title: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

text: The design of the memorial consists of a stainless-steel ribbon that cascades vertically down the corner of the Brown Building (23-29 Washington Place) from the window-sill of the 9th floor, marking the location where most of the victims of the Triangle fire died or jumped to their death. The steel ribbon is etched with patterns and textures from a 300-foot long cloth ribbon, formed from individual pieces of fabric, donated and sewed together by hundreds of volunteers. At the cornice above the first floor, the steel ribbon splits into horizontal bands that run perpendicularly along the east and south facades of the building, floating twelve feet above the sidewalk. The names of all 146 workers who died will be laser-cut through these panels, allowing light to pass through. At street level, an angled panel made of stone glass at hip height will reflect the names overhead. Testimonies from survivors and witnesses will be inscribed in this reflective panel juxtaposing the names and history.


title: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

text: A memorial "of the Ladies Waist and Dress Makers Union Local No 25" was erected in Mt. Zion Cemetery in Maspeth, Queens (40°44'2" N 73°54'11" W). It is a series of stone columns holding a large cross beam. Much of the writing is no longer legible due to erosion.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Leopold I (; 16 December 1790 – 10 December 1865) was the first king of the Belgians, reigning from 21 July 1831 until his death in 1865.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: The youngest son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Leopold took a commission in the Imperial Russian Army and fought against Napoleon after French troops overran Saxe-Coburg during the Napoleonic Wars. After Napoleon's defeat, Leopold moved to the United Kingdom where he married Princess Charlotte of Wales, who was second in line to the British throne and the only legitimate child of the Prince Regent (the future King George IV). Charlotte died after only a year of marriage, but Leopold continued to enjoy considerable status in Britain.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: After the Greek War of Independence (1821–1830), Leopold was offered the throne of Greece under the 1830 London Protocol that created an independent Greek state, but turned it down, believing it to be too precarious. Instead, he accepted the throne of Belgium in 1831 following the country's independence in 1830. The Belgian government offered the position to Leopold because of his diplomatic connections with royal houses across Europe, and because as the British-backed candidate, he was not affiliated with other powers, such as France, which were believed to have territorial ambitions in Belgium which might threaten the European balance of power created by the 1815 Congress of Vienna.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Leopold took his oath as King of the Belgians on 21 July 1831, an event commemorated annually as Belgian National Day. His reign was marked by attempts by the Dutch to recapture Belgium and, later, by internal political division between liberals and Catholics. As a Protestant, Leopold was considered liberal and encouraged economic modernisation, playing an important role in encouraging the creation of Belgium's first railway in 1835 and subsequent industrialisation. As a result of the ambiguities in the Belgian Constitution, Leopold was able to slightly expand the monarch's powers during his reign. He also played an important role in stopping the spread of the Revolutions of 1848 into Belgium. He died in 1865 and was succeeded by his son, Leopold II.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Leopold was born in Coburg in the tiny German duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in modern-day Bavaria on 16 December 1790. He was the youngest son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf. In 1826, Saxe-Coburg acquired the city of Gotha from the neighboring Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and gave up Saalfeld to Saxe-Meiningen, becoming Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: In 1797, at just six years old, Leopold was given an honorary commission of the rank of colonel in the "Izmaylovsky" Regiment, part of the Imperial Guard, in the Imperial Russian Army. Six years later, he received a promotion to the rank of Major General.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: When French troops occupied the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars, Leopold went to Paris where he became part of the Imperial Court of Napoleon. Napoleon offered him the position of adjutant, but Leopold refused. Instead, he went to Russia to take up a military career in the Imperial Russian cavalry, which was at war with France at the time. He campaigned against Napoleon and distinguished himself at the Battle of Kulm at the head of his "cuirassier" division. By 1815, the time of the final defeat of Napoleon, he had reached the rank of lieutenant general at only 25 years of age.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Leopold received British citizenship in March 1816. On 2 May 1816, Leopold married Princess Charlotte of Wales at Carlton House in London. Charlotte was the only legitimate child of the Regent George (later George IV) and therefore second in line to the British throne. The Prince Regent had hoped Charlotte would marry William, Prince of Orange, but she favoured Leopold. Although the Regent was displeased, he found Leopold to be charming and possessing every quality to make his daughter happy, and so approved their marriage. The same year Leopold received an honorary commission to the rank of Field Marshal and Knight of the Order of the Garter. The Regent also considered making Leopold a royal duke, the Duke of Kendal, though the plan was abandoned due to government fears that it would draw Leopold into party politics and would be viewed as a demotion for Charlotte. The couple lived initially at Camelford House on Park Lane, and then at Marlborough House on Pall Mall.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: On 5 November 1817, after having suffered a miscarriage, Princess Charlotte gave birth to a stillborn son. She herself died the next day following complications. Leopold was said to have been heartbroken by her death.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Had Charlotte survived, she would have become queen of the United Kingdom on the death of her father and Leopold presumably would have assumed the role of prince consort, later taken by his nephew Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Despite Charlotte's death, the Prince Regent granted Prince Leopold the British style of "Royal Highness" by Order in Council on 6 April 1818.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: From 1828 to 1829, Leopold had an affair with the actress Caroline Bauer, who bore a striking resemblance to Charlotte. Caroline was a cousin of his advisor Baron Christian Friedrich von Stockmar. She came to England with her mother and took up residence at Longwood House, a few miles from Claremont House. But, by mid-1829, the liaison was over, and the actress and her mother returned to Berlin. Many years later, in memoirs published after her death, she declared that she and Leopold had engaged in a morganatic marriage and that he had bestowed upon her the title of Countess Montgomery. He would have broken this marriage when the possibility arose that he could become King of Greece. The son of Baron Stockmar denied that these events ever happened, and indeed no records have been found of a civil or religious marriage with the actress.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Following a Greek rebellion against the Ottoman Empire, Leopold was offered the throne of an independent Greece as part of the London Protocol of February 1830. Though initially showing interest in the position, Leopold eventually turned down the offer on 17 May 1830. The role would subsequently be accepted by Otto of Wittelsbach in May 1832 who ruled until he was finally deposed in October 1862.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: At the end of August 1830, rebels in the Southern provinces (modern-day Belgium) of the United Netherlands rose up against Dutch rule. The rising, which began in Brussels, pushed the Dutch army back, and the rebels defended themselves against a Dutch attack. International powers meeting in London agreed to support the independence of Belgium, even though the Dutch refused to recognize the new state.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: In November 1830, a National Congress was established in Belgium to create a constitution for the new state. Fears of "mob rule" associated with republicanism after the French Revolution of 1789, as well as the example of the recent, liberal July Revolution in France, led the Congress to decide that Belgium would be a popular, constitutional monarchy.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: The choice of candidates for the position was one of the most controversial issues faced by the revolutionaries. The Congress refused to consider any candidate from the Dutch ruling house of Orange-Nassau. Some Orangists had hoped to offer the position to William I or his son, William, Prince of Orange, which would bring Belgium into personal union with the Netherlands like Luxembourg. The Great Powers also worried that a candidate from another state could risk destabilizing the international balance of power and lobbied for a neutral candidate.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Eventually the Congress was able to draw up a shortlist. The three viable possibilities were felt to be Eugène de Beauharnais, a French nobleman and stepson of Napoleon; Auguste of Leuchtenberg, son of Eugène; and Louis, Duke of Nemours, who was the son of the French King Louis-Philippe. All the candidates were French and the choice between them was principally between choosing the Bonapartism of Beauharnais or Leuchtenberg and supporting the July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe. Louis-Philippe realized that the choice of either of the Bonapartists could be first stage of a coup against him, but that his son would also be unacceptable to other European powers suspicious of French intentions. Nemours refused the offer. With no definitive choice in sight, Catholics and Liberals united to elect Erasme Louis Surlet de Chokier, a minor Belgian nobleman, as regent to buy more time for a definitive decision in February 1831.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Leopold of Saxe-Coburg had been proposed at an early stage, but had been dropped because of French opposition. The problems caused by the French candidates and the increased international pressure for a solution led to his reconsideration. On 22 April, he was finally approached by a Belgian delegation at Marlborough House to officially offer him the throne. Leopold, however, was reluctant to accept.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: On 17 July 1831, Leopold travelled from Calais to Belgium, entering the country at De Panne. Travelling to Brussels, he was greeted with patriotic enthusiasm along his route. The accession ceremony took place on 21 July on the Place Royale/Koningsplein in Brussels. A stand had been erected on the steps of the Church of St. James on Coudenberg, surrounded by the names of revolutionaries fallen during the fighting in 1830. After a ceremony of resignation by the regent, Leopold, dressed in the uniform of a Belgian lieutenant-general, swore loyalty to the constitution and became king.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: The enthronement is generally used to mark the end of the revolution and the start of the Kingdom of Belgium and is celebrated each year as the Belgian national holiday.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Less than two weeks after Leopold's accession, on 2 August, the Netherlands invaded Belgium, starting the Ten Days' Campaign. The small Belgian army was overwhelmed by the Dutch assault and was pushed back. Faced with a military crisis, Leopold appealed to the French for support. The French promised support, and the arrival of their "" in Belgium forced the Dutch to accept a diplomatic mediation and retreat back to the pre-war border. Skirmishes continued for eight years, but in April 1839, the two countries signed the Treaty of London, whereby the Dutch recognised Belgium's independence.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Leopold was generally unsatisfied with the amount of power allocated to the monarch in the Constitution, and sought to extend it wherever the Constitution was ambiguous or unclear while generally avoiding involvement in routine politics.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Leopold I's reign was also marked by an economic crisis which lasted until the late 1850s. In the aftermath of the revolution, the Dutch had closed the Scheldt to Belgian shipping, meaning that the port of Antwerp was effectively useless. The Netherlands and the Dutch colonies in particular, which had been profitable markets for Belgian manufacturers before 1830, were totally closed to Belgian goods. The period between 1845 and 1849 was particularly hard in Flanders, where harvests failed and a third of the population became dependent on poor relief, and have been described as the "worst years of Flemish history". The economic situation in Flanders also increased the internal migration to Brussels and the industrial areas of Wallonia, which continued throughout the period.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Politics in Belgium under Leopold I were polarized between liberal and Catholic political factions, though before 1847 they collaborated in "Unionist" governments. The liberals were opposed to the Church's influence in politics and society, while supporting free trade, personal liberties and secularization. The Catholics wanted religious teachings to be a fundamental basis for the state and society and opposed all attempts by the liberals to attack the Church's official privileges. Initially, these factions existed only as informal groups with which prominent politicians were generally identified. The liberals held power through much of Leopold I's reign. An official Liberal Party was formed in 1846, although a formal Catholic Party was only established in 1869. Leopold, who was himself a Protestant, tended to favor liberals and shared their desire for reform, even though he was not partisan. On his own initiative, in 1842, Leopold proposed a law which would have stopped women and children from working in some industries, but the bill was defeated. Leopold was an early supporter of railways, and Belgium's first stretch of railway, between northern Brussels and Mechelen, was completed in 1835. When completed, it was one of the first passenger railways in continental Europe.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: The success of economic reforms partially mitigated the effects of the economic downturn and meant that Belgium was not as badly affected as its neighbors by the Revolutions of 1848. Nevertheless, in early 1848, a large number of radical publications appeared. The most serious threat of the 1848 revolutions in Belgium was posed by Belgian émigré groups. Shortly after the revolution in France, Belgian migrant workers living in Paris were encouraged to return to Belgium to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic. Around 6,000 armed émigrés of the "Belgian Legion" attempted to cross the Belgian frontier. The first group, travelling by train, was stopped and quickly disarmed at Quiévrain on 26 March 1848. The second group crossed the border on 29 March and headed for Brussels. They were confronted by Belgian troops at the hamlet of Risquons-Tout and, during fighting, seven émigrés were killed and most of the rest were captured. To defuse tension, Leopold theatrically offered his abdication, if this was the wish of the majority of his people.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: The defeat at Risquons-Tout effectively ended the revolutionary threat to Belgium, as the situation in Belgium began to recover that summer after a good harvest, and fresh elections returned a strong Liberal majority.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Because of his family connections and position at the head of a neutral and unthreatening power, Leopold was able to act as an important intermediary in European politics during his reign. As a result of this, he earned the nickname the "Nestor of Europe", after the wise mediator in Homer's "Iliad". Leopold played a particularly important role in moderating relations between the hostile Great Powers. In the later part of his reign, his role in managing relations between the United Kingdom and the French Empire of Napoleon III was particularly important.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Leopold was particularly known as a political marriage broker. In 1835–1836, he promoted the marriage between his nephew Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and the Queen of Portugal, Maria II. He promoted the marriage of his niece, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, to his nephew, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Even before she succeeded to the throne, Leopold had been advising Victoria by letter, and continued to influence her after her accession.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: In foreign policy, Leopold's principal object was the maintenance of Belgian neutrality. Despite pressure from the Great Powers, especially over the Crimean War (1853–56), Belgium remained neutral throughout the reigns of Leopold I and II.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Leopold married Louise-Marie of Orléans (daughter of Louis Philippe I) on 9 August 1832. They had four children:


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Leopold also had two sons, George and Arthur, by his mistress Arcadie Meyer (). von Eppinghoven was born in 1849, and in 1852. At Leopold's request, in 1862 his two sons were created Freiherr von Eppinghoven by his nephew, Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; in 1863 Arcadie was also created Baronin von Eppinghoven.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Leopold died in Laeken near Brussels on 10 December 1865, a week short of his 75th birthday. His funeral was held on 16 December, on what would have been his 75th birthday. He is interred in the Royal Crypt at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken, next to Louise-Marie.


title: Leopold I of Belgium

text: Belgian naval vessels named in his honour include the "Leopold I", a frigate acquired by Belgium in 2007. His monogram features on the flag of the Flemish town of Leopoldsburg. His likeness has also appeared on postage stamps and commemorative coins issued since his death.


title: Angina

text: Angina, also known as angina pectoris, is chest pain or pressure, usually caused by insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle (myocardium). It is most commonly a symptom of coronary artery disease.


title: Angina

text: Angina is typically the result of obstruction or spasm of the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle. The main mechanism of coronary artery obstruction is atherosclerosis as part of coronary artery disease. Other causes of angina include abnormal heart rhythms, heart failure and, less commonly, anemia. The term derives from the Latin "angere" ("to strangle") and "pectus" ("chest"), and can therefore be translated as "a strangling feeling in the chest".


title: Angina

text: There is a weak relationship between severity of angina and degree of oxygen deprivation in the heart muscle, however, the severity of angina does not always match the degree of oxygen deprivation to the heart or the risk of a myocardial infarction (heart attack). Some people may experience severe pain even though there is little risk of a heart attack. Others may have a heart attack and experience little or no pain. In some cases, angina can be quite severe. Worsening angina attacks, sudden-onset angina at rest, and angina lasting more than 15 minutes are symptoms of unstable angina (usually grouped with similar conditions as the acute coronary syndrome). As these may precede a heart attack, they require urgent medical attention and are, in general, treated similarly to myocardial infarction.


title: Angina

text: In the early 20th century, severe angina was seen as a sign of impending death. However, modern medical therapies have improved the outlook substantially. Middle-age patients who experience moderate to severe angina (grading by classes II, III, and IV) have a five-year survival rate of approximately 92%.


title: Angina

text: Also known as 'effort angina', this refers to the classic type of angina related to myocardial ischemia. A typical presentation of stable angina is that of chest discomfort and associated symptoms precipitated by some activity (running, walking, etc.) with minimal or non-existent symptoms at rest or after administration of sublingual nitroglycerin. Symptoms typically abate several minutes after activity and recur when activity resumes. In this way, stable angina may be thought of as being similar to intermittent claudication symptoms. Other recognized precipitants of stable angina include cold weather, heavy meals, and emotional stress.


title: Angina

text: Unstable angina (UA) (also ""crescendo angina""; this is a form of acute coronary syndrome) is defined as angina pectoris that changes or worsens.


title: Angina

text: UA may occur unpredictably at rest, which may be a serious indicator of an impending heart attack. What differentiates stable angina from unstable angina (other than symptoms) is the pathophysiology of the atherosclerosis. The pathophysiology of unstable angina is the reduction of coronary flow due to transient platelet aggregation on apparently normal endothelium, coronary artery spasms, or coronary thrombosis. The process starts with atherosclerosis, progresses through inflammation to yield an active unstable plaque, which undergoes thrombosis and results in acute myocardial ischemia, which, if not reversed, results in cell necrosis (infarction). Studies show that 64% of all unstable anginas occur between 22:00 and 08:00 when patients are at rest.


title: Angina

text: In stable angina, the developing atheroma is protected with a fibrous cap. This cap may rupture in unstable angina, allowing blood clots to precipitate and further decrease the area of the coronary vessel's lumen. This explains why, in many cases, unstable angina develops independently of activity.


title: Angina

text: Microvascular angina, also known as "cardiac syndrome X", is characterized by angina-like chest pain, in the context of normal epicardial coronary arteries (the largest vessels on the surface of the heart, prior to significant branching) on angiography. The original definition of cardiac syndrome X also mandated that ischemic changes on exercise (despite normal coronary arteries) were displayed, as shown on cardiac stress tests. The primary cause of microvascular angina is unknown, but factors apparently involved are endothelial dysfunction and reduced flow (perhaps due to spasm) in the tiny "resistance" blood vessels of the heart. Since microvascular angina is not characterized by major arterial blockages, it is harder to recognize and diagnose. Microvascular angina was previously considered a rather benign condition, but more recent data has changed this attitude. Studies, including the Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation (WISE), suggest that microvascular angina is part of the pathophysiology of ischemic heart disease, perhaps explaining the higher rates of angina in women than in men, as well as their predilection towards ischemia and acute coronary syndromes in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease.


title: Angina

text: Angina pectoris can be quite painful, but many patients with angina complain of chest discomfort rather than actual pain: the discomfort is usually described as a pressure, heaviness, tightness, squeezing, burning, or choking sensation. Apart from chest discomfort, anginal pains may also be experienced in the epigastrium (upper central abdomen), back, neck area, jaw, or shoulders. This is explained by the concept of referred pain and is because the spinal level that receives visceral sensation from the heart simultaneously receives cutaneous sensation from parts of the skin specified by that spinal nerve's dermatome, without an ability to discriminate the two. Typical locations for referred pain are arms (often inner left arm), shoulders, and neck into the jaw. Angina is typically precipitated by exertion or emotional stress. It is exacerbated by having a full stomach and by cold temperatures. Pain may be accompanied by breathlessness, sweating, and nausea in some cases. In this case, the pulse rate and the blood pressure increases. Chest pain lasting only a few seconds is normally not angina (such as precordial catch syndrome).


title: Angina

text: Myocardial ischemia comes about when the myocardium (the heart muscle) receives insufficient blood and oxygen to function normally either because of increased oxygen demand by the myocardium or because of decreased supply to the myocardium. This inadequate perfusion of blood and the resulting reduced delivery of oxygen and nutrients are directly correlated to blocked or narrowed blood vessels.


title: Angina

text: Some experience "autonomic symptoms" (related to increased activity of the autonomic nervous system) such as nausea, vomiting, and pallor.


title: Angina

text: Major risk factors for angina include cigarette smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sedentary lifestyle, and family history of premature heart disease.


title: Angina

text: A variant form of angina—Prinzmetal's angina—occurs in patients with normal coronary arteries or insignificant atherosclerosis. It is believed caused by spasms of the artery. It occurs more in younger women.


title: Angina

text: Coital angina, also known as "angina d'amour", is angina subsequent to sexual intercourse. It is generally rare, except in patients with severe coronary artery disease.


title: Angina

text: Routine counseling of adults by physicians to advise them to improve their diet and increase their physical activity has, in general, been found to induce only small changes in actual behavior. Therefore, as of 2012, The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force does not recommend routine lifestyle counseling of all patients without known cardiovascular disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, or diabetes, and instead recommends selectively counseling only those patients who seem most ready to make lifestyle changes and using available time with other patients to explore other types of intervention that would be more likely to have a preventative impact.


title: Angina

text: One study found that smokers with coronary artery disease had a significantly increased level of sympathetic nerve activity when compared to those without. This is in addition to increases in blood pressure, heart rate, and peripheral vascular resistance associated with nicotine, which may lead to recurrent angina attacks. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the risk of CHD (Coronary heart disease), stroke, and PVD (Peripheral vascular disease) is reduced within 1–2 years of smoking cessation. In another study, it was found that, after one year, the prevalence of angina in smoking men under 60 after an initial attack was 40% less in those having quit smoking compared to those that continued. Studies have found that there are short-term and long-term benefits to smoking cessation.


title: Angina

text: Atherosclerosis is the most common cause of stenosis (narrowing of the blood vessels) of the heart's arteries and, hence, angina pectoris. Some people with chest pain have normal or minimal narrowing of heart arteries; in these patients, vasospasm is a more likely cause for the pain, sometimes in the context of Prinzmetal's angina and syndrome X.


title: Angina

text: Myocardial ischemia also can be the result of factors affecting blood composition, such as the reduced oxygen-carrying capacity of blood, as seen with severe anemia (low number of red blood cells), or long-term smoking.


title: Angina

text: Angina results when there is an imbalance between the heart's oxygen demand and supply. This imbalance can result from an increase in demand (e.g., during exercise) without a proportional increase in supply (e.g., due to obstruction or atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries).


title: Angina

text: However, the pathophysiology of angina in females varies significantly as compared to males. Non-obstructive coronary disease is more common in females.


title: Angina

text: Some people present with atypical symptoms, including breathlessness, nausea, or epigastric discomfort, or burning. These atypical symptoms are particularly likely in older people, women, and those with diabetes.


title: Angina

text: Anginal pain is not usually sharp or stabbing or influenced by respiration. Antacids and simple analgesics do not usually relieve the pain. If chest discomfort (of whatever site) is precipitated by exertion, relieved by rest, and relieved by glyceryl trinitrate, the likelihood of angina is increased.


title: Angina

text: In angina patients momentarily not feeling any chest pain, an electrocardiogram (ECG) is typically normal unless there have been other cardiac problems in the past. During periods of pain, depression, or elevation of the ST segment may be observed. To elicit these changes, an exercise ECG test ("treadmill test") may be performed, during which the patient exercises to his/her maximum ability before fatigue, breathlessness, or pain intervenes; if characteristic ECG changes are documented (typically more than 1 mm of flat or downsloping ST depression), the test is considered diagnostic for angina. Even constant monitoring of the blood pressure and the pulse rate can lead to some conclusions regarding angina. The exercise test is also useful in looking for other markers of myocardial ischemia: blood pressure response (or lack thereof, in particular, a drop in systolic blood pressure), dysrhythmia, and chronotropic response. Other alternatives to a standard exercise test include a thallium scintigram or sestamibi scintigram (in patients unable to exercise enough for the treadmill tests, e.g., due to asthma or arthritis or in whom the ECG is too abnormal at rest) or stress echocardiography.


title: Angina

text: In patients in whom such noninvasive testing is diagnostic, a coronary angiogram is typically performed to identify the nature of the coronary lesion, and whether this would be a candidate for angioplasty, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), treatment only with medication, or other treatments. In hospitalized patients with unstable angina (or the newer term of "high-risk acute coronary syndromes"), those with resting ischaemic ECG changes or those with raised cardiac enzymes such as troponin may undergo coronary angiography directly.


title: Angina

text: Angina pectoris occurs as a result of coronary blood flow insufficiency in the face of increased oxygen demand. The principal goal in the prevention and relief of angina is to limit the oxygen requirement of the heart so it can meet the inadequate oxygen supply derived through the blood supplied from the stenosed or constricted arteries. The main goals of treatment in angina pectoris are relief of symptoms, slowing progression of the disease, and reduction of future events, especially heart attacks and death. Beta blockers (e.g., carvedilol, metoprolol, propranolol) have a large body of evidence in morbidity and mortality benefits (fewer symptoms, less disability, and longer life) and short-acting nitroglycerin medications have been used since 1879 for symptomatic relief of angina. There are differing course of treatments for the patient depending on the type of angina the patient has. However, this second can provide a brief overview of the types of medications provided for angina and the purpose by which they are prescribed.


title: Angina

text: Beta blockers, specifically B1 adrenergic blockers without intrinsic sympathomimetic activity are the most preferred for the angina treatment out of B1 selective and non-selective as well as B1 ISA agents. B1 blockers are cardioselective blocking agents such as Nevibolol, Atenolol, Metoprolol and Bisoprolol, which result in blocking cAMP in the heart muscle cells. The cAMP which plays a vital role in phosphorylating the ryanodine receptor and LTCC will usually increase Ca+2 levels in the heart muscle cells, which will then result in contraction is blocked. Therefore, B1 blockade decreases the HR and contraction of the heart muscle, making it need less oxygen demand. An important thing to note is that the B1 cardioselective blockers are cardioselective and not cardio specific. This means that if the beta-adrenergic antagonist is prescribed in higher doses, it can lose the selectivity aspect and begin causing hypertension from B2 adrenergic stimulation of smooth muscle cells. This is why in therapy for patients with angina, the vasodilatory organonitrates complement the use of B-blockers when prescribed the use of angina. The preference for Beta-1 cardioselective blockers is for B1 cardioselective blockers without instrinsic sympathetic activity. Beta blockers with intrinsic sympathetic activity will still do the beta blockade of the heart muscle cells and have a decreased ionotrophic and chronotropic effect, but this effect will be to a lesser extent than if the beta blocker did not have the instrinsic sympathetic activity. A common beta-blocker with ISA prescribed for the treatment of angina is Acebutolol.


title: Angina

text: Non-selective beta-adrenergic antagonists will yield the same action on B1 receptors, however will also act on B2 receptors. These medications, such as Propranolol and Nadolol, act on B1 receptors on smooth muscle cells as well. B1 blockade occurs in the smooth muscle cells. Specifically cAMP is responsible for inhibiting Myosin Light Kinase, the enzyme responsible for acting on Actin-Myosin. The inhibition of B1 will result in decreased levels of cAMP which will lead to increased levels of Myosin Light Chain Kinase in the smooth muscle cells, the enzyme responsible for acting on Actin-Myosin and leading to contraction of the smooth muscle cell. This increased contraction of the smooth muscle cell from B1 blockade is not desirable since it explains the hypertension that may arise with patients taking that medication.


title: Angina

text: Calcium channel blockers act to decrease the heart's workload, and thus its requirement for oxygen by blocking the calcium channels of the heart muscle cell. With decreased intracellular calcium, the calcium-troponin complex does not form in the heart muscle cell and it does not contract, therefore reducing the need for oxygen.


title: Angina

text: The other class of medication that can be used to treat angina are the organic nitrates. Organic nitrates are used extensively to treat angina. They improve coronary blood flow of the coronary arteries (arteries which supply blood to the heart muscle) by reversing and preventing vasospasm, which increases the blood flow to the heart, improving perfusion and oxygen delivery to the heart associated with the pain of angina. These drugs also reduce systemic vascular resistance, of both veins and arteries but the veins to a greater extent. The decrease in the resistance of the arteries and veins decreases the myocardial oxygen demand, which also reduces myocardial oxygen demand. Nitroglycerin is a potent vasodilator that decreases myocardial oxygen demand by decreasing the heart's workload. Nitroglycerin should not be given if certain inhibitors such as sildenafil, tadalafil, or vardenafil have been taken within the previous 12 hours as the combination of the two could cause a serious drop in blood pressure.


title: Angina

text: Treatments for angina are balloon angioplasty, in which the balloon is inserted at the end of a catheter and inflated to widen the arterial lumen. Stents to maintain the arterial widening are often used at the same time. Coronary bypass surgery involves bypassing constricted arteries with venous grafts. This is much more invasive than angioplasty.


title: Angina

text: Calcium channel blockers (such as nifedipine (Adalat) and amlodipine), isosorbide mononitrate and nicorandil are vasodilators commonly used in chronic stable angina. A new therapeutic class, called If inhibitor, has recently been made available: Ivabradine provides heart rate reduction without affecting contractility leading to major anti-ischemic and antianginal efficacy. ACE inhibitors are also vasodilators with both symptomatic and prognostic benefit. Statins are the most frequently used lipid/cholesterol modifiers, which probably also stabilize existing atheromatous plaque.<ref name="doi:10.1001/jama.295.13.jpc60002"></ref> Low-dose aspirin decreases the risk of heart attack in patients with chronic stable angina, and was part of standard treatment. However, in patients without established cardiovascular disease, the increase in hemorrhagic stroke and gastrointestinal bleeding offsets any benefits and it is no longer advised unless the risk of myocardial infarction is very high.


title: Angina

text: Exercise is also a very good long-term treatment for the angina (but only particular regimens – gentle and sustained exercise rather than intense short bursts), probably working by complex mechanisms such as improving blood pressure and promoting coronary artery collateralisation.


title: Angina

text: Though sometimes used by patients, evidence does not support the use of traditional Chinese herbal products (THCP) for angina.


title: Angina

text: Identifying and treating risk factors for further coronary heart disease is a priority in patients with angina. This means testing for elevated cholesterol and other fats in the blood, diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure), and encouraging smoking cessation and weight optimization.


title: Angina

text: The calcium channel blocker nifedipine prolongs cardiovascular event- and procedure-free survival in patients with coronary artery disease. New overt heart failures were reduced by 29% compared to placebo; however, the mortality rate difference between the two groups was statistically insignificant.


title: Angina

text: Women with myocardial ischemia often have either no or atypical symptoms, such as palpitations, anxiety, weakness, and fatigue. Additionally, many women with angina are found to have cardiac ischemia, yet no evidence of obstructive coronary artery disease on cardiac catheterization. Evidence is accumulating that nearly half of women with myocardial ischemia have coronary microvascular disease, a condition often called microvascular angina (MVA). Small intramyocardial arterioles constrict in MVA causing ischemic pain that is less predictable than with typical epicardial coronary artery disease (CAD). The pathophysiology is complex and still being elucidated, but there is strong evidence that endothelial dysfunction, decreased endogenous vasodilators, inflammation, changes in adipokines, and platelet activation are contributing factors. The diagnosis of MVA may require catheterization during which there is an assessment of the microcirculatory response to adenosine or acetylcholine and measurement of coronary and fractional flow reserve. New techniques include positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and transthoracic Doppler echocardiography. Managing MVA can be challenging, for example, women with this condition have less coronary microvascular dilation in response to nitrates than do those without MVA. Women with MVA often have traditional risk factors for CAD such as obesity, dyslipidemia, diabetes, and hypertension. Aggressive interventions to reduce modifiable risk factors are an important component of management, especially smoking cessation, exercise, and diabetes management. The combination of non-nitrate vasodilators, such as calcium channel blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors along with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins), also is effective in many women, and new drugs, such as Ranolazine and Ivabradine, have shown promise in the treatment of MVA. Other approaches include spinal cord stimulators, adenosine receptor blockade, and psychiatric intervention.


title: Angina

text: Hospital admission for people with the following symptoms is recommended, as they may have unstable angina: pain at rest (which may occur at night), pain on minimal exertion, angina that seems to progress rapidly despite increasing medical treatment. All people with suspected angina should be urgently referred to a chest pain evaluation service, for confirmation of the diagnosis and assessment of the severity of coronary heart disease.


title: Angina

text: As of 2010, angina due to ischemic heart disease affects approximately 112 million people (1.6% of the global population) being slightly more common in men than women (1.7% to 1.5%).


title: Angina

text: In the United States, 10.2 million are estimated to experience angina with approximately 500,000 new cases occurring each year. Angina is more often the presenting symptom of coronary artery disease in women than in men. The prevalence of angina rises with increasing age, with a mean age of onset of 62.3 years. After five years post-onset, 4.8% of individuals with angina subsequently died from coronary heart disease. Men with angina were found to have an increased risk of subsequent acute myocardial infarction and coronary heart disease related death than women. Similar figures apply in the remainder of the Western world. All forms of coronary heart disease are much less-common in the Third World, as its risk factors are much more common in Western and Westernized countries; it could, therefore, be termed a disease of affluence.


title: Angina

text: The condition was named "hritshoola" in ancient India and was described by Sushruta (6th century BC).


title: Angina

text: The first clinical description of "angina pectoris" was by a British physician Dr. William Heberden in 1768.


title: Separation of powers

text: Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typical division is into three branches: a legislature, an executive, and a judiciary, which is sometimes called the model. It can be contrasted with the fusion of powers in parliamentary and semi-presidential systems where there can be overlap in membership and functions between different branches, especially the executive and legislative, although in most non-authoritarian jurisdictions, the judiciary almost never overlaps with the other branches, whether powers in the jurisdiction are separated or fused.


title: Separation of powers

text: The intention behind a system of separated powers is to prevent the concentration of power by providing for checks and balances. The separation of powers model is often imprecisely and metonymically used interchangeably with the "" principle. While the model is a common type of separation, there are governments that have more or fewer than three branches.


title: Separation of powers

text: Aristotle first mentioned the idea of a "mixed government" or hybrid government in his work "Politics", where he drew upon many of the constitutional forms in the city-states of Ancient Greece. In the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate, Consuls and the Assemblies showed an example of a mixed government according to Polybius ("Histories", Book 6, 11–13). It was Polybius who described and explained the system of checks and balances in detail, crediting Lycurgus of Sparta with the first government of this kind. The Kingdom of Israel, and later Kingdom of Judea, had a separation of powers consisting of the executive/military in the figure of the Melekh/King, legislative/judiciary with the Sanhedrin, and clerical with the Levites and Kohanim (priests). Both the Melekh, Levite, and Kohen positions were hereditary (though there was a procedure to choose the Kohen Gadol, i.e. the High Priest, amongst the priestly caste), while the Sanhedrin was composed of ordained rabbis and judges who merited their position through study and piety.


title: Separation of powers

text: John Calvin (1509–1564) favoured a system of government that divided political power between democracy and aristocracy (mixed government). Calvin appreciated the advantages of democracy, stating: "It is an invaluable gift if God allows a people to elect its own government and magistrates." In order to reduce the danger of misuse of political power, Calvin suggested setting up several political institutions that should complement and control each other in a system of checks and balances.


title: Separation of powers

text: In this way, Calvin and his followers resisted political absolutism and furthered the growth of democracy. Calvin aimed to protect the rights and the well-being of ordinary people. In 1620 a group of English separatist Congregationalists and Anglicans (later known as the Pilgrim Fathers) founded Plymouth Colony in North America. Enjoying self-rule, they established a bipartite democratic system of government. The "freemen" elected the General Court, which functioned as legislature and judiciary and which in turn elected a governor, who together with his seven "assistants" served in the functional role of providing executive power. Massachusetts Bay Colony (founded 1628), Rhode Island (1636), Connecticut (1636), New Jersey, and Pennsylvania had similar constitutions – they all separated political powers. (Except for Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony, these English outposts added religious freedom to their democratic systems, an important step towards the development of human rights.)


title: Separation of powers

text: Books like William Bradford's "Of Plymouth Plantation" (written between 1630 and 1651) were widely read in England. So the form of government in the colonies was well known in the mother country, including to the philosopher John Locke (1632–1704). He deduced from a study of the English constitutional system the advantages of dividing political power into the legislative (which should be distributed among several bodies, for example, the House of Lords and the House of Commons), on the one hand, and the executive and federative power, responsible for the protection of the country and prerogative of the monarch, on the other hand, as the Kingdom of England had no written constitution.


title: Separation of powers

text: During the English Civil War, the parliamentarians viewed the English system of government as composed of three branches - the King, the House of Lords and the House of Commons - where the first should have executive powers only, and the latter two legislative powers. One of the first documents proposing a tripartite system of separation of powers was the Instrument of Government, written by the English general John Lambert in 1653, and soon adopted as the constitution of England for few years during The Protectorate. The system comprised a legislative branch (the Parliament) and two executive branches, the English Council of State and the Lord Protector, all being elected (though the Lord Protector was elected for life) and having checks upon each other.


title: Separation of powers

text: A further development in English thought was the idea that the judicial powers should be separated from the executive branch. This followed the use of the juridical system by the Crown to prosecute opposition leaders following the Restoration, in the late years of Charles II and during the short reign of James II (namely, during the 1680s).


title: Separation of powers

text: The first constitutional document to establish the principle of the separation of powers in government between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches were Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host written in 1710 by Ukrainian Hetman Pylyp Orlyk.


title: Separation of powers

text: An earlier forerunner to Montesquieu's tripartite system was articulated by John Locke in his work "Two Treatises of Government" (1690). In the "Two Treatises", Locke distinguished between legislative, executive, and federative power. Locke defined legislative power as having "... the right to direct how the force of the commonwealth shall be employed" (2nd Tr., § 143), while executive power entailed the "execution of the laws that are made, and remain in force" (2nd Tr., § 144). Locke further distinguished federative power, which entailed "the power of war and peace, leagues and alliances, and all transactions with all persons and communities without [outside] the commonwealth" (2nd Tr., § 145), or what is now known as foreign policy. Locke distinguishes between separate powers but not discretely separate institutions, and notes that one body or person can share in two or more of the powers. For instance, Locke noted that while the executive and federative powers are different, they are often combined in a single institution (2nd Tr., § 148).


title: Separation of powers

text: Locke believed that the legislative power was supreme over the executive and federative powers, which are subordinate. Locke reasoned that the legislative was supreme because it has law-giving authority; "[F]or what can give laws to another, must needs be superior to him" (2nd Tr., §150). According to Locke, legislative power derives its authority from the people, who have the right to make and unmake the legislature:


title: Separation of powers

text: Locke maintains that there are restrictions on the legislative power. Locke says that the legislature cannot govern arbitrarily, cannot levy taxes or confiscate property without the consent of the governed (cf. "No taxation without representation"), and cannot transfer its law-making powers to another body, known as the nondelegation doctrine (2nd Tr., §142).


title: Separation of powers

text: The term "tripartite system" is commonly ascribed to French Enlightenment political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu, although he did not use such a term but referred to "distribution" of powers. In "The Spirit of the Laws" (1748), Montesquieu described the various forms of distribution of political power among a legislature, an executive, and a judiciary. Montesquieu's approach was to present and defend a form of government whose powers were not excessively centralized in a single monarch or similar ruler (a form known then as "aristocracy"). He based this model on the Constitution of the Roman Republic and the British constitutional system. Montesquieu took the view that the Roman Republic had powers separated so that no one could usurp complete power. In the British constitutional system, Montesquieu discerned a separation of powers among the monarch, Parliament, and the courts of law.


title: Separation of powers

text: Montesquieu argues that each Power should only exercise its own functions. He was quite explicit here:


title: Separation of powers

text: Separation of powers requires a different source of legitimization, or a different act of legitimization from the same source, for each of the separate powers. If the legislative branch appoints the executive and judicial powers, as Montesquieu indicated, there will be no separation or division of its powers, since the power to appoint carries with it the power to revoke.


title: Separation of powers

text: Montesquieu actually specified that the independence of the judiciary has to be real, and not merely apparent. The judiciary was generally seen as the most important of the three powers, independent and unchecked.


title: Separation of powers

text: According to the principle of checks and balances, each of the branches of the state should have the power to limit or check the other two, creating a balance between the three separate powers of the state. Each branch's efforts to prevent either of the other branches becoming supreme form part of an eternal conflict, which leaves the people free from government abuses. Immanuel Kant was an advocate of this, noting that "the problem of setting up a state can be solved even by a nation of devils" so long as they possess an appropriate constitution to pit opposing factions against each other.


title: Separation of powers

text: Checks and balances are designed to maintain the system of separation of powers keeping each branch in its place. The idea is that it is not enough to separate the powers and guarantee their independence but the branches need to have the constitutional means to defend their own legitimate powers from the encroachments of the other branches. They guarantee that the branches have the same level of power (co-equal), that is, are balanced, so that they can limit each other, avoiding the abuse of power. The origin of checks and balances, like separation of powers itself, is specifically credited to Montesquieu in the Enlightenment (in The Spirit of the Laws, 1748). Under this influence it was implemented in 1787 in the Constitution of the United States. In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton, citing Montesquieu, redefined the judiciary as a separate branch of government coequal with the legislative and the executive branches. Before Hamilton, many colonists in the American colonies had adhered to British political ideas and conceived of government as divided into executive and legislative branches (with judges operating as appendages of the executive branch).


title: Separation of powers

text: The following example of the separation of powers and their mutual checks and balances from the experience of the United States Constitution (specifically, Federalist No. 51) is presented as illustrative of the general principles applied in similar forms of government as well:


title: Separation of powers

text: Constitutions with a high degree of separation of powers are found worldwide. A number of Latin American countries have electoral branches of government.


title: Separation of powers

text: The Westminster system is distinguished by a particular entwining of powers, such as in New Zealand. New Zealand's constitution is based on the principle of separation of powers through a series of constitutional safeguards, many of which are tacit. The Executive's ability to carry out decisions often depends on the Legislature, which is elected under the single member representative or mixed member proportional systems. This means that government may be of a single party or a coalition of parties. The Judiciary is also free of government interference. If a series of judicial decisions result in an interpretation of the law which the Executive considers does not reflect the intention of the policy, the Executive can initiate changes to the legislation in question through the Legislature. The Executive cannot direct or request a judicial officer to revise or reconsider a decision; decisions are final. Should there be a dispute between the Executive and Judiciary, the Executive has no authority to direct the Judiciary, or its individual members and vice versa.


title: Separation of powers

text: Complete separation of powers systems are almost always presidential, although theoretically this need not be the case. There are a few historical exceptions, such as the Directoire system of revolutionary France. Switzerland offers an example of non-Presidential separation of powers today: It is run by a seven-member executive branch, the Federal Council. However, the Federal Council is appointed by parliament (but not dependent on parliament) and, although the judiciary has no power of review, the judiciary is still separate from the other branches.


title: Separation of powers

text: Australia does not maintain a strict separation between the legislative and executive branches of government—indeed, government ministers are required to be members of parliament—but the federal judiciary strictly guards its independence from the other two branches. However, under influence from the U.S. constitution, the Australian constitution does define the three branches of government separately, which has been interpreted by the judiciary to induce an implicit separation of powers. State governments have a similar level of separation of power but this is generally on the basis of convention, rather than constitution.


title: Separation of powers

text: The Constitution of Austria was originally written by Hans Kelsen, a prominent constitutional scholar in Europe at that time. Kelsen was to serve as a part of the judicial court of review for Austria as part of its tripartite government.


title: Separation of powers

text: The "Constitution of Brazil", in its second article, establishes that there are three "powers of the Union, independent and harmonic, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary".


title: Separation of powers

text: The "Constitution Act, 1867" provides that there shall be an executive, a legislature, and the judiciary. At the federal level, the executive power is assigned to the monarch of Canada, acting through their representative, the Governor General of Canada. The legislative function is assigned to the Parliament of Canada, composed of the monarch, the Senate and the House of Commons. The judicial powers are primarily assigned to the provincial superior courts, but provision was made for the creation of federal courts by Parliament. The federal courts now include the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal, and the Federal Court of Canada.


title: Separation of powers

text: The Supreme Court of Canada has repeatedly emphasised that the separation of powers is an important structural element of the Constitution of Canada. For example, in giving the majority judgment in "Ontario v Criminal Lawyers' Association of Ontario", Justice Karakatsanis stated:


title: Separation of powers

text: Canada, like other parliamentary countries using the Westminster system, has a fusion between the executive and the legislative branches, with the Prime Minister and other Cabinet ministers being members of Parliament. However, the two branches have distinct roles, and in certain instances can come into conflict with each other. For example, in June 2021, the Speaker of the House of Commons directed a member of the public service to comply with an order of the House of Commons to share certain documents with the Commons, and the public servant refused to do so. The federal government announced that it would challenge the Speaker's ruling in the Federal Court.


title: Separation of powers

text: The separation of powers is much stricter between the judicial branch, on the one hand, and the elected legislative and executive branches, on the other hand. The Supreme Court has held that judicial independence is a fundamental principle of the Constitution of Canada. The courts are independent from the elected branches in fulfilling their duties and reaching their decisions.


title: Separation of powers

text: Similar structural principles apply with provincial and territorial governments, including the strong separation between the judiciary and the elected branches.


title: Separation of powers

text: The Constitution of the Czech Republic, adopted in 1992 immediately before the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, establishes the traditional tripartite division of powers and continues the tradition of its predecessor constitutions. The Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920, which replaced the provisional constitution adopted by the newly independent state in 1918, was modelled after the constitutions of established democracies such as those of the United Kingdom, United States and France, and maintained this division, as have subsequent changes to the constitution that followed in 1948 with the Ninth-of-May Constitution, the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia as well as the Constitutional Act on the Czechoslovak Federation of 1968.


title: Separation of powers

text: According to the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, the government of France is divided into three branches:


title: Separation of powers

text: Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region established in 1997 pursuant to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, an international treaty made between Britain and China in 1984, registered with the United Nations. The Hong Kong Basic Law, a national law of China that serves as the "de facto" constitution, divides the government into Executive, Legislative, and Judicial bodies.


title: Separation of powers

text: However, according to the former Secretary for Security, Regina Ip, also a current member of the Executive Council(ExCo) and Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Hong Kong never practices Separation of Powers after the handover of Hong Kong back to China.


title: Separation of powers

text: Nevertheless, Hong Kong's policy was decided by the Governor in Council before 1997, and it became the Chief Executive in Council afterwards. No matter when, some members of the Executive Council are also members of the Legislative Council. When the same person holds positions in the executive and legislative branches at the same time, the two powers are integrated rather than separated, and so it does not constitute a strict separation of powers, it is because checks and balances has been lost. This institutional practice existed long before 1997 during the British rule and has been followed ever since.


title: Separation of powers

text: India follows constitutional democracy which offers a clear separation of powers. The judiciary is independent of the other two branches with the power to interpret the constitution. Parliament has the legislative powers. Executive powers are vested in the President who is advised by the Union Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister. The constitution of India vested the duty of protecting, preserving and defending the constitution with the President as common head of the executive, parliament, armed forces, etc.—not only for the union government but also the various state governments in a federal structure. All three branches have "checks and balances" over each other to maintain the balance of power and not to exceed the constitutional limits.


title: Separation of powers

text: In Italy the powers are separated, even though the Council of Ministers needs a vote of confidence from both chambers of Parliament (which represents a large number of members, around 600).


title: Separation of powers

text: Like every parliamentary form of government, there is no complete separation between Legislature and Executive, rather a "continuum" between them due to the confidence link. The balance between these two branches is protected by Constitution and between them and the judiciary, which is really independent.


title: Separation of powers

text: Based on popular sovereignty, the Government of Japan is divided into the legislative, executive and judicial branches. All of the branches of government operate under the framework set by the post-WWII Constitution ratified in 1947.


title: Separation of powers

text: Legislative power is vested in the bicameral parliament of Japan, the National Diet (国会, "Kokkai"). The Diet consists of the House of Councillors (参議院, "Sangiin") as the upper house and the House of Representatives (衆議院, "Shugiin") as the lower house. Members of both houses are elected under a parallel voting system.


title: Separation of powers

text: The executive power of the state is vested in the Cabinet of Japan (内閣, "Naikaku"). The Prime Minister (内閣総理大臣, "Naikaku Sōri-Daijin") serves as the head of the Cabinet and is designated from among the members of the Diet. As a parliamentary democracy, the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers are responsible to parliament and can be dismissed by a motion of no confidence.


title: Separation of powers

text: Judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court (最高裁判所, "Saikō-Saibansho"). It is the ultimate judicial authority on matters of constitutional and national law interpretation. It also has the power of judicial review, allowing it to review the constitutionality of laws.


title: Separation of powers

text: Article 49 of the Mexican Constitution establishes that the Supreme Power of the Federation is divided in three Powers, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary.


title: Separation of powers

text: A note on the status of separation of power, checks and balances, and balance of power in Norway today.


title: Separation of powers

text: In the original constitution of 1814 the Montesquieu concept was enshrined, and the people at the time had the same skepticism about political parties as the American founding fathers and the revolutionaries in France. Nor did people really want to get rid of the king and the Council of State (privy council). King and council was a known concept that people had lived with for a long time and for the most part were comfortable with. The 1814 constitution came about as a reaction to external events, most notable the Treaty of Kiel (see 1814 in Norway). There was no revolution against the current powers, as had been the case in the U.S. and France.


title: Separation of powers

text: As there was no election of the executive, the king reigned supremely independent in selecting the members of the Council of State, no formal political parties formed until the 1880s. A conflict between the executive and legislature started developing in the 1870s and climaxed with the legislature impeaching the entire Council of State in 1884 (see ]). With this came a switch to a parliamentary system of government. While the full process took decades, it has led to a system of parliamentary sovereignty, where the Montesquieu idea of separation of powers is technically dead even though the three branches remain important institutions.


title: Separation of powers

text: This "does not" mean that there are no checks and balances. With the introduction of a parliamentary system, political parties started to form quickly, which led to a call for electoral reform that saw the introduction of Party-list proportional representation in 1918. The peculiarities of the Norwegian election system generate 6–8 parties and make it extremely difficult for a single party to gain an absolute majority. It has only occurred for a brief period in the aftermath of World War II where the Labour Party had an absolute majority.


title: Separation of powers

text: A multi-party system parliament that must either form a minority executive or a coalition executive functions as a perfectly good system of checks and balances even if it was never a stated goal for the introduction of multiparty system. The multiparty system came about in response to a public outcry of having too few parties and a general feeling of a lack of representation. For this reason, very little on the topic of separation of powers or checks and balances can be found in the works of Norwegian political sciences today.


title: Separation of powers

text: In addition, the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides for three independent Constitutional Commissions:


title: Separation of powers

text: The development of the British constitution, which is not a codified document, is based on fusion in the person of the Monarch, who has a formal role to play in the legislature (Parliament, which is where legal and political sovereignty lies, is the Crown-in-Parliament, and is summoned and dissolved by the Sovereign who must give his or her Royal Assent to all Bills so that they become Acts), the executive (the Sovereign appoints all ministers of His/Her Majesty's Government, who govern in the name of the Crown) and the judiciary (the Sovereign, as the fount of justice, appoints all senior judges, and all public prosecutions are brought in his or her name).


title: Separation of powers

text: Although the doctrine of separation of power plays a role in the United Kingdom's constitutional life, the constitution is often described as having "a weak separation of powers" (A. V. Dicey) despite it being the one to which Montesquieu originally referred. For example, the executive forms a subset of the legislature, as did—to a lesser extent—the judiciary until the establishment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister, the Chief Executive, sits as a member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, either as a peer in the House of Lords or as an elected member of the House of Commons (by convention, and as a result of the supremacy of the Lower House, the Prime Minister now sits in the House of Commons). Furthermore, while the courts in the United Kingdom are amongst the most independent in the world, the Law Lords, who were the final arbiters of most judicial disputes in the U.K. sat simultaneously in the House of Lords, the upper house of the legislature, although this arrangement ceased in 2009 when the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom came into existence. Furthermore, because of the existence of Parliamentary sovereignty, while the theory of separation of powers may be studied there, a system such as that of the U.K. is more accurately described as a "fusion of powers".


title: Separation of powers

text: Until 2005, the Lord Chancellor fused in his person the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary, as he was the ex officio Speaker of the House of Lords, a Government Minister who sat in Cabinet and was head of the Lord Chancellor's Department, which administered the courts, the justice system and appointed judges, and was the head of the Judiciary in England and Wales and sat as a judge on the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords, the highest domestic court in the entire United Kingdom, and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the senior tribunal court for parts of the Commonwealth. The Lord Chancellor also had certain other judicial positions, including being a judge in the Court of Appeal and President of the Chancery Division. The Lord Chancellor combines other aspects of the constitution, including having certain ecclesiastical functions of the established state church, making certain church appointments, nominations and sitting as one of the thirty-three Church Commissioners. These functions remain intact and unaffected by the Constitutional Reform Act. In 2005, the Constitutional Reform Act separated the powers with Legislative functions going to an elected Lord Speaker and the Judicial functions going to the Lord Chief Justice. The Lord Chancellor's Department was replaced with a Ministry of Justice and the Lord Chancellor currently serves in the position of Secretary of State for Justice.


title: Separation of powers

text: The judiciary has no power to strike down primary legislation, and can only rule on secondary legislation that it is invalid with regard to the primary legislation if necessary.


title: Separation of powers

text: Under the concept of parliamentary sovereignty, Parliament can enact any primary legislation it chooses. However, the concept immediately becomes problematic when the question is asked, "If parliament can do anything, can it bind its successors?" It is generally held that parliament can do no such thing.


title: Separation of powers

text: Equally, while statute takes precedence over precedent-derived common law and the judiciary has no power to strike down primary legislation, there are certain cases where the supreme judicature has effected an injunction against the application of an act or reliance on its authority by the civil service. The seminal example of this is the Factortame case, where the House of Lords granted such an injunction preventing the operation of the "Merchant Shipping Act 1988" until litigation in the European Court of Justice had been resolved.


title: Separation of powers

text: The House of Lords ruling in Factortame (No. 1), approving the European Court of Justice formulation that "a national court which, in a case before it concerning Community law, considers that the sole obstacle which precludes it from granting interim relief is a rule of national law, must disapply that rule", has created an implicit tiering of legislative reviewability; the only way for parliament to prevent the supreme judicature from injunctively striking out a law on the basis of incompatibility with Community law is to pass an act specifically removing that power from the court, or by repealing the "European Communities Act 1972".


title: Separation of powers

text: Separation of powers was first established in the United States Constitution, wherein the founders included features of many new concepts, including hard-learned historical lessons about the checks and balances of power. Similar concepts were also prominent in the state governments of the United States. As colonies of Great Britain, the founders considered that the American states had suffered an abuse of the broad power of parliamentarism and monarchy. As a remedy, the United States Constitution limits the powers of the federal government through various means—in particular, the three branches of the federal government are divided by exercising different functions. The executive and legislative powers are separated in origin by separate elections, and the judiciary is kept independent. Each branch controls the actions of others and balances its powers in some way.


title: Separation of powers

text: In the Constitution, Article 1 Section I grants Congress only those "legislative powers herein granted" and proceeds to list those permissible actions in Article I Section 8, while Section 9 lists actions that are prohibited for Congress. The vesting clause in Article II places no limits on the Executive branch, simply stating that "The Executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America." The Supreme Court holds "The judicial Power" according to Article III, and judicial review was established in "Marbury v. Madison" under the Marshall court.


title: Separation of powers

text: The presidential system adopted by the Constitution of the United States obeys the balance of powers sought, and not found, by the constitutional monarchy. The people appoint their representatives to meet periodically in a legislative body, and, since they do not have a king, the people themselves elect a preeminent citizen to perform, also periodically, the executive functions of the State.


title: Separation of powers

text: The direct election of the head of state or of the executive power is an inevitable consequence of the political freedom of the people, understood as the capacity to appoint and depose their leaders. Only this separate election of the person who has to fulfill the functions that the Constitution attributes to the president, so different by its nature and by its function from the election of representatives of the electors, allows the executive power to be controlled by the legislative and submitted to the demands of political responsibility.


title: Separation of powers

text: Judicial independence is maintained by appointments for life, which remove any dependence on the Executive, with voluntary retirement and a high threshold for dismissal by the Legislature, in addition to a salary that cannot be diminished during their service.


title: Separation of powers

text: The federal government refers to the branches as "branches of government", while some systems use "government" exclusively to describe the executive. The Executive branch has attempted to claim power arguing for separation of powers to include being the Commander-in-Chief of a standing army since the American Civil War, executive orders, emergency powers, security classifications since World War II, national security, signing statements, and the scope of the unitary executive.


title: Separation of powers

text: Belgium is currently a federated state that has imposed the " on different governmental levels. The constitution of 1831, considered one of the most liberal of its time for limiting the powers of its monarch and imposing a rigorous system of separation of powers, is based on three principles (represented in the Schematic overview of Belgian institutions).


title: Separation of powers

text: According to Sun Yat-sen's idea of "separation of the five powers", the government of the Republic of China has five branches:


title: Separation of powers

text: The president and vice president as well as the defunct National Assembly are constitutionally not part of the above five branches. Before being abolished in 2005, the National Assembly was a standing constituent assembly and electoral college for the president and vice president. Its constitutional amending powers were passed to the legislative yuan and its electoral powers were passed to the electorate.


title: Separation of powers

text: The relationship between the executive and legislative branches are poorly defined. An example of the problems this causes is the near complete political paralysis that results when the president, who has neither the power to veto nor the ability to dissolve the legislature and call new elections, cannot negotiate with the legislature when his party is in the minority. The examination and control yuans are marginal branches; their leaders as well as the leaders of the executive and judicial yuans are appointed by the president and confirmed by the legislative yuan. The legislature is the only branch that chooses its own leadership. The vice president has practically no responsibilities.


title: Separation of powers

text: The central government of the People's Republic of China is nominally divided among several state organs:


title: Separation of powers

text: The codification of the Chinese Communist Party's one-party system renders the division of power amongst these organs a formality. Most practical political power is held by the Politburo Standing Committee dominated by the General Secretary, who serves as the country's supreme leader.


title: Separation of powers

text: In the aftermath of the 43-day civil war in 1948 (after former President and incumbent candidate Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia tried to take power through fraud, by not recognising the results of the presidential election that he had lost), the question of which transformational model the Costa Rican State would follow was the main issue that confronted the victors. A Constituent Assembly was elected by popular vote to draw up a new constitution, enacted in 1949, and remains in force. This document was an edit of the constitution of 1871, as the constituent assembly rejected more radical corporatist ideas proposed by the ruling Junta Fundadora de la Segunda República (which, although having come to power by military force, abolished the armed forces). Nonetheless, the new constitution increased centralization of power at the expense of municipalities and eliminated provincial government altogether, and at the time it increased the powers of congress and the judiciary.


title: Separation of powers

text: It established the three supreme powers as the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, but also created two other autonomous state organs that have equivalent power, but not equivalent rank. The first is the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones de Costa Rica (electoral branch), which controls elections and makes unique, unappealable decisions on their outcomes.


title: Separation of powers

text: The second is the office of the Comptroller General (audit branch), an autonomous and independent organ nominally subordinate to the unicameral legislative assembly. All budgets of ministries and municipalities must pass through this agency, including the execution of budget items such as contracting for routine operations. The Comptroller also provides financial vigilance over government offices and office holders, and routinely brings actions to remove mayors for malfeasance, firmly establishing this organization as the fifth branch of the Republic.


title: Separation of powers

text: The European Union is a supranational polity, and is neither a country nor a federation; but as the EU wields political power it complies with the principle of separation of powers. There are seven institutions of the European Union. In intergovernmental matters, most power is concentrated in the Council of the European Union—giving it the characteristics of a normal international organization. Here, all power at the EU level is in one branch. In the latter there are four main actors. The European Commission acts as an independent executive which is appointed by the Council in conjunction with the European Parliament; but the commission also has a legislative role as the sole initiator of EU legislation.


title: Separation of powers

text: The three branches in German government are further divided into six main bodies enshrined in the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany:


title: Separation of powers

text: Besides the constitutional court, the judicial branch at the federal level is made up of five supreme courts—one for civil and criminal cases ("Bundesgerichtshof"), and one each for administrative, tax, labour, and social security issues. There are also state-based ("Länder / Bundesländer") courts beneath them, and a rarely used senate of the supreme courts.


title: Separation of powers

text: The four independent branches of power in Hungary (the parliament, the government, the court system, and the office of the public accuser) are divided into six bodies:


title: Separation of powers

text: The independent pillar status of the Hungarian public accuser's office is a unique construction, loosely modelled on the system Portugal introduced after the 1974 victory of the Carnation Revolution. The public accuser (attorney general) body has become the fourth column of Hungarian democracy only in recent times: after communism fell in 1989, the office was made independent by a new clause (XI) of the Constitution. The change was meant to prevent abuse of state power, especially with regards to the use of false accusations against opposition politicians, who may be excluded from elections if locked in protracted or excessively severe court cases.


title: Separation of powers

text: To prevent the Hungarian accuser's office from neglecting its duties, natural human private persons can submit investigation requests, called "pótmagánvád," directly to the courts if the accusers' office refuses to. Courts will decide if the allegations have merit and order police to act in lieu of the accuser's office if warranted. In its decision No. 42/2005, the Hungarian constitutional court declared that the government does not enjoy such privilege and the state is powerless to further pursue cases if the public accuser refuses to do so.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: The legal age of consent for sexual activity varies by jurisdiction across Asia. The specific activity engaged in or the gender of participants can also be relevant factors. Below is a discussion of the various laws dealing with this subject. The highlighted age refers to an age at or above which an individual can engage in unfettered sexual relations with another who is also at or above that age. Other variables, such as homosexual relations or close in age exceptions, may exist, and are noted when relevant, for example in Indonesia.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Sexual activity outside marriage is illegal in Afghanistan. According to the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, marriage is allowed at puberty.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Consensual sex outside of marriage is legally permissible for those aged 21 and above, regardless of gender and sexual orientation. If a married individual has sex with somebody they are not married to, the person they are married to is given the liberty, by the criminal procedure code, to file for an 'adultery' charge if they wanted to. They are also given the liberty to drop off the charge after filing it if they wanted to. However, the mentioned options would not be available after three months are passed from when the person learned about the adultery. The marriage of course should be recognized by the government for the mentioned options to be provided.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: The marriageable age is 16 years. Before this age, marriage requires authorization from the Shariah Court of the State of Bahrain.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Rape is punished by imprisonment. Since 1986, the penalty is either life imprisonment or possibly the death penalty for victims under 16. Non-consent is assumed for unmarried women under 14. According to article 349 of the updated penal code, the death penalty for the rapist is eligible only if the rape causes death for the sexually assaulted female.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: The law presumes non-consent of male victims less than 14 too. There is a prison sentence (maximum 10 years) for male victims under 16 (article 346) while article 347 gives an unspecified prison sentence with consenting male victims under 21.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: According to the section 9 (1) of the Women and Child Abuse Prevention Act, 2000, it is defined as rape to have sexual intercourse with a woman with or without her consent, when she is under sixteen (16) years of age.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: The Penal Code of Bangladesh considers 14 years as the age of consent, but this is superseded by the act referenced above.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Article 375 specifies that “A man is said to commit "rape" who except in the case hereinafter excepted, has sexual intercourse with a woman (5) With or without her consent, when she is under fourteen years of age. (Exception) Sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, the wife not being under thirteen years of age, is not rape.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: The age of consent in Bhutan is 18 regardless of gender or sexual orientation, according to Article 183 of the Penal Code of Bhutan.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Any kind of sexual activity outside of a heterosexual marriage is illegal in Brunei. The minimum age for marriage is 16.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Any person who has or attempts to have carnal knowledge (sexual intercourse) of a girl under the age of sixteen (16) years except by way of marriage, shall be guilty of an offense: Penalty, imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 2 years and not more than 7 years and to whipping not exceeding 24 strokes of the rattan in the case of an adult or 12 strokes of the rattan in the case of a youthful offender.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: The age of consent in Cambodia is 15 regardless of gender or sexual orientation. The age of consent in this country is determined by Article 8, of Chapter 4 ("Debauchery") of the "Law on Suppression of the Kidnapping, Trafficking, and Exploitation of Human Beings", which has been specifically enacted to prohibit sex with children under 15. The law prohibits "debauchery" with a child under 15, and this term (the original Cambodian word is has been interpreted by courts to forbid any form of sexual conduct (both consensual and non-consensual; both 'ordinary' sex and paid sex) with a child under 15. This is the main legal tool used to prosecute foreigners engaging in child sex tourism in Cambodia.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Article 8 of the 'Law on Suppression of the Kidnapping, Trafficking, and Exploitation of Human Beings' states, "Any person who commits acts of debauchery involving a minor below 15 years old, even if there is consent from the concerned minor, or even if the person has bought such minor from someone else or from a pimp, shall be punished by ten (10) to twenty (20) years in prison. In case of repeat offenses, the maximum punishment term shall be applied."


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: In Mainland China, the age of consent for sexual activity is 14 years, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Chinese law defines statutory rape as having sex with a girl who is less than fourteen years of age. A five-year prison sentence and fine may result if the girl under 14 years of age was acting as a prostitute. In August 2015, the law concerning underage prostitutes was repealed. The Statutory rape law now applies to underage prostitution as well. Persons with Special Duties towards minor females who have attained the full age of 14 shall be held accountable for rape if they compel the victim engaging in sexual relations with them by taking advantage of their dominant positions or the helpless situations of the victim.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: In 2020 there was a proposal to raise the age of consent in the wake of a scandal in the city of Yantai.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: In 2021 there was a proposal to criminalize teachers having intercourse with students in primary and junior high levels.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: The age of consent in East Timor is 14 regardless of gender or sexual orientation, per Article 177. However, sex acts with an adolescent aged 14–15 years are illegal if an adult practices them with the adolescent by "taking advantage of the inexperience" of that adolescent. (Article 178).


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: In Hong Kong the age of consent for sexual activity is 16 regardless of gender or sexual orientation. However, the age of consent for a female receiving anal sex is 21.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Under s.124 of the Crimes Ordinance (Cap.200), a man who has unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 16 shall be liable to imprisonment for 5 years. Under s.123 of the Crimes Ordinance, a man who has unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13 shall be liable to imprisonment for life.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Under s.122 of the Crimes Ordinance, a person under the age of 16 cannot in law give any consent which would prevent an act being an assault for the purposes of indecent assault. Hence, a woman who has sexual activity with a boy or a girl under 16 will be prosecuted under this section.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Under s.127 of the Crimes Ordinance, a person who takes an unmarried girl under the age of 18 out of the possession of her parent or guardian against the will of the parent or guardian with the intention that she shall have unlawful sexual intercourse with men or with a particular man shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for 7 years."


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: The previous position regarding homosexual couples is contained in s.118C which provides that a man who commits or suffers to commit buggery with a man under the age of 21 is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life. However, this section was struck down as unconstitutional in "Leung TC William Roy v Secretary for Justice". Hence, the age of consent between two males have been effectively equalized with that between a male and a female, which is 16.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Prior to 2012 there was a presumption that a male minor under 14 could not consent to sexual intercourse under any circumstances. The law was changed after a 13-year-old boy attacked a 5-year-old girl at a Chai Wan hospital ward; the prosecution was unable to convict him of rape, instead only able to do so for indecent assault. In 2015 an 11-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy were arrested after they were found having sex with an 11-year-old girl. Under the new laws they have the possibility of having the maximum sentence of life in prison.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: India's age of consent for sex is set at 18 years under the "Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013", regardless of gender.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: In 1892, the marital rape and subsequent death of a 10-year-old girl, Phulmoni Dasi, caused the age of consent to be raised from 10 to 12. In 1949, it was raised to 16 after agitation from women's groups about the adverse effect of early pregnancy. . On 3 April 2014 the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 came into effect, which raised the legal permissible age for sexual consent from 16 to 18. Although the "Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013" initially sought to lower the age to 16, it was set at 18 due to political pressure from conservative parties. Section 375 reads: A man is said to commit "rape" if he (...) Sixthly – With or without her consent, when she is "under eighteen years of age".


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 disallows any such sexual relationships and puts such crimes within marriages as an aggravated offense. A Public Interest Litigation filled by Independent Thought, an organization working on child rights law, was heard in the Supreme Court of India for declaring the exception allowing marital rape within prohibited child marriages as unconstitutional: "Independent Thought vs. Union of India [W.P(civil) 382 of 2013]". In the judgment, delivered on 11 October, the Supreme Court bench consisting of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta read down Exception 2 to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to hold that sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife if she is below 15 years of age would amount to rape. According to Section 375 Exception, Sexual Intercourse by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: The Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code bans "carnal intercourse against the order of nature". It was used to prosecute people for having anal or oral sex, although prosecutions were rare. The law was constitutionally challenged and subsequently read down by the Delhi High Court in 2009 for violating the human rights of sexual minorities. In 2013, the Supreme Court overturned the Delhi High Court's judgment, recriminalizing homosexuality. However, in 2018, the Supreme Court, on hearing a fresh batch of petitions, declared some parts of the law unconstitutional on the issue, setting the age of consent for consensual homosexual sex at 18, same age for consensual heterosexual sex.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: According to the Indonesian Penal Code article 287, the age of consent in Indonesia is 16 years old. The age of consent is the minimum age at which an individual is considered legally old enough to consent to participation in sexual activity. Individuals aged 15 or younger in Indonesia are not legally able to consent to sexual activity, and such activity may result in prosecution for statutory rape or the equivalent local law.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Even though the age of consent is 16 years old, the offender can only be charged and prosecuted if a legal complaint is lodged to the law enforcement. Exception to this law is when the age of the victim is under 12 years old, or under certain circumstances such as bodily injury or incest. Stipulated a minimum sentence of 12 years for sexual intercourse with females under the age of 12.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: However, under the Child Protection Act, the age of consent could be raised to 18. The argument used is that sexual acts with a child could result in bodily and mental injury, while the definition of a child is anyone who is under 18 years old. A reported court verdict using the Child Protection Act was done in 2009 against an Australian national.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: The age of consent for a homosexual activity is 18 years old in Indonesia, same for a heterosexual activity.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: Sex outside of marriage is illegal in Iran. The minimum age of marriage in Iran is 15 for men and 13 for women. Ways around these regulations include temporary marriages (Nikah mut‘ah). With the permission of a court, girls may marry at a younger age. In 2010, as many as 42,000 children aged between 10 and 14 were married, and 716 girls younger than 10 had wed.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: The age of consent in Iraq is 18. "Any person who sexually assaults a boy or girl under the age of 18 without the use of force, menaces or deception is punishable by detention..."


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: "Any person who has sexual intercourse with a female relative to the third generation under the age of 15 with her consent and the offence leads to her death, to pregnancy or loss of virginity [is punishable by jail]."


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: According to the Israeli Penal Code of 1977 the age of consent in Israel is 16 regardless of gender or sexual orientation, for any form of sexual relations involving penetration (unless the person above 16 is the one being penetrated - in that case the age of consent is 14). In all cases that don't involve penetration, the age of consent is 14 (for both heterosexual and homosexual activities). A special case arises when a person aged 14 or 15 had sexual relations with an older partner; in this case the older partner would be exempt of criminal liability if three conditions are met: the age difference between the partners was less than three years, the younger partner gave consent and the act was done out of "regular friendly relations" and without the abuse of power.


title: Ages of consent in Asia

text: The Penal Code of Japan (1907) sets a national age of consent of 13. Article 176 ('Forcible Indecency') stipulates a penalty of 6 months to 10 years of imprisonment for "indecent acts" committed upon males and females under the age of 13, and Article 177 ('Rape') stipulated a minimum sentence of 3 years for sexual intercourse with females under the age of 13. In 2017, Article 177 was amended to specify vaginal, anal, and oral intercourse and expanded to include all persons (male and female) under 13. The amendment also increased the minimum prison sentence from 3 years to 5 years.