title: China and the United Nations

text: On 15 July 1971, 17 UN members requested that a question of the "Restoration of the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations" be placed on the provisional agenda of the twenty-sixth session of the UN General Assembly, claiming that the PRC, a "founding member of the United Nations and a permanent member of the Security Council, had since 1949 been refused by systematic maneuvers the right to occupy the seat to which it is entitled ipso jure". On 25 September 1971, a draft resolution, A/L.630 and Add.l and 2, was submitted by 23 states including 17 of the states which had joined in placing the question on the agenda, to "restore to the People's Republic of China all its rights and expel forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek." On 29 September 1971, another draft resolution, A/L.632 and Add.l and 2, sponsored by 22 members, was proposed declaring that any proposal to deprive the Republic of China of representation was an important question under of the UN Charter, and thus would require a two-thirds supermajority for approval. A/L.632 and Add.l and 2 was rejected on 25 October 1971 by a vote of 59 to 55, with 15 abstentions.


title: China and the United Nations

text: Saudi Arabia submitted a proposition allowing the ROC to retain its seat at the UN and its affiliated organizations "until the people of the Island of Taiwan are enabled by a referendum or a plebiscite" under the auspices of the UN to choose among three options: continued independence as a sovereign state with a neutral status defined by a treaty recorded by the UN; a confederation with the PRC; or a federation with the PRC, but was not supported by the United States.


title: China and the United Nations

text: Seeking to place more diplomatic pressure on the Soviet Union, United States president Richard Nixon sent his national security advisor Henry Kissinger on two trips to the People's Republic of China in July and October 1971 (the first of which was made in secret via Pakistan) to confer with Premier Zhou Enlai, then in charge of Chinese foreign policy. His trips paved the way for the groundbreaking 1972 summit between Nixon, Zhou, and CCP Chairman Mao Zedong, as well as the formalization of relations between the two countries, ending 23 years of diplomatic isolation and mutual hostility in favor of a tacit strategic anti-Soviet alliance between China and the United States.


title: China and the United Nations

text: On 25 October 1971, the United States moved that a separate vote be taken on the provisions in the resolution "to expel forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupied at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it" in the draft resolution. By this the United States was proposing that while the credentials of the PRC representatives would be accepted and the PRC would be seated as China's representative with a seat on the Security Council, the ROC would continue to enjoy representation in the General Assembly. The proposition was legally untenable. Being China a founding member, the ROC had been a member of the United Nations; the presence of its representatives at the UN having always been predicated on its claim to represent China. The motion was rejected by a vote of 61 to 51, with 16 abstentions. The representative of ROC made a declaration that the rejection of the 22-power draft resolution calling for a two-thirds majority was a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter which governed the expulsion of Member States and that the delegation of the Republic of China had decided not to take part in any further proceedings of the General Assembly. With the support from 26 African UN Member States and in accordance with Article 18 of the UN Charter, the Assembly then adopted Resolution 2758, with 76 countries supporting, 35 countries opposing, 17 countries abstaining, and 3 countries non-voting, withdrawing recognition of the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek as the legitimate representative of China, and recognizing the Government of PRC as the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations. At a Security Council meeting on 23 November 1971, after the General Assembly passed Resolution 2758, the President of the council and the other representatives made statements welcoming the representatives of the People's Republic of China. The ROC lost not only its Security Council seat, but any representation in the UN.


title: China and the United Nations

text: Following the adoption of Resolution 2758, the Republic of China was no longer represented by a Permanent Representative at the UN. UN Secretary-General U Thant sent a message to the PRC government asking him to send a delegation to Security Council soon. In addition to losing its seat in the UN, the UN Secretary-General concluded from the resolution that the General Assembly considered Taiwan to be a province of China, and thus it does not permit the ROC to become a party to treaties for which it is the depository.


title: China and the United Nations

text: In 1993 the ROC began campaigning to rejoin the UN separately from the People's Republic of China. A number of options were considered, including seeking membership in the specialized agencies, applying for observer status, applying for full membership, or having resolution 2758 revoked to reclaim the seat of China in the UN.


title: China and the United Nations

text: Every year from 1993 to 2006, UN member states submitted a memorandum to the UN Secretary-General requesting that the UN General Assembly consider allowing the ROC to resume participating in the United Nations. This approach was chosen, rather than a formal application for membership, because it could be enacted by the General Assembly, while a membership application would need Security Council approval, where the PRC held a veto. Early proposals recommended admitting the ROC with parallel representation over China, along with the People's Republic of China, pending eventual reunification, citing examples of other divided countries which had become separate UN member states, such as East and West Germany and North and South Korea. Later proposals emphasized that the ROC was a separate state, over which the PRC had no effective sovereignty. These proposed resolutions referred to the ROC under a variety of names: "Republic of China in Taiwan" (1993–94), "Republic of China on Taiwan" (1995–97, 1999–2002), "Republic of China" (1998), "Republic of China (Taiwan)" (2003) and "Taiwan" (2004–06).


title: China and the United Nations

text: However, all fourteen attempts were unsuccessful as the General Assembly's General Committee declined to put the issue on the Assembly's agenda for debate, under strong opposition from the PRC.


title: China and the United Nations

text: While all these proposals were vague, requesting the ROC be allowed to participate in UN activities without specifying any legal mechanism, in 2007 the ROC submitted a formal application under the name "Taiwan" for full membership in the UN.<ref name="A/62/193"></ref> On 15 September 2007, over 3,000 Taiwanese Americans and their supporters rallied in front of the UN building in New York City, and over 300,000 Taiwanese people rallied in Taiwan, all in support of the ROC joining the UN. The ROC also won the backing of many Members of the European Parliament on this issue. However, the application was rejected by the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs citing General Assembly Resolution 2758, without being forwarded to the Security Council. Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon stated that:


title: China and the United Nations

text: Responding to the UN's rejection of its application, the ROC government has stated that Taiwan is not now nor has it ever been under the jurisdiction of the PRC, and that since General Assembly Resolution 2758 did not clarify the issue of Taiwan's representation in the UN, it does not prevent Taiwan's participation in the UN as an independent sovereign nation. The ROC argued that Resolution 2758 merely transferred the UN seat from the ROC to the PRC, but did not address the issue of Taiwan's representation in the UN. The ROC government also criticized Ban for asserting that Taiwan is part of China and returning the application without passing it to the Security Council or the General Assembly, contrary to UN's standard procedure (Provisional Rules of Procedure of the Security Council, Chapter X, Rule 59). The ROC emphasized that the United Nations has never taken a formal stance regarding the sovereignty of Taiwan. On the other hand, the PRC government, which has stated that Taiwan is part of China and firmly opposes the application of any Taiwan authorities to join the UN either as a member or an observer, praised that UN's decision "was made in accordance with the UN Charter and Resolution 2758 of the UN General Assembly, and showed the UN and its member states' universal adherence to the one-China principle". A group of UN member states put forward a draft resolution for that autumn's UN General Assembly calling on the Security Council to consider the application.


title: China and the United Nations

text: Ban Ki-moon also came under fire for this statement from the United States via non-official channels. There are unconfirmed reports that Ban's comments prompted the US to restate its position regarding the status of Taiwan. A Heritage Foundation article suggests that the US may have presented a démarche stating among others that:If the UN Secretariat insists on describing Taiwan as a part of the PRC, or on using nomenclature for Taiwan that implies such status, the United States will be obliged to disassociate itself on a national basis from such position."


title: China and the United Nations

text: "The Wall Street Journal" criticized Ban Ki-moon for rejecting the ROC's July 2007 application and regarded Ban's interpretation of Resolution 2758 (that Taiwan was part of China) as erroneous. Nevertheless, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's statement reflected long-standing UN convention to deny the ROC representation and is mirrored in other documents promulgated by the United Nations. For example, the UN's ""Final Clauses of Multilateral Treaties, Handbook"", 2003 (a publication which predated his tenure in Office) states:


title: China and the United Nations

text: [r]egarding the Taiwan Province of China, the Secretary-General follows the General Assembly's guidance incorporated in resolution 2758 (XXVI)of the General Assembly of 25 October 1971 on the restoration of the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations. The General Assembly decided to recognize the representatives of the Government of the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations. Hence, instruments received from the Taiwan Province of China will not be accepted by the Secretary-General in his capacity as depositary.


title: China and the United Nations

text: In 2008, two referendums by the ROC on joining the UN failed because of low voter participation. That autumn the ROC took a new approach, with its allies submitting a resolution requesting that the "Republic of China (Taiwan)" be allowed to have "meaningful participation" in the UN specialized agencies. Again the issue was not put on the Assembly's agenda when the United Nations subcommittee ruled it would not let the General Assembly consider the ROC's application to join UN activities. Shortly after this, the United States and the national governments of the European Union expressed their support for "Taiwan" (none of them recognises the ROC) to have "meaningful participation" in UN specialized agencies, such as the World Health Organization. In May 2009, the Department of Health of the Republic of China was invited by the World Health Organization to attend the 62nd World Health Assembly as an observer under the name "Chinese Taipei". This was the ROC's first participation in an event organized by a UN-affiliated agency since 1971, as a result of the improved cross-strait relations since Ma Ying-jeou became the President of the Republic of China a year before.


title: China and the United Nations

text: In 2009, the ROC chose not to bring the issue of its participation in the UN up for debate at the General Assembly for the first time since it began the campaign in 1993.


title: China and the United Nations

text: The United States has its own "one China" policy (vs. the PRC's "one China" principle) and position on Taiwan's status. Not recognizing the PRC's claim over Taiwan nor Taiwan as a sovereign state, United States policy has considered Taiwan's status as unsettled.


title: China and the United Nations

text: Since Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, there are growing number of renewed attempts to join the United Nations in its own right under the name "Taiwan" but this was prevented by the PRC. United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken supported Taiwan's participation in the UN in 2021, the 50th anniversary of the ROC's membership replaced with the PRC at the United Nations.


title: China and the United Nations

text: The Constitution of the Republic of China still claims to be the government of the whole of China. Taiwan independence supporters say that the non-assertion of the claim is mainly due to PRC's public statement that any attempts to change the ROC constitution is interpreted as declaring independence, which will lead to "military actions" from the PRC. Given the PRC's attitude, even having the General Assembly admit the ROC or "Taiwan" as an observer, as with Palestine, would be problematic; the case of Palestine is different from that of the ROC because of the UN's commitment to a two-state solution for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict but not for the Taiwan issue.


title: China and the United Nations

text: The People's Republic of China (PRC), commonly called China today, was admitted into the UN in 1971 on the 21st time of voting on its application. The PRC was admitted into the UN on a vote of 76 in favor, 35 opposed, and 17 abstentions. In a letter to the United Nations on September 29, 1972, the PRC asserted that it had no obligation to honor multilateral treaties that may have been ratified by the Republic of China under the governance of Chiang Kai-shek, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966, though the PRC in 1971 affirmed acceptance of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by virtue of simply becoming UN members.


title: China and the United Nations

text: In the 1960s and early 1970s that the United States' close ally, Pakistan, especially under the presidency of Ayub Khan, was carrying out messenger diplomacy to the PRC's entry into the UN by the United States' diplomacy to People's Republic of China in the time of Sino-Soviet split. This involved secret visits by United States officials to the PRC. In 1971, Henry Kissinger made a secret visit to the PRC through Pakistan.


title: China and the United Nations

text: Since the early 1980s, and particularly since 1989, by means of vigorous monitoring and the strict maintenance of standards, United Nations human rights organizations have encouraged China to move away from its insistence on the principle of noninterference, to take part in resolutions critical of human rights conditions in other nations, and to accept the applicability to itself of human rights norms and UN procedures. Even though China has continued to suppress political dissidents at home, and appears at times resolutely defiant of outside pressure to reform, Ann Kent argues that it has gradually begun to implement some international human rights standards. On human rights issues, the PRC has been increasingly influential by the bargaining of its robust macroeconomics growth for the domestic social equality. In 1995, they won 43 percent of the votes in the General Assembly; by 2006 they won 82 percent.


title: China and the United Nations

text: In the 1991 Gulf War resolution, the PRC abstained, and it voted for the ultimatum to Iraq in the period leading up to the 2003 War in Iraq. Most observers believe that the PRC would have abstained had a resolution authorizing force against Iraq in 2003 reached the Security Council.


title: China and the United Nations

text: When an enlargement of the Security Council was discussed in 1995, China encouraged African states to demand seats for themselves as a counter-move to Japan's ambitions, and thereby nullified the Japanese initiative.


title: China and the United Nations

text: In 2019, the United Nations Human Rights Office was accused of handing over since 2013 lists of names of human rights activists that included Tibetan and Uyghur dissidents, some of who were U.S. nationals and residents. Initially the OHCHR denied the accusation but then confirmed the sharing of names but refuted that it had resulted in harmful effects on the human rights defenders in question. This was discussed in a States General of the Netherlands parliamentary session.


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: The Nexus (later renamed The New Nexus in January 2011) was a villainous professional wrestling stable in WWE that competed on the "Raw" brand from June 7, 2010 to August 22, 2011, originally consisting of eight rookies of "NXT" season one and shifted their roster several times throughout their 14-month existence, with David Otunga being the only member to serve the group throughout the entirety of its existence. Their initial goal was to obtain WWE contracts for all members, with the exception of original leader Wade Barrett, who already had a WWE contract for winning the first season of "NXT."


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: After "NXT," the group went on to antagonize the "Raw" roster (and on two occasions the "SmackDown" roster), with then-WWE Champion John Cena as their main focus, who forcibly became a member of The Nexus after losing a match at Hell in a Cell thanks to outside interference. However, Cena was eventually removed from the group by being fired at Survivor Series after Barrett lost his WWE Championship match to Randy Orton in November 2010, only to be rehired by Barrett three weeks later, but only because Otunga gave Barrett an ultimatum—that either Barrett rehire Cena or he would be out of the group.


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: On the January 3, 2011 edition of "Raw," Barrett was exiled from the group after losing a triple threat steel cage match against Orton and King Sheamus to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship as well as Barrett's leadership, which Barrett lost in favor of Punk after losing a chairs match at in December 2010. CM Punk, who ended up costing Barrett the match, officially became the new leader, at which point the stable was renamed The New Nexus in an attempt to distance itself from The Nexus, becoming a tight-knit group dedicated to one another by faith. The group won the WWE Tag Team Championship three times—two of those under Barrett's leadership—while Punk won the WWE Championship in his final match with the stable at Money in the Bank on July 17, 2011. Today, only Barrett, Cena, Otunga and Wyatt are the former members of The Nexus employed with the WWE.


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: On the February 2, 2010 edition of "ECW," WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that "NXT" would replace "ECW" on Syfy when the latter ended its run on February 16, describing "NXT" as "the next evolution of WWE television history." The concept of the stable was derived from each original member of them being a contestant on the first season of the "NXT" program, which composed at the time of the talent from WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling. The series ran them through a competition to become WWE's next breakout star with the help of mentors from WWE's "Raw" and "SmackDown" brands. On the June 1, 2010 edition of "NXT," Barrett was declared the winner over Otunga and — as a result — was awarded a WWE contract and a championship match at a WWE pay-per-view of his choosing (he ultimately chose Night of Champions), while the others were left without a job.


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: The group made its debut on the June 7, 2010 "Viewer's Choice" edition of "Raw", during the main event which saw Punk face Cena (after beating out Rey Mysterio and then-World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger with 45% of the viewer vote). They attacked Cena, Punk, Luke Gallows, Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler, "NXT" host Matt Striker (who joined Lawler and Michael Cole on commentary), then-"Raw" ring announcer Justin Roberts, timekeeper Mark Yeaton and other WWE personnel around the ring - before destroying everything at ringside, including the ring itself, forcing the match to end in a no contest. During the attack, which ended with Cena being taken out on a stretcher, Daniel Bryan strangled Roberts with his necktie and, in a sign of disrespect, spit in Cena's face; the latter of which led him to be released from his contract on June 11, 2010 as WWE reportedly felt those acts were too violent for the company's TV-PG programming. His absence was explained by Barrett on the June 14, 2010 edition of "Raw" as having felt remorse for his actions, who kicked him out of the group. Barrett claimed that their violent arrival was a result of their mistreatment during the NXT competition, and insinuated that their issues lied more with WWE management than anyone in the locker room except their mentor "Pros". None of the members apologized for the events of the previous week when prompted by Barrett, as he had been asked to do by higher-ups earlier in the day. When confronted by Hall of Famer Bret Hart, who was named Raw General Manager three weeks earlier, they threatened to continue the attacks if their list of demands - especially getting guaranteed WWE contracts - were not met. Nexus was established as the main heel stable on "Raw," attacking several wrestlers and legends over the next several weeks, including Hart and McMahon themselves and fellow Hall of Famers Ricky Steamboat and Dusty Rhodes. After Hart's attack, which occurred during the tag team match where Cena teamed with Orton to take on Sheamus and Edge in a Fatal 4-Way preview, McMahon removed him as "Raw" General Manager "due to his injuries" and subsequently appointed a new General Manager. The GM chose to remain anonymous for fear of being attacked like Hart was, communicating only through e-mails quoted by Cole, the "official spokesman" (and the only one not attacked by the group during their invasion).


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: During the summer of 2010, Nexus had a feud with Cena. First, Cena was scheduled to face The Nexus in a 7-on-1 handicap match on the July 12, 2010 edition of "Raw," but Cena attacked Darren Young the previous week, subsequently removing him from the following week's scheduled match, which became a 6-on-1 handicap match, which The Nexus won anyway. On July 18, 2010 at Money in the Bank, The Nexus attempted to get involved in the WWE Championship match involving Sheamus and Cena in a steel cage, but Sheamus and Cena were able to hold them off and escape, with Sheamus winning the match and retaining the WWE Championship. Their following match would take place at SummerSlam, where The Nexus faced the team of Cena, Hart, Edge, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, R-Truth and the returning Bryan (who replaced The Great Khali), losing after Cena pinned Gabriel—who missed on a 450º splash attempt—and submitted Barrett with the STF. According to Edge and Jericho, the original plan was to put Barrett over and establish them as legitimate threats to WWE, with Edge and Jericho being the last members of Team WWE to be eliminated by Barrett, but Cena refused to lose to The Nexus and had the finish changed around the time of the event. Nexus members Heath Slater and Darren Young later stated that they agreed that The Nexus' loss at SummerSlam permanently crippled the stable's momentum. The following night on "Raw," in order to find the "weak links" of the group, The Nexus invoked their SummerSlam rematch clause and competed in seven one-on-one matches against Team WWE (except Hart, who was replaced by Orton), with the stipulation that whichever Nexus member lost their match would be exiled from the group. Young was the only Nexus member who lost, as he failed to defeat Cena in the main event. As a result, The Nexus attacked Young with their respective finishing moves and officially exiled him from the group. At a WWE live event in Hawaii on August 18, 2010, Skip Sheffield broke his ankle during a tag match where he teamed with Otunga against The Hart Dynasty (David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd), putting him out of action for the next two years, leaving The Nexus with only five active members heading into September. At Night of Champions on September 19, Barrett used his guaranteed championship match that he won for winning "NXT" in the six-pack elimination challenge for Sheamus' WWE Championship, but he was eliminated by Orton, who later won the match and the title.


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: At Hell in a Cell on October 3, Barrett and Cena faced each other in a match with the stipulation that if Barrett won, Cena would have to join The Nexus, but if Cena won or any other Nexus member got involved, the group would be permanently disbanded. Thanks to interference from Husky Harris and Michael McGillicutty, two rookies from the second season of "NXT" who would later join The Nexus on the October 25, 2010 edition of "Raw," Barrett managed to win the match and keep the group going and Cena was forced to join The Nexus. The following night on "Raw," Cena attacked Michael Tarver following a tag-team match. In the subsequent segment, Barrett stated that Cena did him a favor, as he was planning on getting rid of Tarver anyway, implying that Tarver was no longer a member (in reality, Tarver had a nagging groin injury and was later released from his contract in June 2011). The anonymous "Raw" General Manager stated that Cena had to honor the stipulations of the Hell in a Cell match and take orders from Barrett or be fired, but later that night, Barrett instead ordered Cena to help him win the number one contender battle royal for Orton's WWE Championship at Bragging Rights and, as the match came down to Cena and Barrett, Barrett won the match after Cena eliminated himself. At Bragging Rights on October 24, The Nexus won their first championships in WWE when Cena and Otunga defeated Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre to win the WWE Tag Team Championship, while in the main event, Barrett defeated Orton via disqualification, this time caused by Cena who, as a result, was chosen by Barrett as his own special guest referee for his WWE Championship rematch against Orton at Survivor Series, declaring that unless he won the title, Cena would be fired, but if Barrett defeated Orton, Cena would be relieved of all responsibilities to The Nexus. The following night on "Raw," Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater won the WWE Tag Team Championship after Barrett ordered Otunga to allow Slater to pin him.


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: On the November 5, 2010 edition of "SmackDown," Otunga, who had been questioning Barrett's leadership over the past several weeks ever since Barrett cost him and Cena the WWE Tag Team Championship, led Harris, McGillicutty, Gabriel and Slater to a second invasion of "SmackDown," interrupting a match between Edge and Alberto Del Rio, but The Nexus was then defeated in the main event in a 5-on-5 tag team match by Edge, Del Rio, Big Show, Kane and Kofi Kingston. Barrett did not approve Otunga's decision to lead The Nexus to "SmackDown" and, as a result, forced him to defend his spot in the group the following week. On the November 12, 2010 edition of "SmackDown," thanks to interference from Kane, Otunga defeated Edge in a lumberjack match to keep his spot in The Nexus. At Survivor Series on November 21, Orton retained the WWE Championship against Barrett via pinfall following an RKO and Cena was fired (kayfabe) from WWE and subsequently exiled from The Nexus. The following night on "Raw," Miz cashed in his Money in the Bank and became WWE Champion after Cena attacked Barrett, allowing Orton to pin Barrett and retain the title. Despite being fired by Barrett, Cena continued to show up on "Raw" as a ticketholder in the subsequent weeks, causing interference in The Nexus' matches, including costing Slater and Gabriel the WWE Tag Team Championship to Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov in a fatal four-way tag team elimination match on the December 6, 2010 edition of "Raw." Later that night, Cena informed The Nexus that his attacks on them may stop, but only on the condition that Barrett rehires him, causing a mutiny within The Nexus in the process. Wanting the attacks to stop, Otunga, on behalf of The Nexus, delivered an ultimatum to Barrett that unless he brought Cena back, he would be exiled from the group. On the December 13, 2010 edition of "Raw," Barrett rehired Cena for fear of being exiled by The Nexus, but on the condition that A. Cena face Otunga in the main event and B. Barrett and Cena settle the score in a chairs match at . At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 19, Cena defeated Barrett in the main event and, after the match, dropped 23 steel chairs from the stage on him after dispatching the rest of The Nexus.


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: On the January 3, 2011 edition of "Raw," The Nexus ambiguously announced after months of repeated attacks on Cena and the WWE roster that it was under "new management," with Punk (who disbanded the Straight Edge Society the previous September) being revealed to be the new leader. He acquired the position after Barrett lost a #1 contendership steel cage match involving Orton and Sheamus. Punk, having agreed to fall in line had Barrett successfully won the title shot, teased helping Barrett escape the cage before knocking him off of it. Barrett was subsequently exiled from The Nexus, which would be renamed "The New Nexus" to distance itself from former leadership. After refusing to follow Punk's orders of initiation by hitting each other with kendo sticks, Gabriel and Slater left the group the following week on "Raw," opting to join Barrett and former ECW Champion Ezekiel Jackson on "SmackDown" as The Corre while Harris, McGillicutty and Otunga successfully completed Punk's initiation. On the January 17, 2011 edition of "Raw," Mason Ryan joined The New Nexus after interfering in Punk's match against Cena, attacking both before Punk handed Ryan a Nexus armband. On January 30, 2011 at the Royal Rumble, The New Nexus, who were also a part of the 40-man Royal Rumble match along with The Corre, cost Orton his rematch clause for Miz's WWE Championship, starting a feud with him. Over the ongoing weeks, Orton defeated all members of The New Nexus, causing several storyline injuries by punting them. On April 3, 2011 at WrestleMania XXVII, Orton defeated Punk and, on May 1, 2011 at Extreme Rules, Orton defeated Punk in a Last Man Standing rematch. On the May 23, 2011 edition of "Raw," thanks to a distraction from The New Nexus, McGillicutty and Otunga defeated Big Show and Kane for the WWE Tag Team Championship.


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: On the June 20, 2011 "Power to the People" edition of "Raw," Punk was originally going to be named the number one contender for Cena's WWE Championship, but instead, he was forced to compete in a triple threat match with Alberto Del Rio and Rey Mysterio with a Falls Count Anywhere stipulation voted for by fans which Punk won, revealing after the match that his WWE contract would expire at Money in the Bank, where he would face Cena for the WWE Championship. The following week on "Raw," it was announced that Ryan suffered an injury over the weekend and left the group. That same night, a brash Punk realized a worked shoot promo (which he dubbed a "pipe bomb"), reminding that once his contract expired at Money in the Bank, that would be the last time WWE would ever see him and the WWE Championship, as he considered taking his talents to another wrestling promotion, like Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. With his victory over Cena on July 17, 2011, the WWE Championship was finally held by the stable on their last night of existence.


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: The group's final members then functioned as a tag team with the New Nexus banner until August 1, 2011 and continued without the banner until August 22, 2011, when the group disbanded after a 14-month existence following a loss of the WWE Tag Team Championships to Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne.


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: In April 2018, The Nexus reunited for Chikara King of Trios tournament as The Nexus Alliance, being represented by Tyrone Evans (Michael Tarver), Fred Rosser (Darren Young) and P. J. Black (Justin Gabriel).


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: Darren Young stated that The Nexus were originally booked to return at WrestleMania 36. A year later a documentary about the Nexus was cancelled with Darren Young theorizing it was due to Daniel Bryan leaving WWE.


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: As the group predicted, it would ultimately serve as a launching pad for several debuting superstars in the WWE at that time. However, some members would later be repackaged with different gimmicks to varying degrees of success. Daniel Bryan and Husky Harris would go on to have the biggest success out of the former Nexus members, becoming the only world champions in the group. To date, Bryan is a four-time WWE Champion and a one-time World Heavyweight Champion, while also gaining secondary and tag team titles. Harris would return to FCW in March 2011 and be completely reimagined in April 2012 as the cult leader Bray Wyatt, only to make his return to the main roster as the leader of The Wyatt Family in July 2013. During his time in WWE, he would win the WWE Championship one time and the Universal Championship twice. Bryan and Wyatt ended their tenures in April and July 2021 respectively, with Bryan signing with All Elite Wrestling in the fall and reverting to his real name Bryan Danielson, and Wyatt returning to the company in October 2022.


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: Some members have had success as an upper mid-carder. Wade Barrett, who later wrestled as Bad News Barrett and King Barrett, became a five-time Intercontinental Champion and King of the Ring winner until he left the promotion in May 2016 (though he returned as a color commentator of the now-revamped NXT in August 2020). Michael McGillicutty underwent a name change to Curtis Axel in May 2013, propelling him to soon after obtain the Intercontinental Championship. He held the Raw Tag Team Championship once as part of the "B Team" with Bo Dallas before leaving the company in April 2020. Skip Sheffield returned from injury with a winning streak as Ryback, eventually challenging for the WWE Championship and winning the Intercontinental Championship, then ultimately departing in August 2016.


title: The Nexus (professional wrestling)

text: Other members would be used as lower-card wrestlers, with most of them exiting the company in the following years. David Otunga is still currently employed by the WWE in a non-wrestling role, serving as an occasional panelist for its pay-per-view events. Heath Slater, one of the last long-standing members of the stable, left WWE in April 2020 after partaking in several storylines — including functioning as a jobber to Legends. His most successful run resulted in becoming one-half of the first SmackDown Tag Team Champions with Rhyno. Darren Young secured the WWE Tag Team Championship with Titus O'Neil and was mentored by Bob Backlund in a singles run before being released in October 2017. Justin Gabriel mainly appeared in mid-level or tag team title pursuits, quitting the company in January 2015. Michael Tarver and Mason Ryan did not have a long-term impact, with Tarver being gone by 2011 and Ryan by 2014.


title: Joseph Gatt

text: Joseph Gatt (born 3 December 1971) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the films "Thor" (2011), "Star Trek Into Darkness" (2013), and "Dumbo" (2019).


title: Joseph Gatt

text: Gatt was born in the Notting Hill area of London on 3 December 1971, the son of Maltese immigrant parents; his father is from Paola and his mother is from Lija. While growing up, he spent summers with his family in Malta. As a teenager, he discovered that he was colour blind, which prevented him from fulfilling his dream of joining the Royal Air Force and becoming a fighter pilot. He has theorised that the stress of this news was also the possible trigger for his alopecia universalis, with which he was diagnosed at the age of 12, and he had lost all of his hair by the age of 14. He trained as an actor at the Sylvia Young Theatre School before joining the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree.


title: Joseph Gatt

text: On April 6, 2022, Gatt was arrested by the LAPD for allegedly having sexually explicit chats with a minor online.


title: Joseph Gatt

text: The arrest came after the LAPD served him a search warrant and searched his Beverly Grove home. The search and subsequent arrest was made possible as the result of a felony warrant following the initial investigation by the LA Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.


title: Joseph Gatt

text: After graduating from drama school, Gatt's first film role was in "Orpheus & Eurydice", playing opposite Oliver Reed in one of Reed's last films. He has performed in many musicals in London's West End and in national tours.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Miss Grand International is a beauty pageant franchise based in Thailand. It consists of the annual national pageant Miss Grand Thailand, as well as the international competition Miss Grand International, to which participating rights are licensed to organizers in other countries.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The current Miss Grand International titleholder is Isabella Menin of Brazil, who was crowned on 25 October 2022 at Sentul International Convention Center in Sentul City, West Java, Indonesia.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Miss Grand International was founded in 2013 by Nawat Itsaragrisil, a Thai television host and producer. The pageant was founded in Thailand amidst a political crisis, inspiring the organizers to use the slogan <nowiki>'</nowiki>"No mob, Stop the Wars"<nowiki>'</nowiki> as part of its identity, later rephrased to <nowiki>'</nowiki>"Stop the Wars and violence"<nowiki>'</nowiki> in the following year. The pageant aims to promote peace by being against all kinds of conflicts.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The pageant has primarily been focusing on humanitarian issues with the reigning titleholders dedicating their year to work as the organization's spokesperson as well as involved in the charity events related to the said campaigns. For instance, corresponding with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to raise funds available for humanitarian aid, visiting and donated necessities to the internally displaced people in the refugee camps, being the guest speaker at the related events and act as the ambassador of the NGOs (e.g., Catholic Medical Mission Board, Model United Nations), or taking part in any projects of the local charitable organization in the visited countries. Before 2021, the winner of the contest, together with all runners-up, often serve as the campaigners of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, to promote the tourism industry of the pageant-based country.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The contest features contestants selected by licensees in each country. Its first three competitions were held in Thailand under the sponsorship of the country's government and televised worldwide via Channel 7, while subsequent events have also taken place overseas, and was broadcast via the local television channels together with the social media platforms including its official YouTube channel and Facebook page.


title: Miss Grand International

text: In 2019, the pageant was being held in Venezuela amid the country's political crisis; several candidates withdrew from the competition due to security concerns and visa regulation problems, such as South Korea, Cambodia, and Laos. Later in 2020, the pageant was also scheduled to be held in Venezuela on 25 October but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was postponed to 2021 and the venue was moved to Bangkok, Thailand. As with the succeeding edition, , which was also held in Thailand with the preliminary events in Phuket, some ancillary activities was cancelled due to the opposing political views between the organizer and the pro-military government local community; which caused the application for property use to be revoked. The local government also declined to facilitate the event arrangement in the province. Since the Thai coup d'état in mid-2014, the organization's personnel have always been showing their political aspects against the country's military government, causing them to receive criticism from the ultraconservative and far-right political citizens, generally called Salim in Thai, on various social media platforms, and they have also been subjected to legal action after expressing their opinions against a government measure over the police and military violent crackdown on anti-government protests and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2021. Many pageant contestants also took action against the Thailand military government for the aforementioned incidents, such as Helen Maher of Scotland and Samantha Bernardo of the Philippines.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The contestants of each edition of the pageant were selected by the franchise holder in respective countries or territories, through either a national contest, internal casting, or being hand-picked. Being a newly established international pageant, almost half of the participated contestants were selected as the national representative without acquiring the national title in the respective state pageant. Nonetheless, in pageant popular countries, especially in Far East and the Americas, annual national pageants are usually being held to crown a winner to compete in the Miss Grand International pageant, for example; Miss Grand Cambodia, Miss Grand Malaysia, Miss Grand Nepal, and Miss Grand Paraguay, some of them were the runner-up or obtained the supplementary title at other national pageants, e.g. the delegates from Femina Miss India (2015–2021), Binibining Pilipinas (2013, 2015 – 2022), Miss Mexico (2017 – 2020), etc.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Despite not being considered an economically popular event in Europe and Africa, many countries have conducted national pageants, for instance, , , Miss Grand Spain, Miss Grand France, Miss Grand Italy, and Miss Grand South Africa. In Spain, Italy, and many countries in Asia, each administrative division (i.e. province, state, region) holds a preliminary competition to choose their delegate for the national pageant. Moreover, in some provinces of Spain, Malaysia, and Thailand, local pageants are also held to determine delegates for the provincial competition, in which winners hold the title "Miss Grand (Province)" for the year of their reign. Unfortunately, cultural impediments in the swimsuit competition have precluded some countries, such as ultraconservative and Muslim countries, from participating, while some countries have not participated because of a lacking of funding.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Although the title of "Miss Grand" pageant was global registered copyright, some national or local pageants unrelated to the Miss Grand International has been observed such as the Azerbaijan model search contest named "Miss and Mister Grand Azerbaijan" which was organized by Elxan Pashayev since 2018, '"Miss Zimbabwe Grand", headed by Farai Zembeni since 2019, the pageant finalists participate in various continental contests in Africa, as well as the local pageant in the Bahamas, "Miss Grand Bahama", established in 1970, which the name "Grand Bahama" refer to the third largest island in the northernmost region of the country.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Miss Grand International is the platform's annual international beauty pageant. Its inaugural edition was held in Bangkok in 2013 under sponsorship from Thailand's government and featured 73 participating countries; the inaugural titleholder was Janelee Chaparro of Puerto Rico. In 2016, the pageant was held for the first time outside Thailand, at Westgate Las Vegas, Las Vegas, US, on 25 October. Since 2015, the grand final is usually held on 25 October each year. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 editions of the pageant were delayed, the 2020 edition was first scheduled to be held on 25 October 2020, but was postponed to 27 March 2021, and the venue was also moved to Bangkok, Thailand, similar to the 2021 edition which was held in December 2021, two months behind the traditional schedule.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The current Miss Grand International titleholder is Nguyễn Thúc Thùy Tiên of Vietnam, who was crowned on 4 December 2021 at Show DC Hall in Bangkok, Thailand making her the first woman from Vietnam to win the crown.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The pre-pageant activities of Miss Grand International usually consist of three main events, the swimsuit competition, a national costume parade, and the preliminary contest. The swimsuit competition is organized at a separate venue to determine the winner of the Best in Swimsuit award while the national costume and the preliminary round of each edition are usually held at the same venue of the grand final round. All aforementioned events are live streamed via the pageant's Facebook and YouTube accounts. In the preliminary round, all contestants will compete in swimwear and evening gowns in front of a panel of preliminary judges. Each round of the preliminary competition and the Swimsuit competition will determine the winner of "Best Evening Gown" and "Best in Swimsuit" awards which will be announced later on the final stage of the contest as well as the winner of other special awards including "Best National Costume" and "Miss Popular vote". Moreover, the scores from all ancillary events, preliminary competition, together with a closed-door interview portion and the swimsuit competition, also determine the Top 20 finalists during the grand final telecast of the pageant.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The grand final of the pageant is usually broadcast worldwide on television and the social media platforms of the pageant. As the tradition of the pageant, twenty semi-finalists are chosen from the initial pool of contestants through observation during the entire pageant, a closed-door interview, swimsuit round as well as a preliminary competition, which featured contestants competing in swimsuits and evening gowns. However, the "Country of the year" was first introduced in 2020 edition, which was selected by the audience on social networks. The winner of this category automatically enters the twenty finalists regardless of all previous scores. The Top 20 would then compete in a swimsuit competition, with 10 of them advancing to the Top 10, this number eventually was reduced to 9 with the 10th semi-finalist being the Top Popularity Winner determined through mobile voting, all 10 semi-finalists would then compete in an evening gown and give their speeches with a ‘Stop the War and Violence' theme.


title: Miss Grand International

text: After the speech round and evening gown competitions, the judges then select the top five to compete in the question-and-answer portion, where all entrants will be asked the same question about an ongoing global situation; such as the management of COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the 2016 United States presidential election, and the ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis in Venezuela. The judges will select the winner based on their answer and all previous accumulate scores, then the host will sequentially announce the fourth, third and second runners-up. The last 2 candidates of the top 5 finalists will stand in the center of the stage then one of them will be named Miss Grand International.


title: Miss Grand International

text: As the tradition of this pageant, the crown of the title holders, known as the "Golden Crown", has been set to be changed every 3 years, all versions of the Golden Crown are made of gold and brass for structural integrity, while the exterior is adorned by diamond, and emerald. Its first version was designed by a Thai jewellery design company, "God Diamond", headed by Chawalit Chommuang, and was used for the first three editions of the pageant. The crown used from 2016 – 2018 (2nd version) and 2019 – 2021 (3rd version) was designed by an unrevealed company and George Wittels, respectively.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The latest version of the golden crown, which was going to be used for the 2022 – 2024 edition, was also made by a Venezuelan jewellery designer, George Wittels, who signed as the official jewel sponsor of the Miss Grand International Organization during 2019 – 2024. He additionally designed the crown for all four runners-up of the pageant since the 2019 edition, the first time that the organization provided the crown for the runner-up positions.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Since 2014, the organizer has also been offering USD$ 40,000 cash to each year winner for spending a year work as the organization's spokesperson in its campaign, the prize was increased from USD$ 30,000 in 2013; however, some Vietnamese media published that Nguyễn Thúc Thùy Tiên earned USD$ 60,000 for winning the contest in 2021. Furthermore, all four runners-up of each edition, also received cash prizes, ABS-CBN reported that Samantha Bernardo of the Philippines got USD$ 6,000 in cash after she had obtained the first runner-up title at the Miss Grand International 2020 pageant in Bangkok, Thailand, Vartika Singh of India received USD$ 4,000 for her second runner-up finish at the , and 3,000 and US$$2,000 for the third and fourth runners-up, respectively. Besides the finalists, the winner of each special award also received a prize; approximately USD$ 1,000 – 3,000 according to the 2013 to 2015 contests.


title: Miss Grand International

text: After relinquishing the crown to the successor, the immediate predecessor is provided with a replica tiara; the replica is usually produced by the same designer as its master.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Since its founding on 6 November 2013, the Miss Grand beauty pageant franchise has been managed by the Miss Grand International Company Limited (MGI Co.,Ltd.), a private limited company based in Thailand, currently headed by Nawat Itsaragrisil, a Thai television host and producer who had previously served as producer of Miss Thailand World for BEC-Tero. After ending his role with BEC-Tero, Nawat signed a business partnership with Channel 7 and subsequently established his national pageant, Miss Grand Thailand in mid-2013 and the newly established international pageant, Miss Grand International, which was later launched in the same year on 19 November.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Alongside its flagship beauty pageant, the company eventually expanded and diversified into the food-processing and cosmetics industries in 2018 as well as the talent management sector in 2019.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The MGI Co.,Ltd. was transformed into a public limited company with the registered capital of 105 million Baht (approx. US$30.00 million) on 15 June 2022 and is scheduled to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in late 2022.


title: Miss Grand International

text: For its fiscal year 2021 ending 31 December 2021, the company reported revenues of 345 million Baht; a 1% increase from the previous year, assets of 107 million Baht, and a net profit of 29 million Baht, the last two numbers down from the previous year.


title: Miss Grand International

text: At the grand final of the 2020 edition in Bangkok, Thailand, in addition to crowning the winner, the representative of Myanmar, Han Lay, also took the stage to make a declaration against alleged atrocities committed by the Myanmar military in her home country and requested international awareness of the ongoing democratic struggle following the military coup on 1 February 2021. She additionally requested the United Nations to take action against the Myanmar regime and pleaded for urgent international aid for the ongoing bloodshed. Following her speech, she received life-threatening criticisms on her social media accounts, but the vast majority of comments were supportive of her actions. Furthermore, the Myanmar military government allegedly issued an arrest warrant against her under a law against all material intended to cause a member of the armed forces to mutiny or disregard their duty, which caused her to apply for refugee status and a work permit in Thailand with the support of Burmese labor in Thailand. The pageant organizer also supported her with the necessary expenses and hired her as company personnel until she immigrated to Canada for political asylum in late 2021.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Another political impact also occurred in the following edition when the representative of Vietnam, Nguyễn Thúc Thùy Tiên, who was later elected 2021 winner, declared a sentence in Thai during the semi-finalists' speech round that means <nowiki>'</nowiki>" Make the world a better place for everyone"<nowiki>'</nowiki> while raising the three-finger salute, a protest symbol inspired by the Hunger Games and has been adopted by many pro-democracy protest movements in Southeast Asian countries, which includes Thailand. The aforementioned action has greatly displeased supporters of the Thai military government, causing them to gather to present letters of protest to the Vietnamese embassy in Bangkok, accusing that her action is interfering in Thai internal affairs since the Constitutional Court of Thailand has determined that using the three-finger salute in Thailand is intended to overthrow the Thai regime. However, Vietnam's foreign affairs has no official diplomatic responsiveness to such an issue, despite some Thai government's political groups claiming that Vietnam's Ministry of Culture has made a statement to take action and remind her to refrain from making public speeches on issues that may affect Thailand–Vietnam relations. In addition, Radio Free Asia also reported that Thuy Tien's speech with the pro-democracy three-finger salute was censored by the Vietnamese government, which does not allow the domestic press to release any media, comments, or explain its meanings. In the case of regulatory violations, all materials were removed shortly after being published. In the days after Thuy Tien's coronation, public compliments and supporting comments for her inspiring three-finger salute movement were observed on various Vietnamese press-released media, but most of those articles or paragraphs shortly disappeared, were no longer accessible, or the details was not mentioned. Moreover, in many press-released videos, the section of such action or even the entire video was removed.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Since the establishment of the contest, there was one case of resignation from her title when 2015 Miss Grand International winner Anea Garcia from Rhode Island, a Dominican American model, who later placed third in the Miss USA 2015 pageant then represented Dominican Republic in the Miss Grand International. She stepped down from her reign and was replaced by first runner-up Claire Elizabeth Parker from Australia in which the contest cited ""with immediate effect, Miss Anea Garcia will step down from her position as Miss Grand International 2015 due to unable to fulfill and follow the contractual agreement with Miss Grand International Organization"." The organization further stated, "her studies were in the way, making it very hard for us to schedule her activities."


title: Miss Grand International

text: Garcia was interviewed by The Providence Journal and stated that she resigned since "her safety was in jeopardy when she was sexually assaulted in South Sudan while representing the organization and [they] showed no concern about the incident" after she informed the organizers. The Miss Grand International later claimed that Garcia was "dethroned" for being "demanding and disrespectful" and for taking an "inappropriate photo while wearing the crown with a revealing slit in her dress in the upper leg-crotch area," as opposed to the organization's initial press release that she "stepped down."


title: Miss Grand International

text: Parker, who succeeded Anea Garcia as Miss Grand International 2015 after her resignation, was later stripped off from her title in February 2019, almost four years after her reign ended and the organization released a statement that she's no longer be addressed to as Miss Grand International 2015 when she decided to take part in a major national pageant title, Miss Universe Australia 2019 a preliminary of one of the Big Four international beauty pageants, Miss Universe.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Several statements and actions made by the pageant's founder, Nawat Itsaragrisil, have attracted controversy to the pageant itself.


title: Miss Grand International

text: In 2016, Nawat was reported by Miss Iceland 2015 Arna Ýr Jónsdóttir to have said that "she's too fat and needed to lose weight" prior to the finals of Miss Grand International 2016 held in Las Vegas on 25 October 2016, eventually dropping out of the pageant before the coronation due to the controversy. Jónsdóttir, a former member of the Icelandic national athletics team, stated "I decided to stand by myself and women in general, I'm not going to have anyone telling me that I am too fat to look good on stage." In a statement, Nawat said that they give similar advice to other contestants who asked what should they do to improve to win. Nawat eventually said that he had spoken with Jónsdóttir along with the company's vice president and clarified matters. The pageant organizers was also accused of withholding her passport and "threatened me by saying, you can get your passport back if you pay 3,000 dollars" after she withdrew from the contest. Jónsdóttir was eventually able to retrieve her passport.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Nawat has also expressed displeasure about the behavior of Filipino pageant fans online. This is after several incidents of Filipino pageant fans attacking him on social media. These incidents include accusations of Nawat rigging the results of Miss Grand International, of him having a bias against Filipina contestants, an Instagram post where Nawat insinuated that the coronation of Catriona Gray as Miss Universe 2018 was a rigged affair and saying that Miss Philippines 2018 didn't make it due to the rest of the contestants being better than her.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Nawat has also gotten into a verbal row with the Miss Supranational organization after the then reigning Miss Supranational Chanique Rabe did not include Miss Grand into what she considers the "Big Five" of pageants, saying that those pageants were "minor crowns".


title: Miss Grand International

text: The pageant stirred another controversy when the organizers allowed Emily Delgado, who represented the United States in the Miss Grand International 2019 to parade in a Native American-inspired costume with headdress and walked on the stage with stereotypical gestures in which she drew ire in the social media for cultural appropriation. The mockery of the Native values was initially confirmed and denounced by Ashley Callingbull of Alberta’s Enoch Cree Nation, Canada's first Indigenous woman to win the Mrs. Universe title in 2015.


title: Miss Grand International

text: In addition to Thailand, several national licensees have been separately organizing their preliminary pageants to select the representatives for the Miss Grand International pageant. As listed below, the lists were divided into 4 geographic continent groups, including; Africa, the Americas, Asia-Oceania, and Europe.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Liberia entered the Miss Grand International pageant for the first time in 2021. The country representative was "Hajamaya Mulbah", one of the Miss Grand Liberia 2021 finalists, who was promoted to replace the original winner of such a contest, "Goretti Itoka". The organizers cited Itoka wished to relinquish the title willingly, howbeit, Itoka later contended that she was removed without any direct clarification from the organizers. The Ministry of Information, Culture affairs, and Tourism of Liberia (MICAT) was also involved to manipulate the situation and has sent a communication document to the organizer, however, no organizer's official response.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The Miss Grand Liberia 2021 is the inaugural edition of Miss Grand Liberia beauty contest, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the pageant was held virtually via Zoom application featuring 9 national finalists, in which a social media marketing strategist and the former Miss Mano River Union, "Goretti Itoka", was elected as the national winner.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Botswana joined the Miss Grand International only once in 2014, with the representation of Lillian Lillie Dlamini, who won the inaugural national contest Miss Grand International Botswana 2014, outclassing 12 other finalists, but, unfortunately, she got non-placement at the international contest. The event was held on 26 July at Cresta Lodge Hotel in Gaborone, under the management of Dineo Matlapeng, a South Africa-based businessperson.


title: Miss Grand International

text: In addition to Thailand, Zimbabwe is one of the other countries that separately held its Miss Grand national contest to select the representative for Miss Grand International in 2013. This inaugural edition of Miss Grand Zimbabwe was organized at Gardens Restaurant in the city of Bulawayo under the direction of the former Miss Tourism Zimbabwe 2010,"Samantha Tshuma", which a 22 years old Tanzanian model "Fungai Mawada" announced the winner at a contest held on 13 July outclassing 15 other finalists. Nevertheless, Mawada was later disqualified on 2 September by the aforementioned organizer who nominated herself as the country representative at such an international contest and additionally stated that all 16 participating models were not suitable for the international competition, causing her to receive negative opinions from several modeling agencies. Tshuma was placed at Top 20 finalist of the swimsuit competition at the pageant which was held in Thailand on 19 November.


title: Miss Grand International

text: In the following year, the Miss Grand Zimbabwe organization was also embroiled in a similar scandal when the new franchise holder, "Chris Vukani Mhlanga", who was in a relationship with the 2013 national licensee, has unveiled a new country representative, "Lillie Chopamba", to replace "Marble Nyathi", the finalists who had been nominated from Bulawayo to represent the country at the in Bangkok. Mhlanga claimed Nyathi's body was not good enough for the international pageant, however, Nyathi argued that she was removed because of refusing Mhlanga's love proposal as well as some financial issues between her and the organizer. Lillie Chopamba was the last Zimbabwe candidate at Miss Grand International, although the other national pageant with a similar name, Miss Zimbabwe Grand, was held annually since 2019 to determine the winners for several international platforms, but has no affiliation to the Miss Grand International.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The Bahamas took part in the Miss Grand International pageant twice in 2016 and 2017, sequentially represented by "Selvinique Wright" and "Rejean Bosh". Both of them were appointed to the position without participating in any respective contests. The national preliminary contest of the Bahamas for Miss Grand International was firstly held in 2018 after "Navado Dawkins", the Nassau-based designer, purchased the license. Its grand final was happening on 1 July 2018 at Meliá Nassau Beach – All-Inclusive Resort, featuring contestants from 7 cities and districts, including Andros, Eleuthera, Exuma, Grand Bahama, Inagua, New Providence, and the San Salvador, in which the representative of New Providence, "Dannise Bain" – a nineteen years old international model, was named the Miss Grand Bahamas 2018 titleholder and expected to represent the country at in Myanmar. Unfortunately, due to visa regulation problems, Bain was unable to participate in such an international platform. Since then, no national pageant has additionally been held or appointed country representative for the Miss Grand International.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The highest achievement of the Bahamas at Miss Grand International is the top 10 finalists in the 2016 edition, won by "Selvinique Wright" who also obtained the "Best in Swimsuit" of the said edition. Previously, Selvinique competed as Miss Star Fish Bay in the Miss Universe Bahamas 2016 pageant, where she finished as top 5 finalists then was selected by such an organization to compete in Las Vegas for the 2016 Miss Grand International title.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Canada began to organize the separate event for the Miss Grand International pageant in 2017, under the management of the Calgary-based model agency Di Benedetto Models, headed by "Angelo Di Benedetto". However, the winner of the event, "Maddison Fysh", resigned the title caused the organizer to appoint their affiliated model –Natalie Allin – to instead compete in the international competition. The same incident also happen in 2018, when the runner-up "Grace Diamani" was promoted to take over the position after the original winner – Veronica Rodriguez – had relinquished the national title for undisclosed reasons.


title: Miss Grand International

text: In 2019, Benedetto lost the franchise to "Michelle Weswaldi", the president of the Miss World Canada pageant. Since then, the first runner-up of the said national contest has been assumed Miss Grand Canada, Except in 2021, the Miss World 2020 contest was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the winner of Miss World Canada 2020 to compete at Miss World 2021 instead, and the 2021 national contest was also delayed, the organizer then decided to hold an ad hoc virtual contest to determine the country representative for . The contest featured 23 national finalists, in which a Ukrainian-Canadian model "Olga Bykadorova" was announced the winner.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Canada has been sending its delegates to compete in the Miss Grand International since 2013. The highest achievement was the second runner-up in 2014, won by "Kathryn Kohut", a model and actress from Alberta. Kohut was appointed to compete at such an edition after obtaining the first runner-up in the Miss Earth Canada 2014 contest in Montréal, the event was managed by the Filipino-Canadian organizer "Ronaldo Soriano Trono", who served as the national director of Miss Grand Canada and South Korea during 2013 – 2015.


title: Miss Grand International

text: In Asia and Oceania, several national pageants was established to determine their representative for Miss Grand International specifically, including:


title: Miss Grand International

text: France has usually been participating in almost every edition of the Miss Grand International pageant, except in 2018. In the first era of the pageant, its representatives were appointed to join the contest by different national directors. However, after "Sonia Mansour", former Miss Grand France, took over the franchise in 2019, the inaugural edition of Miss Grand France was finally happening under her directorship on 4 July 2019, in which "Cassandra De Sousa" was named the winner, outclassed 8 other national finalists. De Sousa later competed at Miss Grand International 2019 in Venezuela in October that year, unfortunately, she got non-placement.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Later in 2021, Mansour lost the franchise to the other organization, who arranged the contest amid the health restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contest consisted of 5 national finalists, and a 24-year-old model from Aquitaine, "Elodie Sirulnick", was announced the winner. Along with the national crown, Sirulnick also won the prize for the Elegance and the Sympathy special awards. She is the second candidate from France that got placement in the Miss Grand International contest following "Eline Lamboley" who was placed among the 20 finalists in the in Thailand.


title: Miss Grand International

text: Belgium is one of the countries that participated in the Miss Grand International contest since its inception in 2013. Nevertheless, most of its representatives have been chosen without organizing the national contest. However, after "Carolyn Collinda", the Netherlands-born businessperson, obtained the license in 2021, she subsequently organized the first competition of Miss Grand Belgium on 18 September 2021 at AED Studios in the city of Lint. The contest featured seven national finalists, in which "Tenzin Zomkey" who was born in India's Tibetan refugee camp and is currently residing in Flemish Brabant of Belgium was crowned Miss Grand Belgium 2021.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The Netherlands has always been conducting the national contest to determine its representatives for the Miss Grand International pageant since 2013, except for 2015, 2019 and 2021, when the titleholders were assigned to the position instead of organizing the pageant. In addition to crowning the national winner for the said contest, its candidates for several other international pageants were also chosen on the same stage, such as "Miss Supranational Netherlands", "Miss Earth Netherlands", etc. However, the organizer once conducted the contest to determine Miss Grand Netherlands separately in 2016. The contest was held on 5 June at the Aalsmeer Studios in the city of Aalsmeer featured 4 national finalists, in which an artist from Utrecht, "Floor Masselink", was crowned Miss Grand Netherlands 2016. In 2020, the pageant was held virtually, due to the COVID-19 pandemic,


title: Miss Grand International

text: The Miss Grand Netherlands beauty pageant comes under the franchise of "12 Months of Beauty", which is run by Robin and Stefan Hoven – Lieuw Choy, the national directors. Their first placement at Miss Grand International is top 20 finalists in 2013, won by "Talisa Wolters" who obtained the Miss Grand national title after participating in Miss Grand & Supranational Netherlands 2013 contest, also held by Robin and Stefan. The Netherlands representatives also got the same placement in 2015, 2017 and 2021.


title: Miss Grand International

text: National franchises have a lot of latitude in choosing candidates for Miss Grand International. Some are the winners of individual contests for their Miss Grand International, others get the honor by winning first or second runner-up from contests for candidates to multiple international pageants, and yet others are chosen in different ways.


title: Miss Grand International

text: The following list is the name of the national licensees of Miss Grand International since its establishment, the list was divided into 4 geographic continent groups, including; Asia-Oceania, the Americas, Europe, and Africa.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: USS "Constellation" (CV-64), a supercarrier, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the "new constellation of stars" on the flag of the United States. One of the fastest ships in the Navy, as proven by her victory during a battlegroup race held in 1985, she was nicknamed ""Connie"" by her crew and officially as "America's Flagship".


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: The contract to build "Constellation" was awarded to the New York Naval Shipyard on 1 July 1956, and her keel was laid down 14 September 1957 at the New York Navy Yard. She was christened and launched 8 October 1960, sponsored by Mary Herter (wife of Secretary of State Christian Herter). "Constellation" was delivered to the Navy 1 October 1961, and commissioned on 27 October 1961, with Captain T. J. Walker in command. At that time, she had cost about US$264.5 million. "Constellation" was the last conventional U.S. aircraft carrier (as of January 2021) to be built at a yard other than Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company. "Constellation" was scrapped at Brownsville, Texas, in 2015–2017.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: USS "Constellation" was heavily damaged by fire while under construction on 19 December 1960. The carrier was in the final stages of construction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York when the fire began.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: The fire broke out when a forklift operating on the hangar deck accidentally pushed its cargo into a steel plate knocking it over. The plate then broke off the plug of a tank of diesel fuel which spilled from the container reaching the lower levels of the ship. The fuel was ignited perhaps by a cutting torch of a fitter, and then moved to a wooden scaffolding. The flames spread quickly, filling the passageways of the ship with smoke. A Navy commander commented on the nature of the ship's design at an inquiry, "Ships of this class are the most complex structures ever designed by man."


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: It took 17 hours for firefighters to extinguish the fire, some of whom had been "driven to the raw edge of exhaustion" after being called into service in the Park Slope air accident. The firefighters saved hundreds of lives without losing any of their own, however fifty shipyard workers were killed. The extensive damage cost 75 million dollars to repair, and delayed the commissioning date by seven months, leading to a rumor that the ship that had burned in New York was and the fire caused the Navy to change the names and hull number designations between the two sister ships that were being built simultaneously in separate shipyards in separate states. An abstract of a "New York Times" article from the day after the fire, 20 December 1960, refers to the ship as USS "Constellation".


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: "Constellation" was launched 8 October 1960, and she was delivered to the Navy 1 October 1961. She was commissioned on 27 October 1961, with Captain T. J. Walker in command. Another fire occurred aboard "Constellation" on 7 November 1961, while she was being tested at sea, killing four and injuring nine others.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: Following fitting out and acceptance trials, "Constellation" departed her home port of Norfolk, Virginia, on 7 February 1962 for initial air operations off the Virginia Capes. She conducted her first catapult launch and arrested landing the same day with Commander George C. Watkins, air group (CVG) 13 commander, at the controls of an A4D-2 Skyhawk of Attack Squadron 34. After a month of operating locally, "Connie" (as the carrier became known) conducted a two-month shakedown cruise in the Caribbean Sea.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: In summer 1962, "Constellation" was transferred to the U.S. Pacific Fleet and CVG-13 was disestablished. For the two-month trip around Cape Horn to her new home port of San Diego, California, "Constellation" embarked elements of CVG-5 and departed Mayport, Florida, on 25 July. In November "Constellation", with CVG-14 on board, commenced workup exercises for her upcoming maiden deployment to the western Pacific as a component of the U.S. Seventh Fleet. The uneventful cruise took place from February to September 1963.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: "Constellation"s second deployment began on 5 May 1964. She relieved "Kitty Hawk" on station in the Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam on 8 June, embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 14 (air groups had been redesignated air wings on 20 December 1963) and flew armed photo reconnaissance missions over Laos until 13 July. Following an upkeep period at Subic Bay, Philippines, "Constellation" reached Hong Kong for a port visit on 27 July, but within a few days was called back into action.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: As a result of orders received during the first day of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident (2 August 1964), "Constellation" got underway and headed toward the Gulf of Tonkin. On 4 August, "Constellation" launched F-4B Phantom IIs to join aircraft from in providing air cover over the destroyers which were alleged by the Johnson administration to have been attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. On 5 August both carriers launched Operation Pierce Arrow, a series of air strikes on a North Vietnamese oil facility and naval vessels. CVW-14 lost two aircraft, an A-1 Skyraider, piloted by Lieutenant (junior grade) Richard C. Sather, who was killed in action (KIA), and an A-4 Skyhawk flown by Lieutenant (junior grade) Everett Alvarez Jr., who became one of the United States' first prisoners of war (POW) of the Vietnam War. Operations returned to a more normal cycle for the remainder of the deployment, and "Constellation" returned to San Diego on 1 February 1965, ending a nearly nine-month cruise. "Connie" and CVW-14 were awarded a Navy Unit Commendation (NUC) for the early August operations. During the deployment, "Constellation" appears to have been under the direction of Commander Carrier Division 9.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: A first shipyard period for "Constellation" followed, lasting eight months; then workups commenced for her first full-blown war cruise. The carrier, with CVW-15 on board, was underway for operations off Vietnam in May 1966. During 111 days on station, aircraft from "Constellation" pounded roads, bridges and other targets, attempting to impede the flow of men and war materials south. The F-4B aircrew of pilot Lieutenant William M. McGunigan and radar intercept officer Lieutenant (junior grade) Robert M. Fowler from Fighter Squadron 161 (VF-161) shot down a MiG-17 fighter jet on 13 July, marking the ship’s first MiG kill of the war. "Constellation" returned to San Diego in December after her seven-month combat cruise, having lost 16 aircrewmen and 15 aircraft. Subsequently, both "Constellation" and CVW-15 were awarded a NUC for this deployment.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: After a short workup cycle, "Constellation"s third combat deployment commenced in April 1967. With CVW-14 embarked, the carrier operated first on Dixie Station (a patrol area about off South Vietnam) with strikes in the Iron Triangle region, and then moved north to Yankee Station (a patrol area about off North Vietnam) for a total of 121 days on the line. Reflecting the intensive nature of air operations, F-4Bs of VF 142 and VF 143 accounted for four MiG kills. The eight-month deployment ended in December, having totaled losses of 16 aircraft and 20 personnel, including seven KIAs and eight POWs. Both the carrier and CVW-14 received a NUC.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: "Constellation" began her fourth deployment to the western Pacific and Vietnam on 29 May 1968. During this deployment, the "Constellation"/CVW-14 team was restricted to strikes below the 20th parallel of North Vietnam as a result of a March Presidential order. On 1 November, as directed by President Johnson, all bombing of North Vietnam was halted at 21:00 Saigon time. The last Navy mission over the restricted area was flown earlier in the day by Cmdr. Kenneth E. Enney in an A-7 Corsair II. "Constellation" returned to homeport to on 31 January 1969, after flying more than 11,000 combat and support missions and dropping almost 20,000 tons of ordnance. Fifteen aircraft were destroyed, nine due to enemy action. Six aircrew members perished, five were listed as KIAs and three were taken as POW.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: By August, it was time for "Constellation" to return to Vietnam for a fifth combat deployment, again with CVW-14. Following an initial 20-day period of supporting strikes in South Vietnam as well as Laos, "Constellation" sailed to Defender Station in the Sea of Japan, which had been created as a result of increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula. On 2 October 1969, there was an accident caused when the tail rotor came off of a helicopter just before landing on the flight deck. Nine men went down with the chopper and were never recovered. A return to Yankee Station on 1 November also produced a major milestone in the carrier's life when the F-4J aircrew of air wing skipper Commander R. K. Billings and Lieutenant (junior grade) Jeff Taylor of VF-143 conducted "Connie"s 100,000th arrested landing. During a mission on 28 March 1970, the VF-142 F-4 crew of Lieutenant Jerome E. Beaulier and Lieutenant Steven J. Barkley downed a North Vietnamese MiG-21 jet fighter. Following a total of 128 days on the line, "Constellation"s nine-month deployment ended in May, with CVW-14 suffering the loss of seven total aircraft, five to enemy action. One member of the aircrew was taken as a POW, but there were no fatalities.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: Upon her return "Constellation" began a nine-month major shipyard overhaul, her second since commissioning. In spring 1971 she welcomed aboard a new air wing, CVW-9, and departed San Diego on 1 October for what would become a historic combat deployment. Air operations commenced with strikes against mainly logistic targets in Laos as well as reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam into 1972. On 19 January, the VF-96 F-4 Phantom crew of Lieutenant Randall H. "Duke" Cunningham and Lieutenant (junior grade) William P. Driscoll scored a kill against a MiG-21, the first for a Navy aircraft since "Connie"s VF-142 kill on 28 March 1970. The carrier was nearing the end of her scheduled deployment when her tour was extended to meet the threat posed by the North Vietnamese Easter Offensive.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: Initial air strikes in support of ground troops were followed by a new, more intensive series of air strikes against major targets in North Vietnam. On 8 May, the same VF-96 aircrew team of Cunningham and Driscoll scored against a MiG-17. Then on 10 May, Cunningham and Driscoll downed three MiG-17s, becoming the first aces of the Vietnam war. Three more MiG-17s were downed by two other VF-96 crews, two by Lieutenant Michael J. Connelly and Lieutenant Thomas J. Blonski and one by Lieutenant Steven C. Shoemaker and Lieutenant (junior grade) Keith V. Crenshaw. Adding to the score, VF-92 aircrew Lieutenant Curt Dose and Lieutenant Commander James McDevitt shot down a MiG-21. All told, "Constellation" fliers shot down seven MiGs on 10 May. The nine-month deployment ended on 1 July, the carrier having spent 154 days off Vietnam. Seven aircraft were lost, two aircrewmen were reported KIA and two became POWs. The "Constellation"/CVW-9 team received the Presidential Unit Citation for their outstanding efforts.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: In 1971 "Constellation" became the target of significant antiwar activity in her homeport of San Diego. Two anti-Vietnam War groups, the Concerned Officers Movement and "San Diego Nonviolent Action" organized a "Constellation Vote" which became a major antiwar campaign over several months. It led to a citywide straw vote in late September 1971 with 54,721 votes counted. Over 82% of voters elected to keep the ship home, including 73% of the military personnel who voted. While not a "real" vote, the impact on public opinion was appreciable. The commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet was quoted as saying "never was there such a concerted effort to entice American servicemen from their posts." This activity was the first of numerous anti-Vietnam War efforts directed against U.S. Navy ships that developed into the larger Stop Our Ship (SOS) movement.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: A considerable amount of research was conducted into the role of aircraft carriers in modern warfare by Professor William Watson of MIT who was then a visiting Professor of History at UC San Diego. He argued in a widely distributed pamphlet that aircraft carriers had become weapons "used to crush popular uprisings and to bully the weaker and poorer countries of the world." When "Constellation" set sail for Vietnam in late 1971, nine of her crew publicly refused to go and took sanctuary in a local Catholic church. The "Connie 9", as they were quickly dubbed, were soon arrested in an early morning raid by US Marshals and flown back to the ship, but within weeks were honorably discharged from the Navy.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: "Constellation" was the focus of media attention when black members of her crew protested what they saw as systemic racism in the Navy, leading to what some saw as an aborted mutiny in late 1972. "Constellation" returned to the United States on 1 July and prepared to return to the western Pacific in early 1973. Replacement personnel reported aboard while "Constellation" was in the United States until the ship had 250 more men than the ship's berthing could accommodate. "Constellation"s commanding officer ordered administrative (less than honorable) discharges for five black sailors he considered troublemakers. He planned to give early discharges to another 250 men whose enlistments would expire while "Constellation" was overseas. While "Constellation" was conducting exercises off the California coast, a rumor started that the captain was going to give 250 less than honorable discharges to black sailors. The captain scheduled an open meeting for 21:00 3 November to clarify the 250 planned discharges. At noon 3 November a group of 50 black sailors began a sit-in on a portion of the mess deck. On the night of 3–4 November 60 black sailors took control of the scheduled meeting, refused to leave the mess deck, and threatened to "tear up the ship." "Constellation" returned to San Diego on 4 November to offload 130 men, including 12 white sailors, before returning to sea. "Constellation" returned to San Diego on 7 November and the offloaded sailors were transported back to the dock on 9 November, but only 8 boarded their ship. The remaining sailors sat down on the dock to be filmed by television crews and were ultimately transferred to shore stations for mast. Twelve received general discharges, 35 were honorably discharged but not recommended for re-enlistment, and 73 received punishments ranging from loss of pay and reduction in rate to warnings prior to being reassigned to sea duty.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: In January 1973, "Constellation" headed back to Southeast Asia. The Paris Peace Accords took effect on 28 January, but CVW-9 aircraft continued to strike targets in Laos until a cease-fire in that country was called on 21 February. Thus "Connie", which had been on station at the beginning of combat operations in Vietnam in 1964, was on station at the end, nine years later. The remainder of the nine-month deployment consisted largely of flights in support of mine-clearing operations in North Vietnam.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: Upon her return in October 1973, "Constellation" enjoyed a nine-month workup cycle, and departed in June 1974 for her first peacetime deployment in 10 years. On 23 November, she became the first carrier to enter the Persian Gulf since 1949. The six-month cruise ended on 24 December 1974.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: A 14-month major overhaul and upgrade at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Washington, commenced in February 1975, during which "Constellation" was modified to reflect the Navy's new multipurpose air, surface and antisubmarine warfare role for carriers. She was redesignated a CV on 30 June 1975. With the overhaul completed in April 1976, "Connie" could now operate both the new S-3A Viking and F-14A Tomcat. However, the workups uncovered problems, and a 26-day drydocking in late 1976 at Long Beach Naval Shipyard, California, was required. The highlight for the remaining workup cycle was participation in Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) multinational exercises held in and around the Hawaiian Islands. An uneventful April to November 1977 deployment, "Connie"s tenth, to the Far East followed.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: "Constellation"s next deployment, from September 1978 to May 1979, was originally scheduled to end in March but was extended due to her sortie into the Indian Ocean in reaction to a political crisis in Yemen. Following a relatively short eight-month turnaround cycle, she was underway again in February 1980 under the command of Captain Leon Edney, USN. After participating in RIMPAC exercises, "Constellation" steamed westward to the Arabian Sea, where Gonzo Station had been established following the November 1979 takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran. "Connie" had reached the eastern Indian Ocean when the unsuccessful 24 April 1980 raid to free American hostages took place, and she relieved on Gonzo Station on 1 May. This at-sea period would last a record-setting 110 days. As a result, the crew of "Constellation" was awarded the Navy Expeditionary Medal for their service. The deployment ended in mid-October.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: During the 1981 workup cycle President Ronald Reagan visited "Constellation" on 20 August 1981 and proclaimed the carrier "America's Flagship" while presenting the crew a presidential flag and announcing to the crew: "Let friend and foe alike know that America has the muscle to back up its words, and ships like this and men like you are that muscle." Under the command of Captain Dennis M Brooks USN "Constellation" sailed to the western Pacific and Indian Ocean from October 1981 to May 1982.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: In January 1983, "Constellation" entered the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for a 13-month complex overhaul, during which the ship's Terrier missile system was replaced with NATO Sea Sparrow, the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System was added and modifications were made to allow the carrier to operate the new F/A-18A Hornet strike aircraft.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: "Connie" deployed from February to August 1985 with CVW-14 embarked, marking the first deployment for the F/A-18. As part of this deployment, "Constellation," and escorts including , , , and , made a port call at Mombasa in Kenya. It was during this deployment that "Constellation" gained her motto, "Go Ahead Make My Day", which was painted on the ship's island; a direct quote from President Ronald Reagan in response to terrorist threats made against "Constellation" when she responded to the American hostage crisis of 1985 TWA Flight 847. For their performance in 1985, "Constellation"s crew earned the Meritorious Unit Citation, and the ship herself received the Secretary of the Navy's Environmental Protection Award.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: As preparations for a 1987 deployment proceeded, it was announced that "Constellation" had earned the coveted Pacific Fleet Battle Efficiency Award (Battle Efficiency E) for the 18-month period ending on 30 June 1986. During an April to October 1987 deployment, "Connie" conducted air operations in support of Operation Earnest Will, the escorting of re-flagged Kuwaiti tankers in the Persian Gulf as a result of Iranian attacks against international shipping. As a result, the crew of "Constellation" was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for their service.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: On the morning of 2 August 1988 "Connie" quietly slipped her moorings for a routine two-week carrier qualification off the coast of southern California. Things quickly turned out to be anything but routine. The ship had barely cleared the harbor when a JP-5 fuel leak in the uptakes rained down to number One main machinery room and erupted into a full blown conflagration that tore through the uptakes and spread throughout the ship. The Fuel Oil Supervisor and Oil Lab were blamed early on even though they were not transferring fuel at the time. One Main Top Watch (a Boiler Technician) triggered the halon fire suppression system as he exited the space. Unfortunately the standard procedure was to wait 30 minutes after Halon had been triggered to re-enter the space. When the crew re entered the space was still hot and reignited the fire. Three explosions rocked the ship and the crew went into General Quarters. Amid explosions and extreme heat, volunteers from the crew entered enclosed spaces to extinguish the fires and preserve the ship. Through the damage control efforts of her crew, "Connie"s main fires were extinguished around 2100. To the crew's horror, the fires reflashed and the crew went back into action.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: Into the next day, the crew battled the blaze that had reflashed and continued to threaten the entire ship. During the conflagration, an over-temperature alarm sounded for the Mt. 23 CIWS 20 mm ammunition magazine. This necessitated the firecontrolmen offloading the magazine contents over the side because low firemain pressure precluded flooding the magazine to cool it. Mt. 23 was situated on the port side of the island just forward of the boiler uptakes. After the long battle fighting the main space and collateral fires, there were no fatalities. There were however some serious injuries ranging from broken bones to smoke inhalation. "Connie" pulled back into North Island on 3 August. The subsequent investigation showed that there was a problem with a JP-5 pipe leading to a fuel station that wasn't adequately inspected after an in-port maintenance availability period. The problem was that a pipe that had long ago been removed that used to pass through the uptakes was hooked back up. The pipe in the uptakes just emptied into the uptakes where 1MMR's 6 forced draft blowers sucked the fuel into the running boilers. The total amount of JP-5 pumped into the uptakes was approximately 20,000 gallons.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: Round-the-clock repairs by the crew assisted by civilian contractors got the ship ready for deployment, on schedule. The "Constellation"/CVW-14 team deployed on 1 December 1988 for the Indian Ocean. She left port on three screws with the final repairs to the fourth screw being completed at Subic Bay, Philippines. Four days out to sea, a Prowler and its four crew members were lost at sea. On 13 December, a Harpoon anti-ship missile launched by an F/A-18 fighter from "Constellation" killed one sailor when it struck the merchant ship "Jagvivek", a long Indian-owned ship, during an exercise at the Pacific Missile Range near Kauai, Hawaii. A Notice to Mariners had been issued warning of the danger, but "Jagvivek" left port before receiving the communication and subsequently strayed into the test range area, and the Harpoon missile, loaded just with an inert dummy warhead, locked onto it instead of its intended target. The West-Pac deployment ended six months later at San Diego on 1 June 1989.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: With CVW-9 embarked, "Connie" departed San Diego on 12 February 1990 for the East Coast. Following exercises with the air forces of several South American countries, including Gringo-Gaucho with the Argentine Navy, while en route and preparations at Norfolk, Virginia, "Constellation" entered Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Pa., in July to begin an $800-million, three-year Service Life Extension Program (SLEP). Completed in March 1993, the SLEP was a cross between new construction and a comprehensive overhaul, designed to add 15 years to the carrier's operational life. Among other things, her main, largest steam turbines were replaced, an operation that had never been designed into a ship of this size. "Constellation" conducted her post-SLEP shakedown with a number of CVW-17 squadrons, and then moored at Mayport, Florida, on 8 April. With CVW-2 assigned, "Connie" departed Mayport on 29 May and conducted exercises with various South American air forces while en route to San Diego, where she arrived on 22 July 1993.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: During May–June 1994 "Connie" and CVW-2 participated in RIMPAC exercises, and on 10 November departed San Diego for an extended deployment for the first time in six years. Exercises off Okinawa were followed by a series of exercises off Korea that year following a discovery by U.S intelligence: that North Korea was attempting to develop nuclear weapons. On 11 January 1995, the "Constellation" battle group entered the Persian Gulf to take up station in support of Operation Southern Watch (OSW), enforcing the no-fly zone over southern Iraq. The six-month deployment concluded with her return to San Diego on 10 May. Effective 1 October 1995, "Constellation" was assigned to Cruiser-Destroyer Group 1. "Constellation"s next deployment, from 1 April to 1 October 1997, included a return to the Persian Gulf for Southern Watch, now under control of the United States Fifth Fleet. In over 10 weeks of operating in the Gulf, CVW-2 flew more than 4,400 sorties, with well over 1,000 Southern Watch sorties.


title: USS Constellation (CV-64)

text: As "Connie" prepared for her 1999 deployment, tensions were once again rising on the Korean Peninsula following an exchange of gunfire between North and South Korean vessels. "Constellation" departed San Diego on 18 June 1999 for the Korean Peninsula to monitor the situation. On 28 August, she entered the Persian Gulf and in ten weeks conducted more than 5,000 sorties and 1,256 OSW sorties. This period was highlighted by air strikes against two Iraqi radar stations and an attempt by VF-2 to engage an Iraqi jet with the long-range Phoenix air-to-air missile on 14 September. CVW-2 aircraft engaged in nine specific ordnance-dropping air strikes while in the Persian Gulf. The battle group departed the Persian Gulf on 5 November, and she arrived home for the holidays on 17 December. At the year's end, "Constellation" was awarded her second Battle Efficiency E as the Pacific Fleet's best carrier for the 12-month reporting period.