2002 to 2006, the stock price of Shin Corporation increased from 38 to 104 baht, up 173 percent, while the stock price of Shin Satellite fell. In the same period, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index rose 161 per cent, and the price of other major SET blue chip companies increased vastly more. Industry deregulation caused the market share of AIS to fall from 68 percent to 53 percent.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Transparency International reported that Thailand's reputation for transparency among business executives improved somewhat during the years of the Thaksin government. In 2001, Thailand's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) score was 3.2 (ranked 61), whilst in 2005, the CPI was 3.8 (ranked 59).


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: A study of governance indicators worldwide by the World Bank gave Thailand a lower score on "control of corruption" from 2002 to 2005 under Thaksin when compared to the Democrat-led government of 1998–2000.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In 2008 Thaksin was sentenced to two years' imprisonment "in absentia" over a corrupt land deal. In a ruling that made him the first Thai politician ever to be convicted of corruption committed while prime minister, Thaksin was found to have violated conflict of interest rules in helping his wife buy land from a state agency at a seemingly low price.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Immediately after the events of March 2010, Abhisit Vejjajiva stated that he would talk to the red shirt leadership, but not to Thaksin. He criticised Thaksin's wealth and extravagance, contrasting the alleged opulence of the premier's house and the humbler, agrarian roots of many of his supporters. Shortly after, he condemned his opponent's self-proclaimed affinity with ordinary people, the "phrai" (), arguing that Thaksin was far closer to the "ammart", or the traditional elites in Thailand's army, bureaucracy, and political parties.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin's government was accused of exerting political influence in its crackdown on unlicensed community radio stations, and Thaksin brought defamation lawsuits against critical journalists.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Under the slogans "Four Years of RepairFour years of Reconstruction" and "Building Opportunities", Thaksin and the TRT won landslide victories in February 2005 elections, winning 374 of 500 seats in parliament. The election had the highest voter turnout in Thai history. But his second term was soon beset by protests, with claims that he presided over a "parliamentary dictatorship".


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The political crisis was catalysed by accusations published by media mogul and popular talk show host Sondhi Limthongkul, a former Thaksin supporter who had broken with him. These included accusations that Thaksin:


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 23 January 2006, the Shinawatra family sold their entire stake in Shin Corporation to Temasek Holdings. The Shinawatra and Damapong families netted about 73 billion baht (about US$1.88 billion) tax-free from the sale, using a regulation that made individuals who sell shares on the stock exchange exempt from capital gains tax. Thaksin was the target of accusations of corruption for selling forbidden national assets such as national utility company to a foreign entity in exchange for personal profits and kickbacks. Thai laws at the time disallowed the sale of integral assets of national importance to the public or to any foreign entity, but Thaksin amended the laws to allow such sale.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Protests followed the Shin Corporation sale, led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), whose leaders included Chamlong and Sondhi. Numbers soon swelled to tens of thousands occupying the area around Government House in Bangkok.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin announced the dissolution of parliament on 24 February 2006. General elections were scheduled for 2 April.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin was attacked for calling for snap elections, which in effect prevented any member of parliament from changing parties. In an editorial, "The Nation" noted it that, "It fails to take into consideration a major fallacy of the concept [of democracy], particularly in a less-developed democracy like ours, in which the impoverished, poorly informed masses are easily manipulated by people of his ilk. And Thaksin's manipulation has been well documented."


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin's TRT Party won the widely boycotted elections, gaining 462 seats in parliament, with a ratio of yes-voters to no-voters of 16:10, not counting non-voters.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: However, by-elections were needed for 40 TRT candidates who failed to win the minimum 20 percent required by the 1997 Constitution in uncontested races. The Democrat Party refused to contest them and, along with the PAD, petitioned the Central Administrative Court to cancel them. Chamlong Srimuang declared that the PAD would ignore the elections and "go on rallying until Thaksin resigns and Thailand gets a royally appointed prime minister".


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin had announced on 4 April 2006 that he would not accept the post of prime minister after parliament reconvened, but would continue as caretaker prime minister until then. He then delegated his functions to caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Wannasathit, moved out of Government House, and went on vacation.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Elections were held on 25 April and resulted in the TRT winning 25 of the constituencies and losing two. Yet another round of by-elections on 29 April was scheduled for 13 constituencies. The Thai Rak Thai Party was later accused and found guilty of paying smaller parties to contest the election to fulfill the 20 percent rule, while the Democrat Party was accused of paying smaller parties not to. The by-elections were suspended by the Constitutional Court while it deliberated whether or not to annul the main elections. In press interviews in exile, Thaksin was to insist on his technical majority.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 8 May 2006, the Constitutional Court ruled 8–6 to invalidate the April elections based on the awkward positioning of voting booths. The ruling was called a landmark case in "judicial activism". The Democrat Party, which had boycotted the April elections, said they were now ready to contest an October election.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: A new election was ordered and later set for 15 October 2006. The court found the Election Commissioners guilty of malfeasance and jailed them. But the election was cancelled when the military seized power on 19 September.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The Thaksin government faced allegations of corruption, authoritarianism, treason, conflicts of interest, acting non-diplomatically, and muzzling of the press. Thaksin was accused of tax evasion, lèse majesté (insulting King Bhumibol), and selling assets of Thai companies to international investors. Independent bodies, including Amnesty International, criticised Thaksin's human rights record. Thaksin was also charged for concealing his wealth during his premiership.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Protests by the People's Alliance for Democracy massed in 2006, and on 19 September 2006 a military junta which later called itself the Council for National Security (CNS) replaced Thaksin's caretaker government in a coup while he was abroad. The Constitutional Tribunal dissolved the Thai Rak Thai party for electoral fraud "ex post facto", banning him and TRT executives from politics for five years. The CNS-appointed Assets Examination Committee froze Thaksin and his family's assets in Thailand, totalling 76 billion baht (US$2.2 billion), claiming he had become unusually wealthy while in office. Thaksin and his wife had declared assets totalling 15.1 billion baht when he took office in 2001, although he had transferred many of his assets to his children and associates before taking office.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin returned to Thailand on 28 February 2008, after the People's Power Party, which he supported, won the post-coup elections. But after visiting Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics, he did not return to hear the final supreme court sentence and applied for asylum in the United Kingdom. This was refused, after which he had to move about from one country to another. In October 2008, the Thai Supreme Court found him guilty of a conflict of interest and sentenced him "in absentia" to two years imprisonment.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The People's Power Party was later dissolved by the Supreme Court, but party members regrouped to form the Pheu Thai Party, which Thaksin also supported. Thaksin is a supporter, and alleged bankroller, of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (aka "Red Shirts"). The government revoked Thaksin's passport for his role in the UDD's protests during Songkran 2009. On 26 February 2010, the Supreme Court seized 46 billion baht of his frozen assets, after finding him guilty of abnormal wealth. In 2009 it was announced that Thaksin had obtained Montenegrin citizenship through that country's economic citizenship program.