title: Andrej Babiš

text: Following the 2017 Czech legislative election to the Chamber of Deputies, in which ANO 2011 won with 29% of the vote, and won 78 out of 200 seats, President Miloš Zeman asked Babiš to form a government. The Civic Democratic Party and other parties refused to join a coalition government with Babis, citing the ongoing criminal investigation into alleged EU subsidy fraud and, as a result, on 27 October 2017 Babiš announced that he would try to form a minority government. Both Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia voiced their willingness to join the government but were rejected by Babiš.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: On 6 December 2017, Babiš was appointed the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. He assumed office on 13 December 2017, when his government took full control of the executive government. He is the only incumbent head of government to be charged with a crime by the Czech police and prosecutor, as well as both the oldest and the wealthiest Prime Minister in the country's history, and the first Prime Minister from a party other than ODS and ČSSD.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: During his first days in office, he attended the European Council summit dealing with fiscal responsibilities, Brexit and migration, and spoke on the phone with new Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki regarding the invocation of the Article 7 by the European Commission. His government carried out personnel changes at the ministries, Czech Railways and the Railway Infrastructure Administration.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: On 16 January 2018, Babiš's cabinet lost a vote of no confidence in the Chamber of Deputies by 117 votes to 78.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In February 2018, his cabinet approved the European Fiscal Compact and sent it to the Chamber of Deputies for further approval. They also proposed changes to the Civil Service Act, which has been the subject of controversy since it was passed in 2015 by Bohuslav Sobotka's government, in which Babiš served as Minister of Finance.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Despite losing the confidence vote, Babiš's administration continued to carry out personnel changes, meeting with criticism from the opposition. Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch fired Svatopluk Němeček, a former Minister and head of the University Hospital in Ostrava, as well as the director of the Bulovka Hospital. Minister of Industry and Trade Tomáš Hüner and Minister of Interior Lubomír Metnar fired the heads of CzechInvest and Czech Post, respectively.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: On 6 June 2018, President Zeman appointed Andrej Babiš as Prime Minister for the second time, calling on him to present him with a proposed list of members of the government. Babiš was sworn in by President Zeman for the second time on 27 June 2018, as the head of a minority government formed from ANO and CSSD representatives. Zeman refused to appoint CSSD deputy and MEP Miroslav Poche as Minister of Foreign Affairs, so he was replaced by CSSD party chairman and Interior Minister Jan Hamacek. CSSD took five seats in the government, and ANO took ten. On 10 July the two parties signed a coalition agreement. Taťána Malá was appointed Minister of Justice for ANO but resigned 13 days later following allegations of plagiarism in her diploma theses and conflict of interest. Babiš briefly considered consulting with Zeman about the choice for a replacement minister, but in the face of vigorous opposition from opposition parties, he instead nominated Jan Kněžínek, who was sworn in by Zeman on 10 July. On 12 July 2018, shortly after midnight, Babiš's government won a confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies by a vote of 105–91, with the external support of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, which lasted until April 2021. This government was the first since the Fall of Communism to rely on confidence and supply from the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: While Prime Minister, Babiš has also headed the Government Council for Coordinating the Fight against Corruption, with subsequent approval by the Government. Since the establishment of the council in 2014, this post had always been held by a minister, most recently Minister of Justice Robert Pelikán. After his departure, however, the new coordinator of the fight against corruption was not entrusted and the management of the council fell to the prime minister. This move was criticized by opposition parties over conflict of interest. Jan Hamáček stated that it was the Prime Minister's right and he would not act on the issue.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In March 2018, Babiš ordered three Russian diplomats to leave the country in a show of solidarity with the United Kingdom after a former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned in Salisbury.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Under Babiš, the Czech government expelled over 80 Russian diplomats and resident spies from its embassy in Prague following the disclosure of Russian involvement in the 2014 Vrbětice explosions, leading to a major diplomatic escalation and strained relations with Russia. The Senate inquiry into the events later found that his government's "uncoordinated response seriously threatened the national security" and "failed to gather support from our allies".


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In June 2018, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that there had been "no moral or political justification" for the post-war expulsion of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia. Babiš responded: "I reject this characterisation – especially when we recall the horrors of Heydrich, Lidice, Ležáky and the killing of our paratroopers. I have the feeling that there is some internal political struggle in Germany now, and it is very unfortunate that old wounds are opening because of it."


title: Andrej Babiš

text: On 11 November 2018, Babiš represented the Czech Republic in a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. The ceremony was attended by world leaders including US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Babiš' response to COVID-19 pandemic was considered by many to be disorganized and chaotic, with the pandemic resulting in more than 35,000 deaths during his leadership.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Babiš expressed support for the 2020 Belarusian protests against the Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko, and called for the 2020 Belarusian presidential election to be repeated and for the EU to respond strongly.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Speaking at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Babiš denounced the European Green Deal, saying that the European Union "can achieve nothing without the participation of the largest polluters such as China or the USA that are responsible for 27 and 15 percent, respectively, of global CO2 emissions."


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Babiš was unsuccessful in his attempt to remain prime minister after the 2021 election. With no path to a majority in the Chamber of Deputies he conceded to Petr Fiala, who succeeded him as Prime Minister on 17 December 2021. Babiš's time in office was marked by a rocky relationship with the European Commission due to his alleged conflict of interest and involvement of his companies in EU subsidies, as well as an informal power alliance with President Miloš Zeman and the Communist Party - both of which triggered heavy criticism from the opposition, activists and the media. His government adopted policies focusing on increasing pensions, child tax credits, and salaries of government employees. It implemented electronic toll collection on highways and rolled out electronic identification cards for citizens to access e-government services. The Czech government deficit in 2020 was 367.4 billion Czech crowns, the largest in the history of the Czech Republic. At the time Babiš was leaving office, his approval rating among the general public was 30%.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In mid-November 2018, investigative journalists Sabina Slonková and Jiří Kubík published an interview with Babiš's son, who they had tracked down in Switzerland. Andrej Babiš Jr told the journalists that after the beginning of the Stork Nest affair he was taken to the Crimea, where he was subsequently detained against his will. He also stated that he had signed documents for his father without knowing what they were. Babiš responded that his son was mentally ill, taking medication and required supervision, and that he had left the Czech Republic voluntarily.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In response to the story, the opposition called on Babiš to resign on 13 November 2018. On 15 November 2018, the Senate adopted a resolution that Babiš was unacceptable in the government while the investigation into the Stork's Nest case was continuing, but the same day President Zeman stated that if the Chamber of Deputies voted the government down, he would again ask Babiš to form a new cabinet. On 16 November 2018, Babiš stated that he would not resign. On 23 November 2018, Babiš and his government survived a vote of no confidence, as the Communists voted with the government and CSSD deputies left the chamber.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Several public demonstrations were organised in response to the allegations, especially in larger cities. One of the biggest demonstrations, entitled "Demisi" (Resign) took place on 17 November at the statue of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk in Hradčanské Square in Prague, organised by the campaign group "A Million Moments for Democracy". The same evening on Wenceslas Square a Concert for the Future was held, protesting against Babiš as well as marking the national occasion of 17 November. An event supporting Babis was held in Klárov, with around 40 participants.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: At the end of 2018, the National Cyber and Information Security Authority (NUKK) warned that Huawei's 5G mobile technology and telephones were suspected to be linked to Chinese secret services. The warning also concerned the Chinese company ZTE. Babiš ordered the withdrawal of Huawei mobile phones from government offices and met with the Chinese Ambassador to the Czech Republic. Following the meeting, the Chinese Embassy said on its website that "the Chinese side acknowledges the efforts of the Czech government to correct the errors and hopes that the Czech side will take effective measures to prevent the recurrence of similar events". According to Babiš, the Czech government made no mistakes and the Chinese ambassador lied about the meeting. In January 2019, after meeting with Zeman in Lány, Babiš said that "all operators in the Czech Republic are working on Huawei technologies".


title: Andrej Babiš

text: On 17 February 2019, at the fifth ANO party conference, Babis was re-elected chairman unopposed, with 206 votes from the 238 delegates present. Babiš was received by President Trump on 7 March 2019 at the White House in Washington, D.C., on his first official visit to the United States. Before the start of bilateral talks, Babiš stated that the alliance between the United States and the Czech Republic had been going on for 100 years since the establishment of Czechoslovakia. He also mentioned the fact that the wife of President T.G. Masaryk was an American. The two leaders discussed topics such as cyber security, the purchase of helicopters for the Czech Army, the possible construction of nuclear power stations in the Czech Republic, and the import of American liquefied gas into Europe. Babis also appealed to the US president not to impose import duties on automotive products from Europe.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: The trip was viewed positively by many Czech politicians. ODS chairman Petr Fiala said that the meeting continued the "tradition of visits" known to the Czech Republic from the past. "It's good that the United States is aware that the Czech Republic is traditionally one of the great supporters of Euro-Atlantic ties in Europe." Pirate Party Deputy chairman Mikuláš Peksa said that the meeting could help prevent trade wars between the US and the European Union. Meanwhile, the communists criticized the unequivocal support for sanctions against Russia.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: The American media was critical of Babiš, comparing him to Trump, and giving some details of his domestic issues. Deb Riechmann noted that Babiš, like Trump, was a wealthy businessman, and said that both "rode into office on a nationalist-style campaign". Babis praised Trump's State of the Union Address and even paraphrased his rhetoric ("Make the Czech Republic great again"). In an interview Trump praised the Czech economy, army, people, and good business relations with the US.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: At the end of April 2019, Jan Kněžínek, ANO Minister of Justice, resigned. Babiš nominated Marie Benešová, who had also held the post of Minister of Justice in the government of Jiří Rusnok, as his replacement. Concerns about the possible impact of Benešová's appointment on the progress of the Stork's Nest case triggered further public protests, again organized primarily by the Million Moments Association. They intensified in early June, when the preliminary results of two European Union audits were published, finding that Babiš remained in conflict of interest even after the transfer of Agrofert shares into trust funds, and therefore Agrofert was not entitled to receive European subsidies. According to estimates from the organizers, 120,000 people participated in the demonstration on Wenceslas Square on Tuesday, 4 June 2019.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: On 3 June 2019, Babiš met in Prague with the Burmese leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, with whom he spoke about economic cooperation, education and health development. Babiš praised her efforts to democratize Myanmar. On 23 June 2019, A Million Moments for Democracy organized another protest against Prime Minister Babiš, in response to his criminal charges and alleged frauds. According to the EU, he has a conflict of interest. About 250,000 people attended the rally, which was the biggest in the country since the Velvet Revolution in 1989.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In early September 2019, supervising prosecutor Jaroslav Šaroch proposed that the charges against all defendants in the Stork's Nest affair be dropped. The Prague Public Prosecutor's Office supported the proposal. The prosecutors argued that the Stork's Nest Farm met the definition of an SME at the time of the application, and therefore no offence had been committed. Prague City Prosecutor Martin Erazim said that "Even if, as a result of the Court's subsequent decade of practice, it would be inferred that Stork's Nest Farm did not meet the definition of 'small and medium-sized enterprise' at the time of the 2008 grant application, I do not consider it possible to blame anyone for a possible incorrect assessment of such a legal question at the time of the application for a subsidy 11 years ago". Pavel Zeman, the Prosecutor General, has the authority to change this verdict.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Another anti-government protest was organized by A Million Moments for Democracy on 16 November 2019, one day before the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. Police estimated some 250,000 people attended the demonstration, a similar turnout to the June 2019 protests.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: On 30 October 2022, following months of refusing to confirm his candidacy, Babiš announced that he would be running in the 2023 Czech presidential election.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In October 2021, Babiš was named in the Pandora Papers leak. He did not declare the use of an offshore investment company in the purchase of 16 properties, including two villas, in Mougins on the French Riviera for £18.5 million. The British newspaper The Guardian wrote that in 2009 Babiš, through a "convoluted offshore structure" "to hide ownership of the companies or property" and "secret loans", moved funds from the Czech Republic without taxation to buy real estate in France, including the Château Bigaud in Mougins. Babiš denied any wrongdoing, and alleged that the timing and/or content of the leak was aimed at influencing the upcoming legislative election. Jiří Pehe, director of New York University's academic center in Prague, said that Babiš "definitely lost some voters because of this scandal."


title: Andrej Babiš

text: According to the documents of the National Memory Institute in Slovakia, Babiš collaborated with the State Security Police (StB) of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, under the code name agent Bureš. He denies the accusations, and in 2012 sued the institute for defamation. In January 2018, the Bratislava regional court ruled definitively that Babiš was an StB agent. This final court case may not be appealed.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Twelve unrelated cases investigated by StB from 1982 to 1985 were associated with the code name Bureš, according to the Slovak National Memory Institute. Babiš appeared once at the court during the process. The District Court in Bratislava issued a ruling on 26 June 2014 that there was insufficient evidence to put Andrej Babiš on a list of intentional cooperators with StB. The decision was criticised in the Slovak press, and the National Memory Institute announced it would appeal to a higher court. On 30 June 2015, Bratislava's County Court upheld the verdict. In October 2017, the Slovak Constitutional Court upheld the National Memorial Institute's appeal, annulling the earlier court decisions and finding that Babiš had been an agent of the former Communist secret police.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Babiš has also been accused of using his StB background and Communist party connections to enrich himself. Babiš has denied that he was a StB collaborator, but his close associates include Czech lawyer Libor Široký, now chairman of Agrofert's supervisory board, who is reportedly also a former member of one of the StB units most closely linked to the Soviet KGB. Critics who accuse him of KGB connections also point to his alleged support for the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, and his opposition to international sanctions against Russia. When a Lebanese arms dealer with alleged Russian connections was released by Czech authorities instead of being extradited to the United States, and it was revealed that every official involved in the release was an ANO party member or was associated with Babiš, he was again accused of having an allegiance to Russia. Opposition MP Miroslav Kalousek (TOP 09) said that it no longer mattered what information the Slovak National Memory Institute had about Babiš, because his behaviour as a politician had proven his StB training.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In March 2015, Babiš condemned Russia's annexation of Crimea. In October 2015, Anne Applebaum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist specializing in Russian and Eastern European affairs, listed Babiš among several Eastern European leaders who she considered to be agents of influence for Putin's Russia. Writing in "The Washington Post", she suggested that old labels from Soviet Communist days, such as "useful idiots" and "fellow travelers", were no longer adequate to describe Babis and the other figures she had named. To illustrate her point, she listed several quotes from each leader that sounded very similar to each other and to the arguments broadcast at the same time by official Russian news sources.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Babiš responded to Applebaum with a letter to "The Washington Post" stating that he had no friends in Russia and was an American ally. US journalist Gabriel Meyr challenged those claims by citing three examples of actions Babiš has taken that have furthered Russian policy goals, such as a Czech government loan guarantee to a Russian company with a record of defaults, owned by a close friend of President Putin. The final example was that Babiš had disclosed in 2007 that Agrofert was negotiating to purchase gas from the Czech subsidiary of Gazprom instead of its German supplier.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In February 2016, on the day commemorating the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, hundreds of protesters opposed to Babiš gathered in Wenceslas Square to protest that Babiš was advancing an agenda that would infringe Czech freedoms, described by leaders of the protest as a quiet revolution, happening in gradual steps.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Babiš was accused of illegally obtaining €2 million in EU subsidies designated for small businesses by concealing his ownership of a farm and a convention center called "Storks Nest". Czech police requested that the Lower House lift his parliamentary immunity on two occasions, in September and November 2017. In both cases the Lower House lifted the immunity and the police have initiated criminal proceedings. He is accused of the crime of alleged fraud (§212, Criminal Code, 2009) and of wilful damage to the financial interests of the European Union (§ 260, Criminal Code, 2009) in the criminal conspiracy (§ 89, Art.17, Crime Code (the Czechoslovakian Criminal Code, 1961).


title: Andrej Babiš

text: This case was investigated by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). OLAF's final report was delivered to the Czech officers of the Ministry of Finance on 27 December 2017. Journalist Sabina Slonková published a report of the results on the website Neovlivni.cz on 3 January 2018, concluding that OLAF's final report confirmed the results of the investigation by the Czech Police and prosecutors that the fraud was planned from the beginning. The complete text of the final report translated into Czech was published on the website aktualne.cz on 11 January 2018, with a commentary by Vladimir Piskacek, one of the directors of the Economia AS media company, which publishes "Hospodářské noviny", defending the right to publish information openly. In April 2019 the police recommended indicting Babiš on the charge of fraud. Babiš subsequently replaced the Minister of Justice with an ally, Marie Benešová, leading to a series of protests across the country that continued into May 2019 and culminated in the protest on 23 June 2019, which with about 250,000 people became the largest Czech protest since the Velvet Revolution of November 1989.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In November 2018, Seznam News television aired an interview with Babiš' son Andrej Babiš Junior (born 1982) in which he alleged that he had been kidnapped by an associate of his father to obstruct the corruption inquiry relating to the Stork's Nest Farm. Babiš Junior was quoted as saying he had been held in Crimea, Kaliningrad, Moscow and Kryvyi Rih in Ukraine, to stop him from giving a statement to the police about his involvement in the case. Prime Minister Babiš denied the kidnapping, but admitted that his son had entered Crimea, among other places, also adding that his son allegedly had schizophrenia. This has since been denied by Babiš Junior, who stated that his schizophrenia was a false diagnosis and he is no longer taking his pills, though he did not support his statement with medical evidence.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Babiš has been linked closely to President Miloš Zeman since at least 2001, when Zeman was Prime Minister, and his business interests are alleged to have benefited from the association. In 2001, Zeman oversaw the sale of Unipetrol, a state-owned chemical company, to Babiš. Babiš pulled out of the sale, but later oversaw the sale of the firm to a Polish company. According to Polish reports, the sale was accompanied by substantial bribery, although Babis denies any bribes were paid. The Unipetrol deal is cited often as evidence of a strong partnership between Babiš and Zeman that persists.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Babis has been criticized by media and opposition politicians for his alleged conflict of interest, as the Minister of Finance and the owner of companies subsidized by EU funding programmes. During a visit to the Czech Republic in March 2014, the German Member of the European Parliament Ingeborg Gräßle expressed concern that someone with such a personal financial interest simultaneously being a leading representative of a state, could not guarantee to the EU that its resources are properly distributed. A 2014 article in the political newspaper "Politico" commented that "the Czech Republic is now a paradox: a society disgusted with corruption has given huge power to a man whose business interests amount to the biggest conflict of interest in the country's post-1989 history."


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In May 2015, Babiš's alleged financial irregularities and accusations from the public and the opposition that he had promoted his companies in government procurements triggered a vote of no confidence against the Bohuslav Sobotka's government, called by the opposition parties ODS, TOP 09, and Dawn. The motion was defeated by 47–105.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: A preliminary version of the EU audit reached 22 findings, with a recommendation to take action to repay EU funds totalling 17.49 million Euros.. The audit concluded that Babiš had a conflict of interest by taking part in decisions about the allocation of EU funds.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Babiš has a reputation for surrounding himself with senior police officers, security agents, and former Communist informers.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In June 2015, Babiš provoked controversy when a member of parliament, Ladislav Šincl of the Social Democrats (ČSSD), criticised a change in policy from the Finance Ministry on a bill reducing commissions for life insurance mediators in the Chamber of Deputies, and alleged that the benefits to Babiš's business interests may be the cause of the change. On 17 June 2015, Babiš met with Šincl and accused him of corruption and taking bribes from businessman and senator Ivo Valenta, owner of the Synot gambling group. According to witnesses, Babiš brought to the meeting a folder marked with a yellow note labelled "Šincl", and started shouting at Šincl that he knew Šincl took bribes from Valenta and was corrupt. He later moved on to his family and Šincl's former jobs.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: On 18 June 2015, Babiš admitted he had a folder with Šincl's name, but denied intimidation, saying, "It's not the materials. It's articles from the media. Do the media write lies? I just showed what the media writes, I think they do their job well. When I go to a meeting, I prepare myself so I know who I am dealing with". Babiš's coalition partners ČSSD (Šincl's party) and KDU-ČSL demanded an apology, but Babiš refused, saying that Šincl had lied about him in the Parliament. Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, also the chairman of ČSSD, called a coalition meeting on the same day.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Šincl described Babiš's tactic, of reading potentially damaging facts about him from a file marked with his name, as reminiscent of StB tactics. Miroslav Kalousek, the first deputy chairman of the opposition party TOP09, also accused Babiš of using StB practices, which Babiš denied.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: On 1 May 2017, Twitter account @skupinasuman posted a tape of Babiš's private conversations with an unknown number of people, in which he labelled Minister of Foreign Affairs Lubomír Zaorálek as an "idiot" and attacked investigative journalist Sabina Slonková, among others. On 3 May 2017, a video on YouTube alleged that Babiš had interfered with the editorial independence of "Mladá fronta DNES", the nation's largest quality newspaper by circulation, owned by Babiš's trust. In a conversation with MF Dnes journalist Marek Přibil, he discusses the date of publication of damaging stories about Interior Minister Milan Chovanec and Minister of Health Miloslav Ludvík. On the tape, Babiš is recorded instructing Přibil to tell František Nachtigall, the director of strategic development, when and how to publish the stories.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: On 1 September 2016, while visiting Varnsdorf, a city with a large Romani population, Babiš said: "What those idiots [journalists] write in newspapers, that the camp in Lety was a concentration camp, that is a lie, it was a labor camp, people who didn't work ended up there". Babiš's comments were heavily criticized by both coalition partners and opposition MPs, who called on him to resign. Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka condemned the remarks on Facebook and advised Babiš to visit the camp.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Minister for Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Jiří Dienstbier called for Babiš to step down as Finance Minister and First Deputy Prime Minister. The leaders of both opposition parties, Petr Fiala from ODS and Miroslav Kalousek from TOP 09 also called for Babiš to step down.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: "Foreign Policy" magazine gave Babiš the nickname "Babisconi", a portmanteau of his surname and the surname of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the subject of numerous political and financial scandals. In response, Babiš threatened to sue the magazine, but has never done so.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In August 2015, the Swiss weekly "L'Hebdo" published an article entitled: "Why do Czech Oligarchs Buy Unprofitable Media Outlets?" examining the purchase of media companies by several Czech business people, and also their connections with Francophone Switzerland. The article focused much of its attention on Babiš, and his purchase of media outlets in the Czech Republic. The author pointed out that Babiš had claimed to invest in "Mladá fronta DNES" only for profit, but had given no answer when told it was an unprofitable investment, and went on to accuse journalists at Babiš's newspapers of doing his work.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Writing in "Politico", Adam Drda expressed the view that Babiš is more associated with the decline of Czech democracy than any other individual.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Andrej Babiš was a winner of the Green Pearl prize for the anti-ecological comment of the year 2013: "We will probably screw ourselves up with that democracy one day, all of us. How else to explain the fact that a badger, an ecological terrorist, and also every mayor (to his town) wants to have an exit to the highway."


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Babiš' first wife was physician Beata (later Beatrice) Adamičová, a schoolmate, whom he married in the 1970s. They had two children, Adriana (born 1979) and Andrej (born 1982), both of whom were involved in the Stork's Nest case. Since 2007 Adriana has been married to Agrofert manager Martin Bobek.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: Since the 1990s Babiš has lived with his former secretary Monika Herodesová (born 1974), with whom he has two children, Vivien and Frederik. Both Monika and her brother Martin Herodes were also involved in the Stork's Nest case.


title: Andrej Babiš

text: In 2013 Monika changed her surname to Babišová, and they married in 2017. Babiš holds dual citizenship of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He gained Czech citizenship in 2000 by declaration, while maintaining his Slovak citizenship by descent as both of his parents are Slovak citizens.


title: Grace Dove

text: Grace Dove (born July 25, 1991) is a Native Canadian actress and television host, early known for her role as Hugh Glass' wife in the 2015 film "The Revenant"; as well as Ricki, a talented mechanic in the 2018 film "How It Ends". Currently (2022) she stars alongside two-time Academy Awards winner Hilary Swank in the ABC network drama "Alaska Daily", as journalists shining light on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls (MMIWG).


title: Grace Dove

text: Dove was born on July 25, 1991, and is Secwepemc from the Canim Lake Indian Band in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. She was raised in Prince George, British Columbia, where she attended Salmon Valley Elementary School and Kelly Road Secondary School. Her father was a filmmaker who took her on visits to Hollywood when she was a child. After graduation from high school, she moved to Vancouver to study acting at Vancouver Film School.


title: Grace Dove

text: At age ten, she landed a part as on-air correspondent of the Prince George TV children's show Splatterday. She has also worked as a co-host of the reality action/adventure TV show UnderExposed, and appeared in the short film "These Walls." (2012). Dove said she went on many auditions after acting school before she landed the part of Hugh Glass's unnamed Pawnee wife. "The Revenant"'s director Alejandro González Iñárritu did not audition her 'in the normal way' but "instead had some questions and a process that dug into who I was." she said. After she got the part, playing an emotionally demanding role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, she said she "had to go in there extremely open without any expectations. Just like the audition process and even the filming process, I didn't know what exactly I was getting into. I prepared myself physically, emotionally and spiritually to be as open as possible so I could take direction, feed off my surroundings, and feed off my relationship with Leonardo within the scene. Obviously it’s a period piece and so I was trying to connect to a layer of my ancestry as well."


title: Grace Dove

text: In 2016, "The New York Times" mentioned her as one of the 'lesser known faces' of the entertainment industry, in whom the fashion industry has taken an interest to promote new fashion.


title: Polyadenylation

text: Polyadenylation is the addition of a poly(A) tail to an RNA transcript, typically a messenger RNA (mRNA). The poly(A) tail consists of multiple adenosine monophosphates; in other words, it is a stretch of RNA that has only adenine bases. In eukaryotes, polyadenylation is part of the process that produces mature mRNA for translation. In many bacteria, the poly(A) tail promotes degradation of the mRNA. It, therefore, forms part of the larger process of gene expression.


title: Polyadenylation

text: The process of polyadenylation begins as the transcription of a gene terminates. The 3′-most segment of the newly made pre-mRNA is first cleaved off by a set of proteins; these proteins then synthesize the poly(A) tail at the RNA's 3′ end. In some genes these proteins add a poly(A) tail at one of several possible sites. Therefore, polyadenylation can produce more than one transcript from a single gene (alternative polyadenylation), similar to alternative splicing.


title: Polyadenylation

text: The poly(A) tail is important for the nuclear export, translation and stability of mRNA. The tail is shortened over time, and, when it is short enough, the mRNA is enzymatically degraded. However, in a few cell types, mRNAs with short poly(A) tails are stored for later activation by re-polyadenylation in the cytosol. In contrast, when polyadenylation occurs in bacteria, it promotes RNA degradation. This is also sometimes the case for eukaryotic non-coding RNAs.


title: Polyadenylation

text: mRNA molecules in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes have polyadenylated 3′-ends, with the prokaryotic poly(A) tails generally shorter and fewer mRNA molecules polyadenylated.


title: Polyadenylation

text: RNAs are a type of large biological molecules, whose individual building blocks are called nucleotides. The name "poly(A) tail" (for polyadenylic acid tail) reflects the way RNA nucleotides are abbreviated, with a letter for the base the nucleotide contains (A for adenine, C for cytosine, G for guanine and U for uracil). RNAs are produced ("transcribed") from a DNA template. By convention, RNA sequences are written in a 5′ to 3′ direction. The 5′ end is the part of the RNA molecule that is transcribed first, and the 3′ end is transcribed last. The 3′ end is also where the poly(A) tail is found on polyadenylated RNAs.


title: Polyadenylation

text: Messenger RNA (mRNA) is RNA that has a coding region that acts as a template for protein synthesis ("translation"). The rest of the mRNA, the "untranslated regions", tune how active the mRNA is. There are also many RNAs that are not translated, called non-coding RNAs. Like the untranslated regions, many of these non-coding RNAs have regulatory roles.


title: Polyadenylation

text: In nuclear polyadenylation, a poly(A) tail is added to an RNA at the end of transcription. On mRNAs, the poly(A) tail protects the mRNA molecule from enzymatic degradation in the cytoplasm and aids in transcription termination, export of the mRNA from the nucleus, and translation. Almost all eukaryotic mRNAs are polyadenylated, with the exception of animal replication-dependent histone mRNAs. These are the only mRNAs in eukaryotes that lack a poly(A) tail, ending instead in a stem-loop structure followed by a purine-rich sequence, termed histone downstream element, that directs where the RNA is cut so that the 3′ end of the histone mRNA is formed.


title: Polyadenylation

text: Many eukaryotic non-coding RNAs are always polyadenylated at the end of transcription. There are small RNAs where the poly(A) tail is seen only in intermediary forms and not in the mature RNA as the ends are removed during processing, the notable ones being microRNAs. But, for many long noncoding RNAs – a seemingly large group of regulatory RNAs that, for example, includes the RNA Xist, which mediates X chromosome inactivation – a poly(A) tail is part of the mature RNA.


title: Polyadenylation

text: The processive polyadenylation complex in the nucleus of eukaryotes works on products of RNA polymerase II, such as precursor mRNA. Here, a multi-protein complex "(see components on the right)" cleaves the 3′-most part of a newly produced RNA and polyadenylates the end produced by this cleavage. The cleavage is catalysed by the enzyme CPSF and occurs 10–30 nucleotides downstream of its binding site. This site often has the polyadenylation signal sequence AAUAAA on the RNA, but variants of it that bind more weakly to CPSF exist. Two other proteins add specificity to the binding to an RNA: CstF and CFI. CstF binds to a GU-rich region further downstream of CPSF's site. CFI recognises a third site on the RNA (a set of UGUAA sequences in mammals) and can recruit CPSF even if the AAUAAA sequence is missing. The polyadenylation signal – the sequence motif recognised by the RNA cleavage complex – varies between groups of eukaryotes. Most human polyadenylation sites contain the AAUAAA sequence, but this sequence is less common in plants and fungi.


title: Polyadenylation

text: The RNA is typically cleaved before transcription termination, as CstF also binds to RNA polymerase II. Through a poorly understood mechanism (as of 2002), it signals for RNA polymerase II to slip off of the transcript. Cleavage also involves the protein CFII, though it is unknown how. The cleavage site associated with a polyadenylation signal can vary up to some 50 nucleotides.


title: Polyadenylation

text: When the RNA is cleaved, polyadenylation starts, catalysed by polyadenylate polymerase. Polyadenylate polymerase builds the poly(A) tail by adding adenosine monophosphate units from adenosine triphosphate to the RNA, cleaving off pyrophosphate. Another protein, PAB2, binds to the new, short poly(A) tail and increases the affinity of polyadenylate polymerase for the RNA. When the poly(A) tail is approximately 250 nucleotides long the enzyme can no longer bind to CPSF and polyadenylation stops, thus determining the length of the poly(A) tail. CPSF is in contact with RNA polymerase II, allowing it to signal the polymerase to terminate transcription. When RNA polymerase II reaches a "termination sequence" (⁵'TTTATT' on the DNA template and ⁵'AAUAAA' on the primary transcript), the end of transcription is signaled. The polyadenylation machinery is also physically linked to the spliceosome, a complex that removes introns from RNAs.


title: Polyadenylation

text: The poly(A) tail acts as the binding site for poly(A)-binding protein. Poly(A)-binding protein promotes export from the nucleus and translation, and inhibits degradation. This protein binds to the poly(A) tail prior to mRNA export from the nucleus and in yeast also recruits poly(A) nuclease, an enzyme that shortens the poly(A) tail and allows the export of the mRNA. Poly(A)-binding protein is exported to the cytoplasm with the RNA. mRNAs that are not exported are degraded by the exosome. Poly(A)-binding protein also can bind to, and thus recruit, several proteins that affect translation, one of these is initiation factor-4G, which in turn recruits the 40S ribosomal subunit. However, a poly(A) tail is not required for the translation of all mRNAs. Further, poly(A) tailing (oligo-adenylation) can determine the fate of RNA molecules that are usually not poly(A)-tailed (such as (small) non-coding (sn)RNAs etc.) and thereby induce their RNA decay.


title: Polyadenylation

text: In eukaryotic somatic cells, the poly(A) tails of most mRNAs in the cytoplasm gradually get shorter, and mRNAs with shorter poly(A) tail are translated less and degraded sooner. However, it can take many hours before an mRNA is degraded. This deadenylation and degradation process can be accelerated by microRNAs complementary to the 3′ untranslated region of an mRNA. In immature egg cells, mRNAs with shortened poly(A) tails are not degraded, but are instead stored and translationally inactive. These short tailed mRNAs are activated by cytoplasmic polyadenylation after fertilisation, during egg activation.


title: Polyadenylation

text: In animals, poly(A) ribonuclease (PARN) can bind to the 5′ cap and remove nucleotides from the poly(A) tail. The level of access to the 5′ cap and poly(A) tail is important in controlling how soon the mRNA is degraded. PARN deadenylates less if the RNA is bound by the initiation factors 4E (at the 5′ cap) and 4G (at the poly(A) tail), which is why translation reduces deadenylation. The rate of deadenylation may also be regulated by RNA-binding proteins. Additionally, RNA triple helix structures and RNA motifs such as the poly(A) tail 3’ end binding pocket retard deadenylation process and inhibit poly(A) tail removal. Once the poly(A) tail is removed, the decapping complex removes the 5′ cap, leading to a degradation of the RNA. Several other proteins are involved in deadenylation in budding yeast and human cells, most notably the CCR4-Not complex.


title: Polyadenylation

text: There is polyadenylation in the cytosol of some animal cell types, namely in the germ line, during early embryogenesis and in post-synaptic sites of nerve cells. This lengthens the poly(A) tail of an mRNA with a shortened poly(A) tail, so that the mRNA will be translated. These shortened poly(A) tails are often less than 20 nucleotides, and are lengthened to around 80–150 nucleotides.


title: Polyadenylation

text: In the early mouse embryo, cytoplasmic polyadenylation of maternal RNAs from the egg cell allows the cell to survive and grow even though transcription does not start until the middle of the 2-cell stage (4-cell stage in human). In the brain, cytoplasmic polyadenylation is active during learning and could play a role in long-term potentiation, which is the strengthening of the signal transmission from a nerve cell to another in response to nerve impulses and is important for learning and memory formation.


title: Polyadenylation

text: Cytoplasmic polyadenylation requires the RNA-binding proteins CPSF and CPEB, and can involve other RNA-binding proteins like Pumilio. Depending on the cell type, the polymerase can be the same type of polyadenylate polymerase (PAP) that is used in the nuclear process, or the cytoplasmic polymerase GLD-2.


title: Polyadenylation

text: Many protein-coding genes have more than one polyadenylation site, so a gene can code for several mRNAs that differ in their 3′ end. The 3’ region of a transcript contains many polyadenylation signals (PAS). When more proximal (closer towards 5’ end) PAS sites are utilized, this shortens the length of the 3’ untranslated region (3' UTR) of a transcript. Studies in both humans and flies have shown tissue specific APA. With neuronal tissues preferring distal PAS usage, leading to longer 3’ UTRs and testis tissues preferring proximal PAS leading to shorter 3’ UTRs. Studies have shown there is a correlation between a gene's conservation level and its tendency to do alternative polyadenylation, with highly conserved genes exhibiting more APA. Similarly, highly expressed genes follow this same pattern. Ribo-sequencing data (sequencing of only mRNAs inside ribosomes) has shown that mRNA isoforms with shorter 3’ UTRs are more likely to be translated.


title: Polyadenylation

text: Since alternative polyadenylation changes the length of the 3' UTR, it can also change which binding sites are available for microRNAs in the 3′ UTR. MicroRNAs tend to repress translation and promote degradation of the mRNAs they bind to, although there are examples of microRNAs that stabilise transcripts. Alternative polyadenylation can also shorten the coding region, thus making the mRNA code for a different protein, but this is much less common than just shortening the 3′ untranslated region.


title: Polyadenylation

text: The choice of poly(A) site can be influenced by extracellular stimuli and depends on the expression of the proteins that take part in polyadenylation. For example, the expression of CstF-64, a subunit of cleavage stimulatory factor (CstF), increases in macrophages in response to lipopolysaccharides (a group of bacterial compounds that trigger an immune response). This results in the selection of weak poly(A) sites and thus shorter transcripts. This removes regulatory elements in the 3′ untranslated regions of mRNAs for defense-related products like lysozyme and TNF-α. These mRNAs then have longer half-lives and produce more of these proteins. RNA-binding proteins other than those in the polyadenylation machinery can also affect whether a polyadenylation site is used, as can DNA methylation near the polyadenylation signal.


title: Polyadenylation

text: For many non-coding RNAs, including tRNA, rRNA, snRNA, and snoRNA, polyadenylation is a way of marking the RNA for degradation, at least in yeast. This polyadenylation is done in the nucleus by the TRAMP complex, which maintains a tail that is around 4 nucleotides long to the 3′ end. The RNA is then degraded by the exosome. Poly(A) tails have also been found on human rRNA fragments, both the form of homopolymeric (A only) and heterpolymeric (mostly A) tails.


title: Polyadenylation

text: In many bacteria, both mRNAs and non-coding RNAs can be polyadenylated. This poly(A) tail promotes degradation by the degradosome, which contains two RNA-degrading enzymes: polynucleotide phosphorylase and RNase E. Polynucleotide phosphorylase binds to the 3′ end of RNAs and the 3′ extension provided by the poly(A) tail allows it to bind to the RNAs whose secondary structure would otherwise block the 3′ end. Successive rounds of polyadenylation and degradation of the 3′ end by polynucleotide phosphorylase allows the degradosome to overcome these secondary structures. The poly(A) tail can also recruit RNases that cut the RNA in two. These bacterial poly(A) tails are about 30 nucleotides long.


title: Polyadenylation

text: In as different groups as animals and trypanosomes, the mitochondria contain both stabilising and destabilising poly(A) tails. Destabilising polyadenylation targets both mRNA and noncoding RNAs. The poly(A) tails are 43 nucleotides long on average. The stabilising ones start at the stop codon, and without them the stop codon (UAA) is not complete as the genome only encodes the U or UA part. Plant mitochondria have only destabilising polyadenylation. Mitochondrial polyadenylation has never been observed in either budding or fission yeast.


title: Polyadenylation

text: While many bacteria and mitochondria have polyadenylate polymerases, they also have another type of polyadenylation, performed by polynucleotide phosphorylase itself. This enzyme is found in bacteria, mitochondria, plastids and as a constituent of the archaeal exosome (in those archaea that have an exosome). It can synthesise a 3′ extension where the vast majority of the bases are adenines. Like in bacteria, polyadenylation by polynucleotide phosphorylase promotes degradation of the RNA in plastids and likely also archaea.


title: Polyadenylation

text: Although polyadenylation is seen in almost all organisms, it is not universal. However, the wide distribution of this modification and the fact that it is present in organisms from all three domains of life implies that the last universal common ancestor of all living organisms, it is presumed, had some form of polyadenylation system. A few organisms do not polyadenylate mRNA, which implies that they have lost their polyadenylation machineries during evolution. Although no examples of eukaryotes that lack polyadenylation are known, mRNAs from the bacterium "Mycoplasma gallisepticum" and the salt-tolerant archaean "Haloferax volcanii" lack this modification.


title: Polyadenylation

text: The most ancient polyadenylating enzyme is polynucleotide phosphorylase. This enzyme is part of both the bacterial degradosome and the archaeal exosome, two closely related complexes that recycle RNA into nucleotides. This enzyme degrades RNA by attacking the bond between the 3′-most nucleotides with a phosphate, breaking off a diphosphate nucleotide. This reaction is reversible, and so the enzyme can also extend RNA with more nucleotides. The heteropolymeric tail added by polynucleotide phosphorylase is very rich in adenine. The choice of adenine is most likely the result of higher ADP concentrations than other nucleotides as a result of using ATP as an energy currency, making it more likely to be incorporated in this tail in early lifeforms. It has been suggested that the involvement of adenine-rich tails in RNA degradation prompted the later evolution of polyadenylate polymerases (the enzymes that produce poly(A) tails with no other nucleotides in them).


title: Polyadenylation

text: Polyadenylate polymerases are not as ancient. They have separately evolved in both bacteria and eukaryotes from CCA-adding enzyme, which is the enzyme that completes the 3′ ends of tRNAs. Its catalytic domain is homologous to that of other polymerases. It is presumed that the horizontal transfer of bacterial CCA-adding enzyme to eukaryotes allowed the archaeal-like CCA-adding enzyme to switch function to a poly(A) polymerase. Some lineages, like archaea and cyanobacteria, never evolved a polyadenylate polymerase.


title: Polyadenylation

text: Polyadenylate tails are observed in several RNA viruses, including Influenza A, Coronavirus, Alfalfa mosaic virus, and Duck Hepatitis A. Some viruses, such as HIV-1 and Poliovirus, inhibit the cell's poly-A binding protein (PABPC1) in order to emphasize their own genes' expression over the host cell's.


title: Polyadenylation

text: Poly(A)polymerase was first identified in 1960 as an enzymatic activity in extracts made from cell nuclei that could polymerise ATP, but not ADP, into polyadenine. Although identified in many types of cells, this activity had no known function until 1971, when poly(A) sequences were found in mRNAs. The only function of these sequences was thought at first to be protection of the 3′ end of the RNA from nucleases, but later the specific roles of polyadenylation in nuclear export and translation were identified. The polymerases responsible for polyadenylation were first purified and characterized in the 1960s and 1970s, but the large number of accessory proteins that control this process were discovered only in the early 1990s.


title: Mass (2004 film)

text: Mass is a 2004 Indian Telugu-language action film written and directed by Raghava Lawrence in his directorial debut. Produced by Nagarjuna under Annapurna Studios banner, it stars Nagarjuna, Jyothika, Charmy Kaur, Raghuvaran and Rahul Dev. It has with the music composed by Devi Sri Prasad. The film released on 23 December 2004 to Positive reviews from both the audience as well as the critics. It became a Huge Blockbuster in the Telugu States and almost became an Industry Hit in TFI, grossing almost 46cr with a distributor share of 39.91 cr. The movie was the first well received Telugu dubbed film in the North and achieved cult status over the years. The title song of this film was a hit all over India. Nagarjuna's acting and his chemistry with Jyothika was appreciated by the audience.It's the first ever Telugu film with over 10 shows on the first day in most of the centres in AP, which shows the then craze of Nagarjuna Akkineni. The film was dubbed and released in Tamil as "Veeran".


title: Mass (2004 film)

text: Mass is an orphan, who bonds well with his landlord's son Adi. He is behind a collegian Anjali, who happens to be the daughter of Vizag city's mafia don Satya. This restricts her from falling for him, as it would land him in danger, but she finally gives in after some time. She suggests that he ties the knot immediately before her brother Seshu nd Satya try separating them. The gangsters, in the process, kill Adi when he tries to stop them when they try separating the lead pair before their marriage. Mass moves into Vizag and stays in an apartment hiding his identity to take revenge on the mafia dons. Finally, his quest for revenge is completed and he also eliminates the antisocial elements in the society by killing them.


title: Mass (2004 film)

text: Music composed by Devi Sri Prasad and was released on ADITYA Music Company. The audio was released in an entertaining function held at Taramati Baradari (Golkonda).


title: 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or

text: The 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala was the second year for FIFA's awards for the top football players and coaches of the year. The awards were given out in Zürich on 9 January 2012, with Lionel Messi claiming the title of world player of the year for the third time in a row.


title: 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or

text: The gala ceremony was hosted by former Ballon d'Or winner Ruud Gullit and broadcast journalist Kay Murray of Real Madrid TV and Fox Soccer Channel, with singer-songwriter James Blunt and his band providing musical entertainment.


title: 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or

text: The following seven women were also in contention for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year:


title: 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or

text: The day after the awards ceremony, Spanish newspaper "Marca" reported that none of the four captains of the Spanish women's national team had voted for the Women's World Player of the Year award. According to the list of votes published by FIFA, captain Sandra Vilanova had awarded five points to Hope Solo, three to Louisa Nécib and one to Marta.


title: Sichuan Jiuniu F.C.

text: Sichuan Jiuniu Football Club (Simplified Chinese: 四川九牛足球俱乐部) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the China League One division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Chengdu, Sichuan, China and their home stadium is the 27,000 seat Longquanyi Stadium.


title: Sichuan Jiuniu F.C.

text: The club was founded on 5 January 2017. They participated in the 2017 China Amateur Football League the same year and managed to advance to the national play-offs, but was eliminated by Zhaoqing Hengtai in the first round. They were ranked 10th and later admitted into China League Two due to the withdrawal of several other teams.


title: Sichuan Jiuniu F.C.

text: On 23 May 2020, the Chinese Football Association announced that eleven professional clubs across China's top three divisions would have their registration cancelled over a failure to pay player wages. As a result, the CFA announced a reclassification of the teams which would contest their professional divisions. According to this reclassification, Sichuan Jiuniu was promoted to China League One for the 2020 season, which had already been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Kempinski

text: Kempinski Hotels S.A., commonly known as Kempinski, is a luxury hotel management company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in Berlin in 1897 as the "Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft", the group currently operates 78 five-star hotels and residences in 34 countries.


title: Kempinski

text: Kempinski Hotels claims to be Europe's oldest luxury hotel group. Its history began in 1897 with the foundation of the "Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft" in Berlin. A parallel development was that of M. Kempinski & Co, founded by Berthold Kempinski, which was acquired by the "Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft" in 1953.


title: Kempinski

text: Berthold Kempinski was born on 10 October 1843 in Posen (then a German province, and now Poland). The Kempinski family was already successfully active in the wine trade from 1862. In 1872 it extended its company to Berlin, where Berthold Kempinski opened a wine merchant's business under his name in the Friedrichstraße. In 1889 he opened a restaurant, the biggest in Berlin, in the Leipziger Straße.


title: Kempinski

text: Since Berthold Kempinski and his wife Helena had no son, they invited their son-in-law Richard Unger (1866–1947) to join the business. Berthold Kempinski finally transferred the firm to his son-in-law on condition that he kept the name Kempinski. Berthold Kempinski died on March 14, 1910.


title: Kempinski

text: Alongside his wine and restaurant activities, Richard Unger developed his property business up to the start of World War I. After a short period of stagnation during the War, he sold products of his own manufacture under the brand name Kempinski. The business in Berlin flourished so that in 1918, a Kempinski hotel dependency was established at 27 Kurfürstendamm, where the Kempinski Hotel Bristol now stands. Ten years later, M. Kempinski & Co. took over the "Haus Vaterland" on the Potsdamer Platz, where the firm exploited a concept that was unique in Berlin for a long time and is still known as "event gastronomy" ("Erlebnisgastronomie").


title: Kempinski

text: To escape the events of World War II, Richard Unger and his family emigrated to the United States and the firm M. Kempinski & Co became part of Aschinger AG.


title: Kempinski

text: The Restaurant at 27 Kurfürstendamm was destroyed by fire shortly before the end of the War, and the other properties fell victim to bombing raids. After the end of the conflict, Richard Unger's son and Berthold Kempinski's grandson, Dr Friedrich Unger, returned to Germany. In 1951 construction started on a hotel on the site of the ruined restaurant at 27 Kurfürstendamm, and it opened a year later under the name Hotel Kempinski. For 20 years the modern, progressive five-star hotel enjoyed the undisputed status of the sole luxury hotel in Berlin.


title: Kempinski

text: In 1953 Dr Friedrich Unger sold his shares and the name Kempinski to the "Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft", which already ran hotels such as the Baltic, the Bristol and the Kaiserhof. The name Bristol was adopted and is still used at the Kempinski Hotel at 27 Kurfürstendamm. In subsequent years, the "Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft" took over the management of several famous hotels. In 1957 it acquired the luxurious Hotel Atlantic in Hamburg.


title: Kempinski

text: In 1970 the General Assembly of the "Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft" voted to change its name to "Kempinski Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft". In the same year, a long-lasting partnership was established with Lufthansa in the form of a 50-per cent participation in the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Munich, in which Lufthansa already had a holding. In 1977 the hotel company received its present name as "Kempinski Aktiengesellschaft (AG)". At the same time, the Kempinski Hotel Frankfurt Gravenbruch was added to the group's portfolio as its fourth German hotel.


title: Kempinski

text: In 1985, Lufthansa acquired shares in Kempinski AG and thereby enabled the hotel company to operate Kempinski hotels abroad too. A year later, Kempinski AG, Lufthansa and the finance company Rolaco S.A. founded Kempinski Hotels S.A., with its head office in Geneva. In 1993 Kempinski AG acquired all the shares in Kempinski S.A.


title: Kempinski

text: The Bangkok-based Dusit Sindhorn Company Ltd took over Kempinski in November 1994, when it acquired a 52% stake. The 50:50 joint venture between Dusit Thani Group, and the Siam Commercial Bank eventually accumulated an 83% stake in the group, and Dusit Thani exited from the joint venture in 1998 when it sold out to its partner.


title: Kempinski

text: In February 2017, the two existing shareholders of Kempinski AG formalized previous plans for an equity transfer between them. The majority shares of Kempinski AG are held by the existing Bahraini shareholder while the shareholder from Thailand holds a minority.


title: Kempinski

text: Kempinski Hotels' portfolio currently comprises 78 hotels and residences worldwide, including the Hotel Adlon in Berlin, the Taschenbergpalais in Dresden, Hotel Indonesia Kempinski in Jakarta, the Kempinski Hotel Beijing Lufthansa Center in Beijing, the Çiragan Palace Kempinski in Istanbul, the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana in Cuba, the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus, Budapest, and the Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, UAE and also Kempinski Hotel in Accra, Ghana.


title: Kempinski

text: Recently, the Kempinski chain opened a brand new hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel, complete with a full spa and restaurant in the hottest spot of the city.


title: Kempinski

text: In 2019, Kempinski officially opened its new branch in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia with name The Apurva Kempinski Bali, remarking its second portfolio in Indonesia after Hotel Indonesia Kempinski in Jakarta.


title: Kempinski

text: With the exception of the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski in Munich, which belongs to the group, and three hotels with leasing contracts, Kempinski Hotels manages luxury hotels and residences.


title: Kempinski

text: Kempinski is a founding member of the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) which was founded in Geneva in 2004. Members of GHA's DISCOVERY loyalty programme receive recognition and rewards across more than 570 hotels, resorts, palaces and spas in 35 brands of hotels across 85 countries.


title: Kempinski

text: As an internationally active company, Kempinski has introduced its own corporate social responsibility programme. In this respect the company is primarily committed in the areas of health and safety. In addition, individual Kempinski Hotels support social projects in specific locations to improve public welfare and justice locally.


title: Kempinski

text: Kempinski is a founding member of BE Health, a non-profit association, duly organised and existing under Swiss law, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. BE Health facilitates awareness-raising programmes, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases for its corporate sector members, their employees, families and local communities. Kempinski believes that business can make a positive impact in limiting the spread of infectious diseases. BE has the support of the WHO, The Global Fund, and many other well-known partners.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: Buffalo Niagara International Airport is in Cheektowaga, New York. The airport serves Buffalo, New York and Niagara Falls, New York United States, and the southern Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. It is the third-busiest airport in the state of New York and the busiest inside of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area. It is about east of Downtown Buffalo and southeast of Toronto (although driving distance is ). The airport covers .


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: Buffalo Municipal Airport (as it was then known) opened in 1926 on former farmland, making it one of the country's oldest public airports. The original airport included a small terminal building, one hangar, and four cinder runways, each long by wide. Passenger and mail service began in December 1927, with service to Cleveland. A WPA-built Art Deco v-shaped terminal with a large cylindrical tower began construction in 1938 and was completed in 1939. In 1940–41 Curtiss Aeroplane Co. built a manufacturing hangar on the southeast side of the airport (current Buffalo Airport Center property). With the onset of World War II, the airport was expanded to facilitate aircraft manufacturing, test and acceptance flight activity, and airline flights. The airport had four paved runways: Runway 5/23 was long, Runway 13/31 (now 14/32) was long, Runway 1/19 was long, and Runway 8/26 was long. All of the runways were wide.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: A new apron was added a few months later. Roadway and parkway improvements were made in the 1940s and 50s. Runways 1–19 and 8–26 were closed in the 1950s, and Runway 13–31 was renamed Runway 14–32.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: The terminal's first expansion, to 11 gates, which tripled the terminal's square footage and added a restaurant, was built in 1955. In 1959, after being acquired by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA), the name was changed to the Greater Buffalo International Airport. A 1961 renovation/expansion remodeled the main terminal building and built a new control tower and another concourse for American Airlines. The first scheduled jets were American and United 727s in 1965; Runway 5–23 was extended northeast from to later that year. A second terminal (the "West Terminal") was built in 1971 while it was hoped an all-new airport would be built in the near future. The West Terminal was built to last ten years and had nine gates.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: Despite the addition of the West Terminal, the original terminal, the "East Terminal", received one more expansion in 1977. New ticket lobbies were built for American Airlines and United Airlines, the original 1938 building was turned into a baggage claim area and jetways were added for the first time. In 1982 two gates were added to the north/east end of the West Terminal, used by Eastern Air Lines. The landside of the West Terminal was also enlarged and the originally blue building was around that time repainted gray.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: A large Curtiss-Wright plant once existed at the Airport. Built in 1942, the building was sold to Westinghouse in 1946 after the end of World War II. Westinghouse sold the facility to Buffalo developer Paul Snyder in 1985, who turned the building into the Buffalo Airport Center industrial park. The building was abandoned in 1991 and demolished in 1999 to allow Runway 14/32 to be lengthened. In 2006 the main runway was repaved and extended , its first major upgrade since 1980 and the secondary runway was extended .


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: In 2008 some local residents made a short-lived attempt to rename the airport to "Buffalo Tim Russert International Airport" after popular news commentator and a Buffalo native Tim Russert who had died that year.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: In 1991 it was decided a new terminal would make more sense than continued renovations. Construction of the new building designed by the Greater Buffalo International Airport (GBIA) Design Group, a joint venture composed of Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, CannonDesign, and William Nicholas Bodouva began in 1995 in between the two existing buildings.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: The new $56 million terminal (at newly named Buffalo-Niagara International Airport) opened on November 3, 1997 with 15 gates. The old terminals were demolished immediately to allow expansion. The new building was expanded in 2001, increasing the number of gates to 24. The entire terminal has a total floor area of .


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: In late 2017 the terminal began an $80 million renovation and expansion with more than of new space as part of the airport's 2013 master plan. The expansion will create secure walkways on the east and west side of the terminal for arriving passengers and relocate the central exit walkway to eliminate bottlenecks with departing passengers on the second floor. This will also create expanded curbside space for arriving and departing passengers. The renovation will also replace the baggage claim area's three flat plate baggage carousels with four sloped plate carousels, doubling the current capacity. Preparations began December 2018, and groundbreaking and major construction began in February 2019. The renovations were completed in 2021. As part of the master plan, this expansion allows for the creation of a new pier south of the current east concourse.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: Buffalo Airport Fire Department responds to all fire and emergency medical aid calls in the terminal complex and adjacent property. The airport was formerly served by Buffalo Fire Department Engine 7 (crash-fire-rescue unit) until 1981 and was transferred to the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. A new $11 million fire station was completed in 2017. The facility is off of Amherst Villa Road, triple the size of the old station and includes a training facility and other amenities.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: Tac Air is the FBO for the airport. It provides private charter flights and other services, including fueling and ground handling, to many of the scheduled airlines that operate from the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. It also provides aircraft maintenance service from its FAA approved repair station to airlines, corporate and general aviation customers. It is on the airport's north side. Prior to Tac Air taking over FBO operations in October 2020, Prior Aviation was the FBO.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: The airspace above Buffalo is prone to high flight traffic due to its proximity to Toronto Pearson International Airport, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and Hamilton International Airport. Most of these flights are inbound or outbound from destinations in the United States, Central America, the Caribbean and South America. Aircraft descending into the Toronto area use waypoints in Buffalo as part of their Standard Arrival Route (STARS) from the south. These aircraft are still well above and do not affect the air traffic of Buffalo.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: The April 1957 OAG shows 96 weekday departures: 55 American, 28 Capital, 10 Mohawk and 3 Allegheny. Nonstops didn't reach past Boston, New York, Pittsburgh and Chicago; Buffalo didn't get a nonstop beyond Chicago until Mohawk started Minneapolis in 1970. Continental tried Denver for a few months in 1987–88, American tried DFW a couple of times, and Northwest started Minneapolis in 1987—no others until Southwest started Phoenix and Las Vegas in October 2000.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: When the federal government deregulated the airlines in 1978, Buffalo was served by four airlines: three "trunk carriers" (American Airlines, United Airlines, Eastern Air Lines) and one "local service carrier" (Allegheny Airlines). American and United used the East Terminal, and Allegheny and Eastern used the West Terminal.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: During the "glory years" for mainline-sized jet service at U.S. medium-size airports in the 1970s and 1980s, Buffalo regularly hosted widebody passenger jets. American Airlines DC-10s flew to Chicago O'Hare International Airport and other points. Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-1011s and Airbus A300s flew to Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Eastern's flights often did 'tag-on' hops to Toronto Pearson International Airport due to legal restrictions on flights between the United States and Canada. Buffalo still hosts many mainline passenger jets, but scheduled flights are usually narrow-body (single-aisle) aircraft. Today, Buffalo hosts wide-body charter flights for the Buffalo Bills or their National Football League opponents.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: Shortly after deregulation of the U.S. airline industry, American and United began reducing service at medium-sized Northeastern markets such as Buffalo. Many other airlines entered the Buffalo market and the 1980s saw a riot of new airline service as the industry began to take its post-deregulation shape. Most of these carriers did not survive the decade.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: The most prominent new carrier at Buffalo was People Express Airlines, a low-fare carrier founded in 1981 with a hub at Newark International Airport. Buffalo, along with Norfolk, Virginia and Columbus, Ohio was one of the original three cities served by People from Newark. The airline grew rapidly into a major carrier and at its peak ran over 10 flights per day from Buffalo to Newark. Too-rapid growth including a purchase of the original Frontier Airlines led to People's demise in 1987. They were bought and assimilated by Continental Airlines.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: In 1986–1987 the US airline industry went through a series of buyouts and mergers, and by the end of 1989 most domestic air service in the US was provided by six "legacy carriers." At the end of the 1980s, airlines at Buffalo were mostly this six and their regional affiliates: American, United, Continental, USAir, Northwest and Delta Air Lines. During the 1990s, with People Express vanquished, these carriers kept fares high and enplanements stagnant at Buffalo.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: At the beginning of the 21st century, Buffalo Niagara International Airport grew with the addition of low-cost carriers Southwest and JetBlue. Due to the "Southwest Effect", Buffalo Niagara International Airport exceeded the 5 million passenger mark in 2006. Previous estimates by the NFTA had projected 3.8 million passengers for 2006, and it would be 2020 before the 5 million passenger plateau would be reached. Buffalo is the largest airport by passenger traffic in Upstate New York and now averages 4.5–5.5 million passengers per year. Another addition to the low cost carriers was Frontier, which began service from Buffalo in 2017.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: The proximity of Buffalo Niagara International Airport to the 9.2 million residents of the Golden Horseshoe region (which includes the metropolitan areas of Greater Toronto and Hamilton) in Ontario makes it a very popular airport for Canadians traveling to U.S. destinations. Despite the existence of three international airports in the region that provide cross-border flights (Toronto Pearson International Airport, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport), one in three passengers utilizing Buffalo are from Canada and in 2012, 47 percent of all passengers were from Canada. This is due to air fares for US-bound Canadian flights being generally higher due to added customs and immigration surcharges, the value difference of Canadian and U.S. currency, and other taxes and fees. Several passenger shuttle services operate from the airport to cities in Southern Ontario, and to Toronto-Pearson and Hamilton airports.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: Due to U.S. COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions that require COVID-19 testing for international arrivals via air travel, Toronto-based professional sports teams have similarly used the airport as a travel hub, having their players transported by bus from Toronto since land crossings and domestic flights are not subject to testing.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: On average there are over 100 flights per day, with nonstop service to 30 airports across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: The airport is served by the Kensington Expressway (NY Route 33), which ends at the airport. Route 33 intersects with the New York State Thruway, Interstate I-90, about from the airport and then continues directly into downtown Buffalo with a total drive time of approximately 10–15 minutes.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority provides service on routes 24B (Genesee), 47 (Youngs Road), 68 (George Urban Express) and 204 (Airport-Downtown Express). NFTA Metro Paratransit offers services to the airport for people with mobility issues, but pre-booking is required.


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: Greyhound Bus Lines and Megabus also provide transportation to and from the airport, with services to Toronto and New York City, (dropping off at 34th and 11th avenues).


title: Buffalo Niagara International Airport

text: Many national car hire firms all have rental facilities on airport property. Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz and National all are on-site. Various limos, taxis and shuttle buses have access to and from the airport.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: This Is Me... Then is the third studio album by American singer Jennifer Lopez. It was released on November 25, 2002, by Epic Records. Prior to its release, Lopez began a high-profile relationship with Ben Affleck and a media circus ensued. Her relationship with Affleck served as her main inspiration for the album, which is dedicated to him. Initially scheduled to be released the following year, "This Is Me... Then"s release date was quickly pushed forward after its lead single, "Jenny from the Block", was purposely leaked by Tommy Mottola, the head of Sony Music Entertainment.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: For the album's recording, Lopez once again recruited Cory Rooney, Troy Oliver and Dan Shea, all of whom she had worked with on her previous albums. She decided to shift away from a dance-pop to more of an R&B and soul sound, influenced by the soul music she grew up listening to. The record's throwback material was integrated with mainstream hip hop and pop music. During its production, Lopez was influenced by the works of Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross and Stevie Wonder among others. "This Is Me... Then" received mixed reviews from music critics. Some praised its musical direction, deeming it her strongest album to date, whilst others criticized its production and Lopez's vocal performance. The album went on to achieve commercial success, reaching number two in the United States where it has sold 2.6 million copies. It also reached the top ten in countries such as Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland, selling over 6 million copies worldwide.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: The album's lead single, "Jenny from the Block" featuring Styles P and Jadakiss of The Lox, became an international success, peaking at three in the United States. However, its release was followed by the notoriety of its music video, which featured Affleck. The single has since been used as a nickname for Lopez in the media, known as one of her signature songs. The album's second single "All I Have" featuring rapper LL Cool J also achieved commercial success, becoming her fourth number-one single in the United States. "I'm Glad", the third single, performed moderately. The single's music video was met with critical acclaim, but caused controversy for recreating scenes from the 1983 film "Flashdance". Sony and Lopez were sued over this, but the lawsuit was dismissed. "This Is Me... Then" spawned a fourth single entitled "Baby I Love U!"


title: This Is Me... Then

text: On November 25, 2022, which was the album's 20th anniversary, Lopez announced that she would be releasing a sequel album in 2023 titled "This Is Me... Now".


title: This Is Me... Then

text: In June 2002, Lopez divorced her former back-up dancer Cris Judd to pursue a relationship with Academy Award winning actor and director, Ben Affleck, "Hollywood's Golden Boy". That November, Affleck proposed, resulting in a higher amount of attention towards the couple. The public and media began to refer to them as "Bennifer" and they became a prominent supercouple in the media and popular culture. "Bennifer" became a popular term, which was eventually entered into urban dictionaries and neologism dictionaries as notable, and the name blend started the trend of other celebrity couples being referred to by the combination of each other's first names.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: Speaking of the publicity, Lopez told MTV News: "We try [to keep things private]." "I'm not saying there's not times that we wish [we] could just be going to the movies and come out and there's not a crowd there waiting. You just want to spend your Sunday afternoon not working, but at the same time we both love what we do. If that's something that's part of it, then that's fine. We feel the love and we're very happy about it," she stated. While speaking of the damage that could be caused, Lopez said: "I think [the media can cause damage] if it's not a real thing. I've been in relationships where they were kind of unstable, and so the media messed with it a lot." The overexposure from the media and public interest in their relationship resulted in less admiration for their work and negatively affected their careers.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: Affleck became Lopez's muse when writing and recording the album. "I wrote a lot of songs inspired, in a way, by what I was going through at the time that this album was being made, and he was definitely a big part of that," she told MTV News. The singer took more of a "hands-on role", co-writing more material than she had on her previous albums. The album was titled "This Is Me... Then", as it was something she wanted to look back on in retrospection. Lopez explained, "Who you are at that time, what kind of music you like, what kind of beats you're into, what kind of state of mind you're in, what you're attracted to ... it's all very telling of where you are in your life at that point. ... Twenty years from now, if I give this [album] to one of my kids, I'll be like, 'This was me then, at that moment.'" Lopez dedicated the album to Affleck, with the words "You are my life ... my sole inspiration for every lyric, every emotion, every bit of feeling on this record" written on the disc jacket. As of 2022, he remains the only man she has done this romantic gesture to.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: Lopez wrote lyrics for the album in a small red leather diary, which she described as her "magic book". In it, she often scribbled down her thoughts and ideas. The album's artwork and liner notes were modeled after this book, which would "further the feel of an intimate portrait of Lopez's soul". "I wanted the pictures to look kind of aged, like it was a scrapbook. ... All the writing [in it] is all kinds of crazy and upside down and sideways just as it is in my book," Lopez stated. While creating the album, she listened to a vast range of blues and soul music, which she listened to growing up. Artists such as Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross and Michael Jackson among other had a profound influence on the album's sound. According to Lopez, she attempts to "elicit a similar feeling" in her own songwriting from these artists' songs on the album, because they made her "heart sing". Vandross and Wonder's records "just stay with you" according to Lopez, who wanted to make something that was true to her upbringing as well as her current love life.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: The majority of "This Is Me... Then" was recorded over two weeks. Lopez was drawn to the "contagious" melodies of Michael Jackson's album "Off the Wall" (1979), which led her to summon the record's mixer and engineer, Bruce Swedien, to work on "This Is Me... Then". Lopez felt that Jackson's "clear and spacious" records made her feel a "certain way". She said, "It has such a beautiful quality on it, and every time I looked at a record [I liked], it would be engineered and mixed by Bruce Swedien. I was like, 'Who is this guy? I want this guy.' So I tracked him down and he was like, 'I want to do something with her. I know exactly what she needs. I'm coming in.' And it made a huge difference." Lopez worked closely with longtime producer Cory Rooney on the album. Discussing the process, Rooney stated, "This is by far the best record that I've ever worked on or done [...] In the beginning of the recording [process] she said it's important that she makes a record that is a few notches above everything else she did. She wanted to show growth musically and vocally." Other producers Lopez worked with primarily were Troy Oliver, Loren Hill and Dan Shea. She had previously collaborated with Oliver and Shea on "J.Lo" (2001).


title: This Is Me... Then

text: Lopez has cited this album as her favorite album she has ever done many times over the years. Saying in part: "At that time I truly realized that being an artist meant you have to be vulnerable and bare your heart and soul...it takes courage to do that...to really show who you are at any given moment in time."


title: This Is Me... Then

text: "This Is Me... Then" was considered a departure from Lopez's previous work, with more of an adult-oriented contemporary R&B sound, which included multiple ballads. "The Age" newspaper described the album as a "declaration of love" for Ben Affleck. "Boston Globe"s Steve Morse wrote, "[the] love affair has fired up Hollywood and now pop listeners can now share the vibe. This is one hot album, as [Lopez] sings to lovers everywhere with a soulful passion that will quicken pulses and libidos." "Entertainment Weekly" described it as having a Minnie Riperton sound, while "The Guardian" noted the musical influence of Diana Ross and likened its sensuality to Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" (1973). The album evokes 1970s soul music, and blends "streetwise" hip hop with "old-school soul".


title: This Is Me... Then

text: The album's opening song, "Still" is built around a sample from Teddy Pendergrass' "Set Me Free", and its lyrics concern an ex-lover. "Entertainment Weekly" observed that it may be about Lopez's ex-boyfriend Sean Combs, with lyrics such as "Do you ever wish we never split?" The song was likened to the music of Deniece Williams. "Loving You" samples Mtume's "Juicy Fruit" and George Benson's "Never Give Up on a Good Thing", while the ballad "I'm Glad" incorporates a part of Schooly D's "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?". The instrumentation of "I'm Glad" consists of a piano, guitar and classical harp runs, which are laced throughout a computer-generated beat. In "I'm Glad", Lopez discusses finding true love, and declares "I think I'm in love/Damn, finally!" Two versions of the song "The One" are featured on the album. The first version, which is the fourth track on the album, is based around "You Are Everything" by The Stylistics.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: "Dear Ben", originally titled "Perfect", opens to an "atmosphere of lush strings and sparse percussion", described as a "starry-eyed paean to fiancé Ben Affleck". It contains lyrics which detail the characteristics of Lopez's perfect man, such as "You will always be ... To me, my lust, my love, my man, my child, my friend and my king" and "God made you for me". "Dear Ben" was considered a profession of Lopez's love for Affleck to the media, and has been described as the album's "glowing centerpiece". Lopez made the decision to change the song's title to "Dear Ben" the day before "This Is Me... Then" was sent for manufacturing. "All I Have", a duet with LL Cool J which samples Debra Law's "Very Special", is a breakup song, and has been noted to conjure up her publicized split with Combs. "Jenny from the Block" features lyrics about Lopez remaining humble despite fame and fortune. It samples several songs, including "Hijack" by Enoch Light and KRS-One's "South Bronx". "The Age" wrote that the song intones Lopez's "modest childhood roots, vowing she wishes to remain simple despite her diamonds", while MTV said that she finds "the middle ground between Hollywood A-Lister and Big Apple B-Girl" on the "club-banging" song. In the ballad "Again", Lopez considers finding love again; "I was scared to let go and trust your love," she sings in the second verse. The theme of Lopez's relationship with Affleck is also evident in the vintage-sounding mid-tempo song "Baby I Love U!", which features a guitar and piano instrumentation that includes a "haunting" interpolation from the theme of the film "Midnight Cowboy" (1969). The song, described as "cheesy" and "blissful", has Lopez singing about being a hopeless romantic ("Can you love me for a lifetime/ In just one night?"). The album closes with a second version of "The One"; this version contains a slightly different production and a new verse was written in place of the original. The lyrical content remains the same. Both the album and song end with Lopez singing "I can be anything you need", like in the original, except silence is heard after that line is said.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: On September 26, 2002, a song entitled "Jenny from the Block" by Lopez featuring Styles P and Jadakiss of The LOX was leaked online. A pop radio station in Hartford, Connecticut, later picked up the song from the internet. "Jenny from the Block" was then immediately distributed to other stations owned by Infinity Broadcasting as the album's lead single. Cory Rooney later revealed in 2016 that it was Sony Music executive Tommy Mottola who leaked the song. Rooney and Lopez initially wanted a song titled "Glad" to be the album's lead single, but Mottola favored "Jenny from the Block". Rooney recalled: "When we played 'Jenny from the Block,' he said, 'This is your single.' So right away we both were like no no no that’s not the single. He told us, 'You guys are crazy. This is the single I don’t give a shit what you say you’re gonna destroy the album if you don’t listen to me.'" According to Rooney, Mottola leaked the single the following day without their knowledge, noting: "He pulled the trigger and all over the world they were playing that record that day." "Jenny from the Block" went on to experience international commercial success, peaking within the top ten in the United States as well as over twelve other countries. An accompanying music video for the song, directed by Francis Lawrence and featuring Affleck, was released. According to "The Spectator", "Before celebrities become stars, they dream about gaining fame, fortune, and being in the spotlight [...] The video is basically about how she cannot find privacy with her fiance Ben Affleck. A lot of glamour is associated with fame and fortune; however, along with that glamour comes the loss of privacy". The music video became one of the most controversial ones in pop culture at the time. Considered "the video that killed Ben Affleck's career", the actor stated, years after his engagement to Lopez ended, that he regretted filming it.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: On December 14, 2002; "All I Have" featuring rapper LL Cool J was released as the second single from "This Is Me... Then". Not only did it become the album's second consecutive top-ten single in the United States, "All I Have" became Lopez's fourth song to top the "Billboard" Hot 100. The song also performed well internationally, ranking within the top ten of numerous charts. The song samples the 1981 track "Very Special" by Debra Laws. Laws later filed a lawsuit in 2003 against Lopez, LL Cool J and Sony Music Entertainment for "misappropriating her voice and name" in the song. More than three years later, the district court discovered that Law's music label had given Sony permission to use a 10-second sample of Law's song. The lawsuit was dropped, and Laws was advised to sue her own label and publisher for "breach of contract for entering a license agreement without her authorization". According to Lopez, she initially didn't want "Jenny from the Block" or "All I Have" to be released as singles from the album. She felt that the tracks were too similar to her previous singles such as "Ain't It Funny" and "I'm Real"; she felt like she was "visiting old territory". "Those tracks were like a different era for me, and I didn't want people to perceive it like I'm just trying to capitalize on the same thing. But the record company was like, 'Who cares what they think, those are hits mama!'". Lopez, who stated she "calls the shots", eventually agreed.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: On April 8, 2003, "I'm Glad" was released as the album's third single. Unlike its predecessors, "I'm Glad" failed to enter the top ten in the United States, while performing moderately in the international market. Its accompanying music video was a remake of the 1983 film "Flashdance" which was based on Maureen Marder's life, who was a "construction worker by day and dancer by night". The music video, described as a "homage" to the film, impressed the filmmakers and they began talks with Lopez about creating a re-make. However, Paramount Pictures threatened to sue Sony over copyright issues. A representative for Epic Records confirmed that this issue was settled. Marder also filed a lawsuit against Sony and Lopez which was quickly dismissed by the courts. That August, "Baby I Love U" was released as the album's fourth and final single, but failed to gain notable chart recognition.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: Upon its initial release, 200,000 copies of "This Is Me... Then" included a four-panel insert that featured information about her fragrance Glow by JLo, and a peel-off fragrance label that allowed those who purchased the CD to test the scent. On September 27, 2002 a spokesperson for Lopez revealed that she planned to take a break from acting to launch a tour in support of "This Is Me... Then" in April 2003. However, in late July 2003, Lopez clarified that these plans had been canceled.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: According to the reviewer aggregator Metacritic which sampled nine reviews of the album, it garnered mostly "mixed or average" reviews. Writing for "Billboard" magazine, Michael Paoletta gave "This Is Me... Then" a favorable review, stating that "even naysayers will have to serve props to Lopez for the considerable growth she reveals as both a performer and tune-smith". Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album a positive review, calling the feel of it "sexy, stylish, and fun, and there are numerous highlights, all feeling effortless". While Erlewine thought the title was "nonsensical and bewildering", he opined that this was the "strongest, sultriest, best music [Lopez] has recorded". Tom Sinclair of "Entertainment Weekly" stated "the girl has a way with hooks, even if they're often borrowed", and audiences are "seduced by the breezy pleasure of her new music".


title: This Is Me... Then

text: Arion Berger of "Rolling Stone", however, was not positive. Berger criticized the songs as being "pitched too high for her register", while calling the production "cheap". Berger also observed that "love has dulled whatever street edge she might have had". Similarly, "The Village Voice"s Jon Caramanica was unfavorable, writing: "This Is Me is like the gift you get from your grandmother—awkward, unwanted, and blindly self-righteous. Used to have a little, and still does." Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani on the other hand gave the album a favorable review stating that ""This Is Me...Then" manages to find the right formula for Lopez's slinky vocal and is more unified than its predecessors". Cinquemani felt that "Lopez will no doubt earn a grain of respect from critics". Yahoo! Music's James Poletti was also positive, stating that while Lopez's voice "frequently sounds a trifle thin accompanied by the sort of sounds that we're better used to hearing behind a Creative Source or Gwen McCrae vocal", the "honeyed backing massages any real concerns from your mind".


title: This Is Me... Then

text: "This Is Me... Then" was a commercial success, although not as successful as "J.Lo". Released on November 26, 2002, the album debuted on the "Billboard" 200 at number six, with first-week sales of 314,132 in the United States. This marked the highest opening sales week of Lopez's career. "Rolling Stone" noted that despite this, "unlike her previous releases, the field wasn't empty for this album to dominate". In its second week, it dropped to number seven with 171,000 copies sold. Throughout December, the album remained in the chart's top ten, and was later ranked by the magazine as the twelfth most successful album of 2003. It sold 1.28 million copies within a month of release. For the week ending December 22, 2002, "This Is Me... Then" sold 345,150 copies, moving from number eight to number five as a result of holiday season gains.


title: This Is Me... Then

text: For the week of January 2, 2003, the album remained in the top five of the "Billboard" 200, selling 233,000 copies. For the week ending January 18, 2003, "This Is Me... Then" made its biggest jump on the "Billboard" 200, climbing from number six to number two, with sales of 88,000 units, blocked from reaching the top spot by Norah Jones' "Come Away With Me" (2002) which sold 108,000 copies. Throughout February 2003, the album continued to perform strongly, averaging close to 80,000 copies sold each week, while remaining in the top ten. Additionally, the album peaked at number five on "Billboard"s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. By June 2013, "This Is Me... Then" had sold 2.6 million copies in the United States, making it her third best-selling album.