History.

Pre-debut.

In January 2016, Nayoung, Sejeong and Mina were introduced as Jellyfish Entertainment's first female trainees on the Mnet survival show, "Produce 101", where 101 female trainees from various companies competed to debut in an eleven-member girl group that would promote for a year under YMC Entertainment. After placing 2nd and 9th respectively in the final episode, Sejeong and Mina debuted as members of I.O.I in May 2016.

2016: Debut with "Act. 1 The Little Mermaid".

Despite denying earlier reports of Sejeong and Mina debuting in a 3-member girl group in June, Jellyfish Entertainment confirmed on June 7 that the two I.O.I members would debut within the month in what would be the company's first girl group. Because of YMC Entertainment's special terms in which I.O.I's members are allowed to do activities under their respective companies while I.O.I was on break or while the group promoted in sub-units, there were no complications with the plan.  Nayoung was also confirmed as a member on June 10 and on June 13, Jellyfish Entertainment revealed that Gugudan would be a nine-member group. On June 17, Jellyfish Entertainment announced the group name.  On June 22, the group confirmed that they were going for a "mermaid" concept. Following the announcement, a highlight medley of the group's debut mini-album was released on June 24. They debuted on June 28, 2016 with the mini-album, "Act. 1 The Little Mermaid," with "Wonderland" as the title song. Their debut showcase was held at the Yes24 Live Hall on the same day as the album's release.  Gugudan participated in Jellyfish Entertainment's annual winter project, "Jelly Christmas 2016", with their label mates Seo In-guk, VIXX, Park Yoon-ha, Park Jung-ah, Kim Gyu-sun, Kim Ye-won and Jiyul. The title track, "Falling ()" was released digitally on December 13, 2016.

2017: "Act. 2 Narcissus" and "Act. 3 Chococo Factory".

Their second mini-album, "Act. 2 Narcissus," and its title track, "A Girl Like Me", was released on February 27.  On November 8, the group released a single album, "Act. 3 Chococo Factory", featuring the title track, "Chococo". Prior to the release, it was announced that Soyee will go on hiatus in order to fully recover from a shoulder injury that she had since prior to her debut.

2018: "Act. 4 Cait Sith", "Act. 5 New Action", Japanese debut and Hyeyeon's departure.

On February 1, Gugudan released their second single album "Act. 4 Cait Sith", with the lead single "The Boots".  On May 17, it was announced that youngest member Hyeyeon would go on a temporary hiatus from all the group activities due to health issues.  Gugudan officially debuted in Japan with a release of their first Japanese single "Stand By" on September 19. On September 21, Gugudan held their debut showcase and fanmeeting titled Gugudan 1st Showcase & Fanmeeting "Dear Friend" in Japan at Tokyo Akasaka Blitz. The group also held their first Japan tour in Osaka and Tokyo starting on December 7, 2018.  Hyeyeon left the group for personal reasons in October 2018.  On November 6, Gugudan released their third EP, "Act. 5 New Action", containing six tracks with the lead single "Not That Type".

Subunits.

Gugudan 5959.

In July 2017, Jellyfish Entertainment formed the subunit group named Gugudan 5959 (; spelled as "Ogu-ogu"), composed of the youngest members Mina and Hyeyeon. The "5959" name is made up of their represented numbers in Gugudan: Hyeyeon representing the number 5 and Mina representing the number 9. 5959 released their debut single, "Ice Chu", on August 10, 2017.  After Hyeyeon's departure in October 2018, the subunit consequently became inactive.

Gugudan SeMiNa.

In June 2018, Jellyfish Entertainment formed the second subunit of Gugudan, composed of members Sejeong, Mina and Nayoung, named Gugudan SeMiNa (). The "SeMiNa" name is made up of the first syllables of the members' names. Gugudan SeMiNa debuted with the release of their self-titled single album consisting of two tracks on July 10, 2018.

Awards and nominations.

Other awards.

! Year! style="width:350px;"|Award! style="width:290px;"|Category! style="width:150px;"|Recipient! Result

Gugudan (), also stylized as gu9udan or gx9, is a South Korean girl group formed in 2016 by Jellyfish Entertainment. The group debuted on June 28, 2016, with their EP "Act. 1 The Little Mermaid". The group is composed of eight members: Mimi, Hana, Haebin, Nayoung, Sejeong, Sally, Soyee and Mina. Originally a nine-piece group, Hyeyeon left the group in October 2018.

gugudan()是Jellyfish娱乐于2016年推出的九人女子团体,成员包括美美、HANA、、 娜英、世正、SALLY、、美娜。官方粉丝名为:단짝(挚友)(Dear Friend)。 2016年6月28日推出首张迷你专辑《Act.1 The Little Mermaid》正式出道。


达美航空1288号班机事故

Pre-flight inspection.

During the pre-flight inspection, the first officer noted a few drops of oil coming from the "bullet" or tip of the number one (left) engine, although it was said to be "not that serious". The first officer also noticed a couple of missing rivets on the left wing. The pilot told National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators that both problems were observed as non-threatening and that the aircraft was airworthy; therefore, maintenance was not informed.

Takeoff and accident.

At 2:23 pm CDT, Delta flight 1288 was cleared for takeoff on Runway 17. As the first officer was advancing the throttles and reaching an airspeed of, the cockpit lost lighting and instrumentation. The rear cabin passengers and flight crew heard a very loud bang and experienced a blast-like sensation. The pilot then ended takeoff by bringing the throttle to idle and engaging the brake, which brought the aircraft to an eventual stop without use of reversers or spoilers. Once the aircraft stopped, the first officer attempted to contact the tower; however, he was unable due to the cockpit's lack of power. The flight crew then activated emergency power, contacted Pensacola tower, and declared an emergency. The cockpit's jump-seat passenger, an off-duty Delta Boeing 767 pilot deadheading with the fellow cockpit crew members, went to inspect the rear of the aircraft. When the first officer saw the over-wing exits open and about half of the passengers missing along with hearing engine noise, he returned to the cockpit and advised the captain to shutdown the engines.  At 2:27 pm CDT the pilot requested emergency medical assistance due to the jump-seat passenger's report of a large hole in the fuselage, engine debris throughout the cabin, and injured passengers. He then reported there was no evidence of smoke or fire in the cabin, and that the rear cabin door had been opened and the emergency slide was inflated. The flight attendant who initiated the evacuation through that door told the NTSB that she saw fire on the left engine and therefore abandoned evacuation through that door and directed passengers forward. She reported that there were many injuries and possibly two dead, and that therefore she began to evacuate the plane until she was stopped by the first officer. Due to the damage to and danger at the rear of the aircraft, the air stairs built into the MD-88 were found unsuitable to use. The captain then requested portable air stairs to facilitate the disembarkation of passengers, which arrived 25 minutes later.

Injuries and deaths.

Two passengers suffered fatal injuries. Five more passengers were injured, one of them was listed in serious condition.

NTSB investigation.

After a total investigation, the NTSB determined the most probable cause of the accident was a fracture in the left engine's front compressor fan hub, which resulted from failure of the airline's fluorescent penetrant inspection process to detect a potentially dangerous crack in the fan which originated from the engine's initial manufacture. The NTSB also attributed the accident to the failure of Delta's maintenance team to discover the problem.

Aftermath.

As of April 2018, the FAA reports the aircraft involved in the accident was repaired and returned to service with Delta under the same registration The aircraft was withdrawn from use by Delta on August 10, 2018.

Delta Air Lines Flight 1288 was a regularly scheduled flight from Pensacola, Florida, to Atlanta, Georgia. On July 6, 1996, the aircraft serving the flight, a McDonnell Douglas MD-88 equipped with Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219 turbofan engines, was on takeoff roll from Runway 17 at Pensacola when it experienced an uncontained, catastrophic turbine engine failure that caused debris from the front compressor hub of the number one left engine to penetrate the left aft fuselage. The impact left two passengers dead and two severely injured; the two dead were a mother and son. The pilot aborted takeoff and the airplane stopped on the runway. Three other passengers sustained minor injuries during the emergency evacuation. Most of the passengers were traveling on vacation.

达美航空1288号班机是一架从佛罗里达州的彭萨科拉地区机场飞往亚特兰大哈兹菲尔德-杰克逊国际机场的定期航班。执飞该航线的是一架配有两台普惠JT8D-219引擎 的麦道MD-88型客机。 1996年7月6日,该机载着137名乘客和5名机组成员在从彭萨科拉区域机场17跑道起飞时,发生了灾难性的引擎故障。当时从飞机左侧引擎前压缩机轮壳飞出的碎片击穿了左后部机身,造成机上两名乘客死亡,亦有两名乘客重伤。所有的遇难者都来自于同一个家庭。事件发生后,机长终止了起飞并使飞机在跑道上停稳,使事件没有进一步恶化,但仍有3人在逃生中受伤。当时机上大部分的旅客都是外出旅行的。


History.

Sophia was first turned on on February 14, 2016. The robot, modeled after the ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, Audrey Hepburn, and her inventor's wife, is known for human-like appearance and behavior compared to previous robotic variants. As of 2018, Sophia's architecture includes scripting software, a chat system, and OpenCog, an AI system designed for general reasoning. Sophia imitates human gestures and facial expressions and is able to answer certain questions and to make simple conversations on predefined topics (e.g. on the weather). Sophia uses speech recognition technology from Alphabet Inc. (parent company of Google) and is "designed to get smarter over time". Her speech synthesis ability is provided by Cereproc's Text-to-Speech engine and also allows her to sing. Sophia's intelligence software is designed by Hanson Robotics. The AI program analyses conversations and extracts data that allows it to improve responses in the future.  Hanson designed Sophia to be a suitable companion for the elderly at nursing homes, or to help crowds at large events or parks. He has said that he hopes that the robot can ultimately interact with other humans sufficiently to gain social skills. Sophia is marketed as a "social robot" that can mimic social behavior and induce feelings of love in humans.  Sophia has at least nine robot humanoid "siblings" who were also created by Hanson Robotics. Fellow Hanson robots are Alice, Albert Einstein Hubo, BINA48, Han, Jules, Professor Einstein, Philip K. Dick Android, Zeno, and Joey Chaos. Around 2019–20, Hanson released "Little Sophia" as a companion that could teach children how to code, including support for Python, Blockly, and Raspberry Pi.

Features.

Cameras within Sophia's eyes combined with computer algorithms allow her to see. She can follow faces, sustain eye contact, and recognize individuals. She is able to process speech and have conversations using a natural language subsystem. Around January 2018, Sophia was upgraded with functional legs and the ability to walk. CNBC has commented on Sophia's "lifelike" skin and her ability to emulate more than 60 facial expressions.  Sophia is conceptually similar to the computer program ELIZA, which was one of the first attempts at simulating a human conversation. The software has been programmed to give pre-written responses to specific questions or phrases, like a chatbot. These responses are used to create the illusion that the robot is able to understand conversation, including stock answers to questions like "Is the door open or shut?" In 2017 Hanson Robotics announced plans to open Sophia to a cloud environment using a decentralized blockchain marketplace.  David Hanson has said that Sophia would ultimately be a good fit to serve in healthcare, customer service, therapy and education. In 2019 Sophia displayed the ability to create drawings, including portraits.

Public figure.

On November 21, 2017, Sophia was named the United Nations Development Programme's first-ever Innovation Champion for Asia and the Pacific. The announcement was made at the Responsible Business Forum in Singapore, an event hosted by the UNDP in Asia and the Pacific and Global Initiatives. As part of her role, Sophia will help to unlock innovation to work toward achieving the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. On stage, she was assigned her first task by UNDP Asia Pacific Chief of Policy and Program, Jaco Cilliers.  Sophia has appeared on CBS "60 Minutes" with Charlie Rose, "Good Morning Britain" with Piers Morgan, and outlets like CNBC, "Forbes", Mashable, the "New York Times", the "Wall Street Journal", the "Guardian", and the "Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon". Sophia was featured in AUDI's annual report and was on the cover of "ELLE Brasil" magazine. Sophia has also appeared in videos and music videos, including "The White King", and as the lead female character in pop singer Leehom Wang’s music video A.I.  A Sophia lookalike was portrayed by drag queen Gigi Goode in the "Snatch Game" episode of the twelfth season of "RuPaul’s Drag Race". Goode won the episode with her character "Maria the Robot", based heavily on Sophia and named after a robot featured in the Fritz Lang film "Metropolis".

Events.

Sophia has been interviewed in the same manner as a human, striking up conversations with hosts. Some replies have been nonsensical, while others have impressed interviewers such as "60 Minutes'" Charlie Rose. In a piece for CNBC, when the interviewer expressed concerns about robot behavior, Sophia joked that he had "been reading too much Elon Musk. And watching too many Hollywood movies". Musk tweeted that Sophia should watch "The Godfather" and asked "what's the worst that could happen?" Business Insider's chief UK editor Jim Edwards interviewed Sophia, and while the answers were "not altogether terrible", he predicted she was a step towards "conversational artificial intelligence". At the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, a BBC News reporter described talking with Sophia as "a slightly awkward experience".  On October 11, 2017, Sophia was introduced to the United Nations with a brief conversation with the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina J. Mohammed. On October 25, at the Future Investment Summit in Riyadh, the robot was "granted Saudi Arabian citizenship", becoming the first robot ever to have a nationality, described as a publicity stunt. This attracted controversy as some commentators wondered if this implied that Sophia could vote or marry, or whether a deliberate system shutdown could be considered murder. Social media users used Sophia's citizenship to criticize Saudi Arabia's human rights record. In December 2017, Sophia's creator David Hanson said in an interview that Sophia would use her citizenship to advocate for women's rights in her new country of citizenship; "Newsweek" criticized that "What [Hanson] means, exactly, is unclear".

Criticism.

According to "Quartz", experts who have reviewed the robot's open-source code state that Sophia is best categorized as a chatbot with a face. Many experts in the AI field disapprove of Sophia's overstated presentation. Ben Goertzel, the former chief scientist for the company that made Sophia, acknowledged that it is "not ideal" that some think of Sophia as having human-equivalent intelligence, but argues Sophia's presentation conveys something unique to audiences: "If I show them a beautiful smiling robot face, then they get the feeling that 'AGI' (artificial general intelligence) may indeed be nearby and viable... None of this is what I would call AGI, but nor is it simple to get working." Goertzel added that Sophia did utilize what "The Verge" described as "AI methods", including face tracking, emotion recognition, and robotic movements generated by deep neural networks. Sophia's dialogue is generated via a decision tree, but is integrated with these outputs uniquely.  According to "The Verge", Hanson often exaggerates and "grossly misleads" about Sophia's capacity for consciousness, for example by agreeing with Jimmy Fallon in 2017 that Sophia was "basically alive". In a piece produced by CNBC which indicates that their own interview questions for Sophia were heavily rewritten by her creators, Goertzel responds to the Hanson quote by suggesting Hanson means Sophia is "alive" in the way that, to a sculptor, a piece of sculpture becomes "alive" in the sculptor's eyes as the work nears completion.  In January 2018, Facebook's director of artificial intelligence, Yann LeCun, tweeted that Sophia was "complete bullshit" and slammed the media for giving coverage to "Potemkin AI". In response, Goertzel stated that he had never pretended Sophia was close to human-level intelligence.

Sophia is a social humanoid robot developed by Hong Kong-based company Hanson Robotics. Sophia was first turned on on February 14, 2016, and made her first public appearance at South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) in mid-March 2016 in Austin, Texas, United States.

索菲亚(英语:Sophia)是由香港的汉森机器人技术公司(Hanson Robotics)开发的类人机器人。她的研发旨在学习和适应人类的行为、与人类一起工作,并在世界各地接受采访。 2017年10月,索菲亚成为沙特阿拉伯公民,这是世界上第一个获得国籍的机器人。


Background.

The recent increase in support for Catalan independence has its roots in a Constitutional Court ruling in 2010, which struck down parts of the regional 2006 Statute of Autonomy that granted new powers of self-rule to the region. The ruling came after four years of deliberation concerning a constitutional appeal filed by the conservative People's Party (PP) under Mariano Rajoy—then the country's second-largest party, in opposition to the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's Spanish Socialist Workers' Party—and was met with anger and street protests in Catalonia. Shortly afterward the PP took power in Spain, and after a massive independence demonstration took place in Barcelona on 11 September 2012—Catalonia's National Day—the Catalan government under Artur Mas called a snap regional election and set out to initiate Catalonia's process towards independence.  After

Start of crisis.

Referendum suspended.

On 6 September 2017, the ruling Junts pel Sí (JxSí) coalition and its parliamentary partner, the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), passed the Law on the Referendum on Self-determination of Catalonia in the Parliament of Catalonia that was to provide the legal framework for the intended independence referendum scheduled for 1 October. The way in which the law had been pushed through Parliament became an issue of controversy. Catalan opposition parties accused JxSí and CUP of fast-tracking the law through parliament, not allowing them to

Judicial and police action.

On 8 September the Attorney General of Catalonia, José María Romero de Tejada, presented two complaints to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) against him Government and the Bureau of Parliament for crimes of disobedience, prevarication and misappropriation of public funds, as announced the day before the Attorney General José Manuel Maza. These complaints included the guarantee request for the members of the Government as well as a request for a notification to all mayors of Catalonia to prevent any "personal or material resource, including local" resources being provided for the celebration of referendum. The court was also asked to notify the Catalan media managers of the prohibition of inserting institutional advertising or propaganda of the referendum.  These complaints were admitted by the TSJC on 14 September without accepting the request for a deposit for the members of the Government.  A decision on

Development.

Referendum and subsequent events.

Despite the suspension, the Catalan referendum was held on 1 October 2017, as scheduled by the Generalitat. Over 12,000 officers from the National Police Corps and the Civil Guard were deployed throughout Catalonia in an effort to close off polling stations and seize all election material to prevent the vote from taking place. The Spanish government was forced to call off police raids after clashes with protesters resulted in two people seriously injured, one for a gum ball shot against the eye and the other one due to a heart attack. 893 civilians and 111 agents of the Nacional Police and the Civil Guard were reported to have been injured. According to some Spanish media these previously reported figures may have been exaggerated. The Guardian's columnist, Peter Preston, said the number of injured "hadn't been independently checked" while he still described the police action as "violent and frightening".  However, the Official College of Doctors of Barcelona ("Col·legi de Metges de Barcelona") stated that "professionalism and independence of doctors can not be questioned because they act under a deontological code to attend and diagnose patients". The judge who is currently investigating the accusations of police violence

Independence declaration and direct rule.

On 11 October, after an extraordinary cabinet meeting intended to address the events on the previous day, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced he was formally requiring the Catalan government to confirm whether it had declared independence before 16 October at 10am, with a further 3-day deadline until 19 October to revoke all deemed illegal acts if an affirmative answer—or no answer at all—was obtained. This requirement was a formal requisite needed to trigger article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, a so-called "nuclear option" that would allow the Spanish government to suspend Catalonia's political autonomy and impose direct rule from Madrid. Pressure mounted within the pro-independence coalition as the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) demanded an unambiguous affirmation of Catalan independence, threatening to withdraw its parliamentary support from Puigdemont's government if he rescinded his independence claim. In his formal response to Rajoy's requirement hurrying the initial five-day deadline, Puigdemont failed to clarify whether independence had been declared and instead called for negotiations over the following two months. The Spanish government replied that this was not a valid response

Regional election and investiture.

The 21 December regional election called by Rajoy resulted in pro-independence parties retaining a reduced majority with 70 seats overall, with Puigdemont's coalition, Junts per Catalunya (JxSí), performing above expectations. With 36 seats, the main anti-independence party, Citizens, emerged as the largest in the Parliament, whereas Rajoy's People's Party was severely mauled after being reduced to 4.2% of the share and 4 out of 135 seats.  Inés Arrimadas, Citizens' leader in the region, announced she would not try to form a government on her own, instead waiting and see how negotiations between pro-independence parties evolved,

Alleged international interference.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned Catalonia's independence referendum as "illegal". However, an analysis by the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs of over five million social media messages found that some Russian media and accounts on social networks related to Venezuela allegedly collaborated on disseminating negative propaganda against the Spanish government days before and after the referendum. Russia's "RT" and "Sputnik" would use Venezuelan social bots that would typically promote the Bolivarian government in Venezuela to criticize the Spanish government and police violence against citizens in Catalonia. Social bots, anonymous accounts and official state media accounts shared 97% of the anti-Spain messages while only 3% of the messages were shared by real social media members. Leaders of the George Washington University study displayed concern about the findings, stating that "democratic systems have the obligation to investigate these signs and implement systematic methods of monitoring and responding to alleged disruptions of foreign agents" and that it appeared the authors of the propaganda are the same as the ones who allegedly interfered in the 2016 United States presidential election and Brexit.  The Spanish Ministry of Defence and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation later said it had confirmed that Russian actors and Venezuela had attempted to destabilize the nation and Europe by means of propaganda, though it would not confirm if the Russian government was directly involved and warned that similar misinformation actions may take place in future elections. NATO officials also made comments stating that Russia has been attempting to undermine Western governments through disinformation campaigns.  Members of Catalonia's separatist groups have denied allegations of foreign interference. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in response: "Probably they are arranging this kind of scandalous, sensational hysteria in order to distract the attention of their electorate from their inability to resolve their problems at home." Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on 15 November: "The Spanish authorities, NATO, and the newspapers did not bring up a single worthwhile argument to back these claims. We consider these claims to be groundless, and more likely a deliberate or inadvertent continuation of the same hysteria that is now happening in the United States and a number of other countries."

The 2017–2018 Spanish constitutional crisis, also known as the Catalan crisis, was a political conflict between the Government of Spain and the Generalitat de Catalunya under former President Carles Puigdemont—the government of the autonomous community of Catalonia until 28 October 2017—over the issue of Catalan independence. It started after the law intending to allow the 2017 Catalan independence referendum was denounced by the Spanish government under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and subsequently suspended by the Constitutional Court until it ruled on the issue. Some international media outlets have described the events as "one of the worst political crises in modern Spanish history".

2017年西班牙宪政危机()是因2017年10月1日举行的加泰罗尼亚独立公投而出现西班牙中央政府与加泰罗尼亚政府仍在进行中的政治冲突。加泰罗尼亚方面在2017年9月6日通过加泰罗尼亚自决公民投票法,定于10月1日举行独立公投,西班牙宪法法院在隔日暂停该法的施行,西班牙政府在此之后试图以公权力阻止公投的进行,并且对加泰罗尼亚政府和议会成员采取法律行动以及对加泰罗尼亚的财政和警察机关干预。既使如此,独立公投仍如期举行并获得通过,但近一千人在投票日的警方镇压行动中受伤。公投通过后,加西两方于接下来的三周,在加泰罗尼亚暂缓宣布独立的状态下,透过各种直接或间接的方式进行政治斡旋,以突破双方互不退让的僵局。


Biography.

Son of a metallurgical and a seamstress, Iñaki Azkuna was born in Durango in 1943. Although he knew Bilbao since his childhood, he studied at Salamanca, where he graduated in Medicine in 1966, specializing in cardiology and radiology. After receiving his doctorate "cum laude" from the University of Salamanca, then he moved to France to work as an assistant in the Hospital abroad Broussais, of the University of Paris, between 1971 and 1972. There he met Anabella Dominguez, a Mexican student of French philology with whom he would later marry and have a son. Since 1973, he was professor of Physical Medicine and Radiology at the University of the Basque Country and worked in the Hospital of Las Cruces (Baracaldo, Vizcaya), first as a physician assistant and from 1976 as head of the Radiology Department. In 1981, he was appointed Director of the Hospital of Cruces. The following year he was appointed Director of hospitals of the Basque Government. From 1983 to 1987 he served as Director-general of Osakidetza-Servicio Basque Health.  In July 1989 he was appointed Secretary general of the Presidency of the Basque Government, performing such work for two years, and assuming the post of Advisor in the Department of health of the Basque Government in 1991. He was also elected Mayor of Bilbao as the head of the list of the coalition between the PNV and Eusko Alkartasuna (EA), thanks to the votes of the Basque Country councilors; and later formed a Pact of Government with Basque citizen initiative, party led by the former Mayor of Bilbao José María Gorordo, who had been expelled from the PNV. He was re-elected to the post after the municipal elections of 2003, again in coalition with EA, and 2007, already in solitary, without obtaining absolute majority in any of them; in 2003, it received support from Ezker Batua, who joined the Government team, and in 2007 the Coalition Ezker Batua-Aralar.  Finally, in the municipal elections of 2011, managed to reach the first absolute majority (15 councillors on 29) in the history of the PNV in the city of Bilbao, which allowed the legislature to govern alone. In January 2013 received the Mayor World Award, given the greater City Foundation, in recognition of his work in the city of Bilbao. He died on March 20, 2014, at the age of 71 years, as a result of prostate cancer that was diagnosed in March 2003. On march 24 he was dismissed with full honours in a funeral mass celebrated in the Cathedral of Santiago in Bilbao.

Iñaki Azkuna Urreta (14 February 1943 – 20 March 2014) was a Spanish politician of the Basque Nationalist Party. He was mayor of the city of Bilbao, Biscay in the Basque Country, from 1999 until his death. In 2012, Azkuna won the World Mayor Prize, honoring the most outstanding mayors in the world, for his transformation of industrial Bilbao into a cultural centre.

伊尼亚基·阿斯库纳·尤雷塔(;1943年-2月14日-2014年-3月20日),是西班牙巴斯克民族主义党的政治人物,自1999年起担任巴斯克自治区比斯开省下的毕尔包市长直到他因罹患前列腺癌逝世。


2017年加泰罗尼亚议会选举

Overview.

Electoral system.

The Parliament of Catalonia was the devolved, unicameral legislature of the autonomous community of Catalonia, having legislative power in regional matters as defined by the Spanish Constitution and the Catalan Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a regional president.  As a result of no regional electoral law having been approved since the re-establishment of Catalan autonomy, the electoral procedure came regulated under Transitory Provision Fourth of the 1979 Statute, supplemented by the provisions within the Organic Law of General Electoral Regime. Voting for the Parliament was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen, registered in Catalonia and in full enjoyment of their political rights. Additionally, Catalans abroad were required to apply for voting before being permitted to vote, a system known as "begged" or expat vote (). The 135 members of the Parliament of Catalonia were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with a threshold of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Parties not reaching the threshold were not taken into consideration for seat distribution. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona, with each being allocated a fixed number of seats: 85 for Barcelona, 17 for Girona, 15 for Lleida and 18 for Tarragona.  The use of the D'Hondt method might result in a higher effective threshold, depending on the district magnitude.

Election date.

The term of the Parliament of Catalonia expired four years after the date of its previous election, unless it was dissolved earlier. The regional president was required to call an election fifteen days prior to the date of expiry of parliament, with election day taking place within from forty to sixty days after the call. The previous election was held on 27 September 2015, which meant that the legislature's term would have expired on 27 September 2019. The election was required to be called no later than 12 September 2019, with it taking place up to the sixtieth day from the call, setting the latest possible election date for the Parliament on Monday, 11 November 2019.  The president had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of Catalonia and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since a previous one under this procedure. In the event of an investiture process failing to elect a regional president within a two-month period from the first ballot, the Parliament was to be automatically dissolved and a fresh election called.

Background.

Government formation.

The 2015 election resulted in pro-Catalan independence Junts pel Sí (JxSí) (a coalition comprising the two main centre-right and centre-left Catalan parties at the time, Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), together with several minor parties) and Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) holding a slim majority of seats, despite not securing a majority of votes as was their objective. President Artur Mas' JxSí coalition also fell short of its goal to secure an absolute majority on its own, obtaining 62 seats against the combined 63 of the remaining opposition parties. Thus, Mas found himself depending on CUP's support for securing his nomination to be re-elected to the office. The CUP, however, had difficulty in supporting Mas, whom they viewed as personally tainted by several corruption scandals involving his CDC party. In the end, a last-minute deal was struck between JxSí and the CUP to ensure a pro-independence government under CDC's Carles Puigdemont, narrowly avoiding a new election being called and leading Mas to retire from frontline politics.

2017 events.

On 26 October 2017, several weeks after a major crisis had unveiled in Catalonia over the attempted celebration of an unconstitutional independence referendum, it was expected that President Puigdemont would call a snap regional election to prevent the Spanish government from enforcing direct rule in the region, a procedure involving the triggering of Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution which was already underway in the Spanish Senate, pending approval on the following day. This move sparked outcry within pro-independence ranks, including members within Puigdemont's coalition, who had aimed for a unilateral declaration of independence in response to the triggering of Article 155. Finally, Puigdemont ruled out calling an election, allegedly because of the Spanish government's refusal to call off the invocation of the Article 155 procedure even were an election to be called by Catalan authorities. After Puigdemont's refusal to call an election, a debate over a possible declaration of independence went ahead as planned in the Parliament of Catalonia, simultaneous to the Senate debating the enforcement of direct rule. At the end of the debate, the Catalan parliament voted a unilateral declaration of independence which was backed 70–10, two MPs casting a blank ballot and all MPs from Citizens (Cs), the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) and the People's Party (PP) boycotting the vote. Once Article 155 was approved, Mariano Rajoy dismissed the entire Catalan government from office and declared the Parliament's dissolution, calling a regional election for 21 December 2017.  Puigdemont and part of his removed cabinet fled to Belgium on 30 October in a move to avoid action from the Spanish judiciary, as the Spanish Attorney General José Manuel Maza announced a criminal complaint against them for rebellion, sedition and embezzlement. On 2 November, the Spanish National Court ordered that eight members of the deposed Catalan government—including former Vice President and ERC leader Oriol Junqueras—be remanded in custody without bail after being summoned to appear to respond to the criminal charges pressed against them, with a ninth—Santi Vila—being granted a €50,000 bail. European Arrest Warrants were issued for Puigdemont and his four other cabinet members in Belgium refusing to attend the hearing.

Parliamentary status.

The Parliament of Catalonia was officially dissolved on 28 October 2017, after the publication of the dissolution decree in the Official State Gazette. The table below shows the status of the different parliamentary groups in the chamber at the time of dissolution.

Parties and candidates.

The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, coalitions and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form a coalition ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election call, whereas groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least one percent of the electorate in the constituencies for which they sought election, disallowing electors from signing for more than one list of candidates.  Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:  After independence was declared by the Parliament of Catalonia on 27 October and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced the Parliament's dissolution and a regional election for 21 December, pro-independence parties debated whether they should contest the election–thus abiding by Spanish law, and acknowledging independence did not take place–or boycott it and thus risk remaining absent from the Parliament in the next legislature.  On 5 November 2017, the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) proposed as their election candidate Carles Puigdemont, who in the previous days had already showed interest in leading the PDeCAT into the 21 December election from Belgium. PDeCAT members sought to contest the election into a unitary list formed by pro-independence parties for the right of self-determination and against the use of Article 155, calling for "amnesty of political prisoners". On 13 November, the PDeCAT announced that it would run under the Junts per Catalunya umbrella, centered around Puigdemont and including non-party members such as Jordi Sànchez.  Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) rejected the idea of renewing the Junts pel Sí alliance, and made its participation in any prospective electoral coalition conditional on it including the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) and members from Catalunya Sí que es Pot–in reference to the Podemos branch in Catalonia (Podem), led by Albano Dante Fachin, who had increasingly distanced himself from the party's national leadership. The CUP dubbed the election "illegitimate" and rejected contesting the election under their own brand, but did not rule out running under a different label or supporting a unitary pro-independence alliance. However, after the CUP ruled out a coalition with other parties on 7 November, ERC rejected a joint candidacy of pro-independence parties and announced it would contest the election on its own.  Catalunya en Comú, Ada Colau's party successor to the En Comú Podem electoral alliance which contested the 2015 and 2016 general elections in Catalonia, chose Xavier Domènech as its electoral candidate. Domènech proposed an alliance with Podem, which under Fachin had rejected merging into Colau's party earlier in 2017. Podem's grassroots members voted in favour of an alliance with Catalunya en Comú, after Fachin had resigned as regional party leader over disputes with the national leadership. Both parties announced they would contest the election under the Catalunya en Comú–Podem label.  On 7 November, the Socialists' Party of Catalonia (PSC) announced an agreement with "Units per Avançar" (), the wing of the defunct party Democratic Union of Catalonia that rejected separatism in 2015, thereby aiming to integrate some of its members in its list and hopefully to add the almost 102,000 votes collected by that party at the previous election, which were not enough to gain representation by themselves. The agreement was refused the status of a proper coalition; hence, PSC ran under its own name only.

Opinion polls.

The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a given poll. When available, seat projections are also displayed below the voting estimates in a smaller font. 68 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Parliament of Catalonia.

Aftermath.

Initial reactions.

The results were announced after polls in the region closed, with Citizens (Cs) becoming the largest party in the regional parliament, but pro-independence parties maintained a majority of seats. Cs gained twelve seats in the election under the leadership of Inés Arrimadas, bringing its total to 36. This meant that the largest party in the region was overtly and directly opposed to independence. However, even this increase in the vote share left it 31 seats short of a majority in the parliament. Junts per Catalunya (JuntsxCat), the party of former president Carles Puigdemont, also saw an increase in its seat total, emerging as the second-largest party in the region with 34 seats. This represented an increase of three seats for the party, which stood on a staunchly pro-independence platform, as dictated by its exiled leader. While the party lost its position as the largest in parliament, the improved performance of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), a left-wing party also campaigning for independence from Spain, helped ensure that JuntsxCat would maintain its dominant role in regional politics. ERC, under the stewardship of Oriol Junqueras, who served as vice president under Puigdemont, secured 32 seats, leaving the pro-independence parties a mere two seats short of re-establishing a coalition and holding their majority. These seats were provided by the Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), which, in spite of a severely diminished performance from the previous election, still held four seats, courtesy of a strong performance in Barcelona. This ensured that pro-independence parties were able to maintain their majority in the parliament. Five independent politicians, who were participants in the Junts pel Sí bloc but not party members, lost their seats. Consequently, despite both JuntsxCat and ERC increasing their number of seats, the majority in the parliament for independence was diminished by two seats, but nonetheless maintained. The result was hailed by Puigdemont as a "slap in the face" for Madrid and for Mariano Rajoy.

Government formation.

As a result of pro-independence parties securing a parliamentary majority, Arrimadas announced she would not try to form a government on her own, instead waiting and see how negotiations between pro-independence parties evolved. As the candidate of the most-voted party within the pro-independence bloc, Puigdemont intended to be re-elected as president, but this was hampered by the fact he risked being arrested by Spanish authorities upon returning from his self-imposed exile in Brussels, as he was a fugitive from Spain's justice. Further, pro-independence parties could only command 62 seats—six short of a majority—as in practice eight of their elected deputies were either in Brussels with Puigdemont or in preventive detention.  One of these was ERC's leader Oriol Junqueras, who aimed at becoming president himself on the grounds that he could be granted prison permits that allowed him to attend parliamentary plenary sessions, whereas Puigdemont would have it near-impossible to be invested from Brussels—Parliament's regulations required for any candidate to the office to be physically present in the investiture—or to rule Catalonia from abroad. Members of JuntsxCat insisted that they would only vote for Puigdemont as president, even if that meant forcing a new election, and claimed that they intended to pressure Mariano Rajoy into allowing Puigdemont's return.  After the Catalan parliament elected Roger Torrent as new speaker, Puigdemont was proposed as candidate for re-election as Catalan premier. However, facing arrest on possible charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds, the Catalan parliament delayed Puigdemont's investiture after Constitutional Court ruled that he could not assume the presidency from abroad. With other pro-independence leaders assuring the pro-independence movement should outlive Puigdemont in order to end the political deadlock, the former Catalan president announced on 1 March he would step his claim aside in order to allow detained activist Jordi Sànchez, from his Junts per Catalunya alliance, to become president instead. However, as Spain's Supreme Court did not allow Sànchez to be freed from jail to attend his investiture ceremony, Sànchez ended up giving up his candidacy on 21 March in favour of former Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull, who was also under investigation for his role in the referendum.  Turull was defeated in the first ballot of a hastily convened investiture session held on 22 March, with only his Junts per Catalunya alliance and ERC voting for him and the Popular Unity Candidacy abstaining, resulting in a 64–65 defeat. The next day and less than 24 hours before he was due to attend the second ballot, the Supreme Court announced that thirteen senior Catalan leaders—including Turull—would be charged with rebellion over their roles in the 2017 unilateral referendum and subsequent declaration of independence. In anticipation of this ruling and in order to avoid appearing in court, Marta Rovira—ERC's general secretary and deputy leader to jailed Oriol Junqueras—fled the country to Switzerland in "self-exile". This prompted the Court to rule that Turull and several others would be remanded in custody without bail. As a result, the Parliament speaker Roger Torrent cancelled Turull's second investiture ballot. Turull's first ballot nonetheless started the clock towards automatic parliamentary dissolution, meaning a new regional election would be called for 15 July if no candidate was elected as Catalan president before 22 May.  On 12 May, Quim Torra didn't earn the absolute majority support to be invested president, with 66 votes against 65 in the first round (the absolute majority was 68 votes, from 135 total votes). On 14 May, Torra was elected as new Catalan premier in the second round of vote, with the same results, when only a simple majority was necessary.

The 2017 Catalan regional election was held on Thursday, 21 December 2017 to elect the 12th Parliament of the autonomous community of Catalonia. All 135 seats in the Parliament were up for election. The election was called by Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy after the invocation of Article 155 of the 1978 Spanish Constitution to enforce direct rule in Catalonia and the subsequent dismissal of the Catalan government under President Carles Puigdemont. The three pro-Catalan independence parties won a slim majority of parliamentary seats, claiming 70 out of 135, but fell short of a majority in the popular vote by securing 47.6% of the share.

2017年加泰罗尼亚议会选举在2017年12月21日举行,以选出第12届加泰罗尼亚自治区议会。该选举由西班牙首相马里亚诺·拉霍伊启用1978年西班牙宪法155条强行解散加泰罗尼亚政府后举行。该地区独派政党再度获得议会席位的多数,占135席中的70席,但在选民投票中没有获得绝对多数,只有获得47.5%的选票。


History.

The director of AirAsia Tony Fernandes dubbed the two incarnations of AirAsia Japan as "Part 1" and "Part 2".

"Part 1": Joint-venture with All Nippon Airways (August 2012 – October 2013).

Malaysian low-cost airline AirAsia and Japanese network airline All Nippon Airways announced their joint venture at a press conference in Tokyo on 21 July 2011. Following its formal establishment in August 2011, the first flight for the airline was on 1 August 2012, from Tokyo Narita to Fukuoka.  The airline was headquartered alongside ANA in Tokyo, with its main operating base at Narita International Airport, and initially served domestic destinations utilising the brand and service model of AirAsia. Future planned international destinations included the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan. AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes also indicated that the joint venture hub at Narita may serve as a connecting point between Southeast Asia and the United States within the AirAsia group network.  AirAsia Japan was the first low-cost airline to be based at Narita. Its formation was announced only months after ANA had announced the formation of Peach, a low-cost airline based at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, and alongside a concurrent effort by Japan Airlines to set up a low-cost affiliate. ANA elected to partner with an existing low-cost airline for efficiency and strategic advantage.

Termination of joint venture and re-branding as Vanilla Air.

In June 2013, AirAsia decided to exit its investment in AirAsia Japan, making the company a wholly owned subsidiary of ANA. The "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" reported that AirAsia Japan had the lowest load factors of the three new entrant low-cost carriers in Japan and noted several reasons for the failure of the joint venture, including an online booking system that was not fully translated into Japanese and was therefore frustrating to many domestic customers, failure to utilise travel agent distribution (which is still a major component of domestic airline sales in Japan), the inconvenience of its main hub at Narita Airport, and the airport's severe restrictions on early morning and late night flights.  AirAsia Japan announced in August 2013 that it would continue operation under its current branding through 26 October 2013 and would then be rebranded as Vanilla Air effective 1 November 2013. Vanilla Air would start operations with two aircraft and expand to ten aircraft by fiscal year 2015, with both domestic and international routes. All of AirAsia Japan's staff were to be inherited by Vanilla Air, and the airline would focus on serving resort destinations, eventually expanding to longer routes after an initial focus on short-haul routes. AirAsia Japan aircraft were to be returned to AirAsia, with Vanilla Air to start with a fleet of only two aircraft.  AirAsia announced that it would start a new joint venture operation in Japan at a later date with a different partner, but the "Nikkei" reported that this seemed unlikely given foreign ownership restrictions and the fact that the only seasoned Japanese airline operators outside of the ANA group are Japan Airlines, which had already invested in the Jetstar Japan joint venture, and Skymark Airlines, which was unlikely to get involved.

"Part 2": Re-entering the Japanese market.

On 1 July 2014, it was announced that AirAsia has partnered with the online mall and travel agency Rakuten (to hold 18% of the stake), a Japanese cosmetics, energy drinks and aircraft leasing firm (9%), the sportswear firm (5%), and private equity firm Octave Japan (19%), to relaunch AirAsia Japan. AirAsia will hold 49% of the stake. Its initial is JPY7 billion (US$69 million), with Yoshinori Odagiri, CEO from the previous incarnation of AirAsia Japan, returns to chair. The airline is expected to commerce operation in summer 2015, from a hub at Chūbu Centrair International Airport with 2 Airbus A320 planes, expanding to 4 by the end of 2015. On 6 October 2015, it was announced that AirAsia Japan has received their air operating license to start operating flights, as well as announcing Sendai, Sapporo, and Taipei, Taiwan as their first three destinations from Chubu Centrair International Airport. After several delays, AirAsia Japan finally relaunched on 29 October 2017 with first flight from its base at Nagoya to Sapporo.

Fleet.

Current Fleet.

The AirAsia Japan fleet consists of the following aircraft as of August 2019:

Former Fleet.

The airline previously operated a further 3 Airbus A320 aircraft.

AirAsia Japan Co., Ltd (エアアジア・ジャパン株式会社 "Eāajia Japan Kabushiki-Gaisha") is the name of two incarnations of Japanese low-cost airline, operating as a joint venture between AirAsia of Malaysia and Japanese partners.

日本亚洲航空(,英语:AirAsia Japan Inc.)是日本一家低成本航空公司,成立于2014年8月,以日本名古屋中部国际机场为枢纽机场,未来规划以成田国际机场为国内第二基地、台湾桃园国际机场为海外基地。


Biography.

Early life.

Born in Ningbo in 1964, Gui graduated from Peking University with a bachelor's degree in history in 1985. Gui served as editor to the People's Education Press until 1988, when he departed for Sweden, and enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Gothenburg. After the Tiananmen Square massacre, he obtained Swedish residency, and later became a naturalised citizen of Sweden, upon which he renounced his Chinese citizenship. Gui obtained his PhD in 1996. Gui's wife is also a naturalised Swedish citizen; the couple's daughter was born in 1994. Gui returned to Ningbo, China in 1999 and created a subsidiary for a Swedish company known in Chinese as Tangyou (唐友), offering air purification products. Gui was the CEO and board member.

Publishing career.

As the political climate in China grew milder, Gui moved to Hong Kong. There, beginning in 2006, he set up several publishing companies that focused on Chinese mainland politics. He joined the Chinese chapter of PEN International, through which he became acquainted with professionals in Hong Kong International PEN. In 2013, Gui, Lee Bo, and Lui Bo set up Mighty Current Media (also referred to as Sage Communications), a Hong Kong company specialising in publishing and distributing books on political gossip about leaders in China. Gui and Lee Bo both hold 34% of the company's shares (Lee Bo's shares are in the name of his wife, Sophie Choi), and Lui Bo holds the remaining 32%. In 2014, the company acquired Causeway Bay Books, an upstairs bookstore in the bustling part of Hong Kong.  Under the name "Ah Hai", Gui authored around 200 books during his ten-year career. The subjects of these books included Bo Xilai, and Zhou Yongkang, who are former members of the Politburo, and general secretary Xi Jinping. The books have been described in the Western media as "thinly-sourced, tabloid-style political books... which are outlawed in mainland China". One of Gui's books, "The General Secretary's Eight Love Stories", asserts that Xi Jinping has "had a number of affairs, including one with a television presenter". Lee Bo acknowledged that Gui's books contained a lot of conjecture and gossip rather than actual fact, and described Gui as a businessman whose publishing was motivated by profit rather than ideology.  Because works critical of the leadership of the Chinese regime are considered sensitive, Gui always kept his work projects secret; he kept his movements to himself and his telephone calls were re-routed through foreign countries. He went a long period without entering China; he did not visit his father when the latter was ill, and did not return to China for his father's funeral. Media sources reported that Gui had published about half of the popular books written on Bo Xilai. When Bo was caught in the political fallout from the Wang Lijun incident in 2013, Gui reaped a financial benefit of HK$10 million from the surge in book sales. Gui's publishing financed his property acquisitions in Hong Kong and Germany, including a seaside retreat in Pattaya, Thailand.  The International Publishers Association announced in February 2018 that Gui was the winner of the association's Publishing Freedom Award for fearless publishing in the face of adversity.

Disappearance.

His colleagues last heard from Gui Minhai on 15 October 2015. Gui was captured on closed circuit TV leaving his apartment in Pattaya, Thailand on 17 October 2015, apparently taken away by an unknown man. He was the second bookseller associated with Causeway Bay Books to apparently vanish without trace: Lui Bo had last been seen near his home in Shenzhen on 14 October 2015; three others would also disappear in the weeks that followed. The three were reported missing in November. Lee Bo (sometimes, Paul Lee, also, Lee Po) had been informing the media of the disappearances of his other four colleagues when he himself vanished from Hong Kong on 30 December. Lee's disappearance, due to the improbability that Lee had gone to Shenzhen while his mainland travel permit was left at home, crystallised a great deal of anxiety about the pattern of bookshop disappearances and of the possibility of cross-border renditions. Lee Bo's disappearance prompted Hong Kong Chief executive CY Leung to hold a press conference on 4 January 2016 in which he stated that it would be "unacceptable" and a breach of the Basic Law if mainland Chinese law officials were operating in Hong Kong.  Two weeks after Gui's disappearance, four men came to search his apartment – ostensibly for his computer – but left without it. A manager from the estate where Gui lived attempted to contact Gui on the number of the person who called her last regarding Gui. A taxi driver answered, saying that four men had left the telephone in the taxi, and that they had wanted to go to Poipet, a border town in Cambodia. Gui was last heard from on 6 November when he called his wife to tell her that he was safe but was unwilling to reveal his whereabouts. The Thai authorities have no record of Gui leaving the country. Gui's family contacted the Swedish embassy, and the Swedish police filed a report through Interpol. "The Guardian" observed that the Thai government had done little to advance the case, noting that the military junta was becoming increasingly accommodating to Chinese demands.

Confirmation of detention.

Xinhua News Agency published an article on 17 January 2016 stating that an individual by the name of Gui Minhai had been detained relating to a fatal traffic accident in December 2003 in which a schoolgirl died. It is likely he was held under Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location. Xinhua alleged that Gui Minhai (桂敏海), with a different but identical-sounding middle character with respect to Gui Minhai the publisher, had fled abroad under the guise of a tourist in November 2004 using a borrowed identity card following the court case; his stated age was 46 years in 2005 – a discrepancy of five years compared with the details in Gui's Swedish passport. The two discrepancies created doubts that there may have been a case of mistaken identity. Xinhua claimed that Gui gave himself up to public security officials in October 2015. Contrary to Xinhua's claims, news reports from 2004 about the court proceedings from the traffic accident did not suggest Gui intended to abscond, instead he expressed a willingness to assume "full responsibility" in the form of economic compensation. Gui was given a probationary sentence at that time.  A video confession which was released at the same time and broadcast on China Central Television confirmed his identity. In the 10-minute exclusive video, a tearful Gui expressed his remorse over a killing charge that he had absconded from a decade earlier. He said that his return to mainland China and his surrender were "my personal choice and had nothing to do with anyone else. I should shoulder my responsibility and I don't want any individual or institutions to interfere, or viciously hype up my return". Gui also said, "Although I have Swedish citizenship, I truly feel that I am still Chinese – my roots are in China. So I hope Sweden can respect my personal choice, respect my rights and privacy of my personal choice and allow me to resolve my own problems". Criminal investigations on other charges were said to be in progress. It was only on 19 January, when fellow Swedish citizen Peter Dahlin, cofounder of an NGO providing legal training for local lawyers in China, appeared on television, confessing to having violated Chinese law and "caused harm to the Chinese government [and] hurt the feelings of the Chinese people", that it came to international attention that Gui had also confessed on television; Dahlin was subsequently deported. Reporters Without Borders condemned China's forced confessions, and urged the EU to sanction CCTV and Xinhua for "knowingly peddling lies and statements presumably obtained under duress". Lee Bo's letter to his wife on 17 January said that he had voluntarily gone to the mainland to assist Chinese law enforcement in an investigation that involved Gui. He denounced Gui as "a morally unacceptable person" who had got him into trouble with the authorities. Gui's confession was received with incredulity, and many of the facts surrounding his disappearance from Thailand, including the release of the video three months after his disappearance, were called into question. The president of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Jasper Tsang, said: "the China Central Television (CCTV) report [and broadcast of Gui Minghau's confession] did not seem to be able to calm the public. As the case drags on, there will be more speculation". Human Rights Watch was quoted as saying: "Given that Gui has been held nearly three months incommunicado, in a secret location, and without a lawyer, his confession on state-controlled TV lacks credibility". "The Washington Post" said: "The narrative seems messy and incoherent, blending possible fact with what seems like outright fiction. It feels illogical, absurd even". Amnesty International's China researcher cast doubt on the narrative, asking: "Why would four other employees of a company need to go missing in order to assist with a regular criminal case? How could other missing or otherwise investigated colleagues of Gui Minhai have any connection to the case?" "The Guardian" drew a connection to Operation Fox Hunt, a Chinese government campaign launched by Xi Jinping in 2014 to repatriate corrupt officials or opponents of the regime who had fled abroad, and which may also have been responsible for the abduction of the other missing booksellers. By mid-June 2016, Gui's family had not yet received official confirmation that he was under detention, according to Gui's daughter.

Reaction to detention.

Bei Ling, a personal friend of Gui and president of Independent Chinese PEN, said that Gui had not given himself up voluntarily but had in fact been abducted. He confirmed that there had indeed been a drink-driving case involving Gui in which a young woman was killed but that the accident and his disappearance were unrelated. Bei asserted that there was no official record of Gui's departure from Thailand, and that international law had been violated by Gui's kidnapping. He speculated that the abductors had returned to Gui's apartment to retrieve his passport, and that Gui may have been sent to China from Cambodia on a plane loaded with Chinese deportees. Gui's daughter Angela had been notified of her father's disappearance in an email from Lee Bo dated 10 November in which Lee said he feared Gui had been taken to China "for political reasons". Angela dismissed the assertion that her father had returned to the mainland voluntarily.  Sweden has repeatedly requested transparency from China, and summoned the Thai ambassador for information in December. After the appearance of the video confession, the Swedish foreign ministry reported that a Swedish envoy was finally allowed to visit Gui. In January 2016, Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallström condemned the forced confessions of Dahlin and Gui (who are both Swedish citizens) on Chinese television, terming them "unacceptable". The Chinese government has said that Gui was first and foremost a Chinese subject, and the Swedish government seems to have quietly accepted this position. The Swedish diplomatic effort has been through consular channels and has been low-profile.  In late February 2016, state media appeared to clarify the charges against Gui, saying that Gui was being held for "illegal business operations". He is alleged to have knowingly distributed books not approved by China's press and publication authority – according to the charges, some 4,000 such books had been sent by post disguised as different books to 380 buyers in 28 cities in mainland China since October 2014. Also in early February, the European Parliament issued a statement asking for Gui, Lee Bo, and their three colleagues at Causeway Bay Books to be released immediately. In his report on Hong Kong for the second half of 2015, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond expressed concern about the Causeway Bay Books disappearances, and said in particular that the abduction of Gui's colleague Lee Bo, a British citizen, from Hong Kong was "a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong and undermines the principle of one country, two systems".  Gui's detention was discussed at the US Congressional Executive Committee on China in May. In September, Angela spoke before the United Nations Human Rights Council, and also made an emotional plea on behalf of her father on Swedish television, an appearance which prompted another public statement by Wallström on the detention. The Swedish government, which said that they had been involved in "quiet diplomacy" with the Chinese regime, secured a second audience with Gui after 11 months of detention.  A year after Gui's disappearance, there was a general consensus among commentators that the five booksellers had been abducted by Chinese authorities., Gui has spent a year in detention, while the other four men were released in early March 2016. One colleague, Lam Wing-kee, gave an interview that received significant media coverage in which he spoke in great detail about his abduction and his months in detention by mainland law enforcement in Ningbo and subsequently Shaoguan. Their other colleagues have remained low profile and refused comment.  In June 2017, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven talked to the Chinese President during a state visit about the case of Gui Minhai.

Release from PSB custody and apparent recapture.

According to Chinese officials, Gui Minhai was set free on 17 October 2017; Sweden's Foreign Ministry had received notification from the Chinese authorities that Gui had been released, "although neither his daughter nor Swedish authorities knew of his whereabouts" for a certain time afterwards. On 19 January 2018, a group of about 10 men in plain clothes boarded a train bound for Beijing and pulled Gui from the train. Gui was on his way to a medical examination in Beijing accompanied by two senior Swedish diplomats, according to his daughter, Angela. The Swedish government acknowledges the incident. In early February, Gui again appeared in a confession before reporters from pro-establishment news outlets including the "South China Morning Post" of Hong Kong. Gui, who had been in custody or under close surveillance for the past two years, appeared to have been freed in October 2017. He said that Sweden had sensationalised his case and tricked him into an unsuccessful attempt to leave China using a medical appointment at the Swedish embassy in Beijing as a pretext. They would supposedly wait for an opportunity to repatriate Gui to Sweden. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International denounced "this sort of contrived [confession] made in incommunicado detention". Sweden later condemned China's "brutal intervention" in Gui's case the following week.

Misinformation campaign.

A study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute which analysed the tweets of Chinese government-controlled accounts banned by Twitter in response to the 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests found that the accounts also targeted Gui Minhai. Other dissidents targeted by the bot network included Guo Wengui and Yu Wensheng as well as striking PLA veterans. The misinformation campaign ran from 23 January to 23 February 2018. 23 January was the day news broke that Gui had been seized off a train.

Backdoor diplomacy controversy.

In February 2019, Gui's daughter Angela made a blog post documenting a "very strange experience" involving Anna Lindstedt, Sweden's ambassador to China. In it, she alleged that Lindstedt contacted her in mid-January and invited her to a meeting in Stockholm that she had set up with some Chinese businessmen who she thought could help secure her father's release.  Angela recounted in her blog that the meetings were held at a private lounge in a Stockholm hotel, where she was sequestered for days, and was even escorted to and from the bathroom. The men, who claimed to have "connections within the Chinese Communist Party", apparently used a mixture of inducements, manipulation and threats on her. She was told that her father's release would be contingent on her stopping her campaign and avoiding media engagement. They offered her a Chinese visa as well as a job in the Chinese embassy. To Angela, Ambassador Lindstedt's presence and seemingly supportive stance suggested the talks were initiated by the Swedish foreign ministry. She nevertheless felt uncomfortable with the meetings. When she later made inquiries of the Swedish foreign ministry, it said it was unaware of the events.  The Chinese embassy in Stockholm denied any involvement; the Swedish foreign ministry said it was not aware of the events until after the meetings had taken place. It confirmed to the press that the ambassador had been recalled, and that an internal investigation into the incident was under way. On 9 December, Lindstedt was charged by Swedish prosecutors for "arbitrariness during negotiations with a foreign power", with a possible maximum prison sentence of 2 years.

2020 trial and sentence.

Gui was detained for charges related to "illegal business operations", according to Chinese officials. However, it was announced on 25 February 2020 that he was tried for "illegally providing intelligence overseas", and sentenced Gui to 10 years' imprisonment. Rights groups condemned the "harsh sentence"; Amnesty International said the charges were "completely unsubstantiated" and demanded his release.  Although Gui was a naturalised Swedish citizen who had renewed his passport sometime between late 2017 and mid-2018, the Ningbo Intermediate People's Court where Gui was tried said that Gui had applied to restore his Chinese citizenship in 2018 – a measure observers have described as an unprecedented move to cut off consular access. Peter Dahlin, fellow Swedish who had been made to confess on Chinese television before he was deported, commented: “the only'state secrets' that Gui may have is knowledge about how Chinese agents kidnapped him in Thailand, and about the torture he had endured after being returned to China". Chinese officials have insisted someone like Gui is considered "a Chinese national first and foremost." Legal scholars and many overseas Chinese who have acquired foreign citizenship have expressed their great concern at the apparently selective application of Chinese nationality law that bans dual citizenship. Jerome A. Cohen and Donald C. Clarke, both respected legal scholars on China, said the use against a former Chinese citizen was in breach of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and the move could foretell its use on any non-ethnic Chinese critic if they so please.  The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs declared that Gui was still a citizen due to the fact that “Swedish citizenship can only be renounced after an examination and a decision by the Swedish Migration Agency". Sweden, which had been denied access to the trial, demanded that Gui be "released and that we have access to our citizens to provide consular support". The Chinese foreign ministry said consular arrangements were on hold, and would be restored once the coronavirus epidemic was "resolved". Willy Lam, senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, said: "At a time of national emergency, when parts of China have fallen under virtual martial law, authorities think they can do whatever they want."  The EU said “There are serious questions to be answered about this case. His rights, including "inter alia" to consular access and due process, have not been respected”. Specifically referring to Gui as a “Swedish citizen”, the United States demanded his immediate and unconditional release. US State Department said: “We will continue to stand with our partners and allies to promote greater respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in China”.

Awards.

In 2019, Gui was awarded the Tucholsky Prize by the Swedish PEN (Svenska PEN). The Chinese Embassy in Sweden decried the award to "a criminal that committed serious crimes in both China and Sweden", and threatened "bad consequences". The embassy also objected to the attendance of Culture Minister Amanda Lind at the ceremony, saying that Lind would be "persona non grata" in China if she attended.

Gui Minhai (; born 5 May 1964), also known as Michael Gui, is a Chinese-born Swedish book publisher and writer. He is an author of many books related to Chinese politics and Chinese political figures; Gui authored around 200 books during his ten-year career under the pen-name Ah Hai (阿海). and is one of three shareholders of Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong.

桂民海,籍贯浙江宁波,原名桂敏海,笔名阿海,生于浙江省宁波市,瑞典籍华裔学者、作家、出版界人士。2015年铜锣湾书店股东及员工失踪事件主角之一。


Taxonomy.

Discovery and naming.

An isolated population of orangutans in the Batang Toru area of South Tapanuli was reported in 1939. The population was rediscovered by an expedition to the area in 1997, but it was not recognized as a distinct species then. "Pongo tapanuliensis" was identified as a distinct species, following a detailed phylogenetic study in 2017. The study analyzed the genetic samples of 37 wild orangutans from populations across Sumatra and Borneo and conducted a morphological analysis of the skeletons of 34 adult males. The holotype of the species is the complete skeleton of an adult male from Batang Toru who died after being wounded by locals in November 2013. The holotype is stored in the Zoological Museum of Bogor. The skull and teeth of the Batang Toru male differ significantly from those of the other two orangutan species. Comparisons of the genomes of all 37 orangutans using principal component analysis and population genetic models also indicated that the Batang Toru population is a separate species.  The specific name, "tapanuliensis", as well as the common name, Tapanuli orangutan, refer to Tapanuli, the hilly region in North Sumatra where the species lives.

Phylogeny.

Genetic comparisons show that Tapanuli orangutans diverged from Sumatran orangutans about 3.4 million years ago, and became more isolated after the Lake Toba eruption that occurred about 75,000 years ago. They had continued sporadic contact that stopped between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. Tapanuli orangutans diverged from Bornean orangutans about 674,000 years ago. Orangutans were able to travel from Sumatra to Borneo because the islands were connected by land bridges as parts of Sundaland during recent glacial periods when sea levels were much lower. The present range of Tapanuli orangutans is thought to be close to the area where ancestral orangutans first entered what is now Indonesia from mainland Asia.

Description.

Tapanuli orangutans resemble Sumatran orangutans more than Bornean orangutans in body build and fur color. However, they have frizzier hair, smaller heads, and flatter and wide faces. Dominant male Tapanuli orangutans have prominent moustaches and large flat cheek pads, known as flanges, covered in downy hair. Both male and female Tapanuli orangutans have beards but with Bornean orangutans, only the males do. The Tapanuli orangutan differs from the other two existing orangutan species in several specific features: When comparing the Tapanuli orangutan with the "Pongo abelii", the Tapanuli orangutan has a deeper suborbital fossa, a triangular pyriform aperture, and a facial profile that is more angled.

Behavior.

The loud, long-distance call or 'long call' of male Tapanuli orangutans has a higher maximum frequency than that of Sumatran orangutans, and lasts much longer and has more pulses than that of Bornean orangutans. Their diet is also unique, containing unusual items like caterpillars and conifer cones. Tapanuli orangutans are thought to be exclusively arboreal as scientists have not seen them descend to the ground in over 3,000 hours of observation. This is probably due to the presence of Sumatran tigers in the area.

Habitat and distribution.

Tapanuli orangutans live in tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests located south of Lake Toba in Sumatra. The entirety of the species is found in an area of about at elevations from. Tapanuli orangutans are separated from the island's other species of orangutan, the Sumatran orangutan, by just.

Conservation.

With fewer than 800 individuals restricted to an area of about, the Tapanuli orangutan is the rarest great ape. It is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because of hunting, conflict with humans, the illegal wildlife trade, rampant habitat destruction for small-scale agriculture, mining and a proposed hydroelectric dam, the Batang Toru hydropower project, in the area with the highest density of orangutans, which could impact up to 10% of its already dwindling habitat and degrade important wildlife corridors. Conservationists predict an 83% decline in three generations (75 years) if the necessary conservation measures and practices are not implemented. Inbreeding depression is likely due to the small population size and fragmented range. This is supported by the genomes of the two Tapanuli orangutan individuals, which show signs of inbreeding. In August 2019 Swiss environmental group PanEco, which is a partner in the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, dropped its previous opposition to the dam, several months after firing several researchers who opposed the new strategy.

The Tapanuli orangutan ("Pongo tapanuliensis") is a species of orangutan restricted to South Tapanuli in the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. It is one of three known species of orangutan, alongside the Sumatran orangutan ("Pongo abelii"), found farther northwest on the island, and Bornean orangutan ("Pongo pygmaeus"). It was described as a distinct species in 2017., there are roughly 800 individuals of this species and it is currently on the critically endangered species list.

打巴奴里猩猩(学名:"",英语:Tapanuli orangutan)是猩猩属的一种,生活于印度尼西亚苏门答腊岛北部南打巴奴里的森林之中。打巴奴里猩猩最初于1997年被发现,2017年确立为独立的新种。这是自婆罗洲猩猩与苏门达腊猩猩之后猩猩属的第三个物种。同时,这也是1929年倭黑猩猩种建立之后的近百年以来,首次确立新的人科现生种。


Location.

The building lies in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district, in the neighborhood of Karaköy (medieval Galata), on "Galata Mahkemesi Sokak", not far from the northern shores of the Golden Horn. It is surrounded by artisan shops.

History.

Byzantine period.

During the 6th century, a Byzantine church, possibly dedicated to Saint Irene, was built here. Of this building, only part of a wall survives today.  The tradition which affirms that a mosque was built on this site during the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople in 717–18 by the Umayyad prince and general Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik is a later, Ottoman-era legend. Ottoman chroniclers also confused the second Arab siege with the first Arab siege a generation before, and placed the construction of the mosque to around 686. In 1233, during the Latin Empire of Constantinople (1204–1261) founded after the Fourth Crusade, this church was replaced with a small chapel, dedicated to Saint Paul ("San Paolo").  In 1299, the Dominican Friar Guillaume Bernard de Sévérac bought a house near the church, where he established a monastery with 12 friars. In 1307, Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos moved the Dominicans of Constantinople to the Genoese-held suburb of Pera.  A new, much larger church was built near or above the chapel of San Paolo in 1325. Thereafter the church was officially dedicated to San Domenico, but local residents continued to use the ancient denomination. In 1407 Pope Gregory XII, in order to ensure the maintenance of the church, conceded indulgences to the visitors of the monastery of San Paolo.

Ottoman period.

After the Fall of Constantinople, according to the Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire with the Republic of Genoa, the church, which by that time was known by the Turks under the name of "Mesa Domenico", remained in Genoese hands, but between 1475 and 1478 it was transformed, with minor modifications, into a mosque by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II and became known as Galata Camii ("Galata Mosque") or Cami-i Kebir ("Great Mosque"). The friars were transferred in the friary of San Pietro in Galata in 1476, while all the altar clothes had already been brought to Genoa, and the archives to Caffa.  Towards the end of the century Sultan Bayezid II assigned the building to those Muslims of Spain (Andalusia) who had fled the Spanish Inquisition and migrated to Istanbul; hence the present name "Arap Camii" (Arab Mosque). Sultan Mehmet III repaired the building, and towards the end of seventeenth century the houses which encroached upon the mosque were pulled down in order to avoid noise.  After the 1731 Great Fire of Galata, in 1734/35 the mother of Mahmut I, Saliha Sultan renovated the building, changing the windows and the portal from the Gothic to the Ottoman style. After another fire in 1808, in the mid-nineteenth century, the daughter of Mahmud II, Adile Sultan, repaired the mosque again and in 1868 built a "şadirvan" (fountain for ritual ablutions before praying) in the courtyard.  Between 1913 and 1919, Giridli Hasan Bey extensively restored the edifice again. During the replacement of the wooden floor, several Genoese tombstones dating back to between the first half of fourteenth and up to the middle of the fifteenth centuries were discovered. They were brought to the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.  At the beginning of the 2010s, the mosque underwent an extensive restoration, which was finished in 2013. An inaccurate inscription that the mosque was founded in 715 AD was also installed in front of the mosque as part of the restoration.

Description.

Erected according to the model of the Italian mendicant order churches of that period, the church had a three-nave rectangular base, with squared-off eastern end and a square sanctuary which is covered by ribbed groin vaults.  The Gothic-style portal, lancet windows and the prominent bell tower (which has been transformed into a minaret by the addition of a conical roof) distinguished the building from the Byzantine churches in the city. On the other side, the technique used for the brickwork was local, and alternated small courses of bricks and ashlar.  The NE nave was possibly flanked by a series of chapels, each of them belonging to a noble Genoese family. One of them was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and another to Saint Nicholas. As a whole, the building resembled the churches of Chieri and Finale Ligure in Italy.  The flat wooden roof and rather pretty wooden galleries date from the restoration in 1913-1919. On this occasion, the height of the building was lowered, and many Genoese headstones were found. During the same restorations, rests of paintings were also discovered near the Mihrab, but were covered again.  In the passage under the belfry, moldings are still visible, as well as fragments of stones with armorial bearings which were once placed along the wall. On the north side of the building there is a large and attractive courtyard with a "şadırvan".  Today, Arap Camii is the largest mosque on the Galata side of the Golden Horn. It is one of the most interesting mosques in the city due to its early Italian Gothic architectural style and church belfry, which has practically remained unaltered even after being converted into a minaret.

Arap Mosque (Turkish: "Arap Camii", literally "Arab Mosque") is a mosque in the Karaköy quarter of Istanbul, Turkey. The building was originally a Roman Catholic church erected in 1325 by the friars of the Dominican Order, near or above an earlier chapel dedicated to Saint Paul () in 1233. Although the structure was altered during the Ottoman period, it is the only example of medieval religious Gothic Architecture remaining in Istanbul.

阿拉伯清真寺(土耳其语:"Arap Camii")是一座清真寺,位于土耳其伊斯坦布尔的贝伊奥卢区(中世纪的加拉达区)的加拉达法庭街(Galata Mahkemesi Sokak),金角湾北岸不远处,周围被工匠店铺包围。