title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Police detectives noted that the accusers all described a similar pattern where Epstein would ask them to massage him and then sexually assault them during the massage. When police searched through Epstein's trash, they found notes with the telephone numbers of the girls on them. One of the girls was called by Epstein's assistant while being questioned by police.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Giuffre relayed to the "Miami Herald" that she received a series of phone calls in rapid succession over three days in 2007. The first call was from Maxwell, then one day later came a call from Epstein, both of whom asked if she had spoken to authorities, followed by a third call from an FBI agent who stated that Giuffre had been identified as a victim during the first criminal case against Epstein. She resisted speaking at length to the FBI until she was approached again about the matter in person, this time by the Australian Federal Police, six months after being contacted by phone.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Photos, records and witnesses confirm large parts of Giuffre's statements about her time with Epstein.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In 2006, a year before Giuffre was first contacted by authorities, the Palm Beach Police Department had a growing body of evidence against Epstein, and signed a probable cause affidavit charging him with multiple counts of unlawful sex acts with a minor. Epstein hired a team of powerful lawyers, including Alan Dershowitz, Jack Goldberger, Kenneth Starr, and Jay Lefkowitz, to serve in his defense. As the case progressed, Police Chief Michael Reiter became alarmed at the handling of the case by state prosecutors and then state attorney, Barry Krischer. On May 1, 2006, Reiter asked Krischer to remove himself from the case; when Krischer declined, Police Chief Reiter turned his evidence over to the FBI for federal prosecution. While Reiter was initially hopeful that the FBI would thoroughly investigate and move the matter to a conclusion, in 2007, then South Florida U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta decided not to prosecute Epstein in federal court and referred the matter back to the local jurisdiction.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Lead police detective Joseph Recarey asserted that the state prosecutors were at first eager to pursue criminal action against Epstein, but that "everything took a turn" when lawyer Alan Dershowitz got involved. Krischer then decided to take the unusual action of turning Epstein's case over to a grand jury, and then presented testimony from only one girl. Epstein's legal team aggressively sought concessions and prolonged the process when negotiating a plea deal with Alex Acosta. Acosta, who described the tactics of Epstein's lawyers as a "year-long assault on the prosecution and prosecutors", eventually agreed to sign a controversial non-prosecution agreement in 2008, which was done without informing the victims, later determined to be in violation of the Crime Victims' Rights Act.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Reiter expressed that the state and federal prosecutors' handling of the Epstein case amounted to "the worst failure of the criminal justice system" in modern times.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In 2008, a lawsuit ("Jane Doe v. United States of America)" was filed by Bradley Edwards and Paul G. Cassell that accused the U.S. Justice Department of violating the Crime Victims' Rights Act during the first criminal case against Epstein by failing to allow several of his victims to challenge his plea deal. Epstein sued Bradley Edwards for civil racketeering but later dropped his suit; Edwards countersued for malicious prosecution, with the result that Epstein issued a public apology to the lawyer and settled the case for an undisclosed sum in December 2018. Edwards, who represents several Epstein accusers in addition to Giuffre, reportedly settled in aid of his clients, whose greatest wish was to pursue their larger objective of having their allegations heard in a federal court in order to overturn the non-prosecution agreement. Edwards stated that "They're willing to talk. They want to share their stories. This was part of their healing."


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In a February 2019 ruling, District Judge Kenneth Marra determined that prosecutors had violated victims' rights as defined by the Crime Victims' Rights Act.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In May 2009, Giuffre filed a lawsuit as Jane Doe 102 against Epstein and accused Maxwell of recruiting her to a life of being sexually trafficked while she was a minor. By late 2009, dozens of Epstein's victims had filed civil lawsuits against him. All suits were settled for undisclosed amounts. In January 2022, unsealed documents revealed that the settlement amount of the 2009 case, entitled "Jane Doe No. 102 vs. Jeffrey Epstein", was $500,000 () and other unspecified "valuable consideration."


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Giuffre credited the birth of her daughter on January 7, 2010, as the date she decided to come forward publicly and begin speaking out about her experiences of sexual abuse and trafficking, despite the risks. "Vanity Fair" stated that Giuffre's story was first publicized in March 2011 by the "Mail on Sunday"; the coverage included the photo showing Prince Andrew with his arm around her at Maxwell's house in Belgravia, London. FBI agents again made contact with Giuffre, this time at the US consulate in Sydney in 2011, soon after she went public with allegations against Epstein.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In December 2014, Giuffre set up the framework for her organization Victims Refuse Silence. It was registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2015. The objective of Victims Refuse Silence is to "help survivors surmount the shame, silence, and intimidation typically experienced by victims of sexual abuse, and to help others to escape becoming victims of sex trafficking". For her organization, Giuffre has used imagery of a blue Morpho butterfly to symbolize the transformation and empowerment that occurs when a victim becomes a survivor. Blue is the international color of human trafficking awareness. The United States has designated January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month with January 11 listed as National Wear Blue Day. Giuffre's charity was relaunched in November 2021 under the name Speak Out, Act, Reclaim (SOAR).


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In a December 2014 Florida court filing, intended for inclusion in the 2008 Crime Victims' Rights Act lawsuit, Giuffre described being trafficked to Prince Andrew, Duke of York, at least three times when she was 17 in 2001 for rape. She claims that Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell took her to Tramp nightclub in London, where she met and danced with Andrew and that later that night, while en route to Maxwell's Belgravia residence, Maxwell instructed Giuffre to "do for (Prince Andrew) what you do for Epstein". She alleged Epstein paid her $15,000 to have sex with the Duke in London.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: A photo that shows Giuffre, Prince Andrew and Maxwell in Ghislaine's apartment has been widely circulated since 2011. Prince Andrew's ten-year role as a United Kingdom trade envoy was terminated in July 2011, and he reportedly cut all ties with Epstein. When asked in 2011 whether Prince Andrew would have information, she told her lawyers: "Yes, he would know a lot of the truth." "Again, I don't know how much he would be able to help you with, but seeing he's in a lot of trouble himself these days, I think he might," she added. "So, I think he may be valuable. I'm not too sure of him."


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: The second sexual encounter allegedly happened in Epstein's New York mansion. In court documents, Giuffre claimed that the third encounter with Prince Andrew was an orgy on Little Saint James that involved her, several underage girls from Eastern Europe, the Prince, and Jeffrey Epstein himself.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In 2015, spokespersons for the British royal family stated that "any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue", later repeating the denials. Requests from Giuffre's lawyers for a statement under oath from the Duke about the allegations were returned unanswered.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In August 2021, Giuffre started a New York lawsuit against Prince Andrew, accusing him of "sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress". Giuffre’s lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, was brought before the New York federal judge Lewis A. Kaplan.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In January 2022 Giuffre's former boyfriend, Anthony Figueroa, said on "Good Morning Britain" that Giuffre told him Epstein would take her to meet Prince Andrew. Figueroa alleged the meeting had taken place in London, before which "she was really nervous and scared because she didn't know how to react to it." In a court filing, Prince Andrew's lawyers had previously referred to a statement by Figueroa's sister, Crystal Figueroa, who alleged that in her bid to find victims for Epstein, Giuffre had asked her "Do you know any girls who are kind of slutty?" In the same month, Carolyn Andriano, who as a 14-year-old was introduced by Giuffre to Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein and was a prosecution witness in the trial of Maxwell, claimed in an interview that then 17-year-old Giuffre told her in 2001 that she had slept with Prince Andrew. Andriano stated, "And she [Giuffre] said, 'I got to sleep with him'. She didn't seem upset about it. She thought it was pretty cool."


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In February 2022, Prince Andrew agreed to an out-of-court settlement by paying an undisclosed sum of money.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Giuffre claims that Epstein sex trafficked her to lawyer and Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz at least six times, the first when she was aged 16. He denied the claims. Dershowitz represented Epstein in his 2008 criminal conviction and helped to negotiate the controversial non-prosecution agreement on his behalf.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: The claims first appeared in a December 30, 2014, Florida court filing by lawyers Bradley J. Edwards and Paul G. Cassell which alleged that Dershowitz was one of several prominent figures, including Prince Andrew, to have participated in sexual activities with a minor later identified as Giuffre. The affidavit from Giuffre was meant for inclusion as part of the 2008 lawsuit ("Jane Doe v. USA") accusing the Justice Department of violating the Crime Victims Rights Act during Epstein's first criminal case. Dershowitz vehemently denied the allegations in Giuffre's statement and sought disbarment of Edwards and Cassell, the lawyers filing the suit. Edwards and Cassell sued Dershowitz for defamation in 2015; he countersued. The two parties settled in 2016 for an undisclosed financial sum.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In 2014, Giuffre was represented by Stanley Pottinger, whose firm specializes in sex abuse cases involving women and children. Anticipating the challenges that awaited Giuffre in accusing extremely wealthy and powerful individuals, Pottinger looked for another lawyer that could match this. At the request of Pottinger, David Boies and his firm Boies Schiller Flexner began representing Giuffre "pro bono" in 2014. Boies represents several of Epstein's accusers. In addition to Boies, attorneys for Giuffre include Brad Edwards and Paul Cassell.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In April 2019, Giuffre sued Dershowitz for defamation in New York, with Boies as her lawyer. That June, Dershowitz filed a motion to dismiss Giuffre's suit (which was later denied) and a motion to disqualify Boies' firm from representing her (which was later approved). Giuffre stated in September 2019 that she continued to stand by her claims of misconduct by Dershowitz. Dershowitz accused Boies of pressuring Giuffre to provide false testimony, in response to which Boies sued Dershowitz in November 2019 for defamation.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In April 2019, Maria Farmer filed an affidavit in support of Giuffre's defamation suit against Dershowitz which stated that while Farmer worked signing in guests at Epstein's front desk in 1995–1996, she had regularly encountered Dershowitz at the New York mansion at times when underage girls were present.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In October 2019, Charles Cooper took over representation of Giuffre in the defamation suit against Dershowitz after a judge ruled that Boies could not continue as Giuffre's lawyer because Dershowitz's claim that she conspired with her attorneys to make false claims had turned Boies into a potential witness.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: A trial involving Dershowitz and Giuffre could have started in March 2023 after wrapping fact discovery by November 30, 2022 and expert discovery by February 15, 2023. However, on November 8, 2022, it was announced that Giuffre had dropped her allegations against Dershowitz, stating that she "may have made a mistake".


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Giuffre filed court papers in Florida in January 2015, stating that Epstein trafficked her to Prince Andrew and Alan Dershowitz. In a sworn affidavit, she claims Maxwell worked as Epstein's madam. In April 2015, a federal judge ruled that Giuffre could not join the federal Crime Victims' Rights Act lawsuit, and her affidavit was stricken from the case.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: As a result of Giuffre's allegations and Maxwell's comments about them, Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation in federal court in New York in September 2015. After much legal confrontation, the case was settled under seal in June 2017 with Maxwell reportedly paying Giuffre "millions".


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Giuffre was first represented by David Boies but Dershowitz had him removed from the case as he claimed that members of the law firm could be called to witness in the trial. She was subsequently represented by lawyer Charles Cooper. Boies filed a separate defamation lawsuit against Dershowitz for implying that Boies had pressured Giuffre into making false claims.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: All claims were dismissed in November 2022, after attorneys for Giuffre, Boies, and Dershowitz filed joint stipulations, and no fees were awarded to either side.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: On August 9, 2021, Giuffre filed a civil lawsuit against Britain's Prince Andrew in New York alleging that she was forced to have several sexual encounters with the prince in the early 2000s after being trafficked by Epstein when she was 16 and 17 years old. Andrew has denied Giuffre's claims. On January 12, 2022, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected Andrew's attempts to dismiss the case, allowing the sexual abuse lawsuit to proceed. On February 15, 2022, it was announced that both parties had reached an out-of-court settlement, which includes the Prince making a substantial donation to Giuffre's charity.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Rina Oh sued Giuffre for defamation in October 2021. Giuffre accused Oh of helping traffick girls for Epstein, while Oh maintains that she was a victim and that she has never helped traffickers. In 2022 in court documents Oh accused Giuffre of touching her sexually without consent while Epstein watched, but Giuffre denied the claim. She alleged Oh slashed her during sado masochistic games done for Epstein, but Oh denied this. Oh also alleges that Guiffre procured and abused minors.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019, at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and charged with sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy by prosecutors with the Public Corruption Unit of the Southern District of New York In the indictment, Epstein was accused of soliciting massages from underage girls where the activities became increasingly sexual and then of enlisting the girls to recruit other underage victims for pay. U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York appealed for other victims of Epstein to come forward. The federal indictment also listed the key role of Epstein's paid "employees and associates" responsible for scheduling victims.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: One month after his arrest, Epstein was found dead on August 10, 2019, after reportedly hanging himself in his Manhattan prison cell.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: On August 29, 2019, in the wake of Epstein's death 19 days prior, the case against Epstein was closed after District Judge Richard Berman dismissed all sex trafficking charges. Judge Berman expressed support for Epstein's accusers, stating that he invited them to speak publicly at a hearing on August 27, 2019, out of "respect" for "the difficult decisions victims made to come forward". Giuffre was among the 16 women who spoke publicly at the hearing, which included Anouska De Georgiou, Sarah Ransome, Jennifer Araoz, Chauntae Davies, Courtney Wild, Theresa J. Helm, and Marijke Chartouni. At the hearing, Giuffre stated, "The reckoning must not end. It must continue. He did not act alone. We the victims know that." Prosecutors signaled that they would continue an investigation for potential co-conspirators.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Giuffre appeared on a special edition of "Dateline NBC" with Savannah Guthrie discussing the Epstein scandal along with victims Anouska De Georgiou, Rachel Benavidez, Jennifer Araoz, Marijke Chartouni and Chauntae Davies. The special, titled "Reckoning", aired on September 20, 2019.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Giuffre was interviewed for the "60 Minutes Australia" investigation that aired on November 10, 2019. In the program she describes her experiences of being trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with Prince Andrew three times in 2001: the first time being in London at Maxwell's Belgravia residence, the second at Epstein's New York mansion, and the final occurrence (involving multiple girls and the Prince) on Little Saint James.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Giuffre also gave an interview in October 2019 to the BBC, describing her experience of being sex-trafficked by Epstein to Prince Andrew, for a "Panorama" special, "The Prince and the Epstein Scandal", which aired on December 2, 2019. In the program, Giuffre directly appealed to the public by stating, "I implore the people in the UK to stand up beside me, to help me fight this fight, to not accept this as being ok."


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: BBC reporter Emily Maitlis conducted a "Newsnight" interview with Prince Andrew, discussing Giuffre's allegations and his friendship with Epstein, which aired on November 16, 2019. The reaction to the Prince's conduct during the interview was one of overwhelming disapproval; this, combined with Giuffre's public appeal, helped lead to a widespread shift in opinion by the British people. The prince resigned from his royal duties on November 20, 2019, as a number of organizations and charities that he was connected to severed ties. Despite the Prince's promises to assist authorities, in January 2020, U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman stated that Prince Andrew had provided "zero cooperation" after the FBI and the Southern District of New York had requested to interview him as part of the Epstein inquiry.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Giuffre appeared, along with Maria Farmer, in a four-part Netflix series, released in May 2020, titled "", directed by Lisa Bryant and based on the earlier book of the same name by James Patterson.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: In July 2020, following Maxwell's federal indictment, Giuffre was interviewed by Gayle King for "CBS This Morning".


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Giuffre and other survivors of Epstein's sex trafficking ring were featured in the four-part documentary series "Surviving Jeffrey Epstein" which premiered on August 9, 2020, on Lifetime.


title: Virginia Giuffre

text: Following her marriage to Robert in 2002, Giuffre lived in the Glenning Valley suburb of New South Wales' Central Coast in Australia for 11 years. The family relocated to the United States in November 2013 and stayed for several years, initially spending time in Florida, and later in Colorado in 2015. In 2019, it was reported that Giuffre lived in Cairns, Australia, with her husband Robert and their three children: two sons and one daughter. In 2020, she moved with her family to Ocean Reef, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia.


title: Turnstile (band)

text: Turnstile are an American hardcore punk band from Baltimore, Maryland, formed in 2010. They have released five EPs and three studio albums. In November of 2022 it was announced they were nominated for three Grammy Awards.


title: Turnstile (band)

text: Turnstile was formed in 2010 and grew out of Baltimore's emerging hardcore scene. They released their debut EP, "Pressure to Succeed", in 2011 and their second EP, "Step 2 Rhythm", in 2013, both via Reaper Records. On January 13, 2015, Turnstile released their debut full-length album, "Nonstop Feeling", on the same label. The album was recorded at Salad Days Studios with producer Brian McTernan. Supporting the release of the album, Turnstile went on both an East Coast and a West Coast tour with Superheaven, titled the Nonstop Feeling Tour. They also supported New Found Glory on their Spring 2015 tour. Following this tour, their guitarist Sean Coo stepped down, and a replacement was found in Pat McCrory of fellow Maryland-based hardcore band Angel Du$t.


title: Turnstile (band)

text: On September 16, 2016, Turnstile released their third EP, titled "Move Thru Me". The record charted at No. 14 on the Billboard Heatseekers Album Chart and No. 19 on the Hard Rock Albums chart. The band embarked on the Move Thru Me Tour across the U.S. with support from Angel Du$t, Big Bite, Crimewatch, Fury and Lock on select dates in the fall of 2016. The band began recording for their second album under Roadrunner Records in the fall of 2017, completing recording in early 2018. The record was produced by Will Yip at his Studio 4 recording studio. On February 23, 2018, the band released the album, titled "Time & Space –" their first release under a major label. This was followed by the band embarking across the U.S. on the Time & Space Tour with support from Touché Amoré, Culture Abuse and Razorbumps. A European leg followed this with support from Fury, a South Korean and Southeast Asia leg, and a U.K. leg with support from Wicca Phase Springs Eternal and Big Cheese. Three of the album's tracks were reworked with DJ and producer Mall Grab and released as an EP, titled "Share A View", in January 2020.


title: Turnstile (band)

text: On June 27, 2021, the band released their fifth EP, "Turnstile Love Connection", alongside an accompanying short film directed by Yates. On July 15, 2021, the band announced the release of another album, "Glow On". The first single from the album, "Alien Love Call", was released and featured British musician Blood Orange.


title: Turnstile (band)

text: On July 27, 2021, it was announced by the Suicideboys on social media that they would be one of the performers for their Grey Day Tour that ran from September 25, 2021 to November 16 the same year, along with the other G59 artists, like Night Lovell, Ramirez, Germ, Shakewell, and Chetta. Other performers, like Slowthai, Chief Keef, and Yung Gravy were also present within some dates of the tour.


title: Turnstile (band)

text: On August 27, 2021, the band's third full-length album, "Glow On", was released, debuting at No. 30 on the Billboard 200. The album was met with universal acclaim from critics, and "Rolling Stone" listed "Glow On" at No. 8 on its list of The Best 50 Albums of 2021. The album would also get three Grammy Award nominations.


title: Turnstile (band)

text: In March 2022, it was announced that the band would support My Chemical Romance on select dates of their North American Reunion Tour.


title: Turnstile (band)

text: On August 12, 2022, the band announced via Instagram that they had parted ways with guitarist Brady Ebert, a couple of months ahead of their fall headlining tour. Before this, Ebert had notably been absent from the band's tours, and had been replaced by Greg Cerwonka of Take Offense.


title: Turnstile (band)

text: On October 11, 2022, it was announced that the band would support Blink-182 on the North American leg of their upcoming 2023 global tour.


title: Turnstile (band)

text: On November 15, 2022, it was announced that Turnstile was nominated for three Grammy Awards: Holiday was nominated for Best Rock Performance, and Blackout was nominated for both Best Rock Song and Best Metal Performance.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: The Chengdu J-7 (Chinese: 歼-7; third generation export version F-7; NATO reporting name: Fishcan) is a People's Republic of China fighter aircraft. It is a license-built version of the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, and thus shares many similarities with the MiG-21. The aircraft is armed with short-range, infrared homing air-to-air missiles and mainly designed for short range air-to-air combat. The aircraft is also used for close air support.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: On 30 March 1962, the Soviet Union and China signed a technology transference arrangement pertaining to the MiG-21. Allegedly, while various kits, components, completed aircraft and associated documents were delivered to the Shenyang Aircraft Factory, the design documentation was incomplete, and Chinese designers made efforts to reverse engineer the aircraft. While the two aircraft are greatly similar, areas of difference include the hydraulic systems and internal fuel arrangements. During March 1964, domestic production of the J-7 reportedly commenced at the Shenyang Aircraft Factory, but due to various factors including the Cultural Revolution, mass production was only truly achieved during the 1980s. Numerous models of the J-7 were developed, featuring improvements in areas such as the armament, avionics, and wing design.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: The aircraft is principally operated by the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), but numerous international operators have bought their own J-7s. Outside of China, the largest operator of the J-7 is the Pakistan Air Force. Later generation Chinese aircraft, such as the Shenyang J-8 interceptor, were developed with the lessons learned from the J-7 programme. Several nations, including Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Sri Lanka, deployed the type in offensive roles.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: In 2013, production of the J-7 was terminated after the delivery of 16 F-7BGI to the Bangladesh Air Force. Newer fighter aircraft, such as the JF-17 Thunder multirole fighter, have succeeded it in the export market. To date, large numbers of J-7s remain in service with both the PLAAF and multiple export customers.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: In the 1950s and early 1960s, the Soviet Union shared a large proportion of its conventional weapons technology with its neighbor, the People's Republic of China. One such example is the MiG-19, which was locally produced by China as the Shenyang J-6 from as early as 1958. During the same decade, the even more capable MiG-21 had been developed by the Soviets; this fighter, being inexpensive but fast, suited the strategy of forming large groups of 'people's fighters' to overcome the technological advantages of Western aircraft. However, the Sino-Soviet split abruptly ended initial cooperation efforts; between 28 July 28 and 1 September 1960, the Soviet Union withdrew its advisers from China, resulting in the J-7 project coming to a halt in China.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: During February 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev unexpectedly wrote to Mao Zedong to inform him that the Soviet Union was willing to transfer MiG-21 technology to China, and he asked the Chinese to promptly send their representatives to the Soviet Union to discuss arrangements. The Chinese viewed this offer as a Soviet gesture to make peace, while suspicious, they were nonetheless eager to take up the Soviet offer of an aircraft deal. A delegation headed by General Liu Yalou, the commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and himself a Soviet military academy graduate, was dispatched to Moscow immediately; the Chinese delegation was given three days to visit the MiG-21's production facility, which was previously off-limits to foreigners. The visit's authorization was personally given by Nikita Khrushchev, and on 30 March 1962, the technology transfer deal was signed.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: However, given the state of political relations between the two countries, the Chinese were not optimistic about gaining the technology, and allegedly made preparations to reverse engineer the aircraft. Russian sources state that several complete MiG-21s were sent to China, flown by Soviet pilots, while MiG-21Fs in kit form was also sent along with parts and technical documents. As the Chinese had expected, following the delivery of kits, parts and documents to Shenyang Aircraft Factory five months after the deal was signed, it was discovered that some technical documents provided by the Soviets were incomplete and that several parts could not be used.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: China set about to engineer the aircraft for local production; in doing so, they successfully solved 249 major issues and reproduced eight major technical documents that were not provided by the Soviet Union. One of the major flaws was with the hydraulic systems, which grounded up to 70% of some squadron's aircraft until upgrades were made. Another major modification was to the fuel storage, increasing the aircraft's stability. The MiG-21 carries most of its fuel in the forward fuselage, causing the center of gravity to shift and become unstable after about 45 minutes of operation. The J-7 has redesigned fuel tanks and significantly larger drop tanks in order to maintain a more stable center of gravity, and therefore better Longitudinal static stability. The cockpit was also revised to replace the Soviet ejection seat, which was deemed to be unacceptable. The forward opening canopy was replaced by a standard rear-hinged canopy, which was jettisoned prior to ejection. The re-engineering effort was largely successful, as the Chinese-built J-7 showed only minor differences in design and performance from the original MiG-21.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: During March 1964, domestic production of the J-7 reportedly commenced at the Shenyang Aircraft Factory. However, mass production efforts were severely hindered by an unexpected social and economic problem—the Cultural Revolution—that resulted in poor initial quality and slow progress. Achieving full domestic production had involved not only the local assembly of the aircraft itself, but the production of its various components and systems, including its turbojet powerplant. As a consequence, full-scale production of the J-7 was only truly achieved during the 1980s, by which time the original aircraft design was showing its age. By the 1980s, quantity production of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter was well underway in the United States; this relatively-affordable single-engined western fighter was considerably more agile than the J-7, even with the former carrying a greater payload.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: In 1987, the J-7E was released, having a greatly improved wing, among other improvements. It was roughly 45% more maneuverable, and its takeoff and landing performance was greatly increased. It was also equipped with a helmet mounted sight, as well as being the first MiG-21 variant to be equipped with HOTAS and a multipurpose display. Many of the electronic components were British in origin, such as the gun sight and the multi purpose display. The aircraft is capable of using PL-8/Python 3 missiles with both the helmet mounted sight or the radar fire control, but the two are not connected. The pilot may use only one system at a time.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: In the mid 1980s, Pakistan requested an aircraft with greater radar capabilities. Both the standard radar and the British Marconi radar were plagued by ground clutter, but China did not have any experience with air to ground radar at the time. In 1984, Pakistan provided assistance by having their American-trained F-16 pilots provide training on proper ground attack radar operation, which enabled the Chinese to develop the J-7M. In the late 1980s, the J-7MP and J-7PG introduced significant upgrades to the radar system by converting to an Italian FIAR Grifo-7 radar, more than tripled the effective range of the radar, as well as greatly increased the maximum angle for target detection.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: The J-7 only reached its Soviet-designed capabilities in the mid 1980s. Being relatively affordable, it was widely exported as the F-7, often with Western systems incorporated, such as to Pakistan. There are over 20 different export variants of the J-7, some of which are equipped to use European weaponry, such as French R.550 Magic missiles. The Discovery Channel's "Wings Over The Red Star" series claims that the Chinese intercepted several Soviet MiG-21s en route to North Vietnam (during the Vietnam War), but these aircraft did not perform in a manner consistent with their original specifications, suggesting that the Chinese actually intercepted down-rated aircraft that were intended for export, rather than fully capable production aircraft. For this reason, the Chinese had to re-engineer the intercepted MiG-21 airframes in order to achieve their original capabilities. China later developed the Shenyang J-8 based both on the expertise gained by the program, and by utilizing the incomplete technical information acquired from the Soviet Ye-152 developmental jet.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: During May 2013, production of the J-7 was permanently terminated, bringing to a close a period of manufacturing stretching almost 50 years.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: During August 2005, Namibia ordered 12 F-7NMs for its air force; Chinese sources reported the delivery in November 2006. The model procured is believed to be a variation of the F-7PG acquired by Pakistan with Grifo MG radar.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: In early 2008, Nigeria procured 12 F-7NI fighters and three FT-7NI trainers to replace its existing inventory of MiG-21 fighters. On 20 September 2018, one pilot was killed after two Nigerian F-7Ni aircraft crashed into Katamkpe Hill, Abuja while rehearsing for an aerial display to mark Nigeria's 58th Independence Anniversary celebrations.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: During the lengthy Second Sudanese Civil War, Sudan procured a number of F-7s. In November 1993, it was reported that Iran had allegedly financed Sudan's purchase of around 20 Chinese ground-attack aircraft, having pledged $17 million in financial aid to the Sudanese government and arranged for $300 million in Chinese arms to be delivered to the Sudanese Army.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: The Tanzanian Air Force deployed its F-7As during the Uganda–Tanzania War against Uganda and Libya, fought between 1978 and 1979. Forming a major component of Tanzania's combat aircraft, the type facilitated the defeat of the nominally stronger Uganda Army Air Force during the air campaign.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: Due to their very limited operational capabilities in the absence of ground support from radars, Zimbabwean F-7s were never used in combat operations during the Second Congo War. Their only deployment in the DR Congo took place in January 2001, when four aircraft were to participate in the burial ceremony for the assassinated president, Laurent-Désiré Kabila. During the journey from Zimbabwe to Kinshasa, one of them crashed, with its pilot ejecting safely. Moreover, on the return trip, two aircraft were damaged on landing, although both were repaired and returned to service.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: The deployment of F-7As near the country's northern border successfully checked Yugoslav incursions into Albanian airspace.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: Throughout the mid-1990s, the PLAAF began to replace its J-7B inventory with the substantially redesigned and improved J-7E variant. The wings of the J-7E have a new "double delta" design offering improved aerodynamics and increased fuel capacity, and the J-7E also features a more powerful engine and improved avionics. The newest version of the J-7, the J-7G, entered service with the PLAAF in 2003.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: During the 1990s, Myanmar reportedly established four squadrons of F-7s, which have been primarily used for air defense duties. Technical difficulties have reportedly plagued the fleet early on, and their ground-attack performance was not deemed sufficient. Since then, Myanmar has improved the F-7 fleet's capabilities via a modernisation programme. A series of upgrades were allegedly performed by a combination of Chinese and Israeli enterprises; although confirmed details on the arrangements have remained sparse, changes reportedly include the adoption of various Israeli-built missiles.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: During the 1980s, Iran procured a number of F-7s, despite Chinese officials issuing denials of directly supplying military equipment to the country at that time. Despite its use as a frontline fighter, the type has not been involved in any known combat actions. By the 21st century, it was largely relegated to use as a trainer aircraft. The F-7 has also been used as a flying test bed for various indigenous technologies. In the recent years, maintaining the fleet's operational status has reportedly become difficult. This is caused by the limited availability of spare parts, despite efforts by domestic industries to fill in, but also by the age of the airframes, which have accumulated excessive numbers of flight hours.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: The Bangladeshi Air Force currently operates FT-7MB Airguards, and F-7BG and F-7BGI interceptors. The 16 F-7BGIs of the Bangladesh Air Force entered service in 2013. The F-7BGI is one of the most advanced variants, and the last production model of the F-7/J-7 family.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: Pakistan has been the largest non-Chinese operator of the F-7, having procured around 120 F-7P and 60 F-7PG to equip the Pakistan Air Force. During the 1980s, seeking to increase the effectiveness of its F-7 fleet, Pakistan engaged in Project Sabre II, a design study involving both China and the US aircraft manufacturer Grumman, aimed at redesigning and upgrading the F-7; however, by 1989, this effort was abandoned largely as a consequence of economic sanctions having been imposed by the US. That same year, China and Grumman started a new design study to develop the Super 7, another redesign of the F-7. Grumman left the project when sanctions were placed on China following the political fallout from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. During 1991, another initiative was launched; originally known as the Fighter China project, this would eventually result in the JF-17 Thunder multirole fighter.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: Pakistan has long planned to replace its entire F-7 fleet, along with various other fighters in its inventory, with JF-17s, which was principally developed in order to satisfy a requirement issued by the Pakistan Air Force for an affordable and modern combat aircraft.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: In 1991, the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) was looking for a jet attack aircraft to provide fast close air support to its army. With western countries refusing to sell attack aircraft, the Government of Sri Lanka approached China for the purchase of several Nanchang Q-5s, which had the range and payload capacity needed by the SLAF, and was already used by Pakistan and Bangladesh. Due to pressure from the west, China agreed to sell a small number of F-7BS fighters which allowed the SLAF to restore is fast jet capabilities that were lost a decade back. Due to the type's comparative lack of endurance and payload, the SLAF has periodically used its F-7s for pilot training purposes. Early in 2008, the air force received six more advanced F-7Gs, to use primarily as interceptors. All of the F-7Gs, F-7BS' and FT-7s are flown by the No 5 Jet Squadron.


title: Chengdu J-7

text: The SLAF has repeatedly deployed its F-7BS to conduct ground-attack missions against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Sri Lankan officials reported that on 9 September 2008, three F-7s were scrambled after two rebel-flown Zlín-143s were detected by a ground radar. Two F-7s were sent to bomb two rebel airstrips in the Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi areas, while the third reportedly intercepted one Zlín-143. According to the Sri Lankan government, the rebel-flown aircraft was shot down by the chasing F-7G using an air-to-air missile, as it was returning to Mullaitivu after a bombing run against Vavuniya Airport.


title: K/DA

text: K/DA is a virtual K-pop girl group consisting of four themed versions of "League of Legends" characters Ahri, Akali, Evelynn and Kai'Sa. (G)I-dle members Miyeon and Soyeon as well as American singers Madison Beer and Jaira Burns provide the voices of Ahri, Akali, Evelynn, and Kai'Sa, respectively, though the characters have also been voiced by other artists.


title: K/DA

text: K/DA was developed by Riot Games, the company behind "League of Legends", and was unveiled at the 2018 League of Legends World Championship with an augmented reality live performance of their debut single, "Pop/Stars". A music video of the song uploaded to YouTube subsequently went viral, surpassing 100 million views in one month, reaching 525 million views as of August 2022, and topping "Billboard"s World Digital Song Sales chart. In 2020, K/DA released their debut five-track EP "All Out", which includes the pre-release single "The Baddest" and the lead single "More". In 2022, "Pop/Stars" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), making K/DA and (G)I-dle the first K-pop girl groups in history to achieve this milestone.


title: K/DA

text: The conception of K/DA was based on Riot's expressed desire to create more musical content, with the characters chosen based on K-pop archetypes. The group was created to promote the "League" World Championship and to sell in-game K/DA skins of the characters in "League of Legends". K/DA has subsequently achieved significant popularity both within and beyond the "League of Legends" fandom and received critical acclaim, particularly for their performance during the World Championship and the impact of gaming on the music scene.


title: K/DA

text: K/DA was unveiled in the 2018 League of Legends World Championship Opening Ceremony in Incheon on November 3, 2018, with the release of their debut single "Pop/Stars". It is a bilingual song with both K-pop and American pop influences, with vocals in English by Beer and Burns, and in both English and Korean by Soyeon and Miyeon. During the ceremony, Beer, Burns, Miyeon and Soyeon performed "Pop/Stars" on-stage, whilst augmented reality versions of the characters they voiced sang and danced alongside them. The augmented reality versions of the characters could perform acts a human could not achieve, such as Ahri flying onto the stage, whilst a human singer has "a certain raw human element" that can't yet be captured by a virtual performer.


title: K/DA

text: Viranda Tantula, the creative lead on the project, wrote that "we went into this really wanting to make [the ceremony] a dope 'League' moment for players – albeit one where the fantasy of the champs being in the real world played out in an authentic manner that could live alongside others in their verticals (i.e. song had to be able to stand up to other pop songs, performance had to stand up to other performances, etc.)." The official music video for the song was released on YouTube on the same day.


title: K/DA

text: According to Sebastien Najand, who composed "Pop/Stars", an all-English demo was trialled at first, followed by a version with significantly more Korean. Ultimately, Najand said that "we wanted to make it a blend of western pop and K-Pop". Patrick Morales, the creative lead behind the "Pop/Stars" music video, said that he wanted K/DA to exist "somewhere between fantasy and reality". The team was initially uncertain of the type of music that would be most suitable for the group, due to amount of variety within the pop music genre. They eventually decided against a cuter, more-idol group based theme in favour of something "modern and edgy" that combines a "bit of street style with a handcrafted feel."


title: K/DA

text: K/DA skins of Ahri, Akali, Evelynn and Kai'Sa, depicting the characters as how they appear in the band, are available for purchase in "League of Legends". Skins in the game are for cosmetic purposes only, and the K/DA skins cost 1350 RP (RP is the League of Legends in-game currency) which costs around US$10 to purchase. The Prestige skins were available by completing special missions in-game, but can now only be acquired through skin rerolls or purchased with mythic essence when they are "unvaulted". The popularity of K/DA in 2018 led Riot to release an EP consisting of five songs, new skins inspired on its artwork, and music videos in 2020.


title: K/DA

text: Similar to "League of Legends", K/DA appear in the spin-off game "" as skins. It is also noticeable that the game receive the champions into the game the same day when the All Out skins come out in October 2020.


title: K/DA

text: In "Legends of Runeterra", K/DA All Out was released as special board that can play 3 of their songs. Also, each member and Seraphine also appear as unique cards in the card game.


title: K/DA

text: In "Teamfight Tactics", K/DA members were the insipration for the Little Legends, skins for the controllable avatar in the game.


title: K/DA

text: Three K/DA songs are featured on Ubisoft's "Just Dance" series. "Drum Go Dum" is featured in "Just Dance 2021" as a free limited-time gift, and was later released to the "Unlimited" subscription service. The in-game routine uses some moves from the official choreography by Bailey Sok, performed by coaches resembling the K/DA members in their "All Out" outfits. For "Just Dance 2022", "Pop/Stars" is featured in the main tracklist, with the coaches bearing the outfits from the original music video. "More" is featured in "Just Dance 2023 Edition" with two different routines, one with the coaches in their "All Out" outfits and the other with a coach resembling Seraphine in her bedroom backdrop from the original music video.


title: K/DA

text: The name "K/DA" is an in-game term in "League of Legends" that refers to a player's kills, deaths, and assists. The creation of K/DA was based in part on the desire of Riot Games, "League"s developers to "see their company more as a full-fledged music label in the future". Toa Dunn, head of Riot's music division, claimed in an interview with "Variety" that "[K/DA] was the most involved music project we've ever done".


title: K/DA

text: According to Tantula, "We believe there's a huge overlap between "League of Legends", esports overall and the music industry", and as a result, they invested "in building [their] internal music team with both an artist focused creative studio full of composers, songwriters and producers, as well as people who can perform all the services that you would see at a standard music label, such as distribution, A&R and promo." Patrick Morales (creative lead behind the "Pop/Stars" music video), Janelle Jimenez (the lead designer behind the K/DA skins) and Toa Dunn (the head of the Riot Music Group) were the main creators of K/DA. The dances were choreographed by Ellen Kim, Bailey Sok, Stevie Doré and Eileen Harman. 4Minute also served as a source of inspiration behind K/DA. For singing "Pop/Stars", Madison Beer was brought on early, and Jaira Burns followed. As many at Riot were fans of (G)I-dle and liked "the attitude they brought to the song, especially the rap section", Miyeon and Soyeon were brought on as well.


title: K/DA

text: The characters were chosen from "League of Legends" character list based on whether players would realistically see them as "popstars". According to Patrick Morales, Ahri was the first character to be chosen for K/DA, due to her previous appearances in "League of Legends"-related music as "Pop Star Ahri" back in 2013. Subsequently, with Ahri being a "beautiful, charming leader"-type character, Evelynn was chosen to contrast to that, by "being the wild and provocative diva of the group". As Akali's character was being reworked at the time, Morales included her into the band as he liked the "rebellious spirit" of the character. Kai'Sa was included due to a recommendation from skins lead Janelle Jimenez, as she wanted a "strong but silent loner who expressed herself on stage through her movements".


title: K/DA

text: The team also wanted diversity in the characters chosen, where each character has a well-defined archetype that allows viewers to easily identify their favourite K/DA member. According to Jimenez, "Pop groups tend to have a formula where each member has their own unique personality and style. I approached this like looking at classic anime team where you have the leader, the shy one, the feisty one, etc." Furthermore, they also wanted to ensure that the characters chosen had differing roles in the game. "Pop/Stars" was written with these archetypes in mind. For example, a rap section was included in the song as Akali was envisioned to be the rapper, and the pre-chorus was designed to be sung by Ahri.


title: K/DA

text: K/DA has achieved significant popularity both within and beyond the "League of Legends" community. Writing for Dot Esports, Aaron Mickunas noted that "It didn't take long for K/DA [...] to completely flood the game's fan community. The group's members have been promoted throughout Reddit, Twitter, the game's forums, and Universe, "League of Legends"' lore platform." "Pop/Stars" reached number 1 on "Billboard"s World Digital Song Sales chart in November 2018, making K/DA the fourth K-pop girl group to do so, and only the fifth female act overall, leading Jeff Benjamin of "Billboard" to write that "all signs point to Esports very possibly shaping what can make a hit song in the future." The song sold 9,000 copies in its opening week, according to Nielsen Music. It also ranked 10th on the Pop Digital Song Sales chart and 30th on Digital Song Sales overall, as well as charting first on Apple Music's K-Pop charts and fifth for pop music overall.


title: K/DA

text: The "Pop/Stars" music video received 5 million views within 24 hours of its upload to YouTube, breaking the record at the time for the most viewed K-Pop debut group music video within 24 hours of publishing, a record previously held by "La Vie en Rose" by South Korean-Japanese girl group Iz*One. The video continued to garner views, receiving over 13 million views within 48 hours, when the video trended on the site. On April 2, 2019, the music video reached 200 million views. Benjamin Pu of NBC News wrote that "The song's popularity highlights just how much of a cultural force video games have become in South Korea and around the world."


title: K/DA

text: K/DA's popularity has resulted in a large amount of fanart being created of the group. This includes a large amount of art featuring Akali and Evelynn, as the two were paired up in the "Pop/Stars" music video, with Akali being the most popular. Cosplay of the characters has also been popular, including when Cloud9's "League of Legends" esports team cosplayed as the K/DA characters in April 2019. Professional "League" player Sneaky also cosplayed as K/DA Kai'Sa, and after he posted images of the cosplay on Twitter, the tweets received over 4,500 retweets and 23,700 likes within two days. Shannon Liao of "The Verge" wrote that through K/DA, "Riot Games has tapped into an audience bigger than the typical League fan base", with ex-players and new players joining the game "because the ["Pop/Stars"] video looks so cool." Riot's Patrick Morales agreed, noting K/DA's impact goes beyond just that of "League" fandom, with "one recurring comment that I tend to see on YouTube and social media about the music video is that they're "normally not into "League"/K-pop/gaming, but K/DA is the exception".


title: K/DA

text: Steven Asarch of "Newsweek" compared K/DA to the K-pop girl group Blackpink. Lucas Lockyer of "Dazed" called K/DA a mix of "Girls Generation meets Little Mix and Hatsune Miku" and asked if the band was "leading the virtual pop future", where "what was essentially some creative promotional marketing could be the forefront of an interesting new branch of pop [...] Perhaps with developed AR technology, the characters could tour in hologram form without the physical appearance of the singers behind them." When asked about whether this would be possible with a holographic concert or augmented reality technology Viranda Tantula replied that "that could be super fun. But before we'd even consider that, we'd realistically want to make sure there was enough quality music to support it, and a good reason for us, a games company and esports league, to try that out." "Pop/Stars" was also added as a song to the virtual reality rhythm game "Beat Saber" as a free download.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: After attending the , Chirac began his career as a high-level civil servant, entering politics shortly thereafter. Chirac occupied various senior positions, including Minister of Agriculture and Minister of the Interior. In 1981 and 1988, he unsuccessfully ran for president as the standard-bearer for the conservative Gaullist party Rally for the Republic. Chirac's internal policies initially included lower tax rates, the removal of price controls, strong punishment for crime and terrorism, and business privatisation. After pursuing these policies in his second term as prime minister, he changed his views. He argued for different economic policies and was elected president in 1995, with 52.6% of the vote in the second round, beating Socialist Lionel Jospin, after campaigning on a platform of healing the "social rift" (. Chirac's economic policies, based on , allowing for state-directed investment, stood in opposition to the policies of the United Kingdom under the ministries of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, which Chirac described as "Anglo-Saxon ultraliberalism".


title: Jacques Chirac

text: He was also known for his stand against the American-led invasion of Iraq, his recognition of the collaborationist French Government's role in deporting Jews, and his reduction of the presidential term from 7 years to 5 through a referendum in 2000. At the 2002 French presidential election, he won 82.2% of the vote in the second round against the far-right candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen, and was the last president to be re-elected until 2022. During his second term, he had a very low approval rating and was considered one of the least popular presidents in modern French political history.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: In 2011, the Paris court declared Chirac guilty of diverting public funds and abusing public confidence, giving him a two-year suspended prison sentence.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Jacques René Chirac was born on 29 November 1932 in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. He was the son of Abel François Marie Chirac (1898–1968), a successful executive for an aircraft company, and Marie-Louise Valette (1902–1973), a housewife. His grandparents were all teachers from in . His great-grandparents on both sides were peasants in the rural south-western region of the .


title: Jacques Chirac

text: According to Chirac, his name "originates from the , that of the troubadours, therefore that of poetry". He was a Catholic.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac was an only child (his elder sister, Jacqueline, died in infancy nearly ten years before his birth). He was educated in Paris at the , a private school. He then attended the and the . After his , behind his father's back he went off to serve for three months as a sailor on a coal-transport.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac played rugby union for Brive's youth team, and also played at university level. He played no. 8 and second row. At age 18, his ambition was to become a ship's captain.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: At age 16, Chirac wanted to learn Sanskrit and found a White Russian Sanskrit teacher in Paris who ended up teaching him Russian; by age 17 Chirac was almost fluent in Russian. Inspired by Charles de Gaulle, Chirac started to pursue a civil service career in the 1950s. During this period, he joined the French Communist Party, sold copies of , and took part in meetings of a communist cell. In 1950, he signed the Soviet-inspired Stockholm Appeal for the abolition of nuclear weapons – which led him to be questioned when he applied for his first visa to the United States.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: In 1953, after graduating from the , he attended a non-credit course at Harvard University's summer school, before entering the , which trains France's top civil servants, in 1957.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac trained as a reserve military officer in armoured cavalry at Saumur. He then volunteered to fight in the Algerian War, using personal connections to be sent despite the reservations of his superiors. His superiors did not want to make him an officer because they suspected he had communist leanings. In 1965, he became an auditor in the Court of Auditors.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: In April 1962, Chirac was appointed head of the personal staff of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou. This appointment launched Chirac's political career. Pompidou considered Chirac his protégé, and referred to him as "my bulldozer" for his skill at getting things done. The nickname caught on in French political circles, where it also referred to his abrasive manner. As late as the 1988 presidential election, Chirac maintained this reputation.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: At Pompidou's suggestion, Chirac ran as a Gaullist for a seat in the National Assembly in 1967. He was elected deputy for his home Corrèze , a stronghold of the left. This surprising victory in the context of a Gaullist ebb permitted him to enter the government as Minister of Social Affairs. Although Chirac was well-situated in de Gaulle's entourage, being related by marriage to the general's sole companion at the time of the Appeal of 18 June 1940, he was more of a "Pompidolian" than a "Gaullist". When student and worker unrest rocked France in May 1968, Chirac played a central role in negotiating a truce. Then, as state secretary of economy (1968–1971), he worked closely with Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who headed the ministry of economy and finance.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: After some months in the ministry for Relations with Parliament, Chirac's first high-level post came in 1972 when he became Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development under Pompidou, who had been elected president in 1969, after de Gaulle retired. Chirac quickly earned a reputation as a champion of French farmers' interests, and first attracted international attention when he assailed U.S., West German, and European Commission agricultural policies which conflicted with French interests.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: On 27 February 1974, after the resignation of Raymond Marcellin, Chirac was appointed Minister of the Interior. On 21 March 1974, he cancelled the SAFARI project due to privacy concerns after its existence was revealed by . From March 1974, he was entrusted by President Pompidou with preparations for the presidential election then scheduled for 1976. These elections were moved forward because of Pompidou's sudden death on 2 April 1974.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac vainly attempted to rally Gaullists behind Prime Minister Pierre Messmer. Jacques Chaban-Delmas announced his candidacy in spite of the disapproval of the "Pompidolians". Chirac and others published the "call of the 43" in favour of Giscard d'Estaing, the leader of the non-Gaullist part of the parliamentary majority. Giscard d'Estaing was elected as Pompidou's successor after France's most competitive election campaign in years. In return, the new president chose Chirac to lead the cabinet.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: When Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became president, he nominated Chirac as prime minister on 27 May 1974, to reconcile the "Giscardian" and "non-Giscardian" factions of the parliamentary majority. At the age of 41, Chirac stood out as the very model of the ('young wolves') of French politics, but he was faced with the hostility of the "Barons of Gaullism" who considered him a traitor for his role during the previous presidential campaign. In December 1974, he took the lead of the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR) against the will of its more senior personalities.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: As prime minister, Chirac quickly set about persuading the Gaullists that, despite the social reforms proposed by President Giscard, the basic tenets of Gaullism, such as national and European independence, would be retained. Chirac was advised by Pierre Juillet and Marie-France Garaud, two former advisers of Pompidou. These two organised the campaign against Chaban-Delmas in 1974. They advocated a clash with Giscard d'Estaing because they thought his policy bewildered the conservative electorate.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Citing Giscard's unwillingness to give him authority, Chirac resigned as prime minister in 1976. He proceeded to build up his political base among France's several conservative parties, with a goal of reconstituting the Gaullist UDR into a Neo-Gaullist group, the Rally for the Republic (RPR). Chirac's first tenure as prime minister was also an arguably progressive one, with improvements in both the minimum wage and the social welfare system carried out during the course of his premiership.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: After his departure from the cabinet, Chirac wanted to gain the leadership of the political right, to gain the French presidency in the future. The RPR was conceived as an electoral machine against President Giscard d'Estaing. Paradoxically, Chirac benefited from Giscard's decision to create the office of mayor in Paris, which had been in abeyance since the 1871 Commune, because the leaders of the Third Republic (1871–1940) feared that having municipal control of the capital would give the mayor too much power. In 1977, Chirac stood as a candidate against Michel d'Ornano, a close friend of the president, and he won. As mayor of Paris, Chirac's political influence grew. He held this post until 1995.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac supporters point out that, as mayor, he provided programmes to help the elderly, people with disabilities, and single mothers, and introduced the street-cleaning Motocrotte, while providing incentives for businesses to stay in Paris. His opponents contend that he installed "clientelist" policies.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: In 1978, Chirac attacked the pro-European policy of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (VGE), and made a nationalist turn with the December 1978 Call of Cochin, initiated by his counsellors Marie-France Garaud and , which had first been called by Pompidou. Hospitalised in after a car crash, he declared that "as always about the drooping of France, the pro-foreign party acts with its peaceable and reassuring voice". He appointed Yvan Blot, an intellectual who would later join the National Front, as director of his campaigns for the 1979 European election.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: After the poor results of the election, Chirac broke with Garaud and Juillet. Vexed Marie-France Garaud stated: "We thought Chirac was made of the same marble of which statues are carved in, we perceive he's of the same faience bidets are made of." His rivalry with Giscard d'Estaing intensified. Although it has been often interpreted by historians as the struggle between two rival French right-wing families (the Bonapartists, represented by Chirac, and the Orleanists, represented by VGE), both figures in fact were members of the liberal, Orleanist tradition, according to historian Alain-Gérard Slama. But the eviction of the Gaullist barons and of President Giscard d'Estaing convinced Chirac to assume a strong neo-Gaullist stance.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac made his first run for president against Giscard d'Estaing in the 1981 election, thus splitting the centre-right vote. He was eliminated in the first round with 18% of the vote. He reluctantly supported Giscard in the second round. He refused to give instructions to the RPR voters but said that he supported the incumbent president "in a private capacity", which was interpreted as almost "de facto" support of the Socialist Party's (PS) candidate, François Mitterrand, who was elected by a broad majority.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Giscard has always blamed Chirac for his defeat. He was told by Mitterrand, before his death, that the latter had dined with Chirac before the election. Chirac told the Socialist candidate that he wanted to "get rid of Giscard". In his memoirs, Giscard wrote that between the two rounds, he phoned the RPR headquarters. He passed himself off, as a right-wing voter, by changing his voice. The RPR employee advised him "certainly do not vote Giscard!" After 1981, the relationship between the two men became tense, with Giscard, even though he had been in the same government coalition as Chirac, criticising Chirac's actions openly.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: After the May 1981 presidential election, the right also lost the subsequent legislative election that year. However, as Giscard had been knocked out, Chirac appeared as the principal leader of the right-wing opposition. Due to his attacks against the economic policy of the Socialist government, he gradually aligned himself with prevailing economically liberal opinion, even though it did not correspond with Gaullist doctrine. While the far-right National Front grew, taking advantage of the proportional representation electoral system which had been introduced for the 1986 legislative elections, he signed an electoral pact with the Giscardian (and more or less Christian Democratic) party Union for French Democracy (UDF).


title: Jacques Chirac

text: When the RPR/UDF right-wing coalition won a slight majority in the National Assembly in the 1986 election, Mitterrand (PS) appointed Chirac prime minister (though many in Mitterrand's inner circle lobbied him to choose Jacques Chaban-Delmas instead). This unprecedented power-sharing arrangement, known as cohabitation, gave Chirac the lead in domestic affairs. However, it is generally conceded that Mitterrand used the areas granted to the President of the Republic, or "reserved domains" of the Presidency, Defence and Foreign Affairs, to belittle his prime minister.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac's cabinet sold many public companies, renewing the liberalisation initiated under Laurent Fabius's Socialist government of 1984–1986, and abolished the solidarity tax on wealth (ISF), a symbolic tax on those with high value assets introduced by Mitterrand's government. Elsewhere, the plan for university reform (plan Devaquet) caused a crisis in 1986 when a student called Malik Oussekine was killed by the police, leading to massive demonstrations and the proposal's withdrawal. It has been said during other student crises that this event strongly affected Jacques Chirac, who was afterwards careful about possible police violence during such demonstrations (e.g., maybe explaining part of the decision to "promulgate without applying" the First Employment Contract (CPE) after large student demonstrations against it).


title: Jacques Chirac

text: One of his first acts concerning foreign policy was to call back Jacques Foccart (1913–1997), who had been de Gaulle's and his successors' leading counsellor for African matters, called by journalist Stephen Smith the "father of all "networks" on the continent, at the time [in 1986] aged 72." Foccart, who had also co-founded the Gaullist SAC militia (dissolved by Mitterrand in 1982 after the Auriol massacre) along with Charles Pasqua, and who was a key component of the system, was again called to the Elysée Palace when Chirac won the 1995 presidential election. Furthermore, confronted by anti-colonialist movements in New Caledonia, Prime Minister Chirac ordered a military intervention against the separatists in the Ouvéa cave, leading to the deaths of 19 militants. He allegedly refused any alliance with Jean-Marie Le Pen's .


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac ran against Mitterrand for a second time in the 1988 election. He obtained 20 per cent of the vote in the first round, but lost the second with only 46 per cent. He resigned from the cabinet and the right lost the next legislative election.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: For the first time, his leadership over the RPR was challenged. Charles Pasqua and Philippe Séguin criticised his abandonment of Gaullist doctrines. On the right, a new generation of politicians, the "renovation men", accused Chirac and Giscard of being responsible for the electoral defeats. In 1992, convinced a candidate could not become president whilst advocating anti-European policies, he called for a "yes" vote in the referendum on the Maastricht Treaty, against the opinion of Pasqua, Séguin and a majority of the RPR voters, who chose to vote "no".


title: Jacques Chirac

text: While he still was mayor of Paris (since 1977), Chirac went to Abidjan ( where he supported President Houphouët-Boigny (1960–1993), although the latter was being called a "thief" by the local population. Chirac then declared that multipartism was a "kind of luxury".


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Nevertheless, the right won the 1993 legislative election. Chirac announced that he did not want to come back as prime minister as his previous term had ended with his unsuccessful run for the presidency against Mitterrand who was still president at this point.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac instead suggested the appointment of Edouard Balladur, who had promised that he would not run for the presidency against Chirac in 1995. However, benefiting from positive polls, Balladur decided to be a presidential candidate, with the support of a majority of right-wing politicians. Balladur broke from Chirac along with a number of friends and allies, including Charles Pasqua, Nicolas Sarkozy, etc., who supported his candidacy. A small group of would remain with Chirac, including Alain Juppé and Jean-Louis Debré. When Nicolas Sarkozy became president in 2007, Juppé was one of the few to serve in François Fillon's government.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: During the 1995 presidential campaign, Chirac criticised the "sole thought" ( of neoliberalism represented by his challenger on the right and promised to reduce the "social fracture", placing himself more to the centre and thus forcing Balladur to radicalise himself. Ultimately, he obtained more votes than Balladur in the first round (20.8 per cent), and then defeated the Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin in the second round (52.6 per cent).


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac was elected on a platform of tax cuts and job programmes, but his policies did little to ease the labour strikes during his first months in office. On the domestic front, neo-liberal economic austerity measures introduced by Chirac and his conservative prime minister Alain Juppé, including budgetary cutbacks, proved highly unpopular. At about the same time, it became apparent that Juppé and others had obtained preferential conditions for public housing, as well as other perks. At the year's end Chirac faced major workers' strikes which turned, in November–December 1995, into a general strike, one of the largest since May 1968. The demonstrations were largely pitted against Juppé's plan for pension reform, and ultimately led to his dismissal.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Shortly after taking office, Chiracundaunted by international protests by environmental groupsinsisted upon the resumption of nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia in 1995, a few months before signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Reacting to criticism, Chirac said, "You only have to look back at 1935...There were people then who were against France arming itself, and look what happened." On 1 February 1996, Chirac announced that France had ended "once and for all" its nuclear testing and intended to accede to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Elected as President of the Republic, he refused to discuss the existence of French military bases in Africa, despite requests by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The French Army thus remained in Côte d'Ivoire as well as in Omar Bongo's Gabon.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Prior to 1995, the French government had maintained that the French Republic had been dismantled when Philippe Pétain instituted a new French State during World War II and that the Republic had been re-established when the war was over. It was not for France, therefore, to apologise for the roundup of Jews for deportation that happened while the Republic had not existed and was carried out by a state, Vichy France, which it did not recognise. President François Mitterrand had reiterated this position: "The Republic had nothing to do with this. I do not believe France is responsible," he said in September 1994.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac was the first president of France to take responsibility for the deportation of Jews during the Vichy regime. In a speech made on 16 July 1995 at the site of the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, where 13,000 Jews had been held for deportation to concentration camps in July 1942, Chirac said, "France, on that day, committed the irreparable". Those responsible for the roundup were "4,500 policemen and gendarmes, French, under the authority of their leaders [who] obeyed the demands of the Nazis. ... the criminal folly of the occupiers was seconded by the French, by the French State".


title: Jacques Chirac

text: In 1997, Chirac dissolved parliament for early legislative elections in a gamble designed to bolster support for his conservative economic program. But instead, it created an uproar, and his power was weakened by the subsequent backlash. The Socialist Party (PS), joined by other parties on the left, soundly defeated Chirac's conservative allies, forcing Chirac into a new period of cohabitation with Jospin as prime minister (1997–2002), which lasted five years.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Cohabitation significantly weakened the power of Chirac's presidency. The French president, by a constitutional convention, only controls foreign and military policy— and even then, allocation of funding is under the control of Parliament and under the significant influence of the prime minister. Short of dissolving parliament and calling for new elections, the president was left with little power to influence public policy regarding crime, the economy, and public services. Chirac seized the occasion to periodically criticise Jospin's government.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: His position was weakened by scandals about the financing of RPR by Paris municipality. In 2001, the left, represented by Bertrand Delanoë (PS), won a majority on the city council of the capital. Jean Tiberi, Chirac's successor at the Paris city hall, was forced to resign after having been put under investigations in June 1999 on charges of in the HLMs of Paris affairs (related to the illegal financing of the RPR). Tiberi was finally expelled from the Rally for the Republic, Chirac's party, on 12 October 2000, declaring to the magazine on 18 November 2000: "Jacques Chirac is not my friend anymore".


title: Jacques Chirac

text: After the publication of the Jean-Claude Méry by on 22 September 2000, in which Jean-Claude Méry, in charge of the RPR's financing, directly accused Chirac of organising the network, and of having been physically present on 5 October 1986, when Méry gave in cash 5 million Francs, which came from companies who had benefited from state deals, to Michel Roussin, personal secretary ( of Chirac, Chirac refused to attend court in response to his summons by judge Eric Halphen, and the highest echelons of the French justice system declared that he could not be inculpated while in office.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: During his two terms, he increased the Elysee Palace's total budget by 105 per cent (to €90 million, whereas 20 years before it was the equivalent of €43.7 million). He doubled the number of presidential cars – to 61 cars and seven scooters in the Palace's garage. He hired 145 extra employees – the total number of the people he employed simultaneously was 963.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: As the Supreme Commander of the French armed forces, he reduced the military budget, as did his predecessor. At the end of his first term it accounted for three per cent of GDP. In 1997 the aircraft carrier "Clemenceau" was decommissioned after 37 years of service, with her sister ship "Foch" decommissioned in 2000 after 37 years of service, leaving the French Navy with no aircraft carrier until 2001, when "Charles de Gaulle" was commissioned. He also reduced expenditure on nuclear weapons and the French nuclear arsenal was reduced to include 350 warheads, compared to the Russian nuclear arsenal of 16,000 warheads. He also published a plan to reduce the number of fighters the French military had by 30.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: After François Mitterrand left office in 1995, Chirac began a rapprochement with NATO by joining the Military Committee and attempting to negotiate a return to the integrated military command, which failed after the French demand for parity with the United States went unmet. The possibility of a further attempt foundered after Chirac was forced into cohabitation with a Socialist-led cabinet between 1997 and 2002, then poor Franco-American relations after the French UN veto threat over Iraq in 2003 made transatlantic negotiations impossible.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: On 25 July 2000, as Chirac and the first lady were returning from the G7 Summit in Okinawa, Japan, they were placed in a dangerous situation by Air France Flight 4590 after they landed at Charles de Gaulle International Airport. The first couple were in an Air France Boeing 747 taxiing toward the terminal when the jet had to stop and wait for Flight 4590 to take off. The departing plane, an Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde, ran over a strip of metal on takeoff puncturing its left fuel tank and sliced electrical wires near the left landing gear. The sequence of events ignited a large fire and caused the Concorde to veer left on its takeoff roll. As it reached takeoff speed and lifted off the ground, it came within 30 feet of hitting Chirac's 747. The photograph of Flight 4590 ablaze, the only picture taken of the Concorde on fire, was taken by passenger Toshihiko Sato on Chirac's jetliner.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: At the age of 69, Chirac faced his fourth presidential campaign in 2002. He received 20% of the vote in the first ballot of the presidential elections in April 2002. It had been expected that he would face incumbent prime minister Lionel Jospin (PS) in the second round of elections; instead, Chirac faced far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front (FN), who came in 200,000 votes ahead of Jospin. All parties other than the National Front (except for ) called for opposing Le Pen, even if it meant voting for Chirac. The 14-day period between the two rounds of voting was marked by demonstrations against Le Pen and slogans such as "Vote for the crook, not for the fascist" or "Vote with a clothespin on your nose". Chirac won re-election by a landslide, with 82 per cent of the vote on the second ballot. However, Chirac became increasingly unpopular during his second term. According to a July 2005 poll, 37 per cent judged Chirac favourably and 63 per cent unfavorably. In 2006, "The Economist" wrote that Chirac "is the most unpopular occupant of the Elysée Palace in the fifth republic's history."


title: Jacques Chirac

text: As the left-wing Socialist Party was in thorough disarray following Jospin's defeat, Chirac reorganised politics on the right, establishing a new party – initially called the Union of the Presidential Majority, then the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). The RPR had broken down; a number of members had formed Eurosceptic breakaways. While the Giscardian liberals of the Union for French Democracy (UDF) had moved to the right, the UMP won the parliamentary elections that followed the presidential poll with ease.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: During an official visit to Madagascar on 21 July 2005, Chirac described the repression of the 1947 Malagasy uprising, which left between 80,000 and 90,000 dead, as "unacceptable".


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Despite past opposition to state intervention the Chirac government approved a €2.8 billion aid package to troubled manufacturing giant Alstom. In October 2004, Chirac signed a trade agreement with PRC president Hu Jintao where Alstom was given €1 billion in contracts and promises of future investment in China.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: On 14 July 2002, during Bastille Day celebrations, Chirac survived an assassination attempt by a lone gunman with a rifle hidden in a guitar case. The would-be assassin fired a shot toward the presidential motorcade, before being overpowered by bystanders. The gunman, Maxime Brunerie, underwent psychiatric testing; the violent far-right group with which he was associated, , was thence administratively dissolved.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Along with Vladimir Putin (whom he called "a personal friend"), Hu Jintao, and Gerhard Schröder, Chirac emerged as a leading voice against George W. Bush and Tony Blair in 2003 during the organisation and deployment of American and British forces participating in a military coalition to forcibly remove the government of Iraq controlled by the Ba'ath Party under the leadership of Saddam Hussein that resulted in the 2003–2011 Iraq War.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Despite British and American pressure, Chirac threatened to veto, at that given point, a resolution in the UN Security Council that would authorise the use of military force to rid Iraq of alleged weapons of mass destruction, and rallied other governments to his position. "Iraq today does not represent an immediate threat that justifies an immediate war", Chirac said on 18 March 2003. Future prime minister Dominique de Villepin acquired much of his popularity for his speech against the war at the United Nations (UN).


title: Jacques Chirac

text: After Togo's leader Gnassingbé Eyadéma's death on 5 February 2005, Chirac gave him tribute and supported his son, Faure Gnassingbé, who has since succeeded his father.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: On 19 January 2006, Chirac said that France was prepared to launch a nuclear strike against any country that sponsors a terrorist attack against French interests. He said his country's nuclear arsenal had been reconfigured to include the ability to make a tactical strike in retaliation for terrorism.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac criticised the Israeli offensive into Lebanon on 14 July 2006. However, Israeli Army Radio later reported that Chirac had secretly told Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert that France would support an Israeli invasion of Syria and the overthrow of the government of President Bashar al-Assad, promising to veto any moves against Israel in the United Nations or European Union. Whereas the disagreement on Iraq had caused a rift between Paris and Washington, recent analysis suggests that both governments worked closely together on the Syria file to end the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and that Chirac was a driver of this diplomatic cooperation.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: In July 2006, the G8 met to discuss international energy concerns. Despite the rising awareness of global warming issues, the G8 focused on "energy security" issues. Chirac continued to be the voice within the G8 summit meetings to support international action to curb global warming and climate change concerns. Chirac warned that "humanity is dancing on a volcano" and called for serious action by the world's leading industrialised nations.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: After Chirac's death in 2019, the street leading to the Louvre Abu Dhabi was named Jacques Chirac Street in November 2019 in celebration of Chirac's efforts to bolster links between France and the United Arab Emirates during his presidency.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac espoused a staunchly pro-Moroccan policy, and the already established pro-Moroccan French stances vis-à-vis the Western Sahara conflict were strengthened during his presidential tenure.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac requested the "Landau-report" (published in September 2004) and combined with the "Report of the Technical Group on Innovative Financing Mechanisms" formulated upon request by the Heads of State of Brazil, Chile, France and Spain (issued in December 2004), these documents present various opportunities for innovative financing mechanisms while equally stressing the advantages (stability and predictability) of tax-based models. The UNITAID project was born. Today the organisation's executive board is chaired by Marisol Touraine.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: On 29 May 2005, a referendum was held in France to decide whether the country should ratify the proposed treaty for a Constitution of the European Union (TCE). The result was a victory for the No campaign, with 55 per cent of voters rejecting the treaty on a turnout of 69 per cent, dealing a devastating blow to Chirac and the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party, and to part of the centre-left which had supported the TCE. Following the referendum defeat, Chirac replaced his prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin with Dominique de Villepin. In an address to the nation, Chirac declared that the new cabinet's top priority was to curb unemployment, which was consistently hovering above 10 per cent, calling for a "national mobilisation" to that effect.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Following major student protests in spring 2006, which followed civil unrest in autumn 2005 after the death of two young boys in Clichy-sous-Bois, one of the poorest communes in Paris' suburbs, Chirac retracted the proposed First Employment Contract (CPE) by "promulgating [it] without applying it", an unheard-of – and, some claim, illegal – move intended to appease the protesters while giving the appearance of not making a regarding the contract, and therefore to continue his support for his prime minister Dominique de Villepin.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: In early September 2005, Chirac suffered an event that his doctors described as a "vascular incident". It was officially reported as a "minor stroke" or a mild stroke (also known as a transient ischemic attack). He recovered and returned to his duties soon afterward.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: In a pre-recorded television broadcast aired on 11 March 2007, he announced, in a widely predicted move, that he would not choose to seek a third term as president. (In 2000 the constitution had been amended to reduce the length of the presidential term to five years, so his second term was shorter than his first.) "My whole life has been committed to serving France, and serving peace", Chirac said, adding that he would find new ways to serve France after leaving office. He did not explain the reasons for his decision. He did not, during the broadcast, endorse any of the candidates running for election, but did devote several minutes of his talk to a plea against extremist politics that was considered a thinly disguised invocation to voters not to vote for Jean-Marie Le Pen and a recommendation to Nicolas Sarkozy not to orient his campaign so as to include themes traditionally associated with Le Pen.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Shortly after leaving office, he launched the Fondation Chirac in June 2008. Since then it has been striving for peace through five advocacy programmes: conflict prevention, access to water and sanitation, access to quality medicines and healthcare, access to land resources, and preservation of cultural diversity. It supports field projects that involve local people and provide concrete and innovative solutions. Chirac chaired the jury for the Prize for Conflict Prevention awarded every year by his foundation.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: As a former president of France, he was entitled to a lifetime pension and personal security protection, and was an "ex officio" member for life of the Constitutional Council. He sat for the first time on the council on 15 November 2007, six months after leaving the presidency. Immediately after Sarkozy's victory, Chirac moved into a duplex on the in Paris lent to him by the family of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. During the Didier Schuller affair, the latter accused Hariri of having participated in illegal funding of the RPR's political campaigns, but the judge closed the case without further investigations.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: In Volume 2 of his memoirs published in June 2011, Chirac mocked his successor Nicolas Sarkozy as "irritable, rash, impetuous, disloyal, ungrateful, and un-French". Chirac wrote that he considered firing Sarkozy previously, and conceded responsibility in allowing Jean-Marie Le Pen to advance in 2002. A poll conducted in 2010 suggested Chirac was the most admired political figure in France, while Sarkozy was 32nd.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: On 11 April 2008, Chirac's office announced that he had undergone successful surgery to fit a pacemaker.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac suffered from frail health and memory loss in later life. In February 2014 he was admitted to hospital because of pains related to gout. On 10 December 2015, Chirac was hospitalised in Paris for undisclosed reasons, although his state of health did not "give any cause for concern", he remained for about a week in ICU. According to his son-in-law Frederic Salat-Baroux, Chirac was again hospitalised in Paris with a lung infection on 18 September 2016.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac died at his home in Paris on 26 September 2019, surrounded by his family. A requiem mass was held at Saint-Sulpice on 30 September, celebrated by Michel Aupetit, Archbishop of Paris, and attended by representatives from about 175 countries, included 69 past and present heads of state, government and international organisations. Notable names included António Guterres, Jean-Claude Juncker, Jens Stoltenberg, Vladimir Putin, Sergio Mattarella, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Charles Michel, Viktor Orbán, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Saad Hariri, Borut Pahor, Salome Zourabichvili, Tony Blair, Jean Chrétien, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Bill Clinton, Hamid Karzai, Dai Bingguo plus many ministers.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: The day was declared a national day of mourning in France and a minute of silence was held nationwide at 15:00. Following the public ceremony, Chirac was buried at Montparnasse Cemetery, with only close family in attendance. Andorra announced three days of national mourning. Lebanon declared the day of the ex-president's funeral national day of mourning.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Because of Jacques Chirac's long public career, he was often parodied or caricatured: Young Jacques Chirac is the basis of a young, dashing bureaucrat character in the 1976 Asterix comic strip album "Obelix and Co.", proposing methods to quell Gallic unrest to elderly, old-style Roman politicians. Chirac was also featured in as an overexcited, jumpy character.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Jacques Chirac was a favourite character of , a satiric latex puppet show. He was originally portrayed as a rather likeable, though overexcited, character; following the corruption allegations, however, he was depicted as a kind of dilettante and incompetent who pilfered public money and lied through his teeth. His character for a while developed a superhero alter ego, ('super liar') to get him out of embarrassing situations. Because of his alleged improprieties, he was lambasted in a song ('Chirac in prison') by French punk band , with a video clip made by the .


title: Jacques Chirac

text: He was given the Ig Nobel prize for peace, for commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Hiroshima with atomic bomb tests in the Pacific (1996).


title: Jacques Chirac

text: J. Grant Albrecht voices Chirac in the Oliver Stone film "W." Marc Rioufol plays him in Richard Loncraine's 2010 film "The Special Relationship".


title: Jacques Chirac

text: At the invitation of Saddam Hussein (then vice-president of Iraq, but "de facto" dictator), Chirac made an official visit to Baghdad in 1975. Saddam approved a deal granting French oil companies a number of privileges plus a 23-percent share of Iraqi oil. As part of this deal, France sold Iraq the Osirak MTR nuclear reactor, designed to test nuclear materials.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: The Israeli Air Force alleged that the reactor's imminent commissioning was a threat to its security, and pre-emptively bombed the Osirak reactor on 7 June 1981, provoking considerable anger from French officials and the United Nations Security Council.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: The Osirak deal became a controversy again in 2002–2003, when an international military coalition led by the United States invaded Iraq and forcibly removed Hussein's government from power. France led several other European countries in an effort to prevent the invasion. The Osirak deal was then used by parts of the American media to criticise the Chirac-led opposition to starting a war in Iraq, despite French involvement in the Gulf War.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac has been named in several cases of alleged corruption that occurred during his term as mayor, some of which have led to felony convictions of some politicians and aides. However, a controversial judicial decision in 1999 granted Chirac immunity while he was president of France. He refused to testify on these matters, arguing that it would be incompatible with his presidential functions. Investigations concerning the running of Paris's city hall, the number of whose municipal employees increased by 25% from 1977 to 1995 (with 2,000 out of approximately 35,000 coming from the region where Chirac had held his seat as deputy), as well as a lack of financial transparency ( and the communal debt, were thwarted by the legal impossibility of questioning him as president.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: The conditions of the privatisation of the Parisian water system acquired very cheaply by the and the , then directed by Jérôme Monod, a close friend of Chirac, were also criticised. Furthermore, the satirical newspaper revealed the astronomical "food expenses" paid by the Parisian municipality (€15 million a year according to the , expenses managed by Roger Romani (who allegedly destroyed all archives of the period 1978–93 during night raids in 1999–2000). Thousands of people were invited each year to receptions in the Paris city hall, while many political, media and artistic personalities were hosted in private flats owned by the city.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: Chirac's immunity from prosecution ended in May 2007, when he left office as president. In November 2007 a preliminary charge of misuse of public funds was filed against him. Chirac is said to be the first former French head of state to be formally placed under investigation for a crime. On 30 October 2009, a judge ordered Chirac to stand trial on embezzlement charges, dating back to his time as mayor of Paris.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: On 7 March 2011, he went on trial on charges of diverting public funds, accused of giving fictional city jobs to 28 activists from his political party while serving as the mayor of Paris (1977–95). Along with Chirac, nine others stood trial in two separate cases, one dealing with fictional jobs for 21 people and the other with jobs for the remaining seven. The President of Union for a Popular Movement, who later served as France's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alain Juppé, was sentenced to a 14-month suspended prison sentence for the same case in 2004.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: On 15 December 2011, Chirac was found guilty and given a suspended sentence of two years. He was convicted of diverting public funds, abuse of trust and illegal conflict of interest. The suspended sentence meant he did not have to go to prison, and took into account his age, health, and status as a former head of state. He did not attend his trial, since medical doctors deemed that his neurological problems damaged his memory. His defence team decided not to appeal.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: During April and May 2006, Chirac's administration was beset by a crisis as his chosen prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, was accused of asking Philippe Rondot, a top level French spy, for a secret investigation into Villepin's chief political rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, in 2004. This matter has been called the second Clearstream Affair. On 10 May 2006, following a Cabinet meeting, Chirac made a rare television appearance to try to protect Villepin from the scandal and to debunk allegations that Chirac himself had set up a Japanese bank account containing 300 million francs in 1992 as Mayor of Paris. Chirac said that "The Republic is not a dictatorship of rumours, a dictatorship of calumny."


title: Jacques Chirac

text: In 1956, Chirac married Bernadette Chodron de Courcel, with whom he had two daughters: (4 March 195814 April 2016) and Claude (born 6 December 1962). Claude was a long-term public relations assistant and personal adviser to her father, while Laurence, who suffered from anorexia nervosa in her youth, did not participate in her father's political activities. Chirac was the grandfather of Martin Rey-Chirac by the relationship of Claude with French judoka Thierry Rey. A former Vietnamese refugee, Anh Dao Traxel, is a foster daughter of Jacques and Bernadette Chirac.


title: Jacques Chirac

text: In 1954, Chirac presented "The Development of the Port of New-Orleans", a short geography/economic thesis to the (), which he had entered three years before. The 182-page typewritten work, supervised by Professor Jean Chardonnet, is illustrated by photographs, sketches and diagrams.