title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sits primarily on the Iranian plateau and comprises the junction where the slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains on the Eurasian plate give way to the Indus-watered hills approaching South Asia. This situation has led to seismic activity in the past. The famous Khyber Pass links the province to Afghanistan, while the Kohalla Bridge in Circle Bakote Abbottabad is a major crossing point over the Jhelum River in the east.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Geographically the province could be divided into two zones: the northern zone extending from the ranges of the Hindu Kush to the borders of the Peshawar basin and the southern zone extending from Peshawar to the Derajat basin.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The northern zone is cold and snowy in winters with heavy rainfall and pleasant summers with the exception of the Peshawar basin, which is hot in summer and cold in winter. It has moderate rainfall.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The southern zone is arid with hot summers and relatively cold winters and scanty rainfall. The Sheikh Badin Hills, a spur of clay and sandstone hills that stretch east from the Sulaiman Mountains to the Indus River, separates Dera Ismail Khan District from the "Marwat" plains of the Lakki Marwat. The highest peak in the range is the limestone Sheikh Badin Mountain, which is protected by the Sheikh Badin National Park. Near the Indus River, the terminus of the Sheikh Badin Hills is a spur of limestone hills known as the "Kafir Kot" hills, where the ancient Hindu complex of Kafir Kot is located.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The major rivers that criss-cross the province are Kabul, Swat, Chitral, Kunar, Siran, Panjkora, Bara, Kurram, Dor, Haroo, Gomal, and Zhob.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The climate of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa varies immensely for a region of its size, encompassing most of the many climate types found in Pakistan. The province stretching southwards from the Baroghil Pass in the Hindu Kush covers almost six degrees of latitude; it is mainly a mountainous region. Dera Ismail Khan is one of the hottest places in South Asia while in the mountains to the north the weather is mild in the summer and intensely cold in the winter. The air is generally very dry; consequently, the daily and annual range of temperature is quite large.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Rainfall also varies widely. Although large parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are typically dry, the province also contains the wettest parts of Pakistan in its eastern fringe especially in monsoon season from mid-June to mid-September.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Chitral District, due to its location, is completely sheltered from the monsoon that controls the weather in eastern Pakistan, owing to its relatively westerly location and the shielding effect of the Nanga Parbat massif. In many ways, Chitral District has more in common regarding climate with Central Asia than South Asia. The winters are generally cold even in the valleys, and heavy snow during the winter blocks passes and isolates the region. In the valleys, however, summers can be hotter than on the windward side of the mountains due to lower cloud cover: Chitral can reach frequently during this period. However, the humidity is extremely low during these hot spells and, as a result, the summer climate is less torrid than in the rest of the Indian subcontinent.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Most precipitation falls as thunderstorms or snow during winter and spring, so that the climate at the lowest elevations is classed as Mediterranean ("Csa"), continental Mediterranean ("Dsa") or semi-arid ("BSk"). Summers are extremely dry in the north of Chitral district and receive only a little rain in the south around Drosh.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: At elevations above , as much as a third of the snow which feeds the large Karakoram and Hindukush glaciers comes from the monsoon since these elevations are too high to be shielded from its moisture.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: On the southern flanks of Nanga Parbat and in Upper and Lower Dir Districts, rainfall is much heavier than further north because moist winds from the Arabian Sea are able to penetrate the region. When they collide with the mountain slopes, winter depressions provide heavy precipitation. The monsoon, although short, is generally powerful. As a result, the southern slopes of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are the wettest part of Pakistan. Annual rainfall ranges from around in the most sheltered areas to as much as in parts of Abbottabad and Mansehra Districts.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: This region's climate is classed at lower elevations as humid subtropical ("Cfa" in the west; "Cwa" in the east); whilst at higher elevations with a southerly aspect, it becomes classed as humid continental ("Dfb"). However, accurate data for altitudes above are practically nonexistent here, in Chitral, or in the south of the province.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The seasonality of rainfall in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shows very marked gradients from east to west. At Dir, March remains the wettest month due to frequent frontal cloud bands, whereas in Hazara more than half the rainfall comes from the monsoon. This creates a unique situation characterized by a bimodal rainfall regime, which extends into the southern part of the province described below.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Since cold air from the Siberian High loses its chilling capacity upon crossing the vast Karakoram and Himalaya ranges, winters in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are somewhat milder than in Chitral. Snow remains very frequent at high altitudes but rarely lasts long on the ground in the major towns and agricultural valleys. Outside of winter, temperatures in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are not so hot as in Chitral.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Significantly higher humidity when the monsoon is active means that heat discomfort can be greater. However, even during the most humid periods the high altitudes typically allow for some relief from the heat overnight.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: As one moves further away from the foothills of the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges, the climate changes from the humid subtropical climate of the foothills to the typically arid climate of Sindh, Balochistan and southern Punjab. As in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the seasonality of precipitation shows a very sharp gradient from west to east, but the whole region very rarely receives significant monsoon rainfall. Even at high elevations, annual rainfall is less than and in some places as little as .


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Temperatures in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are extremely hot: Dera Ismail Khan in the southernmost district of the province is known as one of the hottest places in the world with temperatures known to have reached . In the cooler months, nights can be cold and frosts remain frequent; snow is very rare, and daytime temperatures remain comfortably warm with abundant sunshine.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The current province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had a population of 35.5 million at the time of the 2017 Census of Pakistan. Over 83% of the population lived in rural areas.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The largest ethnic group are the Pashtuns, who historically have been living in the areas for centuries. Around 1.5 million Afghan refugees also remain in the province, the majority of whom are Pashtuns followed by Tajiks, Hazaras, Gujjar and other smaller groups. Despite having lived in the province for over two decades, they are registered as citizens of Afghanistan.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The Pashtuns of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa observe tribal code of conduct called Pashtunwali which has four high value components called "nang" (honor), "badal" (revenge), "melmastiya" (hospitality) and "nanawata" (rights to refuge).


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Urdu, being the national and official language, serves as a lingua franca for inter-ethnic communications, and sometimes Pashto and Urdu are the second and third languages among communities that speak other ethnic languages.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The most widely spoken language is Pashto, native to 78.89% of the population and spoken throughout the province. Other languages with significant numbers of speakers include Hindko (9.87%) and Saraiki (3.21%). Hindko is spoken in the southern part of Hazara division in the northeast, and a Hindko dialect was once the predominant language of the Peshawar Valley before Pashtun settlement in the area. Saraiki-speakers are found in Dera Ismail Khan district in the far south of the province. Languages that the census recorded as 'Other' were 5.19% of the population, overwhelmingly Dardic languages spoken in the mountainous northeast of the province including Chitral, Kohistan and the upper parts of Manshera, Dir and Swat valleys. The most prominent of these are Khowar, spoken in Chitral, and Kohistani, spoken in the Kohistan region. In 2011 the provincial government approved in principle the introduction of Pashto, Saraiki, Hindko, Khowar and Kohistani as compulsory subjects for schools in the areas where they are spoken.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The overwhelming majority of the residents of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa follows and professes the Sunni Islam while the small number of Shias of Islam are found among the Isma'ilis in the Chitral district. The tribe of Kalasha in southern Chitral still retain an ancient form of Hinduism mixed with Animism, a faith once dominant in the mountainous upper northeast of the district. There are very small numbers of residents who are the adherents of Roman Catholicism denomination of Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism, mainly living in Peshawar and other urban centres.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The Provincial Assembly is a unicameral legislature, which consists of 145 members elected to serve for a constitutionally bounded term of five years. Historically, the province perceived to be a stronghold of the Awami National Party (ANP); a pro-Russian, by procommunist, left-wing and nationalist party. Since the 1970s, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) also enjoyed considerable support in the province due to its socialist agenda. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was thought to be another leftist region of the country after Sindh.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: After the nationwide general elections held in 2002, a plurality voting swing in the province elected one of Pakistan's only religiously-based provincial governments led by the ultra-conservative Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) during the administration of President Pervez Musharraf. The American involvement in neighboring Afghanistan contributed towards the electoral victory of the Islamic coalition led by Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JeI) whose social policies made the province a ground-swell of anti-Americanism. The electoral victory of MMA was also in context of guided democracy in the Musharraff administration that barred the mainstream political parties, the leftist Pakistan Peoples Party and the centre-right Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML(N)), whose chairmen and presidents having been barred from participation in the elections.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Policy enforcement of a range of social restrictions, though the implementation of strict Shariah was introduced by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government the law was never fully enacted due to objections of the Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa backed by the Musharraff administration. Restrictions on public musical performances were introduced, as well as a ban prohibiting music to be played in public places as part of the "Prohibition of Dancing and Music Bill, 2005" – which led to the creation of a thriving underground music scene in Peshawar. The Islamist government also attempted to enforce compulsory "hijab" on women, and wished to enforce gender segregation in the province's educational institutions. The coalition further tried to prohibit male doctors from performing ultrasounds on women, and tried to close the province's cinemas. In 2005, the coalition successfully passed the "Prohibition of Use of Women in Photograph Bill, 2005," leading to the removal of all public advertisements that featured women.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: At the height of Taliban insurgency in Pakistan, the religious coalition lost its grip in the general elections held in 2008, and the religious coalition was swept out of power by the leftist Awami National Party which also witnessed the resignation of President Musharraf in 2008. The ANP government eventually led the initiatives to repeal the major Islamist's social programs, with the backing of the federal government led by PPP in Islamabad. Public disapproval of ANP's leftist program integrated in civil administration with the sounded allegations of corruption as well as popular opposition against religious program promoted by the MMA swiftly shifted the province's leniency away from the left in 2012. In 2013, the provincial politics shifted towards populism and nationalism when the PTI, led by Imran Khan, was able to form the minority government in coalition with the JeI; the province now serves as the stronghold of the PTI and is perceived as one of the more right wing areas of the country. After the 2018 election, PTI increased their seat share and formed a majority government.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: In non-Pashtun areas, such as Abbottabad, and Hazara Division, the PML(N), the centre-right party, enjoys considerable public support over economical and public policy issues and has a substantial vote bank.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The executive branch of the Kyber Pakhtunkhwa is led by the Chief Minister elected by popular vote in the Provincial assembly while the Governor, a ceremonial figure representing the federal government in Islamabad, is appointed from the necessary advice of the Prime Minister of Pakistan by the President of Pakistan.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The provincial cabinet is then appointed by the Chief Minister who takes the Oath of office from the Governor. In matters of civil administration, the Chief Secretary assists the Chief Minister on executing its right to ensure the writ of the government and the constitution.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The Peshawar High Court is the province's highest court of law whose judges are appointed by the approval of the Supreme Judicial Council in Islamabad, interpreting the laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is divided into seven Divisions – Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Hazara, Kohat, Malakand, Mardan, and Peshawar. Each division is split up into anywhere between two and nine districts, and there are 36 districts in the entire province. Below you can find a list showing each district ordered by alphabetical order. A full list showing different characteristics of each district, such as their population, area, and a map showing their location can be found at the main article.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Peshawar is the capital and largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The city is the most populous and comprises more than one-eighth of the province's population.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the third largest provincial economy in Pakistan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's share of Pakistan's GDP has historically comprised 10.5%, although the province accounts for 11.9% of Pakistan's total population. The part of the economy that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa dominates is forestry, where its share has historically ranged from a low of 34.9% to a high of 81%, giving an average of 61.56%. Currently, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accounts for 10% of Pakistan's GDP, 20% of Pakistan's mining output and, since 1972, it has seen its economy grow in size by 3.6 times.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Agriculture remains important and the main cash crops include wheat, maize, tobacco (in Swabi), rice, sugar beets, as well as fruits are grown in the province.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Some manufacturing and high-tech investments in Peshawar have helped improve job prospects for many locals, while trade in the province involves nearly every product. The bazaars in the province are renowned throughout Pakistan. Unemployment has been reduced due to the establishment of industrial zones.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Workshops throughout the province support the manufacture of small arms and weapons. The province accounts for at least 78% of the marble production in Pakistan.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The Sharmai Hydropower Project is a proposed power generation project located in the Upper Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the Panjkora River with an installed capacity of 150MW.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: The Awami National Party sought to rename the province "Pakhtunkhwa", which translates to "Land of Pakhtuns" in the Pashto language. This was opposed by some of the non-Pashtuns, and especially by parties such as the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). The PML-N derives its support in the province from primarily non-Pashtun Hazara regions.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: In 2010 the announcement that the province would have a new name led to a wave of protests in the Hazara region. On 15 April 2010 Pakistan's senate officially named the province "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" with 80 senators in favour and 12 opposed. The MMA, who until the elections of 2008 had a majority in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, had proposed "Afghania" as a compromise name.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: After the 2008 general election, the Awami National Party formed a coalition provincial government with the Pakistan Peoples Party. The Awami National Party has its strongholds in the Pashtun areas of Pakistan, particularly in the Peshawar valley, while Karachi in Sindh has one of the largest Pashtun populations in the world—around 7 million by some estimates. In the 2008 election, the ANP won two Sindh assembly seats in Karachi. The Awami National Party has been instrumental in fighting the Taliban. In the 2013 general election Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf won a majority in the provincial assembly and has now formed their government in coalition with Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Pashto folk music is popular in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and has a rich tradition going back hundreds of years. The main instruments are the rubab, mangey and harmonium. Khowar folk music is popular in Chitral and northern Swat. The tunes of Khowar music are very different from those of Pashto, and the main instrument is the Chitrali sitar. A form of band music composed of clarinets (Surnai) and drums is popular in Chitral. It is played at polo matches and dances. The same form of band music is played in the neighbouring Northern Areas.


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has traditionally had a very low literacy rate, although this is changing in recent times. As of the 2017 census, the literacy rate for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (including FATA) is 51.66%. In rural areas, the literacy rate is 48.44% of the population while in urban areas it is 66.86%. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has a huge gap in literacy rate between sexes – for men it is 66.67% while the female literacy rate is 34.58%, just over half the male literacy rate. This gap is particularly prominent in the overwhelmingly-Pashto rural areas, where traditional gender norms have generally limited education of women. As of 2021, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has the highest literacy growth rate in the whole country (Pakistan)


title: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

text: Cricket is the main sport played in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It has produced world-class sportsmen like Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Khushdil Shah, Fakhar Zaman and Umar Gul. Besides producing cricket players, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the honour of being the birthplace of many world-class squash players, including greats like Hashim Khan, Qamar Zaman, Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee Hsien Loong (; born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Teck Ghee division of Ang Mo Kio GRC since 1991, and previously Teck Ghee SMC between 1984 and 1991.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Born in Singapore during British colonial rule, Lee is the eldest son of Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew. He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours degree in mathematics and a diploma in computer science (now equivalent to a master's degree in computer science) with distinction. He also completed a Master of Public Administration degree at Harvard Kennedy School in 1980. He served in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) between 1971 and 1984, and attained the rank Brigadier-General before entering politics in 1984 where he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Teck Ghee SMC and since its dissolution in 1991, he has been representing the Teck Ghee ward of Ang Mo Kio GRC.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee had served as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Finance, Minister for Trade and Industry and Second Minister for Defence under Prime Ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong before assuming the office of Prime Minister in 2004. In his first two years, his government enacted a "five-day work week" and extended maternity leave days. His proposal to build two Integrated Resorts (IRs) in Singapore to increase tourism revenue led to the development of the Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa. Following the Great Recession, he oversaw the country's economic recovery within two years. Further political reforms in 2010 saw increased online activism as well as the number of Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs) in Parliament. Lee is frequently noted by the international media as the world's highest paid state leader. His libel suits against journalists and political opponents have been frequently covered by international news outlets.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: His government has advocated Goods and Services Tax (GST) hikes to fund social spending and infrastructure development, with the GST expected to be raised gradually to 9% in 2024. In 2019, his government introduced the controversial Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) to combat online misinformation. In foreign policy, Lee's government's policy has been to stay neutral in an era of great power competition between China and the United States. Lee's government has had complex and fraught relations with its closest neighbour Malaysia, although the countries have agreed to work on cross-border projects. In 2022, his government strongly opposed Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a matter of the country's principle that if "a world order where might is right or the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must would be profoundly inimical to the security and survival of small states", and ordered the government to sanction Russia, being the first and only Southeast Asian nation to do so.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: The eldest child of Lee Kuan Yew and Kwa Geok Choo and the patriline grandson of a retired storekeeper-turned-salesman, Lee Chin Koon (1903–1995) and Chua Jim Neo (1905–1980), a chef, Lee Hsien Loong was born at KK Women's and Children's Hospital in Singapore on 10 February 1952, when Singapore was a British colony. His mother has ancestry from Tong'an District and Longhu while his father has ancestry from Dabu County in China.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee was educated at Nanyang Primary School and Catholic High School—where he played clarinet in the school band, and National Junior College before he was awarded the President's Scholarship and Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship in 1971 by the Public Service Commission (PSC) to study mathematics at Trinity College, University of Cambridge.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: He was Senior Wrangler in 1973, and graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours degree (later promoted to Master of Arts by seniority) in mathematics and a diploma in computer science (now equivalent to a master's degree in computer science) with distinction. His college tutor, Denis Marrian, later described Lee as "the brightest mathematician he had admitted to the college". Béla Bollobás said that Lee "would have been a world-class research mathematician", but his father did not realise this and persuaded Lee to leave the field.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: He subsequently went on to complete a Master of Public Administration degree at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1980.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee joined the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1971, and served as a commissioned officer between 1974 and 1984, and held various staff and command posts, including Director of the Joint Operations and Plans Directorate, and Chief of Staff of the General Staff.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: He also attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in 1978.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee rose quickly through the ranks in the Singapore Army, becoming the youngest brigadier-general in Singapore's history after his promotion in July 1983.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Notably, he was put in command of the rescue operations following the Sentosa cable car disaster. Lee served as commanding officer of the 23rd Battalion Singapore Artillery in the Singapore Army before he left the SAF in 1984 for politics.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: During the 1980s, Lee was regarded as the core member of the next batch of new leaders in the People's Action Party (PAP) leadership transition that was taking place in the mid-1980s, as Lee Kuan Yew had declared that he would step down as prime minister in 1984. Following the 1984 general election, all of the old Central Executive Committee members except Lee Kuan Yew resigned on 1 January 1985.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee was first elected Member of Parliament for the Teck Ghee SMC in 1984, at the age of 32. He was subsequently appointed Minister of State for Trade and Industry, and Minister of State for Defence.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In 1985, Lee chaired the government's economic committee, which recommended changes to established government policies to reduce business costs, foster longer-term growth and revive the Singapore economy, which was experiencing a recession at the time. The committee's recommendations included reductions in corporate and personal taxes and the introduction of a consumption tax.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In 1986, Lee was appointed Acting Minister for Trade and Industry. In 1987, he became a full member of the Cabinet as Minister for Trade and Industry and Second Minister for Defence.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In March 1986, First Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong discussed the question with Lee on encouraging younger Singaporeans to join the party. Goh was firm that the proposed committee should attract only the right kinds of members, ruling out material rewards as an incentive. The proposed youth wing was to encourage the improvement of the system from within, which would give new members a stake in the country's future. Lee later said the establishment of the youth wing reflected concerns by the leadership that the lack of an official channel to engage with the younger generation might lead them to vote for opposition parties and potentially bring the PAP government down. The youth wing was an official "tailor-made" mechanism to allow dissenting opinions to be heard.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee was the first chairman of the PAP Youth Committee upon its establishment, the predecessor to Young PAP.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: On 28 November 1990, Goh Chok Tong succeeded Lee Kuan Yew as prime minister. Lee Hsien Loong was made one of two deputy prime ministers, along with Ong Teng Cheong. He continued to serve as the minister for trade and industry until 1992, when he was diagnosed with lymphoma. He subsequently relinquished his ministerial position and underwent three months of chemotherapy, though he continued to be a deputy prime minister during his illness. The chemotherapy was successful, and his cancer has gone into remission.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee was appointed chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in January 1998, and in 2001 he was made the finance minister. To ease the growing budget deficit due to falling tax revenues from cuts in corporate and personal income taxes and other factors such as the Iraq War and SARS outbreak, Lee proposed on 29 August 2003 to raise the GST from three per cent to five per cent, a change that took place in January 2004.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee initiated several amendments to render requirements for Singapore citizenship less restrictive, notably for foreign-born children of Singaporean women. The changes were made after repeated pleas from MPs and the Remaking Singapore Committee.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: On 10 July 2004, Lee visited Taiwan, an island claimed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) that has been ruled by the Republic of China (ROC) since 1949. Even after the severing of diplomatic relations with the Republic of China on 3 October 1990 in favour of the People's Republic, the Singapore government maintains a policy of neutrality in the Cross-Strait relations between the two sides. To facilitate the policy, it was considered important for Lee to get a "personal feel for the situation" in Taiwan. Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials advised that any visit by an incumbent prime minister would be diplomatically impossible. The visit was hence planned a month before Lee assumed the premiership and in his capacity as a private citizen, not a state leader, with the PRC embassy informed on 9 July 2004. The same afternoon, the PRC government summoned the Singapore ambassador in Beijing and urged the cancellation of Lee's trip, citing the likelihood that Chen Shui Bian's administration would exploit it as a diplomatic coup and use it to promote Taiwan independence, claiming Singapore was making a "historical error". Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar replied to his counterpart Li Zhaoxing that Taiwan had been told to keep the visit low-profile and that it would proceed.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: China retaliated by cancelling several visits by high-ranking PRC officials to Singapore and delaying planned signing ceremonies, hinting that free trade negotiations would also be pushed back. The matter was further complicated and magnified when Taiwanese media headlined the visit and portrayed it as a diplomatic breakthrough, which raised tensions with the PRC. Singapore published the records of the discussion with the Chinese embassy in its local media to publicise the PRC's strong-arm tactics and failure to commit to a peaceful agenda.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: On 28 August 2004, in his first National Day Rally speech and as prime minister, Lee criticised the Taiwanese leadership and populace over their pro-independence stance. He reiterated the reasons for the visit and said that Singapore's decision to stand firm on its vital interests had earned it international respect. Relations were eventually mended when Lee met Hu Jintao at the APEC Economics Leaders' Meeting on 19 November 2004, which signified the end of the dispute.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: On 12 August 2004, Lee succeeded Goh Chok Tong as Prime Minister and relinquished his chairmanship of the Monetary Authority of Singapore to Goh. Chief Justice Yong Pung How had sworn in Lee in at the Istana. As prime minister, Lee also became chairman of the People's Association.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In his maiden National Day Rally speech on 22 August 2004, Lee announced several new initiatives, among them the policy of the "five-day work week" which removed the half-working day on Saturday. The plan took effect on 1 January 2005. In response to public feedback, maternity leave was also extended from eight to twelve weeks after consultation with employers and unions. To encourage the growth of the birthrate in Singapore, the Baby Bonus scheme was expanded to provide financial support to women who bear a fourth child.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In November 2004, Lee sparked a national debate when he proposed to build two Integrated Resorts (IRs), or hotel-casinos. Despite the longstanding stance against gambling in Singapore, with the exception of regulated industries such as the Singapore Turf Club and Singapore Pools, the government was concerned its stance was hurting the economic competitiveness of the country, risking the loss of tourism revenue to other cities. In April 2005, despite some public opposition, the government approved the proposal. The IRs were built in Marina Bay and Sentosa. To limit the negative social impact of casino gambling, Lee suggested safeguards such as prohibiting minors from the casinos and charging an entrance fee for Singaporeans of S$100 (or S$2000 for a yearly pass). The Casino Control Act was enacted into law on 1 June 2006, which regulated the operations of the casino operators and provided social safeguards intended to deter problem gambling.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In February 2006, Lee announced a S$2.6 billion "Progress Package" to distribute budget surpluses in the form of cash, top-ups to the Central Provident Fund, rental and utilities rebates, and educational funds. The cash bonuses were distributed in early May 2006. As the announcement came three months before the 2006 Singaporean general election, it drew criticism that the ruling party was involved in "vote buying".


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In that election, the PAP won 82 of the 84 seats, including 37 walkovers. The Ang Mo Kio GRC was contested for the first time in 15 years. The Workers' Party (WP) claimed that they wanted to give Ang Mo Kio residents a chance to exercise their vote. Lee and his six-member GRC team won 60.42% of the votes against WP's inexperienced team.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: On 29 November 2007, Lee announced that he would relinquish his finance ministerial portfolio to Tharman Shanmugaratnam on 1 December of that year. The handover was largely supported by business analysts, who felt that the importance of the position necessitated the dedication of a full-time minister for Singapore to entrench and promote its role as a financial hub. Regional economist Song Seng Wun said that with the growing sophistication of the economy and the financial markets' increasing volatility, Lee "may not have the full-time attention" due to his concurrent duties as prime minister.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: The economy grew for the first two years of Lee's tenure but plunged 12.5% during the Great Recession. Singapore became the first Asian country to slip into a recession during the fourth quarter of 2008, with the financial, construction and manufacturing sectors being particularly affected by the Great Recession; the downturn was attributed to the city's trade-dependent economy. To counteract the ailing economy, the government announced a S$2.8 billion stimulus fund in November 2008 for SMEs and local firms and further pledged a S$20.5 billion Resilience Package in January 2009. These measures were intended to keep the unemployment rate low, having risen to 2.6% in December 2008 and 3.3% by the end of Q2 2009.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In August 2009, Lee declared that "the worst [was] over" and that Singapore was in a stronger position due to better-than-forecast growth in the manufacturing and services industries. The Ministry of Trade and Industry announced an end to the recession in November 2009 and forecast a 3–5% growth for 2010. Singapore subsequently saw a record-high economic recovery of 14.53%, defying predictions of moderate growth, with the unemployment rate falling to 1.8% by September 2010.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: On 27 May 2009, Lee gave a speech in Parliament validating the roles of nonpartisan Nominated members of parliament (NMP) and praising the NMP scheme as having improved "quality of debate" in the-PAP dominated parliament. He proposed to make the scheme permanent. In May 2010, Lee instituted electoral reforms to the electoral system by reducing the number of group representation constituencies (GRC) and increasing the number of non-constituency members of parliament (NCMP) and nominated members of parliament (NMP) to a maximum of nine each (inclusive of the number of elected opposition members). A cooling-off day on the day before the election was instituted, where campaigning is prohibited except for party political broadcasts.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In the 2011 Singapore general election, the PAP saw a 6.46% swing downwards to 60.14%, its lowest since independence. The result, while a landslide victory for the PAP by international standards, was seen as a rebuke to the ruling party as a result of massive immigration of low-skilled workers, high-profile rail transport breakdowns and the rising cost of living in the intervening years. During the campaigning period, Lee has sensed the discontent in public sentiment and made a public apology. While the PAP swept into power, winning 81 out of 87 seats, it lost Aljunied GRC to the Workers' Party (WP), a historic win by an opposition party. Foreign Minister George Yeo and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Hwee Hua of the GRC were defeated. Following the election, Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong resigned from the cabinet as part of a rejuvenation process in the government and to provide a clean slate for Lee. Lee was sworn in to a third term on 21 May 2011.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: On 1 June 2011, Lee was named chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, which manages more than S$100 billion in assets. He succeeded his father, Lee Kuan Yew, who remained as senior advisor to the fund until his death.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In the 2015 Singapore general election, Lee was re-elected in Ang Mo Kio GRC, with the PAP winning 83 of 89 seats in Parliament and 69.9% of the national vote. Lee's fourth term as prime minister was marked by events such as the China–United States trade war, which adversely affected the nation's economy, being highly reliant on free markets and trade. Increased cyberattacks on Singapore-related services and websites led to the introduction of the Cybersecurity Act in 2018 and the establishment of the Cyber Security Agency. The defeat of the Barisan Nasional government in the 2018 Malaysian general election, which saw the return of Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister, led to a chill in relations as the new Pakatan Harapan government sought to overturn previously signed agreements on the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail and Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System, and also disputed with Singapore on airspace and maritime rights. As part of the Lee government's effort to promote Singapore as an international center for arbitration, the city hosted the leaders of Mainland China and Taiwan for the Ma-Xi meeting on 7 November 2015 and the North Korea–United States summit on 12 June 2018. Singapore hosted the signing of the Singapore Convention on Mediation on 7 August 2019, the first United Nations treaty named after it, and ratified it on 25 February 2020.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: On 20 July 2018, it was announced that sophisticated state-linked actors had hacked Lee's health data along with that of 1.5 million other residents. The hack was intended to access Lee's data in particular.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: On 23 April 2019, Lee reshuffled his cabinet and promoted Heng Swee Keat to deputy prime minister, effective 1 May 2019. As part of the party's leadership succession, the move was widely interpreted as a prelude to Heng succeeding Lee as Singapore's fourth prime minister after the next general election. Lee noted that the cabinet reshuffle "was more extensive than usual", with younger, fourth-generation ministers being prioritised and now heading two-thirds of the ministries.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Speaking at his party convention on 19 November 2017, Lee said that raising taxes was a necessity to fund investment in the social, healthcare, economic and infrastructure sectors. Annual expenses on preschools is expected to reach $1.7 billion by 2022, while the growth in the ageing population is predicted to create a larger demand for affordable healthcare. Construction and refurbishment of new port and rail infrastructure, coupled with economic restructuring and training of workers, also necessitated tax increases. The taxes raised would be in the form of the GST, which is expected to rise from 7% to 9% by 2025. Lee's government said that it was necessary to plan ahead for increasing annual recurrent expenses, with Heng Swee Keat saying that the "hike cannot be put off or scrapped" to pay for critical future needs, especially in the healthcare sector.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In his Budget 2020 speech in February, Heng announced amendments to the GST Voucher Fund Act that would allow grants-in-aid to be given to parents or guardians for infants and children to mitigate their expenses. Second Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong said the intent was to expand the range of people who qualify for the fund. With the amendment, the Act would allow for the funding of the $6 billion Assurance Package, which was intended to delay the impact of the impending hike for five years.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: The proposed hike met with broad disapproval from the opposition, with the Workers' Party and Progress Singapore Party calling for the GST to be retained at its present rate of 7% and others calling for the GST to be suspended entirely or for the exemption of essential goods from the tax.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee's government introduced the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) in 2018, colloquially known as the "fake news law", which was first mooted by Minister of Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam. Despite concerns by activists and opposition Members of Parliament that the Act would limit free speech under the guise of preventing disinformation, the bill passed by a 72–9 vote on 8 May 2019 after two days' debate. Reporters Without Borders called the bill "terrible", "totalitarian", and a tool for censorship. Reuters wrote that the act "ensnares" government critics. Social media firms like Facebook expressed concern that the law would grant "broad powers to the Singapore executive branch to compel us to remove content they deem to be false and pro-actively push a government notification to users". In the leadup to the 2020 general election, Lee's own brother Lee Hsien Yang accused him of reneging on promises made in his 2004 National Day Rally speech about promising increased civil liberties and the freedom to express diverse views without interference.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee and his ministers actively rebutted allegations by overseas media that POFMA is a tool for censorship, saying that "no information or view has been suppressed" as a result of the Act and that the government "has not restricted free debate". In an interview with "The Straits Times", Lee noted that fake news could disrupt society, and that the United States and Europe were struggling to manage the situation, especially in light of alleged Russian interference in recent elections. He cited Germany as a country that has enacted a similar law. In response to concerns that POFMA could curb free speech, Lee said that free speech exists within appropriate boundaries, with no society having absolute freedom of speech, and that defamatory or threatening speech should be banned to facilitate meaningful exchange of information and ideals.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: The first COVID-19 case in Singapore was confirmed on 23 January 2020. Early cases were primarily imported until local transmission began to develop. By late March, clusters were detected at multiple dormitories for foreign workers, which soon contributed to an overwhelming number of new cases in the country. In response, Lee announced on 3 April 2020 that Singapore would enter a limited lockdown with restrictions on movement. The policy, officially called "circuit breaker" in governmental parlance, was intended to halt the disease's spread in the wider community. Workplaces were shut and all schools switched to home-based learning from 7 April to 1 June. Lee served as advisor to a multi-ministry level task force that had been set up in January, chaired by Minister for Education Lawrence Wong and Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong. Lee's government also contributed US$500,000 to support the World Health Organization. With the pandemic pushing Singapore into a recession, the government unveiled four successive stimulus packages intended to keep the economy afloat, the "Unity", "Resilience", "Solidarity" and "Fortitude" budgets.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Following the 2020 Singapore general election, Lee was re-elected in Ang Mo Kio GRC, with the PAP securing 61.23% of the national vote, beginning his fifth successive term as prime minister. The election was widely seen as a setback for the ruling party, with the opposition Workers' Party capturing a second GRC. While noting that voters had delivered a clear mandate, Lee wrote in a letter to the party ("rules of prudence") that with the official appointment of a leader of the opposition to reflect ground sentiments for alternative ideals, PAP MPs should expect more vigorous debates and probing questions in Parliament.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: He encouraged party MPs to express their views honestly on proposed policies regardless of their party affiliation, while instructing them to defend their convictions and engage the opposition constructively. As a recognition of the Workers' Party's performance in the election and acknowledgment of society's desire for alternative ideas and more robust debate, Lee appointed Pritam Singh as the first official Leader of the Opposition.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee attended the Pacific Alliance summit on 11 December 2020 following three years of negotiations with the Latin American trade bloc on the Pacific Alliance-Singapore free trade agreement (PASFTA), with the PASFTA due to be signed in 2021.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In 2022, his government strongly opposed Russia's invasion of Ukraine due to concerns of the territorial integrity of smaller nations around the world – the only country in Southeast Asia to openly condemn and sanction the Eurasian country.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: On 21 August 2022, Lee announced during his annual National Day Rally as prime minister that his government intends to repeal the colonial-era Section 377A of the Penal Code, an unenforced law that criminalised sex between consenting male adults, effectively ending criminalisation both "de facto" and "de jure". The announcement was celeberated by the LGBT community in Singapore, while adding that this will be the "first step on a long road towards full equality".


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: The Lee government's policy towards the People's Republic of China has been marked by extensive cooperation in government-to-government projects such as the Suzhou Industrial Park, Tianjin Eco-City and Chongqing Connectivity Initiative. The China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, the first of any Asian country with China, came into effect in 2009 and was upgraded in 2018, with new regulations governing e-commerce, fair competition and the environment; Singaporean firms were also granted greater access to Chinese markets, including the legal sector, which has been denied to other nations. Under Lee's government, Singapore has been the largest investor in China's Belt and Road Initiative and one of its earliest proponents, having signed a memorandum of understanding in April 2018. In April 2019, it agreed to further cooperation in trade and law enforcement, with Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing and Shanghai mayor Ying Yong formalising plans on the formation of the Singapore-Shanghai Comprehensive Cooperation Council, which will be managed on the ministerial level. China has been Singapore's largest trading partner since 2013, with trade reaching US$137.1 billion in 2017.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Bilateral relations between the two nations under Lee and the Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping administrations have been called strong. Lee's government formally adheres to the One-China policy, most recently reiterating the principle governing its relations with Taiwan in January 2020, despite the pro-independence Tsai Ing-wen administration's refusal to recognise the 1992 consensus. In spite of Chinese pressure and repeated offers of Hainan as an alternative site, Singapore continues to regularly send troops to train in Taiwan under "Project Starlight" and expects Beijing to respect its right to do so. Relations between the two nations cooled in 2016 after Singapore expressed its support on the ruling of the South China Sea arbitration case between China and the Philippines, which had dismissed Chinese claims to "historical rights" to the sea; Singapore views the surrounding seas as its lifeline and is sensitive to any attempts at hegemony. On 23 November 2016, the Port of Hong Kong seized nine Singapore Armed Forces military vehicles which had been en route from Taiwan to Singapore after a training exercise, in what became known as the "Terrex incident". Both sides downplayed the incident and official responses were described as "relatively muted", but international and local observers widely interpreted the seizure as a warning to Singapore. The detained vehicles were eventually released in January 2017 after it was officially deemed a customs import violation. Singapore has since sought to improve its relations with China, signing a defence agreement in October 2019 to enlarge military exercises with the People's Liberation Army, provide mutual logistics support, and increase exchanges between the two armed forces.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Singapore has a close defence and political relationship with the United States and is one of its strongest bilateral partners in Southeast Asia. The US is an important arms supplier to Singapore, with US$7.34 billion in active sales under the Foreign Military Sales system as of 2020. Singapore has traditionally viewed the US as a critical guarantor of stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region and Lee's government has continued that policy, emphasising the US's role as an important counterweight to the rise of China and its increasing military prowess.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: The two nations have a defence pact dating to the 1990 memorandum of understanding (MoU), which allowed US access to Singapore's air and naval bases and established the Logistics Group Western Pacific at Sembawang Terminal. On 12 July 2005, Lee and President George W. Bush signed the Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA), which recognised Singapore as a "Major Security Cooperation Partner". The two nations agreed to address the threats of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, while also furthering defence and security cooperation. Under the Barack Obama administration's Pivot to Asia strategy, the United States Navy has completed multiple littoral combat ship deployments to Singapore since 2014. In December 2015, the SFA was upgraded when Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen and Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter signed the Defence Cooperation Agreement, which expanded cooperation to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, cyber defence, biosecurity and public communications. US P-8A Poseidon surveillance planes were also based in Singapore for the first time, which analysts said was a response to China's actions in the South China Sea, with Lee reiterating Singapore's commitment to "defend the rights of freedom of navigation and overflight". In support of the US military intervention against ISIS, the Republic of Singapore Air Force has also contributed aerial refuelling and logistical support to Operation Inherent Resolve. In September 2019, a year before the 1990 MoU's expiry, Lee and the Donald Trump administration renewed it for another 15 years.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: The United States is Singapore's largest foreign investor, with US$15 billion invested in 2017 and stock reaching US$274.3 billion. The Singapore-United States Free Trade Agreement was implemented in January 2004, with trade reaching $45 billion in 2016. Lee was one of the early drafters and a strong advocate of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was intended to lower both non-tariff and tariff barriers to trade and establish an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, and on many occasions urged the U.S. Congress to ratify the deal as soon as possible, adding that not to do so would "affect U.S. standing and credibility" in the world. Fitch analyst Andrew Colquhoun said that membership in the pact would have given Singapore an advantage over Hong Kong's close links to China. As a country dependent on free trade, it was "vital" that Singapore retain a seat at the negotiating table. The agreement was ultimately not ratified after Trump became president in 2017 and pulled the US out of the pact.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Malaysia has had five prime ministers and two changes of government since Lee became prime minister in 2004. Lee has sought to improve relations with Malaysia after decades of acrimony by enhancing the countries' economic integration and infrastructural links. Since 2010, he has attended the annual Leaders' Retreat set for the two countries' leaders to discuss issues and enhance the dispute resolution mechanism. But bilateral relations remain complex and fraught with occasional disputes involving water supply, land reclamation, and airspace and maritime territorial claims. To avoid harming the relationship, efforts have been made to isolate unresolved disputes from cross-border cooperation tackling transnational crime, terrorism and drug trafficking; this has resulted in close collaboration between Singapore's and Malaysia's police and security agencies.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In May 2007, Lee agreed with Abdullah Badawi's government to invest in the Iskandar Malaysia project and assist in building a tourism and industrial zone; the project was seen as a complement to the Singaporean economy and a strategy for Singapore to expand economically into its immediate hinterland, with RM20.57 billion invested as of 2019. In September 2010, Lee and Prime Minister Najib Razak resolved the longstanding KTM railway land dispute, with Malaysia agreeing to vacate a railway line cutting through the island to Tanjong Pagar railway station in exchange for land parcels in the Central Business District and Marina South, to be managed jointly. With the expiration of the 1961 Water Agreement in August 2011, Singapore handed the Skudai and Gunung Pulai water treatment plants over to the Johor state government, marking the end of one of two water agreements. To ease congestion on the Johor–Singapore Causeway, which links the two countries, Lee revived a dormant 1991 plan to link the Singapore MRT network to Johor Bahru in 2011. During this period, Malaysia also reinstated a plan to connect Kuala Lumpur to Singapore via a high-speed rail network. After joint preliminary technical studies on both rail projects, it was agreed to proceed with the Kuala Lumpur–Singapore high-speed rail (KL-SG HSR) in February 2013 and the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (JB-SG RTS) in December 2016.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: After the 2018 Malaysian general election and the fall of the Barisan Nasional government, the Mahathir Mohamad government repeatedly delayed the rail projects, citing their high cost and its financial indebtedness. Lee reiterated the legally binding nature of the joint projects, which stipulated compensation to Singapore in the event of a cancellation, but nevertheless acceded to Malaysia's request for an extension to conduct a review. In October 2018, tensions rose when Malaysia extended its Johor Bahru port limits past its 1979 maritime claims into undelimited waters off Singapore's reclaimed Tuas sector. The maritime dispute occurred in conjunction with the Pasir Gudang airspace dispute, which began in early December; the airspace is under Malaysian sovereignty but was previously delegated to Singapore to manage in a 1973 agreement. In April 2019, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan and his counterpart Anthony Loke reached a joint agreement to revert to the previous status quo on both disputes. The 2020 Malaysian political crisis resulted in the Pakatan Harapan government's collapse and the appointment of Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister. Singapore has since worked closely with Malaysia to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In July 2020, Lee and Muhyiddin formally agreed to recommence the JB-SG RTS project in a signing ceremony on the causeway.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In 1996, while serving as deputy prime minister, Lee and his father Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew addressed Parliament on the allegations of receiving special discounts on four luxury condominium units that they had purchased from Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) on the properties of Nassim Jade and Scotts 28 in 1994 and 1995 respectively. Lee Kuan Yew's brother Lee Suan Yew was the director of HPL, leading to the controversy. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong ordered an immediate investigation into the matter, since although the provision of special discounts or rebates to relatives and associates of directors is permitted under Singapore law, shareholders must approve such transactions.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee's salary has been a source of public discontent. From 2008 to 2012, Lee earned an annual salary of S$3,870,000 (US$2,856,930), an increase of 25% from the previous S$3,091,200 (US$2,037,168). In January 2012, due to public discontent, Lee took a 28% pay cut, reducing his salary to S$2.2 million (US$1.7 million). He remains the highest-paid head of government in the world.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In 2010, Lee, together with his predecessors, threatened legal action against The New York Times Company which owns the "International Herald Tribune" regarding an op-ed piece titled "All in the Family" of 15 February 2010 by Philip Bowring, a freelance columnist and former editor of the "Far Eastern Economic Review". The "International Herald Tribune" apologised in March that readers of the article may "infer that the younger Lee did not achieve his position through merit". The New York Times Company and Bowring agreed to pay S$60,000 to Lee, S$50,000 to Lee Kuan Yew and S$50,000 to Goh (amounting to about US$114,000 at the time), in addition to legal costs. The case stemmed from a 1994 settlement between the three Singaporean leaders and the paper about an article also by Bowring that referred to 'dynastic politics' in East Asian countries, including Singapore. In that settlement, Bowring agreed not to say or imply that the younger Lee had attained his position through nepotism.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In response, media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders wrote an open letter urging Lee and other top Singapore government officials to stop taking "libel actions" against journalists. Legal action had been taken in the Singapore courts for defamation against the "Financial Times" (2007) and the New York Times Company. In a 2008 report, the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute cast doubts on the independence of the judiciary in cases involving PAP litigants or interests.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: As the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, Lee's career has been shadowed by allegations of nepotism. He was widely tipped to be prime minister with several critics viewing Goh Chok Tong as a seat-warmer. Lee has challenged his critics to prove their allegations of nepotism or put the matter to rest.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In June 2017, Lee became embroiled in a dispute with his brother Lee Hsien Yang and sister Lee Wei Ling, over the fate of their father's house at 38 Oxley Road. Founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew was averse to a cult of personality. As a result, he had inserted in his final will a demolition clause stating that the house was to be torn down when his daughter moves out; it also states that should demolition be impossible, the house shall be closed to the public.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee's siblings alleged that he was abusing his powers, using "organs of the state" as prime minister to preserve the house against their father's wishes. Lee and the Cabinet denied all their allegations and convened a special sitting of Parliament to debate the matter thoroughly. In his closing speech, Lee stated: "After two days of debate, nobody has stood behind these [his siblings'] allegations or offered any evidence, not even opposition MPs ... It shows that the Government and I have acted properly and with due process." He left open options to convene a select committee or Commission of Inquiry should substantive evidence be presented. The siblings accepted Lee's offer to settle the dispute in private the following day.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: On 1 September 2019, Lee sent a letter, via the Prime Minister Office, to journalist Terry Xu of The Online Citizen (TOC) requesting that Xu take down a TOC article with false allegations. On 5 September, Lee sued Xu for repeating statements made by Lee's siblings. By doing so, Lee attracted critics for using the prime minister's office for personal matters.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In December 2018, Lee sued Leong Sze Hian, a prominent government critic, for sharing an online article on his Facebook page alleging that former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak had signed "secret deals" with Lee to secure help from Singapore banks to facilitate money laundering from Malaysia's government-run strategic development company 1Malaysia Development Berhad, in what became known as the 1MDB scandal. Lee's lawyers claimed that Lee had been "gravely injured in his character and reputation" and "brought into public scandal, odium and contempt". Leong removed the post thereafter but justified his actions by claiming that it was "a matter of public interest... whether or not it was correct" and filed a countersuit against Lee, claiming that the lawsuit proceedings against him were "an abuse of the process of the court". The Court of Appeal dismissed the countersuit in September 2019, citing that Singapore law does not recognise the concept of the abuse of court process.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: In October 2020, Lee took the stand in a four-day trial in the High Court against Leong, who was defended by lawyer Lim Tean, secretary-general of the opposition party Peoples Voice. In an opening statement, Lee's lawyer Davinder Singh said that 1MDB had become "a byword for corruption and criminal activity" and that Leong's sharing the post might have implied that "Lee was complicit in criminal activity relating to 1MDB". Lee claimed that he was compelled to file the suit because not to do so would have raised questions, given his history of filing lawsuits against defamatory statements. Leong did not take the witness stand, with Lim arguing that it was unnecessary for Leong to give evidence, and that it was Lee's responsibility to prove that Leong's actions were malicious and had damaged Lee's reputation. The case was adjourned to November 2020. Leong was found guilty in March 2021 of defamation and ordered to pay damages to Lee.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee married his first wife, Wong Ming Yang, a Malaysian-born physician, on 20 May 1978. They have a daughter and a son, Li Xiuqi, born in 1981, and Li Yipeng, born in 1982. Three weeks after giving birth to their son, Wong died of a heart attack on 28 October 1982, at the age of 31.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee remarried to Ho Ching in 1985, a promising civil servant who subsequently became the executive director and chief executive officer of Temasek Holdings. They have two sons, Li Hongyi and Li Haoyi. Their elder son, Li Hongyi, was a commissioned officer in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), and is the deputy director of the Government Technology Agency. Their younger son, Li Haoyi, is a software engineer who authors books in the Scala programming language.


title: Lee Hsien Loong

text: Lee was initially diagnosed with lymphoma, for which he underwent chemotherapy in the early 1990s. He subsequently underwent a successful robot-assisted keyhole prostatectomy on 15 February 2015 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.


title: Ötzi

text: Ötzi, also called the Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived some time between 3350 and 3105 BC, discovered in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname "Ötzi") on the border between Austria and Italy.


title: Ötzi

text: Ötzi is believed to have been murdered, due to the discovery of an arrowhead embedded in his left shoulder and various other wounds. The nature of his life and the circumstances of his death are the subject of much investigation and speculation.


title: Ötzi

text: He is Europe's oldest known natural human mummy, offering an unprecedented view of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Europeans. His body and belongings are displayed in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy.


title: Ötzi

text: Ötzi was found on 19 September 1991 by two German tourists, at an elevation of on the east ridge of the Fineilspitze in the Ötztal Alps on the Austrian–Italian border, near Similaun mountain and the Tisenjoch pass. When the tourists, Helmut and Erika Simon, first saw the body, they both believed that they had happened upon a recently deceased mountaineer. The next day, a mountain gendarme and the keeper of the nearby Similaunhütte first attempted to remove the body, which was frozen in ice below the torso, using a pneumatic drill and ice axes, but had to give up due to bad weather. Within a short time, eight groups visited the site, among who were mountaineers Hans Kammerlander and Reinhold Messner.


title: Ötzi

text: The body was extracted on 22 September and salvaged the following day. It was transported to the office of the medical examiner in Innsbruck, together with other objects found nearby. On 24 September, the find was examined there by archaeologist Konrad Spindler of the University of Innsbruck. He dated the find to be "at least four thousand years old" on the basis of the typology of an axe among the retrieved objects. Tissue samples from the corpse and other accompanying materials were later analyzed at several scientific institutions and their results unequivocally concluded that the remains belonged to someone who had lived between 3359 and 3105 BCE, or some 5,000 years ago. More specific estimates stated that there was a 66% chance he died between 3239 and 3105 BC, a 33% chance he died between 3359 and 3294 BC, and a 1% chance he died between 3277 and 3268 BC.


title: Ötzi

text: At the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of 1919, the border between North and South Tyrol was defined as the watershed of the rivers Inn and Etsch. Near Tisenjoch, the glacier (which has since retreated) complicated establishing the watershed and the border was drawn too far north. Although Ötzi's find site drains to the Austrian side, surveys in October 1991 showed that the body had been located inside Italian territory as delineated in 1919. The province of South Tyrol claimed property rights but agreed to let Innsbruck University finish its scientific examinations. Since 1998, it has been on display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, the capital of South Tyrol.


title: Ötzi

text: The corpse has been extensively examined, measured, X-rayed, and dated. Tissues and intestinal contents have been examined microscopically, as have the items found with the body. In August 2004, frozen bodies of three Austro-Hungarian soldiers killed during the Battle of San Matteo (1918) were found on the mountain Punta San Matteo in Trentino. One body was sent to a museum in the hope that research on how the environment affected its preservation would help unravel Ötzi's past.


title: Ötzi

text: By current estimates (), at the time of his death, Ötzi was tall, weighed about , and was about 45 years of age. When his body was found, it weighed . Because the body was covered in ice shortly after his death, it had only partially deteriorated. Initial reports claimed that his penis and most of his scrotum were missing, but this was later shown to be unfounded. Analysis of pollen, dust grains and the isotopic composition of his tooth enamel indicates that he spent his childhood near the present South Tyrol village of Feldthurns, north of Bolzano, but later went to live in valleys about farther north.


title: Ötzi

text: In 2009, a CAT scan revealed that the stomach had shifted upward to where his lower lung area would normally be. Analysis of the contents revealed the partly digested remains of ibex meat, confirmed by DNA analysis, suggesting he had a meal less than two hours before his death. Wheat grains were also found. It is believed that Ötzi most likely had a few slices of a dried, fatty meat, probably bacon, which came from a wild goat in South Tyrol, Italy. Analysis of Ötzi's intestinal contents showed two meals (the last one consumed about eight hours before his death), one of chamois meat, the other of red deer and herb bread; both were eaten with roots and fruits. The grain also eaten with both meals was a highly processed einkorn wheat bran, quite possibly eaten in the form of bread. In the proximity of the body, and thus possibly originating from the Iceman's provisions, chaff and grains of einkorn and barley, and seeds of flax and poppy were discovered, as well as kernels of sloes (small plum-like fruits of the blackthorn tree) and various seeds of berries growing in the wild.


title: Ötzi

text: Hair analysis was used to examine his diet from several months before. Pollen in the first meal showed that it had been consumed in a mid-altitude conifer forest, and other pollens indicated the presence of wheat and legumes, which may have been domesticated crops. Pollen grains of hop-hornbeam were also discovered. The pollen was very well preserved, with the cells inside remaining intact, indicating that it had been fresh (estimated about two hours old) at the time of Ötzi's death, which places the event in the spring or early summer. Einkorn wheat is harvested in the late summer, and sloes in the autumn; these must have been stored from the previous year.


title: Ötzi

text: High levels of both copper particles and arsenic were found in Ötzi's hair. This, along with Ötzi's copper axe blade, which is 99.7% pure copper, has led scientists to speculate that Ötzi was involved in copper smelting.


title: Ötzi

text: By examining the proportions of Ötzi's tibia, femur, and pelvis, it was postulated that Ötzi's lifestyle included long walks over hilly terrain. This degree of mobility is not characteristic of other Copper Age Europeans. This may indicate that Ötzi was a high-altitude shepherd.


title: Ötzi

text: Using modern 3D scanning technology, a facial reconstruction has been created for the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy. It shows Ötzi looking old for his 45 years, with deep-set brown eyes, a beard, a furrowed face, and sunken cheeks. He is depicted as looking tired and ungroomed.


title: Ötzi

text: Ötzi apparently had "Trichuris trichiura" (whipworm), an intestinal parasite. During CT scans, it was observed that three or four of his right ribs had been cracked when he had been lying face down after death, or where the ice had crushed his body. One of his fingernails (of the two found) shows three Beau's lines indicating he was sick three times in the six months before he died. The last incident, two months before he died, lasted about two weeks. It was also found that his epidermis, the outer skin layer, was missing, a natural process from his mummification in ice. Ötzi's teeth showed considerable internal deterioration from cavities. These oral pathologies may have been brought about by his grain-heavy, high carbohydrate diet. DNA analysis in February 2012 revealed that Ötzi was lactose intolerant, supporting the theory that lactose intolerance was still common at that time, despite the increasing spread of agriculture and dairying.


title: Ötzi

text: Ötzi had a total of 61 tattoos, consisting of 19 groups of black lines ranging from 1 to 3 mm in thickness and 7 to 40 mm long. These include groups of parallel lines running along the longitudinal axis of his body and to both sides of the lumbar spine, as well as a cruciform mark behind the right knee and on the right ankle, and parallel lines around the left wrist. The greatest concentration of markings is found on his legs, which together exhibit 12 groups of lines. A microscopic examination of samples collected from these tattoos revealed that they were created from pigment manufactured out of fireplace ash or soot. This pigment was then rubbed into small linear incisions or punctures. It has been suggested that Ötzi has been repeatedly tattooed in the same locations, since the majority of them are quite dark.


title: Ötzi

text: Radiological examination of Ötzi's bones showed "age-conditioned or strain-induced degeneration" corresponding to many tattooed areas, including osteochondrosis and slight spondylosis in the lumbar spine and wear-and-tear degeneration in the knee and especially in the ankle joints. It has been speculated that these tattoos may have been related to pain relief treatments similar to acupressure or acupuncture. If so, this is at least 2,000 years before their previously known earliest use in China (c. 1000 BC). It has been shown that 9 out of the 19 groups of his tattoos are located next to, or directly on acupunctural areas that are used today. The majority of the other tattoos are on meridians, other acupunctural areas of the body, or over arthritic joints. For example, the tattoos on his upper chest are placed on acupunctural locations that help with abdominal pain. Since it is presumed Ötzi had whipworm, which would cause said intestinal pain, such tattoos could have helped him feel some relief, which supports the theory that they were used for therapeutic purposes.


title: Ötzi

text: At one point, it was thought that Ötzi was the oldest tattooed human mummy yet discovered. In 2018, however, tattoos were discovered on nearly contemporaneous Egyptian mummies.


title: Ötzi

text: Many of Ötzi's tattoos originally went unnoticed since they are difficult to see with the naked eye. In 2015, researchers photographed the body using noninvasive multispectral techniques to capture images on different light wavelengths that are imperceptible by humans, revealing the remainder of his tattoos.


title: Ötzi

text: Ötzi wore a cloak made of woven grass and a coat, a belt, a pair of leggings, a loincloth and shoes, all made of leather of different skins. He also wore a bearskin cap with a leather chin strap. The shoes were waterproof and wide, seemingly designed for walking across the snow; they were constructed using bearskin for the soles, deer hide for the top panels, and a netting made of tree bark. Soft grass went around the foot and in the shoe and functioned like modern socks. The coat, belt, leggings and loincloth were constructed of vertical strips of leather sewn together with sinew. His belt had a pouch sewn to it that contained a cache of useful items: a scraper, drill, flint flake, bone awl and a dried fungus.


title: Ötzi

text: The shoes have since been reproduced by a Czech academic, who said that "because the shoes are actually quite complex, I'm convinced that even 5,300 years ago, people had the equivalent of a cobbler who made shoes for other people". The reproductions were found to constitute such excellent footwear that it was reported that a Czech company offered to purchase the rights to sell them. However, a more recent hypothesis by British archaeologist Jacqui Wood says that Ötzi's shoes were actually the upper part of snowshoes. According to this theory, the item currently interpreted as part of a backpack is actually the wood frame and netting of one snowshoe and animal hide to cover the face.


title: Ötzi

text: The leather loincloth and hide coat were made from sheepskin. Genetic analysis showed that the sheep species was nearer to modern domestic European sheep than to wild sheep; the items were made from the skins of at least four animals. Part of the coat was made from domesticated goat belonging to a mitochondrial haplogroup (a common female ancestor) that inhabits central Europe today. The coat was made from several animals from two different species and was stitched together using hides. The leggings were made from domesticated goat leather. A similar set of 5,000-year-old leggings discovered in Schnidejoch, Switzerland were made from goat leather as well.


title: Ötzi

text: Shoelaces were made from the European genetic population of cattle. The quiver was made from wild roe deer, the fur hat was made from a genetic lineage of brown bear which lives in the region today. Writing in the journal "Scientific Reports", researchers from Ireland and Italy reported their analysis of his clothing's mitochondrial DNA, which was extracted from nine fragments from six of his garments, including his loin cloth and fur cap.


title: Ötzi

text: Other items found with the Iceman were a copper axe with a yew handle, a chert-bladed knife with an ash handle and a quiver of 14 arrows with viburnum and dogwood shafts. Two of the arrows, which were broken, were tipped with flint and had fletching (stabilizing fins), while the other 12 were unfinished and untipped. The arrows were found in a quiver with what is presumed to be a bow string, an unidentified tool, and an antler tool which might have been used for sharpening arrow points. There was also an unfinished yew longbow that was long.


title: Ötzi

text: In addition, among Ötzi's possessions were berries, two birch bark baskets, and two species of polypore mushrooms with leather strings through them. One of these, the birch fungus, is known to have anthelmintic properties, and was probably used for medicinal purposes. The other was a type of tinder fungus, included with part of what appeared to be a complex firelighting kit. The kit featured pieces of over a dozen different plants, in addition to flint and pyrite for creating sparks.


title: Ötzi

text: Ötzi's copper axe was of particular interest. His axe's haft is long and made from carefully worked yew with a right-angled crook at the shoulder, leading to the blade. The long axe head is made of almost pure copper, produced by a combination of casting, cold forging, polishing, and sharpening. Despite the fact that copper ore sources in the Alpines are known to have been exploited at the time, a study indicated that the copper in the axe came from southern Tuscany. It was let into the forked end of the crook and fixed there using birch-tar and tight leather lashing. The blade part of the head extends out of the lashing and shows clear signs of having been used to chop and cut. At the time, such an axe would have been a valuable possession, important both as a tool and as a status symbol for the bearer.


title: Ötzi

text: Ötzi's full genome has been sequenced; the report on this was published on 28 February 2012. The Y chromosome DNA of Ötzi belongs to a subclade of G defined by the SNPs M201, P287, P15, L223 and L91 (G-L91, ISOGG G2a2b, former "G2a4"). He was not typed for any of the subclades downstreaming from G-L91; however, an analysis of his BAM file revealed that he belongs to the L166 and FGC5672 subclades below L91. G-L91 is now mostly found in South Corsica.


title: Ötzi

text: Analysis of his mitochondrial DNA showed that Ötzi belongs to the K1 subclade, but cannot be categorized into any of the three modern branches of that subclade (K1a, K1b, or K1c). The new subclade has provisionally been named "K1ö" for "Ötzi". A multiplex assay study was able to confirm that the Iceman's mtDNA belongs to a previously unknown European mtDNA clade with a very limited distribution among modern data sets.


title: Ötzi

text: By autosomal DNA, Ötzi is most closely related to Southern Europeans, especially to geographically isolated populations like Corsicans and Sardinians. He was part of the migration of early European farmers who migrated from Anatolia to Europe in large numbers during the 7th millennium BC, replacing earlier Europe's hunter-gatherers.


title: Ötzi

text: DNA analysis also showed him at high risk of atherosclerosis and lactose intolerance, with the presence of the DNA sequence of "Borrelia burgdorferi", possibly making him the earliest known human with Lyme disease. A later analysis suggested the sequence may have been a different "Borrelia" species.


title: Ötzi

text: In October 2013, it was reported that 19 modern Tyrolean men were descendants of Ötzi or of a close relative of Ötzi. Scientists from the Institute of Legal Medicine at Innsbruck Medical University had analysed the DNA of over 3,700 Tyrolean male blood donors and found 19 who shared a particular genetic mutation with the 5,300-year-old man.


title: Ötzi

text: In May 2012, scientists announced the discovery that Ötzi still had intact blood cells. These are the oldest complete human blood cells ever identified. In most bodies this old, the blood cells are either shrunken or mere remnants, but Ötzi's have the same dimensions as living red blood cells and resembled a modern-day sample.


title: Ötzi

text: In 2016, researchers reported on a study from the extraction of twelve samples from the gastrointestinal tract of Ötzi to analyze the origins of the "Helicobacter pylori" in his gut. The "H. pylori" strain found in his gastrointestinal tract was, surprisingly, the hpAsia2 strain, a strain today found primarily in South Asian and Central Asian populations, with extremely rare occurrences in modern European populations. The strain found in Ötzi's gut is most similar to three modern individuals from Northern India; the strain itself is, of course, older than the modern Northern Indian strain.


title: Ötzi

text: Ötzi's stomach was completely full and its contents were mostly undigested. In 2018, researchers performed a thorough analysis of his stomach and intestines to gain insights on Chalcolithic meal composition and dietary habits. Biopsies were performed on the stomach to obtain dietary information in the time leading up to his death, and the contents themselves were also analyzed. Previously, Ötzi was believed to be vegetarian, but during this study it was revealed that his diet was omnivorous. The presence of certain compounds suggests what kinds of food he generally ate, such as gamma-terpinene implying the intake of herbs, and several nutritious minerals indicating red meat or dairy consumption. Through analysis of DNA and protein traces, the researchers were able to identify the contents of Ötzi's last meal, composed of fat and meat from ibex and red deer as well as einkorn wheat. The results of atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy analysis reveal that he consumed fresh or dried wild meat. A previous study detected charcoal particles in his lower intestine which indicate that fire was present during some part of the food preparation process, but it was likely used in drying out the meat or smoking it.


title: Ötzi

text: The cause of death remained uncertain until 10 years after the discovery of the body. It was initially believed that Ötzi died from exposure during a winter storm. Later it was speculated that Ötzi might have been a victim of a ritual sacrifice, perhaps for being a chieftain. This explanation was inspired by theories previously advanced for the first millennium BC bodies recovered from peat bogs such as the Tollund Man and the Lindow Man.


title: Ötzi

text: In 2001, X-rays and a CT scan revealed that Ötzi had an arrowhead lodged in his left shoulder when he died and a matching small tear on his coat. The discovery of the arrowhead prompted researchers to theorize Ötzi died of blood loss from the wound, which would probably have been fatal even if modern medical techniques had been available. Further research found that the arrow's shaft had been removed before death, and close examination of the body found bruises and cuts to the hands, wrists and chest and cerebral trauma indicative of a blow to the head. One of the cuts was to the base of his thumb that reached down to the bone but had no time to heal before his death. Currently, it is believed that Ötzi bled to death after the arrow shattered the scapula and damaged nerves and blood vessels before lodging near the lung.


title: Ötzi

text: DNA analyses taken in 2003 are claimed to have revealed traces of blood from at least four other people on his gear: one from his knife, two from a single arrowhead in his quiver, and a fourth from his coat. Interpretations of these findings were that Ötzi killed two people with the same arrow and was able to retrieve it on both occasions, and the blood on his coat was from a wounded comrade he may have carried over his back. Ötzi's posture in death (frozen body, face down, left arm bent across the chest) could support a theory that before death occurred and rigor mortis set in, the Iceman was turned onto his stomach in the effort to remove the arrow shaft.


title: Ötzi

text: Most research has assumed that Otzi died roughly on the spot where he was found. In 2010, it was proposed that Ötzi died at a much lower altitude and was buried higher in the mountains, as posited by archaeologist Alessandro Vanzetti of the Sapienza University of Rome and his colleagues. According to their study of the items found near Ötzi and their locations, it is possible that the iceman may have been placed above what has been interpreted as a stone burial mound but was subsequently moved with each thaw cycle that created a flowing watery mix driven by gravity before being re-frozen. While archaeobotanist Klaus Oeggl of the University of Innsbruck agrees that the natural process described probably caused the body to move from the ridge that includes the stone formation, he pointed out that the paper provided no compelling evidence to demonstrate that the scattered stones constituted a burial platform. Moreover, biological anthropologist Albert Zink argues that the iceman's bones display no dislocations that would have resulted from a downhill slide and that the intact blood clots in his arrow wound would show damage if the body had been moved up the mountain. In either case, the burial theory does not contradict the possibility of a violent cause of death.


title: Ötzi

text: Italian law entitled the Simons to a finders' fee from the South Tyrolean provincial government of 25% of the value of Ötzi. In 1994 the authorities offered a "symbolic" reward of Lire 10 million (€5,200), which the Simons declined. In 2003, the Simons filed a lawsuit which asked a court in Bolzano to recognize their role in Ötzi's discovery and declare them his "official discoverers". The court decided in the Simons' favor in November 2003, and at the end of December that year the Simons announced that they were seeking US$300,000 as their fee. The provincial government decided to appeal.


title: Ötzi

text: In addition, two people came forward to claim that they were part of the same mountaineering party that came across Ötzi and discovered the body first:


title: Ötzi

text: In 2005 the rival claims were heard by a Bolzano court. The legal case angered Mrs. Simon, who alleged that neither woman was present on the mountain that day. In 2005, Mrs. Simon's lawyer said: "Mrs. Simon is very upset by all this and by the fact that these two new claimants have decided to appear 14 years after Ötzi was found." In 2008, however, Jarc stated for a Slovene newspaper that she wrote twice to the Bolzano court in regard to her claim but received no reply whatsoever.


title: Ötzi

text: In 2004, Helmut Simon died. Two years later, in June 2006, an appeals court affirmed that the Simons had indeed discovered the Iceman and were therefore entitled to a finder's fee. It also ruled that the provincial government had to pay the Simons' legal costs. After this ruling, Mrs. Erika Simon reduced her claim to €150,000. The provincial government's response was that the expenses it had incurred to establish a museum and the costs of preserving the Iceman should be considered in determining the finder's fee. It insisted it would pay no more than €50,000. In September 2006, the authorities appealed the case to Italy's highest court, the Court of Cassation.


title: Ötzi

text: On 29 September 2008 it was announced that the provincial government and Mrs. Simon had reached a settlement of the dispute, under which she would receive €150,000 in recognition of Ötzi's discovery by her and her late husband and the tourist income that it attracts.


title: Ötzi

text: Influenced by the "Curse of the pharaohs" and the media theme of cursed mummies, claims have been made that Ötzi is cursed. The allegation revolves around the deaths of several people connected to the discovery, recovery and subsequent examination of Ötzi. It is alleged that they have died under mysterious circumstances. These people include co-discoverer Helmut Simon and Konrad Spindler, the first examiner of the mummy in Austria in 1991. To date, the deaths of seven people, of which four were accidental, have been attributed to the alleged curse. In reality hundreds of people were involved in the recovery of Ötzi and are still involved in studying the body and the artifacts found with it. The fact that a small percentage of them have died over the years has not been shown to be statistically significant.


title: 5 Seconds of Summer

text: 5 Seconds of Summer, often shortened to 5SOS, are an Australian pop rock band from Sydney, New South Wales, formed in late 2011. The group consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Luke Hemmings, lead guitarist Michael Clifford, bassist Calum Hood, and drummer Ashton Irwin. Originally beginning their career as YouTube celebrities, they rose to international fame while touring with English-Irish boy band One Direction on their Take Me Home Tour. Since 2014, 5 Seconds of Summer have sold more than 10 million albums, sold over 2 million concert tickets worldwide, and the band's songs streams surpass 7 billion, making them one of the most successful Australian musical acts in history.


title: 5 Seconds of Summer

text: In early 2014, the band released "She Looks So Perfect" which topped the charts in four countries. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2014, peaking at number one in 11 countries. The band released their second album "Sounds Good Feels Good" in 2015, topping the charts in 8 countries. The band's third album "Youngblood," released in 2018, was a commercial success and became their third number one album in their home country. In the US, 5 Seconds of Summer became the first Australian act to achieve three number one albums on the "Billboard" 200 album chart. They also became the first band (not vocal group) to have their first three full-length albums debut at the top in the US. The album's single, "Youngblood" is the fourth highest selling Australian single of the 2010-2019 decade and is the eleventh best-selling single in Australian history, selling over five million adjusted copies worldwide within the first six months of its release. With the release of "Youngblood", 5 Seconds of Summer became the first Australian act in 13 years to top ARIA year-end chart and remain the second longest stint at number one in ARIA chart history. In 2020, the band released their fourth studio album "Calm." The album was a commercial success, receiving positive reviews from critics, charting in more than 25 countries on multiple charts, peaking in the 10 top on 17 charts and debuting atop the charts in 4 countries. With "Calm" earning the band their fourth consecutive number one in their home country, 5 Seconds of Summer became the second Australian band in history to have their first four full-length studio albums debut at number one on the ARIA albums chart.


title: 5 Seconds of Summer

text: All singles from the band's four studio albums, as well as all four albums, have charted in multiple countries, received multiple official sale certifications, and have been featured in numerous weekly and year-end charts, as well as making an appearance on decade-end charts. The band has received numerous accolades and awards, including being honored with the prestigious APRA Outstanding International Achievement Award in 2019, being placed on Billboard's Top Artists of the 2010s chart, which lists the most popular and successful artists of the 2010-2019 decade and being credited in the exclusive APRA AMCOS 1,000,000,000 List in 2020. As of mid-2020, the band's estimated net worth is approximately US$81 million.


title: 5 Seconds of Summer

text: 5 Seconds of Summer formed in late 2011 when Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, and Calum Hood, who all attended the same high-school: Norwest Christian College, began posting videos of themselves performing covers of popular songs together on Hemmings' YouTube channel. In December 2011, the trio invited drummer Ashton Irwin, and the four-man lineup was completed. The band's name was created by Clifford. On 3 December 2011, the band played their first show at Sydney pub, Annandale Hotel, reportedly playing for only 12 people. In 2020, the band paid homage to their first performance in their "Old Me" music video, which featured a video clip of their Annandale Hotel performance and a recreation of the show.The band attracted interest from major music labels and publishers and signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Despite having no promotion apart from on Facebook and Twitter, their first music release, an EP titled "Unplugged", reached number 3 on the iTunes chart in Australia and the Top 20 in both New Zealand and Sweden. 5 Seconds of Summer spent the second half of 2012 writing and developing their sound with Christian Lo Russo and Joel Chapman of Australian band Amy Meredith, with whom they wrote two songs ("Beside You" and "Unpredictable") that were featured on their second EP "Somewhere New". The EP was also co-produced by Chapman. The band released their first single "Out of My Limit" on 19 November 2012. The video clip received over 100,000 views within the first 24 hours. In December 2012, the band embarked on a songwriting trip to London where they wrote with various artists including McFly, Roy Stride of Scouting for Girls, Nick Hodgson of Kaiser Chiefs, Jamie Scott, Jake Gosling, Steve Robson and James Bourne of Busted.


title: 5 Seconds of Summer

text: As their fame and dedication to the band grew, the band members eventually dropped out of school, with Clifford having left school two years prior in Year 10 and later completing a year at TAFE. Hood dropped out in Year 11 in 2012 due to the band's move to London. Irwin had already graduated from Richmond High School in 2012, and studied music performance at a TAFE college, before choosing to leave to pursue the band. Hemmings continued with distance education up until 2013, dropping out in the final year of secondary schooling: year 12, due to the commitment of the band.


title: 5 Seconds of Summer

text: On 14 February 2013, it was announced that 5 Seconds of Summer would support One Direction on their worldwide Take Me Home Tour. The tour kicked off at the O2 Arena in London on 23 February 2013, and 5 Seconds of Summer joined One Direction for shows in the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand, including seven shows at Allphones Arena in 5 Seconds of Summer's home town of Sydney. While on a break from the Take Me Home Tour, 5 Seconds of Summer returned home to Australia where they played a national headlining tour, with all dates selling out within minutes. It was around this time when the band began to gain popularity and become more well-known. On 21 November 2013, the band announced that they had signed to Capitol Records. On 5 February 2014, 5 Seconds of Summer listed their debut major label single "She Looks So Perfect" for pre-order on the iTunes Store. On 5 March 2014, it was announced that 5 Seconds of Summer would join One Direction again, supporting them on their Where We Are Tour in the US, Canada, UK and Europe.


title: 5 Seconds of Summer

text: In late March 2014, the band's single "She Looks So Perfect" was released in UK. Despite spending only one day on top in the British iTunes store and ending its week in the lower end of the top 10, 5 Seconds of Summer became the fourth Australian band to have a UK number-one single, and the first to do so in 14 years. On 9 April 2014, their third EP "She Looks So Perfect" debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 Chart. On 9 May 2014, they released their second single, "Don't Stop". It peaked at number one in 4 countries, debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart and was in the top 10 of 8 countries overall. "Billboard" said that, "In the vein of Green Day's "She" and Blink-182's "All The Small Things," "Don't Stop" is 5SOS' bid for a deceptively charming pop-punk anthem, with lyrics that are stickily sweet in their awkward flirtatiousness. The bridge could be more polished, but that hook is a highlight of the whole album." On 15 June 2014, the band released their fourth EP "Don't Stop" which was unavailable for purchase in the US, Canada and Mexico.