title: Aisha Dee

text: In 2008, Dee had her first major television role as Desi Biggins on the Australian-Canadian children's series "The Saddle Club". In 2010, Dee was a reoccurring character in the Australian-British show "Dead Gorgeous" as Christine. From 2011 to 2013, she starred as Mackenzie Miller in the Fox sitcom "I Hate My Teenage Daughter". She also co-starred as Elizabeth "Beth" Kingston on the ABC Family drama series "Chasing Life", from 2014 to 2015.


title: Aisha Dee

text: Dee starred as Jules Koja in the Syfy horror anthology series "Channel Zero: No-End House", which aired in 2017. On 22 August 2016, it was announced that Dee was cast as Kat Edison in the Freeform comedy-drama series "The Bold Type", which premiered on 20 June 2017. On 4 October 2017, Freeform renewed the series for two additional seasons of 10 episodes each. The second season premiered on 12 June 2018 and ended on 7 August 2018.


title: Pootie Tang

text: Pootie Tang is a 2001 American comedy film written and directed by Louis C.K. Adapted from a comedy sketch that first appeared on "The Chris Rock Show", the character Pootie Tang is a satire of the stereotyped action heroes who appeared in old blaxploitation films. The title character's speech, which vaguely resembles pidgin, is mostly unintelligible to the audience, but the other characters in the film have no problem understanding him. It has acquired a cult following.


title: Pootie Tang

text: Towards the beginning of the movie, Pootie Tang sits down for a TV interview, at which the interviewer asks about Pootie's upcoming movie. At this point, a movie clip is played. Although initially unclear, the events described below all appear to be part of the movie clip played during the interview as revealed at the end of the movie.


title: Pootie Tang

text: Pootie Tang, born in "a small town outside Gary, Indiana", is portrayed as a ladies' man who is "too cool for words", even as a young child. His life is marked by the deaths of his mother "Momma Dee", and shortly thereafter his father "Daddy Tang", who dies after being mauled by a gorilla during his shift at the steel mill (the third time that year someone had suffered that particular fate). Just before Daddy Tang's death, Pootie inherits his father's belt and is told that (as long as he has right on his side) he can "whoop anyone's ass with just that belt." And uses his dying breath to warn his son to not let the ladies get between him and the belt.


title: Pootie Tang

text: As a young adult, Pootie Tang rises to fame and becomes well known for a variety of reasons. He sings in nightclubs, stars in public service announcements for children, produces top-of-the-charts music hits, and generally defeats wrongdoers with the power of his belt. Dick Lecter, the chief operating officer of multi-industrial conglomerate LecterCorp, learns of Pootie Tang's positive influence on society — and his negative influence on LecterCorp's bottom line. After his henchmen and a villain named Dirty Dee are sent away by Pootie's friends, Lecter encourages his right-hand lady, Ireenie, to seduce Pootie Tang into signing an agreement with LecterCorp that would stop Pootie Tang's influence on America's children.


title: Pootie Tang

text: Pootie Tang falls for Ireenie's tricks and subsequently falls apart. His status as pop culture icon is destroyed, and he engages on a quest to "find [him]self". This journey is encouraged by his friend Biggie Shorty, who promises to wait for Pootie to return to her and to the rest of society. Pootie moves to a farm where the local sheriff decides Pootie should start dating his daughter. After his single corn stalk dies, he has a vision of Daddy Tang and Momma Dee. Daddy Tang reveals that there is nothing special about Pootie's belt; instead, Pootie must fight evil with the goodness that is inside him. After dealing with Dirty Dee and his henchman Froggy (as well as getting his belt back), Pootie realizes he must move back to the city and fight crime once again.


title: Pootie Tang

text: Pootie Tang returns to the city just as Dick Lecter is unveiling the first of his new restaurant chain, Pootie's Bad Time Burgers. At a small news conference, Pootie confronts Lecter only to discover that Lecter has amassed dozens of "Pootie-alikes" who will spread the message of LecterCorp around the nation. Pootie Tang, with the help of Biggie Shorty, defeats all of these henchmen and Lecter himself. Good triumphs over evil once again, and Biggie Shorty finally gets her man: she and Pootie Tang plan to get married now that Pootie is back. Elsewhere, Dick Lecter leaves corporate life and becomes an actor, Ireenie leaves him and becomes a counselor helping at-risk teenage prostitutes, and Dirty Dee is still dirty.


title: Pootie Tang

text: Originally a Paramount Classics film titled "Pootie Tang in Sine Your Pitty on the Runny Kine", the budget was increased and transferred to the main Paramount Pictures division. Louis C.K. has stated that he was all but fired from the film during the editing phase. According to him, Ali LeRoi was hired to extensively re-edit the film. Openly agreeing with Roger Ebert's dismissive criticism that the movie should not have even been released, C.K. has said that the finished product, though containing parts he enjoyed, was far from his own vision.


title: Pootie Tang

text: Critical reception was generally negative. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 27% based on 45 reviews, with an average score of 3.7/10. The site's critical consensus states: "Based as it is on a short skit, "Pootie Tang" overstays its welcome." On Metacritic, the film received a score of 31 based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: Pootie Tang

text: Roger Ebert gave the film a half-star rating, criticizing it for its excessive use of vulgar language and demeaning portrayal of women, describing it as a "train wreck" and finishing his review by bluntly stating "This film is not in a releasable condition." Nathan Rabin at "The A.V. Club" said "Pootie Tang" "borders on audience abuse" and "confuse[s] idiocy for absurdity and randomness for wit." In 2009, fellow "A.V. Club" writer Scott Tobias revisited the film and included it in his New Cult Canon series, noting that ""Pootie Tang" repelled mainstream critics and audiences, but it holds an exalted status among alt-comedians and fans of subversive anti-comedy in general."


title: Pootie Tang

text: A soundtrack containing mainstream hip hop, dance, and R&B music was released on June 16, 2001, by Hollywood Records. It peaked at #51 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and #22 on the Top Soundtracks.


title: Li Xin (Qin)

text: Li Xin (李信), courtesy name Youcheng (有成), was a General of Qin during the Warring States era. Alongside Wang Jian, Wang Ben and other generals, Li Xin served under Qin Shi Huang (Ying Zheng) in his conquest of the six Warring States. He is also the great-great grandfather of Li Guang, a Han dynasty general.


title: Li Xin (Qin)

text: As a son of the governor of Nanjun Commandery, Li Yao, he served during Qin Shi Huang's reign, initially as a footsoldier, then rose through the ranks through sheer determination and his background.


title: Li Xin (Qin)

text: After the fall of Zhao in 228 BCE, Wang Jian's army stationed in Zhongshan started preparations for an offensive war against Yan. Ju Wu (鞠武), a Yan minister, proposed to Xi, King of Yan, to form alliances with the Dai, Qi, and Chu states, and make peace with the Xiongnu in the north, as a preemptive measure in preparation for the Qin invasion. However, Crown Prince Dan felt that the alliance strategy was unlikely to succeed, so he sent Jing Ke to assassinate Ying Zheng, the king of Qin. Jing Ke entered Qin disguised as an envoy, bringing with him a map of Dukang and the head of , a turncoat Qin general. The assassination attempt failed and Jing Ke was killed.


title: Li Xin (Qin)

text: In 227 BCE, using the assassination attempt as casus belli, Ying Zheng ordered Wang Jian to lead an assault against Yan, with Meng Wu (蒙武) as Wang's deputy. The Qin defeated the Yan army as well as Yan's reinforcements from Dai in a battle on the eastern bank of the Yi River (易水), after which they captured the Yan capital, Ji (薊; present-day Beijing). Xi, King of Yan and his son, Crown Prince Dan, fled with their remaining forces to the Liaodong Peninsula. The Qin army pursued the retreating Yan to the Yan River (衍水; present-day Hun River, Liaoning), where they engaged with enemy forces and destroyed the bulk of Yan army. Later, Xi ordered Crown Prince Dan's execution and sent his son's head to Qin as an "apology" for the assassination attempt. Qin accepted the offer and did not attack Yan for the next three years.


title: Li Xin (Qin)

text: In 222 BCE, Wang Ben (王賁) led a Qin army to invade Liaodong, destroying Yan's remaining forces and ending the state of Yan. The former territories of Yan were partitioned and re-organised into the Qin dynasty's Yuyang (漁陽), Beiping (北平), Liaoxi (遼西) and Liaodong (遼東) commanderies.


title: Li Xin (Qin)

text: In 224 BCE, Qin began preparations for an invasion of Chu, one of its rivals among the six states. During a discussion between Ying Zheng and his subjects, the veteran general Wang Jian claimed that the invasion force needed to be at least 600,000 strong to succeed against Chu, but the younger general Li Xin believed that 200,000 men would be sufficient. Ying Zheng ordered Li Xin and the Qin army to attack Chu.


title: Li Xin (Qin)

text: The Chu, led by Xiang Yan, took Li Xin's army by surprise with a 500,000 men army and completely annihilated Li's force in the unfamiliar territory of Huaiyang, modern-day northern Jiangsu and Anhui provinces. Xiang Yan achieved victory by luring the Qin army away through allowing them a few initial victories.


title: Li Xin (Qin)

text: But then once again, Li Xin's army was ambushed by Lord Changping's army (Lord Changping was the former prime minister of the Qin state). Xiang Yan's army burnt two large Qin camps, and killed seven commandants. This incident was considered the greatest setback out of all of Qin's campaigns.


title: Li Xin (Qin)

text: Henceforth, Ying Zheng replaced Li and assigned Wang Jian the command of a 600,000 strong army in the following year as he had requested and ordered him to lead another attack on Chu. High in morale after their victory in the previous year, the Chu forces were content to sit back and defend against what they expected to be a siege of Chu. In response, Wang Jian decided to lull the Chu garrisons into a false sense of security by appearing to idle in his fortifications while secretly training his troops to fight in Chu territory. After a year, a great portion of the Chu garrisons decided to disband and demobilize due to apparent lack of action from the Qin. Wang Jian invaded at this point, having prepared for war the entire time, and overran Huaiyang and the diminished Chu forces. Chu was swept away by the momentum of the swift assault and could only sustain local guerrilla-style resistance until it was fully conquered with the capture of Shouchun and the death of its last leader, who was either Lord Changping or Fuchu depending on different accounts, in 223 BCE. Conflicting narratives of the battle in the Records of the Grand Historian state that Xiang Yan was either killed in action or committed suicide. Thus the state of Chu was brought to an end. In 222 BCE, the Qin army advanced southward and annexed the Wuyue region (covering present-day Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces).


title: Li Xin (Qin)

text: In 264 BCE, Tian Jian ascended the throne of Qi and was assisted by his mother, the queen dowager, in managing state affairs. Qin bribed Hou Sheng, the Qi chancellor, to dissuade King Jian from helping the other states while they were being attacked by Qin. By 221 BCE, Qi was the only state in China that had yet to be conquered by Qin. Qi hurriedly mobilised its armies to its western borders as a safeguard against a possible Qin invasion.


title: Li Xin (Qin)

text: In the same year, Ying Zheng used Qi's rejection of a meeting with a Qin envoy as an excuse to attack Qi. Along with Wang Ben, Li Xin, and the Qin Army, avoided direct confrontation with enemy forces stationed on Qi's western borders, and advanced into Qi's heartland via a southern detour from Yan. The Qin forces met with little resistance as they passed through Qi territory and eventually arrived at Linzi (north of present-day Zibo, Shandong), the capital of Qi. King Jian was caught by surprise and, after being persuaded by Hou Sheng, he surrendered to Qin without putting up a fight. The former territories of Qi were reorganised to form the Qin Empire's Qi and Langya commanderies.


title: Li Xin (Qin)

text: Li Xin retired after Qin's unification, choosing to live in the area of modern Gansu. However, before doing so, he was bestowed the title of 'Marquis of Longxi' by Qin Shi Huang due to his military achievements during Qin's unification war.


title: Lou Ferrigno Jr.

text: Louis Jude Ferrigno Jr. (born November 10, 1984) is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the CBS television series "S.W.A.T.", as Donovan Rocker, a SWAT team leader and decorated officer. He is also known for his roles on "Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn", "Teen Wolf", and "How I Met Your Mother". His small appearances include "The Rookie" and "9-1-1".


title: Lou Ferrigno Jr.

text: Ferrigno Jr. was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of actor-bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno, and actress Carla (Green) Ferrigno. His father is of Italian descent, his mother is of Swedish and Irish ancestry. In high school, Ferrigno Jr. attended Loyola High School in downtown Los Angeles, eventually transferring to Notre Dame in Sherman Oaks, California.


title: Lou Ferrigno Jr.

text: Ferrigno attended college at the University of Southern California, graduating in 2007 with a B.A. in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication and a minor in Business Law. After suffering a career-ending knee injury as a walk-on linebacker for the 2007 Rose Bowl Champion USC Trojans, his focus immediately shifted to acting and improvisation.


title: Lou Ferrigno Jr.

text: Ferrigno began his adult career in entertainment as a fitness model and commercial actor. Intensively studying the Meisner technique of dramatic acting and improvisational comedy at the Improv Olympic (iO West) and Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) in Los Angeles, he soon landed national spots for Comcast (2013), Carl's Jr. (2014), Oscar Mayer (2015), Honda (2015), T-Mobile (2016), Mopar (2016), Navy Federal Credit Union (2016), Subway (2017), and Dr Pepper (2018), among others.


title: Lou Ferrigno Jr.

text: Ferrigno made his television debut in 2013 on the long-running daytime soap, "Days of Our Lives". He has since landed numerous recurring roles on successful shows such as "How I Met Your Mother", "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.", "Teen Wolf", "The Young and the Restless", "Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn", "Mutt & Stuff", "9-1-1", and the series reboot of "S.W.A.T.". He appeared as Hourman on the DC Universe/The CW series "Stargirl", which premiered in 2020.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: The Second Liberian Civil War was a conflict in the West African nation of Liberia lasted from 1999 to 2003. It was preceded by the First Liberian Civil War, which ended in 1996.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: President Charles Taylor came to power in 1997 after victory in the First Liberian Civil War which led to two years of peace. The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), an anti-Taylor rebel group backed by the government of Guinea, invaded northern Liberia in April 1999. LURD made gradual gains against Taylor in the north and began approaching the capital Monrovia by early 2002. The Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), a second anti-Taylor rebel group, invaded southern Liberia in early 2003 and quickly conquered most of the south. Taylor, controlling only a third of Liberia and under pressure from the Siege of Monrovia, resigned in August 2003 and fled to Nigeria. The Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed by the warring parties a week later, marking the political end of the conflict and beginning Liberia's transition to democracy. The National Transitional Government led by interim President Gyude Bryant governed the country until the 2005 general election.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: The Second Liberian Civil War resulted in the deaths of over 50,000 people and the internal displacement of thousands more. The conflict saw the widespread use of child soldiers by both Taylor and LURD. The United Nations Mission in Liberia was deployed in the country until it was officially withdrawn in 2018.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: The First Liberian Civil War ended in August 1997 when Charles Taylor took power as the President of Liberia. Taylor had initiated the war when he and his militia, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), invaded the country from the Ivory Coast to overthrow President Samuel Doe in December 1989. The NPFL rapidly conquered most of Liberia except for the capital Monrovia, which came under the control of the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), a splinter group led by Prince Johnson. The INPFL captured and executed Doe in September 1990 and resisted attempts by the NPFL to take Monrovia, denying Taylor an outright victory and prolonging the war for years. A peace agreement was signed in 1996 between the major factions and resulted in the 1997 Liberian general election.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: Taylor won a landslide victory with 75% of the vote for the presidency, while his National Patriotic Party dominated the Legislature of Liberia. His success was mainly due to his control over the media, fear that the war would restart if he lost, and a general unfamiliarity with democratic processes among the Liberian public. Taylor quickly established a totalitarian and corrupt regime, with many dissidents fleeing to neighboring countries. Taylor's ambition of establishing Liberia as a regional power led to him supporting rebel groups such as the Rally of Democratic Forces of Guinea in the RFDG Insurgency and the Revolutionary United Front in the Sierra Leone Civil War. This brought him into conflict with the governments of Guinea and Sierra Leone who, in retaliation, began supporting the anti-Taylor dissidents that had fled to their countries.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: The second civil war began in April 1999, when Liberian dissidents under the banner of the Organization of Displaced Liberians invaded Liberia from Guinea. Guinea became LURD's main source of military and financial support. By July 2000, the various dissident groups had coalesced as the LURD led by Sekou Conneh. The dissidents were thought to be mostly Mandinka and Krahn fighters of the former ULIMO-J and ULIMO-K.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: Also important in forming LURD was an alliance, brokered by ECOMOG-SL Nigerian chief General Maxwell Khobe, between Liberian dissidents and the Sierra Leonean Kamajors hunter militia, including chiefs Samuel Hinga Norman and Eddie Massally. Against the dissidents Taylor deployed irregular ex-National Patriotic Front of Liberia fighters with his more privileged units, such as the Anti-Terrorist Unit, positioned to ensure the irregulars did fight.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: Simultaneous September 2000 counter-attacks on Guinea from Liberia and Sierra Leone by RUF – still loyal to Taylor and Guinean dissidents – achieved initial success. By January 2001, however, Taylor's forces were pushed back inside Sierra Leone and Liberia. The insurgents were posing a major threat to the Taylor government. Liberia was now engaged in a complex three-way conflict with Sierra Leone and the Guinea Republic.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: By the beginning of 2002, both of these countries were supporting LURD, while Taylor was supporting various opposition factions in both countries. By supporting — practically creating — the SL rebels, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Taylor also drew the enmity of the British and Americans. British and U.S. pressure on Taylor increased with rising financial support for Guinea and U.S./U.K.-proposed sanctions, a weaker version of which were imposed by U.N. Security Council May 2001.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: By mid-February 2002 LURD troops were just 44 kilometres from Monrovia, at Klay Junction, and Taylor was forced to declare a state of emergency. The February 2002 ICG report says that this attack was made by pursuing ‘a strategy of infiltration of south-western Liberia through the thick bush of Southern Lofa, looping around government strongholds and disrupting supply lines... while LURD claims between 300 and 500 men were assigned to that mission, ... the number that actually attacked was likely closer to twenty.’ Any image of a large force gradually pushing toward Monrovia is mistaken; ‘hit and run’ raids, rather than a continuous advance, seem to have been the pattern.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: Through the first half of 2002 LURD mounted raids in Bomi, Bong, and Montserrado counties, hitting, in addition to Klay Junction, Gbarnga and Tubmanburg, each time temporarily seizing control from government fighters. In May, an attack on Arthington, less than 20 kilometres from the capital, apparently prompted panic in Monrovia. The state of emergency was lifted in September 2002, after, the government claimed, the township of Bopolu had been retaken.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Ivoirian-backed Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), emerged in the south, and by the summer of 2003, Taylor's government controlled only a third of the country. Despite some setbacks, by mid-2003 LURD controlled the northern third of the country and was threatening the capital. The capital Monrovia was besieged by LURD, and that group's shelling of the city resulted in the deaths of many civilians. Thousands of people were displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: A new bout of fighting began in March 2003 after a relative lull and by early May, LURD and MODEL had gained control of nearly two-thirds of the country, and were threatening Monrovia. Regional and wider pressure led to the convening of a conference in Accra by the then Chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), President John Kufuor of Ghana, on 4 June 2003.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: By July 2003 Monrovia appeared to be in danger of being occupied and devastated despite ongoing peace talks. The U.S. established Joint Task Force Liberia, built around a U.S. navy amphibious group with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard, positioned off the West African coast.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: In July 2003 the United States (US) sent a small number of troops to bolster security around the US embassy in Monrovia, which had come under attack during Operation Shining Express. On 25 July 2003, the Southern Europe Task Force at Vicenza, Italy was designated the lead U.S. Army command for the operation.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: On 29 July 2003, LURD declared a ceasefire. ECOWAS sent two battalions of Nigerian peacekeepers to Liberia. The first Nigerian battalion detached from the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, and the second came from Nigeria itself.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: President Taylor resigned on 11 August 2003, ahead of the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which formed the negotiated end to the war, and was flown into exile in Nigeria. An arrest warrant for Taylor for war crimes committed by his RUF rebel allies in Sierra Leone was later issued by Interpol but Nigeria refused to deport him for a time unless they receive a specific request from Liberia. Vice-President Moses Blah replaced Taylor.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: On 14 August, rebels lifted their siege of Monrovia and 200 United States Marines landed to support a West African peace force. Thousands of people danced and sang as American troops and ECOMIL, the Nigerian-led West African forces, took over the port and bridges which had split the capital into government and rebel-held zones. An estimated 1,000 people had been killed in Monrovia between 18 July and 14 August.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: Moses Blah handed over power to the National Transitional Government of Liberia on 14 October 2003. However, the transitional government exercised no real authority in the country, 80% of which was controlled by the rebel groups. Riots in Monrovia left approximately 16 people dead, with sources claiming that former combatants were behind the violence.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: Both LURD and Charles Taylor made extensive use of children press ganged into military service as soldiers or ammunition porters. The use of child soldiers was prolific by both sides, regardless of prohibitions of the practice in the Geneva Convention. Observers from Human Rights Watch described a deadly and chaotic siege of Monrovia, with many very young fighters shooting "shiny toys" they had not been trained to use.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: Drugs made up an integral part of Liberian wartime culture. Child soldiers and other combatants were routinely addicted to cocaine, khat, and other drugs as a means of control. Several warlords felt that cocaine made soldiers more effective in battle.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: In November 1997, following the completion of the mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia UNOMIL on 30 September, the United Nations established the United Nations Peace-building Support Office in Liberia (UNOL), headed by a representative of the Secretary-General. That first United Nations post-conflict peace-building support office was tasked primarily with assisting the government in consolidating peace following the July 1997 multiparty elections.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: On 11 September 2003, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recommended deployment of the peacekeeping mission, the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), to maintain the peace agreement. The UN Security Council approved the mission on 19 September in Resolution 1509. Nigeria sent in peacekeepers as part of the interim ECOWAS force. UNMIL was made up of over 15,000 personnel, including both military and civilian troops.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: The bulk of the personnel were armed military troops, but there were also civilian policemen, as well as political advisers and humanitarian aid workers. On 1 October, the first peacekeepers changed their berets and became a UN force, with many more troops earmarked. During three days of riots in Monrovia in October 2004, nearly 400 people were wounded and 15 killed. The UN slowly built up its forces in the country, with 5,500 projected to be in place by November 2003, and worked to disarm the various factions. However, instability in neighbouring countries, an incomplete disarmament process, and general discontent threatened Liberia's fragile peace.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: A group of Liberian women headed by Leymah Gbowee formed an organization called "Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace" and forced a meeting with President Charles Taylor, extracting a promise from him to attend peace talks in Ghana. A delegation of women organized nonviolence protests and continued to apply pressure on the warring factions during the peace process. They staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace, bringing about an agreement during the stalled peace talks. Their creative non-violent protest allowed them to use the power within women and mothers of Liberia; tactics included a sex strike until their men chose to set aside weapons, and threatening to undress during a sit in outside the peace talks in Ghana.


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: Working together, over 3,000 Christian and Muslim women mobilized their efforts, and as a result, the women were able to achieve peace in Liberia after a 14-year civil war and helped bring to power the country's first female president. The story is told in the 2008 documentary film "Pray the Devil Back to Hell".


title: Second Liberian Civil War

text: Among the women leaders who helped end the civil war was Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who would become the first modern elected female head of state in Africa when she was elected in 2005. Her election was inspired by the powerful commitment of women who had seen the war perpetuated by men in their country and were unwilling to put a man back into that powerful role. Although Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's role in triggering the war in the 1980s had hampered her presidential prospects in the 1990s. A TRC panel ruling would also proscribe her from participating in politics, issuing her a 30-year ban.


title: Nicky Butt

text: Nicholas Butt (born 21 January 1975) is an English football coach and former player who was most recently the head of first-team development at Manchester United. He is also a co-owner and chief executive officer of Salford City.


title: Nicky Butt

text: He played professional football as a midfielder from 1992 to 2011. He began his career with Manchester United and spent 12 years in their first-team, winning six Premier League titles, three FA Cups, four FA Community Shields, the UEFA Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup, before moving to Newcastle United in 2004. He spent one season on loan to Birmingham City in 2005–06. He finished his career abroad, playing for South China where he won the Hong Kong League Cup.


title: Nicky Butt

text: Butt earned 39 caps for England between 1997 and 2004. He was chosen for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2004.


title: Nicky Butt

text: Born in Gorton, Manchester, Butt began his career at Manchester United as an important part of their youth team before turning professional in 1993.


title: Nicky Butt

text: He made his first-team debut in the 1992–93 season as a substitute against Oldham Athletic in a 3–0 Premier League win on 21 November 1992, but did not get his big break in the team until the 1994–95 season, often covering for Roy Keane in the event of injuries and suspension. One of his first appearances for the first team came in the FA Cup semi-final on 10 April 1994, also against Oldham as a substitute, this time in a 1–1 draw at Wembley Stadium. United won the replay 4–1 at Maine Road but he was not included in the squad. 1994–95 saw Butt play 35 games in all competitions, scoring one goal and featuring in the starting eleven for the FA Cup final, which United lost to Everton.


title: Nicky Butt

text: With the departure of Paul Ince to Internazionale in the 1995 close season, manager Alex Ferguson chose to draft in Butt as Ince's successor in midfield alongside Roy Keane. Butt was part of a notable batch of talented, young Manchester United players dubbed Fergie's Fledglings, who had mostly been involved in United's FA Youth Cup-winning triumph of 1992 and gradually been introduced into the first team over the next few seasons. Others included David Beckham, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes – who all spent a decade or more in the Old Trafford team's first team and helped the club win numerous major trophies as the dominant force in English football.


title: Nicky Butt

text: Butt performed remarkably in his early seasons as a regular first team player at United, and often started in the lineup, scoring crucial goals, such as against Liverpool in Eric Cantona's comeback match in October 1995, and forcing Nigel Winterburn to concede an own goal for the winner against Arsenal in November 1996 – a game which saw the end of a three-match losing run in the league. Butt also functioned as a steady replacement for Roy Keane as the midfield ball winner, while Keane was injured for much of the 1997–98 season, earning a PFA Team of the Year award that year. However, Keane returned and after forward Paul Scholes was re-deployed as a midfielder around the end of the 1990s. Butt's first-team chances started to become increasingly limited, with many of his appearances coming from the bench from this stage onwards.


title: Nicky Butt

text: Butt still went on to collect many honours at United, as the club capped their domination of the 1990s with a remarkable and unique treble win in 1999 (with Butt playing the whole of the Champions League Final due to Roy Keane being suspended), and several more titles in the years up till 2001. By the time of his departure from Old Trafford, Butt had gained six Premier League title winner's medals, three FA Cup winner's medals and a Champions League winner's medal. He had also collected an FA Cup runners-up medal in 1995.


title: Nicky Butt

text: Butt handed in a transfer request in January 2004, but turned down a proposed move to Birmingham City during the January transfer window. He was signed by Bobby Robson for Newcastle United in July 2004 for a fee of £2.5 million on a four-year deal, where he was seen as a replacement for the veteran Gary Speed, who had moved to Bolton Wanderers.


title: Nicky Butt

text: Butt had a disappointing and injury-marred 2004–05 season, prompting the then Newcastle manager Graeme Souness to sign Senegalese midfielder Amdy Faye in January 2005. Despite a promising start, the fans turned on Butt after the 4–1 defeat against Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final. The acquisition of Scott Parker and Emre in the summer of 2005 pushed Butt further down the pecking order, and his move to Birmingham City (managed by former Manchester United teammate Steve Bruce) on a season-long loan was announced on 3 August 2005.


title: Nicky Butt

text: However, on 13 February 2006, Butt walked out on his manager and former Manchester United teammate Steve Bruce, after finding out Bruce placed his son Alex Bruce in the squad ahead of himself, and was later fined two weeks wages. After Birmingham were relegated from the Premier League, Butt returned to Newcastle who were being managed by Glenn Roeder.


title: Nicky Butt

text: Although not an instant fan favourite at St. James' Park, Butt won over some fans with two goals scored through headers in a pre-season friendly against Villarreal. There was some speculation that newly appointed Sunderland manager Roy Keane would try to sign his former Manchester United midfield partner. However, due to the lack of back-up midfielders at Newcastle and his good pre-season form, Butt remained at Newcastle.


title: Nicky Butt

text: During the 2006–07 season, Butt was much more involved in the first team at Newcastle, playing in the holding role which allowed the likes of Parker and Emre to go forward. On 14 January 2007, Butt scored his first Newcastle goal in over 2 years when he scored the winner against Tottenham Hotspur in a 3–2 victory at White Hart Lane. Butt's return to form was encapsulated when he captained Newcastle in a UEFA Cup match against Zulte Waregem on 15 February when Parker was injured. His good form that season continued, as on 9 April, Butt won the man of the match award for his performance against Arsenal. He continued to captain Newcastle whenever Parker was injured, and by the end of the season it was widely considered that he had won over the Newcastle fans.


title: Nicky Butt

text: With Parker having moved to West Ham United, Butt continued to play a big part in Newcastle's 2007–08 campaign. On 21 December, he penned a new contract keeping him at the club until the end of next season. After being an almost ever-present in that season, he expressed a desire to finish his career with Newcastle. Butt also started the season as captain, filling in for the injured Michael Owen, and proved to be a popular choice. Butt played his 100th league game for Newcastle on 21 December 2008, marking it with a 2–1 home win against Tottenham. Newcastle were eventually relegated that season, meaning that Butt's record of playing in every Premier League season has been relinquished.


title: Nicky Butt

text: Butt was made permanent club captain for the 2009–10 season, his first outside the top flight, following Michael Owen's departure to Manchester United as a free agent during the summer transfer window. However, vice-captain Alan Smith's impressive form has seen him take the armband more often than Butt. Butt started fewer games, but still effectively carried out his holding role well, leading his side to gritty shutouts in most of the games he started.


title: Nicky Butt

text: The club eventually won both promotion to the Premier League and the Championship title, and Butt announced his retirement in the build-up to Newcastle's last home game against Ipswich Town. He entered his penultimate game as a substitute and won a penalty en route to a 2–2 draw. Butt lifted the Championship trophy alongside vice-captain Alan Smith.


title: Nicky Butt

text: After leaving Newcastle he was backed by former Newcastle boss Chris Hughton to move into coaching, although a coaching position with Newcastle is not something Hughton had spoken with Butt about.


title: Nicky Butt

text: On 6 November 2010, the chairman of Hong Kong club South China, Steven Lo, said that the club expected Butt to sign for them at the end of the month. Butt signed for South China on 22 November. Wearing the No. 8 shirt, his first match was against TSW Pegasus in a 2–1 win for South China. Butt scored from a freekick during this game but also missed a penalty.


title: Nicky Butt

text: After leaving South China, he featured in Gary Neville's testimonial against Juventus on 24 May 2011 in central midfield alongside Paul Scholes, rekindling the old times in a midfield that also contained David Beckham. However, they lost the game to the Old Lady. Butt also featured in midfield for Eric Cantona's New York Cosmos in Scholes' testimonial match against Manchester United at Old Trafford on 5 August 2011.


title: Nicky Butt

text: Having been capped five times at under-21 level, he won his first England cap during the 1996–97 season against Mexico and became a squad regular, providing reliable backup for the central midfield positions. An injury to first choice midfielder Steven Gerrard before the 2002 FIFA World Cup gave Butt his chance in the starting line-up alongside Manchester United teammates David Beckham and Paul Scholes. Ahead of England's quarter-final game against Brazil, he was named "the best player of the England squad" by Brazilian legend Pelé, a compliment to his performance in the unattractive holding role. England eventually exited the World Cup after a 2–1 defeat to Brazil.


title: Nicky Butt

text: After the World Cup he returned to his role as a squad player, providing experienced cover for the first-choice midfield pairing of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. He was selected for UEFA Euro 2004, but missed the tournament through injury. His last international appearance was in a friendly against Spain on 17 November 2004. In total he appeared 39 times for England.


title: Nicky Butt

text: In October 2012, Butt returned to Manchester United as a coach for the club's reserve team. He was appointed head of the academy in February 2016, a few months after the departure of Brian McClair. Since November 2016, he has filled in as interim coach of the reserve (under-23) team after Warren Joyce left for the managerial position at Wigan Athletic. He briefly served as assistant to Ryan Giggs, after Giggs was made the interim manager of the Manchester United first team, following the departure of David Moyes.


title: Nicky Butt

text: In July 2019, Manchester United restructured their backroom staff, making Butt the head of first-team development, reporting directly to manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær to help improve the transition for young players from the youth team to the first team. Nick Cox replaced Butt as head of the academy. In March 2021, it was announced that Butt was to leave Manchester United after 9 years there in various coaching roles within their academy.


title: Nicky Butt

text: In 2014, it was announced that Butt, along with fellow ex-Manchester United players Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, and Gary and Phil Neville had agreed a deal to purchase Salford City ahead of the 2014–15 season. with plans to get the club to the Football League. The group announced they would take part in a special friendly, with Salford facing a Class of '92 team. On 22 September, the group agreed to sell a 50% stake in the club to billionaire Peter Lim.


title: Nicky Butt

text: On 31 October 2022, Salford City announced the appointment of Butt as the club's chief executive officer, taking over from Gary Neville who had served in that role in a part-time capacity for eight years.


title: Nicky Butt

text: Butt was arrested and bailed for assaulting a woman in 2004. Butt married his long-time girlfriend Shelley Barlow in 2008. They have two children. Butt was arrested for alleged domestic assault in April 2019 but the case was discontinued after the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence. Butt accepted a caution for criminal damage.


title: Iyashikei

text: "Iyashikei" originated in the late 1970s, but it emerged as a distinct subgenre in 1995, in the wake of the Great Hanshin earthquake and the Tokyo subway sarin attack. These traumatic events, combined with the economic recession, would lead to what scholar Paul Roquet calls the "iyashi" trend, or healing boom. The trauma suffered by the Japanese public provided "the emotional context for the emergence of calm as a lucrative and marketable feeling."


title: Muckraker

text: The muckrakers were reform-minded journalists, writers, and photographers in the Progressive Era in the United States (1890s–1920s) who claimed to expose corruption and wrongdoing in established institutions, often through sensationalist publications. The modern term generally references investigative journalism or watchdog journalism; investigative journalists in the US are occasionally called "muckrakers" informally.


title: Muckraker

text: The muckrakers played a highly visible role during the Progressive Era. Muckraking magazines—notably "McClure's" of the publisher S. S. McClure—took on corporate monopolies and political machines, while trying to raise public awareness and anger at urban poverty, unsafe working conditions, prostitution, and child labor. Most of the muckrakers wrote nonfiction, but fictional exposés often had a major impact, too, such as those by Upton Sinclair.


title: Muckraker

text: In contemporary American usage, the term can refer to journalists or others who "dig deep for the facts" or, when used pejoratively, those who seek to cause scandal. The term is a reference to a character in John Bunyan's classic "Pilgrim's Progress", "the Man with the Muck-rake", who rejected salvation to focus on filth. It became popular after President Theodore Roosevelt referred to the character in a ; Roosevelt acknowledged that "the men with the muck rakes are often indispensable to the well being of society; but only if they know when to stop raking the muck."


title: Muckraker

text: While a literature of reform had already appeared by the mid-19th century, the kind of reporting that would come to be called "muckraking" began to appear around 1900. By the 1900s, magazines such as "Collier's Weekly", "Munsey's Magazine" and "McClure's Magazine" were already in wide circulation and read avidly by the growing middle class. The January 1903 issue of "McClure's" is considered to be the official beginning of muckraking journalism, although the muckrakers would get their label later. Ida M. Tarbell ("The History of Standard Oil"), Lincoln Steffens ("The Shame of the Cities") and Ray Stannard Baker ("The Right to Work"), simultaneously published famous works in that single issue. Claude H. Wetmore and Lincoln Steffens' previous article "Tweed Days in St. Louis" in "McClure's" October 1902 issue was called the first muckraking article.


title: Muckraker

text: The muckrakers would become known for their investigative journalism, evolving from the eras of "personal journalism"—a term historians Emery and Emery used in "The Press and America" (6th ed.) to describe the 19th century newspapers that were steered by strong leaders with an editorial voice (p. 173)—and yellow journalism.


title: Muckraker

text: One of the biggest urban scandals of the post-Civil War era was the corruption and bribery case of Tammany boss William M. Tweed in 1871 that was uncovered by newspapers. In his first muckraking article "Tweed Days in St. Louis", Lincoln Steffens exposed the graft, a system of political corruption, that was ingrained in St. Louis. While some muckrakers had already worked for reform newspapers of the personal journalism variety, such as Steffens who was a reporter for the "New York Evening Post" under Edwin Lawrence Godkin, other muckrakers had worked for yellow journals before moving on to magazines around 1900, such as Charles Edward Russell who was a journalist and editor of Joseph Pulitzer's "New York World". Publishers of yellow journals, such as Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, were more intent on increasing circulation through scandal, crime, entertainment and sensationalism.


title: Muckraker

text: Just as the muckrakers became well known for their crusades, journalists from the eras of "personal journalism" and "yellow journalism" had gained fame through their investigative articles, including articles that exposed wrongdoing. Note that in "yellow journalism", the idea was to stir up the public with sensationalism, and thus sell more papers. If, in the process, a social wrong was exposed that the average man could get indignant about, that was fine, but it was not the intent to correct social wrongs as it was with true investigative journalists and muckrakers.


title: Muckraker

text: Julius Chambers of the "New York Tribune" could be considered to be the original muckraker. Chambers undertook a journalistic investigation of Bloomingdale Asylum in 1872, having himself committed with the help of some of his friends and his newspaper's city editor. His intent was to obtain information about alleged abuse of inmates. When articles and accounts of the experience were published in the "Tribune", it led to the release of twelve patients who were not mentally ill, a reorganization of the staff and administration of the institution and, eventually, to a change in the lunacy laws. This later led to the publication of the book "A Mad World and Its Inhabitants" (1876). From this time onward, Chambers was frequently invited to speak on the rights of the mentally ill and the need for proper facilities for their accommodation, care and treatment.


title: Muckraker

text: Nellie Bly, another yellow journalist, used the undercover technique of investigation in reporting "Ten Days in a Mad-House", her 1887 exposé on patient abuse at Bellevue Mental Hospital, first published as a series of articles in "The World" newspaper and then as a book. Nellie would go on to write more articles on corrupt politicians, sweat-shop working conditions and other societal injustices.


title: Muckraker

text: The muckrakers appeared at a moment when journalism was undergoing changes in style and practice. In response to yellow journalism, which had exaggerated facts, objective journalism, as exemplified by "The New York Times" under Adolph Ochs after 1896, turned away from sensationalism and reported facts with the intention of being impartial and a newspaper of record. The growth of wire services had also contributed to the spread of the objective reporting style. Muckraking publishers like Samuel S. McClure also emphasized factual reporting, but he also wanted what historian Michael Schudson had identified as one of the preferred qualities of journalism at the time, namely, the mixture of "reliability and sparkle" to interest a mass audience. In contrast with objective reporting, the journalists, whom Roosevelt dubbed "muckrakers", saw themselves primarily as reformers and were politically engaged. Journalists of the previous eras were not linked to a single political, populist movement as the muckrakers were associated with Progressive reforms. While the muckrakers continued the investigative exposures and sensational traditions of yellow journalism, they wrote to change society. Their work reached a mass audience as circulation figures of the magazines rose on account of visibility and public interest.


title: Muckraker

text: Magazines were the leading outlets for muckraking journalism. Samuel S. McClure and John Sanborn Phillips started "McClure's Magazine" in May 1893. McClure led the magazine industry by cutting the price of an issue to 15 cents, attracting advertisers, giving audiences illustrations and well-written content and then raising ad rates after increased sales, with "Munsey's" and "Cosmopolitan" following suit.


title: Muckraker

text: McClure sought out and hired talented writers, like the then unknown Ida M. Tarbell or the seasoned journalist and editor Lincoln Steffens. The magazine's pool of writers were associated with the muckraker movement, such as Ray Stannard Baker, Burton J. Hendrick, George Kennan (explorer), John Moody (financial analyst), Henry Reuterdahl, George Kibbe Turner, and Judson C. Welliver, and their names adorned the front covers. The other magazines associated with muckraking journalism were "American Magazine" (Lincoln Steffens), "Arena" (G. W. Galvin and John Moody), "Collier's Weekly" (Samuel Hopkins Adams, C.P. Connolly, L. R. Glavis, Will Irwin, J. M. Oskison, Upton Sinclair), "Cosmopolitan" (Josiah Flynt, Alfred Henry Lewis, Jack London, Charles P. Norcross, Charles Edward Russell), "Everybody's Magazine" (William Hard, Thomas William Lawson, Benjamin B. Lindsey, Frank Norris, David Graham Phillips, Charles Edward Russell, Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, Merrill A. Teague, Bessie and Marie Van Vorst), "Hampton's" (Rheta Childe Dorr, Benjamin B. Hampton, John L. Mathews, Charles Edward Russell, and Judson C. Welliver), "The Independent" (George Walbridge Perkins, Sr.), "Outlook" (William Hard), "Pearson's Magazine" (Alfred Henry Lewis, Charles Edward Russell), "Twentieth Century" (George French), and "World's Work" (C.M. Keys and Q.P.). Other titles of interest include "Chatauquan", "Dial", "St. Nicholas". In addition, Theodore Roosevelt wrote for "Scribner's Magazine" after leaving office.


title: Muckraker

text: After President Theodore Roosevelt took office in 1901, he began to manage the press corps. To do so, he elevated his press secretary to cabinet status and initiated press conferences. The muckraking journalists who emerged around 1900, like Lincoln Steffens, were not as easy for Roosevelt to manage as the objective journalists, and the President gave Steffens access to the White House and interviews to steer stories his way.


title: Muckraker

text: Roosevelt used the press very effectively to promote discussion and support for his Square Deal policies among his base in the middle-class electorate. When journalists went after different topics, he complained about their wallowing in the mud. In a speech on April 14, 1906 on the occasion of dedicating the House of Representatives office building, he drew on a character from John Bunyan's 1678 classic, "Pilgrim's Progress", saying:


title: Muckraker

text: While cautioning about possible pitfalls of keeping one's attention ever trained downward, "on the muck", Roosevelt emphasized the social benefit of investigative muckraking reporting, saying:


title: Muckraker

text: Most of these journalists detested being called muckrakers. They felt betrayed that Roosevelt would describe them with such a term after they had helped him with his election. Muckraker David Graham Philips believed that the tag of muckraker brought about the end of the movement as it was easier to group and attack the journalists.


title: Muckraker

text: The term eventually came to be used in reference to investigative journalists who reported about and exposed such issues as crime, fraud, waste, public health and safety, graft, and illegal financial practices. A muckraker's reporting may span businesses and government.


title: Muckraker

text: Ray Stannard Baker published "The Right to Work" in "McClure's Magazine" in 1903, about coal mine conditions, a coal strike, and the situation of non-striking workers (or scabs). Many of the non-striking workers had no special training or knowledge in mining, since they were simply farmers looking for work. His investigative work portrayed the dangerous conditions in which these people worked in the mines, and the dangers they faced from union members who did not want them to work.


title: Muckraker

text: Lincoln Steffens published "Tweed Days in St. Louis", in which he profiled corrupt leaders in St. Louis, in October 1902, in "McClure's Magazine". The prominence of the article helped lawyer Joseph Folk to lead an investigation of the corrupt political ring in St. Louis.


title: Muckraker

text: Ida Tarbell published "The Rise of the Standard Oil Company" in 1902, providing insight into the manipulation of trusts. One trust they manipulated was with Christopher Dunn Co. She followed that work with "The History of The Standard Oil Company: the Oil War of 1872", which appeared in "McClure's Magazine" in 1908. She condemned Rockefeller's immoral and ruthless business tactics and emphasized "our national life is on every side distinctly poorer, uglier, meaner, for the kind of influence he exercises." Her book generated enough public anger that it led to the splitting up of Standard Oil under the Sherman Anti Trust Act.


title: Muckraker

text: Upton Sinclair published "The Jungle" in 1906, which revealed conditions in the meat packing industry in the United States and was a major factor in the establishment of the Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act. Sinclair wrote the book with the intent of addressing unsafe working conditions in that industry, not food safety. Sinclair was not a professional journalist but his story was first serialized before being published in book form. Sinclair considered himself to be a muckraker.


title: Muckraker

text: "The Treason of the Senate: Aldrich, the Head of it All", by David Graham Phillips, published as a series of articles in "Cosmopolitan" magazine in February 1906, described corruption in the U.S. Senate. This work was a keystone in the creation of the Seventeenth Amendment which established the election of Senators through popular vote.


title: Muckraker

text: "The Great American Fraud" (1905) by Samuel Hopkins Adams revealed fraudulent claims and endorsements of patent medicines in America. This article shed light on the many false claims that pharmaceutical companies and other manufacturers would make as to the potency of their medicines, drugs and tonics. This exposure contributed heavily to the creation of the Pure Food and Drug Act alongside Upton Sinclair's work. Using the example of Peruna in his article, Adams described how this tonic, which was made of seven compound drugs and alcohol, did not have "any great potency". Manufacturers sold it at an obscene price and hence made immense profits. His work forced a crackdown on a number of other patents and fraudulent schemes of medicinal companies.


title: Muckraker

text: Many other works by muckrakers brought to light a variety of issues in America during the Progressive era. These writers focused on a wide range of issues including the monopoly of Standard Oil; cattle processing and meat packing; patent medicines; child labor; and wages, labor, and working conditions in industry and agriculture. In a number of instances, the revelations of muckraking journalists led to public outcry, governmental and legal investigations, and, in some cases, legislation was enacted to address the issues the writers identified, such as harmful social conditions; pollution; food and product safety standards; sexual harassment; unfair labor practices; fraud; and other matters. The work of the muckrakers in the early years, and those today, span a wide array of legal, social, ethical and public policy concerns.


title: Muckraker

text: The influence of the muckrakers began to fade during the more conservative presidency of William Howard Taft. Corporations and political leaders were also more successful in silencing these journalists as advertiser boycotts forced some magazines to go bankrupt. Through their exposés, the nation was changed by reforms in cities, business, politics, and more. Monopolies such as Standard Oil were broken up and political machines fell apart; the problems uncovered by muckrakers were resolved and thus the muckrakers of that era were needed no longer.


title: Muckraker

text: According to Fred J. Cook, the muckrakers' journalism resulted in litigation or legislation that had a lasting impact, such as the end of Standard Oil's monopoly over the oil industry, the establishment of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, the creation of the first child labor laws in the United States around 1916. Their reports exposed bribery and corruption at the city and state level, as well as in Congress, that led to reforms and changes in election results.


title: Muckraker

text: "The effect on the soul of the nation was profound. It can hardly be considered an accident that the heyday of the muckrakers coincided with one of America's most yeasty and vigorous periods of ferment. The people of the country were aroused by the corruptions and wrongs of the age – and it was the muckrakers who informed and aroused them. The results showed in the great wave of progressivism and reform cresting in the remarkable spate of legislation that marked the first administration of Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1917. For this, the muckrakers had paved the way."


title: Muckraker

text: Other changes that resulted from muckraker articles include the reorganization of the U.S. Navy (after Henry Reuterdahl published a controversial article in McClure's). Muckraking investigations were used to change the way senators were elected by the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and led to government agencies to take on watchdog functions.


title: Muckraker

text: Some today use "investigative journalism" as a synonym for muckraking. Carey McWilliams, editor of the "Nation", assumed in 1970 that investigative journalism, and reform journalism, or muckraking, were the same type of journalism. Journalism textbooks point out that McClure's muckraking standards "Have become integral to the character of modern investigative journalism." Furthermore, the successes of the early muckrakers have continued to inspire journalists.


title: Muckraker

text: Moreover, muckraking has become an integral part of journalism in American history. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein exposed the workings of the Nixon Administration in Watergate, which led to Nixon's resignation. More recently, Edward Snowden disclosed the activities of governmental spying, albeit illegally, which gave the public knowledge of the extent of the infringements on their privacy.


title: Dimple Yadav

text: Dimple Yadav (born 15 January 1978) is an Indian politician. She is the incumbent Member of Parliament from Mainpuri since December 2022, and has earlier served as Member of the Lok Sabha for two terms from Kannauj. She is the wife of Samajwadi Party president and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav.


title: Dimple Yadav

text: Dimple is the daughter-in-law of Late Mulayam Singh Yadav, former Defence Minister of India, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and founder-patron of the Samajwadi Party.


title: Dimple Yadav

text: Dimple Yadav was born on 15 January 1978 at Pune, Maharashtra. She is the second of three daughters of retired Indian Army Col. Ram Chandra Singh Rawat and Champa Rawat. Her family is originally from Uttarakhand. She was educated in Pune, Bathinda and Andaman and Nicobar island and Army Public School, Nehru road, Lucknow. She graduated in commerce from Lucknow University.


title: Dimple Yadav

text: Dimple Rawat met Akhilesh Yadav when she was a student. Originally Akhilesh's family was opposed to their marriage, but they agreed after Akhilesh's grandmother Murti Devi approved. The pair got married on 24 November 1999 when she was aged 21. Guests at her wedding included movie stars, Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna.


title: Dimple Yadav

text: Yadav unsuccessfully contested the by-election for the Lok Sabha constituency of Firozabad in 2009 against actor turned politician Raj Babbar. The by-election was caused by her husband winning a seat in the May 2009 general elections both in this constituency as well as in Kannauj and taking up his seat from there. She was elected unopposed from the Kannauj constituency to the Lok Sabha in 2012, after her husband caused another by-election by vacating the seat to enter the Uttar Pradesh legislative council.


title: Dimple Yadav

text: Dimple became the 44th person in the country and only the fourth in Uttar Pradesh since the independence of India to be elected unopposed. This situation arose when two candidates, Dashrath Singh Shankwar (Samyukt Samajwadi Dal) and Sanju Katiyar (Independent), withdrew their nominations. Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress had not nominated any candidates for the by-election; though the BJP clarified later that their candidate missed his train so he failed to reach in time to file his nomination.


title: Dimple Yadav

text: This made her the first woman from Uttar Pradesh to elected unopposed in a Lok Sabha by-election, and second person after Purshottam Das Tandon's election from Allahabad West in 1952. She became the only woman MP whose husband was Chief Minister, and also one whose father-in-law was also a member of the same House.


title: Dimple Yadav

text: Dimple retained Kannauj Lok Sabha seat in 2014 Indian general election. She contested as a joint candidate of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party in 2019 Indian general election from Kannauj, but lost to BJP with a margin of more than 10,000 votes.


title: Dimple Yadav

text: After demise of her father-in- law, former Minister of Defence and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mulayam Singh Yadav on 10th October 2022 as he was the Member of Parliament from Mainpuri the seat became vacant and caused By- Election there.


title: Dimple Yadav

text: As Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency is home field of Yadav family, Samajwadi Party chose her as candidate for Mainpuri Lok Sabha by-election to save home fort.


title: Dimple Yadav

text: Dimple along her spouse former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav and her uncle-in-law Shivpal Singh Yadav campaigned and organised multiple public meetings and nukkad sabha in constituency as a result she retained her father-in-law’s traditional seat by defeating BJP’s candidate with over 2.88 lakh of votes.


title: Dimple Yadav

text: Along with victory she also became the first elected woman representative from Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a significant food safety incident in China. The scandal involved Sanlu Group's milk and infant formula along with other food materials and components being adulterated with the chemical melamine, which resulted in kidney stones and other kidney damage in infants. The chemical was used to increase the nitrogen content of diluted milk, giving it the appearance of higher protein content in order to pass quality control testing. 300,000 affected children were identified, among which 54,000 were hospitalized, according to the latest report in January 2009. The deaths of six babies were officially concluded to be related to the contaminated milk.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The timeline of the scandal dated back to December 2007, when Sanlu began to receive complaints about kidney stones. One of the more notable early complaints was made on 20 May 2008, when a mother posted online after she learnt that Sanlu donated the milk she had been complaining about to the orphans of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Also on 20 May, the problem reached Sanlu's Board meeting the first time and they ordered multiple third-party tests. The culprit, melamine, was undetected in the tests until 1 August. On 2 August, Sanlu's Board decided to issue a trade recall to the wholesalers but did not inform the wholesalers the product was contaminated; however, Shijiazhuang's deputy mayor, who was invited to attend, rejected trade recall and instructed the Board to "shut the mouths of the victims by money", "wait until the end of 2008 Beijing Olympics to end smoothly and then the provincial police would hunt the perpetrators". New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, which owned a 43% stake in Sanlu, were alerted to the contamination on 2 August's Board meeting. Fonterra alerted the New Zealand government and the NZ government confronted the Chinese government on 8 September. The Chinese government made the scandal public on 13 September. After the initial focus on Sanlu, further government inspections revealed that products from 21 other companies were also tainted, including those from Arla Foods–Mengniu, Yili, and Yashili. While more and more cases reached hospitals around the nation from December 2007, the first report to the government by any hospital was made on 16 July.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The issue raised concerns about food safety and political corruption in China and damaged the reputation of the country's food exports. The World Health Organization called the incident "deplorable" and at least 11 foreign countries halted all imports of Chinese dairy products. A number of trials were conducted by the Chinese government resulting in two executions, three sentences of life imprisonment, two 15-year prison sentences, and the firing or forced resignation of seven local government officials and the Director of the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). The former chairwoman of China's Sanlu dairy was sentenced to life in prison.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: In late October 2008, similar adulteration with melamine was discovered in eggs and possibly other food. The source was traced to melamine being added to animal feed, despite a ban imposed in June 2007 following the scandal over pet food ingredients exported to the United States.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Melamine is used to manufacture melamine-formaldehyde resin, a type of plastic known for its flame-retardant properties and commonly employed in countertops, dry-erase boards, etc. It has also been employed as a non-protein nitrogen, appearing in soy meal, corn gluten meal and cottonseed meal used in cattle feed. Melamine is known to cause kidney failure and kidney stones in humans and animals when it reacts with cyanuric acid inside the body. The use of melamine in food production is not approved by WHO or national authorities.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Melamine is nitrogen-rich, so it is sometimes illegally added to food products to increase their apparent protein content. The Kjeldahl and Dumas methods used to test for protein levels fail to distinguish between nitrogen in melamine and naturally occurring nitrogen in amino acids, allowing the protein levels to be falsified. Introduced into milk, it can help conceal fraudulent dilution with water. Melamine adulteration of food products also made headlines when pet food was recalled in Europe and the U.S. in 2007.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The World Health Organization (WHO) said melamine may be found "in a variety of milk and milk products at varying levels, from low ppb to ppm ranges". One academic suggested cyromazine, a melamine derivative pesticide commonly used in China for a long time, is absorbed into plants as melamine; it may therefore have long been present in products such as poultry, eggs, fish, and dairy products. It is not known where in the supply chain the melamine was added to the milk. The chemical is not water-soluble, and must be mixed with formaldehyde or another chemical before it can be dissolved in milk.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Because of poor animal husbandry, production and storage and the demand for milk far outstripping supplies, the use of other potentially harmful chemical additives such as preservatives and hydrogen peroxide has been reported by independent media as being commonplace. Quality tests can be falsified with additives: peroxide is added to prevent milk from going bad; industrial vegetable oil is emulsified and added to boost fat levels; whey is used to increase lactose content. However, the procurement chain is also implicated, as milk agents are often politically well-connected. Farmers report salespeople had, for years, been visiting farms in dairy areas hawking "protein powder" additives, which would often be delivered in unmarked brown paper bags of each. Thus, farmers either added melamine contaminant unwittingly, or turned a blind eye to milk adulteration to ensure their milk was not rejected. The big dairy producers were complicit in producing "test-tube milk".


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: "Caijing" reported in 2008 that Hebei dairy farmers had been aware of the practice of "spiking fresh milk with additives such as melamine" since 2006. Because of fierce competition for supplies, and the higher prices paid by Mengniu and Yili, Sanlu's procurement became squeezed; its inspection system became compromised by 2005, which "allowed milk collection stations to adopt unscrupulous business practices", compounded by a complete lack of government supervision.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: "Caijing" also reported the melamine in the tainted milk may have come from scrap melamine costing ¥700 per tonne—less than one-tenth of the price of 99% pure industrial grade melamine. The melamine production process produces pure melamine by crystallisation; the melamine remaining in the mother liquor is impure (70%) and unusable for plastics, so it is scrapped. It said Sanlu's baby formula melamine content was a result of tampering by adding low-cost vegetable protein (such as low-grade soya powder), and large amounts of scrap melamine as filler. Scrap melamine contains impurities such as cyanuric acid that form more insoluble crystals (melamine cyanurate) than melamine alone, aggravating the problem.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 17 September 2008, Health Minister Chen Zhu stated tainted milk formula had "sickened more than 6,200 children, and that more than 1,300 others, mostly newborns, remain hospitalized with 158 suffering from acute kidney failure". By 23 September, about 54,000 children were reported to be sick and four had died. An additional 10,000 cases were reported from the provinces by 27 September. A World Health Organization official said 82% of the children made ill were 2 years of age or below. The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety said that 99 percent of the victims were aged under 3 years. Ten Hong Kong children were diagnosed with kidney problems, at least four cases were detected in Macau, and six in Taiwan. Non-human casualties included a lion cub and two baby orangutans which had been fed Sanlu infant formula at Hangzhou Zoo.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The government said on 8 October it would no longer issue updated figures "because it is not an infectious disease, so it's not absolutely necessary for us to announce it to the public". Reuters compiled figures reported by local media across the country, and said the toll stood at nearly 94,000 at the end of September, excluding municipalities. Notably, 13,459 children had been affected in Gansu, Reuters quoted Xinhua saying Henan had reported over 30,000 cases, and Hebei also had nearly 16,000 cases.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: In late October, the government announced health officials had surveyed 300,000 Beijing families with children less than 3 years old. It disclosed approximately 74,000 families had a child who had been fed melamine-tainted milk, but did not reveal how many of those children had fallen ill as a result.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Because of the many months before the scandal was exposed, the media suggest the official figures are likely to be understated. Kidney stones in infants started being reported in several parts of China in the past two years. A number of yet-to-be-officially-acknowledged cases were reported by the media. However, those deaths without an official verdict may be denied compensation. On 1 December, Xinhua reported that the Ministry of Health revised the number of victims to more than 290,000 with 51,900 hospitalized; authorities acknowledged receiving reports of 11 suspected deaths from melamine contaminated powdered milk from provinces, but officially confirmed three deaths.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On characterisation and treatment of urinary stones in affected infants, the "New England Journal of Medicine" printed an editorial in March 2009, along with reports on cases from Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Urinary calculi specimens were collected from 15 cases treated in Beijing and were analysed as unknown objects for their components at Beijing Institute of Microchemistry using infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, and high-performance liquid chromatography. The result of the analyses showed the calculi were composed of melamine and uric acid, and the molecular ratio of uric acid to melamine was around 2:1.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: In a study published in 2010, researchers from Peking University studying ultrasound images of infants who fell ill in the 2008 contamination found while most children in a rural Chinese area recovered, 12 percent still showed kidney abnormalities six months later. "The potential for long-term complications after exposure to melamine remains a serious concern", the report said. "Our results suggest a need for further follow-up of affected children to evaluate the possible long-term impact on health, including renal function."


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Contaminated products found in the China AQSIS tests include baby formula products produced by the following companies, in order of highest concentration found. Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group, Shanghai Panda Dairy, Qingdao Shengyuan Dairy, Shanxi Gu Cheng Dairy, Jiangxi Guangming Yingxiong Dairy, Baoji Huimin Dairy, Inner Mongolia Mengniu Dairy, Torador Dairy Industry (Tianjin), Guangdong Yashili Group, Hunan Peiyi Dairy, Heilongjiang Qilin Dairy, Shanxi Yashili Dairy, Shenzhen Jinbishi Milk, Scient (Guangzhou) Infant Nutrition, Guangzhou Jinding Dairy Products Factory, Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group, Yantai Ausmeadow Nutriment, Qingdao Suncare Nutritional Technology, Xi'an Baiyue Dairy, Yantai Leilei Dairy, Shanghai Baoanli Dairy, and Fuding Chenguan Dairy.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The scandal began with revelations of contamination of Sanlu milk products. The New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra, which owned a 43% stake in Sanlu, said they were alerted to melamine contamination on 2 August (almost a month before the issue became public), and have said to have pushed hard for a full public recall. Although there was an immediate trade recall, Fonterra said that local administrators refused an official recall. A Fonterra director had given Sanlu management a document detailing the European Union's permitted levels of melamine, but Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier has stated that at no time did Fonterra say small amounts of melamine were acceptable.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: From 2005 to 2006, an agent, Jiang Weisuo, from Shaanxi Jinqiao Dairy Company in northwest China reportedly publicly discussed his fears about unauthorised substances being added to competitors' milk. His complaints to regulators and dairy makers in 2005 and 2006 never yielded any result; his story was picked up by China Central Television, who ran a report complete with footage of adulteration in progress, yet the Shaanxi Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau said they failed to find evidence of wrongdoing.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The bulletin board of the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) indicated a rare occurrence of kidney stones in children–all causally traced to Sanlu milk formula–was flagged by at least one member of the public in June 2008 and by a urologist in a paediatric hospital on 24 July 2008. Neither received definitive replies. The paediatrician, who specifically asked the AQSIQ to refer his observations to epidemiologists, was asked to refer his query to the health department.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: In June, Jiangsu media reported a two-month surge in the number of babies diagnosed with kidney disease; in July, a parent of a sick baby in Hunan questioned Sanlu's powdered milk and complained to the AQSIQ. Gansu Province sent a report to the Ministry of Health on 16 July to alert that one local hospital had identified an increase in the incidence of kidney ailments among babies in the months earlier, and that most victims had consumed Sanlu's baby formula. The health ministry sent investigators to Gansu in early August.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Fonterra notified the New Zealand government on 5 September and three days later, Prime Minister Helen Clark had Beijing officials alerted directly. News reports began circulating in China on 9 September, and the news was broken internationally by Reuters the following day. The state-controlled media report did not initially identify the company involved. Posts on Chinese social portal Tianya named Sanlu as the culprit, which Sanlu denied.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: According to a State Council investigation, Sanlu had known about infants made sick by its products as early as December 2007, but no testing was performed until June 2008. It said leading government officials in Shijiazhuang city had failed to report the contamination to provincial and state authorities (until 9 September) in violation of rules on reporting major incidents involving food safety. According to the "People's Daily", on 2 August, Sanlu asked the Shijiazhuang city government to assist them in controlling the media's reporting of the recall.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: According to accounts confirmed by media reports and health officials, the company tried to buy off critics and cover up the contamination. In a memo dated 11 August, Beijing-based public relations agency Teller International advised Sanlu to seek cooperation with major search engines to censor negative information. The agency reportedly had repeatedly contacted key account staff at Baidu and proposed a ¥3 million (US$440,000) budget to screen all negative news. After the memo began circulating on the internet, Baidu denounced, in a communiqué on 13 September 2008, the approaches by said agency on several occasions, saying the proposal was firmly rejected, as it violated their corporate principles of unbiased and transparent reporting.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said that she believed the Chinese government had been inclined to try to solve the problem quietly, without a recall. Western media speculated that China's desire for a perfect summer Olympics contributed to the delayed recall of the baby milk, citing a guideline allegedly issued to Chinese media that reporting food safety issues, such as cancer-causing mineral water, was "off-limits". The Central government denied issuing this guidance. Hebei provincial vice-governor said his administration was only notified by Shijiazhuang on 8 September.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: However, a journalist at "Southern Weekend" wrote an investigative report in late July for publication about infants who had fallen ill after consuming baby formula from Sanlu. Six weeks later, senior editor Fu Jianfeng made a post on his personal blog stating that this report had been suppressed by authorities because of the imminent Beijing Olympics. While this was happening, Sanlu was honoured in a national award campaign called "30 Years: Brands that Have Changed the Lives of Chinese". The press release on the award, written by a senior public relations manager at Sanlu, passed as news content on "People's Daily" and in other media.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 15 September, the company issued a public apology for the contaminated powdered milk; Sanlu was ordered to halt production, and to destroy all unsold and recalled products. Authorities reportedly seized 2,176 tons of powdered milk in Sanlu's warehouses. An estimated 9,000 tons of product had been recalled.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Tian Wenhua, chairwoman and general manager of Sanlu and Secretary of the Sanlu Communist Party chapter was stripped of her party and functional posts during an extraordinary meeting of the Hebei provincial standing committee of the CCP; four Shijiazhuang officials, including vice mayor in charge of food and agriculture, Zhang Fawang, were reportedly removed from office. Shijiazhuang Mayor Ji Chuntang resigned on 17 September. Li Changjiang, minister in charge of the AQSIQ, was forced to resign on 22 September after the State Council inquest concluded he was responsible for the "negligence in supervision". Investigators also blamed the Shijiazhuang government. Local Party Secretary Wu Xianguo was fired on the same day.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Sanlu general manager Tian Wenhua was charged under Articles 144 and 150 of the criminal code. A spokesman for the Hebei Provincial Public Security Department said police had arrested 12 milk dealers and suppliers who allegedly sold contaminated milk to Sanlu, and six people were charged with selling melamine. Three hundred kg of suspicious chemicals, including 223 kg of melamine, were confiscated. Among those arrested were two brothers who ran a milk collection centre in Hebei for allegedly supplying three tonnes of adulterated milk daily to the dairy; the owner of another collection centre which resold seven tons of milk a day to Sanlu, was arrested, and his operation was shut down.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Zhang Yujun (alias Zhang Haitao), a former dairy farmer from Hebei, produced more than 600 tons of a "protein powder" mixture of melamine and maltodextrin from September 2007 to August 2008. He and eight other traders, dairy farm owners and milk purchasers who bought the powder from him were arrested in early October, bringing the total to 36.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: During the week of 22 December 2008, 17 people involved in producing, selling, buying and adding melamine in raw milk went on trial. Tian Wenhua, former Sanlu general manager, and three other company executives appeared in court in Shijiazhuang, charged with producing and selling milk contaminated with melamine. According to "Xinhua", Tian pleaded guilty, and told the court she learned about the tainted milk complaints from consumers in mid-May. She then apparently headed a working team to handle the case, but did not report to the Shijiazhuang city government until 2 August.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The Intermediate People's Court in Shijiazhuang sentenced Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping to death, and Tian Wenhua to life in prison, on 22 January 2009. Zhang was convicted for producing 800 tons of the contaminated powder, Geng for producing and selling toxic food. Geng Jinping managed a milk production center which supplied milk to Sanlu Group and other dairies. The "China Daily" reported Geng had knelt on the courtroom floor and begged the victim's families for forgiveness during the trial. The court also sentenced Sanlu deputy general managers Wang Yuliang and Hang Zhiqi to fifteen years and eight years in jail, respectively, and former manager Wu Jusheng to five years. Several defendants have appealed.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Tian Wenhua received several sentence reductions for good conduct over the years, and is now set to be released in 2022.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The value of the company plunged as a result of the scandal. On 24 September, Fonterra announced it had written down the carrying value of its investment by NZ$139 million (two-thirds), reflecting the costs of product recall and the impairment of the 'Sanlu' brand because of the "criminal contamination of milk". By 27 September, "China Daily" reported Sanlu was close to bankruptcy, and might be taken over by the Beijing Sanyuan Foods Company. The company is also facing lawsuits from parents (see "Anger at Sanlu").


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: "The Beijing Review" said Sanlu expects to have to pay compensation claims totaling ¥700 million, and it became clear the company would be broken up and sold.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 25 December, Shijiazhuang court accepted a creditor's bankruptcy petition against Sanlu. Media commentators expected the Sanlu distribution network to be sold.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 16 September, the AQSIQ released test of samples from 491 batches of products sold by all 109 companies producing baby formula. It said all 11 samples from Sanlu failed the melamine test. Sanlu, whose products sell at half the price of equivalents on the market, recorded the highest levels of contamination among all the samples tested, at 2,563 mg/kg or parts per million ("ppm"). Tainted samples were found among 21 other suppliers, where concentrations ranged from 0.09 to 619.00 ppm.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: There was melamine contamination in 10% of liquid milk samples from Mengniu and Yili, and 6% of those from Bright Dairy. On discovery of contamination, the three major producers were all stripped of their status as 'Chinese national brands'. Yili, Mengniu and Bright Dairy & Food Co. recalled tainted powdered milk and apologised in separate statements. Mengniu recalled all its baby formula, and trading in its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was suspended on 17 September. Shares in other dairy companies fell strongly the next day. Mengniu's CFO attempted to reassure consumers by offering a no-quibble refund on all products, and by drinking liquid milk in front of reporters in Hong Kong. He also said that its export products were less likely to be contaminated.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 30 September, the AQSIQ announced test results of a further 265 batches of powdered milk produced by 154 different companies prior to 14 September, where it found 31 batches produced by 20 domestic dairy companies were tainted with melamine.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 1 December, China's Ministry of Health issued an update, saying nearly 300,000 babies were sickened after consuming melamine-contaminated infant formula.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The State Council ordered the testing of product of all dairy producers, and to this end, some 5,000 inspectors were dispatched. The Chinese market has grown at an average annual rate of 23% since 2000. In 2006, milk production reached 30 million tons, ten times the volume of a decade before. It was valued at some ¥122 billion (US$18 billion) in 2007, and consumers had severely lost confidence in the industry.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The events have exposed the often-incestuous relationship between local business and local government. In addition to the tax revenues to local authorities—Sanlu contributed ¥330 million in 2007, many companies invite local officials to become "silent partners" in their corporations—in return for "protection" at the political level; former Sanlu chairman Tian Wenhua was made honorary deputy to the Provincial People's Congress. The scandal has also highlighted structural problems of inadequate production volume, inherent quality issues, and poor production methods. The Inner Mongolia region produces over one-fourth of China's milk, and Mengniu and Yili have invested millions to establish state-of-the-art dairy facilities in its capital, Hohhot. The companies still rely on small-scale farmers for over 90% of their production because of the capacity constraint of the modern facilities. Both companies were said by farmers and agents to have habitually purchased milk which failed quality tests, for only two-thirds the normal price. A new policy was put in place on 17 September to stop that practice.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Consumer panic resulting from the contaminated milk lessened demand for dairy products, causing hardship to more than 2 million Chinese farmers who had nowhere to sell their milk and no means by which to support their dairy cows. Farmers reportedly poured away milk and faced selling cows to a buyerless market.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Since the scandal erupted, sales have fallen by 30–40% on a comparative basis, according to the Chinese Dairy Association. The Association estimates the financial effect of the order of ¥20 billion, and forecasts that confidence may take up to two years to be fully restored.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: In an effort to prop up sales and retain their market share, dairy firms have cancelled their common accord not to use promotions to fight the sales decline: substantial discounts (including BOGOF), free gifts and other point of sale incentives were being offered to shoppers. Their new products are conspicuously labelled "safety inspection passed" to allay consumer fears.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Mengniu-Arla, a joint-venture between Danish/Swedish co-operative Arla Foods and Mengniu halted production on 16 September 2008 after three of 28 tests taken from Mengniu showed traces of melamine; the contaminated batches had been recalled.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Mengniu, milk supplier to Starbucks, was replaced by Vitasoy when the coffee retailer eschewed milk in favour of soya milk in its China operations. KFC also suspended selling Mengniu milk.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Seoul-headquartered Lotte Group, a major snacks maker, recalled its Koala's March cookies in Hong Kong and Macau because of contamination, and promised to "look deeply into all the details of the manufacturing process" to preserve customer confidence. The range was also ordered off Dutch and Slovakian shelves. Other products were seized when samples tested positive in Malta.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 29 September, British confectionery group Cadbury recalled all chocolate products made in its Chinese factories due to concerns about melamine contamination, affecting products intended for markets in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Australia. Tests in Hong Kong found amounts of melamine in China-made Dairy Milk products which exceeded safety regulations.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 30 September, Unilever recalled its Lipton milk tea powder after the company's internal checks found traces of melamine in the Chinese powdered milk used as an ingredient. Heinz recalled cases of baby cereal in Hong Kong after discovering they contained melamine. Nestlé's factory in Heilongjiang was also implicated: the Taiwanese Department of Health forced the delisting of six "Neslac" and "KLIM" products on 2 October for containing minute traces of melamine, although the minister said they did not pose a significant health risk.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Since the milk crisis broke, Nestlé says it has sent 20 specialists from Switzerland to five of its Chinese plants to strengthen chemical testing. On 31 October, it announced the opening of a $10.2 million Beijing research and development centre, to "serve as the base and the reference in food safety for Nestlé in Greater China". Nestlé Chief Technology Officer said the centre was equipped with "highly sophisticated analytical tools for detecting trace amounts of residues and undesirable compounds like melamine or veterinary drugs or natural toxins".


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: There were concerns dairy products consumed during the 2008 Summer Olympics may have been contaminated. Li Changjiang, the then Director of AQSIQ reassured the international community that all the food, including dairy products, was indeed safe. "We took special quality management measures aimed at food supply for the Games."


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: PRC Customs said exports of dairy products and eggs in 2007 were valued at US$359 million, a year-on-year increase of 90 percent. Since the news of the melamine contamination began to circulate, at least 25 countries stopped importing Chinese dairy products. A number of countries had imposed blanket bans on Chinese milk products or its derivatives—among which were


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Gabon, India, Côte d'Ivoire, Maldives, Mali, Mexico, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, South Korea, Suriname, Tanzania, Togo, and the United Arab Emirates —joining Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia which had also imposed specific bans on Chinese dairy products which tested positive for melamine.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The scandal led to an erosion of trust in locally produced infant formula and from then on, many Shenzhen residents and parallel traders travelled across the border to purchase powdered milk from Hong Kong shops. Lower confidence in Chinese production, combined with the relaxation of visa requirements for mainland citizens, had resulted in shortages of infant formula in Hong Kong for an extended time. Because of a great public outcry, the Import and Export (General) (Amendment) Regulation 2013 was passed in Hong Kong, prohibiting the unlicensed export of powdered formula, including milk and soya milk powder for infants and children under 36 months. According to the HK government, the regulation is not applicable to "powdered formula that is exported in the accompanied personal baggage of a person aged 16 or above leaving Hong Kong if the person did not leave Hong Kong in the last 24 hours and the formula does not exceed 1.8 kg in total net weight".


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Although the Hong Kong government imposed a strict 2-can limit on the export of infant formula in March 2013, spurred price differentials caused by sales tax on the mainland and lax customs, trafficking activity including for powdered milk has continued, exacerbating the Hong Kong-Mainland conflict. The catchment area for traffickers spread from Fan Ling and Sheung Shui southward to Yuen Long and Tuen Mun, causing localist groups such as Civic Passion and Hong Kong Indigenous to take to the streets in direct action in 2015.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: On 25 September 2008, the EU announced a ban on imports of baby food containing Chinese milk. The European Commission also called for tighter checks on other Chinese food imports; isolated contaminated products were found in the Netherlands, and the French authorities ordered all Chinese dairy products off the shelves; Tesco removed White Rabbit sweets as a precaution from its stores in the United Kingdom.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: In the United States of America, which was otherwise unaffected by the scares, the US distributor of White Rabbit candies recalled the product when samples found in Hartford showed traces of melamine. The candy's maker and subsidiary of Bright Foods, Guan Sheng Yuan, issued a recall to the 50 countries to which it exported.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said while food containing melamine below 2.5 parts per million generally did not raise concerns, its scientists were "currently unable to establish any level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in infant formula that does not raise public health concerns". On 12 November 2008, the FDA issued a general alert against all finished food products from China, saying that information received from government sources in a number of countries indicates a wide range and variety of products from a variety of producers have been manufactured using melamine-contaminated milk was a recurring problem. In late November, after FDA found traces of melamine in one Nestle and one Mead Johnson infant product, the FDA concluded melamine or cyanuric acid alone, "at or below 1 part per million in infant formula do not raise public health concerns" in babies.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The United States Food and Drug Administration opened its first overseas inspection offices in November 2008, with bureaus in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) warned that children who ate large amounts of confectionery and biscuits with high milk content could theoretically be consuming melamine at more than three times above prescribed EU safety limits (0.5 mg/kg of body weight). The EFSA said children with a mean consumption of products such as milk toffee, biscuits and chocolate containing contaminated powdered milk would not be at risk, and adults would not be at risk even in the worst-case scenarios.


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: The World Health Organization, which was only notified on 11 September, asked Beijing why it took so many months for the scandal to become public, and to establish whether failure was deliberate or due to ignorance. WHO's representative in China, Hans Troedsson, said the issue of who knew what and when was critical, because knowledge would be the distinction between ignorance and neglect. WHO and UNICEF jointly decried the "deliberate contamination of foods intended for ... vulnerable infants and young children."


title: 2008 Chinese milk scandal

text: Following a spate of mass national bans, the WHO urged national food safety authorities on 25 September to test Chinese dairy products for health risks before placing import bans or recalls. On 26 September, the WHO warned health officials to look out for tainted dairy products imported from China. International Food Safety Authorities (INFOSAN), a network organized by WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization, suggested that countries should focus on smuggled formula.