title: Hugh Sheridan

text: In an October 2020 interview with "Stellar", Sheridan revealed relationships with both women and men but preferred not to label their sexuality.


title: Hugh Sheridan

text: On 5 March 2021, Sheridan proposed to boyfriend Kurt Roberts during the opening night of the "Hughman" stage show, however their separation was announced in November 2021.


title: Killing Winston Jones

text: Crews began filming December 3, 2012, after a delay caused by contract negotiations. The film's director, Joel David Moore, had been otherwise engaged acting in "CBGB" earlier in the year.


title: Killing Winston Jones

text: The stars of the film include Danny Glover, Richard Dreyfuss, Danny Masterson, and Jon Heder. Moore calls the film a dark comedy, with the plot revolving around two physical education teachers trying to get their name on the gym they used to work at. The principal of that school plans to name the gym in memoriam, but neither of the teachers are dead yet.


title: Killing Winston Jones

text: "Killing Winston Jones" is produced by Albert Sandoval and Daemon Hillin, and was intended to be the theatrically released feature film for the multimedia production-distribution company RadioactiveGiant.


title: Killing Winston Jones

text: The film was originally scheduled to be released in theaters in 2014. However, no release was announced and the studio had not made any statements about the film after 2014. In 2022, "Collider" stated the release had been cancelled due to the rape allegations and criminal trial (which later ended in a mistrial) against Danny Masterson.


title: Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma (season 3)

text: The third season of "" anime television series, subtitled , was produced by J.C.Staff and directed by Yoshitomo Yonetani. The series was first broadcast in Japan on Tokyo MX. It aired from October 4, 2017 to June 25, 2018 with additional broadcasts on BS11 and Animax. In addition, AbemaTV streamed the season. The third season is broken into two parts. The first covers the Moon Festival when Soma Yukihira challenges Council of Ten Masters member Terunori Kuga to a challenge to see who can raise the most money during the three day event. At the end of the event, Erina Nakiri's father, Azami Nakiri, appears and takes over the school. He institutes a series of reforms, including the establishment of a new ruling body called the Central Gourmet Institute, and the elimination of all independent groups within Totsuki, including Polaris Dorm. The second part continues with the promotional exams where everyone is guaranteed to pass if they stick to the curriculum and follow Central's orders. However, Soma's group is targeted for expulsion because of their successful defense of Polaris Dorm and a few other independent groups. At the end of the second part, Soma's group of rebels challenges Azami's group to a Shokugeki, attempting to overthrow Azami.


title: Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma (season 3)

text: In the United States, Adult Swim's Toonami programming block aired the English dub from February 28 to August 1, 2021.


title: Rick Baker

text: Richard A. Baker (born December 8, 1950), known professionally as Rick Baker, is an American retired special make-up effects creator and actor. He is mostly known for his creature designs and effects. Baker won the Academy Award for Best Makeup a record seven times from a record eleven nominations, beginning when he won the inaugural award for the 1981 horror comedy film "An American Werewolf in London".


title: Rick Baker

text: Baker was born in Binghamton, New York, to Doris (née Hamlin), a bank teller, and Ralph B. Baker, a professional artist. He and his family moved to Covina, California when he was less than one year old.


title: Rick Baker

text: As a teenager, Baker began creating artificial body parts in his own kitchen. He also appeared briefly in the fan production "The Night Turkey", a one-hour, black-and-white video parody of "The Night Stalker" (1972), directed by William Malone. Baker's first professional job was as an assistant to prosthetic makeup effects veteran Dick Smith on the 1973 film "The Exorcist". While working on "The Exorcist", Baker was hired by director Larry Cohen to design and create a mutant infant for Cohen's 1974 film "It's Alive".


title: Rick Baker

text: At the 54th Academy Awards, Baker received the inaugural Academy Award for Best Makeup for his work on "An American Werewolf in London" (1981). Subsequently, he has been nominated for Best Makeup ten more times, winning on seven occasions, both records in his field. Baker also created the werecat creature Michael Jackson transforms into in the music video "Thriller" (1983).


title: Rick Baker

text: In 2008, he was awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Baker also contributes commentaries to the web series "Trailers from Hell" for trailers about horror and science fiction films. Baker claims that his work on "Harry and the Hendersons" (1987) is one of his proudest achievements, for which he won his second Oscar. On October 3, 2009, he received the Jack Pierce Lifetime Achievement Award at the Chiller-Eyegore Awards.


title: Rick Baker

text: On November 30, 2012, Baker received the 2485th star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located in front of the Guinness World Records Museum.


title: Rick Baker

text: On May 28, 2015, Baker announced his retirement, saying: "First of all, the CG stuff definitely took away the animatronics part of what I do. It's also starting to take away the makeup part. The time is right, I am 64 years old, and the business is crazy right now. I like to do things right, and they wanted cheap and fast. That is not what I want to do, so I just decided it is basically time to get out. I would consider designing and consulting on something, but I don't think I will have a huge working studio anymore."


title: Rick Baker

text: In 2018, Baker was approached by DC Comics, due to his daughter Veronica working for them at the time, if he would be interested in creating a collectible display bust for them. He agreed with the following terms that he would be left alone with total creative freedom and DC accepted them. Baker, with the aide of his long time mold maker Rob Freitas, created a bust of The Joker.


title: Rick Baker

text: Baker played the title role in the 1976 remake of "King Kong". In the 2005 remake, he had a cameo as the pilot and gunner (with director Peter Jackson) who shot down Kong. He has also made cameo appearances in: Michael Jackson's music video "Thriller" (1983) as "Zombie Opening the Crypt"; "Into the Night" (1985) as a drug dealer with a business card; "Men in Black II" (2002) as "MIB Passport Control Agent", an MIB agent helping provide aliens with disguises; "Men in Black 3" (2012) as "Brain Alien"; "The Wolfman" (2010) as "Gypsy Man / First Killed"; and "Rings" (2017) as a flea market vendor.


title: Rick Baker

text: Baker is married; he was previously married to Elaine Melba Parkyn for ten years. He met his second wife, hairstylist Silvia Abascal, while they were both working on "Into the Night" (1985). Baker also has two daughters, Rebecca and Veronica.


title: Minami Takayama

text: Takayama is best known for her roles in "Kiki's Delivery Service" as both Kiki and Ursula, "Ranma ½" as Nabiki Tendo, "Moomin" as Moomin, "Yaiba" as Yaiba Kurogane, "Shaman King" as Hao Asakura, "Nintama Rantarō" as Rantarō Inadera, "Danganronpa" series as Hajime Hinata/Izuru Kamukura, "" as Envy and "Detective Conan" as Conan Edogawa.


title: Minami Takayama

text: From an early age, Takayama studied ballet, Japanese dance, and vocal music. When she was a child, her sense of justice was so strong that it was written on her report card. She wanted to become a police officer, which she thought she was suited for, and she thought that ventriloquism would be necessary for being a traffic safety guider, so she joined Himawari Theatre Group in 1978 when she was in junior high school, and stayed there for four years. In reality, however, Takayama's parents wanted her to enter the entertainment industry, and she felt as if she was being forced to follow the rails laid out for her, and the ventriloquism was just a reason for her to study acting, not something she came up with. When she was in high school, she won a radio disc jockey contest and thought about becoming a DJ because of her love of radio and fascination with free banter and voice work.


title: Minami Takayama

text: After graduating from Adachi Nishi High School in Tokyo, not knowing how to become a DJ, Takayama enrolled in the theater department of Nihon Kogakuin College to continue her acting career, but she became worried about her future and dropped out to stop acting altogether. At one point, she was working at an office, but when a caller praised her voice, she decided to become a voice actor at the age of 22. In 1985, she joined the voice acting division of Sun House Music, but after that, she met a manager who asked her if she wanted to work as a voice actress, and she joined 81 Produce, where she was told that if she didn't make any progress in two of her three years as a rookie, she should give up. She decided to try to bear fruit in one year.


title: Minami Takayama

text: Initially, Takayama auditioned for the role of the heroine, but even though she tried to read the lines in a cute way, she was told by different sound directors to "be more like a girl." After failing three times in a row, she consulted with her manager and decided to audition for the role of a boy, thinking that heroine might not be suitable for her. She made her debut in 1987 as a female student in "Campus Special Investigator Hikaruon". After that, she started getting boy roles and got her first starring role as Youichi Ajiyoshi in "Mister Ajikko" the third time around.


title: Minami Takayama

text: In 1989, she was chosen to play both Kiki and Ursula in the animated film "Kiki's Delivery Service", and the film was a hit. She tried to refuse the role because it was decided at short notice and she was too new to take responsibility, but Hayao Miyazaki told her not to worry because he would take responsibility. Despite this, there was a time when the only regular role she played was Nabiki Tendo in the "Ranma ½" series, which depressed her, but she pulled herself together and started working part-time in her neighborhood. In the 1990s, she began to play the main and major characters in many works, mainly boys, such as "Moomin" (as Moomin), "Magical Taluluto" (as Honmaru Edojō), and "Yaiba" (as Yaiba), and her popularity became firmly established. In particular, her leading roles as Rantarō Inadera in "Nintama Rantarō" and Conan Edogawa in "Detective Conan" have lasted for more than 20 years since they were first broadcast in 1993 and 1996, respectively, and Takayama's voice has become recognized by a wide range of generations. In 2005, she was chosen to play Suneo's mom in the renewed "Doraemon" anime, in 2007 she voiced Kitarō in the fifth series of "GeGeGe no Kitarō", and in 2010 she voiced Taiki Kudō in "Digimon Fusion".


title: Minami Takayama

text: Takayama is also active in music as ES CONNEXION, Two-Mix, Miru Takayama with TWO-MIX, and M★TWO-MinaMiru-, a unit with her cousin Miru Takayama. She has sung the theme songs of "Mobile Suit Gundam Wing", and has also composed music. In the 81st episode of "Detective Conan" (broadcast on November 17, 1997), she appeared as a character with Shiina Nagano as TWO-MIX themselves, and also sang the opening theme song for the anime. In addition, in 2005, she brought in Joe Rinoie to work on the theme song for the anime "Engage Planet Kiss Dum" in 2007 as the unit II MIX⊿DELTA.


title: Minami Takayama

text: In 2011, Takayama won the Synergy Award at the 5th Seiyu Awards. On January 9, 2017, she was picked 7th in the TV Asahi 3-hour special that voted 200 popular voice actors.


title: Minami Takayama

text: Takayama was married to manga artist Gosho Aoyama on May 5, 2005 but they divorced on December 10, 2007. However, their relationship as "the author of the original story of "Detective Conan" and the lead voice actress" has continued to be good, and they are not estranged even now. Takayama has been keeping Aoyama's cat, Kite, which was given to her at the time of marriage, and she reports on Kite's good health on her blog.


title: Minami Takayama

text: During the opening speech of "" an earthquake of magnitude 4 struck the stage. Takayama made a quick decision and said in Conan's voice, "Calm down, earthquakes! Don't worry, Conan is here." to calm the children.


title: Jonathan Scarfe

text: He was born in Toronto, Ontario, to actors Alan Scarfe and Sara Botsford. He dropped out of high school at age 15, and at the age of 16 he spent a year working at the Stratford Festival, where he learned about acting.


title: Jonathan Scarfe

text: Scarfe's first major role was on the Canadian teen drama "Madison". He appears in a recurring role as Chase Carter, the drug-abusing cousin of John Carter, on the medical-drama series "ER". His television guest appearances include the police procedural series "NYPD Blue", "", "Cold Case"; and the drama series "The L Word", as well as the supernatural drama series "Grimm".


title: Jonathan Scarfe

text: Scarfe portrays Sheldon Kennedy in the biographical drama television film "The Sheldon Kennedy Story" (1999), which follows the story of Kennedy a former professional ice-hockey player with the Calgary Flames who, after years of self-blame, self-guilt and secrecy, spoke out against his former coach and mentor Graham James and the sexual abuse Kennedy endured. His other television films include the biographical drama television film "Burn: The Robert Wraight Story" (2003), portraying Jesus in the biographical drama television film "Judas" (2004)., costarring with Jennifer Finnigan in 2015 television film "Angel of Christmas" and Alison Sweeney in the Hallmark Channel movie "Love On The Air" 2015.


title: Jonathan Scarfe

text: His most notable television roles are Charlie Sagansky in the legal drama series "Raising the Bar" (2008–2009), Sydney Snow in the western period drama series "Hell on Wheels", Matt McLean on the family drama, "Ties That Bind" and Axel on the Syfy drama Van Helsing.


title: Jonathan Scarfe

text: He appears as protagonist Nicholas Brady in the science-fiction film "Radio Free Albemuth" (2009), directed by John Alan Simon and based on the novel of the same name (1985) by Philip K. Dick. Scarfe appears as Mormon prophet Joseph Smith in the historical-fiction drama film "The Work and the Glory" (2004). Scarfe also appears in "100 Days in the Jungle "(2002), and "White Lies" (1998).


title: Jonathan Scarfe

text: He is married to actress Suki Kaiser. At one point Scarfe took a break from acting and spent two and half years sailing around the world with his family.


title: Paul Abbott

text: Paul Abbott (born 22 February 1960) is an English television screenwriter and producer. Abbott has become one of the most critically and commercially successful television writers working in Britain, following his work on popular series such as "Coronation Street", "Cracker" and "Shameless", the last of which he created. He is also responsible for the creation of some of the most acclaimed television dramas of the 1990s and 2000s, including "Reckless" and "Touching Evil" for ITV and "Clocking Off" and "State of Play" for the BBC.


title: Paul Abbott

text: Born into a dysfunctional Burnley family, Paul Abbott is the seventh of eight children. When he was nine his mother left home to pursue a relationship with another man (with a child around Abbott's own age); his father, who Abbott describes as having been "bone idle", departed two years later. His mother had supported the family from three jobs. Abbott and his siblings were in the care of their pregnant seventeen-year-old sister. His father didn't claim benefits for the family, for fear of alerting social services to their abandonment. Although a compulsive truant, Abbott cites his English teacher at Barden High School as an early positive influence.


title: Paul Abbott

text: Age 11 he was raped by a stranger, leading to him jumping from the roof of a multi-story car park in an attempt to take his own life. Two years later after another suicide attempt he was sectioned into an adult mental hospital for a short while, later becoming a voluntary patient. On his release, he was taken into foster care and placed with a much more settled working-class family than his own, where having both adults in steady employment was a new experience for Abbott, as was their ownership of a television and a car. At the same time he began attending a local Sixth Form College and started attending meetings of the Burnley Writers' Circle after seeing their advert in the local public library. Abbott enrolled at the University of Manchester in 1980 to study psychology but decided to leave to concentrate on writing when a radio play was accepted by the BBC.


title: Paul Abbott

text: Abbott entered the "Radio Times" drama competition at the age of 22 which had the requirement to find a professional sponsor. A contact knew the address of the leading British dramatist Alan Bennett who, after seeing his script, was of the opinion that Abbott had written a perfectly acceptable piece of work which he would be happy to endorse. His work on radio plays for BBC Radio 4 attracted the attention of producers at Granada Television who hired him, at age twenty-four, to be a script editor on their long-running soap opera "Coronation Street". This made him at the time the youngest-ever person to occupy such a role on the programme.


title: Paul Abbott

text: He worked on "Coronation Street" for the next eight years as a story editor and from 1989 as a writer. He also worked on other programmes for Granada. In 1988, he co-wrote his first televised drama script, a one-off play for the "Dramarama" anthology, with fellow "Coronation Street" writer Kay Mellor. The same year, he and Mellor co-created the children's medical drama "Children's Ward", which ran for many years—Abbott regularly contributed scripts until 1992, then returned briefly to the show in 1996.


title: Paul Abbott

text: In 1994, he worked as the producer on the second season of Granada's drama series "Cracker", about the work of a criminal psychologist played by Robbie Coltrane. The following year he switched to writing scripts for the programme and wrote several episodes. He made his first breakthrough with a programme of his own creation, the police drama serial "Touching Evil" in 1997. The series, starring popular actor Robson Green, was a success, and two sequel serials—although not written by Abbott—followed. Most recently, in 2004, the series was re-made for American television by the USA Network.


title: Paul Abbott

text: After writing another serial starring Green, "Reckless" and a few other productions for Granada, he began in 1999 a collaboration with the independent Red Production Company. He contributed an episode to their anthology series "Love in the 21st Century", screened on Channel 4, and in 2000 created and wrote the series "Clocking Off" for them, which was screened on BBC One. Set in one factory in Lancashire, the series focused on a different member of factory staff each episode. The first season won the BAFTA award for Best Drama Series, and the equivalent at the Royal Television Society awards; Abbott personally was recognised with the RTS Best Writer award. "Clocking Off" ran for four seasons, although Abbott's contributions to the final two runs were minimal as he was by this time busy working on other projects.


title: Paul Abbott

text: In 2001, he created another Red series screened on BBC One, the comedy-drama "Linda Green"; although this was somewhat less successful and ran for only two seasons before cancellation. In 2000, he was due to adapt the D. H. Lawrence novel "Sons and Lovers" as a four-part television serial but pulled out due to work commitments.


title: Paul Abbott

text: 2002 saw Abbott experimenting with a new genre when he wrote the political thriller "State of Play", which was directed by David Yates and produced for the BBC by Hilary Bevan-Jones. In late 2003, Abbott and Bevan-Jones founded their own independent production company, Tightrope Pictures, based in Soho, London.


title: Paul Abbott

text: In early 2004, Channel 4 screened "Shameless", a new Abbott series very loosely based on his experiences and family life growing up in Burnley, although the action of the programme itself was changed to Manchester in the present day. At the 2006 British Academy Television Awards, he was given the honorary Dennis Potter Award for Outstanding Writing in Television, and in July of the same year "Radio Times" magazine placed him at No. 5 in a poll of industry professionals to find The Most Powerful People in Television Drama. Abbott was the highest-placed writer on the list, those above him being actors and executives.


title: Paul Abbott

text: Tightrope Pictures have produced several high-profile dramas for the BBC, including Richard Curtis's "The Girl in the Café" (also directed by David Yates for BBC One, 2005) and an adaptation of William Golding's novel "To the Ends of the Earth" (BBC Two, 2005). In 2009, Abbott acted as executive producer on the film version of "State of Play" for Universal Pictures.


title: Paul Abbott

text: The first series of "No Offence" aired on Channel 4 beginning in May 2015. In 2021, Sky Max would broadcast Abbott's newest crime series, "Wolfe".


title: Paul Abbott

text: In July 2006, it was announced that the University of Salford had appointed Abbott as a visiting professor, and in the same month Manchester Metropolitan University awarded him with an honorary doctorate. Abbott's November 2006 lecture at Salford entitled "The 21st Century Box" explored how media is changing and provided 'first aid for British television makers'. Attendees included the Mayor and Mayoress of Salford. In 2013 Dr Beth Johnson (University of Leeds) published the first book-length academic study of Abbott's work (with Manchester University Press). In 2015 Abbott was awarded an honorary doctorate from Keele University.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: Françoise "Louise" de La Vallière, Duchess of La Vallière and Vaujours, born Françoise Louise de La Baume Le Blanc de La Vallière, Mademoiselle de La Vallière (6 August 1644 – 7 June 1710) was a French noblewoman and the first mistress of Louis XIV of France from 1661 to 1667. She was created "suo jure" Duchess of La Vallière and Duchess of Vaujours. After leaving the royal court, Louise dedicated her life to religion, becoming a nun in 1674.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: Françoise "Louise" de La Baume Le Blanc de La Vallière, Mademoiselle de La Vallière was born on 6 August 1644 at the Hôtel de la Crouzille (also known as Hôtel de la Vallière) in Tours, Kingdom of France as the daughter of military officer Laurent de La Baume Le Blanc, Lord of La Vallière and his wife, born Françoise Le Prévost, widow of a councillor of the "parlement". The La Blaume Le Blanc family had distungished itself in military service to the crown, while the Le Prévosts had served the throne with their legal knowledge for generations. At the time of her birth, her father was the governor of the Castle of Amboise, where she spent her first years, also spending time in her family's Castle of La Vallière in Reugny. During these years, she was educated by her aunts, Ursuline nuns Élisabeth and Charlotte in reading, grammar, musical composition and public speaking.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: Following her father's death, La Vallière's mother married Jacques de Courtavel, Marquess of Saint-Rémy, butler of the exiled Gaston, Duke of Orléans (uncle of Louis XIV, known as ""Monsieur"," 1608–1660). La Vallière served as a lady's companion to the duke's three younger daughters, Princesses Marguerite-Louise (1645–1721), Élisabeth-Marguerite "Isabelle" (1646–1696), and Françoise-Madeleine (1648–1664), being educated with them in painting, music, etiquette, equitation, literature and philosophy by the duke's first almoner, Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, who went on to found the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ("Trappists"). After the death of the Duke of Orléans, his widow Marguerite (1615–1672) moved with her daughters to the Luxembourg Palace, Paris and took then-sixteen-year-old La Vallière with them.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: Through the influence of a distant relative, Madame de Choisy (born Jeanne-Olympe Hurault de L'Hospital; 1604–1669) Mademoiselle de La Vallière was named maid of honour to Henrietta (1644–1670), the new Duchess of Orléans, wife of Louis XIV's brother Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (1640–1701) and moved to her home, the Tuileries Palace. Henrietta, known as ""Madame"" joined the court at Fontainebleau in 1661, where La Vallière likely first met her future lover, Louis XIV, King of France (1638–1715). She served the duchess together with Françoise de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente (1640–1707), the future Madame de Montespan.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: A close relationship soon formed between the king and Madame, which concerned the Queen Dowager, Anne (1601–1666). In order to counter rumours, they allegedly decided that he should court other women as a front, for which Madame herself selected three young ladies, including La Vallière. She spent only two months in Fontainebleau before becoming the king's mistress. According to one version of the events, she knew nothing of her part in a ploy to avert a scandal, delightfully believing that the monarch's feelings for her were sincere. Apart from her skills in various arts and sports, it was La Vallière's innocence and sincerity that captured the king: one source states that he fell in love with her after, upon their first meeting, she exclaimed ""Ah! if he was not the King..."."


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: This was Mademoiselle de La Vallière's first relationship. She was reportedly an innocent, religious girl who did not behave flirtatiously or acted on self-interest during the romance. She was not extravagant, nor was she interested in the wealth or the titles she could receive. from her situation. Antonia Fraser writes that she was a "secret lover not a "maîtresse-en-titre" like Barbara Villiers." Nicolas Fouquet's curiosity in the affair was one of the causes of his disgrace, for, when he bribed Louise, the king mistakenly thought that Fouquet was attempting to take her as a lover. The affair, although discreet, quickly became public, angering the clergy, including celebrated orator and future Bishop of Meaux, Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627–1704), as well as many religiously devoted people in the court. It also invoked the bitter sarcasm of Madame. Wishing to avoid scandal and a confrontation with his mother, the king moved La Vallière to a hunting lodge in the forest near Versailles, not far from Saint-Germain-en-Laye.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: In February 1662, the couple had a conflict: upon direct questioning by the king, La Vallière refused to tell him about the alleged affair between the Duchess of Orléans and Armand de Gramont, Count of Guiche (1637–1673). Around the same time, Bossuet delivered a series of Lenten sermons condemning the immoral activities of the king through the example of David's adultery, which troubled the pious girl's conscience, and she fled to a convent in Chaillot. Meanwhile, her enemies, lead by the Countess of Soissons, born Olympia Mancini conspired to bring La Vallière down by bringing the affair to the attention of Queen Maria Theresa (1638–1683).


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: During her first pregnancy in 1663, La Vallière was removed from the service of the Duchess of Orléans and sent to live in the Palais-Royal, where, on 19 December 1663, she gave birth to a son, Charles (1663–1665). He was taken immediately and secretly to Saint-Leu and entrusted to the care of two faithful servants of Chief Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683). Despite the attempts of Dr Boucher, who was present at the birth and tried to make the transfer as secret as possible, the story quickly spread through Paris. The public scorn at the Midnight Mass on 24 December was so great that La Vallière escaped from the church.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: In 1664, Louis XIV hosted a multi-day performance and party, called "Les Plaisirs de l’Île enchantée" ("The Pleasures of the Enchanted Island") in the hunting lodge where his mistress lived. During the festivities, Molière (1622–1673) presented two new plays, "La Princesse d'Élide" (The Princess of Elid) and "Le Tartuffe, ou l'Imposteur" (Tartuffe, or The Impostor/Hypocrite) with the musical arrangements of Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687). Queen Maria Theresa and the dowager queen were the official dedicators, while La Vallière was the unofficial dedicatee, leading to court gossip. This only worsened when she received the domain of Carrières-sur-Seine, and started building a castle there, with gardens designed by André Le Nôtre (1613–1700), the royal landscape architect.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: In 1665, the king had two affairs beside the one with La Vallière: he was temporarily involved with Bonne de Pons d'Heudicourt (1644–1709), whose family quickly had her removed from the court, then with the Princess of Monaco, born Catherine Charlotte de Gramont (1639–1678). After the death of his mother in 1666, Louis XIV started to publicly display his affair, which greatly displeased La Vallière. Within a week of the dowager queen's death, La Vallière had to appear at mass next to the queen. Ashamed, she treated Maria Theresa with humility and respect.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: Around the time of the death of the queen dowager, the former Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente, now the Marquise of Montespan returned to the service of the Duchess of Orléans, which she left because of her marriage in 1663. Now a lady-in-waiting, she quickly established herself as the reigning beauty of the court. Enamoured, the king sought to take her as his new mistress.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: In May 1667, before going on a military campaign to Flanders, the king legitimised their only living child, Marie-Anne (1666–1739). Their three eldest children, Charles (1663–1665), Philippe (1665–1666), and Louis (1665–1666) had already died by this time. Marie-Anne thus became a "fille legitimée de France" ("legitimised daughter of France"), could use the surname "de Bourbon" and received the title "Mademoiselle de Blois". On the same day, he created his mistress Duchess of La Vallière and Duchess of Vaujours. As a duchess, La Vallière had the right to sit on a taboret in the presence of the queen, which was a highly prized privilege. However, La Vallière was not impressed, saying that the title resembled a present given to a servant when he retired. Affirming this, Louis XIV commented that legitimising their daughter and the gifts to La Vallière "matched the affection he had had for her for six years".


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: When the king left for the campaign, La Vallière, again pregnant, was ordered to stay at the court. Worrying for the king and maybe feeling jealous, she travelled to the battlefield without permission and threw herself at his feet, sobbing uncontrollably. Infuriated, Louis forced her to return home immediately. Madame de Montespan was the first to denounce her for the scandal. The king made La Vallière share an apartment with Montespan at the Tuileries Palace, as the latter's husband was very uncomfortable with his wife's affair. During this time, a devastated La Vallière wrote a poem, titled "Sonnet to the King".


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: Five months after the battlefield scandal, on 2 October 1667, La Vallière gave birth to her fifth and last child, Louis (1667–1683), who would later be legitimised. Hoping to win back the heart of the king, La Vallière accepted all the humiliations inflicted upon her by the new situation: Montespan demanded that she assist her with her toilette, and the king would often demand the two rivals to travel in the carriage of the queen on journeys. Her tactic was unsuccessful: the king did not return to her, nor did he end his other affairs.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: In 1669, when, effectively, their relationship had long since ended, their son was legitimised, created Count of Vermandois, and given the post of Admiral of France. As he was only 2 years old, the king retained his authority over the navy. Around the same time, at the end of March 1669, Madame de Montespan gave birth to her first child by the king, a daughter (1669–1672). La Vallière served as the newborn daughter's godmother, who was named Louise-Françoise after her.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: The strain of being forced to live with her former lover and his current mistress took its toll on La Vallière: she lost weight and became increasingly pale and exhausted. In 1670, after a nearly fatal, long illness (which, according to some sources, was the result of a miscarriage), she turned to religion, writing her "Réflexions sur la miséricorde de Dieu" ("Reflections on the Mercy of God"). She remained at court for two more years, trying to lead an exemplary life in the hope of inspiring others. Her love for the king was not yet dead: she admitted that she was not "dead to her passions, while I feel them live more strongly than ever in what I love more than myself".


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: Following the advice of Jesuit preacher Louis Bourdaloue (1632–1704), supported Bossuet and Bernardin Gigault de Bellefond, Marquis de Bellefonds (1630–1694), head of the Maison du Roi, she decided to leave the court and enter the Carmelite convent in the Faubourg Saint-Jacques part of Paris, later known as Notre-Dame-des-Champs. Even though the Carmelites followed very strict rules, La Vallière rejected the option of being placed in a more relaxed order. She first attempted to leave in 1671, without the king's permission, fleeing to the Convent of the Visitandines of Chaillot.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: Madamde de Montespan wanted La Vallière to return so that her own affair with the king could remain hidden. He urged the king to publicly recognise his daughter with La Vallière as Mademoiselle de Blois. She asked her confidant and governess of her children, Madame Scarron (the future Madame de Maintenon, born Françoise d'Aubigné; 1635–1719) to detail to La Vallière the suffering she would be exposed to at a Carmelite convent, as well as the court scandal that her decision would provoke. Scarron highlighted that she would eventually be forbidden from wearing her custom-made shoes that allowed her to walk without a limp, as one of her legs was shorter than the other. "When I shall be suffering at the convent", Louise replied, ""I shall only have to remember what they made me suffer here, and all the pain shall seem light to me."


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: All of the attempts at dissuading her were in vain and, in 1674, La Vallière was finally permitted to enter the Carmelite convent in the Faubourg Saint-Jacques. The day she left the court she threw herself at the feet of the queen, begging forgiveness, saying that "My crimes were public, my repentance must be public, too." One year later, on 3 June 1675, La Vallière took her perpetual vows under the name "Louise de la Miséricorde" ("Louise of Mercy"), and accepted the black veil from the queen herself, who kissed and blessed her.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: In her absence, the new Duchess of Orléans, born Princess Elizabeth Charlotte "Liselotte" of the Palatinate, known as Madame Palatine, took care of the education of her son Louis. He died on his first military campaign at the age of 16, in 1683, while in exile in Flanders for his involvement with a secret group of young aristocrats practicing what was then called ""le vice italien"", homosexuality. His sister and aunt were greatly affected by his death, while his father did not shed a tear. His mother, in reference to the adultery of her son's conception, said upon receiving the news, "I ought to weep for his birth far more than [for] his death."


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: Queen Maria Theresia, the Duchess of Orléans, Bishop Bossuet, and Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné (1626–1696) had a habit of visiting Louise at the convent for spiritual consolation and repose. Later in life, Madame de Montespan herself also went to her for advice on a pious life. Louise forgave her and counselled her on the mysteries of divine grace.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: Sister Louise de la Miséricordie died on 6 June 1710, at the age of 65, after 36 years of religious life, and was buried in the cemetery of her convent. Her titles and possessions were inherited by her only surviving child, Marie-Anne, by then Princess Dowager of Conti.


title: Louise de La Vallière

text: Although she was never described as a striking beauty or naturally brilliant, Louise had qualities that attracted attention: she was discreet, modest and had blonde hair and soft blue eyes. She was afflicted with a limp as one of her legs was shorter than the other, but she wore custom-made shoes and managed to be an accomplished and graceful rider and dancer. At the age of 17, she reportedly "had an exquisite complexion, blond hair, blue eyes, a sweet smile . . . [and] an expression [at] once tender and modest."


title: Gil Garcetti

text: Gilbert Salvador Iberri Garcetti (born August 5, 1941) is an American politician and lawyer. He served as Los Angeles County's 40th district attorney for two terms, from 1992 until November 7, 2000. He is the father of the 42nd mayor of the city of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: Garcetti was born in Los Angeles, the son of Salvador Garcetti and Juanita Iberri. His father was born in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico, and brought to the United States as a child after his own father, Massimo Garcetti, a judge and immigrant to Mexico from Italy, was hanged during the Mexican Revolution. Gil's mother was born in Arizona, one of nineteen children born to a father whose parents were from Sonora, Mexico, and a mother born in Arizona, to Mexican parents.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: In 1959 Garcetti graduated from George Washington High School in South Los Angeles. The school has since become Washington Preparatory High School.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: Garcetti received a bachelor's degree in management from the University of Southern California and a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Los Angeles.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: Before becoming Los Angeles County District Attorney, Garcetti served within the office for over twenty years, from trial prosecutor to managerial positions and eventually becoming chief deputy district attorney for his predecessor, Ira Reiner (district attorney from 1984 to 1992). Reiner demoted Garcetti shortly after his 1988 re-election.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: Garcetti challenged his former mentor in the 1992 election. The campaign featured both candidates saying their opponent was corrupt. Reiner said Garcetti was a "secretive" person and "(was) not to be trusted in a position of power." Garcetti bested Reiner in the non-partisan June primary (where the top two candidates would advance should no candidate win an absolute majority), taking 34 percent to Reiner's 25, outpacing the incumbent by more than 100,000 votes. In September 1992, just two months before the general election, Reiner announced that he was suspending his campaign, saying he could not stomach the negative tactics he felt that were needed to win. California law allowed candidates to be removed from the ballot only if they died more than 59 days before the election, so Reiner remained on the ballot. Garcetti won the general election with more than 81 percent of the vote.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: Entering the 1992 elections, Los Angeles County, California was still recovering from the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. His first term was dominated by his office's prosecution of the O. J. Simpson murder case. The long, costly criminal trial ended with a "not guilty" verdict on October 3, 1995. Despite the setback, Garcetti won re-election in 1996, narrowly defeating challenger John Lynch.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: Garcetti focused both his terms working to solve a number of issues including domestic violence, hate crimes, welfare fraud and combating LA's street gangs. In late 1999 the LAPD's Rampart scandal erupted with allegations of extreme police misconduct from the city's Rampart Division which likely contributed to Garcetti's defeat in the 2000 election.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: Garcetti was challenged for re-election in 2000 by Steve Cooley, a veteran of the L.A. County D.A.'s office. In a situation much like Garcetti's demotion in 1988 that led him to challenge Reiner in 1992, Cooley was demoted by Garcetti after Garcetti's 1996 re-election after Cooley supported Garcetti's opponent, John Lynch.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: Garcetti came in second in a competitive three-person primary, taking 37 percent of the vote to Cooley's 39. In the two-person runoff, Garcetti lost overwhelmingly, losing by a margin of approximately 64 to 36 percent.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: The 2000 election ended Garcetti's 32-year career with the LA County district attorney's office. In 2002, Los Angeles City Council president Alex Padilla appointed Garcetti to the Los Angeles city ethics commission for a five-year term. In the fall of 2002, Garcetti was a fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has been developing a foundation to help Latino and African-American students complete their high school education. He is currently a strong proponent of Proposition 34, an initiative that will replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole. Garcetti has argued that the death penalty is broken beyond repair, that it is "horrendously expensive" and that it carries the risk of executing an innocent person.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: After leaving the DA's office, Garcetti focused on art photography, producing two collections on the Walt Disney Concert Hall: "Iron: Erecting the Walt Disney Concert Hall" (Balcony Press 2002), focusing on the ironworkers who constructed the landmark, and "Frozen Music" (Balcony Press 2003), focusing on the finished building itself. Photos from these works were featured in an exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. and at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. His most recent exhibition, "Dance in Cuba: Photographs by Gil Garcetti" (Balcony Press 2005), was featured at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History in Spring 2006. "Water is Key: A Better Future for Africa" (Balcony Press 2007) was published via a grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to the Pacific Institute as a benefit to NGOs supporting clean water projects in Africa.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: Gil Garcetti was a consulting producer on the TNT series "The Closer" from its debut in 2005 and "Major Crimes" from its debut in 2012.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: His son, Los Angeles City Councilmember, later Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti, appeared as the fictional Los Angeles Mayor Ramon Quintero, in two episodes each of both series. In his first appearance, father and son appeared together onscreen, with Gil playing the LAPD Chief of Police.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: Gil and Sukey Garcetti have one son, Eric, who was elected to the LA City Council three times (2001, 2005, 2009), and was the former mayor of Los Angeles, and one daughter, Dana Garcetti-Boldt, a former deputy district attorney in Garcetti's office, who is now an acupuncturist.


title: Gil Garcetti

text: Garcetti was portrayed by Bruce Greenwood in the 2016 miniseries "" and by Mark Moses in the 2017 miniseries "Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders" .


title: TrueAnon

text: TrueAnon is an American politics podcast hosted by Brace Belden and Liz Franczak. The podcast focuses on left-wing analysis of political issues and events, particularly those concerning deceased financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The title of the podcast is a parodic reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory.


title: TrueAnon

text: "TrueAnon" is hosted by Brace Belden, a left-wing internet personality notable for fighting with the People's Protection Units in the Syrian Civil War, and Liz Franczak, a writer for "The Baffler" and "Deadspin". Belden and Franczak met in the early 2000s, through San Francisco's punk music scene. The hosts, who identify as Marxists, developed an interest in the Epstein case after "Gawker" published the contents of Epstein's personal address book in 2015, which established Epstein's connections to multiple influential figures in politics, finance, intelligence, academia, and entertainment.


title: TrueAnon

text: Following Epstein's arrest in July 2019, Belden and Franczak noted how many of the details of the Epstein case, such as his connections to U.S. intelligence agencies, were not covered in the mainstream press. "TrueAnon" was thus conceived to explore how "the fascination with Epstein is part of a larger story about the rot at the heart of the global elite," and how this reveals "larger class antagonisms within the United States."


title: TrueAnon

text: The first episode of "TrueAnon" was released on July 23, 2019. Branding itself as "the only non-pedophile podcast," "TrueAnon" combines elements of the true crime genre and the dirtbag left, the rhetorical style most closely associated with "Chapo Trap House" defined by "subversive, populist vulgarity." In addition to covering the Epstein case, "TrueAnon" devotes analysis and discussion to topics such as human trafficking, Medicare for All, Silicon Valley, academia, finance, and non-profit organizations. While "TrueAnon" covers material that has been described as conspiracy theory, Belden and Franczak assert that the podcast engages in historical materialism, focusing on "the power structures that produced Epstein in the first place" rather than a "fixed theory of Epstein’s death." Notable guests who have appeared on the podcast include Epstein accuser Maria Farmer, journalist Ken Klippenstein, and musician Azealia Banks.


title: TrueAnon

text: During late 2021 the podcast covered the Ghislaine Maxwell trial daily from the courtroom, summarizing and discussing the days events in an episode for each day of the trial.


title: TrueAnon

text: "TrueAnon" has been positively received by critics. "GQ" described the podcast as possessing a "one-of-a-kind flair you won't get anywhere else," offering praise for the quality of the podcast's research. Journalist Jeet Heer cited "TrueAnon" as one of the few left-wing outlets to discuss the Epstein case in detail, compared to "the reluctance of the mainstream media to tackle the topic for fear of seeming conspiratorial." Journalist Glenn Greenwald has also offered praise for the podcast and its coverage of the 2016 Nevada caucus.


title: TrueAnon

text: , "TrueAnon" is the eighth-ranked podcast on Patreon and the 10th ranked account on the site overall, as measured by number of patrons.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The Icelandic financial crisis was a major economic and political event in Iceland that involved the default of all three of the country's major privately owned commercial banks in late 2008, following their difficulties in refinancing their short-term debt and a run on deposits in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Relative to the size of its economy, Iceland's systemic banking collapse was the largest experienced by any country in economic history. The crisis led to a severe economic slump in 2008–2010 and significant political unrest.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: In the years preceding the crisis, three Icelandic banks, Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir, multiplied in size. This expansion was driven by ready access to credit in international financial markets, in particular money markets. As the financial crisis of 2007–2008 unfolded, investors perceived the Icelandic banks to be increasingly risky. Trust in the banks gradually faded, leading to a sharp depreciation of the Icelandic króna in 2008 and increased difficulties for the banks in rolling over their short-term debt. At the end of the second quarter of 2008, Iceland's external debt was 9.553 trillion Icelandic krónur (€50 billion), more than 7 times the GDP of Iceland in 2007. The assets of the three banks totaled 14.437 trillion krónur at the end of the second quarter 2008, equal to more than 11 times the national GDP. Due to the huge size of the Icelandic financial system in comparison with the Icelandic economy, the Central Bank of Iceland found itself unable to act as a lender of last resort during the crisis, further aggravating the mistrust in the banking system.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 29 September 2008, it was announced that Glitnir would be nationalised. However, subsequent efforts to restore faith in the banking system failed. On 6 October, the Icelandic legislature instituted an emergency law which enabled the Financial Supervisory Authority (FME) to take control over financial institutions and made domestic deposits in the banks priority claims. In the following days, new banks were founded to take over the domestic operations of Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir. The old banks were put into receivership and liquidation, resulting in losses for their shareholders and foreign creditors. Outside Iceland, more than half a million depositors lost access to their accounts in foreign branches of Icelandic banks. This led to the 2008–2013 Icesave dispute, that ended with an EFTA Court ruling that Iceland was not obliged to repay Dutch and British depositors minimum deposit guarantees.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: In an effort to stabilize the situation, the Icelandic government stated that all domestic deposits in Icelandic banks would be guaranteed, imposed strict capital controls to stabilize the value of the Icelandic króna, and secured a US$5.1bn sovereign debt package from the IMF and the Nordic countries in order to finance a budget deficit and the restoration of the banking system. The international bailout support programme led by IMF officially ended on 31 August 2011, while the capital controls which were imposed in November 2008 were lifted on 14 March 2017.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The financial crisis had a serious negative impact on the Icelandic economy. The national currency fell sharply in value, foreign currency transactions were virtually suspended for weeks, and the market capitalisation of the Icelandic stock exchange fell by more than 90%. As a result of the crisis, Iceland underwent a severe economic depression; the country's gross domestic product dropped by 10% in real terms between the third quarter of 2007 and the third quarter of 2010. A new era with positive GDP growth started in 2011, and has helped foster a gradually declining trend for the unemployment rate. The government budget deficit has declined from 9.7% of GDP in 2009 and 2010 to 0.2% of GDP in 2014; the central government gross debt-to-GDP ratio was expected to decline to less than 60% in 2018 from a maximum of 85% in 2011.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The Icelandic króna had declined more than 35% against the euro from January to September 2008. Inflation of consumer prices was running at 14%, and Iceland's interest rates had been raised to 15.5% to deal with the high inflation.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On the night of Wednesday, 8 October 2008, the Central Bank of Iceland abandoned its attempt to peg the Icelandic króna at 131 krónur to the euro after trying to set this peg on 6 October. By 9 October, the Icelandic króna was trading at 340 to the euro when trading in the currency collapsed due to the FME's takeover of the last major Icelandic bank, and thus the loss of all króna trade 'clearing houses'. The next day, the central bank introduced restrictions on the purchase of foreign currency within Iceland. From 9 October to 5 November, the European Central Bank quoted a reference rate of 305 krónur to the euro.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The Central Bank of Iceland set up a temporary system of daily currency auctions on 15 October to facilitate international trade. The value of the króna is determined by supply and demand in these auctions. The first auction sold €25 million at a rate of 150 krónur to the euro. Commercial króna trading outside Iceland restarted on 28 October, at an exchange rate of 240 krónur to the euro, after Icelandic interest rates had been raised to 18%. The foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of Iceland fell by US$289 million during October 2008.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: During November, the real exchange rate (discounting inflation) of the Icelandic króna, as quoted by the Central Bank of Iceland, was roughly one-third lower than the average rate from 1980 to 2008, and 20% lower than the historical lows during the same period. The external rate as quoted by the European Central Bank was lower still. On the last trading day of the month, 28 November, the Central Bank of Iceland was quoting 182.5 krónur to the euro, while the European Central Bank was quoting 280 krónur to the euro.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 28 November, the Central Bank of Iceland and the Minister for Business Affairs agreed on a new set of currency regulations, replacing the central bank's restrictions imposed early on in the crisis. Movements of capital to and from Iceland were banned without a license from central bank. It is estimated that foreign investors hold some €2.9 billion in króna-denominated securities, popularly known as "glacier bonds".


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The foreign exchange rules also oblige Icelandic residents to deposit any new foreign currency they receive with an Icelandic bank. There is anecdotal evidence that some Icelandic exporters had been operating an informal offshore foreign exchange market, trading pounds and euros for krónur outside the control of any regulator and starving the onshore market of foreign currency. Hence the Central Bank had to sell €124 million of currency reserves in November 2008 to make up the difference, compared with an estimated trade surplus of €13.9 million.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The last currency auction was held on 3 December. The domestic interbank foreign exchange market reopened the following day with three market makers, all of them government-owned. On the first two days of domestic trading, the króna climbed to 153.3 to the euro, up 22% against the last currency auction rate.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: In January 2009, the exchange rate of Icelandic króna against Euro seemed to be more stabilized compared with the situation in October 2008, with the lowest rate at 177.5 krónur per EUR on 1, 3 and 4 January 2009, and the highest at 146.8 on 30 January 2009. In the meantime, however, Iceland's 12-month inflation in January 2009 climbed to a record high of 18.6%.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: In September 2008, internal documents from Kaupthing, the largest bank in Iceland, were leaked to WikiLeaks. On 29 September 2008, a plan was announced for the bank Glitnir to be nationalised by the Icelandic government with the purchase of a 75% stake for €600 million. The government stated that it did not intend to hold ownership of the bank for a long period, and that the bank was expected to carry on operating as normal. According to the government, the bank "would have ceased to exist" within a few weeks if there had not been intervention. It later turned out that Glitnir had US$750 million of debt due to mature on 15 October. However, the nationalization of Glitnir never went through, as it was placed in receivership by the FME before the initial plan of the Icelandic government to purchase a 75% stake had been approved by shareholders.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The announced nationalisation of Glitnir came just as the United Kingdom government was forced to nationalise Bradford & Bingley and to sell its retail operations and branch network to Grupo Santander. Over the weekend of 4–5 October, British newspapers carried many articles detailing the nationalisation of Glitnir and the high leverage of Iceland's other banks. Influential BBC business editor Robert Peston published an opinion piece on the banks, stating that debt insurance for Kaupthing required a premium of £625,000 to guarantee the return of £1 million: "the worst case of financial BO I've encountered in some time" was his graphic description. "The Guardian" said "Iceland is on the brink of collapse. Inflation and interest rates are raging upwards. The krona, Iceland's currency, is in freefall." These articles spooked investors discussing Icesave (the brand name of Landsbanki in the UK and the Netherlands) in online forums and many started moving their savings out of the Internet bank. Problems with access to the site hinted at a run on savings.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 6 October, a number of private interbank credit facilities to Icelandic banks were shut down. Prime Minister Geir Haarde addressed the nation in a speech that became infamous for its portentous closing words: 'God bless Iceland'. He announced a package of new regulatory measures which were to be put to the Althing, Iceland's parliament, immediately, with the cooperation of the opposition parties. These included the power of the FME to take over the running of Icelandic banks without nationalising them, and preferential treatment for depositors in the event that a bank had to be liquidated. In a separate measure, retail deposits in Icelandic branches of Icelandic banks were guaranteed in full. The emergency measures had been deemed unnecessary by the Icelandic government less than 24 hours earlier.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: That evening, the Guernsey subsidiary of Landsbanki went into voluntary administration with the approval of the Guernsey Financial Services Commission. The administrators would later say that "The main reason for the Bank's difficulties has been the placing of funds with its UK fellow subsidiary, Heritable Bank." Guernsey's Chief Minister stated "the directors of Landsbanki Guernsey took appropriate steps by putting the bank into administration."


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The FME placed Landsbanki in receivership early on 7 October. A press release from the FME stated that all of Landsbanki's domestic branches, call centres, ATMs and internet operations will be open for business as usual, and that all "domestic deposits" were fully guaranteed. The UK government used the Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008 first to transfer retail deposits from Heritable Bank to a Treasury holding company, then to sell them to Dutch bank ING Direct for £1 million. The same day, the FME also placed Glitnir into receivership.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: That afternoon, there was a telephone conversation between Icelandic Finance Minister Árni Mathiesen and UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling. That evening, one of the governors of the Central Bank of Iceland, Davíð Oddsson, was interviewed on Icelandic public service broadcaster RÚV and stated that "we [the Icelandic State] do not intend to pay the debts of the banks that have been a little heedless". He compared the government's measures to the U.S. intervention at Washington Mutual, and suggested that foreign creditors would "unfortunately only get 5–10–15% of their claims".


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Darling announced that he was taking steps to freeze the assets of Landsbanki in the UK. The Landsbanki Freezing Order 2008 was passed at 10 am on 8 October 2008 and came into force ten minutes later. Under the order the UK Treasury froze the assets of Landsbanki within the UK, and introduced provisions to prevent the sale or movement of Landsbanki assets within the UK, even if held by the Central Bank of Iceland or the Government of Iceland. The freezing order took advantage of provisions in sections 4 and 14 and Schedule 3 of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, and was made "because the Treasury believed that action to the detriment of the UK's economy (or part of it) had been or was likely to be taken by certain persons who are the government of or resident of a country or territory outside the UK".


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, announced that the UK government would launch legal action against Iceland over concerns with compensation for the estimated 300,000 UK savers. Geir Haarde said at a press conference on the following day that the Icelandic government was outraged that the UK government applied provisions of anti-terrorism legislation to it in a move they dubbed an "unfriendly act". The Chancellor of the Exchequer also said that the UK government would foot the entire bill to compensate UK retail depositors, estimated at £4 billion. It is reported that more than £4 billion in Icelandic assets in the UK have been frozen by the UK government. The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) also declared Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, the UK subsidiary of Kaupthing Bank, in default on its obligations, sold Kaupthing Edge, its Internet bank, to ING Direct, and put Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander into administration. Over £2.5 billion of deposits for 160,000 customers were sold to ING Direct. The scale of the run on Kaupthing Edge deposits had been such that many transactions were not completed until 17 October. Although Geir Haarde has described the UK government's actions over Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander as an "abuse of power" and "unprecedented", they were the third such actions taken under the Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008 in less than ten days, after interventions in Bradford & Bingley and Heritable Bank.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On the same day, the Sveriges Riksbank, Sweden's central bank, made a credit facility of 5 billion Swedish krona (€520 million) available to Kaupthing Bank Sverige AB, the Swedish subsidiary of Kaupthing. The loan was to pay "depositors and other creditors".


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 9 October, Kaupthing was placed into receivership by the FME, following the resignation of the entire board of directors. The bank said that it was in technical default on its loan agreements after its UK subsidiary had been placed into administration. Kaupthing's Luxembourg subsidiary asked for, and obtained, a suspension of payments (similar to chapter 11 protection) in the Luxembourg District Court. Kaupthing's Geneva office, which was a branch of its Luxembourg subsidiary, was prevented from making any payments of more than 5000 Swiss francs by the Swiss Federal Banking Commission. The directors of Kaupthing's subsidiary on the Isle of Man decided to wind up the company after consultation with the Manx authorities. The Finnish Financial Supervision Authority, "Rahoitustarkastus", announced having taken control of Kaupthing's Helsinki branch already on 6th, to prevent money from being sent back to Iceland.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On the same day, the UK Treasury issued a licence under the Landsbanki Freezing Order 2008 to allow the London branch of Landsbanki to continue some business. A second licence was issued on 13 October, when the Bank of England provided a £100 million secured loan to Landsbanki "to help maximise the returns to UK creditors".


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 12 October the Norwegian government took control of Kaupthing's Norwegian operations, including "all of the bank's assets and liabilities in Norway".


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 21 October, the Central Bank of Iceland asked the remaining independent financial institutions for new collateral against their loans. This was to replace the shares in Glitnir, Landsbanki and Kaupthing which had been pledged as collateral previously and which were now of much lower value, if not worthless. The value of the collateral was estimated at 300 billion krónur (€2 billion). One of the banks, Sparisjóðabanki (SPB, also known as Icebank), stated the next day that it could not provide new collateral for its 68 billion krónur (€451 million) loan, and would have to turn to the government for help. "This problem won't be solved in any other way," said CEO Agnar Hansson.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 24 October, it emerged that a Norwegian export credit company (Eksportfinans) had made a complaint to Norwegian police concerning the alleged embezzlement of 415 million Norwegian kroner (€47 million) by Glitnir since 2006. The Icelandic bank had acted as an agent for Eksportfinans, administering loans to several companies: however Eksportfinans alleges that, when the loans were paid off early by borrowers, Glitnir kept the cash and merely continued with the regular payments to Eksportfinans, effectively taking an unauthorized loan itself.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Trading in shares of six financial companies on the OMX Nordic Iceland Exchange was suspended on 6 October by order of the FME. On Thursday 9 October, all trading on the exchange was frozen for two days by the government "in an attempt to prevent further panic spreading throughout the country's financial markets". The decision was made to do so due to "unusual market conditions", with share prices having fallen 30% since the start of the month. The closure was extended through Monday 13 October due to continuing "unusual market conditions".


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The market reopened on 14 October with the main index, the OMX Iceland 15, at 678.4, which corresponds to a plunge of about 77% compared with 3,004.6 before the closure. This reflects the fact that the value of the three big banks, which form 73.2% of the value of the OMX Iceland 15, had been set to zero. The values of other equities varied from +8% to −15%. Trading in shares of Exista, SPRON and Straumur-Burðarás (13.66% of the OMX Iceland 15) remains suspended. After a week of very thin trading, the OMX Iceland 15 closed on 17 October at 643.1, down 93% in króna terms and 96% in euro terms from its historic high of 9016 (18 July 2007).


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Trading in the shares of two financial services companies, Straumur–Burðarás and Exista, resumed on 9 December: together the companies account for 12.04% of the OMX Iceland 15. The values of the shares in both companies dropped sharply, and the index closed at 394.88, down by 40.17% on the day. Trading in shares in SPRON and Kaupthing remains suspended, at prices of 1.90 krónur and 694.00 krónur respectively.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The four credit rating agencies which monitor Iceland's sovereign debt all lowered their ratings during the crisis, and their outlook for future ratings changes became negative. The Icelandic government had a relatively healthy balance, with sovereign debt of 28% of GDP and a budget surplus of 6% of GDP (2007). More recently, the estimated 2011 debt was 130% of GDP with a budget deficit of 6% of GDP.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: In addition, the value of foreign currency bonds which matured in the remainder of 2008 was only $600 million, and foreign currency debt service in 2009 was only $215 million, well within the government's ability to pay. However the agencies believed that the government would have to issue more foreign currency bonds, both to cover losses as the banks' overseas operations are liquidation and also to stimulate demand in the domestic economy as Iceland goes into recession.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: A team of experts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrived in Iceland at the start of October 2008 for talks with the government. Industry Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson was said to be "favourable" to help from the IMF to stabilise the króna and to allow interest rates to be lowered.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 7 October, the central bank of Iceland announced that they had been in talks with the Russian ambassador to Iceland, Victor I. Tatarintsev, over a €4 billion loan from Russia. The loan would be given across three or four years, with an interest rate of 30 to 50 basis points (0.3% to 0.5%) above LIBOR. Central Bank of Iceland governor Davíð Oddsson later clarified that the loan was still being negotiated. According to RÚV, prime minister Geir Haarde had been investigating the possibility of a Russian loan since the mid-summer. When questioned on the matter in a press conference, Geir Haarde said: "We have not received the kind of support that we were requesting from our friends. So in a situation like that one has to look for new friends."


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: A team of Icelandic negotiators arrived in Moscow on 14 October to discuss the possible loan. Russian deputy finance minister Dmitri Pankin said that "The meeting took place in a friendly atmosphere... We are working thoroughly on the issue to take a final decision". On the same day, the Central Bank of Iceland drew on its swap facilities with the central banks of Denmark and Norway for €200 million each. Iceland has swap facilities with the other Nordic countries for a total of €1.5 billion. Iceland is also seeking assistance from the European Central Bank (ECB): there is some precedent for the move, as the ECB already has currency swap arrangements with Switzerland, another non-member of the European Union.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 24 October, the IMF tentatively agreed to lend €1.58 billion. However the loan had still not been approved by the executive board of the IMF on 13 November. Due to the delay Iceland found itself caught in a classic catch-22 situation, loans from other countries could not be secured until the IMF program had been approved. The Icelandic government spoke of a $500M (€376M) gap in the funding plans. Dutch finance minister Wouter Bos stated that the Netherlands would oppose the loan unless agreement was reached over deposit insurance for Landsbanki customers in the Netherlands.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The IMF-led package of $4.6bn was finally agreed on 19 November, with the IMF loaning $2.1bn and another $2.5bn of loans and currency swaps from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. In addition, Poland has offered to lend $200M and the Faroe Islands have offered $50M, about 3% of Faroese GDP. The Icelandic government reported that Russia offered to lend $500M, and Poland, $200M. The next day, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom announced a joint loan of $6.3bn (€5bn), related to the deposit insurance dispute.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: In 2001, banks were deregulated in Iceland. This set the stage for banks to upload debts when foreign companies were accumulated. The crisis unfolded when banks became unable to refinance their debts. It is estimated that the three major banks held foreign debt in excess of €50 billion, or about €160,000 per Icelandic resident, compared with Iceland's gross domestic product of €8.5 billion. As early as March 2008, the cost of private deposit insurance for deposits in Landsbanki and Kaupthing was already far higher (6–% of the sum deposited) than for other European banks. The króna, which was ranked by "The Economist" in early 2007 as the most overvalued currency in the world (based on the Big Mac Index), has further suffered from the effects of carry trading.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Coming from a small domestic market, Iceland's banks have financed their expansion with loans on the interbank lending market and, more recently, by deposits from outside Iceland (which are also a form of external debt). Households also took on a large amount of debt, equivalent to 213% of disposable income, which led to inflation. This inflation was exacerbated by the practice of the Central Bank of Iceland issuing liquidity loans to banks on the basis of newly issued, uncovered bonds – effectively, printing money on demand.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: In response to the rise in prices – 14% in the twelve months to September 2008, compared with a target of 2.5% – the Central Bank of Iceland held interest rates high (15.5%). Such high interest rates, compared with 5.5% in the United Kingdom or 4% in the eurozone for example, encouraged overseas investors to hold deposits in Icelandic krónur, leading to monetary inflation: the Icelandic money supply (M3) grew 56.5% in the twelve months to September 2008, compared with 5.0% GDP growth. The situation was effectively an economic bubble, with investors overestimating the true value of the króna.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: As with many banks around the world, the Icelandic banks found it increasingly difficult or impossible to roll over their loans in the interbank market, their creditors insisting on payment while no other banks were willing to make fresh loans. In such a situation, a bank would normally have to ask for a loan from the central bank as the lender of last resort. However, in Iceland the banks were so much larger than the national economy that the Central Bank of Iceland and the Icelandic government could not guarantee the payment of the banks' debts, leading to the collapse of the banks. The official reserves of the Central Bank of Iceland stood at 374.8 billion krónur at the end of September 2008, compared with 350.3 billion krónur of short-term international debt in the Icelandic banking sector, and at least £6.5 billion (1,250 billion krónur) of retail deposits in the UK.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The situation was made worse by the fact that Icesave was operating as a branch of Landsbanki, rather than as a legally independent subsidiary. As such, it was completely dependent on the Central Bank of Iceland for emergency loans of liquidity, and could not turn to the Bank of England for help. The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) was aware of the risk, and was considering imposing special liquidity requirements on Icelandic deposit-taking banks in the weeks before the crisis. However the plan – which was never implemented – would have forced the Icelandic banks to cut interest rates or stop taking new deposits, and might even have sparked the sort of bank run it was designed to prevent. The Guernsey authorities were also planning on bringing in restrictions on foreign banks operating as branches and on transfers of funds between Guernsey subsidiaries and parent banks ("parental upstreaming"). Landsbanki operated in Guernsey through a legally independent subsidiary.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The existence of a bank run on Landsbanki accounts in the UK in the period up to 7 October seems confirmed by a statement from the bank on 10 October, which said "Landsbanki Íslands hf. transferred substantial funds to its UK branch during this time to fulfil its Icesave commitments." The transfer of funds from Landsbanki Guernsey to Heritable Bank, a Landsbanki subsidiary in the UK, also suggests a bank run in the UK. A transfer of "substantial funds" from Iceland to the UK would have been a significant downward push on the value of the króna, even before the effects of any speculation.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Wholesale funding disappeared in September 2008 leading to the collapse of Glitnir, Kaupthing and Landsbanki. Due to the size of the combined balance sheet of those banks the government of Iceland did not have the means to save those banks. They were put into receivership instead with their boards replaced. Nevertheless, the failed banks were restructured by dividing them into a new and an old bank in order to avoid a credit crunch.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The new state-owned banks took over the domestic activities and have been recapitalised by government with a capital ratio of 16% of all assets. The Financial Supervisory Authority (FME) has acted to "ring-fence" the Icelandic operations of Landsbanki and Glitnir, stating its aim of "continued banking operations for Icelandic families and businesses". NBI (originally known as "Nýi Landsbanki") was set up on 9 October with 200 billion krónur in equity and 2,300 billion krónur of assets. Nýi Glitnir was set up on 15 October with 110 billion krónur in equity and 1,200 billion krónur of assets. Nýja Kaupþing was set up on 22 October with 75 billion krónur in equity and 700 billion krónur of assets. The equity in all three new banks was supplied by the Icelandic government, and amounted to 30% of Iceland's GDP. The new banks will also have to reimburse their predecessors for the net value of the transferred assets, as determined by "recognised appraisers". As of 14 November 2008, these net values were estimated as: NBI ISK558.1bn (€3.87bn), Nýi Glitnir ISK442.4bn (€2.95bn); Nýja Kaupþing ISK172.3bn (€1.14bn). The total debt of 1173 billion krónur is more than 90% of Iceland's 2007 gross domestic product.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The international businesses remained with the old banks for winding up. Glitnir and Kaupthing, shorn of their Icelandic operations, obtained moratoria on payments to creditors (similar to Chapter 11 protection) from the District Court of Reykjavík on 24 November.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The rescue operations of the central bank along with the restructuring and recapitalization of the banks increased the public debt ratio by about 20 percentage points of GDP.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The current economic climate in the country has affected many Icelandic businesses and citizens. With the creation of Nýi Landsbanki, the new organisation which replaces the old Landsbanki, around 300 employees will lose their jobs due to a radical restructuring of the organisation which is intended to minimise the bank's international operations. Similar job losses are expected at Glitnir and Kaupthing The job losses can be compared with the 2,136 registered unemployed and 495 advertised vacancies in Iceland at the end of August 2008.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Other companies have also been affected. For example, the private Sterling Airlines declared bankruptcy on 29 October 2008. The national airline Icelandair has noticed a significant slump in domestic demand for flights. However, the airline states that year-on-year international demand is up from last year. Guðjón Arngrímsson, a spokesman for the airline, said "we're getting decent traffic from other markets... we are trying to let the weak króna help us." He has also stated that it is impossible to predict whether the company will be profitable this year. "Morgunblaðið", an Icelandic newspaper, is cutting some jobs and merging parts of its operations with the media corporation 365. The newspaper "24 stundir" has ceased publication due to the crisis, resulting in the loss of 20 jobs.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Importers are particularly hard hit, with the government restricting foreign currency to essential products such as food, medicines and oil. The €400 million loan from the central banks of Denmark and Norway is sufficient to pay for a month's imports, although on 15 October there was still a "temporary delay" which affected "all payments to and from the country".


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The assets of Icelandic pension funds are, according to one expert, expected to shrink by 15–25%. The Icelandic Pension Funds Association has announced that benefits will in all likelihood have to be cut in 2009. Iceland's GDP is expected by economists to shrink by as much as 10% as a result of the crisis, putting Iceland by some measures in an economic depression. Inflation may climb as high as 75% by the end of the year.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Unemployment had more than tripled by late November 2008, with over 7000 registered jobseekers (about 4% of the workforce) compared to just 2136 at the end of August 2008. As 80% of household debt is indexed and another 13% denominated in foreign currencies, debt payment is going to be more costly. Since October 2008, 14% of the workforce have experienced reductions in pay, and around 7% have had their working hours reduced. According to the president of the Icelandic Federation of Labour (ASÍ), Gylfi Arnbjörnsson, these figures are lower than expected. 85% of those registered as unemployed in Iceland stated that they lost their job in October, after the economic collapse.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 17 July 2009, lawmakers voted 33–28 (with two abstentions) to approve a government plan for Iceland to apply for full European Union membership. Although Iceland (as a member of EFTA) already had a free trade arrangement with the EU, it had always rejected full membership due to concerns that its independence could be compromised. However, Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, who was elected in April, had promised to bring Iceland into the EU to help stabilize its economy. EU enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn expressed support for Iceland's membership, stating that as "a country with deep democratic traditions", Iceland will be welcome in the EU's expansion plans. (However, on 13 September 2013 the Government of Iceland dissolved its accession team and suspended its application to join the EU. On 12 March 2015, Foreign Minister of Iceland Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson stated that he had sent a letter to the EU withdrawing the application for membership, without the approval of the Althing, though the European Union stated that Iceland had not formally withdrawn the application.)


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The crisis led to a radical shift in the political landscape of Iceland which until this time had been marked by stability. After the effects of the crisis set in, mainstream parties were discredited as newer parties such as the Left Greens and the Pirate Party moved into the mainstream. During the Social Democrat-Left Green coalition (2009-13) the crisis was blamed on corruption and a lack of transparency; in reaction to this the government attempted to reform the constitution and protect the welfare state. Joining the coalition resulted in the Left Greens losing their innocence as a party, resulting in voters punishing them at the 2013 election, at which they lost about half of their voter base. Voters were angry that the government had seemingly bowed to the IMF demands and introduced austerity. Later on in 2016 and 2017 the Left Greens were able to gain back a sizable proportation of their electoral gains by focusing their campaigns on their historical opposition to the Independence Party and oil drilling off the coast as well as arguing that the largest state run bank should be converted into a value vased bank.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Over £840 million in cash from more than 100 UK local authorities was invested in Icelandic banks. Representatives from each council met to try to persuade the Treasury to secure the money in the same way that customers' money in Icesave was fully guaranteed. Of all the local authorities, Kent County Council has the most money invested in Icelandic banks, £50 million. Transport for London, the organisation that operates and coordinates transport services within London, also has a large investment at £40 million. Local authorities were working under government advice to invest their money across many national and international banks as a way of spreading risk. Other UK organisations said to have invested heavily include police services and fire authorities, and even the Audit Commission. In October 2008, it was hoped that about one-third of the deposited money will be available fairly rapidly, corresponding to the liquid assets of the UK subsidiaries: liquidation of other assets, such as loans and offices, will take longer.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: In an emergency sitting of Tynwald on 9 October 2008, the Isle of Man government raised compensation from 75% of the first £15,000 per depositor to 100% of £50,000 per depositor. The Chief Minister of the Isle of Man, Tony Brown, confirmed that Kaupthing had guaranteed the operations and liabilities of its Manx subsidiary in September 2007, and that the Manx government was pressing Iceland to honour this guarantee. Depositors with Landsbanki on Guernsey found themselves without any depositor protection.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: In October 2008, an agreement was reached between the Icelandic and Dutch governments on the savings of about 120,000 Dutch citizens. The Icelandic government agreed to cover the first €20,887 on savings accounts of Dutch citizens held by Landsbanki subsidiary Icesave, using money lent by the Dutch government. The total value of Icesave deposits in the Netherlands were €1.7 billion. At the same time, Iceland and Britain reached an agreement on the general contours of a solution: Icesave deposits in the UK total £4 billion (€5 billion) in 300,000 accounts. The figure of €20,887 was the amount covered by the Icelandic Depositors' and Investors' Guarantee Fund (DIGF; "Tryggingarsjóður" in Icelandic): however, the DIGF had equity of only 8.3 billion krónur at the end of 2007, €90 million at the exchange rates of the time and far from sufficient to cover the Dutch and British claims.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The cost of deposit insurance in the UK was unclear in November 2008. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) paid around £3 billion to transfer deposits from Heritable Bank and Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander to ING Direct, while the UK Treasury paid an additional £600 million to guarantee retail deposits that were higher than the FSCS limit. The Treasury also paid out £800 million to guarantee Icesave deposits that were higher than the limit. A loan of £2.2 billion to the Icelandic government was expected to cover the claims against the Icelandic DIGF relating to Icesave, while the exposure of the UK FSCS is expected to be £1-2 billion. The Supreme Court of Iceland, in 2011, ordered the repayment of "£4.5bn to the UK and €1.6bn (£1.2bn) by liquidating assets". In January 2016, The Financial Times reported that HM Treasury "had been paid £740m from the Landsbanki estate". This payment by the Landsbanki estate was the final repayment to the UK's treasury, which totaled £4.6bn.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The crisis also prompted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reduce its foreign aid to developing nations, from 0.31% to 0.27% of GNP. The effect of the aid cut was greatly amplified by the falling value of the króna: the budget of the Icelandic International Development Agency (ICEIDA) was reduced from US$22 million to $13 million. Since Iceland's foreign aid is targeted in sectors for which the country has particular expertise (e.g., fisheries, geothermal power), the cutbacks will have a substantial impact in countries which receive Icelandic aid – most noticeably in Sri Lanka, where ICEIDA is pulling out altogether.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 27 February 2009, "The Wall Street Journal" reported that Iceland's new government was trying to raise $25 million by selling its ambassadorial residences in Washington, New York, London and Oslo.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 28 August 2009, Iceland's parliament voted 34–15 (with 14 abstentions) to approve a bill (commonly referred to as the "Icesave bill") to pay the United Kingdom and the Netherlands more than $5 billion lost in Icelandic deposit accounts. Initially opposed in June, the bill was passed after amendments were added which set a ceiling on the payment based on the country's gross domestic product. Opponents of the bill argued that Icelanders, already reeling from the crisis, should not have to pay for mistakes made by private banks under the watch of other governments. However, the government argued that if the bill failed to pass, the UK and the Netherlands might retaliate by blocking a planned aid package for Iceland from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Under the deal, up to 4% of Iceland's gross domestic product (GDP) will be paid to the UK, in sterling terms, from 2017 to 2023 while the Netherlands will receive up to 2% of Iceland's GDP, in euro terms, for the same period. Talks between Icelandic, Dutch and UK ministers in January 2010 dubbed as "Icesave" did not result in any specific actions being agreed upon.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 12 December 2008, the Althing established a Special Investigation Commission (SIC), which came to consist of Supreme Court Justice Páll Hreinsson who served as chairman, Parliamentary Ombudsman Tryggvi Gunnarsson and Sigríður Benediktsdóttir associate chair at Yale University, to investigate the causes and lessons of the crisis. The commission released its report on 12 April 2010.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The Office of the Special Prosecutor was founded with the passage of a bill in the Icelandic parliament 10 December 2008. The aim was to investigate suspected criminal conduct leading up to, in connection with or in the wake of the banking crisis, whether these relate to the activities of financial undertakings, other legal entities or individuals, and, as appropriate, to follow up these investigations by bringing charges in court against those concerned.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: In February 2009, Ólafur Hauksson (b. Reykjavík 1964) was appointed; it was the Icelandic government's second attempt to appoint to the role, and Ólafur was one of only two applicants. He had previously been the police chief in Akranes. At the time the unit had four staff members; by September 2013 it had 109, with 140 cases under investigation. By that time, the top managers of all three Icelandic banks which collapsed during the financial crisis had been charged, though the cases progressed slowly. The last active investigation related to the financial crisis concluded in December 2017; 202 cases had been investigated in total over the period, with 23 of them ending up in court. By January 2018, 13 of the court cases ended with guilty verdicts, four with not guilty verdicts and six trials were still pending.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: The investigation has been focusing on a number of questionable financial practices engaged in by Icelandic banks:


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: On 9 March 2011, Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz were arrested in London by the UK's Serious Fraud Office as part of their ongoing investigation in conjunction with Iceland's Special Prosecutor's Office into the collapse of Icelandic Bank Kaupthing. Neither was, however, indicted, and in fact they sued the Serious Fraud Office for wrongful arrest, receiving large sums in compensation.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Since the crisis began, many of Iceland's business leaders, who had previously been considered financial gurus who greatly developed Iceland's economy, are now under intense public scrutiny for their roles in causing the financial crisis:


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Reportedly, all of those under scrutiny are now rarely seen in public and some have apparently left the country. They are also reportedly the subjects of an ongoing investigation to determine if any of their business practices warrant criminal prosecution.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Former Prime Minister Davíð Oddsson has claimed that Iceland needs to investigate "unusual and unconventional loans" given by the banks to senior politicians during the years before the crisis.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Björn Bjarnson, the former Minister for Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs, has started a blog detailing the problems with the business sector and the efforts to cover them up. This was cited as an example of how politicians and businessmen, who traditionally held a tight grip over the Icelandic media, have lost this control and that dozens of similar blogs have been created. Björn stated that:


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: "I have written a lot about problems in the business sector over the last 14 years, and I can only compare some parts of it to Enron. Here companies have been playing a game, using the media and publishing to make themselves look good. We only hope that the foreign media will soon begin to understand what has been going on".


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Parts of the Icelandic public have arranged protests against the Central Bank, the Parliament and the government's alleged lack of responsibility before and after the crisis, attracting between 3000 and 6000 people (1–2% of Iceland's population) on Saturdays.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: In early November 2008, the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, at an informal lunch with foreign diplomats, criticized Iceland's traditional friends (particularly Britain, Sweden and Denmark) as well as the International Monetary Fund. According to a memo from the Norwegian embassy, he suggested that the Russians might want to use the Keflavík Air Base, the Russian ambassador replied that they had no need for it. The President is quoted to have said that Iceland would soon recover, even if they had to fight alone. The President does not necessarily agree with the government on these issues.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: In October 2008, the UK PM Gordon Brown used provisions in part 2 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 to freeze Landsbanki holdings in the United Kingdom. Iceland's prime minister Geir Haarde protested against what he described as "a terrorist law being applied against us", calling it "a completely unfriendly act". Angered by the British decision, Iceland decided to submit a formal complaint to NATO about their move, and it also provoked more than 80,000 Icelanders (equal to 25% of its entire population) to sign an online petition set up under the heading "Icelanders are not terrorists". The relationship got even tenser when UK replied a month later by cancelling its scheduled patrol of the Icelandic airspace in December 2008. Iceland has no standing army of its own, and relies on a long-term standing agreement with NATO where a group of member states have committed in turns to defend the Icelandic airspace, and the UK Royal Air Force had now cancelled this after mutual agreement with NATO (presumably with another member state having accepted the responsibility).


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: According to a poll from late November 2008, 64% were in favour of early elections, with only 29.3% opposed. In a poll from 22 November 2008, the Social Democratic Alliance led with 33.6%, followed by the Left-Green Alliance at 27.8% and the Independence Party at 24.8%; the Progressive Party and the Liberal Party were far behind, with only 6.3% and 4.3%, respectively.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: As the Parliament met again on 20 January 2009, there were protests with reinvigorated force and escalation of conflict between protesters and the police. On 22 January, police used tear gas to disperse people on Austurvöllur (the square in front of the Alþing), the first such use since the 1949 anti-NATO protest.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde announced on 23 January 2009 that he would be stepping down as leader of the Independence Party for health reasons: he has been diagnosed as having a malignant oesophageal tumour. He said he would travel to the Netherlands around the end of January for treatment. Education Minister and Independence Party vice-chairman Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir was to serve as Prime Minister in his absence. The leader of the Social Democratic Alliance, Foreign Minister Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, was also unwell, undergoing treatment for a benign brain tumour since September 2008. The government recommended that elections be held on 9 May 2009.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Björgvin G. Sigurðsson, Iceland's Commerce Minister, resigned on 25 January, citing the pressures of the nation's economic collapse, as the country's political leaders failed to agree on how to lead country out of its financial crisis. One of his last acts as minister was to dismiss the director of the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA). Björgvin acknowledged that Icelanders have lost faith in their government and political system. "I want to shoulder my part of the responsibility for that," he said.


title: 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis

text: Negotiations on continuing the coalition broke down the next day, apparently over demands from the Social Democratic Alliance to take over the leadership of the government, and Geir Haarde tendered the government's resignation to the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. The President asked the present government to continue until a new government can be formed, and held talks with the five political parties represented in the Althing.