title: Vairamuthu

text: After K. Balachander's "Punnagai Mannan" (1986), Vairamuthu and Ilaiyaraaja parted ways. After their split, Vairamuthu's career stalled for the next five years, when he worked largely on lyrics for other language films that were dubbed in Tamil. His association with director Bharathiraja remained intact, as the duo worked together in the late 1980s on films such as "Vedham Pudhithu" (composed by Devendran) and "Kodi Parakuthu" (composed by Hamsalekha). He also worked with Bollywood composers such as R. D. Burman in the film "Ulagam Pirandhadhu Enakkaga" and the duo Laxmikant–Pyarelal on "Uyire Unakkaga".


title: Vairamuthu

text: During this time, he also collaborated with composer Chandrabose on the films "Shankar Guru", "Makkal En Pakkam", "Manithan", "Katha Nayagan", "Thaimel Aanai", "Paatti Sollai Thattathe", "Vasanthi", "Raja Chinna Roja" and "Sugamana Sumaigal". They last worked together on "Aadhikkam", which was released in 2005.


title: Vairamuthu

text: In 1991, K. Balachander signed Vairamuthu as a lyricist for three of his productions, which were set for release in the following year: "Vaaname Ellai", "Annamalai" and "Roja". The first film (directed by Balachander himself) was composed by M.M. Keeravani (credited as 'Maragadhamani' in Tamil), the second (directed by Suresh Krissna) had music scored by Deva, and the third (directed by Mani Ratnam) by a debuting composer named A.R. Rahman.


title: Vairamuthu

text: "Roja" was director Mani Ratnam's first film after his split with composer Ilaiyaraaja, and its music is widely regarded as changing the face of not just Tamil, but Indian music. The song "Chinna Chinna Aasai", the first film song which Rahman had composed, won Vairamuthu his second National award for the Best Lyricist. The album secured A.R. Rahman the National Award for the Best Music Direction, a first for a debutant.


title: Vairamuthu

text: Following "Roja", the combination of A.R. Rahman and Vairamuthu became heavily sought after, collaborating on several films throughout the next 25 years. Their continued association with director Mani Ratnam (which spans the length of Rahman's career), led to critical and commercial success on films such as "Thiruda Thiruda" (1993), "Bombay" (1995), "Alaipayuthey" (2000), "Kannathil Muthamittal" (2002), "Aayutha Ezhuthu" (2004), "Raavanan" (2010), "Kadal" (2013), "O Kadhal Kanmani" (2015). "Kaatru Veliyidai" (2017) and "Chekka Chivantha Vaanam" (2018). Four out of Vairamuthu's seven National awards for the Best Lyricist came out of his association with Rahman (on films such as Roja, "Karuththamma", "Pavithra"; he was recognized by the National awards committee for his efforts on both these films in 1995, "Sangamam" and "Kannathil Muthamittal") and four out of Rahman's six National Awards came from his association with Vairamuthu (on the films "Roja", "Minsara Kanavu", "Kannathil Muthamittal" and "Kaatru Veliyidai"). Singers P. Unnikrishnan, S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, Shankar Mahadevan, Swarnalatha, K.S. Chitra and Shashaa Tirupati have all won National awards for their work in collaboration with this duo.


title: Vairamuthu

text: In addition to their association with Mani Ratnam, the team of Rahman and Vairamuthu are also noted for their collaboration with director Shankar (on "Gentleman", "Kadhalan", "Indian", "Jeans", "Mudhalvan", "Sivaji", and "Enthiran"), Bharathiraja (on "Kizhakku Cheemayile", "Karuththamma", "Anthimanthaarai" and "Taj Mahal"), K. S. Ravikumar (on "Muthu", "Padayappa" and "Varalaru") and Rajiv Menon (on "Minsara Kanavu" and "Kandukonden Kandukonden"). Some of their other popular films include "Pudhiya Mugam", "Duet", "May Madham", "Rhythm", "Kochadaiiyaan", and "24".


title: Vairamuthu

text: Vairamuthu is also known for his work in the 90s and early 2000s with composer Deva, on popular soundtracks such as Annamalai, "Baasha", "Aasai", "Once More", "Arunachalam", "Nerukku Ner", "Vaali", "Kushi", and "Panchathanthiram". He has also worked extensively with Bharadwaj (on popular soundtracks such as "Kaadhal Mannan", "Pooveli",


title: Vairamuthu

text: "Amarkalam", "Rojavanam", "Parthen Rasithen", "Rojakootam", "Gemini", "Jay Jay", "Attagasam", "Vasool Raja MBBS", "Idhaya Thirudan", "Vattaram", "Asal" and "Aayirathil Iruvar"), Harris Jayaraj, D. Imman, Vidyasagar, Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy (on both their Tamil projects, "Aalavandhan" and "Vishwaroopam"), N. R. Raghunanthan (which secured him his sixth National Award for the film "Thenmerku Paruvakaatru") and Yuvan Shankar Raja (the son of Ilaiyaraaja; their association yielded him his seventh National Award for the film "Dharma Durai"). During his nearly 40-year career, he has worked with over 150 music directors.


title: Vairamuthu

text: In addition to lyrics, Vairamuthu has also penned poems which feature as part of the dialogue, on films such as "Duet", "Iruvar" (for the character played by Prakash Raj), and "Aalavandhan" (for the character of Nandu; played by Kamal Haasan). He has also penned lyrics for the theme songs of many Tamil television shows and jingles for advertisements, the most notable among them being the theme for the Tamil soap opera "Chithi".


title: Vairamuthu

text: Vairamuthu has written 37 books which include collections of poetry as well as novels in the Tamil language. Several of them have been translated into English, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Russian and Norwegian. He introduced the work of foreign poets to Tamil readers in his "Ella Nadhiyilum En Odam". Over 2.6 million copies of his works have been sold. In 1991, four of his books were released on the same day in a grand manner in Madurai by the ex-Chief Minister Karunanidhi.


title: Vairamuthu

text: He has also been a speaker at many prominent Tamil conferences in the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Australia, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Maldives, Switzerland and Sri Lanka.


title: Vairamuthu

text: For his work in literature, he was also conferred the titles of "Kavi Samrat" ("King of Poetry") by former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, "Kaapiya Kavignar" ("Epic Poet") by former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and "Kaviperarasu" ("The Emperor of Poets") by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.


title: Vairamuthu

text: Kallikkattu Ithikasam depicts the story of the people of a village who have turned refugees in independent India. In the 1950s, when Vaigai dam was constructed in Madurai District, 14 villages were vacated for creating the water catchment area. This novel narrates the tearful story of those refugees who lost their land under the water. The author is a child born to one such family and had lived through the misery of this migration in his childhood. The story portrays the tears, blood and pain of the villagers whose families were crushed as a result of modernization. The soul of the novel echoes the truth behind the values of agrarian India and the virtues of farmers which are eternal. This saga won Vairamuthu the Sahitya Akademi Award for the Best Literary Work in the year 2003, and has been translated into 22 languages. The novel sold over a lakh copies.


title: Vairamuthu

text: Karuvachchi Kaviyam revolves around a vulnerable Indian village woman who has been enslaved by the illiterate male chauvinistic community.


title: Vairamuthu

text: The core of Vairamuthu's poetry portrays his pleading to the human to appreciate nature, pointing to the incredible truth that fire is fire as long as it burns, Earth is Earth as long as it spins and Man is man as long as he struggles.


title: Vairamuthu

text: The struggle of the Indian agrarian community due to globalization, liberalisation and global warming is depicted in this novel in the farmer's dialectical language. This novel is a prophecy on the suicides of farmers five years before it had happened. The author was heartbroken when the poverty-stricken farmers who were unable to feed their families due to failure of monsoon, severe drought conditions, debt and despair, committed suicide.


title: Vairamuthu

text: Vairamuthu has set up a foundation, the "Vairamuthu Educational Trust", which provides funding to underprivileged families for education of their children. He served as President of the Indo-Soviet Cultural Association. From the proceeds of the sales of "Moondram Ulaga Poor", a sum of Rs. 11 lakh was donated to the widows of farmers who committed suicide.


title: Vairamuthu

text: He is the founder of the "Vetri Tamizhar Peravai", which aims at uplifting society. He also donated a hospital building to the people of his native village of Karattuppatti, and started a library in the name of the esteemed poet Kannadasan, in his village of Vadugapatti. He has also made contributions to victims of war as well to those of natural calamities.


title: Vairamuthu

text: Vairamuthu delivered a speech on the seventh century mystic poet, Andal in January 2018 during a discussion on Andal at the Srivilliputhur Andal Temple where quoted the research of an American scholar who said that Andal belonged to the Devadasi community, a religious system practiced in parts of South India in which a where young girls used to be married to the deity of the temple before they attain puberty and will spend the rest of their lives in the service of the temple. In many cases, they were sexually exploited and pushed into prostitution. He said that Andal had lived and died at the Srirangam temple in Tiruchirappalli according to the American scholar. BJP leader H Raja criticized the speech. Vairamuthu later issued an apology claiming that his speech was intentionally twisted by vested interests and that he has expressed regret for a mistake he did not commit and also said that he only intends to glorify Mother Andal and he has been working on many great Tamil poets. Some Tamil writers claimed that there is nothing controversial about his speech because he only referred the article. Minor girls and boys in Nithyananda's Ashram published videos using derogatory language, many sexual in nature, as they questioned his speech. This has generated anger amongst the general public, which found the use of children by Nithyananda in such a manner objectionable. A case was also filed against Vairamuthu.


title: Vairamuthu

text: As a part of the #MeToo movement, Vairamuthu was accused of sexual harassment in 2018 by singer Chinmayi Sripada and Bhuvana Seshan. Journalist Sandhya Menon also tweeted allegations against Vairamuthu messaged to her by a woman. Hayma Malini claimed that one of the presenters of a TV channel, where she worked was harassed by Vairamuthu. Vairamuthu denied all allegations and said they are "filled with ulterior motives". He also said that he is ready to face any legal action and said let the court decide.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: The Globe and Mail is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it falls slightly behind the "Toronto Star" in overall weekly circulation because the "Star" publishes a Sunday edition, whereas the "Globe" does not. "The Globe and Mail" is regarded by some as Canada's "newspaper of record".


title: The Globe and Mail

text: "The Globe and Mail"s predecessors, "The Globe" and "The Mail and Empire" were both established in the 19th century. The former was established in 1844, while the latter was established in 1895 through a merger of "The Toronto Mail" and the "Toronto Empire". In 1936, "The Globe" and "The Mail and Empire" merged to form "The Globe and Mail". The newspaper was acquired by FP Publications in 1965, who later sold the paper to the Thomson Corporation in 1980. In 2001, the paper merged with broadcast assets held by BCE Inc., to form the joint venture Bell Globemedia. Direct control of the newspaper was reacquired by the Thomson family through its holding company, The Woodbridge Company, in 2010. The Woodbridge Company acquired BCE's remaining stake in the newspaper in 2015.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: The predecessor to "The Globe and Mail" was called "The Globe"; it was founded in 1844 by Scottish immigrant George Brown, who became a Father of Confederation. Brown's liberal politics led him to court the support of the Clear Grits, a precursor to the modern Liberal Party of Canada. "The Globe" began in Toronto as a weekly party organ for Brown's Reform Party, but seeing the economic gains he could make in the newspaper business, Brown soon targeted a wide audience of liberal-minded freeholders. He selected as the motto for the editorial page a quotation from Junius, "The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures." The quotation is carried on the editorial page to this day.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: By the 1850s, "The Globe" had become an independent and well-regarded daily newspaper. It began distribution by railway to other cities in Ontario shortly after Confederation. At the dawn of the twentieth century, "The Globe" added photography, a women's section, and the slogan "Canada's National Newspaper," which remains on its front-page banner. It began opening bureaus and offering subscriptions across Canada.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: "The Mail and Empire" was another newspaper that served as "The Globe and Mail"' s predecessor, having been formed through a merger of two conservative newspapers, "The Toronto Mail" and "Toronto Empire" in 1895. "The Toronto Mail" was established in 1872, while the "Toronto Empire" was founded in 1887 by a rival of Brown's, Tory politician and then-Prime Minister John A. Macdonald.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: On 23 November 1936, "The Globe" merged with "The Mail and Empire", The merger was arranged by George McCullagh, who fronted for mining magnate William Henry Wright and became the first publisher of "The Globe and Mail". Press reports at the time stated, "the minnow swallowed the whale" because "The Globe"s circulation (at 78,000) was smaller than "The Mail and Empire"s (118,000).


title: The Globe and Mail

text: From 1937 until 1974, the newspaper was produced at the William H. Wright Building, located at then 140 King Street West on the northeast corner of King Street and York Street, close to the homes of the "Toronto Daily Star" at Old Toronto Star Building at 80 King West and the Old Toronto Telegram Building at Bay and Melinda. The building at 130 King Street West was demolished in 1974 to make way for First Canadian Place.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: McCullagh committed suicide in 1952, and the newspaper was sold to the Webster family of Montreal. As the paper lost ground to "The Toronto Star" in the local Toronto market, it began to expand its national circulation. The newspaper was unionised in 1955, under the banner of the American Newspaper Guild.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: In 1965, the paper was bought by Winnipeg-based FP Publications, controlled by Bryan Maheswary, which owned a chain of local Canadian newspapers. FP put a strong emphasis on the Report on Business section that was launched in 1962, thereby building the paper's reputation as the voice of Toronto's business community.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: The newspaper moved locations from the William H. Wright Building to 444 Front Street West in 1974. The new location had been the headquarters of the "Toronto Telegram" newspaper, built in 1963. "The Globe and Mail" remained in the building until 2016, when it relocated to the Globe and Mail Centre.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: FP Publications and "The Globe and Mail" were sold in 1980 to The Thomson Corporation, a company run by the family of Kenneth Thomson. After the acquisition, there were few changes made in editorial or news policy. However, there was more attention paid to national and international news on the editorial, op-ed, and front pages in contrast to its previous policy of stressing Toronto and Ontario material.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: "The Globe and Mail" has always been a morning newspaper. Since the 1980s, it has been printed in separate editions in six Canadian cities: Montreal, Toronto (several editions), Winnipeg (Estevan, Saskatchewan), Calgary and Vancouver.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild (SONG) employees took their first-ever strike vote at "The Globe" in 1982, also marking a new era in relations with the company. Those negotiations ended without a strike, and the Globe unit of SONG still has a strike-free record. SONG members voted in 1994 to sever ties with the American-focused Newspaper Guild. Shortly afterwards, SONG affiliated with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP).


title: The Globe and Mail

text: Under the editorship of William Thorsell in the 1980s and 1990s, the paper strongly endorsed the free trade policies of Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. The paper also became an outspoken proponent of the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord, with their editorial the day of the 1995 Quebec Referendum mostly quoting a Mulroney speech in favour of the Accord. During this period, the paper continued to favour such socially liberal policies as decriminalizing drugs (including cocaine, whose legalization was advocated most recently in a 1995 editorial) and expanding gay rights.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: In 1995, the paper launched its website, globeandmail.com; on June 9, 2000, the site began covering breaking news with its own content and journalists in addition to the content of the print newspaper.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: Since the launch of the "National Post" as another English-language national paper in 1998, some industry analysts had proclaimed a "national newspaper war" between "The Globe and Mail" and the "National Post". Partly as a response to this threat, in 2001 "The Globe and Mail" was combined with broadcast assets held by BCE Inc. to form the joint venture Bell Globemedia.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: In 2004, access to some features of globeandmail.com became restricted to paid subscribers only. The subscription service was reduced a few years later to include an electronic edition of the newspaper, access to its archives, and membership to a premium investment site.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: On April 23, 2007, the paper introduced significant changes to its print design and also introduced a new unified navigation system to its websites. The paper added a "lifestyle" section to the Monday-Friday editions, entitled "Globe Life," which has been described as an attempt to attract readers from the rival "Toronto Star". Additionally, the paper followed other North American papers by dropping detailed stock listings in print and by shrinking the printed paper to 12-inch width.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: At the end of 2010, the Thomson family, through its holding company Woodbridge, re-acquired direct control of "The Globe and Mail" with an 85-percent stake, through a complicated transaction involving most of the Ontario-based mediasphere. BCE continued to hold 15 percent, and would eventually own all of television broadcaster CTVglobemedia.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: On October 1, 2010, "The Globe and Mail" unveiled redesigns to both its paper and online formats, dubbed "the most significant redesign in "The Globe"s history" by Editor-in-Chief John Stackhouse. The paper version has a bolder, more visual presentation that features 100 per cent full-colour pages, more graphics, slightly glossy paper stock (with the use of state-of-the-art heat-set printing presses), and emphasis on lifestyle and similar sections (an approached dubbed "Globe-lite" by one media critic). "The Globe and Mail" sees this redesign as a step toward the future (promoted as such by a commercial featuring a young girl on a bicycle), and a step towards provoking debate on national issues (the October 1 edition featured a rare front-page editorial above the "Globe and Mail" banner).


title: The Globe and Mail

text: The paper has made changes to its format and layout, such as the introduction of colour photographs, a separate tabloid book-review section, and the creation of the Review section on arts, entertainment, and culture. Although the paper is sold throughout Canada and has long called itself "Canada's National Newspaper," "The Globe and Mail" also serves as a Toronto metropolitan paper, publishing several special sections in its Toronto edition that are not included in the national edition. As a result, it is sometimes ridiculed for being too focused on the Greater Toronto Area, part of a wider humorous portrayal of Torontonians being blind to the greater concerns of the nation. Critics sometimes refer to the paper as the "Toronto Globe and Mail" or "Toronto's National Newspaper." In an effort to gain market share in Vancouver, "The Globe and Mail" began publishing a distinct west-coast edition, edited independently in Vancouver, containing a three-page section of British Columbia news. During the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, "The Globe and Mail" published a Sunday edition, marking the first time that the paper had ever published on Sunday.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: In October 2012, "The Globe and Mail" relaunched its digital subscription offering under the marketing brand "Globe Unlimited" to include metered access for some of its online content.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: On September 25, 2012, "The Globe and Mail" announced it had disciplined high-profile staff columnist Margaret Wente after she admitted to plagiarism. The scandal emerged after University of Ottawa professor and blogger, Carol Wainio, repeatedly raised plagiarism accusations against Wente on her blog.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: On October 22, 2012, online Canadian magazine "The Tyee" published an article criticizing the "Globe"'s "advertorial" policies and design. "The Tyee" alleged the "Globe" intentionally blurred the lines between advertising and editorial content in order to offer premium and effective ad space to high-paying advertisers. "The Tyee" reporter Jonathan Sas cited an 8-page spread in the October 2, 2012, print edition, called "The Future of the Oil Sands," to illustrate the difficulty in distinguishing the spread from regular "Globe" content.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: In 2014, then-publisher Phillip Crawley announced the recruitment of a former staffer returned from afar, David Walmsley, as Editor-in-Chief, to be enacted 24 March.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: The headquarters site at 444 Front Street West was sold in 2012 to three real estate firms (RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust, and Diamond Corporation) that planned to redevelop the site at Front Street West into a retail, office and residential complex. In 2016, the newspaper moved to 351 King Street East, adjacent to the former Toronto Sun Building. It now occupies five of the new tower's 17 stories, and is named the "Globe and Mail Centre" under a 15-year lease.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: Former Minister Michael Chan filed a libel lawsuit against "The Globe and Mail" in 2015 for $4.55 million after the paper allegedly "declined to retract their unfounded allegations" suggesting that Chan was "a risk to national security because of his ties to China."


title: The Globe and Mail

text: In 2017, "The Globe and Mail" refreshed its web design with a new pattern library and faster load times on all platforms. The new website is designed to display well on mobile, tablet, and desktop, with pages that highlight journalists and newer articles. The new website has won several awards, including an Online Journalism Award. "The Globe and Mail" also launched its News Photo Archive, a showcase of more than 10,000 photos from its historic collection dedicated to subscribers. In concert with the Archive of Modern Conflict, "The Globe and Mail" digitized tens of thousands of negatives and photo prints from film, dating from 1900 to 1998, when film was last used in the newsroom.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: "The Globe and Mail" ended distribution of its print edition to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI on 30 November 2017.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: "Globe and Mail" employees are represented by Unifor, whose most recent negotiations in September 2021 brought in a three-year contract set to end in 2024.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: "Report on Business", commonly referred to as "ROB", is the financial section of the newspaper. It is the most lengthy daily compilation of economic news in Canada, and is considered an integral part of the newspaper. Standard ROB sections are typically fifteen to twenty pages, and include the listings of major Canadian, U.S., and international stocks, bonds, and currencies.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: Every Saturday, a special "Report on Business Weekend" is released, which includes features on corporate lifestyle and personal finance, and extended coverage of business news. On the last Friday of every month, the "Report on Business Magazine" is released, the largest Canadian finance-oriented magazine.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: Business News Network (formerly ROBtv) is a twenty-four-hour news and business television station, founded by "The Globe and Mail" but operated by CTV through the companies' relationship with CTVglobemedia.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: The Top 1000 is a list of Canada's one thousand largest public companies ranked by profit released annually by the "Report on Business Magazine".


title: The Globe and Mail

text: The "Globe and Mail" is considered politically middle-of-the-road to moderately conservative and is less socially liberal than its competitor, the "Toronto Star". Canadian sociologist Elke Winter writes that "While the "Globe" has probably lost parts of its more conservative and corporate readership to the "National Post", it continues to cater to the Canadian political and intellectual elite." The newspaper is considered an "upmarket" newspaper, in contrast to downmarket newspapers such as the "Toronto Sun".


title: The Globe and Mail

text: In federal general elections, "The Globe and Mail" has endorsed different parties over time. The newspaper endorsed Stephen Harper's Conservative Party in the 2006, 2008, and 2011 elections; in the 2015 election, the paper again endorsed the Conservatives but called for the party's leader, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to step down. In previous elections, the paper endorsed the Liberals (2000, 2004); the Progressive Conservatives (1984, 1988, 1997), a minority government for the Liberals in 1993 ("Let us declare firmly for a minority. We do not trust the Liberals to govern unguarded."). In the 2019 federal election it did not make an endorsement.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: While the paper was known as a generally conservative voice of the business establishment in the postwar decades, historian David Hayes, in a review of its positions, has noted the "Globe"s editorials in this period "took a benign view of hippies and homosexuals; championed most aspects of the welfare state; opposed, after some deliberation, the Vietnam War; and supported legalizing marijuana." A December 12, 1967, "Globe and Mail" editorial stated, "Obviously, the state's responsibility should be to legislate rules for a well-ordered society. It has no right or duty to creep into the bedrooms of the nation." On December 21, 1967, then Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau, in defending the government's Omnibus bill and the decriminalization of homosexuality, coined the phrase "There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation."


title: The Globe and Mail

text: The "Globe and Mail" endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election.


title: The Globe and Mail

text: The editorial board of the newspaper is chaired by the editor-in-chief, who nominates new members as needed. The editorial board controls the overall direction of the newspaper and is given prime billing on the editorial pages. It is the editorial board who endorses political candidates in the run-up to elections. The editorial board's membership list has become a closely guarded secret under the tenure of David Walmsley, but of the following writers in March 2011 under John Stackhouse:


title: Patrick Renna

text: Patrick Maxwell Renna (born March 3, 1979) is an American actor, best known for his role as Hamilton "Ham" Porter in the 1993 baseball film The Sandlot. Some of his more recent projects include, "Bad Roomies", which is Patrick’s first film as a producer, a recurring role on Netflix's hit GLOW and most recently the independent film "Boys of Summer", which was released in the summer of 2022.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States' Customs and Border Protection and is responsible for securing the borders of the United States. According to its web site in 2022, its mission is to "Protect the American people, safeguard our borders, and enhance the nation’s economic prosperity."


title: United States Border Patrol

text: With 19,648 agents in 2019, the Border Patrol is one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the United States. For fiscal year 2017, Congress enacted a budget of $3,805,253,000 for the Border Patrol.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: There have been repeated complaints, over many years, of Border Patrol agents mistreating migrants and exceeding their legal authority. Only in late 2021, after public criticism, did the Border Patrol outfit agents with body cameras, which it had rejected in 2015 as too expensive, bad for agent morale, and unreliable; it had previously required state and local law enforcement to turn off their body cameras during joint operations with CBP. The Border Patrol has the lowest proportion of female agents or officers of any federal agency.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In the nineteenth century, United States borders were open and unrestricted; there was no systematic control or even recordkeeping of immigrants. The first legislation restricting immigration, after the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807, was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Mounted watchmen of the United States Department of Commerce and Labor patrolled the border in an effort to prevent illegal crossings as early as 1904, but their efforts were irregular and undertaken only when resources permitted. The inspectors, usually called "mounted guards", operated out of El Paso, Texas. Though they never totaled more than 75, they patrolled as far west as California trying to restrict the flow of illegal Chinese immigration.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In March 1915, Congress authorized a separate group of mounted guards, often referred to as "mounted inspectors". Most rode on horseback, but a few operated automobiles, motorcycles, and boats. Although these inspectors had broader arrest authority, they still largely pursued Chinese aliens trying to avoid the National Origins Act and Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. These patrolmen were immigration inspectors, assigned to inspection stations, and could not watch the border at all times. U.S. Army soldiers along the southwest border performed intermittent border patrolling, but this was secondary to "the more serious work of military training". Aliens encountered illegally in the U.S. by the Army were directed to the immigration inspection stations. Texas Rangers were also sporadically assigned to patrol duties by the state, and their efforts were noted as "singularly effective".


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The National Origins Act authorized the formation of the U.S. Border Patrol on May 26, 1924. Two days later, the "Labor Appropriation Act of 1924" established the Border Patrol as an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor assigned to prevent illegal entries—primarily along the Mexico–United States border, as well as the Canada–U.S. border. The first Border Patrol station began operations in Detroit, Michigan, in June 1924. A second station, in El Paso, Texas, began operations in July 1924. In 1925, coastal patrols began as well. Operations were established along the Gulf Coast in 1927 to ensure that foreign crewmen departed on the same ship on which they arrived. In 1932, the Border Patrol was divided into two offices. Mexican border operations were directed from El Paso, Texas, and Canadian border operations were directed from Detroit, Michigan. The Canadian border operations from Detroit employed more men than the El Paso operations along the Mexican border because of a focus on the prevention of liquor smuggling during prohibition. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Executive Order 6166 formed the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in 1933 by consolidation of the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Naturalization. Following the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Border Patrol staffing doubled to 1,500 in 1940, and the INS was moved from the Department of Labor to the U.S. Department of Justice. Additional stations were temporarily added along the Gulf Coast, Florida and the Eastern Seaboard during the 1960s after Fidel Castro triumphed in the Cuban Revolution, and that was followed by the Cuban Missile Crisis. The INS was decommissioned in March 2003 when its operations were divided between U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Border Patrol was placed under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security, and preventing terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States was added to its mission. The Border Patrol's traditional mission continued: deterring, detecting and apprehending illegal aliens and individuals involved in the illegal drug trade who generally entered the United States at places other than through designated ports of entry. The Border Patrol also erected 33 permanent interior checkpoints near the southern border of the United States.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: For fiscal year 2019, the nationwide total of Border Patrol agents was 19,648, with 16,731 patrolling the southern border. Agents primarily patrol the Mexico–United States border, where they control drug trafficking and illegal immigration.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The majority of Border Patrol agents are minorities. According to 2016 data, Latinos constitute slightly more than 50% of the Border Patrol.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In September 2021, while mounted Border Patrol agents in Del Rio, Texas, responded to an influx of refugees from Haiti crossing the Mexico–United States border, a photograph was captured of an agent appearing to use his bridle reins as a whip against a Haitian migrant. U.S. President Joe Biden said, "To see people treated like they did, horses barely running over, people being strapped. It's outrageous. I promise you those people will pay. There will be an investigation underway now, and there will be consequences. There will be consequences." The photographer, when interviewed, said he did not see any whipping. Months later, in November 2021, The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) declined to investigate allegations against the agents on horseback.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The Border Patrol's priorities have changed over the years. In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act placed renewed emphasis on controlling illegal immigration by going after the employers that hire illegal aliens. The belief was that jobs were the magnet that attracted most illegal aliens to come to the United States. The Border Patrol increased interior enforcement and Form I-9 audits of businesses through an inspection program known as "employer sanctions". Several agents were assigned to interior stations, such as within the Livermore Sector in Northern California.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Employer sanctions never became the effective tool it was expected to be by Congress. Illegal immigration continued to swell after the 1986 amnesty despite employer sanctions. By 1993, Californians passed Proposition 187, denying benefits to illegal aliens and criminalizing illegal aliens in possession of forged green cards, identification cards, and Social Security numbers. It also authorized police officers to question non-nationals as to their immigration status and required police and sheriff departments to cooperate and report illegal aliens to the INS. Proposition 187 drew nationwide attention to illegal immigration.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: United States Border Patrol Interior Checkpoints are inspection stations operated by the USBP within of an international border (with Mexico or Canada) or any U.S. coastline.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Silvestre Reyes started a program called "Operation Hold the Line". In this program, Border Patrol agents would no longer react to illegal entries resulting in apprehensions, but would instead be forward deployed to the border, immediately detecting any attempted entries or deterring crossing at a more remote location. The idea was that it would be easier to capture illegal entrants in the wide open deserts than through the urban alleyways. Chief Reyes deployed his agents along the Rio Grande, within eyesight of other agents. The program significantly reduced illegal entries in the urban part of El Paso by shifting them to other areas.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Congressman Duncan Hunter became a major proponent of additional border fencing in the San Diego sector; surplus military landing mats were obtained to use as an initial border fence. Stadium lighting, ground sensors and infra-red cameras were also placed in the area. Eventually the primitive landing mat fence was replaced with a modern triple fence line that begins over one hundred yards into the Pacific Ocean at Imperial Beach, California, and ends more than 13 miles (19 km) inland on Otay Mesa where the mountains begin.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Through agency whistleblowers, Agent Mark Hall and Agent Robert Lindemann, it was revealed that in 2001, the Border Patrol had approximately 324 agents assigned along the Canada–United States border. Northern border staffing had been increased by 1,128 agents to 1,470 agents by the end of fiscal year 2008, and is projected to expand to 1,845 by the end of fiscal year 2009, a six-fold increase. Resources that support Border Patrol agents include the use of new technology and a more focused application of air and marine assets.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The northern border sectors are (west to east): Blaine (Washington), Spokane (Washington), Havre (Montana), Grand Forks (North Dakota), Detroit (Selfridge ANGB, Michigan), Buffalo (New York), Swanton (Vermont), and Houlton (Maine).


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In November 2005, the U.S. Border Patrol published an updated national strategy. The goal of this updated strategy was operational control of the United States border. The strategy has five main objectives:


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The United States border is a barely discernible line in the uninhabited deserts, canyons, or mountains and rivers. The Border Patrol utilizes a variety of equipment and methods, such as electronic sensors placed at strategic locations along the border, to detect people or vehicles entering the country illegally. Video monitors and night vision scopes are also used to detect illegal entries. Agents patrol the border in vehicles, boats, aircraft, and afoot. In some areas, the Border Patrol employs horses, all-terrain motorcycles, bicycles, and snowmobiles. Air surveillance capabilities are provided by unmanned aerial vehicles.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The primary activity of a Border Patrol agent is "line watch". Line watch involves the detection, prevention, and apprehension of terrorists, illegal aliens and smugglers of aliens at or near the land border by maintaining surveillance from a covert position; following up on leads; responding to electronic sensor, television systems and aircraft sightings; and interpreting and following tracks, marks, and other physical evidence. Major activities include traffic check, traffic observation, city patrol, transportation check, administrative, intelligence, and anti-smuggling activities.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Traffic checks are conducted on major highways leading away from the border to detect and apprehend illegal aliens attempting to travel further into the interior of the United States after evading detection at the border, and to detect illegal narcotics.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Transportation checks are inspections of interior-bound conveyances, which include buses, commercial aircraft, passenger and freight trains, and marine craft.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Marine patrols are conducted along the coastal waterways of the United States, primarily along the Pacific coast, the Caribbean, the tip of Florida, and Puerto Rico and interior waterways common to the United States and Canada. The Border Patrol conducts patrol activities from 130 marine craft of various sizes. The Border Patrol maintains watercraft ranging from blue-water craft to inflatable-hull craft, in 16 sectors, in addition to headquarters and special operations components. The Border Patrol Marine Position was created in 2009 (BPA-M).


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Horse and bike patrols are used to augment regular vehicle and foot patrols. Horse units patrol remote areas along the international boundary that are inaccessible to standard all-terrain vehicles. Bike patrol aids city patrol and is used over rough terrain to support line watch. Snowmobiles are used to patrol remote areas along the northern border in the winter.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In 1992, the United States Border Patrol had approximately 4,139 patrol agents on the job. Attrition in the Border Patrol was normally at 5%. From 1995 to 2001 annual attrition rose to above 10%, which was a period when the Border Patrol was undergoing massive hiring. In 2002 the attrition rate climbed to 18%. The 18% attrition was largely attributed to agents transferring to the Federal Air Marshals after 9/11. In 2017, the attrition rate was at 6%.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (signed by President Bush on December 17, 2004) authorized hiring an additional 10,000 agents, "subject to appropriation". This authorization nearly doubled the Border Patrol size, from 11,000 to 20,000 agents by 2010. As of 2016, roughly half of the agents are Latino Americans.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The Secure Fence Act, signed by President Bush on October 26, 2006, has met with much opposition. In October 2007, environmental groups and concerned citizens filed a restraining order hoping to halt the construction of the fence, set to be built between the United States and Mexico. The act mandated that the fence be built by December 2008. Ultimately, the United States seeks to put fencing around the border, but the act requires only of fencing. DHS secretary Michael Chertoff has bypassed environmental and other oppositions with a waiver that was granted to him by Congress in Section 102 of the act, which allows DHS to avoid any conflicts that would prevent a speedy assembly of the fence.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: This action has led many environment groups and landowners to speak out against the impending construction of the fence. Environment and wildlife groups fear that the plans to clear brush, construct fences, install bright lights, motion sensors, and cameras will scare wildlife and endanger the indigenous species of the area. Environmentalists claim that the ecosystem could be affected because a border fence would restrict movement of all animal species, which in turn would keep them from water and food sources on one side or another. Desert plants would also feel the impact, as they would be uprooted in many areas where the fence is set to occupy.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In 2008, property owners in these areas feared a loss of land. Landowners would have had to give some of their land over to the government for the fence. Brownsville mayor Pat Ahumada favored alternative options to a border fence. He suggested that the Rio Grande be widened and deepened to provide for a natural barrier to hinder illegal aliens and drug smugglers.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In 2007, the U.S. Border Patrol created the special operations group (SOG) headquartered in El Paso, Texas, to coordinate the special operations units of the agency.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The U.S. Border Patrol has a number of other specialized programs and details. Marine patrol – In the riverine environments of the northern and southwestern borders of the continental United States, the Border Patrol conducts border control activities from the decks of marine craft of various sizes. Since 2006, the U.S. Border Patrol has relinquished its littoral law enforcement missions in the Great Lakes and territorial seas to the Office of Air and Marine. The U.S. Border Patrol maintains over 130 vessels, ranging from blue-water craft to inflatable-hull craft, in 16 sectors, in addition to headquarters special operations components.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: K9 units, mounted patrols, bike patrols, sign-cutting (tracking), snowmobile units, infrared-scope units, intelligence, anti-smuggling investigations unit (ASU/DISRUPT, Border Criminal Alien Program, multi-agency anti-gang task forces (regional and local units), honor guards, pipes and drums, chaplains, peer support, and mobile surveillance units.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: "Operation Gatekeeper" was launched in 1994 to stop aliens from crossing illegally into the United States. The strategy included increased enforcement and extensive fencing near border cities, with the two-fold purpose of deflecting aliens to remote areas where they could more easily be detected and apprehended, as well as using the formidable mountains, deserts, and Rio Grande as a deterrent to easy passage. The newly erected Mexico–United States barrier—which at some remote locations is no more than a fence—has also forced aliens and human traffickers to seek out remote desert locations in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas where they may attempt crossing. The "funnel effect" created by both these strategies has contributed to the deaths of thousands of aliens, whose remains are often found in the hot desert or freezing mountains.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: As early as 1998, the former Immigration and Naturalization Service implemented the Border Safety Initiative in response to concerns about the number of aliens injured or killed while attempting to cross the border. It was noted that Border Patrol agents routinely supplied water, food, and medical care to aliens. That same year, Border Patrol, Search, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR), a specialized unit trained in emergency search and rescue, was established with the purpose of assisting injured or stranded aliens at remote locations.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In 2002, the first "rescue beacons" were installed in desert areas considered especially dangerous. The beacons are solar powered and highly visible, and have a button which alerts Border Patrol agents by radio signal, after which a helicopter or ground unit is dispatched. U.S. Senator Bill Frist commented in 2006: "these beacons, I believe, are an absolutely vital link in our border security system... We know that beacons work: CBP has already saved dozens of people based entirely on beacon alerts." The Border Patrol frequently publishes reports about stranded and injured individuals rescued at beacon locations.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In fiscal year 2020, Border Patrol agents and Air and Marine Operations agents are credited with saving more than 5,000 people and conducted approximately 1,400 search and rescue operations.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: All Border Patrol agents spend a minimum of 26 weeks at the Border Patrol Academy in Artesia, New Mexico, which is a component of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC). Border Patrol Agent Trainees are instructed in courses including; Spanish, criminal law, nationality law, and administrative immigration law, police sciences, self-defense and arrest techniques, firearms training with pistol, shotgun and rifle, police vehicle driving, and other Border Patrol / federal law enforcement subjects.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Once they arrive back at their duty station, Trainees then must graduate from the Field Training program, an on-the-job training program led by a Field Training Officer (FTO), which varies in length from a minimum of 12 weeks to a maximum of over 16 weeks long, depending on the practical demands of the duty station and local management. They must also successfully complete the Post-Academy Training Program, an extension of the Border Patrol Academy where Trainees complete additional classroom-based training over the course of their first nine months back at their duty station.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The Border Patrol uniform got its first makeover since the 1950s to appear more like military fatigues and less like a police officer's duty garb. Leather belts with brass buckles have been replaced by nylon belts with quick-release plastic buckles, slacks have been replaced by lightweight cargo pants, and shiny badges and nameplates have been replaced by cloth patches.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The Border Patrol's highest honor is the Newton-Azrak Award for Heroism. This award is bestowed to Border Patrol agents for extraordinary actions, service; accomplishments reflecting unusual courage or bravery in the line of duty; or an extraordinarily heroic or humane act committed during times of extreme stress or in an emergency.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: This award is named for Border Patrol inspectors Theodore Newton and George Azrak, who were murdered by two drug smugglers in San Diego County in 1967.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Border Patrol agents have a choice of being issued either the Glock 47 or the Glock 19M pistol in 9mm caliber. The Glock 47 can contain as many as 18 rounds of ammunition (17 in the magazine and 1 in the chamber), while the Glock 19 can contain as many as 16 rounds. Up until 1995 the Border Patrol issued its patrol agents .357 Magnum revolvers as their duty sidearms, Smith & Wesson or Ruger model large frame, six-shot revolvers. The Border Patrol preferred this weapon because it did not jam in harsh conditions, like those of the southwestern border, and also because of the strong "stopping power" of the .357 Magnum cartridge. Although up until 1995 patrol agents could purchase weapons from the agency list of approved authorized personal weapons for duty carry. This list included the Glock Models 17 and 19 pistols in 9 mm, the SIG Sauer P220 pistol in .45 ACP caliber, the Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver, and the Smith & Wesson Model 19/66 .357 Magnum revolver. The Border Patrol adopted the Beretta Model 96D, a .40 S&W caliber semi-automatic pistol (modified for double-action only) (with 11-round capacity magazines) as its duty issue sidearm in 1995. The .40 S&W caliber jacketed hollow-point cartridge was adopted because of its excellent "stopping power" and its superior ballistic characteristics over the 9 mm cartridge. In late 2006 the H&K P2000 pistol was adopted as the Border Patrol's primary duty sidearm. The H&K Model USP compact pistol, H&K Model P2000SK (sub-compact) and Beretta M96D .40 S&W caliber pistols are authorized as secondary sidearms.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: On April 9, 2019, CBP announced that the U.S. Border Patrol would transition from the .40 caliber H&K P2000 to an unnamed 9-millimeter Glock pistol, by the end of fiscal year 2021. It has since been revealed that the three Glock handguns that are to be issued to CBP officers and agents are the model G26, model G19, and the specifically manufactured for CBP model G47.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Like many other law enforcement agencies, the 12 gauge Remington Model 870 is the standard pump-action shotgun. The Border Patrol issue Model 870 has been modified by Scattergun Technologies to Border Patrol specifications including: a 14-inch barrel, a five-shot capacity magazine, a composite stock with pistol grip, and night sights with a tactical "ghost-ring" rear sight. The old Border Patrol "anti-bandit" units used to use 12-gauge, semi-automatic shotguns with sawed-off barrels. This weapon had the designated name of a "Sidewinder". The USBP anti-bandit units were decommissioned in the late 1980s.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Border Patrol agents also commonly carry the 5.56 caliber Colt M4 Carbine (specifically, the updated M4A1) and the H&K UMP .40 caliber submachine gun. The .308 caliber M14 rifle is used for ceremonial purposes and by agents who are qualified with the rifle and BORTAC.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: As a less than lethal option, the Border Patrol uses the FN 303 launcher. The FN 303 fires 40mm plastic pellet balls containing OC (oleoresin capsicum) pepper dust. The plastic pellet balls burst on impact spraying the suspect with OC pepper dust and also acts as impact projectiles. The Border Patrol also issues its agents OC pepper spray canisters, tasers and a collapsible/telescopic (or telescoping) steel police baton.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Unlike in many other law enforcement agencies in the United States, the Border Patrol operates over 10,000 SUVs and pickup trucks, which are known for their capabilities to move around in any sort of terrain. These vehicles may have individual revolving lights (strobes or LEDs) and/or light bars and sirens and/or have their bumpers removed or have off-road suspension and tires. An extensive modernization drive has ensured that these vehicles are equipped with wireless sets in communication with a central control room. Border Patrol vehicles may also have equipment such as emergency first aid kits. Some sectors make use of sedans like the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor or the Dodge Charger as patrol cars or high speed "interceptors" on highways. The U.S. Border Patrol has approximately 2,000 sedans. The Border Patrol also operates all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles, snowmobiles, and small boats in riverine environments.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In 2005, all Border Patrol and ICE aircraft operations were combined under CBP's Office of Air and Marine. All CBP vessel operations within the Customs Waters and on the high seas are conducted by Marine Interdiction Agents of the Office of Air and Marine.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Color schemes of Border Patrol vehicles are either a long green stripe running the length of the vehicle (older vehicles) or a broad green diagonal stripe (newer vehicles) on the door. Most Border Patrol vehicles are painted predominantly white. During the 1960s to mid-1980s Border Patrol vehicles were painted a light green.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The Border Patrol also extensively uses horses for remote area patrols. , the U.S. Border Patrol has 205 horses. Most are employed along the Mexico–United States border. In Arizona, these animals are fed special processed feed pellets so that their wastes do not spread non-native plants in the national parks and wildlife areas they patrol.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Since 1904, the Border Patrol has had 149 inspectors/officers/agents killed in the line of duty, more than any other federal law enforcement agency during that time period.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: On March 14, 2000, 16 Mexican soldiers in two humvees chased a Border Patrol agent near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, while another agent came under gunfire. Backup arrived and nine of the soldiers were detained. The Mexican government said the soldiers were unfamiliar with the border in that area as those soldiers were normally deployed to Mexico's interior. The U.S. State Department ordered them sent back to Mexico along with their weapons.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: On August 7, 2008, Mexican troops crossed the border into Arizona and held a U.S. Border Patrol Agent at gunpoint. Agents stationed at Ajo, Arizona, said that the Mexican soldiers crossed the border into an isolated area southwest of Tucson and pointed rifles at the agent, who has not been identified. The Mexicans withdrew after other U.S. agents arrived on the scene.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: On May 24, 2022, 18-year-old Salvador Rolando Ramos entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers with an AR-15 rifle. Ramos had legally purchased two AR-15s and ammunition a few days earlier. Agents of U.S. Customs and BORTAC responded to the scene, and within minutes of their arrival, fatally shot Ramos, ending his 70-minute rampage. One agent suffered a injury.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Testifying in front of the United States Senate, Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan said that the Border Patrol is the one of the most assaulted law enforcement agencies; since 2006, over seven thousand agents of the Border Patrol were attacked. On numerous occasions USBP agents have been fired upon from the Mexican side of the international border. Intelligence gathering has discovered bounties being placed on Patrol Agents to be paid by criminal smuggling organizations upon the confirmed murder or kidnapping of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent. In 2008, intelligence learned of a two-million-dollar contract for the murder of a Border Patrol Agent. In 2009 Border Patrol Agent Rosas was murdered in an ambush while on patrol; a bounty may have been paid to the assassins.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Official data released under the Freedom of Information Act shows that between 2005 and 2017, the federal government paid out more than $60,000,000 in legal settlements of cases in which border agents were involved in deaths, driving injuries, alleged assaults, and wrongful detention. For example, in the 2003 case of Ricardo Olivares, the agent who fired the shot who killed him was not prosecuted, by decision of the U.S. Department of Justice, but a civil suit filed by the man's family resulted in an award of $350,000.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In February 2005, Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were involved in an incident while pursuing a van in Fabens, Texas. The driver, later identified as Aldrete Davila, was shot by Agent Ramos during a scuffle. Davila escaped back into Mexico, and the agents discovered that the van contained a million dollars worth of marijuana (about 750 pounds). None of the agents at the scene orally reported the shooting, including two supervisors: Robert Arnold, first-line Supervisor and Jonathan Richards, a higher ranking Field Operations Supervisor.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Ramos and Compean were charged with multiple crimes. Ramos was convicted of causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, and a civil rights violation. Compeán was found guilty on 11 counts, including discharging a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, which by itself carries a federally mandated 10-year minimum sentence. Without that charge, both agents involved would have received far shorter sentences. Ramos was sentenced to 11 years and a day in prison and Compean to 12 years. Jonathan Richards was promoted to the Patrol Agent in Charge of the Santa Teresa, New Mexico Border Patrol Station soon after the incident. On January 19, 2009, President Bush commuted the sentences of both Ramos and Compean, effectively ending their prison term on March 20, 2009, and they were released on February 17, 2009. The case generated widely differing opinion among various commentators and advocacy groups: civil libertarians asserted the agents used illegal and excessive force, while advocates of tighter border control defended the agents actions.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: On May 30, 2010, Anastasio Hernandez-Rojas died of a heart attack while in the custody of United States Border Patrol (USBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and agents and officers at the San Diego–Tijuana border. He was beaten and then shocked by tasers at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, within view of many bystanders with cameras on the busy pedestrian bridge. Although the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation concluded on November 6, 2015, that Hernández-Rojas died of a heart attack, an offer of a million-dollar settlement was made to his family. None of the agents or officers involved were fired or disciplined for excessive use of force. In February 2017, his common-law wife and five children accepted the settlement. Hernández-Rojas's death was profiled in a 2012 PBS report called "Crossing the Line", in Nonny de la Peña's 2013 five-minute-long virtual reality called "Use of Force", and in a 2014 American Civil Liberties Union report.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Sergio Adrian Hernandez was a teenager who was shot once and killed on June 7, 2010, by Border Patrol agents under a bridge crossing between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Border Patrol agents claimed that there was a mob that pelted them with rocks. For his involvement in the incident, Border Patrol agent Jesus Mesa, Jr., invoked qualified immunity in his defense. In February 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Hernandez family may not bring suit against the agent, highlighting the 1971 case "Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents" in the majority opinion.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: On June 10, Mexican President Felipe Calderón called on the United States to launch a "thorough, impartial" probe into the deaths of two Mexican nationals, including the 14-year-old Hernandez, at the hands of U.S. border police: "I demand the United States government conduct a thorough, impartial...investigation, concluding with an establishment of the facts and punishment of the culprits."


title: United States Border Patrol

text: On June 12, 2010, the television network Univision aired cellphone video footage of the incident, after which Mexican legislators called unsuccessfully for the extradition of the officer accused of the shooting.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In October 2012, 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez was killed in downtown Nogales, Mexico, when a Border Patrol Agent, Lonnie Swartz, opened fire at a group of people allegedly throwing rocks at him; Rodriguez was shot eight times in the back and twice in the head. Swartz was criminally charged, but in November 2018, a jury found him not guilty.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: On November 25, 2013, the San Diego Tribune reported that 100 aliens who tried to cross the border illegally near the San Ysidro port were pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed after throwing bottles and rocks at border patrol agents. A similar incident was reported in November 2018.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Various civil activist and human rights organizations have alleged abuses of illegal aliens by Border Patrol agents:


title: United States Border Patrol

text: According to the ACLU of Texas, between 2010 and December 13, 2021, there were 46 migrant deaths while in the custody of the Border Patrol, and 68 deaths as a result of Border Patrol-involved car chases.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In October 2021 Human Rights Watch released reports by U.S. asylum officers of over 160 reports of mistreatment by Border Patrol agents. In some cases the asylum officers apologized to the migrants for the treatment they had received from the Border Patrol. According to Clara Long, associate director of Human Rights Watch, "The documents make clear that reports of grievous C.B.P. [Customs and Border Protection] abuses—physical and sexual assaults, abusive detention conditions and violations of due process—are an open secret within D.H.S. [Department of Homeland Security]. They paint a picture of D.H.S. as an agency that appears to have normalized shocking abuses at the U.S. border."


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In 2018, activists alleged that water and food supplies left for illegal aliens were regularly destroyed by the Border Patrol.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: June 7, 2018: On a bus travelling from Bakersfield to Las Vegas, agents from the United States Border Patrol stopped and boarded a Greyhound bus at an agricultural checkpoint near the Nevada State Line. The United States Border Patrol agents had no authorization to stop the Greyhound bus or interrogate passengers since the location was not within the 100 air mile zone of the United States Border as authorized by section 287 of the INA. A passenger recognized that the agents of the United States Border Patrol lacked authorization to conduct their interrogations. All other passengers aboard the Greyhound bus were notified that United States Border Patrol agents were not supposed to be stopping the bus or conducting interrogations. After a short argument with the passenger who alerted everybody, the United States Border Patrol agents left the bus. Later, the passenger who had argued with the United States Border Patrol agents decided to post an online petition on change.org titled "Greyhound: Stop endangering migrants" as a warning for passengers against unauthorised searches by agents of DHS, ICE, and United States Border Patrol. The online petition has gathered over 60,934 signatures worldwide.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Between 2010 and 2011 alleged excessive use of force by Border Patrol agents and Field Operations officers led to the death of six Mexican citizens. A PBS report, "Crossing the Line", released in July 2012, profiled the case of Hernández-Rojas who died after being beaten and while in custody of the USBP, ICE, and CBP in May 2010. In 2012, in a letter to President Obama posted on the website of the Washington Office on Latin America, 118 civil society organizations criticized the Border Patrol for failing to thoroughly investigate the incident and stated that the Border Patrol "is operating with very little transparency and virtual impunity, especially in the southern border region where Border Patrol and other CBP agents regularly violate the human and civil rights of those who call the border region home."


title: United States Border Patrol

text: From 2008 to 2011, the Arizona organization No More Deaths interviewed nearly 13,000 illegal aliens who had been in Border Patrol custody, in the Arizona border towns of Naco, Nogales, and Agua Prieta. Their report, "A Culture of Cruelty", documents alleged abuses including denial of or insufficient water and food; failure to provide medical treatment; verbal, physical and psychological abuse; separation of family members; and dangerous repatriation practices. In February 2012, Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher stated in congressional testimony that the Border Patrol takes allegations of abuse seriously. No More Deaths testified before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights in March 2012 that in spite of raising their concerns for several years, "the agency has taken the position that such abuses simply do not occur."


title: United States Border Patrol

text: There are allegations of abuse by the United States Border Patrol, such as the ones reported by Jesus A. Trevino, that concludes in an article published in the "Houston Journal of International Law" (2006) with a request to create an independent review commission to oversee the actions of the Border Patrol, and that creating such review board will make the American public aware of the "serious problem of abuse that exists at the border by making this review process public" and that "illegal immigrants deserve the same constitutionally-mandated humane treatment of citizens and legal residents".


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In 1998, Amnesty International investigated allegations of ill-treatment and brutality by officers of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and particularly the Border Patrol. Their report said they found indications of human rights violations during 1996, 1997, and early 1998.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: An article in "Social Justice" by Michael Huspek, Leticia Jimenez, Roberto Martinez (1998) cites that in December 1997, John Case, head of the INS Office of Internal Audit, announced at a press conference that public complaints to the INS had risen 29% from 1996, with the "vast majority" of complaints emanating from the southwest border region, but that of the 2,300 cases, the 243 cases of serious allegations of abuse were down in 1997. These serious cases are considered to be distinct from less serious complaints, such as "verbal abuse, discrimination, extended detention without cause."


title: United States Border Patrol

text: At some Greyhound stations and along certain routes, agents from United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and United States Border Patrol have been known to stop and interrogate passengers. While DHS, ICE, and US Border Patrol Agents are legally allowed to interrogate passengers within 100 air miles of the borders of the United States, according to the ACLU and some legal experts, without a warrant, United States Border Patrol agents need the explicit consent of Greyhound to be on Greyhound property. Protesters against Greyhound Bus Lines allowing the DHS and ICE agents to board the buses have posted an online petition titled "Greyhound: Stop Throwing Passengers Under the BUS" on the ACLU website, which gathered 111,895 signatures as of 2019. As of February 21, 2020 Greyhound refuses unwarranted inspections. A memo addressed to all chief patrol agents and signed by then-Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost said agents can't board private buses without consent from bus companies.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: Between September 2018 and September 2019, ten aliens died in the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol or its parent agency.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: According to Reveal News, between 2006 and 2016 more than 130 officers employed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection were caught in alleged acts of mission-compromising corruption – often by letting drugs, undocumented immigrants, or both into the country. "While that's a tiny fraction of the total number of agents, report after report has suggested the known cases may be the tip of the iceberg."


title: United States Border Patrol

text: In 2019, U.S. Border Patrol supervisors discovered many employees posting inappropriate content in a private Facebook group. The "group where agents posted sexist and callous references to migrants and the politicians who support them reinforced the perception that agents often view the vulnerable people in their care with frustration and contempt." Carla Provost, at the time head of the agency, was among them; she retired in 2020.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: According to a posting in "Law Enforcement Today" in August 2021, morale among Border Patrol agents was "in the toilet". In Del Rio, Texas, where illegal aliens were so numerous they were detained in a squalid camp underneath the international bridge, agents were so overwhelmed with processing those arriving aliens that self-surrendered that there were no agents patrolling large stretches of the border.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) is the labor union which represents over 17,000 Border Patrol agents and support staff. The NBPC was founded on November 1, 1965, and its parent organization is the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL–CIO. The NBPC's executive committee is staffed by current and retired Border Patrol agents and, along with its constituent locals, employs a staff of a dozen attorneys and field representatives. The NBPC is associated with the Peace Officer Research Association of California Legal Defense Fund|California's Legal Defense Fund.


title: United States Border Patrol

text: The Border Patrol Foundation was founded in 2009 to assist the survivors of agents killed in the line of duty. The foundation provides financial support to immediate family members, peer family support, and a scholarship to eligible children. The foundation recognizes community leaders who have supported the families of fallen agents, and supports programs to improve awareness of the risks faced by agents.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Taiwanese Mandarin, Guoyu () or Huayu () refers to Mandarin Chinese spoken in Taiwan. This comprises two main forms: Standard "Guoyu", the formal standard variety, and Taiwan "Guoyu", its more colloquial, localized form. A large majority of the Taiwanese population is fluent in Mandarin, though many also speak Taiwanese Hokkien, commonly called "Minnanyu" ( "Mǐnnányǔ").


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Standard "Guoyu" ( "Biāozhǔn Guóyǔ") refers to the formal variety that serves as the official national language of the Republic of China (Taiwan). This variety is used in the education system, in official communications, and in most news media. The core of this standard variety is described in the "Ministry of Education Mandarin Chinese Dictionary". The standard is based on the phonology of the Beijing dialect of Mandarin Chinese and the grammar of written vernacular Chinese. Standard "Guoyu" closely resembles and is mutually intelligible with the Standard Mandarin (, simp. , pinyin: "Pǔtōnghuà") of mainland China. However, some divergences and differences exist in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Taiwan "Guoyu" ( "Táiwān Guóyǔ") refers to the more colloquial form of the language, namely, varieties of Mandarin used in Taiwan that diverge from Standard "Guoyu". These divergences are often the result of Taiwan "Guoyu" incorporating influences from other languages used in Taiwan, primarily "Minnanyu". Like Standard "Guoyu", Taiwan "Guoyu" is mutually intelligible with "Putonghua". However, when compared with Standard "Guoyu", Taiwan "Guoyu" exhibits greater differences from "Putonghua".


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: All forms of written Chinese in Taiwan often use traditional characters alongside other Sinophone areas such as Hong Kong, Macau, and many overseas Chinese communities. This is in contrast to mainland China and Singapore, where simplified Chinese characters were adopted beginning in the 1950s and 1980s, respectively.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: This article uses Taiwan "Guoyu to refer to the colloquial varieties of Mandarin in Taiwan, Standard "Guoyu for the prescribed standard form, "Putonghua" to refer to Standard mainland Chinese Mandarin, and simply Guoyu or Taiwanese Mandarin when a distinction is unnecessary.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Chinese is not a single language, but a group of languages in the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan family, which includes varieties such as Mandarin, Cantonese, and Hakka. They share a common ancestry and script, Chinese characters, and among Chinese speakers they are popularly considered dialects ( "fāngyán") of the same, overarching language. These dialects are often extremely divergent in the spoken form, however, and not mutually intelligible. Accordingly, Western linguists tend to treat them as separate languages, likening their relationship to that of English and Dutch, for example (both being West Germanic languages).


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Mandarin Chinese is a grouping of Chinese languages that includes at least eight subgroups, often also called dialects. In English, "Mandarin" can refer to any of these Mandarin dialects, which are not necessarily mutually intelligible. However, the term is most commonly used to refer to Standard Chinese, the prestige dialect.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Standard Chinese in mainland China is called "Putonghua" () and in the Republic of China (Taiwan) "Guoyu" (). Both of these, as Mandarin languages, are based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin and are mutually intelligible, but also feature various lexical, phonological, and grammatical differences. There exists significant variation within "Putonghua" and "Guoyu" as well. Some scholars have argued that "Putonghua" and "Guoyu" are artificial standards that, strictly speaking, do not represent the native spoken language of a significant number of, or even any, people.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: "Guoyu" exists on a continuum from the most standard, formal version of the language to the form most heavily influenced by Taiwanese "Minnanyu". The former variety can be called Standard "Guoyu" ( "Biāozhǔn Guóyǔ") in contrast to the less standard Taiwan "Guoyu" ( "Táiwān Guóyǔ"). More formal settings—such as television news broadcasts—tend to feature speakers using Standard "Guoyu", which closely resembles mainland "Putonghua", but is not generally used as a day-to-day language. Language falling on the less standard side of the "Guoyu" spectrum may be stigmatized as uneducated.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: This article focuses on the features of both Standard "Guoyu", particularly its relationship to "Putonghua", as well as non-standard but widespread features of Mandarin in Taiwan, grouped under Taiwan "Guoyu".


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Large-scale Han Chinese settlement of Taiwan began in the 17th century by Hoklo immigrants from Fujian province who spoke Southern Min languages (predominantly Hokkien), and, to a lesser extent, Hakka immigrants who spoke their respective language. Taiwanese indigenous peoples already inhabited the island, speaking a variety of Austronesian languages unrelated to Chinese. In the centuries following Chinese settlement, the number of indigenous languages dropped significantly, with several going extinct, in part due to the process of sinicization.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Official communications among the Han were done in Mandarin (), but the primary languages of everyday life were "Minnanyu" or Hakka. After its defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing dynasty ceded Taiwan to the Empire of Japan, which governed the island as an Imperial colony from 1895 to 1945. By the end of the colonial period, Japanese had become the high dialect of the island as the result of decades of Japanization policy.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: After the Republic of China under the Kuomintang (KMT) regained control of Taiwan in 1945, Mandarin was introduced as the official language and made compulsory in schools, although it was rarely spoken by the local population. Many who had fled the mainland after the fall of the KMT also spoke non-standard varieties of Mandarin, which may have influenced later colloquial pronunciations. Wu Chinese dialects were also influential due to the relative power of KMT refugees from Wu-speaking Zhejiang, Chiang Kai-shek's home province.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: The Mandarin Promotion Council (now called National Languages Committee) was established in 1946 by then-Chief Executive Chen Yi to standardize and popularize the usage of Mandarin in Taiwan. The Kuomintang heavily discouraged the use of Southern Min and other non-Mandarin languages, portraying them as inferior, and school children were punished for speaking their non-Mandarin native languages. "Guoyu" was thus established as a "lingua franca" among the various groups in Taiwan at the expense of existing languages.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Following the end of martial law in 1987, language policy in the country underwent liberalization, but "Guoyu" remained the dominant language. Local languages were no longer proscribed in public discourse, mass media, and schools. "Guoyu" is still the main language of public education, with English and "mother tongue education" ( "mǔyǔ jiàoyù") being introduced as subjects in primary school. Greater time and resources are devoted to both Mandarin and English, which are compulsory subjects, compared to mother tongue instruction.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Mandarin is spoken fluently by the vast majority of the Taiwanese population, with the exception of some of the elderly population, who were educated under Japanese rule. In the capital of Taipei, where there is a high concentration of Mainlander descendants who do not natively speak "Minnanyu", Mandarin is used in greater frequency and fluency than other parts of Taiwan. The 2010 Taiwanese census found that in addition to Mandarin, "Minnanyu" was natively spoken by around 70% of the population, and Hakka by 15%. A 2004 study found that Mandarin was spoken more fluently by Hakka and Taiwanese aboriginals than their respective mother tongues; Hoklo groups, on average, spoke better "Minnanyu", but Hoklo under 50 years old still spoke significantly better Mandarin (with comparable levels of fluency to their usage of "Minnanyu") than the elderly. Overall, while both national and local levels of government have promoted the use of non-Mandarin Chinese languages, younger generations generally prefer using Mandarin.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Government statistics from 2020 found that 66% of Taiwanese residents use "Guoyu" as their primary language, and another 31% use it as a secondary language (32% used "Minnanyu" as their primary language, and 54% used it as a secondary language). "Guoyu" is the primary language for over 80% of people in the northern areas of Taipei, Taoyuan, and Hsinchu. Youth is correlated with use of "Guoyu": in 2020, over two-thirds of Taiwanese over 65 used "Minnanyu" or Hakka as their primary language, compared with just 11% of 15–24-year-olds.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: "Guoyu" employs traditional Chinese characters (which are also used in the two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau), rather than the simplified Chinese characters used in mainland China. Literate Taiwanese can generally understand a text in simplified characters.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: In practice, Taiwanese Mandarin users may write informal, shorthand characters (; also "sútǐzì") in place of the full traditional forms. These variant Chinese characters are generally easier to write by hand and consist of fewer strokes. Shorthand characters are often identical to their simplified counterparts, but they may also take after Japanese kanji, or differ from both, as shown in the table below. A few shorthand characters are used as frequently as standard traditional characters, even in formal contexts, such as the "tai" in "Taiwan", which is often written as , as opposed to the standard traditional form, .


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: In informal writing, "Guoyu" speakers may replace possessive particles "de" or "zhī" with the Japanese particle "no" in hiragana (usually read as "de"), which serves a nearly identical grammatical role. "No" is often used in advertising, where it evokes a sense of playfulness and fashionability, and handwriting, as it is easier to write.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Taiwanese braille is similar to Mainland Chinese braille, though several sounds are represented by different patterns. Both systems represent the sounds of the language (as do Pinyin and Zhuyin), not Chinese characters themselves.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: While pinyin is used in applications such as in signage, most "Guoyu" users learn phonetics through the "Zhuyin Fuhao" () system, popularly called "Zhuyin" or "Bopomofo", after its first four glyphs. Taiwan is the only Chinese-speaking polity to use the system, which is taught in schools (often used as ruby characters to aid young learners) and represents the dominant digital input method on electronic devices. (Before the introduction of Hanyu pinyin starting in 1958, it was also used in mainland China.) It has accordingly become a symbol of Taiwanese identity as well.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Chinese language romanization in Taiwan somewhat differs from on the mainland, where Hanyu Pinyin is the official standard. A competing system, Tongyong Pinyin, was formally revealed in 1998 with the support of then-mayor of Taipei Chen Shuibian. In 1999, however, the Legislative Yuan endorsed a slightly modified version of Hanyu Pinyin, creating parallel romanization schemes along largely partisan lines, with Kuomintang-supporting areas using Hanyu Pinyin, and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) areas using Tongyong Pinyin. In 2002, the Taiwanese government led by the DPP promulgated the use of Tongyong Pinyin as the country's preferred system, but this was formally abandoned in 2009 in favor of Hanyu Pinyin.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: In addition, various other historical romanization systems also exist across the island, with multiple systems sometimes existing in the same locality. Following the defeat of the Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War and their subsequent retreat to Taiwan in 1945, little emphasis was placed on the romanization of Chinese characters, with the Wade-Giles system used as the default. It is still widely used for transcribing people's legal names today. The Gwoyeu Romatzyh method, invented in 1928, also was in use in Taiwan during this time period, albeit to a lesser extent. In 1984, Taiwan's Ministry of Education began revising the Gwoyeu Romatzyh method out of concern that Hanyu Pinyin was gaining prominence internationally. Ultimately, a revised version of Gwoyeu Romatzyh was released in 1986, which was called the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II. However, this system was not widely adopted.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Like "Putonghua", both Standard and Taiwanese "Guoyu" are tonal. Pronunciation of many individual characters differs in the standards prescribed by language authorities in Taipei and Beijing. Mainland authorities tend to prefer pronunciations popular in Northern Mandarin areas, whereas Taiwanese authorities prefer traditional pronunciations recorded in dictionaries from the 1930s and 1940s. Some examples of differences are given later in this section.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: These character-level differences notwithstanding, Standard "Guoyu" pronunciation is largely identical to "Putonghua", but with two major systematic differences (also true of Taiwan "Guoyu"):


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: In addition, two other phenomena, while nonstandard, are extremely common across all Mandarin speakers in Taiwan, even the highly educated:


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Taiwan "Guoyu" pronunciation is strongly influenced by "Minnanyu". This is especially prominent in areas where "Minnanyu" is common, namely, in Central and Southern Taiwan. Many, though not all, of the phonological differences between Taiwan "Guoyu" and "Putonghua" can be attributed to the influence of "Minnanyu".


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: The non-standard Taiwanese "Guoyu" tends to exhibit frequent, informal elision and cluster reduction when spoken. For example, "zhè yàngzi" 'this way, like so' can be pronounced similar to "jiàngzi" 'paste, sauce'; wherein the "theoretical" retroflex (so called because it is a feature of Standard "Guoyu" but rarely realized in everyday speech, as "zh-" is usually pronounced "z-"; see above section) is assimilated into the palatal glide [j].


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Often the reduction involves the removal of initials in compound words, such as dropping the "t" in "jīntiān" 'today' or the "ch" in "fēicháng" 'extremely, very'. These reductions are not necessarily a function of speed of speech than of register, as it is more commonly used in casual conversations than in formal contexts.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Like all varieties of Mandarin, "Guoyu" is a tonal language. "Putonghua" as spoken in the mainland has five tones, including the neutral tone. Tones in "Guoyu" differ somewhat in pitch and contour.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Research suggests that speakers of "Guoyu" articulate the second and third tones differently from the standards of Beijing Mandarin. The precise nature of the tonal differences is not well attested, however, as relevant studies often lack a sufficiently large variety of speakers. Tones may vary based on age, gender, and other sociolinguistic factors, and may not even be consistent across every utterance by an individual.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: In general, for "Guoyu" speakers, the second tone does not rise as high in its pitch, and the third tone does not "dip" back up from the low, creaky voice range. Overall, "Guoyu" speakers exhibit a lower and more narrow pitch range than speakers of the Mandarin of Beijing. Acoustic analysis of 33 Mandarin speakers from Taiwan in 2008 also found that for many speakers, the second tone tends to have a dipping contour more akin to that of the prescriptive third tone.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: In addition to differences in elision and influence from "Minnanyu", which are not features that are codified in the standard "Guoyu", there are differences in pronunciation that arise from conflicting official standards in Taiwan and the mainland.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Quantification of the extent of pronunciation differences between "Guoyu" and "Putonghua" varies. Estimates from graduate-level research include a 2008 study, based on the 7,000 characters in the "List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese", which found approximately 18% differed between "Guoyu" and "Putonghua", and 13% for the 3,500 most commonly used characters. A 1992 study, however, found differences in 22.5% of the 3,500 most common characters.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Much of the difference can be traced to preferences of linguistic authorities on the two sides; the mainland standard prefers popular pronunciations in northern areas, whereas the Taiwanese standard prefers those documented in dictionaries in the 1930s and 1940s. The Taiwanese formal standards may not always reflect actual pronunciations commonly used by actual Taiwanese speakers of "Guoyu".


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: The following is a table of relatively common characters pronounced differently in "Guoyu" and "Putonghua" in most or all contexts ("Guoyu"/"Putonghua"):


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Some pronunciation differences may only appear in certain words. The following is a list of examples of such differences:


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: "Guoyu" and "Putonghua" share a large majority of their vocabulary, but significant differences do exist. The lexical divergence of "Guoyu" from "Putonghua" is the result of several factors, including the prolonged political separation of the mainland and Taiwan, the influence of Imperial Japanese rule on Taiwan until 1945, and the influence of "Minnanyu". The "Cross Strait Common Usage Dictionary" categorizes differences as "same word, different meaning" ( "tóngmíng yìshí" — homonyms); "same meaning, different word" ( "tóngshí yìmíng"); and "Taiwan terms" ( "Táiwān yòngyǔ") and "mainland terms" ( "dàlù yòngyǔ") for words and phrases specific to a given side.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: The political separation of Taiwan and mainland China after the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 contributed to many differences in vocabulary. This is especially prominent in words and phrases which refer to things or concepts invented after the split; thus, modern scientific and technological terminology often differs greatly between "Putonghua" and "Guoyu".


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: In computer science, for instance, the differences are prevalent enough to hinder communication between "Guoyu" and "Putonghua" speakers unfamiliar with each other's respective dialects. Zhang (2000) selected four hundred core nouns from computer science and found that while 58% are identical in Standard and Taiwanese Mandarin, 22% were "basically" or "entirely" different.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: As cross-strait relations began to improve in the early 21st century, direct interaction between mainland China and Taiwan increased, and some vocabulary began to merge, especially by means of the Internet. For example, the words () "píngjǐng" 'bottleneck' and "zuòxiù" 'to grandstand, show off' were originally unique to "Guoyu" in Taiwan but have since become widely used in mainland China as well. "Guoyu" has also incorporated mainland phrases and words, such as "qúdào", meaning 'channel (of communication)', in addition to the traditional "Guoyu" term, "guǎndào".


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Words may be formed from abbreviations in one form of Mandarin but not the other. For example, in Taiwan, bubble tea ( "zhēnzhū nǎichá") is often abbreviated "zhēnnǎi", but this is not common on the mainland. Likewise, 'traffic rules/regulations' (/, "jiāotōng guīzé") is abbreviated as "jiāoguī" on the mainland, but not in Taiwan.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Some identical terms have different meanings in "Guoyu" and "Putonghua". There may be alternative synonyms which can be used unambiguously by speakers on both sides.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: The same word carry different connotations or usage patterns in "Guoyu" and "Putonghua", and may be polysemous in one form of Mandarin but not the other. For example, () "lǒngluò" in "Guoyu" means 'to convince, win over', but in "Putonghua", it carries a negative connotation (cf. 'beguile, coax'). () "kuāzhāng" means 'to exaggerate,' but in Taiwan, it can also be used to express exclamation at something absurd or overdone, a meaning that is not present in "Putonghua". Another example is "xiǎojiě", meaning 'miss' or 'young lady', regularly used to address young women in "Guoyu". On the mainland, however, the word is also a euphemism for a prostitute and is therefore not used as a polite term of address.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: "Guoyu" and "Putonghua" speakers may also display strong preference for one of a set of synonyms. For example, both "lǐbài" () and "xīnqqí" ("xīngqī" in "Putonghua") are acceptable words for 'week' in "Guoyu" and "Putonghua", but is more common in Taiwan.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: "Guoyu" tends to preserve older lexical items that are less used in the mainland. In Taiwan, speakers may use a more traditional "zǎo'ān" to say 'good morning', whereas mainland speakers generally default to "zǎoshang hǎo", for instance. Both words are acceptable in either dialect.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Likewise, words with the same literal meaning in either dialect may differ in register. "éryǐ" 'that's all, only' is common both in spoken and written "Guoyu", influenced by speech patterns in "Minnanyu", but in "Putonghua" the word is largely confined to formal, written contexts.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Preference for the expression of modality often differs among northern Mandarin speakers and Taiwanese, as evidenced by the selection of modal verbs. For example, Taiwanese Mandarin users strongly prefer "yào" and "búyào" over "děi" and "bié", respectively, to express 'must' and 'must not', compared to native speakers from Beijing. However, "yào" and "búyào" are also predominantly used among Mandarin speakers from the south of the mainland. Both pairs are grammatically correct in either dialect.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Some words in "Putonghua" may not exist in "Guoyu" and vice versa. Authors of the "Dictionary of Different Word Across the Taiwan Strait" () estimate there are about 2,000 words unique to "Guoyu", around 10% of which come from "Minnanyu". Sometimes, "Minnanyu" loanwords are written directly in Bopomofo (for example, ㄍㄧㄥ).


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Some of these differences stem from different social and political conditions, which gave rise to concepts that were not shared between the mainland and Taiwan, e.g. "fúcǎi", a common abbreviation for the China Welfare Lottery of the People's Republic of China, or "shíbāpā", which refers to the 18% preferential interest rate on civil servants' pension funds in Taiwan. ( "pā" as "percent" is also unique to "Guoyu".)


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Additionally, many terms unique to "Guoyu" were adopted from Japanese as a result of Taiwan's status as a Japanese colony during the first half of the 20th century.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Modal particles convey modality, which can be understood as a speaker's attitude towards a given utterance (e.g. of necessity, possibility, or likelihood that the utterance is true). Modal particles are common in Chinese languages and generally occur at the end of sentences and so are commonly called sentence-final particles or utterance-final particles.


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: "Guoyu" employs some modal particles that are rare in "Putonghua". Some are entirely unique to spoken, colloquial Taiwan "Guoyu", and identical particles may also have different meanings in "Putonghua" and "Guoyu". Conversely, particles that are common in "Putonghua" — particularly northern "Putonghua", such as that spoken in Beijing — are very rare in "Guoyu". Examples include () "bei", "me", and () "bàle".


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Wu (2006) argues "lā" is influenced by a similar "la" particle in "Minnanyu". (Unlike in "Putonghua", "Guoyu" speakers will use "lā" immediately following "le", as seen in (a).)


title: Taiwanese Mandarin

text: Taiwan "Guoyu" has functionally adopted some particles from "Minnanyu". For example, the particle "hoⁿh" [] functions in "Minnanyu" as a particle indicating a question to which the speaker expects an affirmative answer (c.f. English "..., all right?" or "..., aren't you?"). Among other meanings, when used in Taiwan "Guoyu" utterances, it can indicate that the speaker wishes for an affirmative response, or may mark an imperative.