text: Since the 1980s, the MBTA has offered discounted monthly passes on all modes for the convenience of daily commuters and other frequent riders. As of March 2022, it also offers one-day and seven-day passes (often used by tourists) for subway, bus, inner-harbor ferry, and Commuter Rail Zone 1A. Only the CharlieTicket versions of these passes are accepted on all modes. Single-ride CharlieTickets, weekend passes, 5-ride passes, and the mobile app used for the ferries and commuter rail are not accepted for transfers to buses or subways.


title: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

text: The MBTA has periodically raised fares to match inflation and keep the system financially solvent. A substantial increase effective July 2012 raised public ire including an "Occupy the MBTA" protest. A transportation funding law passed in 2013 limits MBTA fare increases to 7% every two years. Subsequent fare increases took place in 2014, 2016, and 2019.


text: Several local politicians, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Representative Ayanna Pressley, and Senator Edward J. Markey, have proposed to eliminate MBTA fares.


text: The remaining phases of the ongoing "Fare Transformation" project aim to add contactless credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay as payment methods for all subway and bus lines so passengers will not need to purchase a CharlieCard or CharlieTicket. It is also expected to add all-door boarding on all buses and surface trolleys, using a proof of payment system. A new website is planned to allow passengers and employers to perform self-service CharlieCard transactions. "Fare Transformation", originally scheduled to be completed in 2021 under the name "AFC 2.0", is now expected to be completed in 2024.


text: All subway trips (Green Line, Blue Line, Orange Line, Red Line, Ashmont-Mattapan Line, and the Waterfront section of the Silver Line) cost $2.40 for all users. Local bus and trackless trolley fares (including the Washington Street section of the Silver Line) are $1.70 for all users.


text: Paying directly with cash is only available on buses, Green Line surface stops, and the Ashmont-Mattapan Line; from 2007 to 2020, the higher CharlieTicket price was charged.


text: All transfers between subway lines are free with all fare media, without the need to pass through fare control (except when continuing in either direction at Ashmont Station). Passengers using CharlieCards can transfer free from a subway to a bus, and from a bus to a subway for the difference in price ("step-up fare"). CharlieTicket holders can transfer free between buses, but not between subway and bus, except free subway transfers are given for the Silver Line at Airport station and SL4/SL5 branches.


text: The MBTA operates "Inner Express" and "Outer Express" buses to suburbs outside the subway system. Inner Express bus trips cost $4.25; Outer Express trips cost $5.25. Free transfers are available to the subway and local buses with a CharlieCard, and to local buses with a CharlieTicket.


text: CharlieTickets are available from ticket vending machines in MBTA rapid transit stations. CharlieCards are not dispensed by the machines, but are available free of charge on request at most MBTA Customer Service booths in stations, or at the CharlieCard Store at Downtown Crossing station. As given out, the CharlieCards are "empty", and must have value added at an MBTA ticket machine before they can be used.


text: The fare system, including on-board and in-station fare vending machines, was purchased from German-based Scheidt and Bachmann, which developed the technology. The CharlieCards were developed by Gemalto and later by Giesecke & Devrient. In 2006, electronic fares replaced metal tokens, which had been used on and off by transit systems in Boston for over a century.


text: Upon introduction in 2007, fares for reloadable CharlieCard contactless smart cards were substantially lower, to encourage riders to use them. The alternative magnetic stripe CharlieTickets were not as durable (and so could only be loaded once), were slower to read, and required maintenance of machines with moving parts.


text: In 2020, the MBTA started implementation of its "Fare Transformation" program, reducing cash-on-board and CharlieTicket prices to the CharlieTicket level. In the fall of that year, the agency started upgrading a portion of faregates at all stations to accept only contactless cards, in anticipation of the phase-out of paper CharlieTickets, which occurred on March 31, 2022. The gates also feature an optical reader, which is currently unused but is capable of scanning QR codes or bar codes, such as those generated by the mTicket app.


text: Installation of upgraded fare vending machines is expected to be complete by spring 2022, allowing riders to purchase CharlieCards and the new tappable CharlieTickets at any rapid transit station. These also serve as fare validation points for proof of payment on the Green Line Extension.


text: Starting July 1, 2022, two free transfers will be given to CharlieCard stored-value users for all combinations of subway, bus, and express bus rides.


text: Until 2007, not all subway fares were identical – passengers were not charged for boarding outbound Green Line trains at surface stops, while double fares were charged for the outer ends of the Green Line D branch and the Red Line Braintree branch. As part of a general fare hike effective January 1, 2007, the MBTA eliminated these inconsistent fares.


text: Because there was no farebox on the left-facing door, passengers on the 71 and 73 trolleybuses in Cambridge who boarded through that door underground in Harvard station instead paid the only remaining exit fare in the system. This was eliminated starting March 13, 2022, when the trackless trolleys were replaced by conventional buses to allow the Cambridge garage to convert to service battery-electric buses.


text: Commuter rail fares are on a zone-based system, with fares dependent on the distance from downtown. Rides between Zone 1A stations – South Station, Back Bay, most of the Fairmount Line, and eight other stations within several miles of downtown – cost $2.40, the same as a subway fare with a CharlieCard. Fares for other stations range from $5.75 from Zone 1 (~5–10 miles from downtown) to $14.50 from Zone 10 (~60 miles). All Massachusetts stations are Zone 8 or closer; only T.F. Green Airport and Wickford Junction in Rhode Island are Zone 9 and 10.


text: Interzone fares – for trips that do not go to Zone 1A – are offered at a substantial discount to encourage riders to take the commuter rail for less common commuting patterns for which transit is not usually taken. Discounted monthly passes are available for all trips; 10-ride passes at full price are also available for trips to Zone 1A. All monthly passes include unlimited trips on the subway and local bus; some outer-zone monthlies also offer free use of express buses and ferries. A cash-on-board surcharge of $3.00 is added for trips originating from stations with fare vending machines.


text: Starting in spring 2022, the MBTA began installing fare gates at North Station, South Station, and Back Bay station as part of its "Fare Transformation" project. These three stations are the start and end points of the vast majority of Commuter Rail trips, and the gates eliminate the possibility of passengers boarding without tickets or without having a single-use ticket invalidated (though conductors will still manually verify passengers leave the train in the zone they paid for). A common complaint from monthly pass holders was that on-board conductors would sometimes fail to check any tickets for their car, giving a free ride to single-ride and cash-on-board passengers. The new gates have scanners for bar codes on paper tickets, the mTicket app, Amtrak tickets, and military IDs. They also have a reader for tappable CharlieTickets (and CharlieCards, to prepare for potential future use on the Commuter Rail).


text: The Inner Harbor Ferry costs $3.25 per ride, and is grouped as a Zone 1A monthly commuter rail pass. Single rides cost $8.50 from Hull or Hingham to Boston, $17.00 from Hull or Hingham to Logan Airport, and $13.75 from Boston to Logan Airport.


text: Fares on The Ride, the MBTA's paratransit program, are structured differently from other modes. Passengers using The Ride must maintain an account with the MBTA in order to pay for service. Fares are $3.35 for "ADA trips" originating within of fixed-route bus or subway service and booked in advance, and $5.60 for "premium trips" outside the mandated area.


text: Discounted fares as well as discounted monthly local bus and subway passes are available to seniors over 65, and passengers who are permanently disabled who utilize a special photo CharlieCard (called "Senior ID" and "Transportation Access Pass", respectively). Holders of these passes are also entitled to 50% off the Commuter Rail fares. Passengers who are legally blind ride for free on all MBTA services (including express buses and the Commuter Rail) with a "Blind Access Card".


text: Children under 12 ride for free with an adult (up to 2 per adult). Military personnel, state police officers, police officers and firefighters from the MBTA service area, and certain government officials (Commonwealth Department of Public Utilities employees and state elevator inspectors) ride at no charge upon presentation of proper ID, or if dressed in official work uniforms.


text: Middle school and high school students receive the aforementioned discounts on fares. Student discounts require a "Student CharlieCard" or "S-Card" issued through the holder's school which is valid year-round. College students are not generally eligible for reduced fares, but some colleges offer a "Semester Pass" program. A special "Youth Pass" program was introduced in 2017, allowing young adults less than 25 years old who reside in participating cities or towns and are enrolled in specific low income programs to pay reduced fares.


text: Federal law allows employers to deduct the cost of transit passes from wages on a pre-tax basis. Some employers and colleges also choose to subsidize the cost of these passes for employees or students. The MBTA has long had a program that facilitates these bulk purchases for monthly passes. In 2016, it began allowing MIT to subsidize on a per-ride basis, which is considerably cheaper to the institution; this expanded to other employers in 2022.


text: Since the "forward funding" reform in 2000, the MBTA is funded primarily through 16% of the state sales tax excluding the meals tax (with minimum dollar amount guarantee), which is set at 6.25% statewide, and therefore equal to 1% of taxable non-meal purchases statewide. The authority is also funded by passenger fares and formula assessments of the cities and towns in its service area (excepting those which are assessed for the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority). Supplemental income is obtained from its paid parking lots, renting space to retail vendors in and around stations, rents from utility companies using MBTA rights of way, selling surplus land and movable property, advertising on vehicles and properties, and federal operating subsidies for special programs.


text: A May 2019 report found the MBTA had a maintenance backlog of approximately $10 billion, which it hopes to clear by 2032 by increasing spending on capital projects.


text: The Capital Investment Program is a rolling 5-year plan which programs capital expenses. The draft FY2009-2014 CIP allocates $3,795M, including $879M in projects funded from non-MBTA state sources (required for Clean Air Act compliance), and $299M in projects with one-time federal funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Capital projects are paid for by federal grants, allocations from the general budget of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (for legal commitments and expansion projects) and MBTA bonds (which are paid off through the operating budget). The FY2014 budget includes $1.422 billion for operating expenses and $443.8M in debt and lease payments.


text: The FY2010 budget was supplemented by $160 million in sales tax revenue when the statewide rate was raised from 5% to 6.25%, to avoid service cuts or a fare increase in a year when deferred debt payments were coming due.


text: The Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization is responsible for overall regional surface transportation planning. As required by federal law for projects to be eligible for federal funding (except earmarks), the MPO maintains a fiscally constrained 20+ year Regional Transportation Plan for surface transportation expansion, the current edition of which is called "Journey to 2030". The required 4-year MPO plan is called the Transportation Improvement Plan.


text: The MBTA maintains its own 25-year capital planning document, called the Program for Mass Transportation, which is fiscally unconstrained. The agency's 4-year plan is called the Capital Improvement Plan; it is the primary mechanism by which money is actually allocated to capital projects. Major capital spending projects must be approved by the MBTA Board, and except for unexpected needs, are usually included in the initial CIP.


text: In addition to federal funds programmed through the Boston MPO, and MBTA capital funds derived from fares, sales tax, municipal assessments, and other minor internal sources, the T receives funding from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for certain projects. The state may fund items in the State Implementation Plan (SIP) – such as the Big Dig mitigation projects – which is the plan required under the Clean Air Act to reduce air pollution. (, all of Massachusetts is designated as a clean air "non-attainment" zone.)


text: There is a proposal to extend the Blue Line northward to Lynn, with two potential extension routes having been identified. One proposed path would run through marshland alongside the existing Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line, while the other would extend the line along the remainder of the BRB&L right of way.


text: In addition, the MBTA has committed to designing an extension of the line's southern terminus westward to Charles/MGH, where it would connect with the Red Line. This was one of the mitigation measures the Commonwealth of Massachusetts agreed to offset increased automobile emissions from the Big Dig, but it was later replaced in this agreement by other projects.


text: The Green Line Extension (GLX) is a project to extend the Green Line northwest into Somerville and Medford. The project is opening in two phases in 2022 at a total cost of $2.28 billion, eight years behind schedule. Total ridership on the extension is estimated to reach 45,000 one-way trips per day in 2030. The project begins at the north end of the Lechmere Viaduct, where the former ground-level Lechmere station was replaced by an elevated station on an extended viaduct. The two branches split north of Lechmere, with the Union Square Branch following the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line right of way to Union Square station in Somerville. The Medford Branch follows the Lowell Line right-of-way to Medford/Tufts station with four intermediate stations. A new vehicle maintenance facility and storage yard is located in the Inner Belt District.


text: An extension of service beyond Lechmere was considered as early as 1922, with the first formal proposal in 1926. Despite appearing in other regional plans throughout the 20th century, the state did not commit to the project until 1990. Planning began in 2006 with a projected completion date of 2014; this was delayed to 2015, then to 2018. A groundbreaking was held in 2012, with several early construction elements over the next two years. The federal government committed $996 million of the $2.2 billion cost in 2014.


text: In 2015, with projected costs increased to $3.3 billion, the project was placed on hold. A revised plan, with more modest stations and other value engineering, was submitted in 2016 and approved in 2017. The main $1.08 billion design-build contract was issued in November 2017, with several optional items like platform canopies and a larger vehicle maintenance facility included. Construction began in 2018, with the old Lechmere station closed in May 2020. The new Lechmere station and Union Square Branch opened on March 21, 2022, while the Medford Branch opened on December 12, 2022.


text: In October 2013, MassDOT announced plans for a $1.3 billion subway car order for the Orange and Red Lines, which would replace and expand the existing car fleets and add more frequent service. The MassDOT Board awarded a $566.6 million contract to a China based manufacturer CNR (which became part of CRRC the following year) to build 404 replacement railcars for the Orange Line and Red Line. The other bidders were Bombardier Transportation, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Hyundai Rotem. CNR began assembling the cars at a new manufacturing plant in Springfield, Massachusetts, with initial deliveries expected in 2018 and all cars in service by 2023. The Board forwent federal funding to allow the contract to specify the cars be built in Massachusetts, in order to create a local railcar manufacturing industry. In addition to the new rolling stock, the $1.3 billion allocated for the project will pay for testing, signal improvements and expanded maintenance facilities, as well as other related expenses. Sixty percent of the car's components are sourced from the United States. Replacement of the signal systems, which will increase reliability and allow more frequent trains, was expected to be complete by 2022, with a total cost of $218 million for both lines. As of the end of 2022, the project was described by the MBTA as "48% complete"


text: There are several proposed extensions to current commuter rail lines. An extension of the Stoughton Line known as South Coast Rail is proposed to serve Fall River, and New Bedford. Critics argue that building the extension does not make economic sense.


text: A extension of the Providence Line past Providence to T. F. Green Airport and Wickford Junction in Rhode Island opened in 2012. The Rhode Island Department of Transportation is also studying the feasibility of serving existing Amtrak stations in Kingston and Westerly as well as constructing new stations in Cranston, East Greenwich, and West Davisville. Federal funding has also been provided for preliminary planning of a new station in Pawtucket.


text: In September 2009, CSX Transportation and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts finalized a $100 million agreement to purchase CSX's Framingham to Worcester tracks, as well as some other track, to improve service on the Framingham/Worcester Line. A liability issue that had held up the agreement was resolved. There is also a project underway to upgrade the Fitchburg Line to have cab signaling and to construct a second track along a run near Acton which is shared with freight traffic, so that the Fitchburg to Boston trip will be able to take only about an hour. Completion is expected in December 2015.


text: The state of New Hampshire created the New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority and allocated money to build platforms at Nashua and Manchester. An article in "The Eagle-Tribune" claimed that Massachusetts was negotiating to buy property which has the potential to extend the Haverhill Line to Plaistow, New Hampshire.


text: Massachusetts agreed in 2005 to make improvements on the Fairmount Line part of its legally binding commitment to mitigate increased air pollution from the Big Dig. These improvements, including four new infill stations, were supposed to be complete by December 31, 2011. The total cost of the project was estimated at $79.4 million, and it was expected to divert 220 daily trips from automobiles to transit. , three of the new stations were open; the fourth station has been delayed by community opposition. In 2014, the MBTA announce it would purchase Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) self-propelled rail cars for the Fairmount Line with eventual expansion to five other lines to be known as the Indigo Line. The planned DMU procurement was canceled in 2015.


text: No direct rail connection exists between North Station and South Station, effectively splitting the commuter rail network into separate pieces. A North–South Rail Link has been proposed to unite the two halves of the commuter rail system, to allow more convenient and efficient through-routed service. However, because of high cost, Massachusetts withdrew its sponsorship of the proposal in 2006, in communications with the United States Department of Transportation. Advocacy groups continue to press for the project as a better alternative than expanding South Station, which would also be costly but provide fewer overall improvements in service.


text: As one of the most expansive land owners throughout the Commonwealth, the MBTA established a joint public-private management agency for managing the MBTA's vast inventory of property holdings and land.


text: This allows the transit authority to work with entities to obtain right-of-way (ROW) grant on property which the MBTA administers. The agency assists with the processing of all ROW applications as efficiently and economically as possible, and authorizes these grants at the authorized officer’s discretion. Generally, the ROW is granted for an additional stream of revenue to the MBTA outside of normal fare revenue. The agency additionally facilitates persons or organizations wanting to provide concessions, or public advertising potential; or the awardance of property easements.


text: Occasionally sale of some surplus under-utilized public space under the MBTA real estate agency's responsibility are disposed of though bidding. This may include lands formerly in use as the state's streetcar network, equipment depots, electric substations, former railroad lines & yards or other properties. Given the vast long-haul rail routes, the MBTA further determined its desire to work with distance providers of telecom or utilities to provide authorization to use pieces of public land for ROW projects, including: renewable energy installs, electric power lines & energy corridors, optical fibre lines, communications sites, road, trail, canal, flume, pipeline or reservoir uses.


text: In 2015, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed new legislation creating a financial control board to oversee the MBTA, replacing the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's Board of Directors in the role of overseeing the transit authority. The Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB) started meeting in July 2015 and was charged with bringing financial stability to the agency. It reported to Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack. Three of the five members of the MBTA FMCB were also members of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The FMCB's term expired at the end of June 2021 and was not extended. It was dissolved and replaced by a new governing body known simply as the MBTA Board of Directors and consisting of seven members.


text: The Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation leads the executive management team of MassDOT in addition to serving in the Governor's Cabinet. The MBTA's executive management team is led by its General Manager, who is currently also serving as the MassDOT Rail and Transit Administrator, overseeing all public transit in the state.


text: The MBTA Advisory Board represents the cities and towns in the MBTA service district. The municipalities are assessed a total of $143M annually (). In return, the Advisory Board has veto power over the MBTA operating and capital budgets, including the power to reduce the overall amount.


text: The MBTA is headquartered in the State Transportation Building (10 Park Plaza) in Boston, with the operations control center at 45 High Street. The agency operates service from a number of bus garages, rail yards, and maintenance facilities. The MBTA maintains its own police force, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police, which has jurisdiction in MBTA facilities and vehicles.


text: Many MBTA employees are represented by unions, with a growing number of full-time non-union contractors. The largest union of the MBTA is the Carmen's Union (Local 589), representing bus and subway operators. This includes full and part-time bus drivers, motorpersons and streetcar motorpersons, full and part-time train attendants, and Customer Service Agents (CSAs). Further unions include the Machinists Union, Local 264; Electrical Workers Union, Local 717; the Welder's Union, Local 651; the Executive Union; the Office and Professional Employees International Union, Local 453; the Professional and Technical Engineers Union, Local 105; and the Office and Professional Employees Union, Local 6.


text: Within the authority, employees are ranked according to seniority (or "rating"). This is categorized by an employee's five or six-digit badge number, though some of the longest serving employees still have only three or four-digits. An employee's badge number indicates the relative length of employment with the MBTA; badges are issued in sequential order. The rating structure determines many different things, including the rank in which perks are to be offered to employee, such as: When offering the choice for quarter-annual route assignments ("picks"), overtime offerings, and even the rank to transfer new hires from part-time roles to a full-time role.


text: In 1951, the growing subway network was the setting of "A Subway Named Mobius", a science fiction short story written by the American astronomer Armin Joseph Deutsch. The tale described a Boston subway train which accidentally became a "phantom" by becoming lost in the fourth dimension, analogous to a topological Mobius strip. In 2001, a half-century later, the narrative was awarded a Retro Hugo Award for Best Short Story at the World Science Fiction Convention.


text: In 1959, the satirical song "M.T.A." (informally known as "Charlie on the MTA") was a hit single, as performed by the folksingers the Kingston Trio. It tells the absurd story of a passenger named Charlie, who cannot pay a newly imposed 5-cent exit fare, and thus remains trapped in the subway system. The song was still well known in 2006, when the MBTA named its new electronic farecards the "CharlieCard" and "CharlieTicket".


title: Shelby Bryan

text: John Shelby Bryan (born March 21, 1946) is an American telecommunications pioneer, futurist, business executive, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist.


title: Shelby Bryan

text: Bryan was born in Houston, Texas on March 21, 1946. He attended Mirabeau B. Lamar High School in Houston where he excelled in football and boxing. At the age of 16 he became one of the youngest Golden Gloves contenders. Bryan received from the University of Texas a B.A. in 1968 and a J.D. degree, graduating Phi Delta Phi in 1970. He was one of two law graduates in the United States chosen to work in Washington, DC for Ralph Nader, focusing on the passage of the Clean Water Act. In 1973, Bryan received an MBA from Harvard Business School.


title: Shelby Bryan

text: In 1973, Bryan joined Morgan Stanley in the mergers and acquisitions department. He left in 1977 and moved to Houston to form an oil and gas company, Austin Resources Corporation, and a bank holding company, with Ned Holmes, which became Prosperity Bank, one of the largest Texas-based banks.


title: Shelby Bryan

text: In 1980, Bryan moved back to New York to partner with Jan Stenbeck and set up a company, Millicom, to operate voice and data distribution which became cellular telephony. Bryan served as president of Millicom from 1981-1994. Millicom received one of the first three US cellular developmental licenses in 1981. In addition to operations in the United States, Millicom went on to form cellular joint ventures in over 20 countries throughout the world including Mexico, Hong Kong, the Soviet Union, the Philippines and Pakistan. One of the companies, Vodafone, was formed in partnership with the British company, Racal Electronics. The company, currently at a market capitalization in excess of $200 billion, is the second largest cellular company in the world.


title: Shelby Bryan

text: In 1981, Millicom formed a company, Microtel Communications, in partnership with British Aerospace and Pacific Telesis which was awarded by the British government a personal communications network “PCN” which competed with Vodafone. The service branded as Orange was later acquired by France Telecom which subsequently changed its name to Orange.


title: Shelby Bryan

text: In 1994, Bryan was asked to step in to replace the CEO of ICG Communications, which was in the midst of financial failure. Brought in by ICG's board of directors as a change agent, Bryan turned the failing company around by immediately replacing the management team with more experienced, higher caliber professionals and implementing a new business plan. He successfully raised more than $2 billion in financing, and from 1996–1999 revenues were raised 10 times from approximately $50 million to $500 million. By the end of 1999 ICG was carrying approximately 15% of the world's internet traffic. That historical improvement in revenues enabled the company to grow from 125 to more than 3,500 employees. At the time, ICG was one of the first telecom companies aggressively deploying fiber in metropolitan areas.


title: Shelby Bryan

text: Bryan saw the warning signs of the looming dot-com bust: an overbuilt, unpredictable industry that was over-funded. When he shared his concerns with the company's stakeholders, his prediction was very unpopular. Bryan stepped down from his role at ICG in 2000 when the company, like most of those in the Internet business, began to face difficult times during the dot-com meltdown.


title: Shelby Bryan

text: Following his departure from ICG, Bryan went on to form Pingtone Communications, one of the first VOIP (Voice over IP) companies in the United States. "BusinessWeek" currently lists Bryan as chairman and chief executive officer of the Washington, D.C.-based company.


title: Shelby Bryan

text: A supporter of Democratic politics Bryan served as the National Finance Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 1988-1989. He served on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 1999-2001.


title: Shelby Bryan

text: Bryan started boxing when he was 14 years old, and at age 16 became one of the youngest Golden Gloves contenders.


title: Shelby Bryan

text: Bryan and his first wife, Lucia, have two daughters, Ashley and Alexis. After divorcing Lucia, Bryan married his second wife Katherine, and had two sons, Austin and film director Jack. Three of his four children live in New York (Ashley, Austin and Jack), and Alexis lives in Beverly Hills.


title: Shelby Bryan

text: Bryan gained media attention in 1999 when he started an affair with renowned "Vogue" Editor in Chief, Anna Wintour. The two met at a Benefit Ball for the New York Ballet. Both Bryan and Wintour ended their marriages and lived together in New York's Greenwich Village. Bryan continues to maintain a residence in Houston. While he did accompany Wintour to high-profile fashion, cultural and fundraising events, Bryan intentionally flew "under the radar." The couple also enjoyed traveling and attending U.S. Open tennis matches. They split in 2020.


title: Shelby Bryan

text: Bryan was chairman of the Texas Chamber Orchestra, and is a financial contributor to New York's Metropolitan Opera, the Houston Fine Arts Museum, and the Houston Grand Opera. Bryan also served on the board of The Actors Studio in the late 1980s. His personal ties to the performing arts include a first cousin, Peter Masterson, who was co-author and director of the hit Broadway musical "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas". Another cousin, Horton Foote, won two Academy Awards for his screenplays as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. And Bryan himself, in 1983, co-produced the off-Broadway play "The Last of the Knucklemen".


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: The 64th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1991 in the United States and took place on March 30, 1992, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 23 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gil Cates and directed by Jeff Margolis. Actor Billy Crystal hosted the show for the third consecutive year. Three weeks earlier, in a ceremony held at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles on March 7, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Tom Hanks.


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: "The Silence of the Lambs" won five awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included "" with four awards, "Beauty and the Beast", "Bugsy", and "JFK" with two, and "City Slickers", "", "The Fisher King", "In the Shadow of the Stars", "Manipulation", "Mediterraneo", "Session Man", and "Thelma & Louise" with one. The telecast garnered more than 44 million viewers in the United States.


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: The nominees for the 64th Academy Awards were announced on February 19, 1992, at 5:38 a.m. PST (13:38 UTC) at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by Karl Malden, president of the Academy, and the actress Kathleen Turner. "Bugsy" led all nominees with ten nominations; "JFK" came in second with eight.


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on March 30, 1992. "The Silence of the Lambs" became the first horror film to win Best Picture and the first film to be released on home video prior to winning that award. Moreover, it was the third film to win the "Big Five" major categories for picture, directing, lead acting performances, and screenwriting. The other two films to achieve this feat were 1934's "It Happened One Night" and 1975's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". "Beauty and the Beast" became the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture. "Toy Story 3" and "Up" are the only two other animated films ever nominated for Best Picture. By virtue of her second win for Best Actress, Jodie Foster, at age 28 became the youngest person to win two Oscars. "Boyz n the Hood"'s John Singleton became the first African-American to be nominated for Best Director and the youngest nominee in that category. Nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress, respectively, Diane Ladd and Laura Dern became the first mother and daughter nominated in the same year.


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: Riding on the success of 63rd Academy Awards which won several Emmys, AMPAS rehired Gil Cates for the third consecutive year. He christened the 1992 ceremony with the theme "Pure Joy of the Movies" explaining that "Motion pictures provide us with laughter, romance, adventure and a deeper understanding of ourselves. With all the extraordinary events that are taking place today, it's wonderful that we can still get away to see a film."


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: A month before the festivities, Cates recruited actor and comedian Billy Crystal to host the ceremony for the third straight year. According to "Variety" columnist Army Archerd, Crystal planned to perform a bungee jump stunt as part of his entrance at the beginning of the ceremony. However, the act was scrapped due to high insurance costs for the Academy and Crystal coming down with the flu. Instead, Crystal, who was wearing Hannibal Lecter's mask from "The Silence of the Lambs", was hauled onto the stage by two men.


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: Several other people were involved in the production of the ceremony. Choreographer Debbie Allen supervised the Best Song nominee performances and the Best Original Score dance number. Film composer and musician Bill Conti served as musical director of the ceremony. In tandem with the theme of the ceremony, Chuck Workman produced a montage highlighting famous movie scenes from past and present.


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: At the time of the nominations announcement on February 19, the combined gross of the five Best Picture nominees at the US box office was $393 million with an average of $78.7 million per film. "The Silence of the Lambs" was the highest earner among the Best Picture nominees with $130.7 million in domestic box office receipts. The film was followed by "Beauty and the Beast" ($106.6 million), "The Prince of Tides" ($59.3 million), "JFK" ($58.1 million), and finally "Bugsy" ($38.9 million).


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: Of the 50 top-grossing movies of the year, 72 nominations went to 15 of them. Only "Silence of the Lambs" (3rd), "Beauty and the Beast" (6th), "Cape Fear" (10th), "The Prince of Tides" (18th), "JFK" (21st), "Boyz n the Hood" (22nd), "Thelma and Louise" (27th), "The Fisher King" (30th), and "Bugsy" (32nd) were nominated for Best Picture, directing, acting, or screenwriting. The other top 50 box office hits that earned nominations were "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1st), "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" (2nd), "Hook" (5th), "The Addams Family" (7th), "Backdraft" (12th), and "Star Trek VI: the Undiscovery Country" (13th).


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: Several days before the ceremony, LGBT activist groups such as Queer Nation and Out in Film announced plans to stage a protest outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The organizations were voicing their complaints regarding derogatory and unflattering portrayals of homosexuals in film such as "The Silence of the Lambs", "JFK", and the upcoming film "Basic Instinct". Queer Nation spokesman Rick Wilson said that the demonstrators "would stop cars from getting to the Oscars. It'll be a stall-in". Wilson also announced plans to disrupt the proceedings inside the theater. In response, producer Gil Cates stated, "Anyone can protest about anything they want outside the show." But he said that the standard, "generic response" to something happening during the ceremony on camera, "would be to cut to a commercial." Moreover, Academy spokesman Bob Werden reiterated that while security plans would not be as stringent as the previous year, firemen and police officers would be on hand in case of fallout from the protests.


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: On the day of the telecast, several protesters carried various signs that contained statements such as "Stop Hollywood's Homophobia" and "Hollywood Stop Censoring Our True Queer Lives." One man who had purchased tickets to the ceremony yelled statistics regarding AIDS in protest as John Candy was introducing a Best Song performance. The protester was immediately escorted out by security without any arrests, nor were his remarks heard during the broadcast.


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: The show received a positive reception from most media publications. "The New York Times" film critic Janet Maslin raved that the telecast was "uncharacteristically lively". She also praised host Crystal saying that his opening monologue "set the evening's clever and iconoclastic tone." Columnist Scott Williams of the Associated Press wrote that "Crystal was charming from the moment he was wheeled onstage and strolled into the audience wearing the face mask of the demonic Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter from "The Silence of the Lambs," which was named best picture." Ray Richmond from the "Orange County Register" commented that Crystal "is such a magnificent Oscar host that the job should be his as long as he wants it."


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 44.44 million people over its length, which was a 5% increase from the previous year's ceremony. The show also drew higher Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony with 29.84% of households watching over a 50.26 share. In addition, it also drew a higher 18–49 demo rating with a 20.71 rating over a 39.51 share among viewers in that demographic.


title: 64th Academy Awards

text: In July 1992, the ceremony presentation received nine nominations at the 44th Primetime Emmys. The following month, the ceremony won three of those nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Program (Hal Kanter, Buz Kohan, Billy Crystal, Marc Shaiman, David Steinberg, Robert Wuhl, Bruce Vilanch), Outstanding Music Direction (Bill Conti, Jack Eskew, Julie Giroux, Ashley Irwin, Hummie Mann), and Outstanding Costume Design for a Variety or Music Program (Raymond Aghayan).


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the Amador Valley, it is a suburb in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 79,871 at the 2020 census. In 2005 and 2007, Pleasanton was ranked the wealthiest middle-sized city in the United States by the Census Bureau. Pleasanton is home to the headquarters of Safeway, Workday, Ellie Mae, Roche Molecular Diagnostics, Blackhawk Network Holdings, and Veeva Systems. Other major employers include Kaiser Permanente, Oracle and Macy's. Although Oakland is the Alameda County seat, a few county offices are located in Pleasanton. The Alameda County Fairgrounds are located in Pleasanton, where the county fair is held during the last week of June and the first week of July. Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park is located on the west side of town.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Before the establishment of Pleasanton in the 1850s, an earlier settlement in the location was called Alisal. It was located on the lands of the Rancho Santa Rita near the site of an Indian ranchera, around the Francisco Solano Alviso Adobe, called "El Alisal" (The Sycamores), one of the earliest houses built in the valley in 1844. It is still standing and serves as the centerpiece of the Alviso Adobe Community Park. Alisal, nicknamed "The Most Desperate Town in the West", was one of the settlements located along "La Vereda del Monte" that was a haunt and refuge of bandits and desperados in the era following the beginning of the California Gold Rush. Main Street shootouts were not uncommon. Banditos such as Claudio Feliz and Joaquin Murrieta would ambush prospectors on their way back from the gold rush fields and then seek refuge in Alisal. In the 1860s Procopio, Narciso Bojorques and others took refuge there.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Pleasanton is located on the lands of the Rancho Valle de San José and Rancho Santa Rita Mexican land grants. Its name was chosen in the 1860s by John W. Kottinger, an Alameda County justice of the peace, after his friend, Union army cavalry Major General Alfred Pleasonton. A typographical error by a recording clerk in Washington, D.C., apparently led to the current spelling.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: In 1917, Pleasanton was the backdrop for the film "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm", starring Mary Pickford. The town was once home to Phoebe Apperson Hearst, who lived in a 50-room mansion on a estate, now the site of Castlewood Country Club.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Radum Plant was a sand and gravel plant opened in 1931 by Henry J. Kaiser Co., at Radum train station, one mile east of Pleasanton.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Pleasanton is adjacent to Hayward, Livermore, and Dublin. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.63%) is water. On the east side of town on Stanley Blvd. near the Livermore border is Shadow Cliffs Regional Park, a lake that permits swimming, fishing, and boating. On the west side is the Pleasanton Ridge with two parks, Pleasanton Ridge and Augustin Bernal Park. Much of Pleasanton is drained by the Arroyo Valle and Arroyo Mocho watercourses. Pleasanton lies along the route of the historic First transcontinental railroad.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Pleasanton features a Mediterranean climate, featuring hot, dry summers and mild to cool winters with occasional rainfall (Köppen climate classification Csa). The highest recorded temperature was 115 °F (46 °C) in 1950. The lowest recorded temperature was 17 °F (−8 °C) in 1990.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: The 2020 United States Census reported that Pleasanton had a population of 79,871. The population density was . The racial makeup of Pleasanton was 47,058 (67.0%) White, 1,190 (1.7%) African American, 226 (0.3%) Native American, 16,322 (23.2%) Asian, 134 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 2,002 (2.8%) from other races, and 3,353 (4.8%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7,264 persons (10.3%).


title: Pleasanton, California

text: The Census reported that 69,829 people (99.4% of the population) lived in households, 320 (0.5%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 136 (0.2%) were institutionalized.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: There were 25,245 households, out of which 10,785 (42.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 16,206 (64.2%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 2,024 (8.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 948 (3.8%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 887 (3.5%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 156 (0.6%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. Of the households, 4,860 (19.3%) were made up of individuals, and 1,853 (7.3%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77. There were 19,178 families (76.0% of all households); the average family size was 3.20.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: The population was spread out, with 19,024 people (27.1%) under the age of 18, 4,378 people (6.2%) aged 18 to 24, 17,257 people (24.6%) aged 25 to 44, 21,965 people (31.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 7,661 people (10.9%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.0 males.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: There were 26,053 housing units at an average density of , of which 25,245 were occupied, of which 17,891 (70.9%) were owner-occupied, and 7,354 (29.1%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.9%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.1%. 51,839 people (73.8% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 17,990 people (25.6%) lived in rental housing units.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Pleasanton experienced a major economic boom starting in the early 1980s, largely associated with the development of a number of business parks, the largest of which is the Hacienda Business Park. These host a number of campus-like clusters of low-rise and medium-rise office buildings. Pleasanton has been successful in attracting a number of corporate headquarters, such as those of Safeway, Blackhawk Network Holdings, Workday, Simpson Manufacturing, The Cooper Companies and Shaklee. Despite an increase in office space vacancy rates in 2000–2004, economic development has remained strong through the middle of the decade.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Pleasanton was also the headquarters of the former PeopleSoft, Inc. (which was acquired by Oracle Corporation), Documentum (which was acquired by EMC Corporation), Thoratec (now part of Abbott), E-Loan (which was acquired by Popular), Spreckels Sugar Company (which was acquired by Imperial Holly), Ross Stores (which moved to nearby Dublin in 2014), Patelco Credit Union (also moved to Dublin) and the home loan operation of Providian (which was acquired by Washington Mutual, itself later acquired by JPMorgan Chase). Oracle occupies two buildings of the former PeopleSoft campus, and is the fourth-largest employer in Pleasanton, behind Workday, Safeway and Kaiser Permanente. In addition, Pleasanton is the site of a large AT&T campus.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Other companies with major operations in Pleasanton include Hitachi High Technologies America, Inc., Cisco Systems, QASource, Sage Software (Accpac, etc.), CooperVision, Clorox, Fireside Bank (closed in 2012), Roche, BMC Software, Zoho Corporation, Applied Biosystems, EMC Corporation, Portrait Displays, Inc. and Broadcom Inc.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: In retail operations, Pleasanton has one major regional mall (Stoneridge Shopping Center) and a number of other shopping centers. Besides the anchor tenants Macy's and JC Penney at Stoneridge, notable large stores elsewhere in the city include Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and Kohl's.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: In addition to the business parks and retail centers, Pleasanton is known for its lively downtown, which is home to a number of fine-dining, casual, and ethnic restaurants, specialty retailers, and service businesses. A redesign of Main Street in the 1990s emphasized pedestrian traffic and outdoor dining.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: In 2005, the median household income in Pleasanton was $101,022, the highest income for any city with a population between 65,000 and 249,999 people. Similarly, for 2007, the median household income rose to $113,345, also the highest in the category. According to City-Data.com, the median household income had risen to $121,622 by 2013, compared to a statewide median of $60,190.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: According to the Bay East Association of Realtors, the median price of a detached single family home was $1,795,000 as of August 2021. According to Zillow.com, the median home value in Pleasanton was $1,500,415 as of September 2021.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Pleasanton maintains regular events for the community. Every Saturday morning a farmers' market sets up on Angela, off Main Street. There are several parades during the year, commemorating Christmas, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day, as well as kicking off the beginning of the Alameda County Fair and soccer season.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Beginning in the late 1990s, the Pleasanton Downtown Association organized the popular "First Wednesday" celebrations from May through September of each year. On the first Wednesday of summer months, Main Street was blocked to traffic and adopted a street fair atmosphere. Each First Wednesday celebration was given a theme and planned with related activities. At this local event, businesses and organizations from downtown and around the Tri-Valley set up booths in the center of the street. A local band performed in the Inklings coffee house parking lot, which was closed off for dancing. The parking lot was also set up as a beergarden, with beer and wine available for consumption. In 2017, the association announced it was discontinuing the events, and was considering other types of events in future years.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Another Pleasanton Downtown Association tradition is the "Friday Concerts in the Park" series. Every Friday from June until September the PDA schedules different local bands to perform in the evenings at the Lions' Wayside Park off of First Street. The events are free of charge and draw a crowd. Additional seating for 'Concerts in the Park' is available at Delucchi Park, at the intersection of First Street and Neal Street.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: The Alameda County Fairgrounds is a facility located in Pleasanton. It is home to the annual Alameda County Fair, held since 1912, as well as numerous trade shows and community events including but not limited to the Scottish Games which occur annually on Labor Day weekend. Located on its grounds, the Pleasanton Fairgrounds Racetrack was built in 1858, making it the oldest horse racing track in the United States. There is a 3,000 seat amphitheater, as well as a nine-hole golf course located within the track's infield.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: The Alameda County Central Railroad Society has maintained a model train exhibit at the fairgrounds since 1959.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: The Firehouse Arts Center, opened in 2010, is a center of culture and art for Pleasanton. It features a 221-seat theater, the Harrington art gallery, and classrooms for art and drama.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Hacienda del Pozo de Verona (The House of the Wellhead of Verona) was destroyed in a fire in 1969. The house was built by architect A. C. Schweinfurth for Phoebe Hearst in 1898.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Pleasanton operates under a council–manager form of municipal government. The council consists of four elected at-large representatives and one directly elected mayor. The councilors are each elected to a four-year term, while the mayor serves a two-year term. Council and mayoral elections are non-partisan. Starting in 2022, Council elections are divided into 4 different municipal districts. The vice mayor is appointed each calendar year by the mayor. The mayor and council members are limited to a maximum term of eight years.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: The city council consists of: Karla Brown (mayor), Valerie Arkin, Jack Balch, Kathy Narum, and Julie Testa. The city manager is Gerry Beaudin.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Pleasanton has 44,099 registered voters with 17,021 (39.2%) registered as Democrats, 11,338 (25.7%) registered as Republicans, and 13,867 (31.4%) Decline to State voters.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: In the majority of Pleasanton, the public schools are part of the Pleasanton Unified School District. Pleasanton USD formed in 1988 when the school districts of Pleasanton and Dublin unified along city lines. A very small portion of Pleasanton is in the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Pleasanton's two comprehensive high schools, Amador Valley and Foothill, are ranked by "Niche" among the top 200 public high schools in the nation. Pleasanton also has a Continuation high school, Village High School. As of 2021, the district also contained three middle schools, nine elementary schools, one preschool, and an adult education program.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: The "Pleasanton Weekly" is a local newspaper. Tri-Valley Community Television operates their sole station in Pleasanton.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Pleasanton is situated at the crossroads of two major Interstate Highways, I-580 and I-680, which mirror the historic cross-routes of Native American tribes who used the precursor paths as major trading routes. This fact was first discovered with the excavations for Hacienda Business Park, revealing significant tribal artifacts and human skeletal remains.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: The city is served by two stations on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) heavy rail system's Dublin/Pleasanton–Daly City line, which runs along the northern boundary of the city:


title: Pleasanton, California

text: The Wheels (LAVTA) bus transit system is the primary provider of bus service in Pleasanton (with numerous routes in the city), and connects Pleasanton to Livermore and Dublin, along with the above three stations.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Express routes from Pleasanton Station and Dublin/Pleasanton (BART station) to San Ramon and Walnut Creek are provided by County Connection.


title: Pleasanton, California

text: Pleasanton's closest airport is Livermore Municipal Airport, which is primarily used for general aviation and charter flights; there is no regularly-scheduled commercial service. The closest commercial airports are San Jose International Airport, which is reachable by the Altamont Corridor Express, and Oakland International Airport, which can be reached directly through BART. The vast majority of international flights serving the region operate from San Francisco International Airport, also accessible via BART.


title: Edmond Dantès

text: Edmond Dantès () is a title character and the protagonist of Alexandre Dumas's 1844 adventure novel "The Count of Monte Cristo". Within the story's narrative, Dantès is an intelligent, honest and loving man who turns bitter and vengeful after he is framed for a crime he did not commit. When Dantès finds himself free and enormously wealthy, he takes it upon himself to reward those who have helped him in his plight and punish those responsible for his years of suffering. He is known by the aliases The Count of Monte Cristo (), Sinbad the Sailor ("Sinbad le Marin"), Abbé Busoni and Lord Wilmore.


title: Edmond Dantès

text: When the reader is first introduced to Edmond Dantès, he arrives in Marseille as first mate aboard the merchant ship "Le Pharaon" (The Pharaoh). At only 19 years old, the young Dantès seems destined for success. Although the trip was successful, the former Captain, Leclère, has fallen ill and died. Dantès relays these events to his patron, M. Morrel, who tells Dantès that he will try to have him named captain. Dantès rushes off to see his father and then his beloved, the young Catalan woman Mercédès, and the two agree to be married immediately.


title: Edmond Dantès

text: The marriage never occurs, however. On the very night of their nuptial feast, Dantès is arrested as a suspected Bonapartist, a helper to Napoléon, and taken to see the public prosecutor, Gérard de Villefort. Edmond had been anonymously and falsely denounced by Danglars, Edmond's shipmate over whom he was promoted, and Fernand Mondego, a rival suitor for Mercédès' hand. Prosecutor De Villefort concludes that Edmond is innocent, and assures him that he will be released. He then asks for a piece of evidence cited in a letter denouncing Edmond to the authorities. The letter claims that on Edmond's last voyage, he made a stopover at the island of Elba, and received a letter from the deposed Emperor Napoléon. Edmond hands over the letter, which he received in the name of Captain Leclère, and of which the contents are unknown to Edmond. De Villefort throws the letter on the fire for the letter is addressed to his father. Once again he promises Edmond's speedy release. De Villefort has renounced his father, a staunch Bonapartist, and destroyed the letter to protect himself, not Edmond; to further protect his name, de Villefort sentences Edmond to imprisonment in the dreaded Chateau d'If, an island fortress from which no prisoner had ever escaped, and to which the most dangerous political prisoners are sent.


title: Edmond Dantès

text: After six long years in solitary confinement in the dungeons of the Chateau, Edmond decides to commit suicide by starving himself. Fearing he will be forced to eat, he throws out his food in secrecy. After nearly six months, he hears scratching against the wall of his cell. Curiosity about the source of the noise inspires him to begin eating again. He taps on his wall several times, and when the scratching stops, he concludes that it is a prisoner trying to escape. He then uses the saucepan on which his food is served to begin digging where he heard the scratching before in hopes that it was another prisoner digging his way to freedom. Dantès eventually breaks through enough of the wall that he is able to exchange a brief greeting with an old Italian abbé named Faria, sometimes called the "Mad Priest", who had indeed been attempting to dig to freedom.


title: Edmond Dantès

text: The two prisoners become very close, with the learned priest teaching Dantès all he knows about reading, mathematics, science, languages, philosophy, history, sword fighting, and economics. Together, they determine who betrayed Edmond, and although Faria disapproves, Edmond plans vengeance against his betrayers. The two spend years digging a tunnel to freedom, but Faria dies before they can escape. Before Abbe Faria died, he revealed to Edmond a secret treasure, hidden on the island of Monte Cristo. That night, Edmond exchanges himself for his mentor in the priest's bodybag, and escapes from the prison. The jailers, rather than burying prisoners, toss them over the fortress' wall into the sea, weighted with an iron ball chained around the legs. Using a knife made from a sharpened crucifix, Edmond frees himself and reaches the surface. Edmond swims to a small island nearby to seek refuge from the storm for the night. The next day, he swims out to sea as a smuggling ship passes by and is rescued under the pretense of being a shipwreck victim. Edmond soon suggests a stopover and trading of goods at the small island of Monte Cristo, during which he confirms that Faria's treasure exists. On this and subsequent visits, Edmond becomes wealthy.


title: Edmond Dantès

text: Upon returning to Marseille, Edmond learns that his father had died of hunger and that Mercédès had married Fernand 8 months after he was supposedly executed for treason. His old neighbour Gaspard Caderousse is still alive, and—under the guise of the Abbé Busoni—Edmond visits him to learn more. Caderousse tells him that Morrel had tried to obtain a fair trial for Edmond, and how Mercédès pleaded for his release. He also learns that those who had remained loyal to him had suffered greatly, while those who had betrayed him had prospered. Edmond thanks Caderousse for the information, paying him with a large diamond that he said had come into Edmond's possession while in prison. Realizing that only Morrel had remained loyal, Edmond creates three disguises — an Englishman named Lord Wilmore, a clerk from the banking firm Thomson and French, and Sinbad the Sailor — and uses them to save Morrel from bankruptcy and suicide. Edmond then goes into hiding, spending nine years reforming himself as the Count of Monte Cristo.


title: Edmond Dantès

text: Edmond emerges into Parisian society as the mysterious and sophisticated Count of Monte Cristo. Having purchased the deed to the island from whence he obtained his treasure, Edmond is able to place himself in the upper strata of Parisian society and assume the role of one of the most influential men in all of France. As such, he is introduced to several other powerful men, most notably Danglars, who is now a wealthy banker; Mondego, who is now Count de Morcerf and a military hero; and M. Villefort, who is now the "procureur du roi", one of the most powerful advocates in the country. Furthermore, Mondego has married Mercédès, and the two have a son named Albert. Having established himself in Parisian society, and having distanced himself from Edmond Dantès, the Count is able to formulate his plans of revenge against the men who betrayed him. By the end of the novel, Edmond had exacted his revenge on all of the men who would have seen him rot in prison. He exposes Villefort and Mondego for their part in the conspiracy, ruining their respective reputations and bringing the police down upon them; Villefort goes insane, and Mondego commits suicide. Danglars is, for a time, captured by the Italian bandit Luigi Vampa, made to understand Edmond's suffering, and stripped of all of his wealth. Edmond, at the end of the novel, departs with Haydée (previously enslaved by Mondego and liberated by Edmond), leaving with words of immortal wisdom: "to wait and hope".


title: Edmond Dantès

text: James O'Neill, father of playwright Eugene, performed the title role over 6,000 times during his career. Edmond Dantès has been portrayed on film many times by actors such as George Dolenz, Robert Donat, Jean Marais, Louis Jourdan, Gérard Depardieu, Richard Chamberlain, and, most recently, Jim Caviezel. Dantès has also been portrayed on stage, including in a musical adaptation of the novel.


title: Edmond Dantès

text: In the Japanese animated television series "", he is voiced by Jōji Nakata in the Japanese version and by Jamieson Price in the English dub.


title: Edmond Dantès

text: There are also at least three adaptations into television soap operas, the last of which being the 2006 Mexican series "Montecristo".


title: Edmond Dantès

text: In 2011, ABC debuted the television drama "Revenge", billed as a loose adaptation of Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo". In it, the character of Dantès is envisioned as a female protagonist by the name of Emily Thorne (portrayed by actress Emily VanCamp).


title: Edmond Dantès

text: He is portrayed as an Avenger-class Servant in the popular mobile game, "Fate/Grand Order", where his character is designed for the game by Rui Komatsuzaki and voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki.


title: Edmond Dantès

text: Craig Horner portrays the Count of Monte Cristo in the second episode of the sixth season of "Once Upon a Time". In the series, Edmond seeks revenge on Baron Danglars for burning down his village and murdering his fiancée. Edmond manages to kill him at a party. Afterwards, he is approached by the Evil Queen Regina who was impressed with his vengeance and hires Edmond to kill Snow White and Prince Charming. Edmond poses as a victim of the Queen and becomes Snow and Charming's wine steward, but he is hesitant to kill them after he discovers they are nice people. Edmond nonetheless prepares to poison the royal couple. As Rumplestiltskin needs them alive for his own purposes, he poisons Snow and Charming's handmaiden Charlotte, whom Edmond has fallen in love with, with poison from the Agrabahn Vipers. This forces Edmond to take Charlotte to the Land of Untold Stories where their story "cannot play out". Years later, the Evil Queen has redeemed but because of Dr. Jekyll's serum, Regina and the Queen are two separate people. Edmond is among the inhabitants of the Land of Untold Stories that are emigrated to Storybrooke with Charlotte dying from the poison. The Evil Queen takes Edmond's heart to try to force him to kill Snow and Charming. This left Regina with no choice but to kill Edmond by throwing her sword into his back.


title: Edmond Dantès

text: Edmond Dantès was referenced in the final scenes of "V for Vendetta" (2005); protagonist Evey Hammond describes terrorist V as Edmond Dantès after he martyrs himself to bring down the tyrannical Norsefire government. Earlier in the movie, V and Evey watch the 1934 film adaptation of "The Count of Monte Cristo", which V states is his favourite movie.


title: Edmond Dantès

text: The story of Dantès' imprisonment in the Château d'If was likely inspired by the imprisonment of Gen. Thomas-Alexandre Dumas (Alexandre Dumas, "père"s own father) in a dungeon fortress in Taranto, Italy, in 1799–1801.


title: Mirroring

text: Mirroring is the behavior in which one person subconsciously imitates the gesture, speech pattern, or attitude of another. Mirroring often occurs in social situations, particularly in the company of close friends or family, often going unnoticed by both parties.The concept often affects other individuals' notions about the individual that is exhibiting mirroring behaviors, which can lead to the individual building rapport with others.


title: Mirroring

text: Mirroring is distinct from conscious imitation under the premise that while the latter is a conscious, typically overt effort to copy another person, mirroring is unconsciously done during the act and often goes unnoticed. It has also been described as the "chameleon effect".


title: Mirroring

text: The display of mirroring often begins as early as infancy, as babies begin to mimic individuals around them and establish connections with particular body movements. The ability to mimic another person's actions allows the infant to establish a sense of empathy and thus begin to understand another person's emotions. The infant continues to establish connections with other individual's emotions and subsequently mirror their movements.


title: Mirroring

text: Mirroring can establish rapport with the individual who is being mirrored, as the similarities in nonverbal gestures allow the individual to feel more connected with the person exhibiting the mirrored behavior. As the two individuals in the situation display similar nonverbal gestures, they may believe that they share similar attitudes and ideas as well. Mirror neurons react to and cause these movements, allowing the individuals to feel a greater sense of engagement and belonging within the situation.


title: Mirroring

text: Mirroring generally takes place unconsciously as individuals react with the situation. Mirroring is common in conversation, as the listeners will typically smile or frown along with the speaker, as well as imitate body posture or attitude about the topic. Individuals may be more willing to empathize with and accept people whom they believe hold similar interests and beliefs, and thus mirroring the person with whom one is speaking may establish connections between the individuals involved.


title: Mirroring

text: Additionally, mirroring may play a role in how well an individual fares in a job interview. Within a study conducted by Word, Zanna and Cooper, interviewers were instructed to follow specific types of body language in different experimental conditions. In one condition, interviewers were instructed to demonstrate distant and uninterested body language (such as leaning away or avoiding eye contact), and in another condition, they were asked to demonstrate more welcoming body language (such as smiling and making eye contact). As a result, the individuals being interviewed began to mirror the actions of the interviewer, and thus the individuals in the condition with less friendly body language fared worse within the interview than did individuals in the friendly condition. The study demonstrates that the initial attitudes that an interviewer may have of the individual being interviewed may affect the performance of the interviewee due to mirroring.


title: Mirroring

text: Individuals with autism or other social difficulties may be less likely to exhibit mirroring, as they may be less unconsciously and consciously aware of the actions of others. This factor may cause additional difficulties for the individuals, as without mirroring, establishing connections with other people may be more difficult. Additionally, other individuals may be less likely to build rapport with the person, as without mirroring the person may seem more dissimilar and less friendly. Individuals who are not unconsciously aware of the gesture may have difficulties in social situations, as they may be less able to understand another person's perspective without it being explicitly stated, and thus may not understand covert cues that are often used in the social world. It is possible for autistic individuals to deliberately learn and become aware of these cues.


title: Mirroring

text: The use of noninvasive fMRI studies have shown that there is evidence of mirroring in humans similar to that found in monkeys in the inferior parietal lobe and part of the inferior frontal gyrus. Humans show additional signs of mirroring in parts of the brain not observed to show mirroring properties in primates, such as the cerebellum. Mirroring has also been shown to allow neurotypical children to understand what the intentions of an action are before seeing the entire sequence. Because of this, a child can see someone pick up food with the intention to eat and fire all necessary motor chains needed for them to pick up their own food and go through the motions of eating it as well. It has been shown that children with autism lack this motor chain reaction and are thought to use other senses, such as visual or somatosensory, to accomplish similar tasks.


title: Mirroring

text: In infant-parent interactions, mirroring consists of the parent imitating the infant's expressions while vocalizing the emotion implied by the expression. This imitation helps the infant to associate the emotion with their expression, as well as feel validated in their own emotions as the parent shows approval through imitation. Studies have demonstrated that mirroring is an important part of child and infant development. According to Kohut's theories of self-psychology, individuals need a sense of validation and belonging in order to establish their concepts of self. When parents mirror their infants, the action may help the child develop a greater sense of self-awareness and self-control, as they can see their emotions within their parent's faces. Additionally, infants may learn and experience new emotions, facial expressions, and gestures by mirroring expressions that their parents utilize. The process of mirroring may help infants establish connections of expressions to emotions and thus promote social communication later in life. Infants also learn to feel secure and valid in their own emotions through mirroring, as the parent's imitation of their emotions may help the child recognize their own thoughts and feelings more readily.


title: Mirroring

text: Mirroring has been shown to play a critical role in the development of an infant's notion of self. The importance of mirroring suggests that infants primarily gather their social skills from their parents, and thus a household that lacks mirroring may inhibit the child's social development. Without mirroring, it may be difficult for the child to relate their emotions to socially learned expressions and thus have a difficult experience in expressing their own emotions.


title: Mirroring

text: The inability to properly mirror other individuals may strain the child's social relationships later in life. This strain may exist because others may feel more distant from the child due to a lack of rapport, or because the child may have a difficult time feeling empathy for others without mirroring. Mirroring helps to facilitate empathy, as individuals more readily experience other people's emotions through mimicking posture and gestures. Mirroring also allows individuals to subjectively feel the pain of others when viewing injuries. This empathy may help individuals create lasting relationships and thus excel in social situations. The action of mirroring allows individuals to believe they are more similar to another person, and perceived similarity can be the basis for creating a relationship. As such, mirroring values is also important.


title: Mirroring

text: Rapport may be an important part of social life, as establishing rapport with an individual is generally the initial route to becoming friends or acquaintances with another person. Mirroring can help establish rapport, as exhibiting similar actions, attitudes, and speech patterns as another person may lead them to believe that one is more similar to them and thus more likely to be a friend. Individuals may believe that because one replicates the individual's gestures, that one may hold similar beliefs and attitudes as the individual. Mirroring may be more pervasive in close friendships or romantic relationships, as the individuals regard each other highly and thus wish to emulate or appease them. Additionally, individuals who are friends may have more similarities than two strangers, and thus may be more likely to exhibit similar body language regardless of mirroring.


title: Mirroring

text: The activation of mirror neurons takes place within the individual who begins to mirror another's movements and allows them a greater connection and understanding with the individual who they are mirroring, as well as allowing the individual who is being mirrored to feel a stronger connection with the other individual.


title: Mirroring

text: Additionally, individuals are likely to mirror the person of higher status or power within the situation. Mirroring individuals of higher power may create an illusion of higher status, or create rapport with the individual in power, thus allowing the person to gain favor with the individual in power. This mechanism may be helpful for individuals in situations where they are in a position of bargaining with an individual who possesses more power, as the rapport that mirroring creates may help to persuade the higher status individual to help the person of lower status. These situations include job interviews, other work situations such as requesting promotions, parent-child interactions and asking professors for favors. Each of these situations involves one party who is in a less powerful position for bargaining and another party who has the ability to fulfill the person of lower status's needs but may not necessarily wish to. Thus, mirroring can be a useful tool for individuals of lower status in order to persuade the other party to provide goods or privileges for the lower status party.


title: SafeMoon

text: SafeMoon LLC is a cryptocurrency and blockchain company created in March 2021. The company also has a SafeMoon token (SFM) which trades on the Binance Smart Chain blockchain. The token charges a 10% fee on transactions, with 5% redistributed (or "reflected") to token holders and 5% directed to wallets in a different currency, Binance Coin (BNB), controlled by the coin's authors. The token reached its all time high market cap in May 2021 at $10.9b. As of October 2022, it has since dropped 85% in value to $290m.


title: SafeMoon

text: The SafeMoon company has released a minimal function cryptocurrency wallet and has announced plans to release other cryptocurrency products. The company and the token have been the subject of several controversies since conception; by being compared to a "ponzi-scheme", not delivering on products, having multiple class-action lawsuit filed against them, and facing serious fraud allegations.


title: SafeMoon

text: SafeMoon was released in March 2021. A compound of "Safe" and "Moon". The token was released with the slogan of landing "Safely to the moon", derived from the slang phrase used in the cryptocurrency community; "To the moon" which is used to describe a crypto token "to quickly rise in price". The token had no utility and team when it was launched. Upon release, "Vice" reported that between March 14 and April 21 of 2021, SafeMoon increased in value by 23,225% following celebrity endorsements from musicians Lil' Yachty and Nick Carter, YouTuber Logan Paul, social media hype, new exchange listings, and retail investors. At that time, "Vice" said that "cryptocurrencies like SafeMoon still have no real-world use." These celebrities were later sued by many SafeMoon investors as part of a class-action lawsuit branding SafeMoon to be a part of a pump and dump scheme. After the substantial rise in price, the unknown developers of the token appointed Braden John Karony as the CEO of Safemooon and registered as a Limited liability company with aims of providing utility to the token. Before this appointment, Karony served as a former analyst for the United States Department of Defense from January 2015 to January 2021.


title: SafeMoon

text: In May 2021, SafeMoon announced making a presentation to The Gambia to provide "technology for innovation and learning purposes". The project was dubbed "Project Pheonix" (the misspelling of Phoenix being intentional), SafeMoon released a familiar crypto pitch of serving the "unbanked" and claimed to be working with local governments to adopt the token as a local currency. A company run by John Karony's mother ECG LC, was set up in May 2021 to deliver this project. On August 27, 2022, John stated that his reasons for discontinuing his work in West Africa were due to supply chain problems, which is disputed by his mother in the ongoing Project Pheonix lawsuit.


title: SafeMoon

text: In June 2021, the project began beta testing of the SafeMoon wallet. The app was officially released on Google Play in September 2021 and the App Store in October 2021. Critics dubbed the wallet to be a copy of the Trust Wallet owned by Binance. Thomas Smith, who was the CTO for Safemoon, left the company in December 2021 for a role as a blockchain advisor for StrikeX, however, was dismissed by the company after the fraud allegations uncovered by Stephen Findeisen.


title: SafeMoon

text: In December 2021, SafeMoon developed Version 2 of their token (SafeMoon V2), an updated version of the SafeMoon contract. As part of consolidating to V2, the SafeMoon team implemented a deadline to migrate their tokens, or else investors would be faced with a 100% tax. The team also released a decentralised exchange titled "Safemoon Swap" as the only place where this migration could happen. In April 2022, Safemoon announced a new product, the Safemoon card. The Safemoon card was promoted as a debit card that can be used to pay for goods using SafeMoon (and other cryptocurrencies) for a 2.5% fee. Some experts criticised paying an additional fee to pay for goods, contrasting it to Crypto.com's card which instead rewards users with a percentage return in crypto depending on how much of their native token they are holding.


title: SafeMoon

text: Since the appointment of Karony in 2021, SafeMoon has announced plans to launch its own cryptocurrency exchange by October 2021, a blockchain, hardware wallet, and to become a macro Internet of things infrastructure on its own blockchain.


title: SafeMoon

text: The token has been described pejoratively in May 2021 as a "meme coin" alongside Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, with much of its value attributed to the result of the 2021 crypto market frenzy.


title: SafeMoon

text: The developers of SafeMoon have been described as having "little proof of previous success", with the token having been described by some financial experts as "the furthest thing from safe" and that it "doesn't do anything".


title: SafeMoon

text: In May 2021, the V1 version of the token was audited by security auditing firm CertiK, which identified a "major issue" that the project's owners have "control over tokens funded by SafeMoon's seller fee". An owner address acquire's the liquidity pool tokens generated by the Safemoon-BNB pool. This gives the owner control over tokens funded by Safemoon's seller fee. This feature was later the subject of the 2022 Safemoon fraud allegations. London Capital's head of research Jasper Lawler also noted that the Manual Burn aspect of Safemoon paired with the controlling companies' large stake in the coins opens the project up to manipulation by the project controllers.


title: SafeMoon

text: After the price of a SafeMoon token multiplied by 12x during a single week in April 2021, opinion columnists in various financial magazines likened SafeMoon to a ponzi scheme or pyramid scheme, where gains to early investors were paid only by incoming investors who expected a similar rate of return, with some citing the fact that each transaction sends a portion of the transacted value to existing holders of the token, as well as a portion of the transacted value to a wallet controlled by the coin's authors. Furthermore, Safemoon's token economics utilises a 10% sell tax. This means that for every $1000 sale, an investor would be charged $100. Many critics argue that this discourages investors to sell as they are at a loss as soon as they invest. The tax from the new investors is used for many things including distributing it to existing investors.


title: SafeMoon

text: In April 2022, Stephen "Coffeezilla" Findeisen, a prominent independent researcher who investigates crypto scams accused the SafeMoon team for misappropriating millions of dollars. According to Findeisen, Safemoon CEO Karony, has been removing funds from the liquidity pool which is the primary explanation of the crypto's price pattern. Findeisen found evidence of transactions which showed Safemoon's liquidity wallet moving funds to a wallet dubbed the "Gabe (6abe) wallet" which withdrew funds to a separate company run by John Karony. Former SafeMoon CTO; Thomas "Papa" Smith was the only person who responded to Findeisen's claims stating that funds were taken from the “locked liquidity pool” before Karony’s appointment. He sent Smith evidence of this in the form of a blockchain transaction showing an outflow of 36.7 trillion tokens from the liquidity pool, dated March 5, 2021.


title: SafeMoon

text: On February 18, 2022, in a class-action lawsuit filed against the SafeMoon that alleged the company is a pump and dump scheme, Paul was named as a defendant along with musician Nick Carter, rappers Soulja Boy and Lil Yachty, and social media personality Ben Phillips for promoting the SafeMoon token on their social media accounts with misleading information. On the same day, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a lawsuit against Bitconnect that the Securities Act of 1933 extends to targeted solicitation using social media. Findeisen, who had just shone a light on the 2022 SafeMoon fraud allegations supported the claims that Paul and Phillips were pumping and dumping Safemoon tokens during this time which saw a decline of 96% in token price. On August 22, 2022, it was documented that David Portnoy, who was also a defendant in this case, was dismissed from the lawsuit after it was revealed that he never received any compensation from Safemoon for promoting the token and that he also lost his investment from buying SFM.


title: SafeMoon

text: In May 2022, multiple SafeMoon investors filed another class action lawsuit against SafeMoon for security fraud. The lawsuit which is represented by Scott+Scott is one of many active lawsuits currently ongoing.


title: SafeMoon

text: As part of "Project Pheonix", a separate company "Emanations Communications Group LC (ECG)" was set up and led by Safemoon CEO John Karony's mother, Jennifer, to provide antenna technology to The Gambia. The company has since been seized by Lex Vest Ltd. As part of this venture, John invested $5 million into the project in June 2021. It was claimed that Karony funded this investment from Safemoon's liquidity pool which was supposedly locked up. As part of this capital investment John agreed 33.34% stake in the company & future profits, as well as his own personal bills, to come out of the company. ECG determined that John Karony created too many regulatory risks and that due to multiple lawsuits filed against him and his company (Safemoon), were uncomfortable accepting any more capital investments from him. As a result, John Karony filed a lawsuit against ECG for breach of contract and accused his mother of legal trickery to remove him from ECG.


title: SafeMoon

text: ECG developed technology relating to "Project Pheonix" which was presented to John in December 2021. According to court documents, John had been disclosing information about developing technology for the benefit of SafeMoon to make claims on SafeMoon’s website and social media accounts about the technology. He was counselled not to do so by ECG (particularly his mother) because of potential adverse effects on pending patents and other intellectual property. In March 2022, John and his counsel met with "Project Pheonix" partners Sankung Jawara and Pa Alieu Jawara, and offered them an upfront payment of $350,000 to cut Jennifer Karony out of the transaction, which they refused. John then negotiated an offer to pay them of up to $4.5 million, to be paid out over time, with the understanding that Jennifer was again removed from consideration. Sankung and Pa Alieu once more refused, due to the proposed circumvention of the business partnership and John's assertion that there was a way to circumvent the legal and parliamentary procedures required for John's desired bank project.


title: SafeMoon

text: Karony's mother stated that John had not provided a plan for "Project Pheonix" and was not interested in the content of the financial documents, but was looking for "opportunities to take pictures of the lab to substantiate his published claims of owning ECG labs which he called 'Area 32' or 'DarkMoon'". Due to the lawsuit, Project Pheonix has since been abandoned. On August 27, 2022, John stated that his reasons for discontinuing his work in West Africa were due to supply chain problems, which is disputed by his mother.


title: Prime Minister of Afghanistan

text: The prime minister of Afghanistan (; ) is the head of government of Afghanistan. The position was created in 1927 as an official appointed by the King of Afghanistan. The holder served mostly as an advisor, until the end of the Kingdom of Afghanistan in 1973. During the 1980s, the position was the head of government. The post was abolished after the US invasion that ousted the Taliban regime, after which a presidential form of government was established which lasted from 2004 to 2021. After the US withdrawal and the re-establishment of the Taliban rule, the post was revived.


title: Prime Minister of Afghanistan

text: On September 7, 2021 the Taliban officials who exercise de facto control of most of Afghanistan announced Islamic scholar Hasan Akhund as acting prime minister in a new interim government of the recently re-established Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The government is subject to the oversight of the supreme leader of Afghanistan, Hibatullah Akhundzada.


title: Prime Minister of Afghanistan

text: The chairman of the Council of Ministers was not the prime minister, but the King. Only during his absence was the prime minister the acting chairman of the Council.


title: Prime Minister of Afghanistan

text: Until 1963, King Mohammed Zahir Shah appointed his relatives as prime ministers. King Zahir Shah also had the power to dismiss or transfer the prime minister. From 1963 onwards, this was changed, stating that the head of the Afghan government was the prime minister, and that the government consisted of its ministers. It was the first time that King Zahir Shah did not play an important role in the government, leaving it to an elected authority. However, it also stated that they cannot engage in any other profession during their tenure of office.


title: Prime Minister of Afghanistan

text: The 1964 Constitution also granted the prime minister the power to summon the Electoral College in case of the death of the king. The prime minister only answered to the Wolesi Jirga about the "General Policy" of the government, and individually for their prescribed duties.


title: Prime Minister of Afghanistan

text: In April 1978, Mohammed Daoud Khan was killed during a coup that started the "Saur Revolution". The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) revived the office of prime minister that year, and it remained throughout the 1980s.


title: Prime Minister of Afghanistan

text: The president was in charge of the appointment of the prime minister, who in turn appointed the Council of Ministers. The Council's stated purpose was to formulate and implement domestic and foreign policies, to formulate economic development plans and state budgets, and to ensure public order.


title: Prime Minister of Afghanistan

text: Under the 1987 Constitution, the president was required to appoint the prime minister in order to form the government. The prime minister had the power to dissolve the government. Several Afghan presidents during the Democratic Republic era were also appointed as prime minister. With the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the prime minister was no longer in charge of the government. The general secretary of the PDPA or the director of the KHAD exercised greater power.


title: Prime Minister of Afghanistan

text: Also, the 1990 Constitution established that only Afghan-born citizens are eligible to hold the office, something that was not specified in the previous documents.


title: Prime Minister of Afghanistan

text: After the collapse of Mohammad Najibullah's government, a transitional state was created. Thus, the office of prime minister once again played an important role in the history of the nation.


title: Prime Minister of Afghanistan

text: There was constant friction between the president and the premier during this period. The state had collapsed and there was not an effective central government from 1992 until 1996. Thus, the position became "de facto" ceremonial, with little power in what was left of the government.


title: Prime Minister of Afghanistan

text: The title was abolished when the Taliban forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan took over control in 1996. The deputy leader of the Taliban was often known as the prime minister throughout its rule. With the death of Mohammad Rabbani in 2001, the Taliban decided not to revive the office.


title: Prime Minister of Afghanistan

text: Until September 1997, the government which the Taliban had ousted, which remained in rebellion until the end of the Taliban rule in 2001, had a prime minister in the government, but the position was abolished.


title: Mumbai Police

text: The Mumbai Police (Marathi: मुंबई पोलीस, IAST: "Mumbaī Pulīs", formerly "Bombay Police") is the police department of the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of Maharashtra Police and has the primary responsibilities of law enforcement and investigation within the limits of Mumbai. The force's motto is """" (, English: "To protect Good and to destroy Evil").


title: Mumbai Police

text: It is headed by the Commissioner of the Mumbai Police assisted by an IPS officer in the rank of Additional Director General, and each district headed is headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police in the rank of Superintendent of Police (excluding jails headed by Inspector Generals). Each police station is headed by a Senior Inspector called the Station House Officer (SHO).


title: Mumbai Police

text: From 1534 until 1661, Mumbai (then known as Bombay) was under Portuguese colonial rule. The Portuguese authorities in Mumbai established a police station in 1661, the same year it was transferred to the English colonial empire. Now being governed by the East India Company, the new city administration established a militia known as the Bhandari Militia (which consisted of approximately 600 Bandareen men supplied by 100 local landowners) in 1669 to combat street gangs that targeted sailors. This new force, which was organised by governor of Bombay Gerald Aungier, was headquartered at Mahim, Sevree and Sion (with a subedar stationed in each headquarter) and used primarily for law enforcement purposes. In 1672, the city administration implemented a policy of having all law enforcement decisions to be subject to judicial review by the judiciary, though the East India Company suffered from a lack of trained judges during the first decades of their control over Mumbai. The situation remained unchanged for decades. By 1682, law enforcement in Mumbai remained stagnant, and there was only one ensign, two corporals and three sergeants in the Bhandari Militia.


title: Mumbai Police

text: On 29 March 1780, the office of the Lieutenant of Police was dissolved and the office of Deputy of Police was created. James Tod, the then Lieutenant of Police was appointed as the first Deputy of Police on 5 April 1780. He was tried and dismissed for corruption in 1790. Subsequently, the designation was changed to "Deputy of Police and High Constable".


title: Mumbai Police

text: In 1793, Act XXXIII, Geo. III was promulgated. The post of Deputy of Police was abolished and a post of Superintendent of Police was created in its place, with a "Deputy of Superintendent of Police" assisting him. Mr. Simon Halliday was the first Superintendent of Police, and governed till 1808. During this time, a thorough revision and re-arrangement of policing in the area outside the Fort was carried out. The troublesome area known as "Dungree and the Woods" was split up into 14 Police divisions, each division being staffed by two English constables and a varying number of Peons (not exceeding 130 for the whole area), who were to be stationary in their respective charges and responsible for dealing with all illegal acts committed within their limits.


title: Mumbai Police

text: Following the establishment of Crown rule in India after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, in 1864 Commissioners of Police were assigned to the three presidency towns of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. On 14 December 1864, Sir Frank Souter was appointed as the first Police Commissioner of Bombay; in the same year, Khan Bahadur Sheikh Ibrahim Sheikh Imam became the first Indian to be appointed to a senior rank in the Bombay Police, while Souter remained in office for 24 years until 3 July 1888. In 1896, the Police Commissioner of Bombay's office was moved to an Indo-Saracenic building, which it still occupies to this day. The building has been designated as a protected heritage site by the Indian government.


title: Mumbai Police

text: After independence, many changes to the Bombay Police were instituted. On 15 August 1947, J.S. Bharucha became the first Indian head of the Bombay Police, taking over from the last British Commissioner, Mr. A.E. Caffin. A dog squad was set up in 1965. Computers were first used by the Bombay police in 1976. A Narcotics Cell and an anti-terrorist special operations squad were created in 1989.


title: Mumbai Police

text: The service was renamed to Mumbai Police in 1995, following the renaming of Bombay to Mumbai. In 1995, the control room was computerised, and finally, in 1997, the Mumbai Police went online.


title: Mumbai Police

text: A massive modernization of the Mumbai Police took place in 2005. New vehicles, guns and electronic equipment were procured for police use. The Tourist Squad was also created to patrol the beaches of Mumbai. On 30 May 2009 the Maharashtra government in Mumbai set up a police station dedicated to tackling cyber crime. It is the third such facility in India after Bangalore and Hyderabad. The dedicated police station will now register first information reports (FIRs) on its own and investigate offences pertaining to cyberspace. It is not clear how people abroad may report to Mumbai Cybercell. The police station will take care of all cyber cases in the city including that of terror e-mails.


title: Mumbai Police

text: The existing Cyber Crime Investigation Cell of the city police probes cyber offences, but the FIRs are registered in local police stations depending on the site of the offence.


title: Mumbai Police

text: A specially trained team of over 25 policemen, headed by an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), were selected for the new job.


title: Mumbai Police

text: The facility will function under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Preventive) and Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime).


title: Mumbai Police

text: The Mumbai Police Headquarters are in a Grade II-A listed heritage building that was built in 1894 and designed by John Adams, who also designed the Royal Bombay Yacht Club. It is located opposite Crawford Market in South Mumbai, a mile away from the Victoria Terminus. The construction work started on 17 November 1894 and finished two years later on 24 December 1896. The building was formally opened on 1 January 1897.


title: Mumbai Police

text: The architectural style of the building is Gothic Revival. In contrast to the Maharashtra Police Headquarters in Fort, which uses blue basalt and was built some two decades earlier, this building uses yellow basalt. The building underwent a major restoration in 2017 for the first time in its 120-year history. In 2018, it was announced that a police museum funded by Tata Trusts would open in the building. Since then, there have been no further developments.