title: Devon Larratt

text: In 2004, Devon Larratt once again dominated the Ontario Championships, but lost a super match in Chehalis, Washington against John Brzenk.


title: Devon Larratt

text: In 2006, after returning from a six month deployment, Larratt defeated Ron Bath 3-1, at a Mike Classic event in Ontario, Canada. At the time Ron Bath was considered the #3 ranked heavy weight in North America, behind only John Brzenk and Travis Bagent. Devon Larratt has stated that this was his favorite match, "for a number of reasons", but mostly because of the difficulties and stressors of combat, and the uncertainty of returning to a "normal life". Larratt was shot, and took shrapnel to the hand while deployed to Afghanistan.


title: Devon Larratt

text: In 2007, Devon Larratt joined ArmWars, again defeating Ron Bath, this time with a score of 6-0 at the Trafford center in Manchester, England.


title: Devon Larratt

text: In 2008, Larratt was the first man in twenty five years to beat John Brzenk in a super-match. After defeating the arm-wrestling legend, 6-0, Larratt became an internationally recognized armwrestler, and was considered the new #1 ranked right handed arm-wrestler in the world. In the same year, Larratt also beat Marcio Barboza and Travis Bagent, defeating them both by the score of 5-1.


title: Devon Larratt

text: In 2010, Devon Larratt beat Travis Bagent 5-2, Tim Bresnan 5-1, and Don Underwood 4-3, to become the #1 ranked arm-wrestler in the world (both left and right).


title: Devon Larratt

text: In 2011, Devon Larratt defeated former Arnold Classic champion and number one contender, Don Underwood, to retain the right-hand title. He also defeated "Monster" Michael Todd and Christophe Ladu. Devon Larratt lost his left-hand title to Travis Bagent at UAL Backyard Brawl, but beat Bagent 3-0 for the right hand title at the same event.


title: Devon Larratt

text: In 2012, after ArmWars went into abeyance, Devon Larratt participated in UAL/MLA and ArmBet tournaments, where he defeated Tim Bresnan for the MLA right hand super heavy weight title. In the same year, Larratt defeated Andriy Pushkar at ArmBet 42, winning 5-1 to win the left hand title.


title: Devon Larratt

text: In 2013, Larratt beat Oleg Zhokh, Wilton Brock, and Eric Woelfel at UAL 4 to retain his left hand heavyweight title. He then underwent surgery on both elbows. As a result of the injury, Larratt lost his number one pound-for-pound ranking. He underwent a similar procedure on his left elbow in 2016, but was able to recover much faster, returning to win the WAL championship in the same year.


title: Devon Larratt

text: After recovering from elbow surgery, Devon Larratt joined the World Armwrestling League in 2014, where he returned to win the left-handed title, defeating Marcio Barboza, 3-0. At the same event, Larratt lost the right-handed title to Marcio Barboza 0-3.


title: Devon Larratt

text: In 2015, Larratt won the WAL left-hand heavyweight title after Marcio Barboza withdrew (injury). In the right handed semi-finals, Larratt lost to American arm-wrestling legend John Brzenk. While Larratt won the first match in the straps, Brzenk displayed superior hand control and dominated the next two matches outside of the straps to win 2-1.


title: Devon Larratt

text: In 2016, Larratt returned to peak form, successfully defending his titles against top contenders Marcio Barboza, Ron Bath and Matt Mask.


title: Devon Larratt

text: In 2017, Larratt once again retained the WAL right-hand and left-hand heavyweight titles by defeating perennial rival Matt Mask. Larratt also defended his right-hand legacy hammer against a challenge from "Big Frank" Budelewski at Buffalo Fitness Expo, and left hand hammer against Zhao Zi Rui of China.


title: Devon Larratt

text: On May 17, 2018, at WAL 402, Larratt defeated American super heavyweight "Big Daddy" Jerry Cadorette, 3-2, in a right handed supermatch. At WAL 405, Larratt defeated Matt Mask 3-1. At WAL 406, Larratt lost the right-hand championship to Michael Todd. Later that year, during ArmFight 50, Larratt lost a left handed super match against Russian wrestling legend Denis Cyplenkov, in which Cyplenkov won 6-0. After the match, Larratt said Cyplenkov was most likely "25 to 30% stronger". Larratt subsequently rededicated himself to strength training. After these matches, Larratt sent the right handed legacy hammer to Michael Todd and the left handed legacy hammer to Denis Cyplenkov.


title: Devon Larratt

text: On May 23rd, 2019, at WAL 501, Devon Larratt beat Todd Hutchings 3-0. Hutchings, who typically competes in lower weight classes, performed admirably. In July 2019, at WAL 504, Larratt beat Dave Chaffee 3-1, displaying an impressive king's move and much improved strength. Later that year, at WAL 506, Larratt beat Brazilian champion Wagner Bortolato left-handed 3-1. Devon Larratt also beat the Australian champion Ryan Scott 3-0 on March 26, 2019.


title: Devon Larratt

text: On May 28, 2021, less than five months after recovering from deep vein thrombosis, Devon Larratt agreed to meet Michael Todd at King Of The Table (KOTT) in Dubai for the right-hand heavyweight title. In one of the most hyped matches of all time, Larratt avenged his 2018 loss in dramatic fashion by defeating number one ranked Michael Todd 5-0. Larratt surprised the arm-wrestling community by weighing in heavy at 293 pounds. After the match, Michael Todd stated that the 2021 version of Devon Larratt was the "strongest arm-wrestler he ever faced". Ryan "Blue" Bowen, currently ranked #2 in Australia, speculated that the 2021 version of Larratt may be the "strongest arm-wrestler the world has ever seen", noting that no arm-wrestler has ever defeated Michael Todd "so significantly".


title: Devon Larratt

text: On December 11th, 2021, at King of the Table II, Devon Larratt beat John Brzenk 4-0 for the right-hand heavy weight title. Larratt was impressive throughout the match, controlling the hand and wrist of John Brzenk in three of the four rounds; when Brzenk did manage to take the hand and wrist in round 1, Larratt was able to stop the drive and make the necessary tactical adjustments. Larratt weighed in at 129.5 kilos, or 285.5 pounds.


title: Devon Larratt

text: The Legacy Hammer, which was presented to Devon Larratt after he defeated Michael Todd at KOTT 1, has since been passed to Levan Saginashvili, who defeated him at KOTT 4.. The hammer is a symbolic representation of the world's best armwrestler, and the wielder of the legacy hammer must ensure that the hammer belongs to the person most worthy. Current hammer holders as of June 25th, 2022 are Levan Saginashvili (right hand) and Denis Cyplenkov (left hand). Denis Cyplenkov is still recovering from injuries, and is unsure when he will compete again.


title: Devon Larratt

text: On August 16, 2021, Devon Larratt accepted a boxing match with the World's Strongest Man Champion Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson. Larratt, who had no previous boxing experience, trained for the match at Tristar Gym, owned by Firas Zahabi. The gym is notable for training a number of top mixed martial artists, including UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre. When asked why he accepted the match on short notice, Devon stated that he "knows a lot about the sport of arm-wrestling", and that "abandoning his area of expertise" to enter a "fighter dorm", with "professional fighters", is an "opportunity to grow as a human being".


title: Devon Larratt

text: The match took place in Dubai, on September 18, 2021, where Larratt lost to Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson by TKO. Larratt landed an early right hook on Björnsson, but Björnsson dominated the rest of the fight with superior foot work and a hard jab. With twenty five seconds remaining in the first round, Björnsson stunned Larratt with a left hook. While some criticized the referee for jumping in prematurely, Devon said it was "probably a good thing the referee stopped the fight".


title: Devon Larratt

text: On December 18th, 2021, King of the Table announced that Levan Saginashvili will face Devon Larratt at King of the Table 4 (KOTT 4). The match took place in Dubai, in June 25th 2022. Currently, Levan Saginashvili is considered the #1 armwrestler in the world, both left and right handed, and therefore is considered the heavy favorite. It was said that to win the match, Devon would need to stop Levan's explosive drive, regrip, and drain the power from his opponents hands. Larratt would go on to lose this match 6-0.


title: Devon Larratt

text: Devon Larratt is known as both an extremely versatile and enduring armwrestler. Larratt has one of the sports highest table IQ's, and can execute any move whether it be a hook, toproll, press, king's move, or any variation thereof. Additionally, he is unique for his unusually high levels of endurance, a trait that is most advantageous during supermatches. Oftentimes, he only needs to stop the initial surge of his opponent in order to hold them in a disadvantageous position, tire them as the match progresses, and eventually pin them. While Larratt is "relatively" less muscular than other super heavyweights, he frequently overcomes this power differential with superior technical skill, arm leverage, and hand control, stopping his opponent and draining them of their strength over time rather than explosively overpowering them.


title: Devon Larratt

text: Since 2003, Devon Larratt has been married to Jodi Larratt, an actress and former armwrestler; together, they have three children. Larratt generally eats pancakes while training for super-matches, and these humorous pancake videos have subsequently inspired a comical and entertaining storyline within the arm wrestling community, whereby other armwrestlers discuss and adopt Larratt's "pancake diet". To carry on with this jest, Devon's fans will often mail him maple syrup and pancake mix. Devon is also the owner of Armbet, a mobile matchmaking application for arm wrestlers. Larratt currently resides in Ottawa, Canada with his family.


title: Saxony

text: Saxony ( ; Upper Saxon: "Saggsn"; ), officially the Free State of Saxony ( ; Upper Saxon: "Freischdaad Saggsn"; ), is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig. Saxony is the tenth largest of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of , and the sixth most populous, with more than 4 million inhabitants.


title: Saxony

text: The term Saxony has been in use for more than a millennium. It was used for the medieval Duchy of Saxony, the Electorate of Saxony of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Saxony, and twice for a republic. The first Free State of Saxony was established in 1918 as a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. After World War II, it was under Soviet occupation before it became part of the communist East Germany and was abolished by the government in 1952. Following German reunification, the Free State of Saxony was reconstituted with enlarged borders in 1990 and became one of the five new states of the Federal Republic of Germany.


title: Saxony

text: The area of the modern state of Saxony should not be confused with Old Saxony, the area inhabited by Saxons. Old Saxony corresponds roughly to the modern German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and the Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.


title: Saxony

text: Saxony has a long history as a duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire (the Electorate of Saxony), and finally as a kingdom (the Kingdom of Saxony). In 1918, after Germany's defeat in World War I, its monarchy was overthrown and a republican form of government was established under the current name. The state was broken up into smaller units during communist rule (1949–1989), but was re-established on 3 October 1990 on the reunification of East and West Germany.


title: Saxony

text: In prehistoric times, the territory of present-day Saxony was the site of some of the largest of the ancient central European monumental temples, dating from the fifth century BC. Notable archaeological sites have been discovered in Dresden and the villages of Eythra and Zwenkau near Leipzig. The Germanic presence in the territory of today's Saxony is thought to have begun in the first century BC.


title: Saxony

text: Parts of Saxony were possibly under the control of the Germanic King Marobod during the Roman era. By the late Roman period, several tribes known as the Saxons emerged, from which the subsequent state(s) draw their name.


title: Saxony

text: The first medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy", which emerged around the start of the 8th century AD and grew to include the greater part of Northern Germany, what are now the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony-Anhalt. The Saxons converted to Christianity during this period. This geographical region is unrelated to present-day Saxony but the name moved southwards due to certain historical events (see below).


title: Saxony

text: The territory of the Free State of Saxony, called White Serbia was, since the 6th century, populated by Slavs before being conquered by Germans e.g. Saxons and Thuringii. It was not part of the old Saxon stem duchy. A legacy of this period is the Sorb population in Saxony. Eastern parts of present Saxony were ruled by Poland between 1002 and 1032 and by Bohemia since 1293.


title: Saxony

text: The territory of the Free State of Saxony became part of the Holy Roman Empire by the 10th century, when the dukes of Saxony were also kings (or emperors) of the Holy Roman Empire, comprising the Ottonian, or Saxon, Dynasty. Around this time, the Billungs, a Saxon noble family, received extensive lands in Saxony. The emperor eventually gave them the title of dukes of Saxony. After Duke Magnus died in 1106, causing the extinction of the male line of Billungs, oversight of the duchy was given to Lothar of Supplinburg, who also became emperor for a short time.


title: Saxony

text: The Margravate of Meissen was founded in 985 as a frontier march, that soon extended to the Kwisa (Queis) river to the east and as far as the Ore Mountains. In the process of Ostsiedlung, settlement of German farmers in the sparsely populated area was promoted.


title: Saxony

text: In 1137, control of Saxony passed to the Guelph dynasty, descendants of Wulfhild Billung, eldest daughter of the last Billung duke, and the daughter of Lothar of Supplinburg. In 1180 large portions west of the Weser were ceded to the Bishops of Cologne, while some central parts between the Weser and the Elbe remained with the Guelphs, becoming later the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The remaining eastern lands, together with the title of Duke of Saxony, passed to an Ascanian dynasty (descended from Eilika Billung, Wulfhild's younger sister) and were divided in 1260 into the two small states of Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg. The former state was also named "Lower Saxony", the latter "Upper Saxony", thence the later names of the two Imperial Circles Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg. Both claimed the Saxon electoral privilege for themselves, but the Golden Bull of 1356 accepted only Wittenberg's claim, with Lauenburg nevertheless continuing to maintain its claim. In 1422, when the Saxon electoral line of the Ascanians became extinct, the Ascanian Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg tried to reunite the Saxon duchies.


title: Saxony

text: However, Sigismund, King of the Romans, had already granted Margrave Frederick IV the Warlike of Meissen (House of Wettin) an expectancy of the Saxon electorate in order to remunerate his military support. On 1 August 1425 Sigismund enfeoffed the Wettinian Frederick as Prince-Elector of Saxony, despite the protests of Eric V. Thus the Saxon territories remained permanently separated.


title: Saxony

text: The Electorate of Saxony was then merged with the much larger Wettinian Margraviate of Meissen; however, it used the higher-ranking title Electorate of Saxony and even the Ascanian coat-of-arms for the entire monarchy. Thus Saxony came to include Dresden and Meissen. Hence, the territory of the modern Free State of Saxony shares the name with the old Saxon stem duchy for historical and dynastic reasons rather than any significant ethnic, linguistic or cultural connection. In the 18th and 19th centuries Saxe-Lauenburg was colloquially called the Duchy of Lauenburg, which was held in a personal union by the Electorate of Hanover from the 18th century to the Napoleonic wars, and in a personal union with Denmark (along with neighbouring Holstein and Schleswig) for much the 19th century. In 1876 it was absorbed into Prussia as the Duchy of Lauenburg district of the Province of Schleswig-Holstein).


title: Saxony

text: Saxe-Wittenberg, mostly in modern Saxony-Anhalt, became subject to the margravate of Meissen, ruled by the Wettin dynasty in 1423. This established a new and powerful state, occupying large portions of the present Free State of Saxony, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria (Coburg and its environs). Although the centre of this state was far to the southeast of the former Saxony, it came to be referred to as Upper Saxony and then simply Saxony, while the former Saxon territories in the north were now known as Lower Saxony (the modern term Niedersachsen deriving from this).


title: Saxony

text: In 1485, Saxony was split in the Treaty of Leipzig. A collateral line of the Wettin princes received what later became Thuringia and founded several small states there (see "Ernestine duchies"). Since these princes were allowed to use the Saxon coat of arms, in many towns of Thuringia, the coat of arms can still be found on historical buildings.


title: Saxony

text: The remaining Saxon state became still more powerful, also incorporating new territories and was known in the 18th century for its cultural achievements, although it was politically weaker than Prussia and Austria, states which oppressed Saxony from the north and south, respectively.


title: Saxony

text: In 1756, Saxony joined a coalition of Austria, France and Russia against Prussia. Frederick II of Prussia chose to attack preemptively and invaded Saxony in August 1756, precipitating the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War). The Prussians quickly defeated Saxony and incorporated the Saxon army into the Prussian army. At the end of the Seven Years' War, Saxony recovered its independence in the 1763 Treaty of Hubertusburg.


title: Saxony

text: In 1806, French Emperor Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire and established the Electorate of Saxony as a kingdom in exchange for military support. The Elector Frederick Augustus III accordingly became King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony. Frederick Augustus remained loyal to Napoleon during the wars that swept Europe in the following years; he was taken prisoner and his territories declared forfeit by the allies in 1813, after the defeat of Napoleon. Prussia intended the annexation of Saxony but the opposition of Austria, France, and the United Kingdom to this plan resulted in the restoration of Frederick Augustus to his throne at the Congress of Vienna although he was forced to cede the northern part of the kingdom to Prussia, which led to the loss of nearly 50% of the Saxon territory. Most of these lands were merged with the Duchy of Magdeburg, the Altmark and some smaller territories to become the Prussian Province of Saxony, a predecessor of the modern state of Saxony-Anhalt. Lower Lusatia and part of the former Saxe-Wittenberg territory became part of the Province of Brandenburg and the northeastern part of Upper Lusatia became part of the Province of Silesia. The rump Kingdom of Saxony had roughly the same extent as the present state, albeit slightly smaller.


title: Saxony

text: Meanwhile, in 1815, the southern part of Saxony, now called the "State of Saxony" joined the German Confederation. The German Confederation should not be confused with the North German Confederation mentioned below. This southern Saxony shaped the territory of modern Saxony. In the politics of the Confederation, Saxony was overshadowed by Prussia. King Anthony of Saxony came to the throne of Saxony in 1827. Shortly thereafter, liberal pressures in Saxony mounted and broke out in revolt during 1830—a year of revolution in Europe. The revolution in Saxony resulted in a constitution for the State of Saxony that served as the basis for its government until 1918.


title: Saxony

text: During the 1848–49 constitutionalist revolutions in Germany, Saxony became a hotbed of revolutionaries, with anarchists such as Mikhail Bakunin and democrats including Richard Wagner and Gottfried Semper taking part in the May Uprising in Dresden in 1849. (Scenes of Richard Wagner's participation in the May 1849 uprising in Dresden are depicted in the 1983 movie "Wagner" starring Richard Burton as Richard Wagner.) The May uprising in Dresden forced King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony to concede further reforms to the Saxon government.


title: Saxony

text: In 1854 Frederick Augustus II's brother, King John of Saxony, succeeded to the throne. A scholar, King John translated Dante. King John followed a federalistic and pro-Austrian policy throughout the early 1860s until the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War. During that war, Prussian troops overran Saxony without resistance and then invaded Austrian (today's Czech) Bohemia. After the war, Saxony was forced to pay an indemnity and to join the North German Confederation in 1867. Under the terms of the North German Confederation, Prussia took over control of the Saxon postal system, railroads, military and foreign affairs. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Saxon troops fought together with Prussian and other German troops against France. In 1871, Saxony joined the newly formed German Empire.


title: Saxony

text: After King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony abdicated on 13 November 1918, Saxony, remaining a constituent state of Germany (Weimar Republic), became the Free State of Saxony under a new constitution enacted on 1 November 1920. In October 1923 the federal government under Chancellor Gustav Stresemann overthrew the legally elected SPD-Communist coalition government of Saxony. The state retained its name and borders during the Nazi era as a (Gau Saxony), but lost its quasi-autonomous status and its parliamentary democracy.


title: Saxony

text: During the war, under the secret Nazi programme "Aktion T4", an estimated 15,000 people suffering from mental and physical disabilities, as well as a number of concentration camp inmates, were murdered at Sonnenstein killing centre near Pirna.


title: Saxony

text: As World War II drew to its end, U.S. troops under General George Patton occupied the western part of Saxony in April 1945, while Soviet troops occupied the eastern part. That summer, the entire state was handed over to Soviet forces as agreed in the London Protocol of September 1944. Britain, the US, and the USSR then negotiated Germany's future at the Potsdam Conference. Under the Potsdam Agreement, all German territory East of the Oder-Neisse line was annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union, and, unlike in the aftermath of World War I, the annexing powers were allowed to expel the inhabitants. During the following three years, Poland and Czechoslovakia forcibly expelled German-speaking people from their territories, and some of these expellees came to Saxony. Only a small area of Saxony lying east of the Neisse River and centred around the town of Reichenau (now called Bogatynia), was annexed by Poland. Traditional close relations of Saxony with neighbouring German-speaking Egerland was thus completely destroyed, making the border of Saxony along the Ore Mountains a linguistic border.


title: Saxony

text: Part of the former Prussian province of Lower Silesia lay west of the Oder-Neisse line and therefore was separated from the bulk of its former province; the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SVAG) merged this territory into Saxony. This former Silesian territory broadly corresponded with the Upper Lusatian territory annexed by Prussia in 1815.


title: Saxony

text: On 20 October 1946, SVAG organised elections for the Saxon state parliament (), but many people were arbitrarily excluded from candidacy and suffrage, and the Soviet Union openly supported the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The new minister-president Rudolf Friedrichs (SED), had been a member of the SPD until April 1946. He met his Bavarian counterparts in the U.S. zone of occupation in October 1946 and May 1947, but died suddenly in mysterious circumstances the following month. He was succeeded by Max Seydewitz, a loyal follower of Joseph Stalin.


title: Saxony

text: The German Democratic Republic (East Germany), including Saxony, was established in 1949 out of the Soviet zone of Occupied Germany, becoming a constitutionally socialist state, part of COMECON and the Warsaw Pact, under the leadership of the SED. In 1952 the government abolished the Free State of Saxony, and divided its territory into three : Leipzig, Dresden, and Karl-Marx-Stadt (formerly and currently Chemnitz). Areas around Hoyerswerda were also part of the Cottbus Bezirk.


title: Saxony

text: The Free State of Saxony was reconstituted with slightly altered borders in 1990, following German reunification. Besides the formerly Silesian area of Saxony, which was mostly included in the territory of the new Saxony, the free state gained further areas north of Leipzig that had belonged to Saxony-Anhalt until 1952.


title: Saxony

text: There are numerous rivers in Saxony. The Elbe is the most dominant one. The Neisse defines the border between Saxony and Poland. Other rivers include the Mulde and the White Elster.


title: Saxony

text: The largest cities and towns in Saxony according to the 31 July 2022 estimate are listed below. Leipzig forms a conurbation with Halle, known as "Ballungsraum Leipzig/Halle". The latter city is located just across the border of Saxony-Anhalt. Leipzig shares, for instance, an S-train system (known as "S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland") and an airport with Halle.


title: Saxony

text: Saxony is a parliamentary democracy. A Minister President heads the government of Saxony. Michael Kretschmer has been Minister President since 13 December 2017.


title: Saxony

text: AfD received its highest share of the vote in any state or federal election, while the CDU and The Left both fell to record lows in Saxony. Under normal circumstances AfD should have received 39 seats in the Landtag; however, due to positions 31–61 being ruled invalid and removed from AfD's party list, they had no candidates to fill the final seat. Thus, it remains vacant and there are only 119 seats in the Landtag, one fewer than the standard minimum size.


title: Saxony

text: Between 1990 and 2008, Saxony was divided into the three regions ("Regierungsbezirke") of Chemnitz, Dresden, and Leipzig. After a reform in 2008, these regions – with some alterations of their respective areas – were called "Direktionsbezirke". In 2012, the authorities of these regions were merged into one central authority, the "".


title: Saxony

text: Saxony is a densely populated state if compared with more rural German states such as Bavaria or Lower Saxony. However, the population has declined over time. The population of Saxony began declining in the 1950s due to emigration, a process which accelerated after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. After bottoming out in 2013, the population has stabilized due to increased immigration and higher fertility rates. The cities of Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, and the towns of Radebeul and Markkleeberg in their vicinity, have seen their populations increase since 2000. The following tables illustrate the foreign resident populations and the population of Saxony since 1816:


title: Saxony

text: The average number of children per woman in Saxony was 1.60 in 2018, the fourth-highest rate of all German states. Within Saxony, the highest is the Bautzen district with 1.77, while Leipzig is the lowest with 1.49. Dresden's fertility rate of 1.58 is the highest of all German cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants.


title: Saxony

text: Saxony is home to the Sorbs. There are currently between 45,000 and 60,000 Sorbs living in Saxony (Upper Lusatia region). Today's Sorb minority is the remainder of the Slavic population that settled throughout Saxony in the early Middle Ages and over time slowly assimilated into the German speaking society. Many geographic names in Saxony are of Sorbic origin (including the three largest cities Chemnitz, Dresden and Leipzig). The Sorbic language and culture are protected by special laws and cities and villages in eastern Saxony that are inhabited by a significant number of Sorbian inhabitants have bilingual street signs and administrative offices provide service in both, German and Sorbian. The Sorbs enjoy cultural self-administration which is exercised through the Domowina. Former Minister President Stanislaw Tillich is of Sorbian ancestry and has been the first leader of a German state from a national minority.


title: Saxony

text: As of 2011, the Evangelical Church in Germany represented the largest Christian denomination in the state, adhered to by 21.4% of the population. Members of the Roman Catholic Church formed a minority of 3.8%. About 0.9% of the Saxons belonged to an Evangelical free church ("Evangelische Freikirche", i.e. various Protestants outside the EKD), 0.3% to Orthodox churches and 1% to other religious communities, while 72.6% did not belong to any public-law religious society. The Moravian Church (see above) still maintains its religious centre in Herrnhut and it is there where 'The Daily Watchwords' (Losungen) are selected each year which are in use in many churches worldwide. In particular in the larger cities, there are numerous smaller religious communities. The international Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a presence in the Freiberg Germany Temple which was the first of its kind in Germany, opened in 1985 even before its counterpart in Western Germany. It now also serves as a religious center for the church members in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. In Leipzig, there is a significant Buddhist community, which mainly caters to the population of Vietnamese origin, with one Buddhist temple built in 2008 and another one currently under construction. The Sikh faith also maintains a presence in Saxony's three largest cities with three (though small) Gurdwara.


title: Saxony

text: The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the state was 124.6 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 3.7% of German economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 28,100 euros or 93% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 85% of the EU average. The GDP per capita was the highest of the states of the former GDR. Saxony has a "very high" Human Development Index value of 0.930 (2018), which is at the same level as Denmark. Within Germany Saxony is ranked 9th.


title: Saxony

text: Saxony has, after Saxony Anhalt, the most vibrant economy of the states of the former East Germany (GDR). Its economy grew by 1.9% in 2010. Nonetheless, unemployment remains above the German average. The eastern part of Germany, excluding Berlin, qualifies as an "Objective 1" development-region within the European Union, and was eligible to receive investment subsidies up to 30% until 2013. FutureSAX, a business plan competition and entrepreneurial support organisation, has been in operation since 2002.


title: Saxony

text: Microchip-makers near Dresden have given the region the nickname "Silicon Saxony". The publishing and porcelain industries of the region are well known, although their contributions to the regional economy are no longer significant. Today, the automobile industry, machinery production, and services mainly contribute to the economic development of the region.


title: Saxony

text: The Leipzig area, which until recently was among the regions with the highest unemployment rate, could benefit greatly from investments by Porsche and BMW. With the VW Phaeton factory in Dresden, and many parts suppliers, the automobile industry has again become one of the pillars of Saxon industry, as it was in the early 20th century. Zwickau is another major Volkswagen location. Freiberg, a former mining town, has emerged as a foremost location for solar technology. Dresden and some other regions of Saxony play a leading role in some areas of international biotechnology, such as electronic bioengineering. While these high-technology sectors do not yet offer a large number of jobs, they have stopped or even reversed the brain drain that was occurring until the early 2000s in many parts of Saxony. Regional universities have strengthened their positions by partnering with local industries. Glashütte is the birthplace of the German watchmaking industry and home to highly regarded watch manufacturers such as A. Lange & Söhne and Glashütte Original.


title: Saxony

text: Saxony is a strongly export-oriented economy. In 2018, exports amounted to 40.48 billion euros while imports stood at 24.41 billion euros. The largest export partner of Saxony is China with an amount of 6.72 billion euros, while the second largest export market are the United States with 3.59 billion. The largest exporting sectors are the automobile industry and mechanical engineering.


title: Saxony

text: In April 2022, Saxony received about 84% of its imported oil and gas from Russia while nationally Germany only imported about one third from Russia. This is mainly due to the pipeline network, which since the time of the GDR has been strongly integrated with the Soviet Union, similar to other states of Eastern Europe.


title: Saxony

text: Saxony is a renowned tourist destination in Germany. The cities of Dresden and Leipzig are two of Germany's most visited cities. Areas along the border with the Czech Republic, such as the Lusatian Mountains, Ore Mountains, Saxon Switzerland, and Vogtland, attract significant numbers of visitors. In addition, Saxony has well-preserved historic towns such as Görlitz, Bautzen, Freiberg, Pirna, Meissen and Stolpen as well as numerous castles and palaces. New tourist destinations are developing, notably in the Lusatian Lake District.


title: Saxony

text: Saxony's school system belongs to the most excelling ones in Germany. It has been ranked first in the German school assessment (Bildungsmonitor) for several years.


title: Saxony

text: Saxony has four large universities, six "Fachhochschulen" (Universities of Applied Sciences) and six art schools.


title: Saxony

text: The Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden), founded in 1828, is one of Germany's oldest universities. With 36,066 students as of 2010, it is the largest university in Saxony and one of the ten largest universities in Germany. It is a member of TU9, a consortium of nine leading German Institutes of Technology.


title: Saxony

text: Leipzig University is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany, founded in 1409. Famous alumni include Leibniz, Goethe, Ranke, Nietzsche, Wagner, Cai Yuanpei, Angela Merkel, Raila Odinga, Tycho Brahe, and nine Nobel laureates are associated with this university.


title: Saxony

text: With over 11,000 students, the Chemnitz University of Technology is the third largest university in Saxony.


title: Saxony

text: Established in 1765, the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, located in the former mining town of Freiberg, is the oldest university of mining and metallurgy in the world.


title: Saxony

text: Saxony is part of Central Germany as a cultural area. As such, throughout German history it played an important role in shaping German culture.


title: Saxony

text: The most common patois spoken in Saxony are combined in the group of "Thuringian and Upper Saxon dialects". Due to the inexact use of the term "Saxon dialects" in colloquial language, the Upper Saxon attribute has been added to distinguish it from Old Saxon and Low Saxon. Other German dialects spoken in Saxony are the dialects of the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), which have been affected by Upper Saxon dialects, and the dialects of the Vogtland, which are more affected by the East Franconian languages.


title: Saxony

text: Upper Sorbian (a West Slavic language) is spoken in the parts of Upper Lusatia that are inhabited by the Sorbian minority. The Germans in Upper Lusatia speak distinct dialects of their own (Lusatian dialects).


title: Saxony

text: Saxony is often seen as the "motherland of the Reformation". It was predominantly Lutheran Protestant from the Reformation until the late 20th century.


title: Saxony

text: The Electoral Saxony, a predecessor of today's Saxony, was the original birthplace of the Reformation. The elector was Lutheran starting in 1525. The Lutheran church was organized through the late 1510s and the early 1520s. It was officially established in 1527 by John the Steadfast. Although some of the sites associated with Martin Luther also lie in the current state of Saxony-Anhalt (including Wittenberg, Eisleben and Mansfeld), today's Saxony is usually viewed as the formal successor to what used to be Luther's country back in the 16th century (i.e. the Electoral Saxony).


title: Saxony

text: Martin Luther personally oversaw the Lutheran church in Saxony and shaped it consistently with his own views and ideas. The 16th, 17th and 18th centuries were heavily dominated by Lutheran orthodoxy. In addition, the Reformed faith made inroads with the so-called crypto Calvinists, but was strongly persecuted in an overwhelmingly Lutheran state. In the 17th century, Pietism became an important influence. In the 18th century, the Moravian Church was set up on Count von Zinzendorf's property at Herrnhut. From 1525, the rulers were traditionally Lutheran and widely acknowledged as defenders of the Protestant faith, although – beginning with Augustus II the Strong, who was required to convert to Roman Catholicism in 1697 in order to become King of Poland – its monarchs were exclusively Roman Catholic. That meant Augustus and the subsequent Electors of Saxony, who were Roman Catholic, ruled over a state with an almost entirely Protestant population.


title: Saxony

text: In 1925, 90.3% of the Saxon population was Protestant, 3.6% was Roman Catholic, 0.4% was Jewish and 5.7% was placed in other religious categories.


title: Saxony

text: After World War II, Saxony was incorporated into East Germany which pursued a policy of state atheism. After 45 years of Communist rule, the majority of the population has become unaffiliated. Nonetheless, even during this time Saxony remained an important place of religious dialogue and it was at Meissen where the agreement on mutual recognition between the German Evangelical Church and the Church of England was signed in 1988.


title: Saxony

text: In 2020, there were 4,447 registered sports clubs of various disciplines with over 600,000 members in Saxony. The most popular sport in Saxony is football. With RB Leipzig there is one Saxon team playing in the Bundesliga as well as the European Champions League. Leipzig is notable for a longstanding football tradition, a Leipzig team having been the first national football champion in German history. Another popular sport is handball with several Bundesliga teams from Saxony. On a local level sports such as table tennis, cycling, mountaineering and volleyball are popular.


title: Saxony

text: Saxony prides itself to have been one of the first places in the world where modern recreational rock climbing was developed. Falkenstein rock in the area of Bad Schandau is considered to be the place were the German rock climbing tradition started in 1864.


title: Saxony

text: The Ore Mountains in southern Saxony are traditionally a region of winter sports. The ski ressort of Oberwiesenthal is the highest town of Germany, at an altitude of 900 m, though the surrounding mountains do not reach the same height as in the alpine areas of Southern Germany. Thus, climate change is posing a certain threat to the development of winter sports business. There are a number of training facilities for the German Winter Olympics' team in the region.


title: Saxony

text: The two major cultural centers of Saxony are Dresden and Leipzig. The two cities have each a unique character which is reflecting the role they played throughout Saxon and German history, Dresden being a political center while Leipzig has been a major trading city. Thus, Dresden is well known for the art collections of the former Saxon kings (Dresden State Art Collections with the Green Vault and Zwinger as the most well-known parts).


title: Saxony

text: Leipzig on the other hand never had a royal court, so its culture is borne largely by its citizens. The city is famous for its relationship with classical music and names like Johann Sebastian Bach, Mendelssohn or Wagner are linked to it. Over the past decades the city became famous for its modern art scene, most notably the Neue Leipziger Schule (New Leipzig School) with artists such as Neo Rauch.


title: Saxony

text: Saxony was the first place in Europe to develop and produce white porcelain, a luxury good until then imported only from China. The Meissen Porcelain manufactory has been producing porcelain since 1710. It is one of the world's leading porcelain manufacturers and one of the oldest and most internationally known German luxury brands.


title: Saxony

text: Saxon cuisine encompasses regional cooking traditions of Saxony. In general the cuisine is very hearty and features many peculiarities of Mid-Germany such as a great variety of sauces which accompany the main dish and the fashion to serve potato dumplings (Klöße/Knödel) as a side dish instead of potatoes, pasta or rice. Also much freshwater fish is used in Saxon cuisine. The area around Dresden is home to the easternmost wine region in Germany (see: Saxony (wine region)).


title: Saxony

text: Saxony (as other German states) has its own anthem, dating back to the monarchy of the 19th century. 'Gott segne Sachsenland' (God save Saxony) is based on the melody of God save the King.


title: In the Dark (American TV series)

text: In the Dark is an American crime drama television series, created by Corinne Kingsbury for The CW, which debuted as a mid-season entry during the 2018–19 television season.


title: In the Dark (American TV series)

text: On January 30, 2018, The CW ordered the show to pilot, with Michael Showalter set to direct. In May 2018, the show received a series order. The series premiered on April 4, 2019. In April 2019, the series was renewed for a second season that premiered on April 16, 2020. In January 2020, The CW renewed the series for a third season which premiered on June 23, 2021. In February 2021, the series was renewed for a fourth season which premiered on June 6, 2022. In May 2022, it was announced that the fourth season will be its last.


title: In the Dark (American TV series)

text: An irreverent blind woman in her twenties, Murphy, drifts through life in a drunken haze. She has only two friends—Jess, her understanding roommate, and Tyson, a teenage drug-dealer who saved her from a violent mugging. Out for a walk with her guide dog, Pretzel, she stumbles upon a corpse that must be Tyson's, but it disappears before the police arrive. When they do not seem inclined to investigate, Murphy clings onto the only thing that can keep her together: figuring out what happened to her friend. She resolves to solve the murder herself, while also managing her colorful dating life and the job she hates at "Guiding Hope", a school run by her parents for training guide dogs. After falling for Max, who is secretly associated with the drug kingpin that employed Tyson, Murphy gets dragged into criminal activity.


title: In the Dark (American TV series)

text: The series was created by Corinne Kingsbury for The CW, to debut during the 2018–19 television season. On January 30, 2018, The CW officially ordered the pilot. The series was greenlit on May 11, 2018.


title: In the Dark (American TV series)

text: "In the Dark" is the first CW primetime series to carry Descriptive Video Service audio, though The CW, as a minor network, is not required to have any DVS provisions under the regulations for audio description for their affiliates, so the base of stations carrying that track is smaller than other networks where carriage of descriptive video is required. On January 10, 2019, The CW announced the premiere of the series on April 4 at 9 p.m. On April 24, 2019, The CW renewed the series for a second season, that was originally scheduled to premiere on May 28, 2020, however it was moved to premiere date on April 16, 2020. On January 7, 2020, the series was renewed for a third season which premiered on June 23, 2021. On February 3, 2021, The CW renewed the series for a fourth season which premiered on June 6, 2022. On May 12, 2022, The CW announced that the fourth season will be its last.


title: In the Dark (American TV series)

text: On March 2, 2018, it was announced that Perry Mattfeld had been cast in the protagonist role of Murphy in the series' pilot, along with Brooke Markham as Jess, Murphy's roommate and best friend, and Keston John as Darnell, a local drug dealer; followed on March 9 with Kathleen York as Joy, Murphy's mother, and Derek Webster as Hank, Joy's husband. Austin Nichols was cast as Dean, a cop with a blind daughter, on March 12. On May 16, 2018, The CW announced that the role of Dean had been recast; with Nichols thereafter replaced by Rich Sommer on July 13, 2018. On September 10, 2019, Matt Murray was cast in a recurring role for the second season.


title: In the Dark (American TV series)

text: The show received some criticism for casting a sighted actor to play a blind character. British actor James Moore, who plays a disabled character in the soap opera "Emmerdale" and has a disability himself, argued that disabled actors will always be better placed to play disabled roles due to their life experience. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, critics worried that the "questionable treatment of physical handicaps may leave some viewers with a dim impression." During a panel discussion at the Television Critics Association press tour, executive producer Nicky Weinstock defended the choices, claiming that they initially auditioned blind actors, but ultimately cast Perry because she was the best actor for the role.


title: In the Dark (American TV series)

text: Filming on the pilot began on March 12, 2018, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and wrapped on March 28. Principal photography on season 1 began on August 8, 2018, and ended on December 21, 2018. Principal photography for the second season began on August 19, 2019, and ended on January 24, 2020, in Toronto and Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. Filming for the series' third season began on November 2, 2020, and concluded on April 21, 2021. Filming for the fourth season began on November 29, 2021, and concluded on May 31, 2022.


title: In the Dark (American TV series)

text: In Canada, the series premiered on April 4, 2019, on Bravo!. The series continues to be broadcast on the channel, which is now branded as CTV Drama Channel. In fall 2020, the second season was re-run on CTV 2 starting September 15.


title: In the Dark (American TV series)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 73% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 7.16/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Perry Mattfield is compelling as an amateur sleuth "In the Dark", although the series' recycling of mystery tropes and questionable treatment of physical handicaps may leave some viewers with a dim impression." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Jeju Island

text: Jeju Island (; ) is South Korea's largest island, covering an area of , which is 1.83 percent of the total area of the country. It is also the most populous island in South Korea; at the end of September 2020, the total resident registration population of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province is 672,948, of which 4,000 reside on outlying islands such as the Chuja Islands and Udo Island. The total area of the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province is 1,849 km.


title: Jeju Island

text: The island lies in the Korea Strait, south of the Korean Peninsula, and South Jeolla Province. It is located off the nearest point on the peninsula. Jeju is the only self-governing province in South Korea, meaning that the province is run by local inhabitants instead of politicians from the mainland.


title: Jeju Island

text: Jeju Island has an oval shape of east–west and north–south, with a gentle slope around Mt. Halla in the center. The length of the main road is and the coastline is . The northern end of Jeju Island is Kimnyeong Beach, the southern end is Songak Mountain, the western end is Suwolbong, and the eastern end is Seongsan Ilchulbong.


title: Jeju Island

text: The island was "formed by the eruption of an underwater volcano approximately 2 million years ago". It contains a natural World Heritage Site, the Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes. Jeju Island has a temperate climate which is moderate; even in winter, the temperature rarely falls below . Jeju is a popular holiday destination and a sizable portion of the economy relies on tourism and related economic activity.


title: Jeju Island

text: Before the Japanese annexation in 1910, the island was usually known as Quelpart (Quelpaërt, Quelpaert) to Europeans; during the occupation it was known by the Japanese name Saishū. The name "Quelpart" coming from French language is attested in Dutch no later than 1648 and may have denoted the first Dutch ship to spot the island, the "quelpaert de Brack" around 1642, or rather some visual similarity of the island from some angle to this class of ships (a small dispatch vessel, also called a galiot).


title: Jeju Island

text: The first European explorers to sight the island, the Portuguese, called it "Ilha de Ladrones" (Island of Thieves).


title: Jeju Island

text: The name "Fungma island" appeared in the "Atlas of China" of M. Martini who arrived in China as a missionary in 1655.


title: Jeju Island

text: The script in the official Jeju logo is colored black, to evoke the basalt of the island, indicating that Jeju's traditions should be preserved and developed. The green symbolizes the natural environment of Mt. Halla and Jeju, blue symbolizes the sea of Jeju, and orange symbolizes the hopeful future and value of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province.


title: Jeju Island

text: After Mongol invasions of Korea, the Mongol Empire established a base on Jeju Island with its ally, the Goryeo army in (Tamna prefectures) and converted part of the island to a grazing area for the Korean and Mongol cavalry stationed there.


title: Jeju Island

text: In the beginning of the 15th century, Jeju Island was subjected to the highly centralized rule of the Joseon dynasty. A travel ban was implemented for almost 200 years and many uprisings by Jeju Island residents were suppressed.


title: Jeju Island

text: From 3 April 1948 to May 1949, the South Korean government conducted an anticommunist campaign to suppress an attempted uprising on the island. The main cause for the rebellion was the election scheduled for 10 May 1948, designed by the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK) to create a new government for all of Korea. The elections were only planned for the south of the country, the half of the peninsula under UNTCOK control. Fearing that the elections would further reinforce division, guerrilla fighters of the Workers' Party of South Korea (WPSK) reacted violently, attacking local police and rightist youth groups stationed on Jeju Island.


title: Jeju Island

text: In 2008, bodies of victims of a massacre were discovered in a mass grave near Jeju International Airport.


title: Jeju Island

text: In 2018, 500 refugees fleeing the civil war in Yemen came to Jeju Island, causing unease and racial tensions among the residents of Jeju Island.


title: Jeju Island

text: On 11 November 2018, it was announced that preparations were being made for North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to visit Jeju during his upcoming visit to South Korea. Kim would be transported to Jeju via helicopter. The announcement came in after 200 tonnes of tangerines harvested in Jeju were flown to North Korea as a sign of appreciation for nearly 2 tonnes of North Korean mushrooms Kim gave to South Korea as a gift, following the September 2018 inter-Korean summit.


title: Jeju Island

text: In November 2020, South Korean archeologists announced the discovery of a 900-year-old lost slipway off the coast of Sinchangli. Researchers also discovered bright objects, coins and ceramics belonging to the Northern Song Dynasty.


title: Jeju Island

text: Jeju is a volcanic island, dominated by Hallasan: a volcano high and the highest mountain in South Korea. The island measures approximately across, east to west, and from north to south.


title: Jeju Island

text: The island formed by volcanic eruptions approximately two million years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch. The island consists chiefly of basalt and lava.


title: Jeju Island

text: An area covering about 12% () of Jejudo is known as "Gotjawal Forest". This area remained uncultivated until the 21st century, as its base of 'a'a lava made it difficult to develop for agriculture. Because this forest remained pristine for so long, it has a unique ecology.


title: Jeju Island

text: The forest is the main source of groundwater and thus the main water source for the half million people of the island, because rainwater penetrates directly into the aquifer through the cracks of the 'a'a lava under the forest. Gotjawal forest is considered an internationally important wetland under the Ramsar Convention by some researchers because it is the habitat of unique species of plants and is the main source of water for the residents, although to date it has not been declared a Ramsar site.


title: Jeju Island

text: Jeju has a humid subtropical climate ("Cfa" in the Köppen climate classification). Four distinct seasons are experienced on Jeju; winters are cool with moderate rainfall, while summers are hot and humid with very high rainfall.


title: Jeju Island

text: In January 2016, a cold wave affected the region. Snow and frigid weather forced the cancellation of 1,200 flights on Jejudo, stranding approximately 90,300 passengers.


title: Jeju Island

text: Tourism is an important component of the local economy. The island is sometimes called "South Korea’s Hawaii". Tourists from China do not require a visa to visit Jeju, unlike the rest of South Korea, and in the 2010s have started visiting on specialised package tours to acquire a South Korean driver's license; the test is similar to that in China, but can be completed in less time and is easier, application and test forms are available in many languages, and a South Korean license, unlike a Chinese license, makes the holder eligible for an International Drivers License.


title: Jeju Island

text: In 1962, the South Korean government established the Korean National Tourism Corporation (KNTC) to monitor and regulate internal and external tourism, and it was later renamed the Korean National Tourism Organization (KNTO). While Korea lacks abundant natural resources, tourism is an entity that generates income nationwide for South Korea. In Jeju-do province, specifically, tourism has proven to be beneficial and has been a growing contributor to the economy. Jeju Island, often compared to Hawaii, “is the winter destination for Asian tourist seeking warm weather and beautiful beaches.”


title: Jeju Island

text: The island is home to 660,000 people, but hosts 15,000,000 visitors per year. English is not widely spoken in Jeju, and as a matter of fact, “the local dialect is different enough from Korean that it is recognized as a distinct language.” “Until recently, Chinese travelers accounted for 80% of foreign travelers;” however, due to the installation of THAAD (The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system in Korea, Chinese travel has dwindled drastically. “THAAD is supposed to shield against North Korean missiles” however China views it as a security threat. Though in the past year [2017] tourism has declined sharply, visits to Jeju continue to be a vacation destination for Asia. There are no visa requirements for visitors staying up to 90 days and future plans to build a second international airport have been discussed. Due to the decline of visitors caused by China's travel ban to Korea due to the concern of THAAD, talks and discussions continue to be held regarding a second airport to service over 45 million people with an anticipated completion by 2035. The current Jeju International Airport is crowded, as it services “30 million, which is 4 million more than it was designed to handle.” The current desire of the existing Jeju International Airport includes wanting to add more direct flights, nonstop to major cities including Tokyo, Osaka, Beijing, Shanghai, and Taipei.


title: Jeju Island

text: While the economy booms with foreign travel, residents suffer negative repercussions of Jeju tourism. “Most commercial facilities are owned by foreigners and major companies.” In addition to increasing tourism, issues such as beach pollution, traffic, and overconsumption of underground water present a problem.


title: Jeju Island

text: Jeju has three UNESCO World Heritage sites, and is “packed with museums and theme parks and also has horses, mountains, lava tube caves, and waterfalls with clear blue ocean lapping its beaches.” The Haenyeo (Jeju female divers) harvest oysters, abalone, clams, seaweed and other marine life, and their history is showcased at the island's Haenyeo museum.


title: Jeju Island

text: Due to extensive tourism, the pollution of beaches has become a serious problem. The local government of Jeju aspires to be carbon-free by 2030. “Nearly half of all-electric cars in South Korea are registered in Jeju”.


title: Jeju Island

text: In addition to the aspirations of an additional airport and the expansion of tourism on the island, Jeju is home to a small technological hub. In 2005, the Jeju Science Park was created, a complex for technology companies and organizations. Since its implementation, it has attracted 117 IT and biotech companies and is home to the Daum Kakao Corporation headquarters.


title: Jeju Island

text: One of the most popular surfing spots in Korea, Jeju Island is also the birthplace of Korean surfing. Some famous beaches are Weoljung Beach and Jungmun Beach. The latter is home to the first surfing club in Korea, established in 1995.


title: Jeju Island

text: There are small islands near Jeju Island that visitors can visit by boat; the most famous of these are Udo, Gapado, and Marado. Udo is famous for its peanut ice cream and boat tours.


title: Jeju Island

text: Jeju became more well known outside Korea after two characters in the 2021 Netflix original series "Squid Game" mentioned it. It was also the location for two episodes of the 2022 Netflix original series "Extraordinary Attorney Woo", entitled "The Blue Night of Jeju I and II".


title: Jeju Island

text: The island's power grid is connected to mainland plants by the HVDC Haenam–Cheju, and electricity is also provided by generators located on the island. As of 2001, there were four power plants on Jeju, with more under planning and construction. The most notable of these are the gas-fired generators of Jeju Thermal Power Plant, located in Jeju City. The present-day generators of this plant were constructed from 1982 onwards, replacing earlier structures that dated from 1968. As elsewhere in Korea, the power supply is overseen by the Korea Electric Power Corporation, or KEPCO.


title: Jeju Island

text: In February 2012, the governor of the state of Hawaii (USA), Neil Abercrombie, and the director of the Electricity Market and Smart Grid Division at the Korea Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Choi Kyu-Chong, signed a letter of intent to share information about Smart Grid technology. The Jeju Smart Grid was initially installed in 6,000 homes in Gujwa-eup and is being expanded. South Korea is using the pilot program of the Smart Grid on Jejudo as the testing ground in order to implement a nationwide Smart Grid by 2030.


title: Jeju Island

text: The island is served by Jeju International Airport in Jeju City. The Seoul – Jeju City air route is by a significant margin the world's busiest, with around 13,400,000 passengers flown between the two cities in 2017. Other cities that have flights to Jeju are Daegu, Busan, Gunsan and Gwangju.


title: Jeju Island

text: A rail tunnel to the island, linking it to the Korea Train Express network has been proposed but is currently on hold due to cost concerns and local opposition in Jeju, who are aware of an eventual loss of their indigenous traits.


title: Jeju Island

text: In 1993 the Republic of Korea (ROK) began planning a naval base on Jeju Island. Construction started in Gangjeong village in 2007, with planned completion by 2011. The base was designed to be a mixed military-commercial port similar to those in Sydney and Hawaii, that could accommodate 20 warships and three submarines, as well as two civilian cruise ships displacing up to 150,000 tons. Its official name is the "Jeju Civilian-Military Complex Port". Jeju residents, environmentalists, and opposition parties opposed the construction claiming that environmental hazards will damage the "Island of Peace" designated as such by the government. The protests caused delays in the construction. The base was completed in 2016.


title: Jeju Island

text: In 2002, scarlet fever was reported to be in Korean children in Jeju Province. Scientists have been doing research on the matter by creating an age-period-cohort (APC) analysis to back up their relevant hypotheses regarding this emerging outbreak. The Korean National Health Insurance Service analyzed this data from the nationwide insurance claims. Their calculations of the crude incidence rate (CIR) and applying the intrinsic estimator (IE) for age and calendar groups revealed that a total of 2,345 cases of children had the fever that was one of the top illnesses. It also led to the discovery that children aged 0–2 were the most common victims of the fever and that it was mostly boys rather than girls that carried it. The CIR decreased with age between 2002 and 2016 and the age period effect decreased in all observed years. The IE coefficients validating a cohort effect went from negative to positive in 2009. To this day, no one can explain how these children in Jeju Province had scarlet fever, but results suggest that it might be explained through the cohort effect. Further descriptive epidemiological studies are needed to test children that are born after 2009, to determine whether they have the fever or not.


title: Jeju Island

text: Studies show that Jeju Province is recorded as the region showing the highest incidence of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) in South Korea. Just like the scarlet fever, the goal of this study was to determine the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of SFTS patients in Jeju Province. The data that was collected on this situation were obtained by the Integrated Diseases and Health Control System of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDCIS). 55 residents of Jeju were selected to test the criteria at KCDCIS and confirm the cases of SFTS with a residence listed in Jeju Province at the time of diagnosis, between July 16, 2014, and November 30, 2018. Results show that of the 55 confirmed cases of SFTS, the case fatality rate was 10.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.1 to 22.2). The most common symptoms of the SFTS were severe fever, myalgia, and diarrhea. There have been fatality rates of 83.6% (95% Cl, 71.2 to 92.2), 45.5% (95% Cl, 32.0 to 59.5), and 40.0% (95% CI, 27.0 to 54.1). This particular study from 2014 to 2018, has been proven to have a lower case fatality rate and a lower incidence of severe fever, myalgia, and confusion than that of the cases nationwide of 2013–2015.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: Dunkin' Donuts LLC, also known as Dunkin' and by the initials DD, is an American multinational coffee and doughnut company, as well as a quick service restaurant. It was founded by Bill Rosenberg (1916–2002) in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1950. The chain was acquired by Baskin-Robbins's holding company Allied Lyons in 1990; its acquisition of the Mister Donut chain and the conversion of that chain to Dunkin' Donuts facilitated the brand's growth in North America that year. Dunkin' and Baskin-Robbins eventually became subsidiaries of Dunkin' Brands, headquartered in Canton, Massachusetts, in 2004, until being purchased by Inspire Brands on December 15, 2020. The chain began rebranding as a "beverage-led company", and was renamed Dunkin', in January 2019; while stores in the U.S. began using the new name, the rebranding will eventually be rolled out to all of its international stores.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: With approximately 12,900 locations in 42 countries, Dunkin' is one of the largest coffee shop and donut shop chains in the world. Its products include donuts, bagels, coffee, and "Munchkins" donut holes.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: Bill Rosenberg opened Open Kettle in 1948, a restaurant selling donuts and coffee in Quincy, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston), but he changed the name in 1950 to Dunkin' Donuts after discussing with company executives. He conceived the idea for the restaurant after his experiences selling food in factories and at construction sites, where donuts and coffee were the two most popular items. The restaurant was successful, and Rosenberg sold franchises to others starting in 1955.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In 1963, Rosenberg's son Bob became CEO of the company at age 25, and Dunkin' Donuts opened its hundredth location that year. Dunkin' Donuts was a subsidiary of Universal Food Systems at the time, a conglomerate of 10 small food-service businesses, and Dunkin' Donuts locations varied greatly in their menu options, with some selling full breakfasts and others serving only donuts and coffee.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In the following years, the other businesses in the Universal Food Systems portfolio were sold or closed, and the company was renamed to Dunkin' Donuts. The menu and shop format was standardized, and various new menu items were introduced. In the early 1980s counter service and ceramic coffee cups were replaced by self-service counters and paper cups. The chain went public in 1968 and was acquired by Baskin-Robbins owner Allied Lyons in 1990. By 1998, the brand had grown to 2,500 locations worldwide with $2 billion in annual sales.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: At some point, the chain produced a donut specifically designed for dunking, with a handle. This was discontinued in 2003 (except in Singapore) because it was hand-cut and uneconomical compared to machine-cut donuts.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In 2004, the company's headquarters were relocated to Canton, Massachusetts. In December 2005, Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins (by then operating under the name Dunkin' Brands) were sold to a private equity consortium of Bain Capital, Carlyle Group, and Thomas H. Lee Partners for $2.4 billion. By 2010, Dunkin' Donuts' global sales were $6 billion.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: The Dunkin' Donuts location in Natick, Massachusetts launched a program to test the concept of curbside pickup in December 2016.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In January 2018, Dunkin' Donuts began to open new concept locations, beginning in Quincy, featuring modern decor, cold beverages on tap and a single-cup brewing machine, more packaged take-out options, and dedicated pick-up lines for mobile ordering inside and in the drive-thru. The concept was described as being part of a shift towards becoming an "on-the-go, beverage-led brand". In addition, the location, as well as others, began to trial signage referring to the chain as simply "Dunkin—removing "Donuts" from the name.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In February 2018, Dunkin' announced plans to phase out polystyrene foam cups globally for environmental purposes by April 2020.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: On July 11, 2018, Dave Hoffmann took over from Nigel Travis to become the CEO. He is looking to add 1,000 new locations outside of the Northeastern United States by the end of 2020 and to have a revenue increase of 3 percent for stores open a year or longer. Also late 2018, Dunkin' installed espresso machines at all possible locations and launched espresso products using a new recipe.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In June 2019, Dunkin' partnered with Grubhub to begin the rollout of its new Dunkin' Delivers service. Later in July 2019, Dunkin' partnered with Beyond Meat to introduce a meatless breakfast sandwich in Manhattan, becoming the first U.S. restaurant brand to serve Beyond Sausage. The sandwich launched nationally later in 2019.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In September 2019, the New York attorney general's office alleged in a lawsuit that Dunkin' mishandled a series of cyberattacks that were directed at customers using the Dunkin' mobile app. These attacks took place in early 2015 and thousands of usernames and passwords stolen. The state lawsuit alleges that Dunkin' employees knew about these attacks, but failed to take appropriate action.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In October 2020, Dunkin' Brands stated that the company was in conversation with Inspire Brands, a private equity-backed company, negotiating to sell the company. Inspire Brands announced on Saturday, October 31, 2020, that they would be acquiring Dunkin' Brands Group for $11.3 billion, which would include Dunkin' Brands' debt that Inspire Brands would be taking on. Inspire would pay $106.50 in cash for each of Dunkin' Brands' shares. On December 15, 2020, the acquisition was completed, and Dunkin' Brands ceased to exist as a separate company, with Dunkin', Baskin-Robbins, and the trademark management of Mister Donut, becoming part of Inspire Brands.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: Dunkin' Donuts' "It's Worth the Trip" campaign starred sleepy-eyed "Fred the Baker" and featured the catchphrase "Time to make the donuts". It won honors from the Television Bureau of Advertising as one of the five best television advertisements of the 1980s. Fred the Baker was played by actor Michael Vale for 15 years until his retirement in 1997. The catchphrase was used in the title of founder William Rosenberg's autobiography "".


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: Dunkin' Donuts changed its slogan in March 2006 to "America Runs on Dunkin. They Might Be Giants songs were featured in a series of advertisements of new products to boost summer sales. In 2007, a series of Dunkin' Donuts commercials referred to the fictional language "Fritalian". "Is it French? Or is it Italian?" sings a chorus of customers facing a long menu of non-English terms. "Perhaps Fritalian?" was created by Hill Holliday to "poke fun at pretentious Starbucks-style coffee chains, with patrons attempting to order hard-to-pronounce lattes." The commercial was interpreted as a deliberate mocking of Starbucks. The commercials' punch line is: "Delicious lattes from Dunkin' Donuts. You order them in English". It has been a point of discussion that latte, cappuccino, and espresso are loanwords from Italian which have no equivalence in English. The commercials, however, refer to the Starbucks ordering language itself, poking fun at words such as "grande" and "venti". Further commercials in 2007 more directly mocked Starbucks, with a customer ordering a "large" and being chastised to use the term "dieci".


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: Rachael Ray starred in commercials for Dunkin' Donuts beginning in 2007. In May 2008, Dunkin' Donuts removed a commercial from its website featuring Ray wearing a scarf with a black and white paisley floral design, in response to columnist Michelle Malkin's claims that the scarf resembled the keffiyeh worn by Yasser Arafat and therefore a sign of support for terrorists. Dunkin' Donuts pulled that commercial off the air, leading to criticism of the company's perceived kowtowing to special interests.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In March 2009, the company unveiled the alternate slogan "You 'Kin Do It!" and launched a $100 million ad campaign promotion. In 2017, the company announced that it would begin testing the name of simply "Dunkin at some retail locations, as they would like to be thought of as a destination for coffee, its most profitable product. The branding would be implemented in other locations in the latter half of 2018 if it was successful. The brand announced that it would be known simply as Dunkin' in September 2018.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: On April 3, 2018, Dunkin' Donuts teamed up with the Massachusetts shoe manufacturer, Saucony to produce a strawberry-frosted donut themed running shoe to commemorate the 122nd running of the Boston Marathon. The Saucony X Dunkin' Kinvara 9 came in a donut box and the heel of the shoe was covered in rainbow sprinkles.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: A script version of the words "Dunkin' Donuts" was filed on March 31, 1955, and registered on February 2, 1960. A later logo was for a drawing and word logo depicting a figure with a donut for a head and a coffee cup and donut body wearing a garrison cap, with "Dunkin"' emblazoned on both the coffee cup and cap. The design was rendered primarily in yellow and brown. The logo was applied for on June 23, 1958, registered on May 23, 1961, and put into use on July 1, 1964.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In 1961, the company began using a hot pink color for its branding and used a logo showing a stylized coffee cup with the company's name rendered on one line as a circle, evoking a donut dunking into the cup. In 1980, bright orange was added to the hot pink. As of 2014, the current logo is a variation of the logo that has been in use since about 1980: an all-capitals rendering of the words "Dunkin' Donuts" ("Dunkin"' in orange; "Donuts" in pink) in a thick, Frankfurter typeface with a coffee cup outlined in brown with a "DD" monogram.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In September 2018, the company announced that it would shorten its name to Dunkin', with a wider roll-out beginning in January 2019. The company acknowledged that "Dunkin was already a common shorthand name for the chain among customers and in its marketing (including the slogan "America Runs on Dunkin), and that the rebranding would reflect the chain's continuing shift towards being a "beverage-led" brand at a time when consumers have shown a preference for healthier trends and options as they consume fewer donuts. While stores in the U.S. started using the new name in 2019, the rebranding will eventually be rolled out to all of its international stores.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In April 2018, Dunkin' named BBDO as their primary advertising agency. This replaced Hill Holliday, which had been producing print, digital, broadcast, and billboard advertising for almost twenty years. Hill Holliday was the agency responsible for the tagline "America Runs on Dunkin. ARC/Leo Burnett was also named to lead all in-store promotions.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: Dunkin' has a close relationship with the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots, making commercials at the start of each team's season for promotions. Dunkin' also sponsors other professional sports teams, including the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Philadelphia Eagles, and Tampa Bay Rays.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In 2001, Dunkin' Donuts purchased the naming rights for the former Providence Civic Center, and renamed it the Dunkin' Donuts Center. The center is currently the home court for the NCAA and Big East Providence Friars men's basketball team from Providence College as well as home ice for the AHL Providence Bruins hockey team. In reference to the center's long association with local college basketball, it is often known locally as "The Dunk".


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In January 2014, English football club Liverpool announced a multimillion-pound global partnership with the company.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In 2015, Dunkin' Donuts was announced as the named sponsor of the baseball park in Hartford, Connecticut, new home of the Hartford Yard Goats baseball team. It is named Dunkin' Donuts Park.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: Dunkin' Donuts signed a sponsorship deal with the National Women's Hockey League in December 2015. As part of the multi-year agreement, Dunkin’ Donuts is the official hot, iced and frozen coffee of the NWHL.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In 2016, Dunkin' became the official "coffee, donut and breakfast sandwich partner" of the National Hockey League.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: On January 16, 2013, Nigel Travis, Dunkin' Brands CEO, announced that the Dunkin' Donuts franchises would be available in California beginning in 2015. In July 2013, Dunkin' Donuts announced that it has signed its first Southern California multi-unit store development agreements with four franchise groups for a total commitment of 45 new restaurants. The first standalone restaurants were expected to open in 2015 in Orange and Los Angeles counties. The chain also planned to expand into more stores in Texas by 2015. On March 10, 2014, the first Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin-Robbins combination store in Southern California opened in Ramona. This is Dunkin' Donuts' third California shop to open, following shops in Barstow and on Camp Pendleton. Since March 2014, Dunkin' Donuts has opened several additional locations throughout California, including the Los Angeles area. Dunkin' Donuts shops opened in the San Francisco Bay Area in Walnut Creek, Half Moon Bay, and American Canyon in 2016, as well as South San Francisco and Fremont, in 2017.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: 2014 saw the return of Dunkin' Donuts to the state of Minnesota after nearly a decade's absence, with a new shop opened inside the Kahler Grand Hotel in Rochester.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In the United States, Dunkin' is sometimes paired with Baskin-Robbins ice cream in a single multibranded store. While such locations usually maintain separate counters for each chain (much like co-branded Wendy's–Tim Hortons locations in Canada), depending on business that day, both chains' products can be bought at a single counter (usually Dunkin' Donuts'). The practice of single-counter service is similar to that of multibranded Yum! Brands stores such as KFC–Taco Bell, which share a single kitchen and cashier line.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: As of February 9, 2017, all Dunkin' locations are franchisee owned and operated. In addition to its stand-alone shops, Dunkin' shops can be found within many gas stations, supermarkets, mall and airport food courts, and Walmart stores. In July 2013, Dunkin' Donuts opened its 500th restaurant, in New York City. This location is combined with a Baskin-Robbins.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: On July 30, 2020, Dunkin' Brands announced it would permanently close 800 shops in the US by the end of the year because of a 20 percent drop of sales in the second quarter during the COVID-19 pandemic, 450 of which are part of the previously announced closing of locations within Speedway gas stations.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: By March 2014, Dunkin' Donuts' largest international market was South Korea, representing nearly 40 percent of all international sales. With over 900 outlets in the country, it had three times as many as McDonald's, and about a third more than Starbucks. South Korea is home to Dunkin Donuts' only coffee roasting plant outside the U.S. Still, the company sees China and its vastly larger population as the more lucrative opportunity. In 2008, Dunkin' Donuts opened its first restaurant in Shanghai, representing the first step in its China expansion strategy. By March 2014, it had about 50 stores in the country and an agreement to open 100 more over the next five years.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In Australia Dunkin' Donuts opened in the 1980s but by the late 2000s they had left the Australian market in 2014 Dunkin' Brands global chairman Nigel Travis said there were no plans in the short term to return the brand to the Australian market. In Australia, Baskin-Robbins a subsidiary of Dunkin' Brands continues to exist in the country.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In Brazil, Dunkin' Donuts opened its first building in 1980. In 2013, it planned to open 25 franchises in the country.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In Colombia, Dunkin' Donuts opened its first store in Bogota in 1983. By 2015, Dunkin' Donuts operated more than 100 stores only in the capital city of the country. Currently it operates more than 150 stores around the country including locations in the cities of Medellin, Cali, Ibague, Pereira, Manizales and Barranquilla.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In January 2014, Dunkin' Donuts relaunched in England (there are no Dunkin Donuts stores in Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales) 20 years after it exited the country with its store opening in Harrow, London.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: On December 5, 2014, Dunkin' Donuts opened their first location in the Nordic region, at the Täby Centrum shopping mall in the outskirts of Stockholm, Sweden. On July 24, 2018, Dunkin Donuts announced that the company's Swedish operations had filed for bankruptcy and all locations in Sweden would close immediately.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: On April 1, 2015, the first store in Denmark opened in Copenhagen Central Station and by May 5, 2015, one opened at Roskilde station. There is still one in construction in Odense.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In early December 2015, Dunkin' Donuts opened their first cafe in 13 years in Warsaw, Poland. The opening of a second location in Warsaw is announced for January 2016. In December 2018 a third branch was under construction in the city.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: On January 21, 2016, Dunkin' Brands announced a master franchise agreement with Grand Parade Investments Ltd. that called for developing 250 Dunkin' Donuts and 70 Baskin-Robbins outlets throughout South Africa. The first stores opened in the end of 2016 in the Cape Town area. Eventually, only 11 Dunkin' Donuts locations and five Baskin-Robbins locations opened in South Africa due to GPI's financial trouble. However, by February 2019, Grand Parade Investments announced that it permanently closed all Dunkin' Brands locations in South Africa due to poor performance and unprofitably.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: On February 24, 2011, Dunkin' Donuts signed a master franchise agreement with Indian food service company Jubilant FoodWorks to operate the brand in India. Jubilant FoodWorks opened the country's first Dunkin' Donuts outlet at Connaught Place, New Delhi in April 2012. In November 2014, Dunkin' Donuts opened its first store in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh inside Z Square Mall.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: The term "Donuts" was already trademarked by one of the largest Spanish bakery firms, Panrico, so the company was born as a joint venture between Dunkin' Donuts' then-parent Allied Domecq and Panrico (only Spanish shareholders, representing 50%) in order to use the brand name "Dunkin' Donuts". In 2007, after Dunkin' Donuts bought out Panrico's 50% share, the stores were rebranded to "Dunkin' Coffee". As of 2017, there are 59 Dunkin' Coffee locations in Spain, the majority of which are in Barcelona, Madrid, and Málaga. Their slogan, "Juntos es mejor", translates to "Together is better".


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: Despite once having hundreds of stores nationwide, Dunkin' Donuts and its market share all but vanished from Canada by the turn of the century. In the late 1990s to early 2000s, the chain began disappearing from all regions of Canada, with its last foothold in the province of Quebec. However, its decline was most apparent in Quebec, where the chain once had 210 stores but by mid 2017 had only three—the last franchises in the country. By then only one free standing store had the facilities to make donuts fresh on site; the other two were merely shopping-mall food-court stands, dependent on the delivery of baked goods from the main store. One of the main reasons for Dunkin' Donuts' decline was competition with Tim Hortons, similar to Tim Hortons' own decline in the northeastern United States due to heavy competition from Dunkin' Donuts. A group of Dunkin' Donuts franchisees won a C$16.4 million civil court judgement against the parent company for failing to adequately promote the brand in Canada. In September 2018, after 57 years of operating in Canada, Dunkin' Donuts ceased business in that country when it refused to renew its franchise license to the few remaining stores left. All remaining Canadian locations were closed or rebranded as independent businesses in late 2018 – ending the presence of Dunkin' Donuts in the country.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: Dunkin' opened its first location in Lebanon in 1998 and has since gained a lot of popularity among Lebanese people and is now one of the most popular coffee shops with many branches spread across the country.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In 1970, Japan became the first Asian country to open Dunkin' Donuts stores. The Japanese chain was owned by a joint venture between the Saison Group, Yoshinoya, and the Japanese subsidiary of the Compass Group named Seiyo Food Systems. After 28 years of operating in Japan, Dunkin' Donuts ceased business there in 1998 due to declining sales and poor performance. All of the non-military base locations were either closed or converted to Mister Donut locations. Dunkin' still has locations in United States military bases, which are open only to military personnel.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: Dunkin' Donuts Israel () was an Israeli franchise of the chain. Dunkin' Donuts Israel opened their first location within Israel in 1996 in Tel Aviv. Their main flagship store was located in Rabin Square, with their factory in Lod. Upon opening their first location Dunkin' was a tremendous hit. When the original location opened it broke Dunkin's own sales records by selling 3 million doughnuts in the first eight months. The chain's manager was quoted saying "Israelis do not stop eating doughnuts, They buy such quantities, quantities that we would never have believed they would buy. They buy boxes of 12, eat them here, and then buy more boxes to take home." In 2001, when Dunkin' Donuts Israel decided to close, the company had accumulated a large amount of debt. When the Second Intifada broke out, Israeli tourism slowed, and Dunkin' decided to close. Approximately $2 million was invested in Dunkin' Donuts Israel when it failed. At the peak, Dunkin' Donuts had 9 branches in Israel, of their original goal of 15, including 3 in Jerusalem.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: The first New Zealand store opened in Manukau, Auckland in 2001; three others also opened in Auckland that year. By 2017, it had 12 Auckland stores and two other cities. By 2022, it had 15 Auckland stores and three other cities.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In 1997, Dunkindonuts.org was established by a customer for disgruntled consumers and employees to lodge complaints about the company. The site appeared ahead of the company's own website in many search engines and received national media coverage before being purchased by Dunkin' Donuts in 1999.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: Dunkin' Donuts was criticized by one of its franchisees for allegedly forcing single-store owners to agree to a buyout at a loss for minor infractions. Dunkin' Donuts sued franchise owners 154 times from 2006 to April 2008. Over the same period, McDonald's was involved in five lawsuits. Subway, a company that has four times the number of locations as Dunkin' Donuts, sued its franchisees 12 times. (These figures do not include arbitrations, which the companies use in pursuing legal claims against their franchisees.) Franchisees allege that the company's business strategy needs predominantly multi-unit franchisees.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In 2009, the company temporarily stopped the sale of two of its products, the "Dunkaccino" and hot chocolate, after concern of a possible salmonella poisoning at a supplier's facilities. Dunkin' Donuts claims that none of the beverages were contaminated, but the recall was made out of safety for its consumers.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In May 2010, Dunkin' Donuts was criticized for advertising "Free Iced Coffee Day" on its national Facebook page, which took place in only 13 cities. Because of the limited scope of the promotion, many customers became dissatisfied with the lack of free iced coffee and vented their anger on the Dunkin' Donuts Facebook page.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: In 2013, the Dunkin' Donuts chain in Thailand used an advertisement that contained a photograph of a woman in black face-paint, in order to promote its new chocolate-flavored donuts. The company was criticized for the advertisement, with the Human Rights Watch calling the advertisement "bizarre and racist". The headquarters in the United States apologized for the advertisement.


title: Dunkin' Donuts

text: Nancy Lewis, in Canaan, Connecticut, began a petition in January 2014 to request that Dunkin' Donuts donate their unsold food to local shelters and food banks in her area after seeing her local shop regularly throwing away "large amounts" of unsold food. She said because the company has no official policy on the redistribution of its unsold food items to shelters or food banks, and employees are not allowed to take any home, many affiliates throw all of the goods away.


title: Jester

text: A jester, court jester, fool or joker was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch employed to entertain guests during the medieval and Renaissance eras. Jesters were also itinerant performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town markets, and the discipline continues into the modern day, where jesters perform at historical-themed events.


title: Jester

text: During the Middle Ages, jesters are often thought to have worn brightly colored clothes and eccentric hats in a motley pattern. Their modern counterparts usually mimic this costume. Jesters entertained with a wide variety of skills: principal among them were song, music, and storytelling, but many also employed acrobatics, juggling, telling jokes (such as puns, stereotypes, and imitation), and performing magic tricks. Much of the entertainment was performed in a comic style. Many jesters made contemporary jokes in word or song about people or events well known to their audiences.


title: Jester

text: The modern use of the English word "jester" did not come into use until the mid-16th century, during Tudor times. This modern term derives from the older form "gestour", or "jestour", originally from Anglo-Norman (French) meaning 'storyteller' or 'minstrel'. Other earlier terms included "fol", "disour", "buffoon", and "bourder". These terms described entertainers who differed in their skills and performances but who all shared many similarities in their role as comedic performers for their audiences.


title: Jester

text: In ancient Rome, a similar tradition of professional jesters were called . Balatrones were paid for their jests, and the tables of the wealthy were generally open to them for the sake of the amusement they afforded.


title: Jester

text: Many royal courts throughout English royal history employed entertainers and most had professional fools, sometimes called "licensed fools". Entertainment included music, storytelling, and physical comedy. Fool Societies, or groups of nomadic entertainers, were often hired to perform acrobatics and juggling.


title: Jester

text: Jesters were also occasionally used as psychological warfare. Jesters would ride in front of their troops, provoke or mock the enemy, and even serve as messenger. They played an important part in raising their own army's spirits by singing songs and reciting stories.


title: Jester

text: Henry VIII of England employed a jester named Will Sommers. His daughter Mary was entertained by Jane Foole.


title: Jester

text: During the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I of England, William Shakespeare wrote his plays and performed with his theatre company the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later called the King's Men). Clowns and jesters were featured in Shakespeare's plays, and the company's expert on jesting was Robert Armin, author of the book "Fooled upon Foole". In Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", Feste the jester is described as "wise enough to play the fool".


title: Jester

text: In Scotland, Mary, Queen of Scots, had a jester called Nichola. Her son, King James VI of Scotland, employed a jester called Archibald Armstrong. During his lifetime Armstrong was given great honors at court. He was eventually thrown out of the King's employment when he over-reached and insulted too many influential people. Even after his disgrace, books telling of his jests were sold in London streets. He held some influence at court still in the reign of Charles I and estates of land in Ireland. Anne of Denmark had a Scottish jester called Tom Durie. Charles I later employed a jester called Jeffrey Hudson who was very popular and loyal. Jeffrey Hudson had the title of "Royal Dwarf" because he was short of stature. One of his jests was to be presented hidden in a giant pie from which he would leap out. Hudson fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War. A third jester associated with Charles I was called Muckle John.


title: Jester

text: Jester's privilege is the ability and right of a jester to talk and mock freely without being punished. As an acknowledgement of this right, the court jester had symbols denoting their status and protection under the law: the crown (cap and bells) and scepter (marotte), mirroring the royal crown and scepter wielded by a monarch.


title: Jester

text: Martin Luther used jest in many of his criticisms against the Catholic Church. In the introduction to his "To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation", he calls himself a court jester, and, later in the text, he explicitly invokes the jester's privilege when saying that monks should break their chastity vows.


title: Jester

text: There are two major groups when it comes to defining fools: artificial fools and natural fools. Natural fools consisted of people who were deemed "mentally defective," or as having a "deficiency in his education, experience or innate capacity for understanding," and stood as someone for the rest of society to laugh at. This policy was not generally criticized during its time. Groups of people even saw this act as a positive one, as these "natural" comedians were not typically able to have a job or earn any sort of living on their own. The second group, artificial fools, is what most people in modern times imagine when they hear the word "jester": someone who comes up with witty and original jokes in order to entertain a royal court. The main difference between the two groups is that a natural fool's comedy is not done intentionally while an artificial fool's is.


title: Jester

text: Scholar David Carlyon has cast doubt on the "daring political jester", calling historical tales "apocryphal", and concluding that "popular culture embraces a sentimental image of the clown; writers reproduce that sentimentality in the jester, and academics in the Trickster", but it "falters as analysis".


title: Jester

text: Jesters could also give bad news to the King that no one else would dare deliver. In 1340, when the French fleet was destroyed at the Battle of Sluys by the English, Phillippe VI's jester told him the English sailors "don't even have the guts to jump into the water like our brave French".


title: Jester

text: After the Restoration, Charles II did not reinstate the tradition of the court jester, but he did greatly patronize the theatre and proto-music hall entertainments, especially favouring the work of Thomas Killigrew. Though Killigrew was not officially a jester, Samuel Pepys in his famous diary does call Killigrew "The King's fool and jester, with the power to mock and revile even the most prominent without penalty" (12 February 1668). The last British nobles to keep jesters were the Queen Mother's family, the Bowes-Lyons.


title: Jester

text: In the 18th century, jesters had died out except in Russia, Spain, and Germany. In France and Italy, travelling groups of jesters performed plays featuring stylized characters in a form of theatre called the "commedia dell'arte". A version of this passed into British folk tradition in the form of a puppet show, "Punch and Judy". In France the tradition of the court jester ended with the French Revolution.


title: Jester

text: In the 21st century, the jester has been revived and can still be seen at medieval-style fairs and pageants.


title: Jester

text: In 2015, the town of Conwy in North Wales appointed Russel Erwood (aka Erwyd le Fol) as the official resident jester of the town and its people, a post that had been vacant since 1295.


title: Jester

text: Poland's most famous court jester was Stańczyk, whose jokes were usually related to political matters, and who later became a historical symbol for Poles.


title: Jester

text: In 2004 English Heritage appointed Nigel Roder ("Kester the Jester") as the State Jester for England, the first since Muckle John 355 years previously. However, following an objection by the National Guild of Jesters, English Heritage accepted they were not authorised to grant such a title. Roder was succeeded as "Heritage Jester" by Pete Cooper ("Peterkin the Fool").


title: Jester

text: In Germany, Till Eulenspiegel is a folkloric hero dating back to medieval times and ruling each year over Fasching or Carnival time, mocking politicians and public figures of power and authority with political satire like a modern-day court jester. He holds a mirror to make us aware of our times (Zeitgeist), and his sceptre, his "bauble," or marotte, is the symbol of his power.