title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Starting in mid-April 1741, the city endured a siege by a large British armada under the command of Admiral Edward Vernon. The engagement, known as Battle of Cartagena de Indias, was part of the larger War of Jenkins' Ear. The British armada included 50 warships, 130 transport ships, and 25,600 men, including 2,000 North American colonial infantry. The Spanish defense was under the command of Sebastián de Eslava and Don Blas de Lezo. The British were able to take the Castillo de San Luis at Bocachica and land marines on the island of Tierrabomba and Manzanillo. The North Americans then took La Popa hill.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Following a failed attack on San Felipe Barajas on 20 April 1741, which left 800 British dead and another 1,000 taken prisoner, Vernon lifted the siege. By that time he had many sick men from tropical diseases. An interesting footnote to the battle was the inclusion of George Washington's half brother, Lawrence Washington, among the North American colonial troops. Lawrence later named his Mount Vernon estate in honor of his commander.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: In 1762, Antonio de Arebalo published his Defense Plan, the Report on the estate of defense on the avenues of Cartagena de Indias. This engineer continued the work to make Cartagena impregnable, including the construction from 1771 to 1778, of a 3400 yards long underwater jetty across the Bocagrande called the "Escollera". Arebalo had earlier completed "San Fernando", and the fort-battery of "San Jose" in 1759, then added "El Angel San Rafael" on El Horno hill as added protection across the Bocachica.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Among the censuses of the 18th century was the special census of 1778, imposed by the governor of the time, D. Juan de Torrezar Diaz Pimienta – later Viceroy of New Granada – by order of the Marquis of Ensenada, Minister of Finance – so that he would be provided numbers for his Catastro tax project, which imposed a universal property tax he believed would contribute to the economy while at the same time increasing royal revenues dramatically. The census of 1778, besides having significance for economic history, required each house to be described in detail and its occupants enumerated, making the census an important tool The census revealed what Ensenada had hoped. However, his enemies in the court convinced King Charles III to oppose the tax plan.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: For more than 275 years, Cartagena was under Spanish rule. With Napoleon's imprisonment of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII, and the start of the Peninsular War, the Latin American wars of independence soon followed. In Cartagena, on 4 June 1810, Royal Commissioner Antonio Villavicencio and the Cartagena City Council banished the Spanish Governor Francisco de Montes on suspicions of sympathy for the French emperor and the French occupation forces which overthrew the king. A Supreme Junta was formed, along with two political parties, one led by Jose Maria Garcia de Toledo representing the aristocrats, and a second led by Gabriel and German Piñeres representing the common people of Getsemani. Finally, on 11 November, a Declaration of Independence was signed proclaiming "a free state, sovereign and independent of all domination and servitude to any power on Earth". The support for a declaration of independence by working class leader and artisan Pedro Romero was key in pushing the Junta to adopting it.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Spain's reaction was to send a "pacifying expedition" under the command of Pablo Morillo, The Pacifier, and Pascual de Enrile, which included 59 ships, and 10,612 men. The city was placed under siege on 22 August 1815. The city was defended by 3000 men, 360 cannons, and 8 ships plus ancillary small watercraft, under the command of Manuel del Castillo y Rada and Juan N. Enslava. However, by that time, the city was under the rule of the Garcia de Toledo Party, having exiled German and Gabriel Piñeres, and Simon Bolivar. By 5 December, about 300 people per day died from hunger or disease, forcing 2000 to flee on vessels provided by the French mercenary Louis Aury. By that time, 6000 had died. Morillo, in retaliation after entering the city, shot nine of the rebel leaders on 24 February 1816, at what is now known as the Camellon de los Martires. These included José María García de Toledo and Manuel del Castillo y Rada.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Finally, a patriot army led by General Mariano Montilla, supported by Admiral José Prudencio Padilla, laid siege to the city from August 1820 until October 1821. A key engagement was the destruction of almost all of the royalist ships anchored on Getsemani Island on 24 June 1821. After Governor Gabriel Torres surrendered, Simon Bolivar the Liberator, bestowed the title "Heroic City" onto Cartagena. The Liberator spent 18 days in the city from 20 to 28 July 1827, staying in the Government Palace in Proclamation Square and the guest of a banquet hosted by Jose Padilla at his residence on Calle Larga.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Unfortunately, the toll of war, in particular from Morillo's siege long affected the city. With the loss of the funds it had received as the main colonial military outpost, and the loss of population, the city deteriorated. It suffered a long decline in the aftermath of independence, and was largely neglected by the central government in Bogotá. In fact, its population did not reach pre-1811 numbers until the start of the 20th century.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: These declines were also due to disease, including a devastating cholera epidemic in 1849. The Canal del Dique that connected it to the Magdalena River also filled with silt, leading to a drastic reduction in the amount of international trade. The rise of the port of Barranquilla only compounded the decline in trade. During the presidency of Rafael Nuñez, who was a Cartagena native, the central government finally invested in a railroad and other infrastructure improvements and modernization that helped the city to recover.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: It faces the Caribbean Sea to the west. To the south is the Cartagena Bay, which has two entrances: Bocachica (Small Mouth) in the south, and Bocagrande (Big Mouth) in the north. Its coastal line is characterized morphologically by dissipative beaches.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: In this area is the Rafael Núñez International Airport, located in the neighborhood of Crespo, ten minutes' drive from downtown or the old part of the city and fifteen minutes away from the modern area. Zona Norte, the area located immediately north of the airport, contains hotels, the urban development office of Barcelona de Indias, and several educational institutions. The old city walls, which enclose the "centro" or downtown area and the neighborhood of San Diego, are located to the southwest of Crespo. On the Caribbean shore between Crespo and the old city lie the neighborhoods of Marbella and El Cabrero.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: The Downtown area of Cartagena has varied architecture, mainly a colonial style, but republican and Italian style buildings, such as the cathedral's bell tower, can be seen.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: The main entrance to downtown is the "Puerta del Reloj" (Clock Gate), which exits onto the "Plaza de los Coches" (Square of the Carriages). A few steps farther is the "Plaza de la Aduana" (Customs Square), next to the mayor's office. Nearby is San Pedro Claver Square and the church also named for Saint Peter Claver, where the body of the Jesuit saint ('Saint of the African slaves') is kept in a casket, as well as the Museum of Modern Art.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Nearby is the Plaza de Bolívar (Bolívar's Square) and the Palace of Inquisition. Plaza de Bolívar (formerly known as Plaza de La Inquisicion) is essentially a small park with a statue of Simón Bolívar in the center. This plaza is surrounded by balconied colonial buildings. Shaded outdoor cafes line the street.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: The Office of Historical Archives devoted to Cartagena's history is not far away. Next to the archives is the Government Palace, the office building of the Governor of the Department of Bolivar. Across from the palace is the Cathedral of Cartagena, which dates back to the 16th century.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Another religious building of significance is the Iglesia de Santo Domingo in front of Plaza Santo Domingo (Santo Domingo Square). In the square is the sculpture "Mujer Reclinada" ("Reclining Woman"), a gift from the notable Colombian artist Fernando Botero. Nearby is the Tcherassi Hotel, a 250-year-old colonial mansion renovated by designer Silvia Tcherassi.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: In the city is the Augustinian Fathers Convent and the University of Cartagena. This university is a center of higher education opened to the public in the late 19th century. The "Claustro de Santa Teresa" (Saint Theresa Cloister), which has been remodeled and has become a hotel operated by Charleston Hotels. It has its own square, protected by the San Francisco Bastion.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: A 20-minute walk from downtown is the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, located in el Pie de la Popa (another neighborhood), one of the greatest fortresses built by the Spaniards in their colonies. The tunnels were all constructed in such a way as to make it possible to hear footsteps of an approaching enemy. Some of the tunnels are open for viewing today.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: San Diego was named after the local San Diego Convent, now known as the Beaux Arts University Building. In front of it is the Convent of the Nuns of the Order of Saint Clare, now the Hotel Santa Clara. In the surrounding area is Santo Toribio Church, the last church built in the Walled City. Next to it is Fernández de Madrid Square, honoring Cartagena's hero, José Fernández de Madrid, whose statue can be seen nearby.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Inside the Old City is found Las Bóvedas (The Vaults), a construction attached to the walls of the Santa Catalina Fortress. From the top of this construction the Caribbean Sea is visible.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Once a district characterized by crime, Getsemani, just south of the ancient walled fortress, has become "Cartagena's hippest neighborhood and one of Latin America's newest hotspots", with plazas that were once the scene of drug dealing being reclaimed and old buildings being turned into boutique hotels.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: The Bocagrande (Big Mouth) is an area known for its skyscrapers. The area contains the bulk of the city's tourist facilities, such as hotels, shops, restaurants, nightclubs and art galleries. It is located between Cartagena Bay to the east and the Caribbean Sea to the west, and includes the two neighborhoods of El Laguito (The Little Lake) and Castillogrande (Big Castle). Bocagrande has long beaches and much commercial activity is found along Avenida San Martín (Saint Martin Avenue).


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: The beaches of Bocagrande, lying along the northern shore, are made of volcanic sand, which is slightly grayish in color. This makes the water appear muddy, though it is not. There are breakwaters about every .


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: On the bay side of the peninsula of Bocagrande is a seawalk. In the center of the bay is a statue of the Virgin Mary. The Naval Base is also located in Bocagrande, looking at the Bay.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Cartagena features a tropical wet and dry climate. Humidity averages around 90%, with the rainy season typically lasting in May–November. The climate tends to be hot and windy.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: The main economic activities in Cartagena are industry, tourism, and commerce. The port of Cartagena is one of the largest of South America.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Other prominent companies include Cementos Argos, Miss Colombia, Kola Román, Indufrial, Amazon Pepper, Vikings SA, Distribuidora Ltda Refrigeration, Central Ingenio Colombia, Perfumery Lemaitre, Cartagena Refinery Cellux Colombiana SA, Flour Three Castles, Polyban International SA, SABMiller, Dow Chemical, Cemex, Dole, and Abocol..


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: In 1934, Miss Colombia was founded in Cartagena de Indias. Known as "Concurso Nacional de Belleza de Colombia" (National Beauty Contest of Colombia), it is a national beauty pageant in Colombia. The winner, "Señorita Colombia", is sent to Miss Supranational and the first runner-up, "Señorita Colombia Internacional" or "Virreina", to Miss International.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: There is also a local beauty contest held with many of the city's neighbourhoods nominating young women to be named Miss Independence.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Free zones are areas within the local territory which enjoy special customs and tax rules. They are intended to promote the industrialization of goods and provision of services aimed primarily at foreign markets and also the domestic market.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Tourism is a mainstay of the economy. The following are tourist sites that are within the walled city of Cartagena:


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: The city has a budding hotel industry with small boutique hotels being primarily concentrated in the Walled City and larger hotels in the beach front neighborhood of Bocagrande. The area of Getsemaní just outside the wall is also a popular place for small hotels and hostels.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: As the commercial and touristic hub of the country, the city has many transportation facilities, particularly in the seaport, air, and fluvial areas.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: In 2003, the city started building Transcaribe, a mass transit system. In 2015 the system began operating in the city. Taxis are also a prevalent form of public transportation and there is a bus terminal connecting the city to other cities along the coast and in Colombia.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: The city is linked to the northern part of the Caribbean Region through roads 90 and 90A, more commonly called Central Caribbean Road. This road passes through Barranquilla, Santa Marta and Riohacha ending in Paraguachón, Venezuela and continues with Venezuelan numeration all the way to Caracas. Taxis in the city perimeter do not have fare meters.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Road 25: Going through Turbaco and Arjona, and through the Montes de María when a fork divides it continuing to Sincelejo as National 25 and finally ending in Medellín, and to the east to Valledupar as number 80.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Road 25 A: Going also to Sincelejo, but avoiding the mountains, connects with Road 25 in the forementioned city.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: The Rafael Núñez International Airport is the busiest airport in Colombia's Caribbean region and the fourth in passenger traffic in the country. The code of the airport is CTG, having flights to almost all airports in Colombia including Bogota's El Dorado International Airport. Excessive operational costs and easier connection travel and better prices had led to the shifting of the Rafael Núñez's international connection passengers away from Bogota to the nearer Tocumen International Airport in Panama and Queen Beatrix International Airport in Aruba. Also, more companies prefer to serve the Colombian market from Cartagena, due to better geographical and atmospheric conditions.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Since the 17th century the bay has been connected to the Magdalena River by the Dique Canal, built by Governor Pedro Zapata de Mendoza. After Colombian independence, the canal was abandoned. Increasing centralization left the city without resources to maintain it. The last important maintenance work was done in the 1950s during Laureano Gómez's administration. Some improvements were made by local authorities in the 1980s. This was discontinued because of legal objections from the central government that decreed that the "maintenance" of the canal did not fall under the jurisdiction of the local government. From then on, maintenance of the canal has been delayed, though it is still functional.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Cartagenian political leaders have argued that this state of affairs might change with a return to pre-independence funding and tax system. Under such systems the canal would be maintained properly and even expanded, benefiting the national economy.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: Cartagena is one of the few cities in the world with a marine outfall, inaugurated in 2013, whose -long underwater section is the third longest in the world.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: The first carnivals and western theaters that served in New Granada operated on, what is today, Calle del Coliseo. This was an activity patronized by the Viceroy Manuel de Guirior and Antonio Caballero y Góngora, who, like their predecessors, spent most of the time of their mandates ruling in Cartagena.


title: Cartagena, Colombia

text: The port, the fortresses and the group of monuments of Cartagena were selected in 1984 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as significant to the heritage of the world, having the most extensive fortifications in South America. They are significant, too, for being located in a bay that is part of the Caribbean Sea. A system of zones divides the city into three neighborhoods: San Sebastian and Santa Catalina with the cathedral and many palaces where the wealthy lived and the main government buildings functioned; San Diego or Santo Toribio, where merchants and the middle class lived; and Getsemani, the suburban popular quarters.


title: Lupin the Third

text: , also written as Lupin the Third, Lupin the 3rd, or Lupin the IIIrd, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Monkey Punch. It follows the endeavors of master thief Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief of the book series by Maurice Leblanc.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The "Lupin III" manga, which first appeared in "Weekly Manga Action" on August 10, 1967, spawned a media franchise that includes numerous manga, two versions of an animated pilot film, six animated television series, one spin-off animated television series, eleven theatrically released animated films, two live-action films, five OVA works, twenty-seven animated television specials, two musicals, many music CDs, and several video games. Many different companies have owned the English-language distribution rights to various "Lupin III" properties at various times. Tokyopop acquired the license to the original manga in 2002, and later the second series in 2004. Funimation Entertainment dubbed and released several of the television specials and films from 2002 to 2006, and the fourth television series in 2013. Between 2003 and 2007, Geneon licensed and dubbed the first 79 episodes of the second television series, 26 of which were broadcast in the United States on Adult Swim in 2003 and 52 in Canada on G4techTV in 2007. Discotek Media licensed the first six television series in the franchise and the ; they also own the rights to numerous other "Lupin" titles, including several previously released by other companies.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Over fifty years after its creation, "Lupin III" remains popular, with a seventh anime series airing in 2021. Critical reception of the franchise has been largely positive across its various incarnations, with the appeal of the lead characters being noted as the primary factor of the series' success. The voice acting (in both Japanese and English versions) and soundtracks (especially those composed by Yuji Ohno) of the anime adaptations have also received similar compliments; however, several of the franchise's installments, most specifically the television specials, have been criticized for being formulaic. The manga has also been noted by fans and critics for its darker tone compared to the anime, with its explicit depictions of sex and violence, as well as its black, fourth wall-breaking sense of humor, contrasting with the mostly family-friendly animated versions. For several years, issues relating to the copyright of Maurice Leblanc's intellectual property meant that the Lupin name was removed from its releases outside Japan, usually changed to "Rupan" or "Wolf". However, the copyright has since expired, allowing foreign releases to use the Lupin name.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of the fictional gentleman thief, Arsène Lupin, is considered the world's greatest thief, known for announcing his intentions to steal valuable objects by sending a calling card to their owners. His right-hand man and best friend is Daisuke Jigen, an expert marksman who can accurately shoot a target in 0.3 second. Although Lupin and Jigen frequently work as a two-man team, they are often joined by Goemon Ishikawa XIII, a master swordsman whose sword can cut anything, and Fujiko Mine, a femme fatale and Lupin's love interest. Although Fujiko usually works together with the others, she occasionally exploits Lupin's interest in her to steal the treasure for herself. Lupin and his gang are constantly chased by Inspector Koichi Zenigata of Interpol, who has made it his life's work to arrest them, pursuing Lupin across the globe.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The series was created in 1965 by Japanese manga artist Kazuhiko Katō under the pen name Monkey Punch. His inspiration for the series was the fictional French gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, created by Maurice Leblanc. Before creating the series he read 15 of Leblanc's stories. The aim of the "Lupin III" series was to produce a comedy adventure series that reflected the traits of Leblanc's character. Originally the intention was to keep the blood ties between the two fictional characters secret, however, he was convinced by others not to do so.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Monkey Punch combined elements of Arsène Lupin with James Bond to develop the character of Lupin III and made him a "carefree fellow". Lupin was given a red color jacket which Monkey Punch believed was a flashy, sexy color.


title: Lupin the Third

text: As the series was to be published in a magazine targeted at adults, Fujiko Mine was created to add a female presence and to fulfill a "Bond girl" role. Her name was inspired by a picture of Mount Fuji, Monkey Punch added the -ko female suffix to create her first name, and chose "Mine" for her family name because of its meaning as "summit". At the beginning of the series, many of the women Lupin encounters are all named Fujiko, but are treated as different characters from chapter to chapter. Creating a new female character each week was too difficult for Monkey Punch so she evolved into a single character who changes style frequently.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Jigen was based on James Coburn, especially his role in "The Magnificent Seven", and his name was chosen to reflect his unconventional personality.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Goemon was created to give an East Asian element into an otherwise western series. Despite Lupin and Goemon originally being enemies, Monkey Punch decided that they were on the same wavelength.


title: Lupin the Third

text: While Lupin, Fujiko, Jigen and Goemon frequently operate together for their own goals, the author considered them not to be a true group as they have their own individual interests. In the manga they operated individually, but in the anime adaptations the group tend to work together.


title: Lupin the Third

text: When Monkey Punch began "Lupin III", he was already working on another series, "Pinky Punky". Monkey Punch enjoyed writing outlaw characters, and both "Lupin III" and "Pinky Punky" made use of outlaws as central characters. According to him, this made it easy for him to write two series without much pressure. Monkey Punch enjoyed puzzles and mysteries such as "Columbo" and Agatha Christie novels, and was also inspired by "The Three Musketeers" and the movies of Alfred Hitchcock. He believed the characters of Lupin and Fujiko were similar to the characters of D'Artagnan and Milady de Winter, and described them as "Not necessarily lovers, not necessarily husband and wife, but more just having fun as man and woman with each other". Another influence on the manga was "Mad" magazine. Monkey Punch said the appeal of drawing Lupin comes from the character being able to go anywhere without obstacles and being able to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. However, this is contrasted by the appeal of Zenigata's strict personality. Originally the series was only expected to last three months, but due to its popularity, Monkey Punch continued to draw it. However, despite his happiness at its success, he expressed confusion over its popularity.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Monkey Punch said that he believed the story could never end but that if it had to, both Zenigata and Lupin would have to end as equals. They would either both fail, both win, or both get very old.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Monkey Punch did not ask permission to use the Arsène Lupin name and at the time Japan did not enforce trade copyrights. By the time Leblanc's estate launched legal action in Japan, the name was considered to have entered into common use. However, this was not the case in North America and Europe, and several foreign releases of "Lupin III" media dropped the "Lupin III" title and the character himself was renamed to "Rupan" or "Wolf". In France, the series was known as "Edgar, Detective Cambrioleur" (Edgar, Detective Burglar) with Lupin himself renamed "Edgar de la Cambriole" (Edgar of Burglary). Monkey Punch stated that using the same character design, behavior, and face would be illegal, but using a name alone is not illegal. In 2012, Leblanc's original Arsène Lupin entered the public domain in France due to 70 years passing since his death in 1941, and is in the public domain for any country that enforces the rule of the shorter term.


title: Lupin the Third

text: "Lupin III" was written and illustrated by Monkey Punch. It was serialized by Futabasha in "Weekly Manga Action" in 94 chapters from August 10, 1967. Additional chapters known as "Lupin III New Adventures" were released from August 12, 1971. Tokyopop licensed the series for North America, and released all 14 volumes between December 10, 2002, and July 6, 2004. The Tokyopop edition is adapted from the Chuokoron Shinsha edition from 1989.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Monkey Punch began publishing the second Lupin manga, "Shin Lupin III" in "Weekly Manga Action" on June 23, 1977, until 1981. Three chapters were published in the British magazine "Manga Mania" between May and July 1996. Tokyopop licensed the second series, and released the first nine volumes as "Lupin III: World's Most Wanted" between September 7, 2004, and July 10, 2007. Tokyopop later cancelled the series due to low sales. Like the first series, the Tokyopop release was based on the Chuokoron Shinsha edition from 1990.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Since 1997 a number of manga series have been created by several artists and released in several Futabasha magazines. On August 27, 2004, Futabasha launched "Lupin III Official Magazine", a quarterly publication of "Lupin III" manga by various authors.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Yutaka Abe and Jirō Maruden produced a three chapter adaptation of the "Lupin III vs. Detective Conan" TV special. From August 25, they also created a manga adaptation of "Lupin III vs. Detective Conan: The Movie" for Shogakukans "Shonen Super Sunday" magazine.


title: Lupin the Third

text: An isekai spin-off manga, "Lupin III: Neighbor World Princess", written by Yōsuke Saeki and illustrated by Keyaki Uchi-Uchi began serialization in Akita Shoten's "Weekly Shōnen Champion" on August 26, 2021.


title: Lupin the Third

text: On October 24, 1971, YTV began airing the first "Lupin III" television series. The series was broadcast for 23 episodes, with the last one airing on March 26, 1972. The series was initially directed by Masaaki Ōsumi, who was then replaced by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Discotek Media licensed and released the first series on DVD in North America on June 26, 2012.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The second "Lupin III" television series began airing on NTV on October 3, 1977. This series was broadcast for 155 episodes, with the last one airing on October 6, 1980. Episodes 145 and 155 received American distribution and an English dub from Streamline Pictures, who released the episodes to VHS individually in 1994 as "Lupin III: Tales of the Wolf" and together as "Lupin III's Greatest Capers" in 1995. Pioneer Entertainment began distributing the first 79 episodes of the series in North America with an English dub on January 28, 2003. The first 79 episodes were released on 15 DVDs and 26 episodes (the first 27, excluding the third episode) aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Voice director Richard Epcar stated in 2014 that the remainder of the series was not distributed by Pioneer because they lost the license. In 2015, Discotek Media announced they had licensed the series for North America and released all 155 episodes across four DVDs from 2017 to 2020. The Discotek release utilized the existing Pioneer dub for the first 79 episodes and the Streamline dub for episodes 145 and 155; a new English dub was not created for the remaining episodes.


title: Lupin the Third

text: In 1982, an animated television series called "Lupin VIII" was planned as a French-Japanese co-production, featuring the descendants of Lupin, Goemon, Jigen, and Zenigata, but was never completed. Created by DiC Audiovisuel, with Rintaro directing, and character designs by Shingo Araki; two scripts were written, and one episode was fully animated with a music and sound effects track, but the voice-overs were never recorded. The project was cancelled due to Leblanc's estate wanting a large amount of money for use of the Arsène Lupin name in France. "Lupin VIII"'s single episode was later included in the 2012 "Lupin III Master File" box set.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The third "Lupin III" television series, called "Lupin the 3rd Part III", began airing on YTV on March 3, 1984. This series was broadcast for 50 episodes and ended on November 6, 1985. In 2009, the Southern California-based United Television Broadcasting network began airing subtitled episodes from all three series on their UTBHollywood channel.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The fourth series, titled "Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine", aired on NTV for 13 episodes between April 4, 2012 and June 27, 2012. Funimation Entertainment simulcast the series on their website and Nico Nico with English subtitles, before releasing it on Blu-ray/DVD on August 20, 2013 with an English-language dub. Manga Entertainment released a similar set in the United Kingdom on September 16, while Hanabee released the series in a two-part combo set in Australasia, the first on October 16 and the second on November 20.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The fifth series, "Lupin the 3rd Part IV: The Italian Adventure", was created by Telecom Animation Film and is set in Italy and San Marino. It aired in Italy for 26 episodes on the Italia 1 channel between August 30, 2015 and November 30, 2015, while in Japan it aired for 24 episodes on NTV between October 1, 2015 and March 17, 2016. The series has been licensed by Anime Limited for the UK market and by Discotek for the US. It aired in the US on the Toonami block of Adult Swim starting in June 2017.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The sixth anime television series, "Lupin the 3rd Part V: Misadventures in France", aired in 2018. It is set in France, the home of the main character's grandfather and namesake, and aired on NTV from April 4 to September 18, 2018. Like "Part 4", the English dub was aired by Toonami.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The seventh series, "Lupin the 3rd Part 6", premiered on October 10, 2021, coinciding with the 50th anniversary celebration of the anime.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Adapting the manga into animation was first suggested by animator Gisaburō Sugii to Yutaka Fujioka, the founder of Tokyo Movie Shinsha. This led to the creation of a CinemaScope "", consisting of introductions to the manga's five lead characters, intended to generate interest in the project and secure funding. The "Pilot Film" was created by Sugii, Yasuo Otsuka, Tsutomu Shibayama and Osamu Kobayashi, with supervision by Masaaki Ōsumi. Completed in 1969, the project was left unsold and the "Pilot Film" was adapted for television when Yomiuri Television agreed to broadcast and provide funding for a televised anime adaptation of the manga in 1971.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The televised series proved to be popular, prompting the creation of a second series as well as a feature-length film. Since then, seven theatrical animated films based on "Lupin III" have been created by TMS Entertainment.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The first animated feature film adaptation of the series was titled simply "Lupin III" (later known as "Lupin III: Lupin vs. the Clone"), directed by Sōji Yoshikawa and released in Japanese theaters on December 16, 1978. Hayao Miyazaki directed the next feature film, "The Castle of Cagliostro", which was released in Japanese theaters on December 15, 1979.


title: Lupin the Third

text: A film to be directed by Mamoru Oshii was planned and widely advertised for a summer 1985 release. However, Oshii's eccentric script was opposed by the producers, and it was cancelled. Oshii would go on to reuse many of the ideas and concepts he made for the film in other works such as "Ghost in the Shell", "Patlabor" and "Angel's Egg", and it also influenced works by pupils of Oshii such as "".


title: Lupin the Third

text: The third film, "Legend of the Gold of Babylon" co-directed by Seijun Suzuki and Shigetsugu Yoshida, was released in Japanese theaters on July 13, 1985. Ten years after "Babylon" was released, the fourth film, "Farewell to Nostradamus", entered Japanese theaters on April 22, 1995. The fifth anime feature film, "", was directed by the creator of the series, Monkey Punch, and released in Japanese theaters on April 20, 1996.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Four years after the two series had a crossover TV special together, "" was released on December 7, 2013, making it the first "Lupin III" theatrical feature in 17 years.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Takeshi Koike directed a continuation film to "The Woman Called Fujiko Mine" TV series. Entitled "Daisuke Jigen's Gravestone", it was released theatrically on June 21, 2014. A follow-up by the same staff entitled "Goemon Ishikawa's Spray of Blood" was released on February 4, 2017. Another, "Fujiko Mine's Lie", was released on May 31, 2019.


title: Lupin the Third

text: On July 10, 2019, a computer-animated film titled "" was announced and released on December 6 of that same year.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Several original video animations (OVAs) based on "Lupin III" have been produced. "The Fuma Conspiracy" was shown in theaters in Japan on December 26, 1987, before being released to video on April 5, 1988. Because of budget problems, TMS decided not to employ the regular voice cast from the television series and theatrical movies; instead, they hired a different cast to save money. The second OVA, "Return of Pycal", was released on April 3, 2002, as part of the 30th anniversary of the first television series and features the return of one of the original villains of the series, the magician Pycal. A third OVA, "Green vs. Red", was released on April 2, 2008, as part of the 40th anniversary of the manga.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The "Lupin III Master File" box set released in 2012 included a new short animation titled where the veteran cast of Kanichi Kurita as Lupin, Kiyoshi Kobayashi as Jigen, Makio Inoue as Goemon, Eiko Masuyama as Fujiko, and Goro Naya as Zenigata reunited for the last time, after the later three were replaced for the previous year's TV special. A parody flash anime titled was produced by animator Frogman and his studio DLE Inc. in collaboration with TMS. The ten shorts were released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on December 19, 2012.


title: Lupin the Third

text: A memorial episode titled was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the manga. It was directed by Jun Kawagoe, with Monkey Punch as general director and character designs by Hisao Horikoshi and Satoshi Hirayama. Its title is a reference to the debut episode of the first anime and as such this episode follows its story, but also features other enemies such as Kyosuke Mamo, Sandayu Momochi, Pycal, and Stoneman. It was included in the first DVD/Blu-ray set of the "Part V" anime on July 25, 2018. An English dub of the episode aired on Toonami on December 14, 2019.


title: Lupin the Third

text: On October 24, 2022, TMS Entertainment announced a six-episode ONA prequel series titled "Lupin Zero". The series is animated by Telecom Animation Film and directed by Daisuke Sakō, with Ichirō Ōkouchi overseeing series scripts, Asami Taguchi designing the characters, and Yoshihide Otomo composing the music. The series is centered around Lupin's days as a youth and features old stories from the manga along with new stories. The series premiered on December 16, 2022. The opening theme is "AFRO"LUPIN'68", while the ending theme is performed by Tavito Nanao.


title: Lupin the Third

text: On September 22, 2022, TMS Entertainment announced a CGI crossover anime with "Cat's Eye", "Lupin III vs. Cat's Eye". The anime is directed by Kōbun Shizuno and Hiroyuki Seshita, with Keisuke Ide serving as assistant director, Shūji Kuzuhara is writing the scripts, Yuji Ohno and Kazuo Otani will compose the music, and Haruhisa Nakata and Junko Yamanaka are designing the characters. The anime will premiere on Amazon Prime Video as a worldwide exclusive in 2023.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Between 1989 and 2013, a new animated television special by TMS Entertainment aired on NTV every year. The tradition started with "Bye Bye, Lady Liberty" on April 4, 1989. 2007's "Elusiveness of the Fog" was broadcast on July 27 as part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the original manga, featuring the return of a villain from the original television series, Kyousuke Mamo. A crossover special titled "Lupin the 3rd vs. Detective Conan", featuring characters from both "Lupin III" and "Detective Conan", aired on March 27, 2009, attracting a record audience share of 19.5.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The 2011 special "Blood Seal - Eternal Mermaid" brought new voice actors for Fujiko, Zenigata and Goemon, the first change in 16 years. "Princess of the Breeze - The Hidden City in the Sky", the last of the yearly consecutive specials, features Yui Ishikawa as its heroine Yutika.


title: Lupin the Third

text: On January 8, 2016, a special tie-in with the "Part IV" TV series aired. Two new television specials aired in 2019.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The first "Lupin III" theatrical feature was a live-action movie released on August 3, 1974. included all of the main cast members with the exception of Goemon Ishikawa XIII. In contrast to the dark theme of the first television series, the live-action feature was very heavy on slapstick humor and physics-defying stunts. A DVD was released in North America in 2006 by Discotek.


title: Lupin the Third

text: WhiteLight Entertainment, a production company owned by Gerald R. Molen, purchased the live-action theatrical rights to "Lupin III" in 2003.


title: Lupin the Third

text: A new live-action film, titled simply "Lupin the 3rd" and directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, was released on August 30, 2014. The cast features Shun Oguri as Lupin, Meisa Kuroki as Fujiko, Tetsuji Tamayama as Jigen, Gō Ayano as Goemon, and Tadanobu Asano as Zenigata. Tomoyasu Hotei provided the theme song for the movie. It was released in Australia in 2015 by Madman Entertainment. A sequel was announced to be in development.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Two stage adaptations have been produced. "I'm Lupin" was performed on November 5, 1999. The all-female acting troupe Takarazuka Revue began a stage musical adaptation of the series on January 1, 2015.


title: Lupin the Third

text: A live-action adaptation of the "Inspector Zenigata" spin-off manga aired in Japan in 2017. The project is a collaboration between NTV, WOWOW and Hulu Japan and stars Ryohei Suzuki, Atsuko Maeda and Takahiro Miura.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The first Lupin video game was a stealth game released to arcades in Japan by Taito in 1980 as "Lupin III". A Laserdisc video game entitled "Cliff Hanger" was released to arcades in North America in 1983 by Stern. While it used footage from "The Mystery of Mamo" and "The Castle of Cagliostro" to provide a gaming experience similar to "Dragon's Lair", it changes the characters' names and has an original plot. Since then Lupin video games have been released for a number of platforms including Family Computer, Super Famicom, Sony PlayStation, Sony PlayStation 2, Sega Saturn, Nintendo DS and Sega Naomi.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Columbia Music Entertainment and VAP have both released numerous "Lupin III" music CDs in Japan. These include over 48 soundtrack albums by Takeo Yamashita and Yuji Ohno for the TV series, movies, and specials, as well as 15 collections of jazz arrangements by the Yuji Ohno trio, the Lupintic Five, and the Lupintic Sixteen.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Geneon Entertainment has released two of the music CDs in the United States. "Lupin the 3rd: Sideburn Club Mix" is a collection of thirteen remixed themes from the first television series, which was released in conjunction with the first DVD volume on January 28, 2003. "Lupin the 3rd Original Soundtrack", released on April 8, 2003, is a collection of fifteen themes from the second television series performed by Yuji Ohno with his jazz group You & the Explosion Band.


title: Lupin the Third

text: To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the series, a live concert was held on September 8, 2007, performed by Yuji Ohno and the Lupintic Sixteen; a concert DVD was released in Japan on December 21, 2007. "Play the Lupin clips x parts", a compilation of Lupin animation clips set to music from the series, as well as the opening and ending credits from a number of "Lupin III" productions, was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in Japan on May 22, 2009.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Music from the series has been covered by a range of artists, including Double, Ego-Wrappin' and The Ventures.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The "Lupin III" franchise has experienced lasting popularity in Japan; the manga was listed in 38th place on Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs' 2007 list of the top 50 manga series. In 2000, satellite TV channel Animax together with "Brutus", a men's lifestyle magazine, and Tsutaya, Japan's largest video rental chain, conducted a poll among 200,000 fans on the top anime series, with "Lupin III" coming in second. TV Asahi conducted two polls in 2005 on the Top 100 Anime, "Lupin III" came in fifth in the nationwide survey conducted with multiple age-groups and in twelfth in the online poll. "The Castle of Cagliostro" was in 5th place on Agency for Cultural Affairs' list of the best anime, while the original television series was in 50th place on the same list. In 2001, the magazine "Animage" elected the original "Lupin III" TV series the ninth best anime production of all time. In 2012, 38.7% of people polled by Tokyo Polytechnic University named "Lupin III" as part of Cool Japan.


title: Lupin the Third

text: In "", Jason Thompson referred to Monkey Punch's original manga as "a crazy, groovy 1960s world of dynamite and backstabbing, hippies and gangsters", and considered it "a fascinating homage to "Mad" magazine and a four star example of comics as pure comedy." He rated the series four out of four stars. Allen Divers of Anime News Network (ANN) praised the strong writing and action; however, he felt that the art was too primitive. "Otaku USA"s Daryl Surat was also put off by the art, saying he couldn't tell most characters apart and had a hard time figuring out what he was looking at. In "The Rough Guide to Manga", Jason S. Yadao highlighted the example of how Lupin wearing a hat looks exactly like Zenigata. However, he considered it a successful plot device in once chapter that while it may take several attempts to understand, eventually pays off. He included the series in his list of 50 essential manga. Many of the first volumes of the English edition of the "Lupin III" manga released by Tokyopop made it onto ICv2's list of top 50 graphic novels, as well as later volumes from the series.


title: Lupin the Third

text: In "Anime Classics Zettai!", Brian Clamp and Julie Davis compare the first two anime adaptions. They note that the first series is of a serious style, closer to the original manga with a dark tone and that it focuses on disputes between Lupin and other criminals. In contrast they sum up the second series as a "caper comedy" with a more comedic tone and style. Both Chris Beveridge of Mania.com and Mike Crandol of ANN disliked the dub of the second television series because Pioneer Entertainment used many modern references and updated dialogue for a series that was released in the late 1970s, although the series itself received a positive overall review from both reviewers. Rob Lineberger of DVD Verdict wrote, ""Lupin the Third" is "James Bond" meets "Charlie's Angels" with "Scooby-Doo" sensibilities." Monkey Punch believes that the voice work of Yasuo Yamada was a large reason for the popularity of the anime series.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Chris Beveridge of Mania.com gave "The Castle of Cagliostro" an "A+", although he disliked Manga Entertainment's use of PG-13 level language in the English dub. While the film was not initially a box-office success, it gained popularity through numerous re-releases and was even voted as "the best anime in history" by the readers of "Animage". The film was the best-selling anime DVD in May 2001, and the third best selling in June. Some fans maintain that it is not a "true" Lupin title, due to Miyazaki's altering of the titular character into a family-friendly hero, rather than his original ruthless criminal self. While admitting that "Cagliostro" is the most well-known, ANN's Mike Crandol cited "The Fuma Conspiracy" as the best Lupin animation.


title: Lupin the Third

text: The "Lupin III" television specials released by Funimation have received reviews varying from positive to mixed. The most well-received seems to be "Island of Assassins", with Chris Beveridge of Mania.com describing it as "the best non-TV Lupin experience ... since "The Castle of Cagliostro"", "Missed by a Dollar" received an eight out of ten rating by IGN's Jeremy Mullin, who stated it starts off as seemingly a simple heist film, but turns out to have plenty of twists. The least well-received of Funimation's releases is "Secret of the Twilight Gemini", which received mixed reviews due to the animation and its B movie-style plot. Mania.com gave 2002's "Episode 0: First Contact" an A+ and hailed it as the best TV special made to date. In "500 Essential Anime Movies" Helen McCarthy called "Liberty" her personal favourite of the Lupin TV specials. She describes it as "light, funny and entertaining" and "terrific entertainment".


title: Lupin the Third

text: Critical reception of the 2014 live-action film was generally negative among Japanese and Western film critics, especially following the film's showing at LA EigaFest. Areas frequently targeted for criticism were Ryuhei Kitamura's direction, the film's supporting characters, screenplay, cinematography and editing (especially in the action scenes), costume design and soundtrack. The film was also criticized for having most of its dialogue performed in English (resulting in poor delivery and intonation of numerous lines by its Asian cast members), and for overall squandering its potential as an adaptation of Monkey Punch's manga. Shun Oguri, Tetsuji Tamayama, Gō Ayano, Meisa Kuroki and Tadanobu Asano were, however, frequently seen as well-cast in their respective roles. Audience opinions were mixed, with some viewing the film as “an enjoyable time to be had to the whole family”, while others viewed it as part of a “terrible live-action adaptation trend that has been going on through the years”.


title: Lupin the Third

text: "Cowboy Bebop" and "Samurai Champloo" director Shinichirō Watanabe revealed during an interview with "Newtype Japan" that he was heavily influenced by the work of director Masaaki Ōsumi on the first Lupin television series. Animator Akihiro Kanayama has cited the animation of the anime adaption as an inspiration.


title: Lupin the Third

text: Numerous series have made reference to the series including "Magical Princess Minky Momo", "Cat's Eye", "Gunbuster", "Urusei Yatsura", "Cowboy Bebop", "Here is Greenwood" and "FLCL". Video game designer Hideo Kojima compared the personality of Lupin with Solid Snake in "Metal Gear Solid", stating that in ""MGS", Snake became this sharp-tongued, Lupin III-like guy who flirted with women and told lots of jokes". Kojima would also partially base his character EVA on Fujiko Mine.


title: Lupin the Third

text: On March 30, 1984, the series was the last animated work to be featured on the cover of the Japanese "TV Guide" magazine before the implementation of a policy limiting the cover to live action images. In 2006, Kanye West's "Touch the Sky" featured rapper Lupe Fiasco referencing Lupin III.


title: Lupin the Third

text: In 2008, the "Lupin III"-themed attraction "Lupin III: Labyrinth Trap", which has visitors track down treasure in a maze-like layout, opened at the Tokyo Dome City Attractions amusement park.


title: Lupin the Third

text: In 2009, Japanese-Canadian rock band Monkey Majik created an animated music video in which its members meet the "Lupin III" cast. The video, which is set to the band's version of the anime's theme song, promoted the "Lupin the Third Dance & Drive official covers & remixes" CD. A campaign titled "Lupin Steal Japan" was launched that same year by NTV, TMS Entertainment, Namco Bandai Games, and Heiwa — a manufacturer of pachinko machines. The project's website took suggestions on real-life objects for Lupin to steal. One such example is the Moai statue in Shibuya, which was taken elsewhere for cleaning on December 7, but was replaced by the calling card of the master thief that read "Thanks for the Moai".


title: Lupin the Third

text: In celebration of the anime's 40th anniversary, the "This is the World of Lupin III" event was held at the Matsuya store in Ginza. From August 10 to August 22, 2011, over 300 items related to "Lupin III" were exhibited, including original manuscripts by Monkey Punch and animation cels from the feature films. The following year a similar exhibit was held at the Kitakyushu museum from November 3 to December 28, and another at the Kawasaki City Museum from October until November 10, 2013. The exhibit then moved to Aomori's Sunroad shopping centre from December 21, 2013, until January 21, 2014.


title: Lupin the Third

text: In 2012, the Hokkaido Railway Company unveiled "Lupin III"–themed trains on their Hanasaki Line between Kushiro and Nemuro station, in honor of Monkey Punch, who is a native of Hokkaido. The train was originally to run until March 2015, but was then extended until March 2017. From April 1, 2014, to March 31, 2015, the city of Sakura in Chiba prefecture began accepting applications for Lupin III motorcycle and minicar license plates. Monkey Punch was a resident of the city (until his death in 2019) and the plates were commissioned for the 60th anniversary of being awarded city status. The plates were limited to 3,000 across four categories, with 2,500 plates reserved for 50 cc vehicles. In 2017, one of the fish in the American television series "FishCenter Live" was named Lupin the Third.


title: Taylor John Smith

text: Taylor John Smith (born May 13, 1995) is an American actor. He is known for his role as John Keene in the series "Sharp Objects". Notable films in which he has appeared are "Wolves" (2016), "You Get Me" (2017), "Hunter Killer" (2018), "The Outpost" (2020), "Shadow in the Cloud" (2020), and" Where the Crawdads Sing" (2022).


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal since 20 May 2011, the first woman to hold the office. Having served many times as a Union Cabinet Minister, Mamata Banerjee became the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the first time in 2011. She founded the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC or TMC) in 1998 after separating from the Indian National Congress, and became its first chairperson. She is often referred to as 'Didi' (meaning "elder sister" in Bengali).


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Banerjee previously served twice as Minister of Railways, the first woman to do so. She is also the second female Minister of Coal, and Minister of Human Resource Development, Youth Affairs and Sports, Women and Child Development in the cabinet of the Indian government. She rose to prominence after opposing the erstwhile land acquisition policies for industrialisation of the Communist-led government in West Bengal for Special Economic Zones at the cost of agriculturalists and farmers at Singur. In 2011, Banerjee pulled off a landslide victory for the AITC alliance in West Bengal, defeating the 34-year-old Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front government, the world's longest-serving democratically elected communist-led government, in the process.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: She was a member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Bhabanipur from 2011 to 2021. She contested the Nandigram assembly seat and lost to the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, though her party won a large majority of seats. She is the third West Bengal Chief Minister to lose an election from her own constituency, after Prafulla Chandra Sen in 1967 and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in 2011. Mamata challenged the result of Nandigram Constituency in Calcutta High Court and the matter is sub judice. She led her party to a landslide victory in the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Banerjee was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, to a Bengali Hindu Brahmin family. Her parents were Promileswar Banerjee and Gayetri Devi. Banerjee's father, Promileswar died due to lack of medical treatment, when she was 17. He was a freedom fighter.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In 1970, Banerjee completed the higher secondary board examination from Deshbandhu Sishu Sikshalay. She received a bachelor's degree in history from Jogamaya Devi College. Later, she earned her master's degree in Islamic history from the University of Calcutta. This was followed by a degree in education from Shri Shikshayatan College and a law degree from Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College, Kolkata.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Banerjee became involved with politics when she was only 15. While studying at the Jogamaya Devi College, she established Chhatra Parishad Unions, the student wing of the Congress (I) Party, defeating the All India Democratic Students Organisation affiliated with the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist). She continued in the Congress (I) Party in West Bengal, serving in a variety of positions within the party and in other local political organisations.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Banerjee began her political career in the Congress party as a young woman in the 1970s. In 1975 she gained attention in the press media when she danced on the car of socialist activist and politician Jayaprakash Narayan as a protest against him. She quickly rose in the ranks of the local Congress group and remained the general secretary of Mahila Congress (Indira), West Bengal, from 1976 to 1980. In the 1984 general election, Banerjee became one of India's youngest parliamentarians ever, defeating veteran Communist politician Somnath Chatterjee, to win the Jadavpur parliamentary Constituency in West Bengal. She also became the general secretary of the Indian Youth Congress in 1984. She lost her seat to Malini Bhattacharya of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the 1989 general elections in an anti-Congress wave. She was re-elected in the 1991 general elections, having settled into the Calcutta South constituency. She retained the Kolkata South seat in the 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009 general elections.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Banerjee was appointed the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development, Youth Affairs and Sports, and Women and Child Development in 1991 by prime minister, P. V. Narasimha Rao. As the sports minister, she announced that she would resign and protested in a rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, against the Government's indifference towards her proposal to improve sports in the country. She was discharged of her portfolios in 1993. In April 1996, she alleged that Congress was behaving as a stooge of the CPI-M in West Bengal. She said that she was the lone voice of reason and wanted a "clean Congress".


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In December 1992, Banerjee took a physically challenged girl, Felani Basak, who was allegedly raped by CPI(M) cadres to Writer's Building to the then Chief Minister Jyoti Basu but was harassed by the police before being arrested and put on detention. She had sworn she would enter the building again only as chief minister.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: The State Youth Congress led by Mamata Banerjee organised a protest march to Writers Building in Kolkata on 21 July 1993 against the Communist government of the state. They demanded that voters’ ID cards be made the only required document for voting, to put a stop to CPM's "scientific rigging". Thirteen people were shot and killed by police during the protest and many others were injured. Reacting to this incident the then-Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu, said that the "police had done a good job." During the 2014 inquiry, Justice (retired) Sushanta Chatterjee, former Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court described the police response as "unprovoked and unconstitutional". "The commission has come to the conclusion that the case is even worse than Jallianwala Bagh massacre," said Justice Chatterjee.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In 1997, due to difference in political views with the then West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Somendra Nath Mitra, Banerjee left the Congress Party in West Bengal and became one of the founding members of the All India Trinamool Congress, along with Mukul Roy. It quickly became the primary opposition party to the long-standing Communist government in the state. On 11 December 1998, she controversially held a Samajwadi Party MP, Daroga Prasad Saroj, by the collar and dragged him out of the well of the Lok Sabha to prevent him from protesting against the Women's Reservation Bill.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In 1999, she joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and became Railways Minister. In 2000, Banerjee presented her first Railway Budget. In it, she fulfilled many of her promises to her home state West Bengal. She introduced a new biweekly New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani Express train and four express trains connecting various parts of West Bengal, namely the Howrah-Purulia Rupasi Bangla Express, the Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri Padatik Express, the Shalimar-Adra Aranyak Express, the Sealdah-Ajmer Ananya Superfast Express, and Sealdah-Amritsar Akal Takht Superfast Express. She also increased the frequency of the Pune-Howrah Azad Hind Express and extended at least three express train services. Work on the Digha-Howrah Express service was also hastened during her brief tenure.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: She also focused on developing tourism, enabling the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway section to obtain two additional locomotives and proposing the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited. She also commented that India should play a pivotal role in the Trans-Asian Railway and that rail links between Bangladesh and Nepal would be reintroduced. In all, she introduced 19 new trains for the 2000–2001 fiscal year.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In 2000, she and Ajit Kumar Panja resigned to protest the hike in petroleum prices, and then withdrew their resignations without providing any reasons.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In early 2001, after "Tehelka" exposure of Operation West End, Banerjee walked out of the NDA cabinet and allied with the Congress Party for West Bengal's 2001 elections, to protest the corruption charges levelled by the website against senior ministers of the government.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: She returned to the NDA government in September 2003 as a cabinet minister without any portfolio. Along with Mamata, her party colleague Sudip Banerjee was also inducted in the Vajpayee ministry. On 9 January 2004 she took charge as Ministry of Coal and Mines. During her short term as the minister of coal and mines, the government disallowed the sale of the National Aluminium Company. She held the Coal and Mines portfolios till 22 May 2004.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In Indian general election of 2004 her party aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party, however, the alliance lost the election and she was the only Trinamool Congress member to be elected from a parliamentary seat from West Bengal. Banerjee suffered further setbacks in 2005 when her party lost control of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the sitting mayor Subrata Mukherjee defected from her party. In 2006, the Trinamool Congress was defeated in West Bengal's Assembly Elections, losing more than half of its sitting members.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: On 4 August 2006, Banerjee hurled her resignation papers at the deputy speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal in Lok Sabha. She was provoked by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's rejection of her adjournment motion on illegal infiltration by Bangladeshis in West Bengal on the grounds that it was not in the proper format.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: On 20 October 2005, she protested against the forceful land acquisition and the atrocities perpetrated against local farmers in the name of the industrial development policy of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government in West Bengal. Benny Santoso, CEO of the Indonesia-based Salim Group, had pledged a large investment in West Bengal, and the West Bengal government had given him farmland in Howrah, sparking protests. In soaking rain, Banerjee and other Trinamool Congress members stood in front of the Taj Hotel where Santoso had arrived, shut out by the police. Later, she and her supporters followed Santoso's convoy. A planned "black flag" protest was avoided when the government had Santoso arrive three hours ahead of schedule.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In November 2006, Banerjee was forcibly stopped on her way to Singur for a rally against a proposed Tata Motors car project. Banerjee reached the West Bengal assembly and protested at the venue. She addressed a press conference at the assembly and announced a 12-hour shutdown by her party on Friday. The TMC supremo Mamata, who was arrested by police earlier in that day 'for violating prohibitory orders' near Singur, alleged that the administration had acted ‘unconstitutionally’ by preventing her from entering Singur where the Tata motors proposed to set up a small car factory. She was intercepted at Hooghly and sent back. After this incident the Trinamool Congress MLAs protested by damaging furniture and microphones and vandalizing the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Building. A major strike was called on 14 December 2006. But all-in-all, there was no gain. On 4 December, Banerjee began the historic 26-day hunger strike in Kolkata protesting the forcible acquisition of farmland by the government. The then-President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, who was concerned about her health, spoke to the then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resolve the issue. Kalam also appealed to Ms Banerjee to withdraw her fast as "life is precious". A letter from Manmohan Singh was faxed to Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the then-Governor of West Bengal, and then it was immediately delivered to Mamata. After receiving the letter Mamata finally broke her fast at midnight on 29 December. (One of her first acts after becoming Chief Minister was to return the 400 acres of land to Singur farmers. In 2016 the Supreme Court declared that the acquisition of 997 acres of land by West Bengal's Left Front government for the Tata Motors plant in Singur was illegal.)


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: The Nandigram violence was an incident of Nandigram in West Bengal, occurred in the year 2007, where a battalion of armed police stormed the rural area in the district of Purba Medinipur with the aim of quashing protests against the West Bengal government's plans to expropriate of land for a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to be developed by the Indonesian-based Salim Group. At least 14 villagers were shot dead and 70 more were wounded. This led to a large number of intellectuals to protest on the streets. CPI(M) cadres allegedly molested and raped 300 women and girls during the Nandigram invasions.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Banerjee wrote letters to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to stop what she called "state-sponsored violence" promoted by CPI(M) in Nandigram. Her political activism during the movement is widely believed to be one of the contributing causes to her landslide victory in 2011.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: The CBI report on the incident vindicated CPI(M)'s stand that Buddhadeb did not order the police to open fire. They did so only to disperse the unlawful assembly after every other standard operating procedure had failed. But supporting the violence in Nandigram by his own party workers, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had said earlier "They (the oppositions) have been paid back in the same coin." There are allegations of involvement of some local TMC leaders in the Nandigram Violence (On 15 April Ms. Banerjee clarified this matter in a live interview to ABP Ananda).


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Before the 2009 parliamentary elections she allied with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Indian National Congress. The alliance won 26 seats. Banerjee joined the central cabinet as the railway minister (second tenure). In the 2010 Municipal Elections in West Bengal, TMC won Kolkata Municipal Corporation by a margin of 62 seats. TMC also won Bidhan Nagar Corporation by a seven-seat margin. In 2011, Banerjee won a sweeping majority and assumed the position of chief minister of the state of West Bengal. Her party ended the 34-year rule of the Left Front.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Trinamool Congress performed well in the 2009 parliamentary election, winning 19 seats. Its allies in Congress and SUCI also won six and one seats respectively marking the best performance by any opposition party in West Bengal since the beginning of the Left's regime. Until then, the Congress victory of 16 seats in 1984, was considered their best show in opposition.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In 2009, Mamata Banerjee became the railway minister for the second time. Her focus was again on West Bengal.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: She led Indian Railways to introduce a number of non-stop "Duronto Express" trains connecting large cities as well as a number of other passenger trains, including women-only trains. The Anantnag-Qadigund segment of the Jammu–Baramulla line that had been in the making since 1994 was inaugurated during her tenure. She also declared the long line-1 of the Kolkata Metro as an independent zone of the Indian Railways for which she was criticised.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: She stepped down as railway minister to become the chief minister of West Bengal. She commented: "The way I am leaving the railways behind, it will run well. Don’t worry, my successor will get all my support." Her nominee from her party, Dinesh Trivedi, succeeded her as railway minister.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Banerjee's tenure as railway minister was subsequently questioned as most of the big-ticket announcements made by her when she held the post, saw little or no progress. Reuters reported that "Her two-year record as railway minister has been heavily criticized for running the network into more debt to pay for populist measures such as more passenger trains." The Indian Railways became loss-making during her two-year tenure.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In 2011, the All India Trinamool Congress along with SUCI and the INC won the West Bengal legislative assembly election against the incumbent Left Alliance by securing 227 seats. TMC won 184 seats with the INC winning 42 seats and the SUCI secured one seat. This marked the end of the longest-ruling democratically elected Communist party in the world.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Banerjee was sworn in as chief minister of West Bengal on 20 May 2011. As the first female chief minister of West Bengal, one of her first decisions was to return 400 acres of land to Singur farmers. "The cabinet has decided to return 400 acres to unwilling farmers in Singur," the chief minister said. "I have instructed the department to prepare the papers for this. If Tata-babu (Ratan Tata) wants, he can set up his factory on the remaining 600 acres, otherwise we will see how to go about it."


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: She began various reforms in the education and health sectors. Some of the reforms in the education sector included the release of teachers' monthly pay on the first of every month and quicker pensions for retiring teachers. In the health sector Banerjee promised: "A three-phase developmental system will be taken up to improve the health infrastructure and service." On 30 April 2015, a representative of UNICEF India congratulated the government for making Nadia the first Open Defecation Free district in the country. In a statement on 17 October 2012, Banerjee attributed the increasing incidence of rape in the country to "more free interaction between men and women". She said that "Earlier if men and women would hold hands, they would get caught by parents and reprimanded but now everything is so open. It’s like an open market with open options." She was criticised in the national media for these statements.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: She was also instrumental in the rollback of the petrol price hikes and the suspension of FDI in the retail sector until a consensus is evolved. In a bid to improve the law and enforcement situation in West Bengal, police commissioners were created at Howrah, Barrackpore, Durgapur-Asansol and Bidhannagar. The total area of Kolkata Municipal Corporation was brought under the control of the Kolkata Police.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Banerjee had shown a keen interest in making the public aware of the state's history and culture. She named several stations of the Kolkata Metro after freedom fighters, and plans on naming upcoming stations after religious leaders, poets, singers and the like. Mamata Banerjee has been criticised for starting controversial stipends to imams (Iman Bhatta) which was ruled unconstitutional by Calcutta High Court.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: On 16 February 2012, Bill Gates, of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, sent a letter to the West Bengal government praising Banerjee and her administration for achieving a full year without any reported cases of polio. The letter said this was not only a milestone for India but also for the whole world.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In June 2012, she launched a Facebook page to rally and gather public support for A.P.J Abdul Kalam, her party's choice for the presidential elections. After he refused to stand for the second time, she supported Pranab Mukherjee for the post, after a long tussle over the issue, commenting she was personally a "great fan" of Mukherjee and wishing that he "grows from strength to strength".


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: She is against calling "bandhs" (work stoppage) although actively supported them when she was in opposition.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Her tenure was also heavily marred by the Saradha Scam – financial embezzlement which led to the imprisonment of Madan Mitra – a former minister in her cabinet, Kunal Ghosh – a party MP, and rigorous grilling of several party men holding important posts.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In the 2016 assembly elections, All India Trinamool Congress won with a landslide two-thirds majority under Mamata Banerjee winning 211 seats out of total 293, who has been elected as Chief Minister West Bengal for the second term. All India Trinamool Congress won with an enhanced majority contesting alone and became the first ruling party to win without an ally since 1962 in West Bengal.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In 2017 Kanyashree, a scheme launched by her government, was ranked the best by the United Nations among 552 social sector schemes from across 62 countries.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In the 2021 assembly elections, AITC won with a landslide two-thirds majority. But, Mamata Banerjee who fought from Nandigram lost against Suvendu Adhikari of Bharatiya Janata Party by 1,956 votes. Mamata Banerjee however challenged this outcome and the matter is sub judice. As her party won 213 seats out of total 292, she was elected as Chief Minister of West Bengal for the third term. Later at Raj Bhawan, she tendered her resignation to Jagdeep Dhankhar. She took oath as Chief Minister on 5 May 2021. Her party later won 2 remaining seats and she herself won Bhabanipur by-election by a huge margin of 58,835 votes. She was sworn in as MLA on 7 October.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: After winning the election, following her promises she launched the scheme Lakshmir Bhandar . In this scheme women under the age of 60 were provided the basic financial help, about 500 rupees for general and 1000 rupees to minorities. The scheme turned out to be a huge success as it became massively popular.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Another scheme was also projected under her leadership, Students Credit Card scheme , to give financial supports in loan to intellectual students who are unable to keep higher studies due to lack of money. The loan limit was upto 10 lakh rupees, under the nominee of government of West Bengal.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: On 30 November 2021, she surpassed her immediate predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to become the third-longest-serving Chief Minister of West Bengal. If Mamata remains in office on and beyond 26 October 2025, she will become the second-longest-serving Chief Minister after Jyoti Basu, superseding Bidhan Chandra Roy.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: The Saradha Group financial scandal and the Rose Valley financial scandal came to light during her tenure and some of her cabinet ministers were accused of money laundering and have been incarcerated. One of her paintings was also sold to Sudipto Sen (central figure in the Saradha scam) for , while 20 more of her pictures were seized from other Saradha Group shareholders. She has been criticised by opposition parties for not taking adequate steps against her own ministers who tried to cover-up their deeds. Sudipto Sen was arrested from Kashmir. The Shyamal Sen Commission, set up by the Chief Minister, was able to return to the depositors. Leaders from Congress and CPI(M) like Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Sujan Chakraborty, Biman Bose were also accused in this scam. Despite Bankshall Court's order to investigate into this matter, no action has been taken by CBI against any of these leaders (other than TMC leaders) to date.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: The Rose Valley financial scandal was a major financial scam and alleged political scandal in India caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by Rose Valley Group where multiple MPs from Banerjee's party were accused of money laundering.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: The Narada sting operation was carried out by Mathew Samuel in 2011 for the Indian newsmagazine "Tehelka" and published on Naradanews.com just before the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections. The sting targeted high-ranking officials and politicians of Banerjee's political party All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: During her tenure she challenged the federal system of India when she ordered the arrest of CBI officials, who arrived in Kolkata to investigate the Saradha Group financial scandal. But CBI's attempted arrest of Kolkata Police Commissioner was also an attack on federalism.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Mamata Banerjee and her government has been accused of "Muslim appeasement" several times by different groups of people including the opposition political parties. But refuting such claims her supporters says "Didi works for everyone, doesn’t discriminate between Hindus and Muslims."


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Mamata Banerjee has been criticised for starting controversial stipends to imams (Iman Bhatta). The stipends were ruled unconstitutional by Calcutta High Court and ordered the West Bengal government to stop payment of the monthly stipend to thousands of imams and muezzins in the state.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In October 2016, the West Bengal government banned the Durga Puja festival immersion after 4:00 pm. Durga Puja was to take place on 12 October and Muharram on 13 October. This was seen by a section of the West Bengal population as another example of the ""Muslim Appeasement"" policy of Banerjee's government. The Calcutta High Court overturned the decision and called it ""a bid to appease minorities"".


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Mamata Banerjee denied permission for Anti-CAA rallies and suppressed campus democracy in West Bengal. The West Bengal police denied permission to Aishe Ghosh to hold a rally at Durgapur in Bengal's West Burdwan district saying chief minister Mamata Banerjee was holding a roadshow at the same spot. "A huge crowd had assembled for the chief minister’s rally. Another rally at the same spot would have led to chaos," an officer from Durgapur police station said.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Banerjee and her government was widely criticised of the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and was accused of concealing facts by the opposition, critics and many doctors.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: The opposition accused Mamata of playing "appeasement politics" amid the COVID-19 crisis. On 1 April, Banerjee claimed that the West Bengal Government have already traced 54 people who attended the Tablighi Jamaat religious gathering during the COVID-19 Outbreak, and 44 of them are foreigners. Although according to a report by central security agencies, 232 people had attended Delhi's Tablighi Jamaat event from West Bengal. Of this, 123 are Indian nationals and 109 are foreigners.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: The West Bengal Government has been also criticized for not sending enough samples to the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) for testing. The government later banned use of cellphones in hospitals.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: However, Mamata Banerjee blamed BJP's IT cell for "using fake news to malign West Bengal’s health department". Many people were arrested for spreading fake news amid lockdown. FIR was lodged against a Bengal BJP MP also for raising "false alarm" over COVID-19 deaths in Bengal.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Throughout her political life, Banerjee has maintained a publicly austere lifestyle, dressing in simple traditional Bengali clothes and avoiding luxuries.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: During an interview in April 2019, Prime minister Narendra Modi claimed that despite their political differences, Banerjee sends her own selected "kurtas" and sweets to him every year (When Ms. Banerjee was asked about this in an interview, she said "We send all the good things of Bengal not only to him, but also to others belonging to different political parties." Australian Envoy Barry O'Farrell thanked her for sending sweets on the occasion of Vijayadashami). In September 2019 when Ms. Jashodaben, the wife of PM Modi, was leaving Kolkata, Mamata met her at the Kolkata airport and gifted her a saree.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Banerjee is a self-taught painter and a poet. Her 300 paintings were sold for ₹9crore (₹90 million, £990,000 or US$1,350,000).


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In 2012, "Time" magazine named her as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. "Bloomberg Markets" magazine listed her among the 50 most influential people in the world of finance in September 2012. In 2018, she was conferred the Skoch Chief Minister of the Year Award.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Banerjee stepped out into the streets of Kolkata during lockdown, caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, to spread awareness among the common people.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: "She has always been a fighter" said Yashwant Sinha while disclosing that Mamata had offered to be a hostage as part of a negotiation strategy during the Kandahar hijacking crisis. "She was ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for the country" Sinha added.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: While appealing for maintaining religious harmony, Banerjee has reiterated the fact on numerous occasions that """Religion is personal, but festivals are universal."


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: In 2021, Mamata Banerjee was invited to attend "World Meeting for Peace" in Rome. She was the only Indian invited to attend the event. But in September, the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) denied her permission to attend the peace conference stating that the event was not "commensurate in status for participation by the chief minister of a state". BJP MP Subramanian Swamy slammed Modi government on Banerjee's Rome visit cancelation. According to Indian Diplomat K. P. Fabian, the reason cited by MEA was unconvincing. Similarly, in December, Banerjee was denied permission by the MEA to visit Nepal.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: TIME magazine published its annual list of 'The 100 Most Influential People of 2021' on 15 September 2021. The list includes Mamata Banerjee among others.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: She received an honorary doctorate from the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar. She was also honoured with a Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt.) degree by Calcutta University.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: "Baghini", a Bengali film, inspired by Mamata Banerjee's life, was released on 24 May 2019. It is not a biopic.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: Numerous books written by her have been published so far. On 2022, she was given "Paschimbanga Akademy Award" for 'Kabita Bitan' which consists of 946 poems.


title: Mamata Banerjee

text: She is also a lyricist and her compositions are mostly based on 'Durga Puja' and 'Motherland'. 'Maa Go Tumi Sarbojanin' sung by Shreya Ghoshal is one of her most popular songs.


title: Mink

text: Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera "Neogale" and "Mustela" and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the American mink and the European mink. The extinct sea mink was related to the American mink but was much larger.


title: Mink

text: The American mink's fur has been highly prized for use in clothing. Their treatment on fur farms has been a focus of animal rights and animal welfare activism. American mink have established populations in Europe (including Great Britain and Denmark) and South America. Some people believe this happened after the animals were released from mink farms by animal rights activists, or otherwise escaped from captivity. In the UK, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal to release mink into the wild. In some countries, any live mink caught in traps must be humanely killed.


title: Mink

text: American mink are believed by some to have contributed to the decline of the less hardy European mink through competition (though not through hybridization—native European mink are in fact more closely related to polecats than to North American mink). Trapping is used to control or eliminate introduced American mink populations.


title: Mink

text: Mink oil is used in some medical products and cosmetics, as well as to treat, preserve, and waterproof leather.


title: Mink

text: The American mink ("Neogale vison") is larger and more adaptable than the European mink ("Mustela lutreola") but, due to variations in size, an individual mink usually cannot be determined as European or American with certainty without looking at the skeleton. However, all European mink have a large white patch on their upper lip, whereas only some American mink have this marking. Therefore, any mink without the patch is certainly of the American species. Taxonomically, both American and European mink were placed in the same genus "Mustela" but the American mink was reclassified as belonging to its own genus, "Neovison", though it has recently been reclassified alongside several other weasels into the genus "Neogale".


title: Mink

text: The sea mink ("Neogale macrodon"), native to the New England area, is considered to be a close relative of the American mink. Its extinction in the late 19th century, was chiefly result of hunting for the fur trade.


title: Mink

text: A wild male mink weighs about and is about in length. Farm-bred males can reach . The female weighs about and reaches a length of about . The sizes above do not include the tail, which can be from .


title: Mink

text: A mink's rich glossy coat in its wild state is brown and looks silky. Farm-bred mink can vary from white to almost black, which is reflected in the British wild mink. Their pelage is deep, rich brown, with or without white spots on the underparts, and consists of a slick, dense underfur overlaid with dark, glossy, almost stiff guard hairs.


title: Mink

text: Mink show the curious phenomenon of delayed implantation. Although the true gestation period is 39 days, the embryo may stop developing for a variable period, so that as long as 76 days may elapse before the litter arrives. Between 45 and 52 days is normal. There is only one litter per year. They typically have between six and 10 kits per litter. Litters as large as 16 have been recorded at fur farms.


title: Mink

text: The maximum lifespan of a mink is usually around ten years, but rarely exceeds three years in the wild.


title: Mink

text: Mink prey on fish and other aquatic life, small mammals, birds, and eggs; adults may eat young mink. Mink raised on farms primarily eat expired cheese, eggs, fish, meat and poultry slaughterhouse byproducts, dog food, and turkey livers, as well as prepared commercial foods. A farm with 3,000 mink may use as much as two tons of food per day.


title: Mink

text: Mink like to live near water and are seldom found far from riverbanks, lakes, and marshes. Even when roaming, they tend to follow streams and ditches. Sometimes they leave the water altogether for a few hundred meters, especially when looking for rabbits, one of their favorite foods. In some places, particularly in Scotland and in Iceland, they live along the seashore. Sometimes they live in towns if suitable water is available. Mink may be present at all hours, even when people are nearby.


title: Mink

text: Mink are very territorial animals. A male mink will not tolerate another male within his territory but appears to be less aggressive towards females. Generally, the territories of both male and female animals are separate, but a female's territory may sometimes overlap with that of a male.


title: Mink

text: The territories, which tend to be long and narrow, stretch along river banks, or around the edges of lakes or marshes. Territory sizes vary, but they can be several miles long. Female territories are smaller than those of males.


title: Mink

text: Each territory has one or two central areas (core areas) where the mink spends most of its time. The core area is usually associated with a good food supply, such as a pool rich in fish, or a good rabbit warren. The mink may stay in its core area, which can be quite small, for several days at a time, but it also makes excursions to the ends of its territory. These excursions seem to be associated with the defense of the territory against intruders. The mink likely checks for any signs of a strange mink and leaves droppings (scat) redolent of its personal scent to reinforce its territorial rights.


title: Mink

text: The American mink's fur has been highly prized for use in clothing, with hunting giving way to farming. Their treatment on fur farms has been a focus of animal rights and animal welfare activism. American mink have established populations in Europe (including Great Britain) and South America, after being released from mink farms by animal rights activists, or otherwise escaping from captivity. In the UK, under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal to release mink into the wild. In some countries, any live mink caught in traps must be humanely killed.


title: Mink

text: There are three mink farms in Ireland, in Donegal, Kerry, and Laois. Mink farming was introduced into the country by two veterinarians. Three thousand mink were released by campaigners into the wild from a farm in the 1960s. It is estimated that there are 33,500 wild mink in Ireland.


title: Mink

text: The Irish Department of Agriculture stated in November 2020 saying that the Department of Health had advised, following the detection of coronavirus among animals on a Danish mink farm, that the roughly 120,000 farmed Irish mink should be culled. Mink farming was already due to be discontinued under the 2020 Programme for Government but the coronavirus risk had expedited the closure of the industry.


title: Mink

text: Minks are among the animals that can be infected with coronaviruses. Transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from minks to humans was first documented in the Netherlands by way of genetic tracing, which prompted the government to bring forward to the end of 2020 a ban on mink farming scheduled to go into effect in 2024. The United States Department of Agriculture confirmed that cases of minks infected with COVID-19 had been documented in Utah in August 2020.


title: Mink

text: In November 2020, Denmark, then the world's largest producer of mink fur, slaughtered its entire mink population of 15 to 17 million animals to stop the spread of Cluster 5, a mutated strain of the virus, which has been linked to the animals and resulted in the infection of 12 humans with the mutated variant. The decision was later deemed to have been illegal, although the law was later changed in support of the action.


title: Mink

text: On farms, minks are placed in battery cages, a type of soft, metal wire cage that restricts their ability to move. This often results in a condition referred to as stereotypies, an abnormal behavior. These abnormal, repetitive behaviours are a result of keeping them imprisoned, and is similar to the deterioration of mental health in humans. Stereotypies have also been noted to increase during human presence.


title: Mink

text: To attempt to eliminate stereotypies in captive mink, the Canadian National Farm Animal Care Council has implemented regulations on incorporating environmental enrichments into mink cages. Enrichments are pen-related alterations or the addition of novel objects to improve the mink's physical and psychological health. Enrichments may help reduce the onset of stereotypies, but rarely decrease or eliminate them entirely. Leaving minks alone plays a large role in the prevention of stereotypies, and the animals' well-being.


title: Bloomberg L.P.

text: Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Zegar, and a 12% ownership investment by Bank of America through their brokerage subsidiary Merrill Lynch.


title: Bloomberg L.P.

text: Bloomberg L.P. provides financial software tools and enterprise applications such as analytics and equity trading platform, data services, and news to financial companies and organizations through the Bloomberg Terminal (via its Bloomberg Professional Service), its core revenue-generating product. Bloomberg L.P. also includes a news agency (Bloomberg News), a global television network (Bloomberg Television), websites, radio stations (Bloomberg Radio), subscription-only newsletters, and two magazines: "Bloomberg Businessweek" and "Bloomberg Markets".


title: Bloomberg L.P.

text: In May 2022, Bloomberg announced it would launch a new venture in the UK, Bloomberg UK, as part of a wider international strategy. Bloomberg UK plans to hire in the region and has launched a standalone website, a weekly video series, a podcast and new event series.


title: Bloomberg L.P.

text: In 1981, Salomon Brothers was acquired, and Michael Bloomberg, a general partner, was given a $10million partnership settlement. Bloomberg, having designed in-house computerized financial systems for Salomon, used his $10million partnership buyout to start Innovative Market Systems (IMS). Bloomberg developed and built his own computerized system to provide real-time market data, financial calculations and other financial analytics to Wall Street firms. The Market Master terminal, later called the Bloomberg Terminal, was released to market in December 1982. Merrill Lynch became the first customer, purchasing 20 terminals and a 30% equity stake in the company for $30million in exchange for a five-year restriction on marketing the terminal to Merrill Lynch's competitors. Merrill Lynch released IMS from this restriction in 1984.


title: Bloomberg L.P.

text: In 1986, the company renamed itself Bloomberg L.P. (limited partnership). Bloomberg launched Bloomberg Business News, later Bloomberg News, in 1990, with Matthew Winkler as editor-in-chief. Bloomberg.com was first established on September 29, 1993, as a financial portal with information on markets, currency conversion, news and events, and Bloomberg Terminal subscriptions.


title: Bloomberg L.P.

text: In late 1996, Bloomberg bought back one-third of Merrill Lynch's 30 percent stake in the company for $200million, valuing the company at $2billion. In 2008, facing losses during the financial crisis, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell its remaining 20 percent stake in the company back to Bloomberg Inc., majority-owned by Michael Bloomberg, for a reported $4.43billion, valuing Bloomberg L.P. at approximately $22.5billion.


title: Bloomberg L.P.

text: Bloomberg L.P. has remained a private company since its founding; the majority of which is owned by billionaire Michael Bloomberg. To run for the position of Mayor of New York against Democrat Mark Green in 2001, Bloomberg gave up his position of CEO and appointed Lex Fenwick as CEO in his stead. in 2012, Peter Grauer became the chairman of the company, a role he still holds. In 2008, Fenwick became the CEO of Bloomberg Ventures, a new venture capital division and Daniel Doctoroff, former deputy mayor in the Bloomberg administration, was named president and CEO, serving until September 2014. At that point, it was announced that Michael Bloomberg would be taking the reins of his eponymous market data company from Doctoroff, who was chief executive of Bloomberg for the past six years after his term as deputy mayor.


title: Bloomberg L.P.

text: Since its founding, Bloomberg L.P. has made several acquisitions including the radio station WNEW, "BusinessWeek" magazine, research company New Energy Finance, the Bureau of National Affairs and the financial software company Bloomberg PolarLake. On July 9, 2014, Bloomberg L.P. acquired RTS Realtime Systems, a global provider of low-latency connectivity and trading support services. On August 13, 2019, Bloomberg acquired RegTek.Solutions in a move to expand its suite of regulatory reporting and data management services.


title: Bloomberg L.P.

text: In 1992, Bloomberg L.P. purchased New York Radio station WNEW for $13.5million. The station was converted into an all-news format, known as Bloomberg Radio, and the call letters were changed to WBBR.


title: Bloomberg L.P.

text: Bloomberg L.P. bought a weekly business magazine, "BusinessWeek", from McGraw-Hill in 2009. The company acquired the magazine—which was suffering from declining advertising revenue and limited circulation numbers—to attract general business to its media audience composed primarily of terminal subscribers. Following the acquisition, "BusinessWeek" was renamed "Bloomberg Businessweek". In 2018, Joel Weber was named editor of the magazine.


title: Bloomberg L.P.

text: In 2009, Bloomberg L.P. purchased New Energy Finance, a data company focused on energy investment and carbon markets research based in the United Kingdom. New Energy Finance was created by Michael Liebreich in 2004, to provide news, data and analysis on carbon and clean energy markets. Bloomberg L.P. acquired the company to become an industry resource for information to support low-carbon energy development. It was renamed to Bloomberg New Energy Finance or BNEF for short. Liebreich continued to lead the company, serving as the chief executive officer until 2014, when he stepped down as CEO but remained involved as chairman of the advisory board.


title: Bloomberg L.P.

text: The company has been renamed BloombergNEF—or BNEF for short. BloombergNEF has expanded its research areas to cover renewable energy, advanced transport, digital industry, innovative materials, sustainability and commodities. BNEF provides research, long-term forecasts, analytical tools and global in-depth analysis covering a wide range of energy and related industries. Analysts covering 6 continents publish more than 700 research reports a year.


title: Bloomberg L.P.

text: Bloomberg L.P. purchased Arlington, Virginia-based Bureau of National Affairs in August 2011, for $990million to bolster its existing Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg Law services. BNA publishes specialized online and print news and information for professionals in business and government. The company produces more than 350 news publications in topic areas that include corporate law and business, employee benefits, employment and labor law, environment, health and safety, health care, human resources, intellectual property, litigation, and tax and accounting.