title: Indian Railways

text: Trains are sorted into categories which dictate the number of stops on a route, their priority on the network, and their fare structure. Each express train is identified by a five-digit number. If the first digit in the train number is 1 or 2, they are long-distance express trains. If the first digit is 0, the train is a special train which will operate for a limited period of time with a different fare structure. A first digit of 5 denotes a passenger train.


title: Indian Railways

text: The second digit indicates the zone operating the train. However, for high-speed trains, the second digit is either 0 or 2 (the first remains 1 or 2). The third digit denotes the division within the zone which is responsible for maintenance and cleanliness, and the last two digits are the train's serial number. The train numbering system was changed from four digits from December 2010, to accommodate the increasing number of trains.


title: Indian Railways

text: Trains traveling in opposite directions along the same route are usually labelled with consecutive numbers. However, there is considerable variation in train numbers; some zones, such as Central Railway, have a less-systematic method of numbering trains.


title: Indian Railways

text: Trains are classified by average speed. A faster train has fewer stops (halts) than a slower one, and is usually used for long-distance travel. Most express trains have special names to identify them easily. The names of the trains usually denote the regions they connect, the routes they traverse, or a famous person or tourist spot connected with the train.


title: Indian Railways

text: Indian Railway operates tourist train or coach services on popular tourist circuits in different regions of the country. The service offers tour packages inclusive of rail travel, local transportation, accommodation, food and guided tours. IR offers various tourist services in this segment including Luxury tourist trains, Semi luxury trains, Buddhist special trains, Bharat Darshan trains, Aastha Circuit trains, and Steam trains.


title: Indian Railways

text: The "Palace on Wheels" is a luxury-train service, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, to promote tourism in Rajasthan. The train has a seven-night, eight-day itinerary on a round trip from New Delhi via Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur and Chittaurgarh, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bharatpur and Agra.


title: Indian Railways

text: "Royal Rajasthan on Wheels" covers a number of tourist destinations in Rajasthan. The seven-day, eight-night tour is a round trip from New Delhi's Safdarjung station via Jodhpur, Udaipur and Chittaurgarh, Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur, Khajuraho, Varanasi and Sarnath, and Agra.


title: Indian Railways

text: "Maharajas' Express", a luxury train operated by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), runs on five routes to about 12 destinations across northwest and central India (centered around Rajasthan) from October to April.


title: Indian Railways

text: The "Deccan Odyssey" covers tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa. Its seven-night, eight-day tour begins in Mumbai and stops at Jaigad Fort, Ganapatipule and Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Tarkarli and Sawantwadi, Goa, Kolhapur and Pune (Day 5), Aurangabad and Ellora Caves, and Ajanta Caves and Nashik.


title: Indian Railways

text: The "Golden Chariot" is a luxury train service running on two tours: Pride of the South and Splendor of the South.


title: Indian Railways

text: The "Mahaparinirvan Express", an air-conditioned service also known as the Buddhist Circuit Train, is run by the IRCTC for Buddhist pilgrims. Its seven-night, eight-day tour begins in New Delhi and visits Bodh Gaya, Rajgir and Nalanda, Varanasi and Sarnath, Kushinagar and Lumbini, Sravasti, and the Taj Mahal.


title: Indian Railways

text: The "Fairy Queen", a tourist attraction also known as the world's oldest operating steam engine, hauls a luxury train from Delhi to Alwar.


title: Indian Railways

text: Until the late 1980s, Indian Railways ticket reservations were made manually. In late 1987, IR began using a computerized ticketing system. The system went online in 1995 to provide current information on status and availability. The ticketing network at stations is computerized with the exception of remote areas. IR now provides multiple channels for passengers to book tickets between any two train stations in the country.


title: Indian Railways

text: Reserved tickets may be booked up to 120 days in advance on the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation website, smartphone apps, SMS, rail reservation counters at train stations, or through private ticket booking counters. A Tatkal train ticket can be booked by passengers who want to travel at short notice with a reserved seat or berth, but such tickets are sold at higher fares than regular advance reservation tickets.


title: Indian Railways

text: Confirmed reservation tickets will show the passenger and fare details along with berth or seat number(s) allocated to them on the ticket. If the reservation is not available on a particular train, the ticket has a wait-list number. A person with a wait-listed ticket must wait for enough cancellations to obtain a confirmed ticket. If their ticket is not confirmed on the day of departure, they cannot board the train. Reservation against cancellation tickets, between the waiting and confirmed lists, allow a ticket holder to board the train and obtain a seat chosen by a ticket collector after the collector has found a vacant seat.


title: Indian Railways

text: Unreserved tickets for short distance or unplanned travels may be purchased at stations at any time before departure. Holders of such tickets may only board the general compartments. Suburban networks issue unreserved tickets valid for a limited time or season passes with unlimited travel between two stops for a period of time. Commuters can purchase tickets and season passes at stations or through UTS mobile apps. A valid proof for the purchase of ticket along with photo identification is required to board the train.


title: Indian Railways

text: India has some of the lowest train fares in the world, and passenger traffic is subsidised by higher-class fares. Discounted tickets are available for senior citizens (over age 60), the differently-abled, students, athletes, and those taking competitive examinations. One compartment of the lowest class of accommodation is earmarked for women on every passenger train. Some berths or seats are also reserved for women or senior citizens.


title: Indian Railways

text: In the freight segment, IR ferries various commodities and fuels in industrial, consumer, and agricultural segments across the length and breadth of India. IR has historically subsidised the passenger segment with income from the freight business. As a result, freight services are unable to compete with other modes of transport on both cost and speed of delivery, leading to continuous erosion of market share. To counter this downward trend, IR has started new initiatives in freight segments including upgrading of existing goods sheds, attracting private capital to build multi-commodity multi-modal logistics terminals, changing container sizes, operating time-tabled freight trains, and tweaking with the freight pricing/product mix. Also, end-to-end integrated transport solutions such as roll-on, roll-off (RORO) service, a road-rail system pioneered by Konkan Railway Corporation in 1999 to carry trucks on flatbed trailers, is now being extended to other routes across India.


title: Indian Railways

text: Perhaps the game changer for IR in the freight segment are the new dedicated freight corridors that are expected to be completed by 2020. When fully implemented, the new corridors, spanning around 3300 km, could support hauling of trains up to 1.5 km in length with 32.5 ton axle-load at speeds of . Also, they will free-up capacity on dense passenger routes and will allow IR to run more trains at higher speeds. Additional corridors are being planned to augment the freight infrastructure in the country.


title: Indian Railways

text: IR maintains two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Mumbai, and the "Mountain Railways of India". The latter are three rail lines in different parts of India: the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow-gauge railway in the Lesser Himalayas of West Bengal; the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a rack railway in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu, and the Kalka-Shimla Railway, a narrow-gauge railway in the Siwalik Hills of Himachal Pradesh.


title: Indian Railways

text: In 2019, to tackle and resolve the problems of passengers of Indian Railways, the Ministry launched a portal named RailMadad. According to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha in 2021, all complaints have been resolved within 72 hours and people gave a satisfactory feedback.


title: Indian Railways

text: Infrastructure modernisation projects include high-speed rail, with the first Ahmedabad-Mumbai train in operation in 2022; redevelopment of 400 stations by monetizing of spare railway land under a plan; doubling tracks to reduce congestion and delays while improving safety; the refurbishing of 12- to 15-year-old coaches at the Carriage Rehabilitation Workshop in Bhopal to enhance passenger amenities and fire safety; Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled tracking of trains to improve safety and service; Digital India-driven digitalisation of the railway to improve efficiency and reduce cost; rainwater harvesting, with 1885 systems installed by December 2016; and reforestation of railway land and along the tracks.


title: Indian Railways

text: All routes will be electrified to save on imported fuel costs. Off-the-grid solar-powered trains are planned with the installation of one gigawatt of solar and 130 megawatts of wind power between 2017 and 2022; India introduced the world's first solar-powered train and 50 coaches with rooftop solar farms in June 2017. Initial assessments of this experiment have been positive. Rooftop solar electricity is planned at stations to reduce long-term fuel costs and protect the environment, and sustainable LED lighting at all the stations was completed by March 2018 which saves Rs 500 million per annum in electricity bills. Locomotive factories have been modernised, including two new factories in Bihar: an electric locomotive factory in Madhepura and a diesel locomotive factory in Marhaura, and 2,285 bio-toilets were introduced from April to July 2014. A partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced.


title: Indian Railways

text: All the unstaffed level crossings had been eliminated by Jan 2019, and staffed level crossings are being progressively replaced by overbridges and underbridges. Other safety projects include the extension of an automated fire alarm system, first introduced on Rajdhani Express trains in 2013, to all air-conditioned coaches; and 6,095 GPS-enabled Fog Pilot Assistance System railway signalling devices (replacing the practice of placing firecrackers on tracks to alert train drivers) installed in 2017 in four zones: Northern, North Central, North Eastern and North Western; and replacing ICF coach with LHB coach.


title: Indian Railways

text: In an unprecedented move, the railways had suspended the services of all passenger trains for 48 days after the lockdown was announced by the PM on 24 March 2020. Its freight trains however continued to run during this period. This was the first time in its entire history that lifeline of the nation was stopped. On 12 May 2020, in first phase, Railways started the Rajdhani Express for 15 cities and began the reservation for the same via IRCTC website an evening before.


title: Indian Railways

text: Indian Railways is planning to seek investments from private firms to operate passenger trains for the first time. Ministry of Railways identified 109 origin-destination routes via 151 trains asked private companies to submit their interest. Private companies may operate trains by April 2023. This will incorporate modern trains with technological advancements like less maintenance, reduce travel time and create employment. 151 trains will be operated by the by private entities. Each train shall have minimum 16 coaches.


title: Indian Railways

text: Government of India is building the world's highest rail bridge over the river Chenab, which will connect the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India. It is set to be completed in 2022. According to the media, per a local government official: "This is the tallest railway bridge in the world and the maximum designed wind speed for the bridge is 266 kmph".


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands and north-west of Anguilla. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles and part of the West Indies.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The British Virgin Islands consist of the main islands of Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada and Jost Van Dyke, along with more than 50 other smaller islands and cays. About 16 of the islands are inhabited. The capital, Road Town, is on Tortola, the largest island, which is about long and wide. The islands had a population of 28,054 at the 2010 Census, of whom 23,491 lived on Tortola; current estimates put the population at 35,802 (July 2018).


title: British Virgin Islands

text: British Virgin Islanders are British Overseas Territories citizens and since 2002, are also British citizens.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The islands were named "Santa Úrsula y las Once Mil Vírgenes" by Christopher Columbus in 1493 after the legend of Saint Ursula and the 11,000 virgins. The name was later shortened to "the Virgin Islands".


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The official name of the territory is still simply the "Virgin Islands", but the prefix "British" is often used. This is commonly believed to distinguish it from the neighbouring American territory which changed its name from the "Danish West Indies" to "Virgin Islands of the United States" in 1917. However, local historians have disputed this, pointing to a variety of publications and public records dating from between 21 February 1857 and 12 September 1919 where the territory is referred to as the "British" Virgin Islands. British Virgin Islands government publications continue to begin with the name "The territory of the Virgin Islands", and the territory's passports simply refer to the "Virgin Islands", and all laws begin with the words "Virgin Islands". Moreover, the territory's Constitutional Commission has expressed the view that "every effort should be made" to encourage the use of the name "Virgin Islands". But various public and quasi-public bodies continue to use the name "British Virgin Islands" or "BVI", including BVI Finance, BVI Electricity Corporation, BVI Tourist Board, BVI Athletic Association, BVI Bar Association and others.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: In 1968 the British Government issued a memorandum requiring that the postage stamps in the territory should say "British Virgin Islands" (whereas previously they had simply stated "Virgin Islands"), a practice which is still followed today. This was likely to prevent confusion following on from the adoption of US currency in the territory in 1959, and the references to US currency on the stamps of the territory.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: It is generally thought that the Virgin Islands were first settled by the Arawak from South America around 100 BC to AD 200, though there is some evidence of Amerindian presence on the islands as far back as 1500 BC. The Arawaks inhabited the islands until the 15th century when they were displaced by the more aggressive Caribs, a tribe from the Lesser Antilles islands.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The first European sighting of the Virgin Islands was by the Spanish expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1493 on his second voyage to the Americas, who gave the islands their modern name.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The Spanish Empire claimed the islands by discovery in the early 16th century, but never settled them, and subsequent years saw the English, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Danish all jostling for control of the region, which became a notorious haunt for pirates. There is no record of any native Amerindian population in the British Virgin Islands during this period; it is thought that they either fled to safer islands or were killed.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The Dutch established a permanent settlement on the island of Tortola by 1648, frequently clashing with the Spanish who were based on nearby Puerto Rico. In 1672, the English captured Tortola from the Dutch, and the English annexation of Anegada and Virgin Gorda followed in 1680. Meanwhile, over the period 1672–1733, the Danish gained control of the nearby islands of Saint Thomas, Saint John and Saint Croix (i.e. the modern US Virgin Islands).


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The British islands were considered principally a strategic possession. The British introduced sugar cane which was to become the main crop and source of foreign trade, and large numbers of slaves were forcibly brought from Africa to work on the sugar cane plantations. The islands prospered economically until the middle of the nineteenth century, when a combination of the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1834, a series of disastrous hurricanes, and the growth in the sugar beet crop in Europe and the United States significantly reduced sugar cane production and led to a period of economic decline.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: In 1917, the United States purchased the Danish Virgin Islands for US$25 million, renaming them the United States Virgin Islands. Economic linkages with the US islands prompted the British Virgin Islands to adopt the US dollar as its currency in 1959.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The British Virgin Islands were administered variously as part of the British Leeward Islands or with St. Kitts and Nevis, with an administrator representing the British Government on the islands. The islands gained separate colony status in 1960 and became autonomous in 1967 under the new post of Chief Minister. Since the 1960s, the islands have diversified away from their traditionally agriculture-based economy towards tourism and financial services, becoming one of the wealthiest areas in the Caribbean. The constitution of the islands was amended in 1977, 2004 and 2007, giving them greater local autonomy.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The British Virgin Islands comprise around 60 tropical Caribbean islands, ranging in size from the largest, Tortola, being long and wide, to tiny uninhabited islets, altogether about in extent. They are located in the Virgin Islands archipelago, a few miles east of the US Virgin Islands, and about from the Puerto Rican mainland. About east south-east lies Anguilla. The North Atlantic Ocean lies to the east of the islands, and the Caribbean Sea lies to the west. Most of the islands are volcanic in origin and have a hilly, rugged terrain. The highest point is Mount Sage on Tortola at 521m. Anegada is geologically distinct from the rest of the group, being a flat island composed of limestone and coral. The British Virgin Islands contain the Leeward Islands moist forests and Leeward Islands xeric scrub terrestrial ecoregions.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The British Virgin Islands have a tropical rainforest climate, moderated by trade winds. Temperatures vary little throughout the year. In the capital, Road Town, typical daily maxima are around in the summer and in the winter. Typical daily minima are around in the summer and in the winter. Rainfall averages about per year, higher in the hills and lower on the coast. Rainfall can be quite variable, but the wettest months on average are September to November and the driest months on average are February and March.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Hurricanes occasionally hit the islands, with the Atlantic hurricane season running from June to November.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: On 6 September 2017, Hurricane Irma struck the islands, causing extensive damage, especially on Tortola, and killing four people. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency declared a state of emergency. Visiting Tortola on 13 September 2017, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said that he was reminded of photos of Hiroshima after it had been hit by the atom bomb.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: By 8 September, the UK government sent troops with medical supplies and other aid. More troops were expected to arrive a day or two later, but


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Entrepreneur Richard Branson, a resident of Necker Island, called on the UK government to develop a massive disaster recovery plan to include "both through short-term aid and long-term infrastructure spending". Premier Orlando Smith also called for a comprehensive aid package to rebuild the territory. On 10 September UK Prime Minister Theresa May pledged £32 million to the Caribbean for a hurricane relief fund and promised that the UK government would match donations from the public to the British Red Cross appeal. Specifics were not provided to the news media as to the amount that would be allocated to the Virgin Islands. Boris Johnson's visit to Tortola on 13 September 2017 during his Caribbean tour was intended to confirm the UK's commitment to helping restore British islands but he provided no additional comments on the aid package. He did confirm that HMS "Ocean" had departed for the BVI carrying items like timber, buckets, bottled water, food, baby milk, bedding and clothing, as well as ten pickup trucks, building materials and hardware.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The UK offered to underwrite rebuilding loans up to US$400m as long as there was accountability as to how the monies were spent. Successive NDP and VIP governments declined, despite there having been created a Recovery & Development Authority led by highly skilled infrastructure personnel, many of whom were ex-military with decades of infrastructure rebuilding expertise from war zones and natural disaster sites. Many wealthy residents also proposed a large rebuilding plan, starting with key infrastructure, such as the high school. Nearly five years later, there was no sign of any such rebuilding of the high school or certain other key infrastructure.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The territory operates as a parliamentary democracy. Ultimate executive authority in the British Virgin Islands is vested in the King, and is exercised on his behalf by the Governor of the British Virgin Islands. The governor is appointed by the King on the advice of the British Government. Defence and most foreign affairs remain the responsibility of the United Kingdom.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The most recent constitution was adopted in 2007 (the Virgin Islands Constitution Order, 2007) and came into force when the Legislative Council was dissolved for the 2007 general election. The head of government under the constitution is the Premier (before the new constitution the office was referred to as Chief Minister), who is elected in a general election along with the other members of the ruling government as well as the members of the opposition. Elections are held roughly every four years. A cabinet is nominated by the Premier and appointed and chaired by the Governor. The Legislature consists of the King (represented by the Governor) and a unicameral House of Assembly made up of 13 elected members plus the Speaker and the Attorney General.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The current Governor is John Rankin (since 29 January 2020). The current Premier is Natalio Wheatley (since 5 May 2022), who is leader of the Virgin Islands Party


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The British Virgin Islands is a unitary territory. The territory is divided into nine electoral districts, and each voter is registered in one of those districts. Eight of the nine districts are partly or wholly on Tortola, and encompass nearby neighbouring islands. Only the ninth district (Virgin Gorda and Anegada) does not include any part of Tortola. At elections, in addition to voting their local representative, voters also cast votes for four "at-large" candidates who are elected upon a territory-wide basis.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The territory is also technically divided into five administrative districts (one for each of the four largest islands, with the fifth covering all other islands), and into six civil registry districts (three for Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, Virgin Gorda and Anegada) although these have little practical relevance.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Crime in the British Virgin Islands is comparatively low by Caribbean standards. Whilst statistics and hard data are relatively rare, and are not regularly published by governmental sources in the British Virgin Islands, the Premier did announce that in 2013 there has been a 14% decline in recorded crime as against 2012. Homicides are rare, with just one incident recorded in 2013.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The Virgin Islands Prison Service operates a single facility, His Majesty's Prison in East End, Tortola.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The British and US Virgin Islands sit at the axis of a major drugs transshipment point between Latin America and the continental United States. The American Drug Enforcement Administration regards the adjacent US territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands as a "High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area". A co-operation agreement exists between the British Virgin Islands and the US Coast Guard allowing American forces to pursue suspected drug traffickers through the territorial waters of the British Virgin Islands. In August 2011 a joint raid between the American DEA and the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force arrested a number of British Virgin Islands residents who are accused of being involved in major drugs transshipments, although their extradition to the United States has since become stalled in protracted legal wrangling.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The twin pillars of the economy are financial services (60%) and tourism (roughly 40-45% of GDP). Politically, tourism is the more important of the two, as it employs a greater number of people within the territory, and a larger proportion of the businesses in the tourist industry are locally owned, as are a number of the highly tourism-dependent sole traders (for example, taxi drivers and street vendors).


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Economically however, financial services associated with the territory's status as an offshore financial centre are by far the more important. 51.8% of the Government's revenue comes directly from licence fees for offshore companies, and considerable further sums are raised directly or indirectly from payroll taxes relating to salaries paid within the trust industry sector (which tend to be higher on average than those paid in the tourism sector).


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The official currency of the British Virgin Islands has been the United States dollar (US$) since 1959, the currency also used by the United States Virgin Islands.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The British Virgin Islands enjoys one of the more prosperous economies of the Caribbean region, with a per capita average income of around $42,300 (2010 est.) The average monthly income earned by a worker in the territory was US$2,452 as at the time of the 2010 Census. 29% of the population fell into the "low income" category.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Although it is common to hear criticism in the British Virgin Islands' press about income inequality, no serious attempt has been made by economists to calculate a Gini coefficient or similar measure of income equality for the territory. A report from 2000 suggested that, despite the popular perception, income inequality was actually lower in the British Virgin Islands than in any other OECS state, although in global terms income equality is higher in the Caribbean than in many other regions.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Tourism accounts for approximately 45% of national income. The islands are a popular destination for US citizens. Tourists frequent the numerous white sand beaches, visit The Baths on Virgin Gorda, snorkel the coral reefs near Anegada, or experience the well-known bars of Jost Van Dyke. The BVI are known as one of the world's greatest sailing destinations, and charter sailboats are a very popular way to visit less accessible islands. Established in 1972, the BVI hosts the BVI Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival. A substantial number of the tourists who visit the BVI are cruise ship passengers, and although they produce far lower revenue per head than charter boat tourists and hotel based tourists, they are nonetheless important to the substantial - and politically important - taxi driving community. Only Virgin Islanders are permitted to work as taxi drivers.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Financial services account for over half of the income of the territory. The majority of this revenue is generated by the licensing of offshore companies and related services. The British Virgin Islands is a significant global player in the offshore financial services industry. Since 2001, financial services in the British Virgin Islands have been regulated by the independent Financial Services Commission.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The BVI is relied upon for its sophisticated Commercial Court division of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, as well as the more recent BVI Arbitration Centre. Caribbean KCs and British KCs preside over the majority of important cases and the laws of the Virgin Islands are based on English laws, meaning the jurisdiction provides clarity and consistency should parties require commercial disputes to be resolved. Owing to the international nature of BVI companies' operations and asset holdings, the BVI Commercial Court routinely hears highly sophisticated matters at the cutting edge of cross-border litigation and enforcement, where billions of dollars are at issue.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Citco, also known as the Citco Group of Companies and the Curaçao International Trust Co., is a privately owned global hedge fund administrator headquartered in the British Virgin Islands, founded in 1948. It is the world's largest hedge fund administrator, managing over $1 trillion in assets under administration.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: In May 2022, the banking sector of the British Virgin Islands comprised seven commercial banks and one restricted bank, 12 authorised custodians, two licensed money services businesses and one licensed financing service provider.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: As such the British Virgin Islands is frequently referred to as a "tax haven" by campaigners and NGOs, including Oxfam, which itself has investment funds registered in lesser regulated jurisdictions such as Lichtenstein and Delaware and has been expressly named in anti-tax-haven legislation in other countries on various occasions. Successive governments in the British Virgin Islands have implemented tax exchange agreements and verified beneficial ownership information of companies following the 2013 G8 summit putting their governance and regulatory regimes far ahead of many "onshore" jurisdictions.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: On 10 September 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron said "I do not think it is fair any longer to refer to any of the Overseas Territories or Crown Dependencies as tax havens. They have taken action to make sure that they have fair and open tax systems. It is very important that our focus should now shift to those territories and countries that really are tax havens." Yet journalist and author for The Economist, Nicholas Shaxson, writes in his 2016 "Treasure Islands, tax havens and the men who stole the world": "...Britain sits, spider-like, at the centre of a vast international web of tax havens, which hoover up trillions of dollars' worth of business and capital from around the globe and funnel it up to the City of London. The British Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories - ...the British Virgin Islands... are some of the biggest players in the offshore world."(pp. vii-viii) Shaxson points out that despite BVI having fewer than 25000 inhabitants, hosts over 800,000 companies. "Companies and capital migrate not where they are most productive, but to where they can get the best tax break...and the worlds top secrecy jurisdictions" (pp. 13, 16). For example, News Corporation had 62 subsidiaries in the British Virgin Islands, 33 in Cayman and 21 in Hong Kong, while the Commonwealth Development Corporation has 78 subsidiaries in tax havens including the British Virgin Islands. The British Virgin Islands is a "top secrecy jurisdiction, actively supported and managed from Britain and intimately linked to the City of London."(Ibid., p. 90). For these reasons, Shaxson says that "tax havens help explain why international investment flows often look so strange. The two biggest sources of foreign investment into China in 2007 were not Japan, or the US or South Korea, but Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands."(Ibid., p. 164).


title: British Virgin Islands

text: In the April 2016 Panama Papers leak, while all of the wrongdoing by Mossack Fonseca personnel occurred in Panama and the US, the British Virgin Islands was by far the most commonly-used jurisdiction by clients of Mossack Fonseca.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: On 30 June 2014, The British Virgin Islands was deemed to have an Inter- Governmental Agreement (IGA) with the United States of America with respect to the "Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act" of the United States of America.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The Model 1 Agreement (14 Pages) recognizes that: "The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland provided a copy of the Letter of Entrustment which was sent to the Government of the British Virgin Islands, to the Government of the United States of America "via diplomatic note of 28 May 2014"."


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The Letter of Entrustment dated 14 July 2010 was originally provided to the Government of the British Virgin Islands and authorised the Government of the BVI "to negotiate and conclude Agreements relating to taxation that provide for exchange of information on tax matters to the OECD standard" (Paragraph 2 of the FATCA Agreement). Via an "Entrustment Letter" dated 24 March 2014, The Government of the United Kingdom, authorised the Government of the BVI to sign an agreement on information exchange to facilitate the Implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. On 27 March 2017, the US Treasury site disclosed that the Model 1 agreement and related agreement were "In Force" on 13 July 2015.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Under the UK Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2018, beneficial ownership of companies in British overseas territories such as the British Virgin Islands must be publicly registered for disclosure by 31 December 2020. The Government of the British Virgin Islands plans to challenge this law, arguing that it violates the Constitutional sovereignty granted to the islands, would in practice be relatively ineffective in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing and would raise serious privacy and human rights issues. Further, this would put the British Virgin Islands in a position where it would be at a severe disadvantage because other International Finance Centres do not have this in place, and in the case of the US and the UK, there is very little near-term prospect of the same.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Agriculture and industry account for only a small proportion of the islands' GDP. Agricultural produce includes fruit, vegetables, sugar cane, livestock and poultry, and industries include rum distillation, construction and boat building. Commercial fishing is also practised in the islands' waters.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The British Virgin Islands is heavily dependent on migrant workers, and over 50% of all workers on the islands are of a foreign descent. Only 37% of the entire population were born in the territory. The national labour-force is estimated at 12,770, of whom approximately 59.4% work in the service sector but less than 0.6% are estimated to work in agriculture (the balance working in industry). The British Virgin Islands has met challenges in recruiting sufficient numbers in recent years, having been affected by hurricanes Irma and Maria, and having continued to lag behind other jurisdictions in providing a reliable permanent residence regime. This has had a knock-on effect in limiting schooling and amenities when compared to IFCs like Cayman, UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: As of 2 July 1991, the British Virgin Islands holds Associate Member status in CARICOM, the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).


title: British Virgin Islands

text: In recognition of the CARICOM (Free Movement) Skilled Persons Act which came into effect in July 1997 in some of the CARICOM countries such as Jamaica and which has been adopted in other CARICOM countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago, it is possible that CARICOM nationals who hold the "A Certificate of Recognition of Caribbean Community Skilled Person" may be allowed to work in the BVI under normal working conditions.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: There are of roads. The main airport, Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport, also known as Beef Island Airport, is located on Beef Island, which lies off the eastern tip of Tortola and is accessible by the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. Cape Air, and Air Sunshine are among the airlines offering scheduled service. Virgin Gorda and Anegada have their own smaller airports. Private air charter services operated by Island Birds Air Charter fly directly to all three islands from any major airport in the Caribbean. Helicopters are used to get to islands with no runway facilities; Antilles Helicopter Services is the only helicopter service based in the country.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The main harbour is in Road Town. There are also ferries that operate within the British Virgin Islands and to the neighbouring United States Virgin Islands. Cars in the British Virgin Islands drive on the left just as they do in the United Kingdom and the United States Virgin Islands. However, most cars are left hand drive, because they are from the United States. The roads are often quite steep, narrow and winding, and ruts, mudslides and rockfall can be a problem when it rains.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: As of the 2010 Census, the population of the territory was 28,054. Estimates put the population at 35,800 (July 2018) yet in 2022, it is thought to be much less than 30,000 post-Irma and with people having left during COVID lockdowns due to unemployment in the tourism industry. The majority of the population (76.9%) are Afro-Caribbean, descended from slaves brought to the islands by the British. Other large ethnic groups include Latinos (5.6%), those of European ancestry (5.4%), Mixed ancestry (5.4%) and Indian (2.1%).


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The islands are heavily dependent upon migrant labour. In 2004, migrant workers accounted for 50% of the total population. 32% of workers employed in the British Virgin Islands work for the government.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Unusually, the territory has one of the highest drowning mortality rates in the world, being higher than other high-risk countries such as China and India. 20% of deaths in the British Virgin Islands during 2012 were recorded as drownings, all of them being tourists. Despite this, the territory's most popular beach still has no lifeguard presence.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Over 90% of the population who indicated a religious affiliation at the 2010 Census were Christian with the largest individual Christian denominations being Methodist (17.6%), Anglican (9.5%), Church of God (10.4%) and Roman Catholic (8.9%). The largest non-Christian faiths in 2010 were Hinduism (1.9%) and Islam (0.9%). However Hindus and Muslims constitute each approximately 1.2% of the population according to Word Religion Database 2005.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The British Virgin Islands operates several government schools as well as private schools. There is also a community college, H. Lavity Stoutt Community College, that is located on the eastern end of Tortola. This college was named after Lavity Stoutt, the first Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands. There remains segregation in the school system; while BVIslander and Belonger children make up a significant proportion of pupils in private schools, Non-Belongers are prohibited from attending government schools. It is extremely common for students from the British Virgin Islands to travel overseas for secondary and tertiary education, either to the University of the West Indies, or to colleges and universities in either the United Kingdom, United States or Canada. Coaching in certain sports, such as athletics, squash and football is of a high level.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: There is a University of the West Indies Open campus in the territory and a Marine Science educational facility.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The primary language is English, although there is a local dialect. Spanish is spoken by Puerto Rican, Dominican and other Hispanic immigrants.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: The traditional music of the British Virgin Islands is called "fungi" after the local cornmeal dish with the same name, often made with okra. The special sound of fungi is due to a unique local fusion between African and European music. It functions as a medium of local history and folklore and is therefore a cherished cultural form of expression that is part of the curriculum in BVI schools. The fungi bands, also called "scratch bands", use instruments ranging from calabash, washboard, bongos and ukulele, to more traditional western instruments like keyboard, banjo, guitar, bass, triangle and saxophone. Apart from being a form of festive dance music, fungi often contains humorous social commentaries, as well as BVI oral history.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Because of its location and climate, the British Virgin Islands has long been a haven for sailing enthusiasts. Sailing is regarded as one of the foremost sports in all of the BVI. Calm waters and steady breezes provide some of the best sailing conditions in the Caribbean.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Many sailing events are held in the waters of this country, the largest of which is a week-long series of races called the Spring Regatta, the premier sailing event of the Caribbean, with several races hosted each day. Boats include everything from full-size mono-hull yachts to dinghies. Captains and their crews come from all around the world to attend these races. The Spring Regatta is part race, part party, part festival. The Spring Regatta is normally held during the first week of April.


title: British Virgin Islands

text: Since 2009, the BVI have made a name for themselves as a host of international basketball events. The BVI hosted three of the last four events of the Caribbean Basketball Championship ("FIBA CBC Championship").


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (; NATO reporting name: Foxbat) is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the fastest military aircraft to enter service. Designed by the Soviet Union's Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau, it is an aircraft built primarily using stainless steel. It was to be the last plane designed by Mikhail Gurevich, before his retirement.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The first prototype flew in 1964 and the aircraft entered service in 1970. It has an operational top speed of Mach 2.83. Although its thrust was sufficient to reach Mach 3.2+, its speed was limited to prevent engines from overheating at higher air speeds and possibly damaging them beyond repair. The MiG-25 features a powerful radar and four air-to-air missiles and was theoretically capable of a ceiling of . When first seen in reconnaissance photography, the large wings suggested an enormous and highly maneuverable fighter, at a time when U.S. design theories were also evolving towards higher maneuverability due to combat performance in the Vietnam War. The appearance of the MiG-25 sparked serious concern in the West and prompted dramatic increases in performance for the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, then under development in the late 1960s. The capabilities of the MiG-25 were better understood by the West in 1976 when Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko defected in a MiG-25 to the United States via Japan. It turned out that the aircraft's weight necessitated its large wings.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: Production of the MiG-25 series ended in 1984 after completion of 1,186 aircraft. A symbol of the Cold War, the MiG-25 flew with Soviet allies and former Soviet republics, remaining in limited service in several export customers. It is one of the highest-flying military aircraft, one of the fastest serially produced interceptor aircraft, and the second-fastest serially produced aircraft after the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft, which was built in very small series compared to the MiG-25. , the MiG-25 remains the fastest manned serially produced aircraft in operational use and the fastest plane that was offered for supersonic flights and edge-of-space flights to civilian customers.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: During the Cold War, Soviet Air Defence Forces, PVO (not to be confused with Soviet Air Force, VVS) was given the task of strategic air defence of the USSR. This meant not only dealing with accidental border violations, but more importantly defending the vast airspace of the USSR against US reconnaissance aircraft and strategic bombers carrying free-fall nuclear bombs. The performance of these types of aircraft was steadily improved. In the late 1950s, the very high altitude overflights of Soviet territory by the Lockheed U-2 revealed the need for a higher altitude interceptor aircraft than available at that time.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The subsonic Boeing B-47 Stratojet and Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers were followed by the Mach 2 Convair B-58 Hustler, with the Mach 3 North American B-70 Valkyrie on the drawing board at that time. A major upgrade in the PVO defence system was required, and, at the start of 1958, a requirement was issued for manned interceptors capable of reaching and heights of up to . Mikoyan and Sukhoi responded.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB had been working on a series of interceptors during the second half of the 1950s: the I-1, I-3U, I-7U, I-75, Ye-150, Ye-150A, Ye-152, Ye-152A, Ye-152P, and Ye-152M. The Ye-150 was noteworthy because it was built specifically to test the Tumansky R-15 engine, two of which would later be used for the MiG-25. This led to Ye-152, alternatively known as Ye-166, which set several world records. The Ye-152M (converted from one of the two Ye-152 aircraft) was intended to be the definite heavy interceptor design. But before it was finished, the PVO had selected the Tupolev Tu-128. As the work on the MiG-25 was well under way, the single-engine Ye-152M was abandoned.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: Work on the new Soviet interceptor that became the MiG-25 started in mid-1959, a year before Soviet intelligence learned of the American Mach 3 A-12 reconnaissance aircraft. It is not clear if the design was influenced by the American A-5 Vigilante.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The design bureau studied several possible layouts for the new aircraft. One had the engines located side by side, as on the MiG-19. The second had a stepped arrangement with one engine amidships, with exhaust under the fuselage, and another in the aft fuselage. The third project had an engine arrangement similar to that of the English Electric Lightning, with two engines stacked vertically. Options two and three were both rejected because the size of the engines meant that either of them would result in a very tall aircraft, which would complicate maintenance.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The idea of placing the engines in underwing nacelles was also rejected because of the dangers of any thrust asymmetry during flight. Having decided on engine configuration, there was thought of giving the machine variable-sweep wings and a second crew member, a navigator. Variable geometry would improve maneuverability at subsonic speed, but at the cost of decreased fuel tank capacity. Because the reconnaissance aircraft would operate at high speed and high altitude, the idea was soon dropped. Another interesting but impractical idea was to improve the field performance using two RD36-35 lift-jets. Vertical takeoff and landing would allow for use of damaged runways during wartime and was studied on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The perennial problem with engines dedicated to vertical lift is they become mere dead weight in horizontal flight and also occupy space in the airframe needed for fuel. The MiG interceptor would need all the fuel it could get, so the idea was abandoned.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The first prototype was a reconnaissance variant, designated Ye-155-R1, that made its first flight on 6 March 1964. It had some characteristics that were unique to that prototype, and some of these were visually very evident: the wings had fixed wingtip tanks with a capacity, to which small winglets were attached for stability purposes, but when it was found that fuel sloshing around in the tanks caused vibrations, they were eliminated. The aircraft also had attachments for movable foreplanes, canards, to help with pitch control at high speed (provisions for canards had previously been installed, but not used, on the Ye-152P).


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The first flight of the interceptor prototype, Ye-155-P1, took place on 9 September 1964. Development of the MiG-25, which represented a major step forward in Soviet aerodynamics, engineering and metallurgy, took several more years to complete.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: On 9 July 1967, the new aircraft was first shown to the public at the Domodedovo air show, with four prototypes (three fighters and a reconnaissance aircraft) making a flypast.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau soon realized that the performance of the new aircraft gave it great potential to set new flight records. In addition to their normal duties, the prototypes Ye-155-P1, Ye-155-R1, Ye-155-R3 were made lighter by removing some unneeded equipment and were used for these attempts. Under Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) classification, the Ye-155 type belonged to class C1 (III), which specifies jet-powered land planes with unlimited maximum take-off weight. Records set included:


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: In all, 29 records were claimed, of which seven were all-time world records for time to height, altitudes of and higher, and speed. Several records still stand.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: Because of the thermal stresses incurred in flight above Mach 2, the Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB had difficulties choosing what materials to use for the aircraft. They had to use E-2 heat-resistant Plexiglas for the canopy and high-strength stainless steel for the wings and fuselage. Using titanium rather than steel would have been ideal, but it was expensive and difficult to work with. The problem of cracks in welded titanium structures with thin walls could not be solved, so the heavier nickel steel was used instead. It cost far less than titanium and allowed for welding, along with heat-resistant seals. The MiG-25 was constructed from 80% nickel-steel alloy, 11% aluminium, and 9% titanium. The steel components were formed by a combination of spot welding, automatic machine welding, and hand arc welding methods.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: Initially, the interceptor version was equipped with the TL-25 "Smerch-A" (also referred to as "Product 720") radar, a development of the system carried by the earlier Tu-128. While powerful and thus long-ranged and resistant to jamming, the system—due to the age of its design and its intended purpose (tracking and targeting high- and fast-flying US bombers and reconnaissance aircraft)—lacked look-down/shoot-down capability, which limited its effectiveness against low-flying targets. (This is one of the reasons why it was replaced with the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-31, whose Zaslon radar has that capability.) By the time the MiG-25 entered service in 1969, this was a serious shortcoming, as strategic bombing doctrine was shifting towards low-level penetration of enemy territory. After Belenko's defection to Japan exposed this flaw to the West, a government decree issued on 4 November 1976 called for urgent development of a more advanced radar. This resulted in the pulse-Doppler radar "Sapphire-25" system fitted to the MiG-25PD variant.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: As an interceptor, typical armament includes four R-40 long-range air-to-air missiles, each fitted with either an infrared seeker (R-40T/TD) or a semi-active radar homing seeker (R-40R/RD) and a maximum range of against a high-flying target on a collision course. A fuel tank could be suspended under the fuselage. The aircraft could carry unguided gravity bombs to fulfill a rudimentary strike role. As the bombs would weigh no more and incur no more drag than its regular load of R-40 missiles, its performance was not impaired, leading to some impressive bombing feats; when released at an altitude of and a speed above Mach 2, a bomb would have a range of several tens of kilometres.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The MiG-25 was theoretically capable of a maximum speed exceeding Mach 3 and a ceiling of . Its high speed was problematic: although sufficient thrust was available to reach Mach 3.2, a limit of Mach 2.83 had to be imposed as the engines tended to overspeed and overheat at higher air speeds, possibly damaging them beyond repair.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The design cruising speed is Mach 2.35 (2,500 km/h) with partial afterburner in operation. The maximum speed of Mach 2.83 (3,000 km/h) is allowed to maintain no more than 5 minutes due to the danger of overheating of the airframe and fuel in the tanks. When the airframe temperature reaches , the warning lamp lights up, and the pilot must reduce airspeed. The use of a partial afterburner and a cruising flight altitude makes it possible to have a range only less than when flying Mach 0.9 at altitudes . The maximum altitude of flight without an afterburner in operation is . The poor fuel consumption in the subsonic regime, and hence range, is due to the engines having extremely low pressure ratio of just 4.75 at subsonic speeds. The specific fuel consumption (SFC) of the engines is 1.12lb/(h·lbf) in cruise and 2.45lb/(h·lbf) with afterburners. For comparison purposes, this is 50% worse in cruise than the first generation of F100 engines from the F-15 Eagle, but the SFC with afterburners is actually nearly equal, despite the F100 being a far newer engine design.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: Full-scale production of the "MiG-25R" ("Foxbat-B") began in 1969 at the Gorkii aircraft factory (Plant No. 21). The "MiG-25P" ("Foxbat-A") followed in 1971, and 460 of this variant were built until production ended in 1982. The improved PD variant that replaced it was built from 1978 till 1984, with 104 aircraft completed. Subsequently the Gorkii factory switched over production to the new MiG-31.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: Inaccurate intelligence analysis caused the West initially to believe the MiG-25 was an agile air-combat fighter rather than an interceptor. In response, the United States started a new program, which resulted in the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. NATO obtained a better understanding of the MiG-25's capabilities on 6 September 1976, when a Soviet Air Defence Forces pilot, Lt. Viktor Belenko, defected, landing his MiG-25P at Hakodate Airport in Japan. The pilot overshot the runway on landing and damaged the front landing gear. Despite Soviet protests, the Japanese invited U.S. Air Force personnel to investigate the aircraft. On 25 September, it was moved by a C-5A transport to a base in central Japan, where it was carefully dismantled and analyzed. After 67 days, the aircraft was returned by ship to the Soviets, in pieces. The aircraft was reassembled and is now on display at the Sokol plant in Nizhny Novgorod.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The analysis, based on technical manuals and ground tests of its engines and avionics, revealed unusual technical information:


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: As the result of Belenko's defection and the compromise of the MiG-25P's radar and missile systems, beginning in 1976, the Soviets started to develop an advanced version, the "MiG-25PD" ("Foxbat-E").


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: Plans for a new aircraft to develop the MiG-25's potential to go faster than the in-service limit of Mach 2.8 were designed as a flying prototype. Unofficially designated MiG-25M, it had new powerful engines R15BF2-300, improved radar, and missiles. This work never resulted in a machine for series production, as the coming MiG-31 showed more promise.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The unarmed 'B' version had greater impact than the interceptor when the USSR sent two MiG-25R and two MiG-25RB to Egypt in March 1971, which stayed until July 1972. They were operated by the Soviet 63rd Independent Air Detachment (Det 63), which was established for this mission. Det 63 flew over Israeli-held territory in Sinai on reconnaissance missions roughly 20 times. The flights were in pairs at maximum speed and high altitude, between . On 6 November 1971, a Soviet MiG-25 operating out of Egypt flying at Mach 2.5 was met by Israeli F-4Es and fired upon unsuccessfully. A MiG-25 was tracked flying over Sinai at Mach 3.2 during this period. The MiG-25 engines went into overspeed, which led to them being scrapped. Det 63 was sent back home in 1972. Soviet-operated reconnaissance Foxbats returned to Egypt in 19–20 October 1973, during the Yom Kippur War. Det 154 remained in Egypt until late 1974.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: During the 1970s, the Soviet air force conducted reconnaissance overflights across Iran using its MiG-25RBSh aircraft in response to joint US-Iran recon operations.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The Swedish Air Force observed Soviet Air Defence MiG-25s via radar regularly performing intercepts at and behind the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird at over the Baltic Sea in the 1980s.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: On 13 February 1981, the Israeli Air Force sent two RF-4Es over Lebanon as decoys for Syrian MiG-25 interceptors. As the MiGs scrambled, the RF-4Es turned back delivering chaff and using ECM pods. Two IDF/AF F-15As were waiting for the MiGs and shot one of them down with AIM-7F Sparrow missiles. The other MiG was able to escape. In a similar engagement, on 29 July 1981, a Syrian MiG-25 was again downed by an Israeli F-15A, after which a second MiG-25 launched its R-40 missiles at the F-15 and its wingman, but they missed.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The first reported activity of Syrian MiG-25 aircraft in the civil war was on 8 February 2014, when two Turkish Air Force F-16s were scrambled to intercept a Syrian MiG-25 which was approaching the Turkish border.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The MiG-25 was in service with the Iraqi Air Force during the Iran–Iraq War. Iraqi claimed their MiG-25s shot down at least 15 Iranian aircraft during the war, while only one MiG-25 was lost in air combat (one more lost by SAM)


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The most successful Iraqi MiG-25 pilot of the war was Colonel Mohommed Rayyan, who was credited with ten kills. Eight of these were while flying the MiG-25PD from 1981 to 1986. In 1986, after attaining the rank of Colonel, Rayyan was shot down and killed by Iranian F-14s. For the majority of the air combat Iraqi pilots used R-40 missiles.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: According to research by journalist Tom Cooper, Iranian claimed ten MiG-25s (nine reconnaissance and one fighter) may have been shot down by Iranian F-14s (one of them shared with an F-5) during the Iran-Iraq war. Only three MiG-25 losses (to ground fire or air combat) were confirmed by Iraq.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: During the Persian Gulf War, a U.S. Navy F/A-18, piloted by Lt Cdr Scott Speicher, was shot down on the first night of the war by a missile fired by a MiG-25. The kill was reportedly made with a Bisnovat R-40TD missile fired from a MiG-25PDS flown by Lt. Zuhair Dawood of the 84th squadron of the IQAF,


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: Two IQAF MiG-25s were shot down by U.S. Air Force F-15s on 19 January. The MiGs attempted to hide from the F-15s by using chaff and electronic jammers in order to engage the F-15s untargeted. However the F-15 pilots were able to reacquire the two Iraqi MiG-25s and shot both down with AIM-7 Sparrow missiles. In another incident, an Iraqi MiG-25PD, after eluding eight USAF F-15s at long range, fired three missiles at General Dynamics EF-111A Raven electronic warfare aircraft, forcing them to abort their mission and leave attacking aircraft without electronic jamming support.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: In a different incident, two MiG-25s approached a pair of F-15s, fired missiles at long range which were evaded by the F-15s, and then outran the American fighters. Two more F-15s joined the pursuit, and a total of 10 air-to-air missiles were fired at the MiG-25s, though none reached them.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: On 30 January 1991, an IQAF MiG-25 damaged a USAF F-15C by a R-40 missile in the Samurra Air Battle. Iraq claims it was shot down and fell in Saudi Arabia.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: After the war, on 27 December 1992, a U.S. F-16D downed an IQAF MiG-25 that violated the no-fly zone in southern Iraq with an AIM-120 AMRAAM missile. It was the first USAF F-16 air-to-air victory and the first AMRAAM kill.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: On 23 December 2002, an Iraqi MiG-25 shot down a U.S. Air Force unmanned MQ-1 Predator drone, which was performing armed reconnaissance over Iraq. This was the first time in history that an aircraft and an unmanned drone had engaged in combat. Predators had been armed with AIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missiles and were being used to "bait" Iraqi fighter aircraft, then run. In this incident, the Predator did not run, but instead fired one of the Stingers, which missed, while the MiG's missile did not.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: No Iraqi aircraft were deployed in the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, with most Iraqi aircraft being hidden or destroyed on the ground. In August 2003, several dozen Iraqi aircraft were discovered buried in the sand.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: The MiG-25 was kept a guarded secret in India, designated "Garuda" named after the large mythical bird of God Vishnu from Hindu scriptures. It was used extensively in the Kargil War and Operation Parakram, conducting aerial reconnaissance sorties over Pakistan.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: In May 1997, an Indian Air Force Mikoyan MiG-25RB reconnaissance aircraft created a furor when the pilot flew faster than Mach 3 over Pakistani territory following a reconnaissance mission into Pakistan airspace. The MiG-25 broke the sound barrier while flying at an altitude of around , otherwise the mission would have remained covert, at least to the general public. The Pakistani Government contended that the breaking of the sound barrier was a deliberate attempt to make the point that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had no aircraft in its inventory that could come close to the MiG-25's cruising altitude (up to ). India denied the incident but Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Gohar Ayub Khan, believed that the Foxbat photographed strategic installations near the capital, Islamabad.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: Lack of spare parts and India's acquisition of unmanned aerial vehicles and satellite imagery eventually led to its retirement in 2006.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: An aerial observation of the solar eclipse of 24 October 1995 over India was conducted by a MiG-25, which took images of the eclipse at an altitude of .


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: Libya was a major user of the MiG-25 as it imported 96 MiG-25PD interceptor, MiG-25PU trainer and MiG-25RBK reconnaissance aircraft in the late 1970s and early 1980s.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: During the 1980s, Libya confronted the United States over some claims over the extension of its territorial waters. These incidents prompted a number of encounters between the opposing forces as it happened during the Gulf of Sidra incident (1981) with the Libyan MiG-25s taking part in them.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: During the following years, the Libyan MiG-25 fleet was grounded, lacking maintenance. As MiG-25s had been grounded for several years, NATO attacks spared them during the Libyan Civil War (2011).


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: In 2014 and 2015, the Libyan forces under the New General National Congress controlled a number of former LARAF airframes, that were retired and stored before the Libyan Civil War in 2011, among them a number of MiG-25s. Technicians started working on some of the airframes to press them back to service in the fight against the opposing internationally recognized Libyan government forces.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25

text: On 6 May 2015, a New General National Congress MiG-25PU crashed near Zintan while attacking the civilian airport controlled by the opposing internationally recognized Libyan government, the pilot ejected and was captured by opposing forces which also claimed they downed the jet. The jet may have been on one of its first flights after re-entering service.


title: Young Dolph

text: Adolph Robert Thornton Jr. (July 27, 1985 – November 17, 2021), better known by his stage name Young Dolph, was an American rapper. In 2016, he released his debut studio album, "King of Memphis", which peaked at number 49 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. He was featured on O.T. Genasis's hit single "Cut It", which peaked at number 35 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. Young Dolph's seventh album, "Rich Slave", was released in 2020 and became his highest-charting project, debuting at number four on the "Billboard" 200.


title: Young Dolph

text: Adolph Robert Thornton Jr. was born on July 27, 1985, in Chicago, Illinois. When he was two years old, his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. He had two sisters and two brothers; he and rapper Juice Wrld were second cousins. Thornton was mostly raised by his grandmother, Ida Mae; his parents experienced addictions to crack cocaine, and as a child, he would only see them every few weeks.


title: Young Dolph

text: Thornton said that the community he was from in South Memphis, many of his peers were raised by their grandmothers due to the issues experienced by their parents. He described initially recognizing his grandmother as "the meanest motherfucker in the world", explaining "I didn't get that shit at the time. ... All the shit she was telling you, you get to seeing that shit when you hit about 15", saying that when he approached that age he began utilizing her teachings throughout his life to be more independent. As a teenager, Thornton attended Hamilton High School.


title: Young Dolph

text: His grandmother often did not allow Thornton to have friends visit their home, but on occasion let homeless friends stay with the family. On March 5, 2008, she passed away due to a battle with lung cancer.


title: Young Dolph

text: In 2008, due to encouragement from his friends, Young Dolph released his first mixtape "Paper Route Campaign". Seeing its local popularity, he decided to fully invest himself into rap. Two years later, he formally established his label Paper Route Empire in 2010, an independent record label, and subsequently released his first mainstream mixtape "Welcome 2 Dolph World" that same year, hosted by Atlanta DJ DJ Scream with features from 8Ball & MJG, 2 Chainz (then known as Tity Boi), and in-house artists Tim Gates and Money Makkin Murda. With the release of mixtapes "High Class Street Music" and "High Class Street Music 2" in 2011, Young Dolph began to develop his own rap flow, shifting away from a style similar to Memphis rappers Three 6 Mafia and 8Ball & MJG instead to a personal style described as "vociferous" with a "magnetic delivery and uniquely deep voice". In 2012, Young Dolph released the mixtapes "A Time 2 Kill" and "Blue Magic" on April 12 and November 14, respectively. The former's title was inspired by the movie of the same name, and the latter's title inspired by the movie American Gangster. Following multiple collaborations along with a personal connection with Atlanta trap rapper Gucci Mane, Young Dolph released the collaboration mixtape EastAtlantaMemphis on March 15, 2013, with features from Young Scooter and Big Bank Black. On May 13, 2013, he released the third installment of the "High Class Street Music" series, "Trappin' Out a Mansion." On October 15, 2013, Young Dolph released "South Memphis Kingpin", with the song "South Memphis" achieving high popularity. On April 15, 2014, Dolph released "Cross Country Trappin". On July 8, 2014, Young Dolph released the fourth installment of the "High Class Street Music" series, "American Gangster". This mixtape included the song "Preach", which received nationwide fame, as well as features from Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz, Fiend, Trinidad James, Shy Glizzy, Trae tha Truth, Problem, and Cap 1.


title: Young Dolph

text: On February 24, 2015, Young Dolph released the fifth and final installment of the "High Class Street Music" series, "The Plug Best Friend". It included features from 2 Chainz, Shy Glizzy, and Peewee Longway, as well as a remix of "Preach" featuring Rick Ross and Jeezy. On June 30, Dolph released a collaboration album with Gucci Mane and Peewee Longway titled "Felix Brothers". On July 28, 2015, Dolph released mixtape "16 Zips" with features from T.I., Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Jadakiss, and fellow Paper Route artist Jay Fizzle. In September 2015, Young Dolph was featured on O.T. Genasis's double platinum hit single "Cut It". On October 8, 2015, Young Dolph released "Shittin on the Industry", an 11-song mixtape including the hit single "Get Paid".


title: Young Dolph

text: In February 2016, he released his debut album "King of Memphis" under his independent Paper Route Empire label, which peaked at number 49 on the "Billboard" 200. Other Memphis rappers (including Yo Gotti and Gotti-affiliated Blac Youngsta) took offense at the album title, with Blac Youngsta leading an armed group attempting to find Young Dolph in Memphis and releasing a diss track, "SHAKE SUM (Young Dolph Diss)" in response.


title: Young Dolph

text: In 2017, Young Dolph released a diss track against Yo Gotti titled "Play Wit Yo' Bitch", prompting Yo Gotti to release a response song. Two weeks later, in February 2017, Young Dolph released a music video for "Play Wit Yo' Bitch". The next day, his vehicle was the target of gunfire in Charlotte, North Carolina, while in town for a performance at the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament. His car was reportedly shot over 100 times but was outfitted with bulletproof panels, and no one was hurt.


title: Young Dolph

text: Following the shooting, Blac Youngsta and two other men were arrested, but the charges were later dropped due to insufficient evidence. Young Dolph used the publicity from the shooting to promote his second studio album "Bulletproof". In September 2017, he was shot multiple times. In February 2018, he released the extended play "Niggas Get Shot Everyday", referencing this prior incident.


title: Young Dolph

text: In 2017, Young Dolph signed his cousin-by-marriage and fellow Memphis rapper Key Glock to his Paper Route Empire label, after the two had met at family gatherings. In 2018, they released the single "Major", which peaked at number 47 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. That same year, Young Dolph said that he had been offered a $22 million label deal which he turned down. Preferring to stay on his own independent label, Young Dolph stated, "It really was a good deal, a super good deal to tell you the truth. But it's just, I see something else".


title: Young Dolph

text: Young Dolph later revealed that he signed a distribution deal with Empire Distribution, and his September 2018 album "Role Model" was released under the label Paper Route Empire, a joint venture between Paper Route Empire and Empire Distribution. In July 2019, Young Dolph again collaborated with Key Glock, this time releasing his first collaborative album entitled "Dum and Dummer", imitating the title of the Farrelly brothers' film "Dumb and Dumber".


title: Young Dolph

text: The album peaked at number eight on the "Billboard" 200, earning each of the artists their first top 10 album. The album was produced by BandPlay, who used a variety of styles of beats in the album's tracks. Reviewers for the album noted Young Dolph's greater "songwriting range", with "depths of self-loathing and despair" that were complemented by the younger Key Glock's "celebrations of himself".


title: Young Dolph

text: Rumors emerged in early 2020 that Young Dolph was considering his retirement from music in order to spend more time with his children, and was seen more frequently in Memphis. On his Instagram, Young Dolph wrote, "Highly considering quitting the music business because I really wanna be with my kids 24/7". During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Young Dolph released the single "Sunshine" and released edited album covers of previous releases on streaming services to feature individuals wearing surgical masks to highlight and address the global situation.


title: Young Dolph

text: In an interview with "GQ" in May 2020, he was asked about his recent release of music, with Young Dolph replying "Man, my little boy wanted to hear some new music. ... I'll keep it real: I ain't really been on my rapper shit, I been on my industry shit, the big bro shit. I got a lot of artists, and I been dropping all my artists' projects, and they going up. ... So I'm like, 'Yeah, I gotta go ahead and give it to them.' I gotta drop it."


title: Young Dolph

text: Young Dolph's seventh album, "Rich Slave", was released on August 14, 2020. It was preceded by the singles "Blue Diamonds", "RNB" featuring Megan Thee Stallion and "Death Row". Young Dolph explained the album's title, stating "It's the reality of being Black in this country". "Rich Slave" was Young Dolph's highest-charting album, peaking at 4th on the "Billboard" 200.


title: Young Dolph

text: On March 5, 2021, Young Dolph and Key Glock released the single "Aspen", and subsequently their second collaborative album, "Dum and Dummer 2", was released on March 26, 2021. It is a sequel to 2019's "Dum and Dummer", and combined solo songs with tracks featuring both artists. The project's cartoon artwork references "Beavis and Butt-Head". The album was released by Young Dolph's independent Paper Route Empire label. In a review on "Pitchfork", Nadine Smith gave the album a 7.5/10 rating, stating that "Dolph & Glock fashion themselves in the image of pop culture dunces even if at the same time they’re poised, extravagant, and immaculate—there’s a casualness to their rapport and respective flows that never announces itself too much."


title: Young Dolph

text: A posthumous tribute album titled "Long Live Young Dolph" was announced on January 10, 2022, and was officially released on January 21, 2022, through Paper Route Empire. It was preceded by the release of the single "LLD (Long Live Dolph)". The compilation album contains guest appearances from PRE associates: Key Glock, Big Moochie Grape, Kenny Muney, Jay Fizzle, Joddy Badass, Snupe Bandz, Paper Route Woo and Chitana.


title: Young Dolph

text: Thornton had two children with his partner, Mia Jaye. He said that he was somewhat strict with his parenting due to his upbringing with his grandmother. Thornton often collaborated with his cousin and fellow rapper Key Glock and was a distant relative of the rapper and singer Juice Wrld, learning of the familial relation with the latter in 2017.


title: Young Dolph

text: Thornton was shot outside a retail store in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on September 26, 2017. He was listed in critical condition at the hospital, but within a few hours doctors reported he was expected to survive. He spent two weeks in the hospital recovering from three gunshot wounds. Yo Gotti was initially named a person of interest moments after the shooting but was later cleared. Yo Gotti's friend, Corey McClendon, was arrested for attempted murder, only to be released the next day with no charges.


title: Young Dolph

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Thornton began to stay with his family in Memphis more frequently and did so amid rumors of retirement. He was known in the area for his philanthropy, donating $25,000 to his alma mater, Hamilton High School, and providing motivational speeches to students. Known for handing out Thanksgiving dinners, Thornton gave away two hundred turkeys to individuals at the West Cancer Center days before his death and was scheduled to donate additional meals days later.


title: Young Dolph

text: On November 17, 2021, Young Dolph was fatally shot in Memphis while picking up cookies for his mother at Makeda's Homemade Butter Cookies, a bakery he frequently visited whenever he was back home. Two gunmen in a white two-door Mercedes-Benz gunned him down. An autopsy revealed that Thornton had 22 gunshot wounds from bullet entries and exits. Some wounds were sustained in the forehead and back. Crowds of hundreds of people swarmed the scene of Thornton's death for hours; police had to prevent individuals from entering the area while they investigated. Tennessee House Representative London Lamar and Memphis councilman J. B. Smiley reacted by calling for a curfew in Memphis to prevent civil unrest and violence.


title: Young Dolph

text: Young Dolph was laid to rest on Tuesday, November 30, 2021. A service was held at First Baptist Church Broad Street. The family's caravan of black SUVs was escorted by security and Memphis Police to the cemetery across from Hamilton High School, Young Dolph's alma mater.


title: Young Dolph

text: On January 5, 2022, police identified one of the suspects responsible for the murder as 23-year-old Justin Johnson, and issued a first-degree murder warrant. A reward of up to $15,000 for information on the suspect was offered by the Tennessee authorities. Johnson had an established history of criminal charges and violence, as well as "ties to organized criminal gangs," and was a rapper under the name Straight Drop.


title: Young Dolph

text: Another suspect, 32-year-old Cornelius Smith (who was arrested for the theft of the car used in Dolph's murder), was indicted on first-degree murder, weapons possession, and theft charges on January 11. The same day, Johnson was captured by police in Indiana after law enforcement received over 500 tips leading to his arrest. 27-year-old Shundale Barnett, a passenger of the vehicle Johnson was driving, was also arrested. On January 12, Johnson and Smith were indicted on first-degree murder and other criminal charges, while Barnett was charged with being an "after-the-fact accessory."


title: Young Dolph

text: After Johnson and Smith struggled to find legal representation, they were given an ultimatum by Judge Lee Coffee: "If you have a lawyer hired, that's fine, but as I told you 10 days ago, I cannot allow you to sit in jail week after week, month after month, without a lawyer. … If you don't have a lawyer hired on [February 4], I'm going to hire a private attorney to represent both of you all." On February 7, Johnson appeared in court again for "violating a sex offender registration charge" after reportedly being convicted of aggravated rape in 2015. He also claimed he was unable to afford to hire an attorney. On February 11, both Johnson and Smith pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.


title: Young Dolph

text: On November 10, 2022, a third suspect was indicted for the murder of Young Dolph and the conspiracy to murder Thornton, 43-year-old Hernandez Govan, whom is alleged to have ordered the murder of Young Dolph.


title: Young Dolph

text: It is likely that the trial for those accused of murdering Young Dolph will not occur until 2024 due to the severity of charges and the discovery procedures by the defendants' attorneys.


title: Young Dolph

text: The city of Memphis approved street-renaming for a street in the honor of Thornton. The street was changed to Adolph "Young Dolph" Thornton Jr. Avenue, which is located on the intersection of Dunn Avenue and Airways Boulevard, just east of Castilia Heights (where Dolph was raised) and not far from where Dolph was killed.


title: Young Dolph

text: In February 2022, two Tennessee lawmakers (Representative Torrey C. Harris and former Senator Katrina Robinson) proposed a bill which would make November 17 – the day on which Dolph was killed – the "Adolph Thornton Day of Service." The bill listed several of Dolph's acts of philanthropy and described him as "an exemplary gentleman and consummate professional who worked assiduously to improve the quality of life for his fellow citizens in numerous capacities". It also stated the holiday's goal is to "celebrate the memory, music, and community service contributions of [Dolph] and to encourage Tennesseans to help others."


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an Indian-American right-wing political commentator, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. He has written over a dozen books, several of them "New York Times" best-sellers.


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: In 2012, D'Souza released the documentary film "", an anti-Barack Obama polemic based on his 2010 book "The Roots of Obama's Rage"; it earned $33 million, making it the highest-grossing conservative documentary of all time and one of the highest-grossing documentaries of any kind. He has since released five other documentary films: "" (2014), "" (2016), "Death of a Nation" (2018), "Trump Card" (2020) and "2000 Mules" (2022). D'Souza's films and commentary have generated considerable controversy due to their promotion of conspiracy theories and falsehoods, as well as for their incendiary nature.


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: Born in Bombay, D'Souza moved to the United States as an exchange student and graduated from Dartmouth College. He was a policy adviser in the administration of President Ronald Reagan and has been affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institution. He became a naturalized citizen in 1991. From 2010 to 2012, he was president of The King's College, a Christian school in New York City, until he resigned after an alleged adultery scandal.


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: In 2012, D'Souza contributed $10,000 to the Senate campaign of Wendy Long on behalf of himself and his wife, agreeing in writing to attribute that contribution as $5,000 from his wife and $5,000 from him. He directed two other people to give Long a total of $20,000 in addition, which he agreed to reimburse, and later did. At the time, the Election Act limited campaign contributions to $5,000 from any individual to any one candidate. Two years later, D'Souza pleaded guilty in federal court to one felony charge of using a "straw donor" to make the illegal campaign contribution. He was sentenced to eight months in a halfway house near his home in San Diego, five years' probation, and a $30,000 fine. In 2018, D'Souza was issued a pardon by President Donald Trump.


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: Dinesh Joseph D'Souza was born in Bombay in 1961. D'Souza grew up in a middle-class family; his parents were Roman Catholics from the state of Goa in Western India, where his father was an executive with Johnson & Johnson, and his mother was a housewife. D'Souza attended the Jesuit St. Stanislaus High School in Bombay. He graduated in 1976 and completed his 11th and 12th years at Sydenham College, also in Bombay. In 1978, D'Souza became a foreign exchange student and traveled to the United States under the Rotary Youth Exchange and attended the local public school in Patagonia, Arizona. He went on to matriculate at Dartmouth College, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1983 and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: While at Dartmouth, D'Souza wrote for "The Dartmouth Review", an independent, student-edited, alumni and Collegiate Network subsidized publication. D'Souza faced criticism during his time at "The Review" for authoring an article publicly outing homosexual members of the school's Gay Straight Alliance student organization. He also oversaw "The Review"'s publication of "a light-hearted interview" with a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan over a staged photograph of a Black person hanged from a tree; and a piece mocking affirmative action in higher education, written from the point of view of a Black student and phrased in Ebonics. These incidents caused US Representative Jack Kemp, then a prominent Republican leader and member of "The Review"'s advisory board, to resign from the board.


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: After graduating from Dartmouth, D'Souza became the editor of a monthly journal called "The Prospect", a publication financed by a group of Princeton University alumni. The paper and its writers ignited much controversy during D'Souza's editorship by, among other things, criticizing the college's affirmative action policies.


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: From 1985 to 1987, D'Souza was a contributing editor for "Policy Review", a journal then published by The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. In a September 1985 article titled "The Bishops as Pawns," D'Souza asserted that Catholic bishops in the United States were being manipulated by American liberals in agreeing to oppose the U.S. military buildup and use of power abroad when, D'Souza believed, they knew very little about these subjects to which they were lending their religious credibility.


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: D'Souza was a policy adviser in the administration of President Ronald Reagan. He has been affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: In 1995 D'Souza published "The End of Racism", in which he claimed that exaggerated claims of racism are holding back progress among African Americans in the US; he defended the Southern slave owner, and said that "The American slave was treated like property, which is to say, pretty well". D'Souza also called for a repeal of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and argued: "Given the intensity of black rage and its appeal to a wide constituency, whites are right to be nervous. Black rage is a response to black suffering and failure, and reflects the irresistible temptation to attribute African American problems to a history of white racist oppression."


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: A reviewer for "The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education" responded to the book by posting a list of sixteen recent racist incidents against black people. Michael Bérubé, in a lengthy review article, referred to the book as "encyclopedic pseudoscience", calling it illogical and saying some of the book's policy recommendations are fascist; he stated that it is "so egregious an affront to human decency as to set a new and sorry standard for 'intellectual'".


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: The book was also panned by many other critics: John David Smith, in "The Journal of Southern History", said D'Souza claims blacks are inferior and opines that "D'Souza bases his terribly insensitive, reactionary polemic on sound bite statistical and historical evidence, frequently gleaned out of context and patched together illogically. His book is flawed because he ignores the complex causes and severity of white racism, misrepresents Boas's arguments, and undervalues the matrix of ignorance, fear, and long-term economic inequality that he dubs black cultural pathology. How, according to his own logic, can allegedly inferior people uplift themselves without government assistance", adding that D'Souza's "biased diatribe trivializes serious pathologies, white and black, and adds little to our understanding of America's painful racial dilemma".


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: The prepublication version of the book contained a chapter dedicated to those portrayed by D'Souza as authentic racists, including many paleoconservatives, such as prominent philosopher and "The Washington Times" editor Samuel T. Francis, to whom he attributed several false quotes at the inaugural "American Renaissance" conference. A column by D'Souza in "The Washington Post" containing this material led to Francis being fired. D'Souza's account of Francis's speech was contradicted by video of the event. American Renaissance organizer Jared Taylor took legal action against D'Souza for several false claims, including that speakers had used racial slurs, resulting in publisher Free Press canceling the initial run and forcing D'Souza to rewrite portions of the book. Some observers, such as "Baltimore Sun" writer Gregory Kane noted that D'Souza's book bore many similarities to Taylor's 1992 work "Paved with Good Intentions," despite D'Souza accusing Taylor of racism"." Many right-wing critics, such as Lawrence Auster, believed that D'Souza was attacking Francis and others to protect himself from accusations of racism.


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: Paul Finkelman commented on what he called D'Souza's trivialization of racism, and said, in a review article called "The Rise of the New Racism", that much of what D'Souza says is untrue, and much is only partially true, and described the book as being "like a parody of scholarship, where selected 'facts' are pulled out of any recognizable context, and used to support a particular viewpoint". In Finkelman's opinion, the book exemplifies a "new racism", which "(1) denies the history of racial oppression in America; (2) rejects biological racism in favor of an attack on black culture; and (3) supports formal, de jure equality in order to attack civil rights laws that prohibit private discrimination and in order to undermine any public policies that might monitor equality and give it substantive meaning".


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: The conservative black economist Glenn Loury severed his ties with the American Enterprise Institute over the organization's role in the publication of the book. Loury wrote that the book "violated canons of civility and commonality", with D'Souza "determined to place poor, urban blacks outside the orbit of American civilization."


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: In the second chapter of his 2002 book, "What's So Great About America", D'Souza argues that while colonialism was terrible, it had the unintended consequence of lifting third world countries up to Western civilization. D'Souza writes, "I realize that in saying these things I am opening the door for my critics, and the incorrigible enemies of the West, to say that I am justifying colonialism ... This is the purest nonsense. What I am doing is pointing out a historical fact: despite the corrupt and self-serving motives of [its] practitioners ... colonialism ... proved to be the mechanism that brought millions of nonwhite people into the orbit of Western freedom." He holds up the European colonization of India as an example, arguing that in the long run colonization was beneficial for India, because it introduced Western law, universities, infrastructure, and the like, while effectively ending human sacrifice, the practice of "Sati", and other "charming indigenous customs".


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: In a review of the book, economist Thomas Sowell wrote that D'Souza's book exposed the fallacies and hypocrisies of various criticisms of the United States by the Islamic world, "domestic multiculturalist cults," those who seek reparations for slavery, and the worldwide intelligentsia. According to Sowell: "Perhaps it takes somebody from outside to truly appreciate all the blessings that too many native-born Americans take for granted. D'Souza understands how rare—sometimes unique—these blessings are." Sowell also wrote that D'Souza challenges the notion that all world cultures are equal: "D'Souza challenges one of the central premises of today's intelligentsia: The equality of all cultures. 'If one begins with the multicultural premise that all cultures are equal, then the world as it is makes very little sense,' he says. Some cultures have completely outperformed others in providing the things that all people seek—health, food, housing, security, and the amenities of life."


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: In early 2007, D'Souza published "The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and its Responsibility for 9/11", in which he argues that the American cultural left was in large part responsible for the Muslim anger that led to the September 11 attacks.<ref name="salon.com/news"></ref> He argues that Muslims do not hate America because of its freedom and democracy, but because they perceive America to be imposing its moral depravity (support for sexual licentiousness) on the world. D'Souza also argues that the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse was a result of "the sexual immodesty of liberal America", and asserts that the conditions of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay "are comparable to the accommodations in mid-level Middle Eastern hotels."


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: The book was criticized in major American newspapers and magazines and described as, among other things, "the worst nonfiction book about terrorism published by a major house since 9/11" and "a national disgrace". Michiko Kakutani in "The New York Times" described it as "a nasty stewpot of intellectually untenable premises and irresponsible speculation that frequently reads like a "Saturday Night Live" parody of the crackpot right."


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: D'Souza's book caused controversy in the conservative movement. His conservative critics widely mocked his thesis that the cultural left was responsible for 9/11. In response, D'Souza posted a 6,500-word essay on "National Review Online", and "NRO" subsequently published a litany of responses from conservative authors who accused D'Souza of character assassination, elitism and pseudo-intellectualism.


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: The September 2010 book by D'Souza, "The Roots of Obama's Rage" (published in condensed form in a September 2010 "Forbes" op-ed), interprets President Barack Obama's past and how it formed his beliefs. D'Souza states that Obama is "living out his father's dream", so that "[i]ncredibly, the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s", who, D'Souza goes on to describe as a "philandering, inebriated African socialist". The book appeared on "The New York Times" Best Seller list for four weeks in October–November 2010.


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: Ryan Chittum, in an article in the "Columbia Journalism Review", described the "Forbes" article as "a fact-twisting, error-laden piece of paranoia ... the worst kind of smear journalism—a singularly disgusting work". Commentators on both the right and left strongly disputed assertions made about Obama in the book and article. The left-leaning Media Matters for America wrote that ""The Roots of Obama's Rage" [was] rooted in lies". Daniel Larison of "The American Conservative" stated: "Dinesh D'Souza has authored what may possibly be the most ridiculous piece of Obama analysis yet written ... All in all, D'Souza's article reads like a bad conspiracy theory." Larison criticized D'Souza's suggestion that Obama is anti-business, citing a lack of evidence. Andrew Ferguson of "The Weekly Standard" wrote, "D'Souza always sees absence of evidence as evidence of something or other ... There is, indeed, a name for the beliefs that motivate President Obama, but it's not anticolonialism; it's not even socialism. It's liberalism!". The magazine published D'Souza's letter, in which he expressed surprise "at the petty, vindictive tone of Andrew Ferguson's review".


title: Dinesh D'Souza

text: D'Souza wrote the book "America: Imagine the World Without Her" on which his 2014 film of the same name is based. When the warehouse club Costco pulled the book from its shelves shortly before the film's release, conservative media and fans on social media criticized the move. Costco said it pulled the book due to low sales. D'Souza disputed the explanation, saying the book had only been out a few weeks and had surged to No. 1 on Amazon.com, while Costco stocked hundreds of much lower-selling books. He and other conservatives asserted it was pulled because one of Costco's co-founders, James Sinegal, supported Obama's politics. Costco reordered the book and cited the documentary's release and related interest for the reorder.