title: Let L-410 Turbolet

text: The Let L-410 Turbolet is a twin-engine short-range transport aircraft, manufactured by the Czech aircraft manufacturer Let Kunovice (named Aircraft Industries since 2005), often used as an airliner. The aircraft is capable of landing on short and unpaved runways and operating under extreme conditions from . By 2016, 1,200 L-410s had been built, and over 350 are in service in more than 50 countries.


title: Let L-410 Turbolet

text: Development of the L-410 was started in the 1960s by the Czechoslovak aircraft manufacturer Let Kunovice. The Soviet airline Aeroflot was looking for a turboprop-powered replacement for the Antonov An-2 aircraft, initiating the design development by Let. After preliminary studies of an aircraft called the L-400, a new version was introduced called the L-410 Turbolet. The first prototype, designated XL-410, flew on April 16, 1969. Because of delays in the development of a suitable Czech engine (Walter M601), the prototype and first production version were powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-27 engines.


title: Let L-410 Turbolet

text: After M601 development was completed, the PT6 engine was replaced by M601 engines coupled with Avia V508 three-blade propellers and the next variant was introduced, the L-410M.


title: Let L-410 Turbolet

text: A further version for Aeroflot was the L-410 UVP. This has improved performance in take-off and landing due to increased wing and tail area - STOL. However, due to an increased empty weight and a shift in the center of gravity, the aircraft had a decreased seating capacity of 15 passengers.


title: Let L-410 Turbolet

text: The L-410 UVP-E (the most common variant of the L-410) has increased maximum take-off weight to , M601E engines with increased power, new five-blade propellers designated V 510 and the provision for wing tip tanks to increase fuel quantity. First flight was made in 1984, and production started in 1986.


title: Let L-410 Turbolet

text: The L-410 UVP-E9 and UVP-E20 are versions which vary from each other only by minor changes arising from various certification regulations. The last L-410 family member is the L-420 which uses the new Walter engine variant, the M601F. Currently produced L-410 UVP-E20s are powered by next derivative of M601 engine designated as GE H80-200 and new Avia Propeller AV-725 five blade propellers.


title: Let L-410 Turbolet

text: The L-420 was first approved by the US FAA on March 11, 1998, then the L-410 UVP-E20 on June 30, 2015.


title: Let L-410 Turbolet

text: On 3 September 2013 the Russian company UGMK (Iskander Machmudov) became the wholesale owner of LET Kunovice Aircraft Industries. They announced that they would produce the L-410 also in Russia within the year.


title: Let L-410 Turbolet

text: The L-410 UVP-E is an unpressurized all-metal high-wing commuter aircraft, with Avia V 510 five-blade propellers. It is equipped with a retractable undercarriage. The aircraft uses two hydraulic circuits: main and emergency. The main electrical system operates with 28V DC. The de-icing system is leading edge pneumatic deicers and electrical heating of propellers, cockpit windshields and pitot-static system heads. Maximum take-off weight of the L-410 UVP-E is 6400 kg with the possibility of an increase to for the E9 and E20 variants, seating capacity 17 to 19. Cruise speed is , maximum range about . The airplane is certified for IFR operation, CAT I ILS approach, and flights in icing conditions.


title: Let L-410 Turbolet

text: The L 410 UVP-E20 is certified on the basis of FAR 23 either Amendment 34 or Amendment 41. It is certified by the EU, the Russian Federation, the US, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Cuba, India, Nepal, Philippines, Korea, Indonesia, Republic of South Africa, Algeria, Australia, Taiwan, Turkey, and many other countries accepting some of the previous certificates. The aircraft has also been approved for operation in a number of other countries, such as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Tunisia, Colombia, Venezuela, South Korea and others.


title: Let L-410 Turbolet

text: Many L-410s were delivered to the former Soviet Union and ex-Soviet states and stayed there and in Russia, but some have been also sold to airlines in Asia, Africa, Central America, and South America. Forty aircraft are in use throughout Europe for commercial operations or skydiving.


title: Let L-410 Turbolet

text: In July 2015, 178 Let L-410 were in airline service: 73 in Africa, 58 in Europe, 41 in Americas and 6 in Asia Pacific and the Middle East; its airline operators with four or more aircraft were:


title: Let L-410 Turbolet

text: The L 410 has experienced 116 accidents with 426 fatalities. However, the operator's safety rating and operations procedures are more important than the aircraft design.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Thai Chinese (also known as Chinese Thais, Sino-Thais), Thais of Chinese origin (; "exonym and also domestically"), endonym Thai people (), are Chinese descendants in Thailand. Thai Chinese are the largest minority group in the country and the largest overseas Chinese community in the world with a population of approximately 7-10 million people, accounting for 11–14% of the total population of the country as of 2012. It is also the oldest and most prominent integrated overseas Chinese community. Slightly more than half of the ethnic Chinese population in Thailand trace their ancestry to Chaoshan. This is evidenced by the prevalence of the Teochew dialect among the Chinese community in Thailand as well as other Chinese languages.The term as commonly understood signifies those whose ancestors immigrated to Thailand before 1949.


title: Thai Chinese

text: The Thai Chinese have been deeply ingrained into all elements of Thai society over the past 200 years. The present Thai royal family, the Chakri dynasty, was founded by King Rama I who himself was partly Chinese. His predecessor, King Taksin of the Thonburi Kingdom, was the son of a Chinese father from Chaoshan. With the successful integration of historic Chinese immigrant communities in Thailand, a significant number of Thai Chinese are the descendants of intermarriages between ethnic Chinese and native Thais. Many of these descendants have assimilated into Thai society and self-identify solely as Thai.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Thai Chinese are a well-established middle class ethnic group and are well represented at all levels of Thai society. They play a leading role in Thailand's business sector and dominate the Thai economy today. In addition, Thai Chinese elites of Thailand have a strong presence in Thailand's political scene with most of Thailand's former Prime Ministers and the majority of parliament having at least some Chinese ancestry. Thai Chinese elites of Thailand are well represented among Thailand's rulers and other sectors.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Thailand has the largest overseas Chinese community in the world outside Greater China. 11 to 14 percent of Thailand's population are considered ethnic Chinese. The Thai linguist Theraphan Luangthongkum claims the share of those having at least partial Chinese ancestry allegedly at about 40 percent of the Thai population without any proof.


title: Thai Chinese

text: For assimilated second and third generation descendants of Chinese immigrants, it is principally a personal choice whether or not to identify themselves as ethnic Chinese. Nonetheless, nearly all Thai Chinese solely self-identify as Thai, due to their close integration and successful assimilation into Thai society. G. William Skinner observed that the level of assimilation of the descendants of Chinese immigrants in Thailand disproved the "myth about the 'unchanging Chinese'", noting that ""assimilation is considered complete when the immigrant's descendant identifies himself in almost all social situations as a Thai, speaks Thai language habitually and with native fluency, and interacts by choice with Thai more often than with Chinese."" Skinner believed that the assimilation success of the Thai Chinese was a result of the wise policy of the Thai rulers who, since the 17th century, allowed able Chinese tradesmen to advance their ranks into the kingdom's nobility. The rapid and successful assimilation of the Thai Chinese has been celebrated by the Chinese descendants themselves, as evident in contemporary literature such as the novel "Letters from Thailand" () by Botan.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Today, the Thai Chinese constitute a significant part of the royalist/nationalist movements. When the then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is Thai Chinese, was ousted from power in 2006, it was Sondhi Limthongkul, another prominent Thai Chinese businessman, who formed and led People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) movement to protest the successive governments run by Thaksin's allies. Mr. Sondhi accused Mr. Thaksin of corruption based on improper business ties between Thaksin's corporate empire and the Singapore-based Temasek Holdings Group. The Thai Chinese in and around Bangkok were also the main participants of the months-long political campaign against the government of Ms. Yingluck (Mr. Thaksin's sister), between November 2013 and May 2014, the event which culminated in the military takeover in May 2014.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Traders from China began arriving in Ayutthaya by at least the 13th century. In the 1420s, Chinese merchants were involved in the construction of the major Ayutthaya temple Wat Ratchaburana and left several Chinese inscriptions and cultural objects within the temple's crypt, including the inscribing of several Chinese family names. According to the "Chronicles of Ayutthaya", Ekathotsarot (r. 1605–1610) had been "concerned solely with ways of enriching his treasury," and was "greatly inclined toward strangers and foreign nations".


title: Thai Chinese

text: Following the Qing revocation of the private trade ban in 1684, Chinese immigration to Siam steadily increased, particularly following the massive Southern Chinese famines of the early 18th century. Approximately 20,000 Chinese lived in Siam in the 1730s and were prominent in the city of Ayutthaya and were a prominent faction within the Siamese court by 1767.


title: Thai Chinese

text: When King Taksin, himself the son of a Chinese immigrant, ruled Thailand, King Taksin actively encouraged Chinese immigration and trade. Chinese settlers came to Siam in large numbers. Immigration continued over the following years, and the Chinese population in Thailand jumped from 230,000 in 1825 to 792,000 by 1910. By 1932, approximately 12.2 percent of the population of Thailand was Chinese.


title: Thai Chinese

text: The early Chinese immigration consisted almost entirely of men who did not bring women. Therefore, it became common for male Chinese immigrants to marry local Thai women. The children of such relationships were called "Sino-Thai" or "luk-jin" (ลูกจีน) in Thai. These Chinese-Thai intermarriages declined somewhat in the early 20th century, when significant numbers of Chinese women also began immigrating to Thailand.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Economic recession and unemployment forced many men to leave China for Thailand in search of work to seek wealth. If successful, they sent money back to their families in China. Many Chinese immigrants prospered under the "tax farming" system, whereby private individuals were sold the right to collect taxes at a price below the value of the tax revenues.


title: Thai Chinese

text: The local Chinese community had long dominated domestic commerce and had served as agents for royal trade monopolies. With the rise of European economic influence, however, many Chinese shifted to opium trafficking and tax collecting, both of which were despised occupations.


title: Thai Chinese

text: From 1882 to 1917, nearly 13,000 to 34,000 Chinese legally entered Thailand per year, mostly settling in Bangkok and along the coast of the Gulf of Siam. They predominated in occupations requiring arduous labor, skills, or entrepreneurship. They worked as blacksmiths, railroad labourers and rickshaw pullers. While most Thais were engaged in rice production, the Chinese brought new farming ideas and new methods to supply labor on its rubber plantations, both domestically and internationally. However, republican ideas brought by the Chinese were considered seditious by the Thai government. For example, a translation of Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen's "Three Principles of the People" was banned under the Communism Act of 1933. The government had regulated Chinese schools even before compulsory education was established in the country, starting with the Private Schools Act of 1918. This act required all foreign teachers to pass a Thai language test and for principals of all schools to implement standards set by the Thai Ministry of Education.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Legislation by King Rama VI (1910–1925) that required the adoption of Thai surnames was largely directed at the Chinese community as a number of ethnic Chinese families left Burma between 1930 and 1950 and settled in the Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi Provinces of western Thailand. A few of the ethnic Chinese families in that area had already emigrated from Burma in the 19th century.


title: Thai Chinese

text: The Chinese in Thailand also suffered discrimination between the 1930s to 1950s under the military dictatorship of Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram (in spite of having part-Chinese ancestry himself), which allied itself with the Empire of Japan. The Primary Education Act of 1932 made the Thai language the compulsory medium of education, but as a result of protests from Thai Chinese, by 1939, students were allowed two hours per week of Mandarin instruction. State corporations took over commodities such as rice, tobacco, and petroleum and Chinese businesses found themselves subject to a range of new taxes and controls. By 1970, more than 90 percent of the Chinese born in Thailand had abandoned Chinese citizenship and were granted Thai citizenship instead. In 1975, diplomatic relations were established with China.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Intermarriage with Thais has resulted in many people who claim Thai ethnicity with Chinese ancestry. People of Chinese descent are concentrated in the coastal areas of Thailand, principally Bangkok. Considerable segments of Thailand's academic, business, and political elites are of Chinese descent.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Today, nearly all ethnic Chinese in Thailand speak Thai exclusively. Only elderly Chinese immigrants still speak their native varieties of Chinese. The rapid and successful assimilation of Thai Chinese has been celebrated in contemporary literature such as "Letters from Thailand" () by a Thai Chinese author Botan.


title: Thai Chinese

text: In the modern Thai language there are many signs of Chinese influence. In the 2000 census, 231,350 people identified themselves as speakers of a variant of Chinese (Teochew, Hokkien, Hainanese, Cantonese, or Hakka). The Teochew dialect has served as the language of Bangkok's influential Chinese merchants' circles since the foundation of the city in the 18th century. Although Chinese language schools were closed during the nationalist period before and during the Second World War, the Thai government never tried to suppress Chinese cultural expression. Today, businesses in Yaowarat Road and Charoen Krung Road in Bangkok's Samphanthawong District which constitute the city's "Chinatown" still feature bilingual signs in Chinese and Thai. A number of Chinese words have found their way into the Thai language, especially the names of dishes and foodstuffs, as well as basic numbers (such as those from "three" to "ten") and terms related to gambling. Chin Haw Chinese speak Southwestern Mandarin.


title: Thai Chinese

text: The rise of China's prominence on the global economic stage has prompted many Thai Chinese business families to see Mandarin as a beneficial asset in partaking in economic links and conducting business between Thailand and Mainland China, with some families encouraging their children to learn Mandarin in order to reap the benefits of their ethnic Chinese identity and the increasing role of Mandarin as a prominent language of Overseas Chinese business communities. However, equally there are many Thais, regardless of their ethnic background who study Chinese in order to boost their business and career opportunities, rather than due to reasons of ethnic identity, with some sending their children to newly established Mandarin language schools.


title: Thai Chinese

text: The previous official of the British Raj government as well as colonial agent named John Crawfurd used detailed records kept from 1815 to 1824 to analyze the productivity of the 8,595 Chinese resident there vis-a-vis other ethnic groups. Astonished by their competence, he concluded that the Chinese population, about five-sixths of whom were unmarried men in the prime of life, "in point of effective labour, may be measured as equivalent to an ordinary population of above 37,000, and...to a numerical Malay population of more than 80,000!".


title: Thai Chinese

text: By 1879, Chinese merchants controlled all steam-powered rice mills in Thailand. Most of the leading businessmen in Thailand were of Chinese extraction and accounted for a significant portion of Thailand's upper class. In 1890, despite British shipping dominance in Bangkok, Chinese businesses oversaw 62 percent of the shipping sector and served as agents for Western shipping firms as well as their own. They also dominated the rubber industry, market gardening, sugar production, and fish exporting sectors. In Bangkok, Thai Chinese dominated the entertainment and media industries, being the pioneers of Thailand's early publishing houses, newspapers, and film studios. Thai Chinese moneylenders wielded considerable economic power over the poorer indigenous Thai peasants, prompting accusations of Chinese bribery of government officials, wars between the Chinese secret societies, and the use of violent tactics to collect taxes. Chinese success served to foster Thai resentment against the Chinese at a time when their community was expanding rapidly. Waves of Han Chinese immigration swept into Siam in the 19th and early-20th centuries, peaking in the 1920s. Whereas Chinese bankers were accused of plunging the Thai peasant into poverty by charging high interest rates, the reality was that the Thai banking business was highly competitive. Chinese millers and rice traders were blamed for the economic recession that gripped Siam for nearly a decade after 1905. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Chinese would lose control of foreign trade to the European colonial powers, but served as compradores for Western trading houses. Ethnic Chinese then moved into extractive industries—tin mining, logging and sawmilling, rice milling, as well as building ports and railways. While acknowledged for their industriousness, the Chinese in Thailand were scorned by many. In the late 19th century, a British official in Siam said that "the Chinese are the Jews of Siam ... by judicious use of their business faculties and their powers of combination, they hold the Siamese in the palm of their hand".


title: Thai Chinese

text: By the early 20th century, the resident Chinese community in Bangkok was sizable, consisting of perhaps a third of the capital's population. Anti-Chinese sentiment was rife. In 1914, the Thai nationalist King Vajiravudh (Rama VI), published a pamphlet in Thai and English—"The Jews of the East"— employing a pseudonym. In it, he lambasted the Chinese. He described them as "avaricious barbarians who were 'entirely devoid of morals and mercy'". He depicted successful Chinese businessmen as gaining their success at the expense of indigenous Thais, prompting some Thai politicians to blame Thai Chinese businessmen for Thailand's economic difficulties. King Vajiravudh's views were influential among elite Thais and were quickly adopted by ordinary Thais, fueling their suspicion of and hostility to the Chinese minority. Wealth disparity and the poverty of native Thais resulted in blaming their socioeconomic ills on the Chinese, especially Chinese moneylenders. Beginning in the late-1930s and recommencing in the 1950s, the Thai government dealt with wealth disparities by pursuing a campaign of forced assimilation achieved through property confiscation, forced expropriation, coercive social policies, and anti-Chinese cultural suppression, seeking to eradicate ethnic Han Chinese consciousness and identity. Thai Chinese became the targets of state discrimination while indigenous Thais were granted economic privileges. The Siamese revolution of 1932 only tightened the grip of Thai nationalism, culminating in World War II when Thailand's Japanese ally was at war with China.


title: Thai Chinese

text: After 1947 coup d'état, Thailand was an agrarian economy hobbled by state-owned enterprises. The Chinese provided the impetus for Thailand's industrialization, transforming the Thai economy into an export-oriented, trade-based economy with global reach. Over the next several decades, internationalization and capitalist market-oriented policies led to the emergence of a manufacturing sector, which in turn catapulted Thailand into a Tiger Cub economy. Virtually all manufacturing and import-export firms were Chinese controlled. Despite their small numbers, the Chinese controlled virtually every line of business, from small retail trade to large industries. A mere ten percent of the population, ethnic Chinese dominate over four-fifths of the country's rice, tin, rubber, and timber exports, and virtually the country's entire wholesale and retail trade. Virtually all new manufacturing establishments were Chinese controlled. Despite failed Thai affirmative action-based policies in the 1930s to economically empower the indigenous Thai majority, 70 percent of retail outlets and 80–90 percent of rice mills were controlled by ethnic Chinese. A survey of Thailand's roughly seventy most powerful business groups found that all but three were owned by Thai Chinese. Bangkok's Thai Chinese clan associations rose to prominence throughout the city as the clans are major property holders. The Chinese control more than 80 percent of public companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. All the residential and commercial land in central Siam was owned by Thai Chinese. Fifty ethnic Chinese families controlled the country's entire business sectors equivalent to 81–90 percent of the overall market capitalization of the Thai economy. Highly publicized profiles of wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs attracted great public interest and were used to illustrate the community's economic clout. More than 80 percent of the top 40 richest people in Thailand are Thai of full or partial Chinese descent. Thai Chinese entrepreneurs are influential in real estate, agriculture, banking, and finance, and the wholesale trading industries. In the 1990s, among the top ten Thai businesses in terms of sales, nine of them were Chinese-owned with only Siam Cement not being a Chinese-owned firm. Of the five billionaires in Thailand in the late-20th century, all were ethnic Chinese or of partial Chinese descent. On 17 March 2012, Chaleo Yoovidhya, of Chinese origin, died while listed on Forbes list of billionaires as 205th in the world and third in the nation, with an estimated net worth of US$5 billion.


title: Thai Chinese

text: By the late-1950s, ethnic Chinese comprised 70 percent of Bangkok's business owners and senior business managers, and 90 percent of the shares in Thai corporations were said to be held by Thais of Chinese extraction. Ninety percent of Thailand's industrial and commercial capital are also held by ethnic Chinese. Ninety percent of all investments in the industry and commercial sector and at least 50 percent of all investments in the banking and finance sectors is controlled by ethnic Chinese.<ref name="Ju 1996 https://archive.org/details/understandingchi0000chuy/page/33 33"></ref> Economic advantages would also persist as Thai Chinese controlled 80–90 percent of the rice mills, the largest enterprises in the nation. Thailand's lack of an indigenous Thai commercial culture led to the private sector being dominated entirely by Thai Chinese themselves. Of the 25 leading entrepreneurs in the Thai business sector, 23 are ethnic Chinese or of partial Chinese descent. Thai Chinese also comprise 96 percent of Thailand's 70 most powerful business groups. Family firms are extremely common in the Thai business sector as they are passed down from one generation to the next. Ninety percent of Thailand's manufacturing sector and 50 percent of Thailand's service sector is controlled by ethnic Chinese. According to a "Financial Statistics of the 500 Largest Public Companies in Asia Controlled by Overseas Chinese in 1994" chart released by Singaporean geographer Dr. Henry Yeung of the National University of Singapore, 39 companies were concentrated in Thailand with a market capitalization of US$35 billion and total assets of US$94 billion. In Thailand, ethnic Chinese control the nation's largest private banks: Bangkok Bank, Thai Farmers Bank, Bank of Ayudhya. Thai Chinese businesses are part of the larger bamboo network, a network of Overseas Chinese businesses operating in the markets of Southeast Asia that share common family, ethnic, language, and cultural ties. Following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, structural reforms imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Indonesia and Thailand led to the loss of many monopolistic positions long held by the ethnic Chinese business elite. Despite the financial and economic crisis, Thai Chinese are estimated to own 65 percent of the total banking assets, 60 percent of the national trade, 90 percent of all local investments in the commercial sector, 90 percent of all local investments in the manufacturing sector, and 50 percent of all local investments in the banking and financial services sector.


title: Thai Chinese

text: The early-21st century saw Thai Chinese dominate Thai commerce at every level of society. Their economic clout plays a critical role in maintaining the country's economic vitality and prosperity. The economic power of the Thai Chinese is far greater than their proportion of the population would suggest. With their powerful economic presence, the Chinese dominate the country's wealthy elite. Development policies imposed by the Thai government provided business opportunities for the ethnic Chinese. A distinct Sino-Thai business community has emerged as the dominant economic group, controlling virtually all the major business sectors across the country. The modern Thai business sector is highly dependent on ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs and investors who control virtually all the country's banks and large conglomerates; their support is enhanced by the presence of lawmakers and politicians who are of at least part-Chinese descent. The Thai Chinese, a disproportionate wealthy, market-dominant minority not only form a distinct ethnic community, they also form, by and large, an economically advantaged social class.<ref name="Cornwell 2000 https://archive.org/details/globalmulticultu0000unse/page/67 67"></ref>


title: Thai Chinese

text: With the rise of China as a global economic power, Thai-Chinese businesses have become the foremost, largest investors in Mainland China among all overseas Chinese communities worldwide. Many Thai Chinese have sent their children to newly established Chinese language schools, visit China in record numbers, invest in China, and assume Chinese surnames. The Charoen Pokphand (CP Group), a prominent Thai conglomerate founded by the Thai-Chinese Chearavanont family, has been the single largest foreign investor in China. CP Group also owns and operates Tesco Lotus, one of the largest foreign hypermarkets, 74 stores and seven distribution centers in 30 cities across China.


title: Thai Chinese

text: According to Thai historian, Dr. Wasana Wongsurawat, the Thai elite has remained in power by employing a simple two-part strategy: first, secure the economic base by cultivating the support of the Thai-Chinese business elites; second, align with the dominant world power of the day. , increasingly, that power is China.


title: Thai Chinese

text: First-generation Chinese immigrants were followers of Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. Theravada Buddhism has since become the religion of many ethnic Chinese in Thailand, especially among assimilated Chinese. Many Chinese in Thailand commonly combine certain practices of Chinese folk religion with Theravada Buddhism due to the openness and tolerance of Buddhism. Major Chinese festivals such as Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival and Qingming are widely celebrated, especially in Bangkok, Phuket, and other parts of Thailand where there are large Chinese populations. There are several prominent Buddhist monks with Chinese ancestry like the well-known Buddhist reformer, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu and the former abbot of Wat Saket, Somdet Kiaw.


title: Thai Chinese

text: The Peranakans in Phuket are noted for their nine-day vegetarian festival between September and October. During the festival period, devotees will abstain from meat and the Chinese mediums will perform mortification of the flesh to exhibit the power of the Deities, and the rites and rituals seen are devoted to the veneration of various Deities. Such idiosyncratic traditions were developed during the 19th century in Phuket by the local Chinese with influences from Thai culture.


title: Thai Chinese

text: In the north, there is a small minority of Chinese Muslims known as Chin Ho. They are mainly the descendants of Hui people migrated from Yunnan, China. There are seven Chinese mosques in Chiang Mai. The best known is the Ban Ho Mosque.


title: Thai Chinese

text: The vast majority of Thai Chinese belong to various southern Chinese dialect groups. Of these, 56 percent are Teochew (also commonly spelled as Teochiu), 16 percent Hakka and 11 percent Hainanese. The Cantonese and Hokkien each constitute seven percent of the Chinese population, and three percent belong to other Chinese dialect groups. A large number of Thai Chinese are the descendants of intermarriages between Chinese immigrants and Thais, while there are others who are of predominantly or solely of Chinese descent. People who are of mainly Chinese descent are descendants of immigrants who relocated to Thailand as well as other parts of Nanyang (the Chinese term for Southeast Asia used at the time) in the early to mid-20th century due to famine and civil war in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong (Teochew, Cantonese, and Hakka groups), Hainan (Hainanese), and Fujian (Hokkien, Henghua, Hockchew and Hakka groups).


title: Thai Chinese

text: The Teochews mainly settled near the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. Many of Thai military commander are also Teochew background, while others were involved in trade. During the reign of King Taksin, some influential Teochew traders were granted certain privileges. These prominent traders were called "royal Chinese" ("Jin-luang" or จีนหลวง in Thai).


title: Thai Chinese

text: Hakkas are mainly concentrated in Chiang Mai, Phuket, and central western provinces. The Hakka own many private banks in Thailand, notably Kasikorn Bank and Kiatnakin Bank.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Hainanese people is another prominent Thai Chinese group which are mainly concentrated in Bangkok, Samui, and some central provinces. Notable Hainanese Thai families includes the Chirathivat family of Central Group and Yoovidhya family of Krating Daeng. Thailand Hainam politicians include Boonchu Rojanastien, Pote Sarasin, Banyat Bantadtan, Jurin Laksanawisit and Sondhi Limthongkul


title: Thai Chinese

text: Cantonese are predominantly from Taishan, Xinhui and Guangzhou, known as Gwongfu (, 廣府; ) this group are not very prominent and mainly concentrated in Bangkok and the central provinces. Although Cantonese from other districts primarily live in Betong of Yala Province.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Hokkiens or Hoklos are a dominant group of Chinese particularly in the south of Thailand; aside from Thais, they also traded with the Tamils during the British Raj and other foreigners in Thailand. Hokkiens primarily live in Bandon in Surat Thani Province. A smaller Hoklo community can also be found in Hatyai in Songkhla Province.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Some ethnic Chinese living in the Malay-dominated provinces in the far south use Malay, rather than Thai as a lingua franca, and many have intermarried with local Malays, and are known as Peranakan. Ther are mostly concentrate in Phuket, Trang and Phang Nga Provinces.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Almost all Thai-Chinese or Sino-Thais, especially those who came to Thailand before the 1950s, only use Thai surname in public, while it was required by Rama VI as a condition of Thai citizenship. The few retaining native Chinese surnames are either recent immigrants or resident aliens. For some immigrants who settled in Southern Thailand before the 1950s, it was common to simply prefix "Sae-" (from Chinese: , 'family name') to a transliteration of their name to form the new family name; Wanlop Saechio's last name thus derived from the Hainanese and Chanin Sae-ear's last name is from Hokkien . "Sae" is also used by Hmong people in Thailand. In 1950s-1970s Chinese immigrants had that surname in Thailand, although Chinese immigrants to Thailand after the 1970s use their Chinese family names without "Sae-" therefore these people didn't recognize as Sino-Thais like Thai celebrity, 's last name is Mandarin's surname .


title: Thai Chinese

text: Sino-Thai surnames are often distinct from those of the other-Thai population, with generally longer names mimicking those of high officials and upper-class Thais and with elements of these longer names retaining their original Chinese family name in translation or transliteration. For example, former Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-Archa's unusual "Archa" element is a translation into Thai of his family's former name Ma ( 馬, 马, 'horse'). Similarly, the "Lim" in Sondhi Limthongkul's name is the Hainanese pronunciation of the name Lin (林). For an example, see the background of the Vejjajiva Palace name. Note that the latter-day Royal Thai General System of Transcription would transcribe it as "Wetchachiwa" and that the Sanskrit-derived name refers to 'medical profession'.


title: Thai Chinese

text: Kon Hutasingha, Phot Phahonyothin, Plaek Phibunsongkhram, Seni Pramoj, Pridi Banomyong, Thawan Thamrongnawasawat, Pote Sarasin, Thanom Kittikachorn, Sarit Thanarat, Kukrit Pramoj, Thanin Kraivichien, Kriangsak Chamanan, Chatichai Choonhavan, Anand Panyarachun, Suchinda Kraprayoon, Chuan Leekpai, Banharn Silpa-archa, Chavalit Yongchaiyudh,


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: The first season of the science fiction television series "The X-Files" commenced airing on the Fox network in the United States on September 10, 1993, and concluded on the same channel on May 13, 1994, after airing all 24 episodes.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: The first season introduced main characters of the series, including Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who were portrayed by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, respectively, and recurring characters Deep Throat, Walter Skinner, and Cigarette Smoking Man. The season introduced the series' main concept, revolving around the investigation of paranormal or supernatural cases, known as X-Files, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; it also began to lay the groundwork for the series' overarching mythology.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: Initially influenced by "" and "The Twilight Zone", series creator Chris Carter pitched the idea for the series to Fox twice before it was accepted for production. The season saw the series quickly gaining popularity, with ratings rising steadily throughout its run; and garnered generally positive reviews from critics and the media. It helped to make stars of its two lead roles, and several of its taglines and catchphrases have since become cultural staples.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: Although Carter initially conceived of the series based on the influence of "Kolchak" and "The Twilight Zone", he has stated that the "leaping-off point" for the series' overall concept came from UFO lore. After being introduced to the works of John E. Mack—especially a study by Mack which had reported that three percent of Americans claimed to have been abducted by aliens—Carter believed he had found his central theme. It was decided that the series would focus on the FBI in order to avoid something Carter had seen as a failing in "Kolchak", whereby mysterious events would continually occur in one locale and be accidentally uncovered by the same character—by creating a fictional FBI unit which actively uncovered these paranormal cases, it was felt that the series would be "sustainable week after week without stretching the parameters of credibility". Early in the planning stages, Carter had envisioned that a significant proportion of the episodes would deal with investigations which uncovered hoaxes or cases which had been mistakenly viewed as paranormal. Although this decision never came to pass, the third-season episode "Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"" can be seen as a holdover from the idea.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: The series revolves around its two main characters, which had been defined early in conception as the "believer" and the "skeptic". Of these, the "believer", Fox Mulder, was created with a character-defining personal motivation, involving the disappearance of his younger sister during his childhood, which he would believe to be a result of alien abduction. The creation of the "skeptic", Dana Scully, was influenced by Jodie Foster's portrayal of Clarice Starling in "The Silence of the Lambs", leading the crew to decide that the character needed to seem "real", as opposed to the "bombshell" type of character the studio was pressing for.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: Thematically, although the series focused heavily on alien abduction lore, the decision was made early on to allow the plots of individual episodes to branch out into different territories in order to prevent the overarching plot from running out of momentum, which led to standalone episodes such as "Squeeze" being developed. The variety of storylines which the series has shown has led director Daniel Sackheim to note that ""The X-Files" has sort of found its own style in that it doesn't have a confined style to it", adding that the series' "fluid" approach has meant that "everybody who comes on the show attempt to make a little scary movie". To this end, several episodes feature varying plots, with alien-influenced storylines varying between "Ice", a "briskly-paced" episode set in a single location, and the character-driven "Conduit", which served to fill in background on the characters. Elsewhere, plots focused on soul transference or reincarnation, with the episodes "Shadows", "Born Again" and "Lazarus" sharing similar storylines. The plot of "Ghost in the Machine" featured a malevolent artificial intelligence; while "Shapes" introduced the first of what would become several Native American-themed episodes.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: The first season also introduced a number of minor characters who would go on to become central figures to the series—The Lone Gunmen, first seen in "E.B.E.", would become regular characters beginning the second season, eventually starring in the spin-off series "The Lone Gunmen"; whilst the episode "Tooms" introduced Walter Skinner, portrayed by Mitch Pileggi, who would go on to be billed as a series star by the ninth season. The abduction of Mulder's sister Samantha was explored in the episodes "Pilot", "Conduit", and "Miracle Man", and would go on to become one of the central themes of the series as a whole.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: California native Chris Carter was given the opportunity to produce new shows for the Fox network in the early 1990s. Tired of the comedies he had been working on for Walt Disney Pictures, inspired by a report that 3.7 million Americans may have been abducted by aliens, and recalling memories of Watergate and the 1970s horror series "", Carter came up with the idea for "The X-Files" and wrote the pilot episode in 1992. He initially struggled over the untested concept—executives wanted a love interest for Scully—and casting. The network wanted either a more established or a "taller, leggier, blonder and breastier" actress for Scully than the 24-year-old Gillian Anderson, a theater veteran with minor film experience, who Carter felt was the only choice after auditions.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: Carter's initial pitch for "The X-Files" was rejected by Fox executives. He fleshed out the concept and returned a few weeks later, leading to the commission of the pilot. Carter worked with "NYPD Blue" producer Daniel Sackheim in further developing the pilot, drawing stylistic inspiration from the 1988 documentary "The Thin Blue Line", and the English television series "Prime Suspect". Inspiration was also taken from Carter's memories of watching "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" and "The Twilight Zone" in his youth; as well as from the then-recently released film "The Silence of the Lambs", which was the impetus for framing the series around agents from the FBI, in order to provide the characters with a more plausible reason for being involved in each case than Carter believed was present in "Kolchak". Carter was also keen on keeping the relationship between the two lead roles strictly platonic, basing their interactions on the characters of Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) and John Steed (Patrick Macnee) in the series "The Avengers".


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: During the early stages of production for the series, Carter founded Ten Thirteen Productions, and began to plan for filming the pilot in Los Angeles. However, unable to find suitable locations for many of the scenes, Ten Thirteen Productions made the decision to "go where the good forests are", and moved production to Vancouver, where the series would remain for the next five seasons; production would eventually shift to Los Angeles beginning with the sixth season. It was soon realized by the production crew that since so much of the first season would require filming on location, rather than on sound stages, two location managers would be needed, rather than the usual one.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: David Duchovny had worked in Los Angeles three years prior to "The X-Files", and at first had wanted to base his acting career around films. But in 1993 his manager, Melanie Green, gave him a script for the pilot episode of series. Green and Duchovny were both convinced it was a good script, so Duchovny auditioned for the lead. When Duchovny was auditioning for the part of Fox Mulder, he made a "terrific" audition, but spoke rather slowly. Chris Carter thought at the beginning of the auditioning for the character, he was a "good judge of character", and thought that Duchovny wasn't rather "bright". So he went and talked to Duchovny and asked him if he could "please" imagine himself as an FBI agent for the "future" week. The casting director of the show was very positive towards him. According to Carter, Duchovny turned out to be one of the best-read people he knew. Carter recalls being contractually obliged to provide Fox with a choice of two actors for the role; however, he was confident Duchovny was the right choice from the outset. After getting the role, Duchovny thought the show wouldn't last for long or that it wouldn't make much impact.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: Gillian Anderson was cast due to insistence from Carter that she would fit the role perfectly; however, Fox executives had wanted a more glamorous "bombshell" for the part, hoping that this would lead to the series involving a romantic element. This led Carter to insist that he did not want the roles of Mulder and Scully to become romantically involved, citing the relationship between the lead roles in "Moonlighting" as an example to avoid. Anderson called her early work on the show "a complete learning experience for me – the pilot was only the second time I'd been in front of a camera".


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: The series also introduced the character of Walter Skinner, played by Mitch Pileggi, who would go on to become a recurring, and later, main character in the show. The character had been conceived as playing against the stereotypical bureaucratic "paper-pusher", being instead someone more "quietly dynamic". Pileggi had auditioned unsuccessfully for several other parts on the series before being cast as Skinner. At first, the fact that he was asked back to audition for the role had puzzled him, until he discovered the reason he had not cast for the previous parts—Chris Carter had been unable to imagine Pileggi as any of those characters, due to the fact that the actor had been shaving his head. When Pileggi attended the audition for Walter Skinner, he had been in a grumpy mood and had allowed his small amount of hair to grow back. Pileggi's attitude fit well with the character of Skinner, causing Carter to assume that the actor was only pretending to be grumpy. After successfully auditioning for the role, Pileggi thought he had been lucky that he had not been cast in one of the earlier roles, as he believed he would have appeared in only a single episode and would have missed the opportunity to play the recurring role of Walter Skinner.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: Glen Morgan and James Wong's early influence on "The X-Files" mythology led to their introduction of popular secondary characters who would continue for years in episodes written by others, such as the Scully family—Dana's father William (Don S. Davis), mother Margaret (Sheila Larken) and sister Melissa (Melinda McGraw)—as well as conspiracy-buff trio The Lone Gunmen.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: Initially, there was no certainty as to how long the series would go on for, and as a result there was no long-term plan in the beginning to guide its writers. Although the initial impetus for the show was based on alien abduction lore, the crew believed that the series would not be able to maintain its momentum for long if it did not branch out into different plot ideas. The show's first season thus featured numerous standalone stories involving monsters, and also diverse alien or governmental cover-ups, often with no apparent connection to each other—such as the Arctic space worms in "Ice", and the conspiracy of genetically engineered twins in "Eve". Carter himself wrote "Space", an intended bottle episode about the manifestation of an alien "ghost" in the NASA space shuttle program, which was subject to cost overruns and became the most expensive of the first season.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: By the end of the first season, Carter and his staff had come up with many of the general concepts of the mythology that would last throughout all nine seasons. The first season introduced the series' primary antagonist, Cigarette Smoking Man, and gave early insight into the disappearance of Mulder's sister Samantha, whose abduction provided one of the main plot threads of the series as a whole. The emergent mythology was further solidified in the Carter-penned, Edgar Award-nominated season finale "The Erlenmeyer Flask". The episode was written in early 1994 before it was known whether or not the series would be renewed for a second season, and featured the closure of the X-Files unit and the reassignment of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully to new jobs within the FBI. The finale was the first episode directed by R. W. Goodwin, who had served as producer for the series.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: Series creator Chris Carter also served as executive producer and showrunner and wrote nine episodes. Co-executive producers and writing team Glen Morgan and James Wong wrote six episodes. Supervising producers and writing team Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon wrote five episodes together, with Gordon co-writing an additional script with Carter. Co-producers and writing team Larry and Paul Barber wrote one episode. Executive script consultant Chris Ruppenthal wrote one episode. Kenneth Biller and Chris Brancato co-wrote a freelance script. Other freelance writers included Scott Kaufer and Marilyn Osborn, who each wrote one episode. Other producers included line producer Joseph Patrick Finn and co-producer Paul Rabwin.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: David Nutter directed the most episodes of the first season, directing six. "Pilot" supervising producer Daniel Sackheim directed two episodes. Other directors that directed two episodes included Jerrold Freedman, William Graham, Michael Lange, Joe Napolitano and Larry Shaw. One-episode directors included Rob Bowman, Fred Gerber, co-executive producer R. W. Goodwin, Michael Katleman, Harry Longstreet and Robert Mandel who directed the pilot episode.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: From the outset, viewing figures for the series were good, with the initial broadcast of "Pilot" being watched by 7.4 million households, which constituted 15 percent of the viewing audience at the time. The series was broadcast directly after episodes of "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.", and saw a decline in viewing figures when that series began to falter. The season—and series as a whole—reached a low with "Fallen Angel", which was viewed by only 5.1 million households. However, after the episode aired, the numbers began to rise steadily once again, reaching a peak for the season with "The Erlenmeyer Flask", which was viewed by 8.3 million households, 16 percent of the available audience. At the conclusion of the 1993–94 television season, "The X-Files" ranked 105th out of 128 shows. The ratings were not spectacular, but the series had attracted enough fans to be classified as a "cult hit", particularly by Fox standards, and was subsequently renewed for a second season.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: Reviews for the first season were mostly positive, with the series being described as "the most paranoid, subversive show on TV", and the writing being called "fresh without being self-conscious, and the characters are involving. Series kicks off with drive and imagination, both innovative in recent TV". The season as a whole currently holds an 83% rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 35 reviews, with a critical consensus stating, "A serious approach to its premise helps establish "The X-Files" as a sci-fi procedural with a genuinely creepy twist – and a thrilling drama that avoids devolving into pure camp." On Metacritic, the season scored 70 out of 100, based on 14 reviews, indicating "Generally favorable reviews". Writing for IGN, Mike Miksch noted that "some of the episodes were at a level of excellence that still hasn't been matched since"; adding that the series has "become nearly as integral to pop culture today as any show in history". Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits gave the season an "A", stating "The X-Files is a show that dared to be different, and different it was". Hunt described the show's cinematography as "striking and noir-ish". Anna Johns, writing for TV Squad, called the season "phenomenal" and added that it contains "many terrific episodes".


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: Several episodes were widely praised, including "Squeeze", which has been called "profoundly creepy"; the "taut and briskly paced" Arctic-set "Ice"; and the "remarkably chilling" Scully-centered episode "Beyond the Sea". However, not all episodes of the season were as well received. Despite the costly production of "Space", the episode was derided as "decidedly unscary" and "a little tasteless" in its treatment of the "Challenger" disaster. "The Jersey Devil" was described as "pretty silly", whilst the plots for "Shadows", "Born Again", and "Roland" were panned for being much too similar to each other.


title: The X-Files (season 1)

text: The first season received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, with one win. Composer Mark Snow was nominated for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music, while title designers Bruce Bryant, James Castle and Carol Johnsen won for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Graphic Design and Title Sequences.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: Kristine Tsuya Yamaguchi (born July 12, 1971) is an American former figure skater. In ladies' singles, Yamaguchi is the 1992 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (1991 and 1992), and the 1992 U.S. champion. In 1992, she became the first Asian American woman to win a gold medal in a Winter Olympic competition. As a pairs skater with Rudy Galindo, she is the 1988 World Junior champion and a two-time national champion (1989 and 1990). In December 2005, she was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. In 2008, Yamaguchi became the celebrity champion in the sixth season of "Dancing with the Stars".


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: Yamaguchi was born on July 12, 1971, in Hayward, California, to Jim Yamaguchi, a dentist, and Carole (née Doi), a medical secretary. Yamaguchi is Sansei (a third-generation descendant of Japanese emigrants). Her paternal grandparents and maternal great-grandparents emigrated to the United States from Japan, originating from Wakayama Prefecture and Saga Prefecture. Yamaguchi's grandparents were sent to an internment camp during World War II, where her mother was born. Her maternal grandfather, George A. Doi, was in the U.S. Army and fought in Germany and France during World War II during the time his family was interned at the Heart Mountain and Amache camps. Research done in 2010 by Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. for the PBS series "Faces of America" showed that Yamaguchi's heritage can be traced back to Wakayama and Saga prefectures in Japan and that her paternal grandfather, Tatsuichi Yamaguchi, emigrated to Hawaii in 1899.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: Yamaguchi and her siblings, Brett and Lori, grew up in Fremont, California. In order to accommodate her training schedule, Yamaguchi was home-schooled for her first two years of high school, but attended Mission San Jose High School for her junior and senior years, where she graduated.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: Yamaguchi began skating and taking ballet lessons, as a child, as physical therapy for her club feet.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: With Rudy Galindo she won the junior title at the U.S. championships in 1986. Two years later, Yamaguchi won the singles and, with Galindo, the pairs titles at the 1988 World Junior Championships; Galindo had won the 1987 World Junior Championship in singles. In 1989 Yamaguchi and Galindo won the senior pairs title at the U.S. Championships. They won the title again in 1990.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: As a pairs team, Yamaguchi and Galindo were unusual in that they were both accomplished singles skaters, which allowed them to consistently perform difficult elements like side by side triple flip jumps, which are still more difficult than side by side jumps performed by current top international pairs teams. They also jumped and spun in opposite directions, Yamaguchi counter-clockwise, and Galindo clockwise, which gave them an unusual look on the ice. In 1990, Yamaguchi decided to focus solely on singles. Galindo went on to have a successful singles career as well, winning the 1996 U.S. championships and the 1996 World bronze medal.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: In 1991, Yamaguchi moved to Edmonton, Alberta, to train with coach Christy Ness. There, she took psychology courses at the University of Alberta. The same year, Yamaguchi placed second to Tonya Harding at the U.S. championships, her third consecutive silver medal at Nationals. The following month in Munich, Germany, Yamaguchi won the 1991 World Championships. That year, the American ladies team, consisting of Yamaguchi, Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, became the only national ladies team to have its members sweep the Worlds podium until the 2021 World Figure Skating Championships, when Anna Shcherbakova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and Alexandra Trusova swept the podium representing FSR.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: In 1992, Yamaguchi won her first U.S. title and gained a spot to the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. Joining her on the U.S. team were again Kerrigan and Harding. While Harding and Japan's Midori Ito were consistently landing the difficult triple Axel jump in competition, Yamaguchi instead focused on her artistry and her triple-triple combinations in hopes of becoming a more well-rounded skater. Both Harding and Ito fell on their triple Axels at the Olympics (though Ito successfully landed the jump later on in her long program after missing the first time), allowing Yamaguchi to win the gold, despite errors in her free program, including putting a hand to the ice on a triple loop and a double salchow instead of a planned triple. She later explained her mindset during the long program: “You just do your best and forget the rest." Yamaguchi went on to successfully defend her World title that same year.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: Yamaguchi turned professional after the 1991–92 competitive season. She toured for many years with Stars on Ice and also participated in the pro competition circuit.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: Yamaguchi made a fitness video with the California Raisins in 1993 called "Hip to be Fit: The California Raisins and Kristi Yamaguchi". She has appeared as herself on "Everybody Loves Raymond" and in "", "Frosted Pink", and the Disney Channel original movie "Go Figure". Yamaguchi has also performed in numerous television skating specials, including the Disney special "Aladdin on Ice", in which she played Princess Jasmine.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: In 2006, Yamaguchi was the host of WE tv series "Skating's Next Star", created and produced by Major League Figure Skating. Yamaguchi was a local commentator on figure skating for San Jose TV station KNTV (NBC 11) during the 2006 Winter Olympics.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: On May 20, 2008, Yamaguchi became the champion of the sixth season of ABC's reality program "Dancing with the Stars", in which she was paired with Mark Ballas, defeating finalist couple Jason Taylor and Edyta Śliwińska. Yamaguchi made a special appearance in the finale of the sixteenth season where she danced alongside Dorothy Hamill.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: In 2010, Yamaguchi worked as a daily NBC Olympics skating broadcast analyst on NBC's Universal Sports Network. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, Kristi was also a special correspondent for the Today Show.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: In early 2012, Yamaguchi created a woman's active wear line focused on function, comfort, and style to empower women to look good and feel good. The lifestyle brand is called "Tsu.ya by Kristi Yamaguchi". Tsu.ya donates a portion of its proceeds to support early childhood literacy through Yamaguchi's "Always Dream Foundation".


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: In November 2017, Yamaguchi returned to Dancing With the Stars' 25th season in Week eight, to participate in a trio Jazz with Lindsey Stirling and her professional partner Mark Ballas.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: Yamaguchi is the author of "Always Dream", "Pure Gold", and "Figure Skating for Dummies". In 2011, she published an award-winning children's book, "Dream Big, Little Pig", which was #2 on the New York Times bestseller list and received the Gelett Burgess Children's Book Award. A portion of the proceeds went to the "Always Dream Foundation" to support early childhood literacy programs. A sequel, "It's a Big World Little Pig", was published March 6, 2012.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: Yamaguchi received the Inspiration Award at the 2008 Asian Excellence Awards. Two days after her Dancing with the Stars champion crowning, she received the 2008 Sonja Henie Award from the Professional Skaters Association. Among her other awards are the Thurman Munson Award, Women's Sports Foundation Flo Hyman Award, the Heisman Humanitarian Award, and the Great Sports Legends Award. She is also a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee Olympic Hall of Fame, World Skating Hall of Fame, and the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: In 1996, Yamaguchi established the "Always Dream Foundation" for children. The goal of the foundation is to provide funding for after school programs, computers, back-to-school clothes for underprivileged children, and summer camps for kids with disabilities. Commenting in 2009, she explained her inspiration for the project: "I was inspired by the Make-A-Wish Foundation to make a positive difference in children’s lives. We’ve been helping out various children’s organizations, which is rewarding. Our latest project is a playground designed so that kids of all abilities can play side by side. That’s our focus now."


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: Currently, her "Always Dream Foundation" is focused on early childhood literacy with a statement of "Empowering Children to reach their dreams through education and inspiration." The foundation has partnered with "Raising a Reader" to launch a reading program in schools throughout California and eventually nationwide. It is also providing a language arts program "Footsteps to Brilliance" to students in kindergarten and first grade. Both programs integrate innovative technology into the classrooms.


title: Kristi Yamaguchi

text: On July 8, 2000, she married Bret Hedican, a professional hockey player she met at the 1992 Winter Olympics when he played for Team USA. After their wedding, Yamaguchi and Hedican resided in Raleigh, North Carolina where Hedican played for the Carolina Hurricanes NHL team and won his only Stanley Cup in 2006. He also played for one year with the Anaheim Ducks. They now live in Alamo in northern California with their two daughters, Keara Kiyomi (born 2003) and Emma Yoshiko (born 2005). They also have a summer home on Gull Lake in northern Minnesota.


title: Bitdefender

text: Bitdefender is a Romanian cybersecurity technology company headquartered in Bucharest, Romania, with offices in the United States, Europe, Australia and the Middle East.


title: Bitdefender

text: The company was founded in 2001 by the current CEO and main shareholder, Florin Talpeș. Bitdefender develops and delivers cybersecurity products and services, including endpoint protection, cloud and managed security, antivirus software and IoT security. Bitdefender products are distributed through partners in over 150 countries and the US market is estimated to generate more than 40% of its revenues. As of 2020, the company employed more than 1,600 people worldwide.


title: Bitdefender

text: As of May 2020, Bitdefender was ranked 9th globally among Microsoft Windows anti-malware application vendors with 4.27% of the market share.


title: Bitdefender

text: Bitdefender software was originally developed by SOFTWIN and sold as AVX (Antivirus Expert) from 1996 until 2001, when its name was changed. In 2007, SOFTWIN spun off Bitdefender.


title: Bitdefender

text: 2015: Bitdefender creates a new consumer product category with Bitdefender BOX and IoT security services.


title: Bitdefender

text: 2017: Bitdefender makes its first major acquisition by acquiring French partner Profil Technology Source.


title: Bitdefender

text: British fund Vitruvian buys a 30% stake in the Bitdefender, valuing Bitdefender at more than $600 million.


title: Bitdefender

text: 2018: Bitdefender creates a new subsidiary in Australia through the acquisition of assets from business partner SMS eTech.


title: Bitdefender

text: 2021: Bitdefender unveils its extended detection and response (XDR) platform, offering business customers further visibility and incident context during investigations to accelerate threat validation, response actions and remediation.


title: Bitdefender

text: Bitdefender develops cybersecurity solutions for businesses and consumers. It offers a range of products and services including endpoint protection, cloud security, and managed detection & response. Its flagship product is Bitdefender Antivirus which protects against viruses, spyware, malware, phishing attacks, ransomware, and other threats.


title: Bitdefender

text: Bitdefender advises Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) in supporting investigations into criminal activity in cyberspace, sharing relevant data and knowledge about disruption, prevention, investigation and prosecution. The company is involved in ongoing cooperation with international law enforcement actors such as local, regional and international police offices to support the fight against crime.


title: Bitdefender

text: Bitdefender is also part of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord for a safer online world, a collaboration among global technology companies committed to protecting their customers and users and helping them defend against malicious threats.


title: Bitdefender

text: On March 20, 2010, computers running Bitdefender under 64-bit versions of Windows were affected by a malfunctioning update which classified every executable program as well as dll files as infected. These files were all marked as 'Trojan.FakeAlert.5' and were moved into quarantine. This action led to software and systems malfunctions that affected users around the world. Bitdefender representatives announced the removal of the faulty update and a workaround for the users affected, except for those using the 2008 version.


title: Bitdefender

text: In 2021, Bitdefender was accused of self-promotion when releasing and publicly announcing a decryptor to the detriment of actual victims with regards to DarkSide, a hacking group. In 2020, DarkSide switched their main encryption ransomware product over to an "affiliate" model wherein other attackers could download and use their software in exchange for a portion of the profits. However, they introduced a bug in the process where affiliate hackers would all use the same private RSA key - meaning that a decryption package for a single target who paid the ransom would work on any target that had the ransomware installed. Security researchers noticed and were quietly already helping victims of the software, but with no public notice, making it so that the attackers would only see an inexplicable decrease in ransom payments that could be written off as chance. At about the same time, Bitdefender researchers developed a decryptor and issued a blog post in January 2021 describing the flaw and offering the decryptor as a free download, in order to make as many organizations as possible aware of its existence to reduce the impact of Darkside ransomware attacks. This was criticized in an article in the "MIT Technology Review": claiming, first, Bitdefender's program wasn't even safe - it was flawed and would "damage" files decrypted with it due to bugs within it. Second, the blog post tipped off DarkSide as to the nature of the flaw; DarkSide promptly patched the bug and sarcastically thanked Bitdefender for pointing it out, then went on with their campaign of extortion. A notable incident that took place after Bitdefender's public disclosure was the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack in May 2021. While the security researchers who had been using the flaw before acknowledge that it's probable DarkSide would eventually have noticed and fixed the issue, they still criticized Bitdefender for using the bug merely for a brief burst of publicity, rather than in the way that would most help victims of the scheme. Bitdefender has defended their actions on their blog. The article and blog post triggered a discussion among cybersecurity professionals about the pros and cons of publicly disclosing decryptors.


title: Bitdefender

text: In September 2021, Bitdefender published a universal decryptor utility that will help past victims of the REvil ransomware recover their encrypted files.


title: International sanctions during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

text: Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States, the European Union, and other countries introduced or significantly expanded sanctions to include Vladimir Putin and other government members, and cut off "selected Russian banks" from the SWIFT network triggering the 2022 Russian financial crisis and a massive international boycott of Russia and Belarus, which supports the invasion.


text: Western countries and others imposed limited sanctions on Russia when it recognised the independence of its puppet states, the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republic. With the commencement of attacks on 24 February 2022, a large number of other countries began applying sanctions with the aim of crippling the Russian economy. The sanctions were wide-ranging, targeting individuals, banks, businesses, monetary exchanges, bank transfers, exports, and imports. The sanctions included cutting off major Russian banks from SWIFT, the global messaging network for international payments, although there would still be limited accessibility to ensure the continued ability to pay for gas shipments. Sanctions also included asset freezes on the Russian Central Bank, which holds $630 billion in foreign-exchange reserves, to prevent it from offsetting the impact of sanctions and implicated the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. By 1 March, the total amount of Russian assets being frozen by sanctions amounted to $1 trillion.


text: Major multinational companies including Apple, IKEA, ExxonMobil, and General Motors, have themselves decided to apply sanctions to Russia, acting as international law enforcers on behalf of states. Ukrainian and Western governments have explicitly urged the global private sector to help uphold international law, and the EU, UK and Australia have also called on global digital platforms to remove pro-Russian propaganda. Multinational companies have disengaged from Russia to comply with sanctions and trade restrictions imposed by home states, but also on their own accord, beyond what was required by law, to avoid the economic and reputational risks associated with maintaining commercial ties with Russia.


text: Several countries that are historically neutral, such as Switzerland and Singapore, have agreed to sanctions. Some countries also applied sanctions to Belarusian organisations and individuals, such as President Alexander Lukashenko, because of Belarus' involvement in the invasion. Since 1969, Germany had maintained a policy called Ostpolitik, choosing dependence on Russian energy to maintain peaceful relations with Russia and to integrate it in to Europe, while allowing defence spending to fall.


text: In response to the invasion, Germany's chancellor, Olaf Scholz, suspended the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and announced a new policy of energy independence from Russia, admitting that "Ostpolitik" was a failure. In addition, Germany provided arms shipments to Ukraine, the first time that it provided arms to a country at war since the end of World War II. Germany also increased defence expenditures by approximately $100 billion, by some estimates making it the third largest military spender in the world. This change from a policy of appeasement to brinkmanship has been called a new epoch in German policy by "The Economist". Germany had to deal with its first export deficit in over 30 years due to escalating energy prices. The industrial competitiveness of Germany in the past substantially relied on cheap gas imports from Russia, but Germany's industry associations applauded the move to reduce the use of natural gas, and to replace Russian imports with liquified gas from the Middle East.


text: Upon his arrival for the NATO extraordinary summit in Brussels on 24 March, Biden indicated that further economic sanctions would be placed against Russia, including restrictions on the Russian Central Bank's use of gold in transactions and a new round of sanctions that targeted defense companies, the head of Russia's largest bank, and more than 300 members of the Russian State Duma.


text: On 27 February 2022, Putin responded to the sanctions, and to what he called "aggressive statements" by Western governments, by ordering the country's "deterrence forces"—generally understood to include its nuclear forces—to be put on a "special regime of combat duty". This novel term provoked some confusion as to what exactly was changing, but US officials declared it generally "escalatory". Following sanctions and criticisms of their relations with Russian business, a boycott movement began and many companies and organisations chose to exit Russian or Belarusian markets voluntarily. The boycotts impacted many consumer goods, entertainment, education, technology, and sporting organisations.


text: The US instituted export controls, a novel sanction focused on restricting Russian access to high-tech components, both hardware and software, made with any parts or intellectual property from the US. The sanction required that any person or company that wanted to sell technology, semiconductors, encryption software, lasers, or sensors to Russia request a licence, which by default was denied. The enforcement mechanism involved sanctions against the person or company, with the sanctions focused on the shipbuilding, aerospace, and defence industries. As an effect of the sanctions, Russian elites shifted funds worth hundreds of millions of dollars from sanctioning countries, like the UK and Switzerland, to countries that have not imposed sanctions, like the United Arab Emirates.


text: Russia was reported in May 2022 to be using its gold reserves to support the economy, despite a ban on trading gold. Switzerland had been a significant importer of Russian gold destined for refineries or jewelry production. A Switzerland-based NGO, Swissaid, demanded transparency in the source of the gold imports from the United Arab Emirates following concerns about its potential origin being Russia. Russian gold imports into Switzerland remained legal until 3 August 2022 as long as sanctioned financial institutions were not involved, but they only amount to a few percent of the total Swiss gold trade. In May 2022, Russian gold re-entered the Swiss market valued almost 200 million CHF, the biggest increase since September 2021, mostly from duty-free storage facilities. Russian gold producers have been banned from the London Bullion Market since March 2022, but the recent uptick has been attributed to small gold traders and jewelers. Later in August 2022, Switzerland adopted a new EU ban on all Russian gold imports.


text: Diamonds are a significant export source for the Russian economy, which is by far the largest exporter globally. After sanctions have been placed on the largest diamond producer Alrosa, its sales declined sharply but rebounded significantly in late 2022. Most raw diamonds from Russia now enter the market via India, and are re-exported to China and Japan, but also to the United States. Even Belgium's prime minister has reiterated his stance to exclude Russian diamonds from sanctions, since 80% of rough diamonds are traded through its port city of Antwerp at some stage. Sanctions on the trade of Russian diamonds benefited a handful of smaller to medium-sized companies, mostly in India, that took over the lucrative trade.


text: During a speech at the UN General Assembly in NYC on 20 September 2022, French president Emmanuel Macron asked, "who here can defend the idea that the invasion of Ukraine justifies no sanctions?" He accused neutral states to be "indifferent" towards the conflict. The issue of economic sanctions against Russia, however, had even challenged the unity of European leaders, when Hungary gained major exemptions from the Russian oil embargo in June 2022, and Bulgaria as well as Italy are holding elections in late 2022, with potential gains for political forces opposed to economic sanctions.


text: On 16 December 2022, The EU introduced a ninth package of sanctions against the Russian economy. The talks were described as "acrimonious" when only the Baltic states bordering Russia were supportive of tougher sanctions. A spokesperson for the Belgian government said, "It is becoming increasingly difficult to impose sanctions that hit Russia hard enough, without excessive collateral damage to the EU." A recent price cap on Russian oil was declared meaningless when crude was selling below that level, as revenues still flow to Moscow. Some European countries such as Belgium, Greece and Hungary still rely heavily on Russian energy imports to support their economies.


text: Western countries and others began imposing limited sanctions on Russia when it recognised the independence of self-declared Donbass republics. With the commencement of attacks on 24 February, a large number of other countries began applying sanctions with the aim of crippling the Russian economy. The sanctions were wide-ranging, targeting individuals, banks, businesses, monetary exchanges, bank transfers, exports, and imports.


text: After Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, two countries that had not previously taken part in sanctions, namely South Korea and non-UN member state Taiwan, engaged in sanctions against Russia. On 28 February 2022, Singapore announced that it will impose banking sanctions against Russia for Ukraine invasion, thus making them the first country in Southeast Asia to impose sanctions upon Russia.


text: The sanctions also included materials that could be used for weapons against Ukraine, as well as electronics, technology devices and other related equipment, which were listed in a detailed statement on 5 March.


text: On 25 February and 1 March 2022 Serbia, Mexico and Brazil announced that they would not be participating in any economic sanctions against Russia.


text: On 28 February 2022, the Central Bank of Russia was blocked from accessing more than $400 billion in foreign-exchange reserves held abroad and the EU imposed sanctions on several Russian oligarchs and politicians. On the same day US Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has prohibited United States persons from engaging in transactions with Central Bank of Russia, Russian Direct Investment Fund (including its predcessor, JSC RDIF, sanctioned previously), Limited Liability Company RVC Management Company, and Kirill Dmitriev, a Vladimir Putin's ally, personally.


text: Sergei Aleksashenko, the former Russian deputy finance minister, said: "This is a kind of financial nuclear bomb that is falling on Russia." On 1 March 2022, the French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said the total amount of Russian assets being frozen by sanctions amounted to $1 trillion.


text: Faisal Islam of BBC News stated that the measures were far from normal sanctions and were "better seen as a form of economic war". The intent of the sanctions was to push Russia into a deep recession with the likelihood of bank runs and hyperinflation. Islam noted that targeting a G20 central bank in this way had never been done before. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia and former president Dmitry Medvedev derided Western sanctions imposed on Russia, including personal sanctions, and commented that they were a sign of "political impotence" resulting from NATO's withdrawal from Afghanistan. He threatened to nationalise foreign assets that companies held inside Russia.


text: In July 2022, Russia warned Western countries from imposing additional sanctions on Russian energy. In a TV interview on Rossiya 24, Putin claimed “sanctions restrictions on Russia cause much more damage to those countries that impose them”. While Russia's energy industry was stabilized through redirecting oil exports to India and China, Western countries have experienced unprecedented inflation that has hampered economic growth, and increased the risk of a global recession.


text: On 8 March 2022, President Joe Biden ordered a ban on imports of oil, gas and coal from Russia to the US.


text: In May 2022, the European Commission proposed a ban on oil imports from Russia. The proposal was reduced to a ban on oil imports by sea to appease Hungary, whose prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has befriended Putin and which gets 60% of its oil from Russia via pipelines. European oil pipeline supply from Russia is 800,000 barrels a day and is an exception to the sanctions with oil transit insurance bans being phased over several months. Germany and Poland have vowed to end pipeline deliveries.


text: On Feb 28th, the Government of Canada banned imports of Russian crude oil. On June 8, Ottawa banned services to the Russian oil, miniing, gas, and chemical industries.


text: Switzerland is a major hub for commodities trading globally. As such, about 80% of Russia's commodity trading goes through Geneva and with a further estimated 40 commodities companies linked to Russia in Zug. Glencore, Gunvor, Vitol, Trafigura and Lukoil Litasco SA are oil and commodities trading firms with stakes in Rosneft and Lukoil, two major Russian oil companies. MMK (a Russian-based company in Lugano) is also a major player in the commodities/steel trading with Eastern Europe. On 8 March 2022, Shell announced its intention to withdraw from the Russian hydrocarbons industry.


text: In response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the European Commission and International Energy Agency presented joint plans to reduce reliance on Russian energy, reduce Russian gas imports by two thirds within a year, and completely by 2030. In April 2022, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said "the era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe will come to an end". On 18 May 2022, the European Union published plans to end its reliance on Russian oil, natural gas and coal by 2027.


text: On September 2, the G7 group of nations agreed to cap the price of Russian oil in order to reduce Russia's ability to finance its war with Ukraine without further increasing inflation.


text: On 22 September 2022, EU ministers agreed to prepare new sanctions against Russia's energy sector. The looming Russian oil embargo, after a series of nationalisations of Russian refineries and gas companies by Germany. Some EU countries, such as Romania allowed continued operations of Lukoil refineries with oil from non-Russian sources. The "Financial Times" called Germany's action to nationalise fuel refineries and gas companies a "desperate" act.


text: On 6 October 2022, the E.U. in its 8th round of sanctions agreed to price cap Russian oil imports (for Europe and third countries) with a price maximum to be set on December 5, 2022. A number of nations, including Hungary and Serbia gained major exemptions from the agreement. Greece with its extensive petroleum sea transport industry was also described as a major 'profiteur' from Russian oil shipments, as it conducts cargo-reloading operations in the Laconian Gulf, according to informed sources.


text: In a 22 February 2022 speech, US president Joe Biden announced restrictions against four Russian banks, including V.E.B., as well as on corrupt billionaires close to Putin. UK prime minister Boris Johnson announced that all major Russian banks would have their assets frozen and be excluded from the UK financial system, and that some export licences to Russia would be suspended. He also introduced a deposit limit for Russian citizens in UK bank accounts, and froze the assets of over 100 additional individuals and entities.


text: The foreign ministers of the Baltic states called for Russia to be cut off from SWIFT, the global messaging network for international payments. Other EU member states had initially been reluctant to do this, both because European lenders held most of the nearly $30 billion in foreign banks' exposure to Russia and because China had developed an alternative to SWIFT called CIPS; a weaponisation of SWIFT would provide greater impetus to the development of CIPS which, in turn, could weaken SWIFT as well as the West's control over international finance. Other leaders calling for Russia to be stopped from accessing SWIFT include Czech president Miloš Zeman, and UK prime minister Boris Johnson.


text: Germany had resisted calls for Russia to be banned from SWIFT, citing the effect it would have on payments for Russian gas and oil; on 26 February, the German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock and economy minister Robert Habeck made a joint statement backing targeted restrictions of Russia from SWIFT. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that major Russian banks would be removed from SWIFT, although there would still be limited accessibility to ensure the continued ability to pay for gas shipments. Furthermore, it was announced that the West would place sanctions on the Russian Central Bank, which holds $630bn in foreign reserves, to prevent it from liquidating assets to offset the impact of sanctions.


text: On 26 February, two Chinese state banks—the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which is the largest bank in the world, and the Bank of China, which is the country's biggest currency trader—were limiting financing to purchase Russian raw materials, which was limiting Russian access to foreign currency. On 28 February, Switzerland froze a number of Russian assets and joined EU sanctions. According to Ignazio Cassis, the president of the Swiss Confederation, the decision was unprecedented but consistent with Swiss neutrality. The same day, Monaco adopted economic sanctions and procedures for freezing funds identical to those taken by most European states. Singapore became the first Southeast Asian country to impose sanctions on Russia by restricting banks and transactions linked to Russia; the move was described by the "South China Morning Post" as being "almost unprecedented". South Korea announced it would participate in the SWIFT ban against Russia, as well as announcing an export ban on strategic materials covered by the "Big 4" treaties to which Korea belongs—the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement, the Australia Group, and the Missile Technology Control Regime; in addition, 57 non-strategic materials, including semiconductors, IT equipment, sensors, lasers, maritime equipment, and aerospace equipment, were planned to be included in the export ban "soon".


text: On 28 February, Japan announced that its central bank would join sanctions by limiting transactions with Russia's central bank, and would impose sanctions on Belarusian organisations and individuals, including President Aleksandr Lukashenko, because of Belarus' "evident involvement in the invasion" of Ukraine. According to "The Wall Street Journal", payments for energy raw materials have been largely spared from these measures. The Central Bank of Russia was blocked from accessing more than $400 billion in foreign-exchange reserves held abroad. Sergei Aleksashenko, the former Russian deputy finance minister, said: "This is a kind of financial nuclear bomb that is falling on Russia." EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said that Western nations "cannot block the reserves of the Russian central bank in Moscow or in China".


text: On 1 March, the Grand and General Council of San Marino authorised the country's government to take sanctions against Russia, and rejected that the measures had a military content. The same day, the French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said that Russian assets being frozen by sanctions amounted to $1 trillion. South Korea announced it would stop all transactions with 7 main Russian banks and their affiliates, restrict the purchase of Russian treasury bonds, and agreed to "immediately implement" and join any further economics sanctions imposed against Russia by the European Union.


text: Following sanctions and criticisms of their relations with Russian business, many companies chose to exit Russian or Belarusian markets voluntarily or in order to avoid potential future sanctions. Visa, Mastercard, and American Express independently blocked Russian banks as of 2 March. Following Swiss sanctions on Russia and leaks to the media showing loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Russian oligarchs, Credit Suisse issued orders to destroy documents linking Russian oligarchs to yacht loans, a move which led to considerable criticism.


text: In August 2022, the Swiss Federal Council announced it froze all assets of Sberbank, and ordered a sale of its subsidiaries. Financial transactions for agricultural products and fossil fuel to third parties were valid exceptions in the recent measure.


text: The US instituted export controls, a novel sanction focused on restricting Russian access to high-tech components, both hardware and software, made with any parts or intellectual property from the US. The sanction required that any person or company that wanted to sell technology, semiconductors, encryption software, lasers, or sensors to Russia request a licence, which by default was denied. The enforcement mechanism involved sanctions against the person or company, with the sanctions focused on the shipbuilding, aerospace, and defence industries.


text: On 20 March 2022, Australia banned the export of alumina, bauxite and other aluminium ores to Russia.


text: On 9 December 2022, Canada imposed new sanctions on Russia, alleging human rights violations. The decision includes sanctions against 33 current or former senior Russian officials and six entities involved in alleged "systematic human rights violations" against Russian citizens who protested against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.


text: On the morning of 24 February, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, announced "massive" EU sanctions to be adopted by the union. The sanctions targeted technological transfers, Russian banks, and Russian assets. Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stated that Russia would face "unprecedented isolation" as the EU would impose the "harshest package of sanctions [which the union has] ever implemented". He also said that "these are among the darkest hours of Europe since the Second World War". President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola called for "immediate, quick, solid and swift action" and convened an extraordinary session of Parliament for 1 March.


text: A 5 April 2022 article by Insider claims the total cost of yachts impounded throughout Europe to be over $2 billion. This amount includes the motoryacht "Tango", seized pursuant to United States sanctions with Spanish assistance.


text: On 26 February, the French Navy intercepted Russian cargo ship "Baltic Leader" in the English Channel. The ship was suspected of belonging to a company targeted by the sanctions. The ship was escorted to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer and was being investigated.


text: On 2 March 2022, French customs officials seized the yacht "Amore Vero" at a shipyard in La Ciotat. The "Amore Vero" is believed to be owned by the sanctioned oligarch Igor Sechin.


text: On 2 March 2022, German authorities immobilized the "Dilbar", owned by Alisher Usmanov. She is reported to have cost $800 million, employ 84 full-time crew members, and contain the largest indoor swimming pool installed on a superyacht at 180 cubic metres.


text: On 4 March 2022, Italian police impounded the yacht "Lady M". Authorities believe the ship is owned by Alexei Mordashov. The same day, Italian police seized the yacht of Gennady Timchenko, the "Lena", in the port city of Sanremo. The yacht was also placed on a United States sanctions list. On 12 March 2022, Italian authorities in the port of Trieste seized the sailing yacht "A", known to be owned by Andrey Melnichenko. A spokesperson for Melnichenko vowed to contest the seizure.


text: In March 2022, the Spanish Ministry of Development (known by its acronym "MITMA") detained three yachts pending investigation into whether their true owners are individuals sanctioned by the European Union. The "Valerie" is detained in the Port of Barcelona; "Lady Anastasia" in Port Adriano in Calvià, Mallorca; and the "Crescent" in the Port of Tarragona.


text: On 29 March 2022, Grant Shapps, the British secretary of state for transport, announced the National Crime Agency's seizure of the "PHI". The yacht was docked at Canary Wharf and was about to leave.


text: On 6 April 2022, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra sent a letter on the subject of sanctions addressed to the House of Representatives. In it, he reported that while no Russian superyachts were at anchor in the Netherlands, twelve yachts under construction across five shipyards were immobilized to ascertain ownership, including possible beneficial ownership.


text: The EU sanctions introduced on 25 February included a ban on the sale of aircraft and spare parts, and also required lessors to terminate the leases on aircraft placed with Russian airlines by the end of March.


text: Business jet manufacturer Bombardier Aviation announced that, in addition to suspending after-sales service activities, it had cancelled all outstanding orders placed by Russian individuals or companies.


text: As of April 2022, spare part and repair difficulties for the Safran/Saturn SaM146 engines used on the Sukhoi Superjet 100 were expected to force Russian airlines to ground the type.


text: In June 2022, the Russian government advised its airlines to use some aircraft for parts. That same month, Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), expressed concern about the safety of Western-made aircraft flying in Russia without proper access to spare parts or maintenance. He highlighted that risks increase over time and cited reports that Russia will be forced to cannibalise aircraft. In August 2022, Reuters reported confirmation from "four industry sources" that Russia had stripped parts from Airbus A320s and A350s, a Boeing 737 and a Sukhoi Superjet in order to perform maintenance on other aircraft. Around 15% of Aeroflot's fleet appeared to be grounded.


text: On 10 March 2022, Russia passed legislation outlining conditions to impede the return of leased aircraft to foreign lessors, including the need for approval from a government committee and payment of settlements in Roubles.


text: Many aircraft operated by Russian airlines had been registered with the Bermuda registry, which suspended airworthiness approvals on 14 March. The same day, Russia implemented a law allowing aircraft operated by Russian airlines to be re-registered with the Russian registry, effectively confiscating them from their overseas owners. Some 515 commercial aircraft, valued at approximately $10 billion, were leased by Russian airlines from foreign lessors prior to the sanctions. Lessors moved swiftly to repossess those few aircraft "stranded" outside Russia and reassigned some new aircraft due to be placed with Russian airlines, particularly Boeing 737 MAX that are now unlikely ever to be recertified by Russia.


text: By 22 March, 78 Russian aircraft had been repossessed, amid speculation that some Russian airlines were cooperating with lessors in order to avoid jeopardising future relations.


text: Rossiya Airlines, a subsidiary of Aeroflot, had reregistered all its fleet with the Russian registry by 29 March, and ensured that any international flights would use only Russian-owned aircraft.


text: By 30 March, Irish lessor AerCap had repossessed 22 of the 135 aircraft it had leased to Russian airlines, and 3 of the 14 engines on lease. It filed insurance claims totalling $3.5 billion for the remaining aircraft, many of which were "now being flown illegally by [its] former airline customers". Singapore-based lessor BOC Aviation had 18 aircraft worth $935 million on lease to Russian companies; it repossessed from Hong Kong one Boeing 747-8F leased to AirBridgeCargo but two other freighters were flown back to Russia contrary to explicit instructions, despite their insurance coverage and airworthiness certificates having been revoked.


text: On 31 March, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov declared that all leased aircraft still in Russia had been re-registered and would remain in Russia. This represents over 400 aircraft whose leases have been terminated. However, re-registration of aircraft without their owners' consent is a breach of ICAO standards.


text: Aeroflot gradually resumed international flights to "friendly" countries: to Kyrgyzstan from 14 March, Azerbaijan on 21 March, Armenia from 22 March, Iran from 2 April, Sri Lanka from 8 April, and Turkey and India from 6 May. On 2 June, an Aeroflot A330 belonging to an Irish lessor was temporarily impounded by a commercial court in Sri Lanka, though the aircraft was subsequently allowed to return to Russia on 5 June.


text: On 13 May, Aeroflot announced that it had purchased 8 A330s from foreign leasing companies, under an exemption that allows the execution of a lease solely to obtain repayments.


text: On 1 June, it emerged that five Russian airlines had kept a total of 31 aircraft outside Russia and returned them to lessors. Other airlines including Aeroflot have deposited money in special Rouble accounts to enable lessors to claim the amounts once sanctions are lifted.


text: In August, S7 Airlines was given special permission to "export" its two 737 MAX aircraft to Turkey in order to return them to their lessor.


text: On 24 February 2022, Ukrainian airspace was closed to civilian aircraft a few hours before the Russian invasion started, on the basis of a notification from the Russian Ministry of Defence. The European regulator EASA issued a Conflict Zone Information Bulletin (CZIB) warning that civilian aircraft could be misidentified or even directly targeted.


text: On 25 February, the UK announced the closure of its airspace to Russian airlines. On 27 February, the EU and Canada closed their airspace to all Russian aircraft, including both commercial and private aircraft. Russia issued a reciprocal ban, forcing many airlines to reroute or cancel flights to Asian destinations. The US issued a similar ban on 1 March.


text: On 8 March, Aeroflot suspended all its remaining flights to international destinations (except for Minsk, Belarus) due to airspace restrictions and to counter the "risk" of aircraft being repossessed by lessors.


text: On 9 March, to avoid Russian airspace, Finnair started routing its flights to Asia over the North Pole, the first time a polar route has been used for commercial flights in nearly 30 years.


text: An analysis of routes between Europe and Asia showed increased travel distances of between 1200 and 4000 km; the frequency of flights to some destinations has been reduced and other routes have been dropped.


text: By 29 March 2022, the following countries and territories had completely closed their airspace to all Russian airlines and Russian-registered private jets: