title: Leopard seal

text: In a report read at the inquiry into Brown's death, Professor Ian Boyd from St. Andrews University stated that the seal may have mistaken her for a fur seal or may have been frightened by her presence and attacked in defense. Professor Boyd claimed that leopard seal attacks on humans were extremely rare but warned that they may potentially become more common due to increased human presence in Antarctica. The coroner recorded a verdict of an accidental death caused by drowning due to a leopard seal attack.


title: Leopard seal

text: Leopard seals have shown a predilection for attacking the black, torpedo-shaped pontoons of rigid inflatable boats, leading researchers to equip their craft with special protective guards to prevent them from being punctured.


title: Leopard seal

text: Paul Nicklen, a "National Geographic" magazine photographer, captured pictures of a leopard seal bringing live, injured, and then dead penguins to him, possibly in an attempt to teach the photographer how to hunt.


title: Leopard seal

text: From a conservation standpoint, the only known predators of the leopard seals are killer whales and sharks. Because of their limited subpolar distribution in the Antarctic, they may be at risk as polar ice caps diminish with global warming. In the wild, leopard seals can live up to 26 years old. Leopard seal hunting is regulated by the Antarctic Treaty and the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (CCAS).


title: Grand jury

text: A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand jury is separate from the courts, which do not preside over its functioning.


title: Grand jury

text: Originating in England during the Middle Ages, grand juries are only retained in two countries, the United States and Liberia. Other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most others now employ a different procedure that does not involve a jury: a preliminary hearing. Grand juries perform both accusatory and investigatory functions. The investigatory functions of grand juries include obtaining and reviewing documents and other evidence, and hearing sworn testimonies of witnesses who appear before it; the accusatory function determines whether there is probable cause to believe that one or more persons committed a particular offense within the venue of a district court.


title: Grand jury

text: In Ireland, they for a period also functioned as local government authorities: "They fixed the salaries of public officers; they regulated prisons and houses of correction; they levied funds for the support of hospitals; they made and repaired roads and bridges, and they framed accounts of the expenses incurred in these matters... They determined what public works should be undertaken — what price should be paid for them, and who were the individuals that should undertake them, and be responsible for their completion. They settled the amount of the local taxation of the county, and, under their direction, it was levied from the actual occupiers of the land.". In Japan, the Law of July 12, 1948, created the "Kensatsu Shinsakai" (Prosecutorial Review Commission or PRC system), inspired by the American system.


title: Grand jury

text: The grand jury (from the French word "grand" meaning "large") is so named because traditionally it has more jurors than a trial jury, sometimes called a petit jury (from the French word "petit" meaning "small"). A grand jury in the United States is usually composed of 16 to 23 citizens, though in Virginia it has fewer members for regular or special grand juries.


title: Grand jury

text: The function of a grand jury is to accuse persons who may be guilty of a crime, but the institution is also a shield against unfounded and oppressive prosecution. It is a means for lay citizens, representative of the community, to participate in the administration of justice. It can also make presentments on crime and maladministration in its area. Traditionally, a grand jury consists of 23 members.


title: Grand jury

text: No indictment or presentment can be made except by concurrence of at least twelve of the jurors. The grand jury may accuse upon their own knowledge, but it is generally done upon the testimony of witnesses under oath and other evidence heard before them. Grand jury proceedings are, in the first instance, at the instigation of the government or other prosecutors, and ex parte and in secret deliberation. The accused has no knowledge nor right to interfere with their proceedings.


title: Grand jury

text: If they find the accusation true, which is usually drawn up in form by the prosecutor or an officer of the court, they write upon the indictment the words "a true bill" which is signed by the foreperson of the grand jury and presented to the court publicly in the presence of all the jurors. If the indictment is not proven to the satisfaction of the grand jury, the word "" or "not a true bill" is written upon it by the grand jury, or by their foreman and then said to be ignored, and the accusation is dismissed as unfounded. (The potential defendant is said to have been "no-billed" by the grand jury.) If the grand jury returns an indictment as a true bill ("billa vera"), the indictment is said to be founded and the party to stand indicted and required to be put on trial.


title: Grand jury

text: The first instance of a grand jury can be traced back to the Assize of Clarendon in 1166, an Act of Henry II of England. Henry's chief impact on the development of the English monarchy was to increase the jurisdiction of the royal courts at the expense of the feudal courts. Itinerant justices on regular circuits were sent out once each year to enforce the "King's Peace". To make this system of royal criminal justice more effective, Henry employed the method of inquest used by William the Conqueror in the Domesday Book. In each shire, a body of important men were sworn ("juré") to report to the sheriff all crimes committed since the last session of the circuit court. Thus originated the more recent grand jury that presents information for an indictment. The grand jury was later recognized by King John in Magna Carta in 1215 on demand of the nobility.


title: Grand jury

text: The grand jury can be said to have "celebrated" its 800th birthday in 2015, because a precursor to the grand jury is defined in Article 61, the longest of the 63 articles of Magna Carta, also called "Magna Carta Libertatum" (Latin: "the Great Charter of Liberties") executed on 15 June 1215 by King John and by the Barons. The document was primarily composed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton (1150–1228). He and Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro developed schemas for the division of the Bible into chapters and it is the system of Archbishop Langton which prevailed. He was a Bible scholar, and the concept of the grand jury may possibly derive from Deuteronomy 25:1: "If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked." (King James Version) Thus the grand jury has been described as the "Shield and the Sword" of the People: as a "Shield for the People" from abusive indictments of the government- or malicious indictments of individuals- and as the "Sword of the People" to cut away crime by any private individual; or to cut away crime by any public servant, whether in the judicial, executive, or legislative branches.


title: Grand jury

text: On 2 July 1681, a popular statesman, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury was arrested on suspicion of high treason and committed to the Tower of London. He immediately petitioned the Old Bailey on a writ of habeas corpus, but the Old Bailey said it did not have jurisdiction over prisoners in the Tower of London, so Cooper had to wait for the next session of the Court of King's Bench. Cooper moved for a writ of habeas corpus on 24 October 1681, and his case finally came before a grand jury on 24 November 1681.


title: Grand jury

text: The government's case against Cooper was particularly weak – the government admitted that most of the witnesses brought against Cooper had already perjured themselves, and the documentary evidence was inconclusive, and the jury was handpicked by the Whig Sheriff of London. For these reasons the government had little chance of securing a conviction, and on 13 February 1682, the case was dropped when the grand jury issued an "ignoramus" bill (a finding of deficient evidence), rather than comply with the king's intent of a "true bill" (a grand jury indictment).


title: Grand jury

text: The grand jury's theoretical function against abuse of executive power was seen during the Watergate scandal. In "United States v. Nixon", the U.S. Supreme Court ruled eight-to-zero on 23 July 1974 (Justice William Rehnquist who had been appointed by Nixon recused himself from the case) that executive privilege applied only to the legislative and judicial branches—and not to grand jury subpoenas—thus implying a grand jury constituted protections equivalent to a "fourth branch of government". The second Watergate grand jury indicted seven lawyers in the White House, including former Attorney General John Mitchell, and named President Nixon as a "secret, un-indicted, co-conspirator". Despite evading impeachment by resigning from office, Nixon was still required to testify before a grand jury.


title: Grand jury

text: Similarly, in 1998, President Clinton became the first sitting president required to testify before a grand jury as the subject of an investigation by the Office of Independent Counsel. The testimony came after a four-year investigation into Clinton and his wife Hillary's alleged involvement in several scandals including Whitewater and the Rose Law Firm. Revelations from the investigation sparked a battle in Congress over whether or not to impeach Clinton.


title: Grand jury

text: The sheriff of every county was required to return to every quarter sessions and assizes (or more precisely the commission of "oyer and terminer" and of gaol delivery), 24 men of the county "to inquire into, present, do and execute all those things which, on the part of our Lord the King ("or" our Lady the Queen), shall then be commanded them". Grand jurors at the assizes or at the borough quarter sessions did not have property qualifications; but, at the county quarter sessions, they had the same property qualification as petty jurors. However, at the assizes, the grand jury generally consisted of gentlemen of high standing in the county.


title: Grand jury

text: After the court was opened by the crier making proclamation, the names of those summoned to the grand jury were called and they were sworn. They numbered at least 14 and not more than 23. The person presiding (the judge at the assizes, the chairman at the county sessions, the recorder at the borough sessions) gave the charge to the grand jury, i.e. he directed their attention to points in the various cases about to be considered which required explanation.


title: Grand jury

text: The charge having been delivered, the grand jury withdrew to their own room, having received the bills of indictment. The witnesses whose names were endorsed on each bill were sworn as they came to be examined, in the grand jury room, the oath being administered by the foreman, who wrote his initials against the name of the witness on the back of the bill. Only the witnesses for the prosecution were examined, as the function of the grand jury was merely to inquire whether there was sufficient ground to put the accused on trial. If the majority of them (and at least 12) thought that the evidence so adduced made out a sufficient case, the words "a true bill" were endorsed on the back of the bill. If they were of the opposite opinion, the phrase "not a true bill", or the single Latin word ("we do not know" or "we are ignorant (of)"), was endorsed instead and the bill was said to be "ignored" or thrown out. They could find a true bill as to the charge in one count, and ignore that in another; or as to one defendant and not as to another; but they could not, like a petty jury, return a special or conditional finding, or select part of a count as true and reject the other part. When some bills were "found", some of the jurors came out and handed the bills to the clerk of arraigns (in assizes) or clerk of the peace, who announced to the court the name of the prisoner, the charge, and the endorsements of the grand jury. They then retired and considered other bills until all were disposed of; after which they were discharged by the judge, chairman, or recorder.


title: Grand jury

text: If a bill was thrown out, although it could not again be referred to the grand jury during the same assizes or sessions, it could be preferred at subsequent assizes or sessions, but not in respect of the same offense if a petty jury had returned a verdict.


title: Grand jury

text: Ordinarily, bills of indictment were preferred after there had been an examination before the magistrates. But this need not always take place. With certain exceptions, any person would prefer a bill of indictment against another before the grand jury without any previous inquiry into the truth of the accusation before a magistrate. This right was at one time universal and was often abused. A substantial check was put on this abuse by the Vexatious Indictments Act 1859. This Act provided that for certain offences which it listed (perjury, libel, etc.), the person presenting such an indictment must be bound by recognizance to prosecute or give evidence against the accused, or alternatively had judicial permission (as specified) so to do.


title: Grand jury

text: If an indictment was found in the absence of the accused, and he/she was not in custody and had not been bound over to appear at assizes or sessions, then process was issued to bring that person into court, as it is contrary to the English law to "try" an indictment in the absence of the accused.


title: Grand jury

text: The grand jury's functions were gradually made redundant by the development of committal proceedings in magistrates' courts from 1848 onward when the (three) Jervis Acts, such as the Justices Protection Act 1848, codified and greatly expanded the functions of magistrates in pre-trial proceedings; these proceedings developed into almost a repeat of the trial itself. In 1933 the grand jury ceased to function in England, under the Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1933 and was entirely abolished in 1948, when a clause from 1933 saving grand juries for offences relating to officials abroad was repealed by the Criminal Justice Act 1948.


title: Grand jury

text: The grand jury was introduced in Scotland, solely for high treason, a year after the union with England, by the Treason Act 1708, an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. Section III of the Act required the Scottish courts to try cases of treason and misprision of treason according to English rules of procedure and evidence. This rule was repealed in 1945.


title: Grand jury

text: The first Scottish grand jury under this Act met at Edinburgh on 10 October 1748 to take cognisance of the charges against such rebels as had not surrendered, following the Jacobite rising of 1745.


title: Grand jury

text: An account of its first use in Scotland illustrates the institution's characteristics. It consisted of 23 good and lawful men, chosen out of 48 who were summoned: 24 from the county of Edinburgh (Midlothian), 12 from Haddington (East Lothian) and 12 from Linlithgow (West Lothian). The court consisted of three judges from the High Court of Justiciary (Scotland's highest criminal court), of whom Tinwald (Justice Clerk) was elected "preses" (presiding member). Subpoenas under the seal of the court and signed by the clerk were executed on a great number of persons in different shires, requiring them to appear as witnesses under the penalty of £100 each. The "preses" named Sir John Inglis of Cramond as Foreman of the Grand Jury, who was sworn first in the English manner by kissing the book; the others followed three at a time; after which Lord Tinwald, addressing the jurors, informed them that the power His Majesty's advocate possessed before the union, of prosecuting any person for high treason, who appeared guilty on a precognition taken of the facts, being now done away, power was lodged with them, a grand jury, 12 of whom behoved to concur before a true bill could be found. An indictment was then preferred in court and the witnesses endorsed on it were called over and sworn; on which the jury retired to the exchequer chambers and the witnesses were conducted to a room near it, whence they were called to be examined separately. Two solicitors for the crown were present at the examination but no one else; and after they had finished and the sense of the jury was collected, the indictment was returned a "true bill", if the charges were found proved, or "ignoramus" if doubtful. The proceedings continued for a week, in which time, out of 55 bills, 42 were sustained and 13 dismissed.


title: Grand jury

text: Further Acts of Parliament in the 19th century regarding treason did not specify this special procedure and the Grand Jury was used no longer.


title: Grand jury

text: In Ireland, grand juries were active from the Middle Ages during the Lordship of Ireland in parts of the island under the control of the English government (The Pale), that was followed by the Kingdom of Ireland. They mainly functioned as local government authorities at the county level. The system was so-called as the grand jurors had to present their public works proposals and budgets in court for official sanction by a judge. Grand jurors were usually the largest local payers of rates, and therefore tended to be the larger landlords, and on retiring they selected new members from the same background.


title: Grand jury

text: Distinct from their public works function, as property owners they also were qualified to sit on criminal juries hearing trials by jury, as well as having a pre-trial judicial function for serious criminal cases. Many of them also sat as magistrates judging the less serious cases.


title: Grand jury

text: They were usually wealthy "country gentlemen" (i.e. landowners, landed gentry, farmers and merchants):


title: Grand jury

text: From 1691 to 1793, Dissenters and Roman Catholics were excluded from membership. The concentration of power and wealth in a few families caused resentment over time. The whole local government system started to become more representative from the passing of the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840. The growing divergence of opinions can be seen in the House of Commons debate on 8 March 1861 led by Isaac Butt. Grand juries were eventually replaced by democratically elected County Councils by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, as regards their administrative functions.


title: Grand jury

text: After the formation of Irish Free State in 1922, grand juries were not required, but they persisted in Northern Ireland until abolished by the Grand Jury (Abolition) Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland in 1969.


title: Grand jury

text: The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads, "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury..."


title: Grand jury

text: In the early decades of the United States, grand juries played a major role in public matters. During that period counties followed the traditional practice of requiring all decisions be made by at least 12 of the grand jurors, (e.g., for a 23-person grand jury, 12 people would constitute a bare majority). Any citizen could bring a matter before a grand jury directly, from a public work that needed repair, to the delinquent conduct of a public official, to a complaint of a crime, and grand juries could conduct their own investigations.


title: Grand jury

text: In that era most criminal prosecutions were conducted by private parties, either a law enforcement officer, a lawyer hired by a crime victim or his family, or even by laymen. A layman could bring a bill of indictment to the grand jury; if the grand jury found that there was sufficient evidence for a trial, that the act was a crime under law, and that the court had jurisdiction, it would return the indictment to the complainant. The grand jury would then appoint the complaining party to exercise essentially the same authority as a state attorney general has, that is, a general power of attorney to represent the state in the case.


title: Grand jury

text: The grand jury served to screen out incompetent or malicious prosecutions. The advent of official public prosecutors in the later decades of the 19th century largely displaced private prosecutions.


title: Grand jury

text: While all states currently have provisions for grand juries, today approximately half of the states employ them and 22 require their use, to varying extents. The constitution of Pennsylvania required, between 1874 and 1968, that a grand jury indict all felonies. Six states (Oklahoma, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Nevada, and Kansas) allow citizens to circulate a petition in order to impanel a grand jury.


title: Grand jury

text: An American federal grand jury has from 16 to 23 jurors, with twelve votes required to return an indictment. All grand jury proceedings are conducted behind closed doors, without a presiding judge. The prosecutors are tasked with arranging for the appearance of witnesses, as well as drafting the order in which they are called, and take part in the questioning of witnesses. The targets of the grand jury or their lawyers have no right to appear before a grand jury unless they are invited, nor do they have a right to present exculpatory evidence. Possibly as a result, there is a running joke in the legal profession that a grand jury could "indict a ham sandwich" if the prosecutor asked. Some sources state the joke originated from a quote by Sol Wachtler in 1985, but it is found in a newspaper article from 1979, attributed to an unnamed "Rochester defense lawyer".


title: Grand jury

text: Grand juries were once common across Canada. The institution of British civil government in 1749 at Nova Scotia brought the judicature system peculiar to that form, and the grand jury was inherent to it. A similar form derived in Quebec from the promise of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 that a faithful copy of Laws of England would be instituted in the North American possessions of the Crown. Archival records are found that document the presentments of a grand jury in Quebec as early as 16 October 1764. One of the chief complaints was related to the jury trial, and the use of language. The desire for English law was a driver for the division in 1791 of Quebec, as it was then known, at the Ottawa river into Upper Canada and Lower Canada, as each of the two groups (French and English) desired to maintain their traditions. In point of fact, the second law passed in Upper Canada relates to (petit) jury trial. This was continued so that Chapter 31 of the 1859 Consolidated Statutes of Upper Canada specifies the constitution of Grand and Petit Juries in the province (now known as Ontario). The colony at St. John's Island, ceded by France in 1763, and separated on 30 May 1769 from Nova Scotia, became Prince Edward Island on 29 November 1798. Prince Edward Island derived its grand jury from its administrative parent between 1763 and 1769, Nova Scotia, as did Sunbury County when it was split off in 1784 to become the Colony of New Brunswick. The Colony of British Columbia, when it was formed on 2 August 1858, instituted a grand jury, along with the Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands (1853–1863) and the Colony of Vancouver Island (1848–1866) when the latter were absorbed by the former.


title: Grand jury

text: Old courthouses with the two jury boxes necessary to accommodate the 24 jurors of a grand jury can still be seen. The grand jury would evaluate charges and return what was called a "true bill (of indictment)" if the charges were to proceed. or a verdict of "nolle prosequi" if not. The practice gradually disappeared in Canada over the course of the twentieth century, after being the subject of extended discussions late in the 19th. It was ultimately abolished in 1984 when the Nova Scotia courts formally ended the practice. Prince Edward Island maintained a grand jury as recently as 1871.


title: Grand jury

text: The grand jury existed in New South Wales for a short period in the 1820s. The New South Wales Act 1823 (UK) enabled the establishment of quarter sessions, as a subsidiary court structure below that of the Supreme Court. Francis Forbes, Chief Justice, reasoned that this entailed the creation of quarter sessions as they existed in England. Thus, inadvertently, trial by jury and indictment by grand jury were introduced, but only for these subsidiary courts. Grand juries met in Sydney, Parramatta, Windsor and other places. This democratic method of trial proved very popular, but was resented by conservatives. Eventually, conservative elements in the colony were successful in having these innovations suppressed by the Australian Courts Act 1828 (UK). George Forbes, a member of the Legislative Council, unsuccessfully moved for the reintroduction of grand juries in 1858, but this was thwarted by the Attorney-General and the Chief Justice.


title: Grand jury

text: In South Australia and Western Australia, grand juries existed for longer periods of time. In South Australia, the first grand jury sat on 13 May 1837, but they were abolished in 1852. In Western Australia, by the Grand Jury Abolition Act Amendment Act 1883 (WA), grand juries were abolished (section 4: A Grand Jury shall not be summoned for the Supreme Court of Western Australia, nor for any General Quarter Sessions for the said Colony). This 1883 abolition Act was itself abolished by the Criminal Procedure and Appeals (Consequential and Other Provisions) Act 2004 (section 5: The Grand Jury Abolition Act Amendment Act 1883 is repealed).


title: Grand jury

text: The Australian state of Victoria maintained, until 2009, provisions for a grand jury in the Crimes Act 1958 under section 354 indictments, which had been used on rare occasions by individuals to bring other persons to court seeking them to be committed for trial on indictable offences. Grand juries were introduced by the Judicature Act 1874 and have been used on a very limited number of occasions. Their function in Victoria particularly relates to alleged offences either by bodies corporate or where magistrates have aborted the prosecution.


title: Grand jury

text: Trial by jury was introduced in the Cape Colony by Richard Bourke, Lieutenant Governor and acting Governor of the colony between 1826 and 1828. The acting Governor, who was later influential in the establishment of jury trial in New South Wales, obtained the consent of the Secretary of State for the Colonies in August 1827 and the first Charter of Justice was issued on 24 August 1827.


title: Grand jury

text: Jury trial was brought into practical operation in 1828 and the 1831 Ordinance 84 laid down that criminal cases would be heard by a panel of nine, selected from males aged between 21 and 60, owning or renting property to a value of £1.17s (37 shillings) per annum or having liability for taxes of 30 shillings in Cape Town and 20 shillings outside the town. Black (i.e. non-white) jurors were not entirely excluded and sat occasionally. This is not to imply, however, that juries did not operate in an oppressive manner towards the Black African and Asian residents of the Cape, whose participation in the jury lists was, in any event, severely limited by the property qualification. The property qualification was amended in 1831 and 1861 and, experimentally, a grand jury came into operation.


title: Grand jury

text: The grand jury was established for Cape Town alone. It met quarterly. In 1842 it was recorded that it served a district of 50,000 inhabitants and in one quarterly session there were six presentments (1 homicide, 2 assaults, 1 robbery, 1 theft, 1 fraud).


title: Grand jury

text: As elsewhere, the judge could use his charge to the grand jury to bring matters of concern to him to the attention of the public and the government. In May 1879 Mr. Justice Fitzpatrick, returning from circuit in the northern and western parts of Cape Colony, gave a charge to the grand jury at the Criminal Sessions at Cape Town, in which, after congratulating them upon the lightness of the calendar, he observed there were indications in the country of a growing mutual bad feeling between the races, etc. This was reported in the "Cape Argus" and was a subject of a question to the government in the House of Commons in London.


title: Grand jury

text: The grand jury continued in operation until 1885, by which time the Cape was under responsible government, when it was abolished by Act 17 of 1885 of the Cape Parliament.


title: Grand jury

text: Grand juries were established in France in 1791 under the name "jury d'accusation", but they were abolished with the introduction of the Code of Criminal Instruction in 1808.


title: Grand jury

text: The jury law of 1791 created an eight-man "jury d'accusation" in each "arrondissement" (a subdivision of the "departement") and a 12-man "jury de jugement" in each "departement". In each "arrondissement" the "procureur-syndic" drew up a list of 30 jurors from the electoral roll every three months for the "jury d'accusation". There was no public prosecutor or "juge d'instruction". Instead the police or private citizens could bring a complaint to the Justice of the Peace established in each canton (a subdivision of the arrondissement). This magistrate interrogated the accused to determine whether grounds for prosecution existed and if so sent the case to the "directeur du jury" (the director of the "jury d'accusation"), who was one of the "arrondissement's" civil court judges, and who served in the post for six months on a rotating basis. He decided whether to dismiss the charges or, if not, whether the case was a "délit" (misdemeanour) or a crime (felony, i.e. imprisonable for 2 years or more). "Délits" went to the "tribunal de police correctionnelle" of the "arrondissement", while for "crimes" the "directeur de jury" convoked the "jury d'accusation" of the "arrondissement", in order to get an indictment. The "directeur du jury" drew up the bill of indictment ("acte d'accusation") summarising the charges to be presented to the "jury d'accusation". The "directeur" made a presentation to the jury in the absence of the accused and the jury heard the witnesses. The jury then decided by majority vote whether there were sufficient grounds for the case to go to the "tribunal criminel" of the "departement". Between 1792 and 1795 there was no property qualification for jurors.


title: Grand jury

text: The functions of the "jury d’accusation" were prescribed in the law of 1791 passed by the Constituent Assembly and were maintained and re-enacted in the "Code des Délits et des Peines" of 3 Brumaire, Year 4 (25 October 1795) and this was the operative law until it was abolished in 1808. Special juries and special grand juries were originally defined in law, for cases thought to require more qualified jurors, but these were abolished in Year 8 (1799).


title: Grand jury

text: From 1795 to 1808 grand juries also operated in Belgium, which was divided into French "departements" in October 1795.


title: Grand jury

text: After World War II, under the influence of the Allies, Japan passed the Prosecutorial Review Commission Law on July 12, 1948, which created the "Kensatsu Shinsakai" (or Prosecutorial Review Commission (PRC) system), a figure analogue to the grand jury system. However, until 2009 the PCR's recommendations were not binding, and were only regarded as advisory. Additionally, a survey conducted by the Japanese Cabinet Office in October 1990 showed that 68. 8% of surveyed Japanese citizens were not familiar with the PRC system. On May 21, 2009, the Japanese government introduced new legislation which would make the PRC's decisions binding. A PRC is made up of 11 randomly selected citizens, is appointed to a six-month term, and its primary purpose is examining cases prosecutors have chosen not to continue prosecuting. It has therefore been perceived as a way to combat misfeasance in public officials.


title: Grand jury

text: From 1945 to 1972 Okinawa was under American administration. Grand jury proceedings were held in the territory from 1963 until 1972. By an ordinance of the civil administration of the Ryukyu Islands promulgated in 1963, grand jury indictment and petit jury trial were assured for criminal defendants in the civil administration courts. This ordinance reflected the concern of the U.S. Supreme Court that U.S. civilians tried for crimes abroad under tribunals of U.S. provenance should not be shorn of the protections of the U.S. Bill of Rights. Indeed, the District Court in Washington twice held that the absence of the jury system in the civil administration courts in Okinawa invalidated criminal convictions.


title: Grand jury

text: By article 21 of the Constitution of Liberia, 'No person shall be held to answer for a capital or infamous crime except in cases of impeachment, cases arising in the Armed Forces and petty offenses, unless upon indictment by a Grand Jury". For example, the national Port Authority's managing director was indicted by the Monteserrado County Grand Jury in July 2015, on charges of economic sabotage, theft of property and criminal conspiracy.


title: Grand jury

text: Under the administration of the Sierra Leone Company, which began in 1792, the Governor and Council or any two members thereof, being also justices of the peace, held quarter sessions for the trial of offences committed within the colony. The process for indictment etc. was the same as the practice in England or as near as possible thereto. To effect this, they were empowered to issue their warrant or precept to the Sheriff, commanding him to summon a grand jury to sit at the court of quarter sessions. Grand juries continued in operation after the transfer to the colony to the Crown in 1807.


title: Grand jury

text: Governor Kennedy (1852–1854) was concerned that jurors were frustrating government policy by being biased in certain cases; in particular he felt that liberated Africans on the grand jury would never convict another liberated African on charges of owning or importing slaves. He promulgated the Ordinance of 29 November 1853 which abolished the grand jury. Opposition was immediately mounted in Freetown. A public meeting launched a petition with 550 names to the Colonial Secretary in London, and the opposition declared that the Kennedy ordinance was a reproach upon the loyalty of the community. Grand juries have been considered one colonial body representative of local opinion and the Colonial Secretary's support for Kennedy upholding the abolition inspired a round of agitation for a local voice in government decision-making.


title: Banzai charge

text: Banzai charge is the term that was used by the Allied forces of World War II to refer to Japanese human wave attacks and swarming staged by infantry units. This term came from the Japanese battle cry , and was shortened to banzai, specifically referring to the tactic used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War. This tactic was used when the Japanese commanders of infantry battalions foresaw that a battle was about to be lost, as a last ditch effort in thwarting Allied Forces.


title: Banzai charge

text: The banzai charge is considered to be one method of , a suicide attack, or suicide before being captured by the enemy such as "seppuku". The origin of the term is a classical Chinese phrase in the 7th-century "Book of Northern Qi", which states "", "A true man would [rather] be the shattered jewel, ashamed to be the intact tile." Among the rules there existed a code of honor that was later used by Japanese military governments.


title: Banzai charge

text: With the revolutionary change in the Meiji Restoration and frequent wars against China and Russia, the militarist government of Japan adopted the concepts of Bushido to condition the country's population to be ideologically obedient to the emperor. Impressed with how samurais were trained to commit suicide when a great humiliation was about to befall them, the government taught troops that it was a greater humiliation to surrender to the enemy than to die. The suicide of Saigō Takamori, the leader of old samurai during the Meiji Restoration, also inspired the nation to idealize and romanticize death in battle and to consider suicide an honorable final action.


title: Banzai charge

text: During the Siege of Port Arthur human wave attacks were conducted on Russian artillery and machine guns by the Japanese which ended up becoming suicidal. Since the Japanese suffered massive casualties in the attacks, one description of the aftermath was that "[a] thick, unbroken mass of corpses covered the cold earth like a coverlet".


title: Banzai charge

text: In the 1930s, the Japanese found this type of attack to be effective in China. It became an accepted military tactic in the Imperial Japanese Army, where numerically weaker Japanese forces, using their superior training and bayonets, were able to defeat larger Chinese forces. The Japanese here did not face massed automatic weapons but rather the bolt-action rifle of the Chinese, which could not fire as rapidly as a machine gun.


title: Banzai charge

text: During the war period, the Japanese militarist government disseminated propaganda that romanticized suicide attacks, using one of the virtues of Bushido as the basis for the campaign. The Japanese government presented war as purifying, with death defined as a duty. By the end of 1944, the government announced the last protocol, unofficially named , implying the will of sacrificing the entire Japanese population of 100 million, if necessary, for the purpose of resisting opposition forces.


title: Banzai charge

text: It was used extensively by the Japanese in China, especially against Chinese soldiers without machine guns or automatic weapons, though it was less effective against those who had machine guns.


title: Banzai charge

text: During the U.S. raid on Makin Island, on August 17, 1942, the U.S. Marine Raiders attacking the island initially spotted and then killed Japanese machine gunners. The Japanese defenders then launched a banzai charge with bayonets and swords, but were stopped by American firepower. The pattern was repeated in further attacks, with similar results.


title: Banzai charge

text: During the Guadalcanal campaign, on August 21, 1942, Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki led 800 soldiers in a direct attack on the American line guarding Henderson Field in the Battle of the Tenaru. After small-scale combat engagement in the jungle, Ichiki's army mounted a banzai charge on the enemy; however, against an organized American defense line, most of the Japanese soldiers were killed and Ichiki subsequently committed suicide.


title: Banzai charge

text: On May 29, 1943, during the Battle of Attu, the beleaguered Japanese soldiers led by Colonel Yasuyo Yamasaki on Attu Island, Alaska, launched a massive banzai charge through American lines near Massacre Bay. Despite intense fighting, the Japanese force was quickly wiped out. At the end of the battle, only 28 remained of the Japanese force which had originally numbered roughly 2,600, while the Americans lost 549 combatants out of 15,000.


title: Banzai charge

text: The largest banzai charge of the war took place during the Battle of Saipan. General Yoshitsugu Saitō gathered almost 4,300 Japanese soldiers, walking wounded and some civilians, many unarmed, and ordered the charge. On July 7, 1944, it slammed directly into the Army's 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 105th Infantry Regiment, which lost almost 2,000 men in the 15-hour pitched battle. The attack was ultimately repulsed, and almost all the Japanese soldiers taking part in the charge were killed.


title: Banzai charge

text: During the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, as the 1st Red Banner Army invaded Mutanchiang, the Soviet 5th Army to the south continued its advance westward, enveloping and destroying the Japanese 278th Infantry Regiment, the survivors of which mounted a last-ditch banzai charge rather than surrender. By the end of the day, all of Mutanchiang had fallen into Soviet hands, and the battle for the city was over. Shortly afterward, the main strength of the Kwantung Army laid down its arms in surrender as per the Emperor's broadcast. The Battle of Mutanchiang, and World War II, had come to an end.


title: Banzai charge

text: Some Japanese commanders, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, forbade their men from carrying out Banzai charges. Indeed, the Americans were surprised that the Japanese did not employ banzai charges at the Battle of Iwo Jima.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Mikhail Dmitrievich Prokhorov (; born 3 May 1965) is a Russian-Israeli oligarch, politician, and former owner of the Brooklyn Nets. In April 2022, Prokhorov reportedly obtained Israeli citizenship.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Prokhorov obtained Russian state-owned metals assets at prices far below market value in Russia's controversial loans-for-shares privatization program. His company, Norilsk Nickel, became the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium. He is the former chairman of Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer, and the former President of Onexim Group. As of December 1, 2021, "Bloomberg Billionaires Index" estimates his wealth at US$14.0 billion and has named him the 148th richest person in the world, while "Forbes Magazine" lists his wealth at US$11.5 billion and the 193rd richest person in the world.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In 2011, Prokhorov ran as an independent candidate in the 2012 Russian presidential election. He was third in voting, amassing 7.94 percent of the total vote. In June 2012, he declared the establishment of the new Russian political party called Civic Platform.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Prokhorov was born in Russian family, in Moscow to Tamara and Dmitri Prokhorov. On the maternal side his grandfather was of Russian, and his grandmother Anna Belkina, was a Jewish microbiologist who remained in Moscow during World War II to make vaccines while her daughter Tamara was moved east to safety. His paternal grandparents were Russians, relatively wealthy peasant farmers (known as kulaks) who were persecuted as class enemies under the Bolsheviks and again under Stalin. His father, one of eight children, grew up poor, after his family "lost everything and was forced to flee from one part of Siberia and restart life in another". He has one sibling, an elder sister, Irina.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Dmitri Prokhorov was trained as a lawyer and handled international relations for the Soviet Committee of Physical Culture and Sport. Tamara Prokhorova was a materials engineer at the Institute for Chemical Machine-Building.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: As part of his job, Dmitri Prokhorov had the opportunity to travel abroad. His wife worked as an engineer for a research group at the institute specializing in plastics. They died within a year of each other, both from heart disease when they were in their late 50s. Mikhail Prokhorov's sister, Irina, who "runs his philanthropic organizations, an erudite literary magazine, and a publishing house ... lives in a wing of his mansion west of Moscow".


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In 1989, he graduated from the Moscow Finance Institute. From 1989 to 1992, he worked in a management position at the International Bank for Economic Cooperation. Thereafter, he shortly served as head of management board of the MFK bank (International Finance Company) () and then in 1993 the newly formed () (Uneximbank; akas: Onexim Bank; Oneksimbank), with Alexander Khloponin, a friend from college, and Vladimir Potanin, to whom he was introduced by Khloponin and who became his business partner. Oneksimbank is the financial twin of MFK and was also known as the ONEKSIMbank-MFK banking group which was also close to Andrey Vavilov.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In 1992, at the age of 27, Prokhorov partnered with Potanin to run Interros, a holding company that they used in 1995 to effect the purchase of Norilsk Nickel, one of Russia's largest nickel and palladium mining and smelting companies. During the largely un-regulated privatization of former state-controlled industries after the collapse of the USSR, Prokhorov and Potanin (the latter by then a deputy prime minister who oversaw privatization) were able acquire the shares from the workers of Norilsk Nickel for a fraction of their estimated market value and seize ownership of the company. When he departed in 2007, Prokhorov's share of the company was worth US$7.5 billion.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Prokhorov's first major financial success came at MFK, which became a depository institution for the government. The bank acquired Soviet assets in the amount of US$300 to US$400 million. Prokhorov held the post of chairman of the board from 1992 until 1993. In 1993, Prokhorov became the chairman of the board for Potanin's Onexim Bank, which, in 1993, became the paying agent for Finance Ministry bonds and a servicing bank for the City of Moscow's external economic activities. In May 1994, Onexim Bank focused on large clients in foreign economic activity especially in the sectors of oil and gas, chemical and metallurgical industries. In 1994, Onexim became the depository and paying agent for Russian Treasury obligations, and in 1995, it became the authorized bank for the federal agency dealing with bankrupt enterprises.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Banks holding government funds earned handsome fees and paid minimal interest at a time when inflation was in the triple digits.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In the 1990s, the Russian government needed loans to operate. Prokhorov partnered with Potanin. Their Onexim bank ran auctions for the government, in which bidders won the right to loan the Russian government money. Onexim and its affiliates were the winning bidders at the Norilsk Nickel and other auctions they conducted. The Russian government secured the loans with blocks of shares of the newly privatized state enterprises. The government never repaid the loans, and, as a result, Onexim received ownership of the collateral, which was the shares in the privatized enterprises.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: When cash privatization eventually replaced the failing voucher privatization phase, the government came up with a scheme to leverage the privatization process and quickly raise money for its cash-strapped operations. Under the "loans for shares" program, the administration sold off majority stakes in some of its prized companies in the energy, telecommunications, and metallurgical sectors in exchange for loans taken from the new private sector banks owned by rich businessmen. According to the terms of the loan, the lender could stake equity ownership in the company if the government failed to repay the loans by September 1996. Auctions conducted under the "loans for shares" program were executed in such a way that only the few businessmen who owned these banks were allowed to partake in auctions. Following these bogus auctions, the majority stakes in some of the biggest Russian companies were acquired by a small number of major banks at abysmally low prices. These businessmen also bankrolled Yeltsin's 1996 presidential election victory, exerting their influence over the then president.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Onexim purchased Sidanko, which was a part of the Novolipetsk metallurgical industrial complex, and also the Novorossiisk marine shipping company and a large share of the Northwest marine shipping company. All of these enterprises were purchased by Prokhorov and Potanin for approximately one third of their estimated market value.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In April 1996, Prokhorov was appointed to the Board of Directors of Norilsk Nickel (which then still belonged to the state). In November 1995, Onexim Bank won 38% of Norilsk Nickel in a loans-for-shares auction for US$170.1 million, US$100,000 (or less than 1%) higher than the bid starting price. At the time, Norilsk produced 25% of the world's nickel output.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Onexim managed the Norilsk Nickel auction, with a reservation price of US$170 million. It arranged three bids from affiliates, all at US$170 or US$170.1 million. Rossiiski Kredit Bank offered US$355 million, more than twice the starting amount. However, Onexim disqualified Rossiiski Kredit's bid on the basis that the bid amount exceeded Rossiiski Kredit's charter capital (the nominal value of its outstanding shares). The auction rules required Onexim to provide any objections in advance of the auction, to give bidders time to cure them. None of the submitted bids even closely approximated the market value of Norilsk Nickel, which had annual profits of around US$400 million.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: "Kremlin leaders gave him what amounts to an insiders opportunity to buy one of the state's most valuable assets. It was acquired from the Kremlin in a so-called auction for the measly sum of a few hundred million dollars in a process that even Prokhorov's business partner admits wasn't perfect, and probably not even legal under Western standards. But it was legal in Russia".


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: During the interview, Russian business correspondent Yulia Latynina stated about the auction of Norilsk Nickel, "Yes, it was rigged. But, it cannot be explained in normal economic terms to an outsider, especially an American. You had robber barons, we have oligarchs."


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In December 2011, Prokhorov capped a year of higher-profile political activity in Russia with the December declaration that he would run as an independent in the 2012 presidential elections. He took third place in these elections with 7.94% of the vote. In June 2012, he declared the establishment of a new political party called the “Party of Civic Platform”. He resigned his positions as Chairman of Polyus Gold and President of the ONEXIM Group to enter politics in June 2011.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In August 2017, Prokhorov agreed to sell 7% of Rusal to fellow billionaire Viktor Vekselberg for $503.9 million. Talks between the two had stalled earlier in the year with Prokhorov selling 3.3% via an accelerated bookbinding.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In October 2017, Prokhorov and Viktor Vekselberg sold 3% of Rusal for $315 million in an accelerated bookbuilding. The sale of Prokhorov's 0,7% reduced his stake in the company to 6%.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: After selling off most of Norilsk's non-mining assets, Prokhorov moved to modernize a highly complex mining operation which required icebreakers to transport metal over the frozen Arctic region. Prokhorov invested in an innovative Finnish freighter that did not require icebreakers. Norilsk Nickel is headquartered in Moscow. Environmental and labor conditions are harsh, and pollution remains a problem; Prokhorov has invested heavily in pollution control. However, despite these efforts, the mining areas continue to suffer from a high level of pollution. He converted Norilsk's gold-mining interests into the US$8.5 billion corporation Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer. In 2003, he oversaw the acquisition of Stillwater Mining, his first international venture. He resigned as Norilsk CEO in February 2007 and declared his intention to separate his assets from those of long-time partner Vladimir Potanin. The two engaged in protracted negotiations to separate the conglomerate Interros, which the duo co-owned since the 1990s, into separate holdings.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In May 2007, following the decision to exit Interros, Prokhorov launched the private investment fund ONEXIM Group, with assets valued at US$17 billion at the time. As the separation from Interros proceeded, and as other industries caught Prokhorov's attention, the group rapidly changed its investment profile. In April 2008, Prokhorov sold his 25% plus two shares stake in Norilsk Nickel to United Company RUSAL, another mining conglomerate controlled by his fellow billionaire Oleg Deripaska, in exchange for some 14% of Rusal stock, about US$5 billion in cash, and additional payment obligations of US$2 billion. The deal has been singled out as a major success for Prokhorov as only three months later, following a dip in oil prices, a disastrous stock market crash halved the value of most Russian companies, including Norilsk. He emerged as one of the very few businessmen to have cashed out in time. However, his wealth has also been affected, as the value of his remaining interests in various companies (including Rusal and Open Investments) declined sharply, and as the remaining payment from Rusal had to be postponed but has since been fully paid.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In September 2008, ONEXIM Group acquired 50% of Renaissance Capital, a major Russian investment bank which has reportedly encountered liquidity problems. ONEXIM purchased a small bank, renaming it IFC (for the bank which Prokhorov had run in the early 1990s). One of ONEXIM Group's divisions focuses on the development of nanotechnology investing in high-technology projects such as white LEDs. One of the key areas of development is the production of materials with ultra–tiny structures used in energy generation and medicine. As part of that focus, ONEXIM purchased Optogan in 2008.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In June 2007, the Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Fradkov, announced the formation of the Government Council for Nanotechnology, to oversee the development of nanotechnology in the country. Prokhorov was one of 15 individuals appointed to the council, which was to be chaired by then-First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In July 2009, the shareholders of RBC Information Systems agreed with Prokhorov's ONEXIM Group to sell an additional 51% stake for US$80 million, half of which went to pay off debts. The deal was closed in 2010. Prokhorov has business interests in mining and metallurgy (Polyus Gold, Intergeo, stake in Rusal), financial services (IFC-Bank, Soglassye insurance company, half of Renaissance Capital), utilities (stake in Quadra), nanotech, media (JV!) and real estate development (Open Investments).


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In 2016, Onexim sold its 20% stake in Uralkrali, and is considering selling off assets including United Co. Rusal, Opin PJSC and Quadra.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Prokhorov owns a number of international investments. In Israel, he owns two private hospitals, where he has paid for the medical treatment of friends such as Alla Pugacheva.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In March 2004, Prokhorov founded the Cultural Initiatives Foundation (as part of the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation). It is headed by Prokhorov's elder sister, Irina, a prominent Russian publisher. At one time, he financially supported CSKA Moscow's basketball, hockey and football clubs, and is a member of the Supreme Council of the Sport Russia organization. He serves as president of the Russian Biathlon Union. He is also an avid freeride/freestyle jet skier. He performs tricks on a jet ski in a professional stand-up achievement. In the "60 Minutes" interview he stated that a backflip is his most impressive trick.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In September 2009, he made an offer to buy a controlling interest in the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association and half of a project to build a new arena in Brooklyn. On 11 May 2010, the NBA approved the sale of the Nets to Prokhorov, making him the majority owner of the team with an 80% stake. He also acquired a 45% interest in the new Barclays Center sports and entertainment arena.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: He became the first non-North American team owner in the NBA. In December 2011, after announcing his run for the Russian presidency, the NBA confirmed that Prokhorov's ownership interest would not need to be altered in the event of his election (Herb Kohl, a then sitting but since retired U.S. Senator, owned the Milwaukee Bucks at the time). On 30 April 2012, the Nets officially made the move to Brooklyn, rebranding themselves as the Brooklyn Nets.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In October 2017, reports continued to circulate that Prokhorov was moving closer to closing the sale of 49 percent of the Brooklyn Nets. On 27 October, ESPN reported that Prokhorov had agreed to sell the 49 percent to Joseph Tsai, co-founder and executive vice chairman of Alibaba. The stake was valued at $1.2 billion. On 18 September 2019, Prokhorov sold the remaining 51 percent of the Nets to Tsai.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Prokhorov controls, and is one of the largest investors in, Sensorium Corp, a virtual reality company.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: At a Christmas party for the Russian nouveau riche at the French Alpine resort of Courchevel in January 2007, he was arrested on suspicion of arranging prostitutes for his guests. After three days, he was released without charge. In September 2009, Prokhorov was officially cleared from this charge and the court case was dismissed. According to the French prosecutor, he had paid all expenses for the single women to travel to France, but they were not professional prostitutes or working for a prostitution agency.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Prokhorov made headlines in early March 2010 when he was forced to forfeit a £36 million deposit he had placed on the £360 million Villa Leopolda in the French Riviera in 2008. Under French property law, once an initial sale contract has been signed, a deposit can be refunded only during a seven-day cooling-off period. On 2 March 2010, a court at Nice in France ruled that the villa's owner, 71-year-old Lily Safra, could keep the £36 million deposit, plus £1 million in interest.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Regarding Prokhorov's political efforts and the Right Cause party, critical commentators claim that the entire endeavor is just a project of the Kremlin closely curated by Vladislav Surkov and that Prokorov was effectively appointed to be the party leader rather than being chosen by independently minded party members. According to them, the "puppet party" was designed to divert opposition voters by using liberal rhetoric.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Prokhorov had run the Russian Biathlon Union from 2008 to 2014 and offered legal services to disqualified Russian biathletes.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Prokhorov is one of many "Russian oligarchs" named in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA, signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In May 2011, Prokhorov announced a plan to join the leadership of the Russian pro-business political party Right Cause. While not antagonistic to the Kremlin, the party was seen as likely to support President Dmitry Medvedev rather than Prime Minister Vladimir Putin if the latter entered the 2012 presidential race. In June of that year, Prokhorov was elected to the leadership of the party at the Right Cause Party Congress of 2011. At the acceptance ceremony, Prokhorov officially criticized the present ruling tandem of Medvedev-Putin, the structure of Russia, and vowed to bring Russia back to a stable development course. However, in September 2011, Prokhorov reversed course and resigned from Right Cause, "condemning it as a 'puppet Kremlin party' micromanaged by a 'puppet master' in the president's office ... Vladislav Y. Surkov".


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In 2014, Prokhorov announced that he was considering moving control of his ownership in the Brooklyn Nets to one of his Russian-based subsidiaries, in an attempt to comply with Putin's order, signed into law in 2013, that no Russian politicians should have foreign assets and equity, and that all Russian companies should be registered and pay tax locally.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In 2016, Prokhorov ran afoul of Putin when his media group Onexim, specifically RBC Media, published articles and news reports on the Panama Papers and Putin's son-in-law Kirill Shamalov's connections and offshore assets. Onexim offices were raided by the Federal Security Service as well as tax department officials, in April 2016. The raids were officially described as part of an investigation into another bank but the FSB reported that tax violations were discovered at "a number of commercial structures".


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: A number of media journalists, including editor-in-chief of RBC Media, were fired after the raid, amid rumors of pressure and opposition from the Kremlin.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In June 2012, he became the leader of the Civic Platform Party. In 2015, Prokhorov resigned as leader of the party and left it.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In December 2011, after the legislative elections, Prokhorov announced that he would contest the 2012 presidential election against Vladimir Putin as an independent. He called it ""probably the most important decision of my life"". According to Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov and opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, both saw the move as inspired by the Kremlin. According to Nemtsov, it was an attempt "to preserve Putin's regime". He collected 2 million signatures needed to allow him to run for the presidency. Prokhorov said he would not base his campaign on criticism of Putin. "Criticism must make up no more than 10% ... I would like to focus on the things I would do," he said.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: On 4 March 2012 presidential polling, Prokhorov gained 7.94% of the vote. According to a poll by VTSIOM, his candidacy was known by only 8% of the Russian electorate.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Following Russia's banning from the 2018 Winter Olympics and the stripping of medals from multiple Russian athletes, in February 2018, Prokorov agreed to finance a defamation lawsuit in New York against Grigory Rodchenkov, the former mastermind behind Russia's state sponsored Olympic doping program. The suit claims that Rodchenkov defamed three Russian biathletes — Olga Zaytseva, Yana Romanova and Olga Vilukhina — when Rodchenkov included them on a list of athletes who took performance-enhancing drugs as part of a state-controlled program that corrupted the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The women, who were stripped of the silver medal they won as part of a relay team, are seeking $10 million each in damages.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In April 2018, Rodchenkov, through his lawyer, Jim Walden, countersued Prokhorov under New York's anti-SLAPP law asserting that Prokhorov's suit was frivolous and intended to limit an individual's First Amendment rights to free speech. According to published reports, the countersuit is likely to seek the names of other individuals who are financing the lawsuit against Rodchenkov as well as information about the assets of Prokhorov.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Walden said he believes Prokhorov's lawsuit was intentionally designed to uncover Rodchenkov's whereabouts in the United States and allow agents of the Russian government to find him.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: Prokhorov has never been married, but has been engaged twice. Shortly after purchasing the Nets, he vowed to get married if the Nets had not won the NBA championship within five years. In July 2015, he rescinded the pledge, saying that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had "taken his place" by marrying his fiancée in May.


title: Mikhail Prokhorov

text: In August 2006, he was awarded the Order of Friendship for his significant contribution to the growth of Russia's economic potential, when the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, signed an order for the granting of state honors on 18 August 2006. In March 2011, he was bestowed with the French Legion of Honour. France's ambassador to Moscow, Jean de Gliniasty, presented it at the French embassy in Moscow.


title: Sunny Hostin

text: Asunción "Sunny" Cummings Hostin (; born October 20, 1968) is an American lawyer, journalist, and television host. Hostin is co-host on ABC's morning talk show "The View" as well as the Senior Legal Correspondent and Analyst for ABC News. She was also the host and executive producer of Investigation Discovery's true crime series "Truth About Murder with Sunny Hostin".


title: Sunny Hostin

text: Hostin was born on October 20, 1968 in New York City to a Puerto Rican mother, Rosa Beza, and an African American father, William Cummings. Her maternal grandfather is Jewish. Hostin was raised in The Bronx, New York City, attended the all-girls Dominican Academy, and is bilingual in English and Spanish. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English and Rhetoric from Binghamton University and her Juris Doctor from Notre Dame Law School.


title: Sunny Hostin

text: Hostin began her career as a law clerk to retired Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals Robert M. Bell and later became a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. Hostin left the Antitrust Division to become a federal prosecutor, specializing in child sex crimes. Hostin was awarded a Special Achievement Award for her successful prosecution of sex offenders. Hostin was also a Managing Director of Business Intelligence and Investigations at Kroll, the world’s leading risk-consulting company, where she led groups of investigators all over the world to investigate and uncover fraud.


title: Sunny Hostin

text: She began her television career as a commentator for Court TV and was then offered a spot on the Fox News program "The O'Reilly Factor", where she appeared on the show's "Is It Legal?" segments, regularly debating with Bill O'Reilly and Megyn Kelly. CNN President Jon Klein signed her to the network in September 2007 as the legal analyst for its flagship morning show "American Morning". In 2014, Hostin began frequently appearing as a guest contributor on the ABC daytime talk show "The View". Also in 2014, she appeared as a contestant on the Mother’s Day edition of Food Network’s Chopped. She was eliminated in the final round, but returned the next year for the Amateurs Redemption episode, which she also did not win. In 2015, Hostin participated in a TEDx Talk titled "A Possibility Model" that details the effects of an early trauma. In March 2016, it was announced that Hostin was joining ABC News as Senior Legal Correspondent and analyst. She became a permanent co-host of "The View" beginning the show's twentieth season in September 2016. In 2017, Hostin made a cameo appearance as herself in the comedy film "Girls Trip".


title: Sunny Hostin

text: In 2019, Hostin hosted and executive-produced the six-episode documentary series "Truth About Murder With Sunny Hostin" on Investigation Discovery, on which she travels to various parts of the US to explore the stories behind some of the nation’s most notorious homicides. She also hosted a podcast titled "Have You Seen This Man?", produced by ABC. Hostin released "I Am These Truths", a memoir, in 2020. The following year, she released a novel, titled "Summer on the Bluffs". The book will be adapted into a television series. Hostin is also set to executive-produce "The Counsel", a drama television series inspired by her life and career.


title: Sunny Hostin

text: Hostin is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She is married to orthopedic surgeon Emmanuel Hostin. They have two children, a boy and a girl. The family resides in Purchase, New York.


title: Buck Angel

text: Buck Angel (born June 5, 1962) is an American pornographic film actor, producer and sex educator. He is the founder of the media production company Buck Angel Entertainment. A transsexual man, he received the 2007 AVN Award as Transsexual Performer of the Year; he now works as an advocate and educator. Angel served on the board of directors of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation from 2010 to 2016; the foundation works to affirm sexual freedom as a fundamental human right through advocacy and education.


title: Buck Angel

text: Angel was born in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles on June 5, 1962. He was born female and given a feminine name. Growing up as a tomboy, his gender-atypical behavior during childhood was generally accepted at home, but as his secondary sex characteristics continued to develop around age 16, his home and school life became increasingly tense. He was subjected to bullying in school, due to gender non-conforming behavior and clothing. Angel described the bullying as harming his communication skills as a result of psychological distress. To cope with his distress, he used alcohol and marijuana as a means of self-medication.


title: Buck Angel

text: After a suicidal gesture in high school, Angel's parents sent him to therapy. They thought that he needed help because he claimed to have reached a point of "total disconnection" from society. This was not well received by his family, and according to Angel, "They were going to put me in a mental institution." Unaware of the existence of treatments for gender dysphoria such as hormone replacement therapy, he lived for years trying to conform to expectations of femininity, during which time he took drugs and drank alcohol. Though he was employed as a female professional model, he was generally dissatisfied with his identity and existence, and "was not loving life". He turned to running as a means of isolation and source of validation.


title: Buck Angel

text: Angel was unable to find appropriate help for completing his gender transition during his adolescent years. He eventually met a therapist who affirmed his gender instead of viewing him as a "gay woman". Angel began researching various methods of medical transition, and began this process at the age of 28. Angel and his therapist got in contact with an endocrinologist who worked primarily with transgender women as opposed to transgender men. This was because Angel was one of the earliest trans men to be allowed hormonal transition, due to which there was limited data on prior cases like his. Angel was, as his doctor stated, "going to be my guinea pig" (for human subject research), where experimentation was the main course of action in helping him. From then on, Angel's doctor began prescribing him test dosages of testosterone throughout a six-month period until a value solidified to fit his needs. Eventually, he was taking 1-cc doses of testosterone every 10 days.


title: Buck Angel

text: Afterward, Angel began focusing on his physical appearance and searched for a surgeon that dealt with upper-body modifications to remove his breasts. Bottom surgery was another aspect he was looking to change, because he wanted to have a penis to fit the male schema. However, he quickly realized that there was no sufficient technology at the time to create what he desired. He chose not to undergo genital surgery and currently considers his medical transition complete.


title: Buck Angel

text: Angel began to produce and star in his own line of adult films under the imprint Buck Angel Entertainment. By this time, he identified and presented as male, but had not had genital surgery; he thus promoted these works describing himself as "the Man with a Pussy", which became his trademark.


title: Buck Angel

text: In 2005, he appeared in the Titan Media release "Cirque Noir", becoming the first trans man to be featured in an all-male film produced by a company specializing in gay male porn. The same year he performed in "Allanah Starr's Big Boob Adventures" (directed by transgender woman Gia Darling), which featured the first filmed sex scene between a trans woman (Allanah Starr) and a trans man. The performance was nominated for "Most Outrageous Sex Scene" at the AVN Awards. In 2007 Angel became the first and only trans man to win Transsexual Performer of the Year at the AVN Awards. His 2008 performance in "Buckback Mountain" received nominations for "Best Alternative Release" and "Best Specialty Release" at the GayVN Awards. Angel also appears in "Naked", a 2008 documentary book and film about the adult film industry, by director Ed Powers. In the film, he appears in a sex scene with porn star Wolf Hudson, produced by mainstream photographer Justin Lubin.


title: Buck Angel

text: Angel's pornographic content was one of the building blocks that set the foundation for his future educational demonstrations, and is credited as broadening the perceptions of sexuality and gender in both the industry and the minds of consumers, an effect he was unaware of until a few years into his work. With passing time, his work in porn evolved into advocacy.


title: Buck Angel

text: Angel found the transition between his work as a porn actor and his work as an educational role model difficult, due to the stigma surrounding a career based on sexual content. Angel's identity as a porn star made it difficult for him to express his ideas, as he felt that he could not speak on behalf of himself; the porn industry also struggled with placing his new role as a sex educator.


title: Buck Angel

text: In time, Angel had the opportunity to be a guest speaker for Ideacity in 2010—Canada's "premier meeting of the minds”"—where he spoke on the physical changes and emotional adaptation he had experienced as a result of transition. Angel used his presentation to challenge societal ideas of what makes a man through use of his own experiences, highlighting the strict and unwavering constructs of masculinity in much of Western society, and how he was considered to not fall under these constructs simply for having a vagina.


title: Buck Angel

text: In 2012, Angel began to transition from the porn industry to sex education and began touring the world speaking about human sexuality. His presentation, "Bucking the System", aimed to re-define traditional notions of gender by educating his audience about gender fluidity and identity politics. Angel also began touring Q&A sessions about his documentary, "Sexing the Transman", and his autobiographical film "Mr. Angel". He has made appearances at many universities around the world, as well as Pride events and film festivals. He has spoken at Sex Week at Yale University and at IdeaCity10 in Toronto.


title: Buck Angel

text: In October 2010, Angel contributed to sex educator and columnist Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" project by uploading his personal coming out story to YouTube. He has also produced multiple public service announcements on the topics of positive body image, LGBTQ family acceptance, queer people of colour and transgender health and well-being. Angel also engages in education about safe sex for trans men.


title: Buck Angel

text: In 2012, Angel became a contributor to "The Feminist Porn Book", an anthology by feminist scholars and sex workers about understanding pornography and how feminists direct, act in, produce and consume porn.


title: Buck Angel

text: Between 2010 and 2015, he created an award-winning series about trans male sexuality called "Sexing the Transman XXX", which is now in its fourth installment. This film won "Most Tantalizing Trans Film" at the Feminist Porn Awards in 2012.


title: Buck Angel

text: Angel has been publicly critical of several areas of LGBT policy advocacy, in particular relating to sex-based spaces and institutions. His criticisms include the participation of trans women in female sports, demands for access for trans women to female-only spaces, and political use of the phrase 'trans women are women'.


title: Buck Angel

text: Angel has appeared on various talk shows including those of Howard Stern, Tyra Banks, and Maury Povich; as well as "Secret Lives of Women" in the US, the "Morning Show" in the UK, and the "Jensen Show" in the Netherlands.


title: Buck Angel

text: British artist Marc Quinn included a life-size sculpture of Angel in his global tour. Angel posed for Quinn's sculpture series on human transformations in 2010; the series was revealed at London's "White Cube" gallery. He was featured in four different bronze sculptures including two solo pieces, and two with Allanah Starr. The life-sized sculpture of Angel is now a permanent fixture at the Art Gallery of South Australia.


title: Buck Angel

text: In 2012 he created a dating website for trans men called BuckAngelDating.com, because "there was still no special dating site catering to the unique needs of trans men."


title: Buck Angel

text: Angel created "Trantastic Storytelling" in 2015, a service which offers opportunities for trans people to share their life experiences for educational purposes.


title: Buck Angel

text: In 2015, Angel and Leon Mostovoy founded the cannabis brand Pride Wellness, which would donate a dollar from each product sold to charity. They ended the venture in 2021, citing competition from big corporations.


title: Buck Angel

text: In 2016, Angel partnered with Perfect Fit Brand to create a sex toy specifically for trans men. The product is meant to reduce gender dysphoria and help trans men connect with their bodies and their sexuality.


title: Buck Angel

text: Angel is bisexual. He was married to San Francisco-based dominatrix Karin Winslow (known professionally as Ilsa Strix). He filed for divorce after Winslow left him for film director Lana Wachowski, who was a client of hers.


title: Buck Angel

text: Angel met his second wife, body piercer Elayne, on a dating website. The two married in New Orleans on November 17, 2003. Elayne filed for divorce in May 2014. Angel claimed that Elayne had moved $500,000 out of their joint bank account and requested $2,000 in monthly spousal support. In an effort to avoid alimony payments, Elayne claimed that their marriage should not have been legally recognized as Louisiana did not recognize same-sex marriage in 2003; Angel has never had his genitals surgically altered and his birth certificate was not updated to male until after their marriage. In August 2014, the California Superior Court ruled that their marriage was valid due to the ambiguity in Louisiana's statute regarding sex reassignment surgery, which might include the "top surgery" that Angel had already received.


title: Buck Angel

text: In February 2021, Angel was a witness to Lady Gaga's dog walker being shot and two of Gaga's French Bulldogs being stolen in Hollywood.


title: Scania AB

text: Scania AB is a major Swedish manufacturer headquartered in Södertälje, focusing on commercial vehicles—specifically heavy lorries, trucks and buses. It also manufactures diesel engines for heavy vehicles as well as marine and general industrial applications.


title: Scania AB

text: Scania was formed in 1911 through the merger of Södertälje-based Vabis and Malmö-based Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania. Since 1912, the company has been re-located again to Södertälje after the merger. Today, Scania has production facilities in Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Thailand, China, India, Argentina, Brazil, Poland, Russia and Finland. In addition, there are assembly plants in ten countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. Scania's sales and service organisation and finance companies are worldwide. In 2012, the company employed approximately 42,100 people around the world.


title: Scania AB

text: Scania was listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm stock exchange from 1996 to 2014. The company is a subsidiary of Traton, part of the Volkswagen Group.


title: Scania AB

text: AB Scania-Vabis was established in 1911 as the result of a merger between Södertälje-based Vabis and Malmö-based Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania. Vagnfabriks Aktiebolaget i Södertelge (Vabis) was established as a railway car manufacturer in 1891, while Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania was established as a bicycle manufacturer in 1900. Both companies had tried their luck at building automobiles, trucks and engines, but with varied success. In 1910, Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania had succeeded in constructing reliable vehicles, while Vabis was at the brink of closing down. An offer from Per Alfred Nordeman, managing director of Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania, to steel manufacturer Surahammars Bruk, owner of Vabis, led to an agreement in November 1910, and in 1911 the merger was a reality.


title: Scania AB

text: Development and production of engines and light vehicles were set to Södertälje, while trucks were manufactured in Malmö. The company's logo was redesigned from Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania's original logo with the head of a griffin, the coat of arms of the Swedish region Scania (Skåne), centered on a three-spoke bicycle chainset. Initially the headquarters were located in Malmö, but in 1912 they were moved to Södertälje.


title: Scania AB

text: Because there were many inexpensive, imported cars in Sweden at the time, Scania-Vabis decided to build high-class, luxury cars, for instance the type III limousine from 1920 that had a top hat holder in the roof. Prince Carl of Sweden owned a 1913 Scania-Vabis 3S, a type which was fitted with in-car buttons so the passenger could communicate with the driver. Scania-Vabis also built two-seat sports cars (or "sportautomobil").


title: Scania AB

text: For the next few years the company's profits stagnated, with around a third of their orders coming from abroad. The outbreak of the First World War, however, changed the company, with almost all output being diverted to the Swedish Army. By 1916, Scania-Vabis was making enough profit to invest in redeveloping both of their production facilities.


title: Scania AB

text: Following the war, in 1919, Scania decided to focus completely on building trucks, abandoning other outputs including cars and buses. However, they were hurt by the swamping of the market with decommissioned military vehicles from the war, and by 1921 the company was bankrupt.


title: Scania AB

text: After some economic difficulties in 1921, new capital came from Stockholms Enskilda Bank owned by the Wallenberg family, and Scania-Vabis became a solid and technically, high standing, company.


title: Scania AB

text: Towards the end of 1913, the company established a subsidiary in Denmark. The following year the first Danish-built car, a four-seater Phaeton, was built at the company's Frederiksberg factory in Copenhagen. In 1914, the factory produced Denmark's first Scania-Vabis truck, and following this developed a V8 engine, one of the first in the world. In 1921, having sold around 175 trucks, and 75 cars, the Danish operation was closed down.


title: Scania AB

text: In 1917 an agreement was established with the newly formed Norwegian company Norsk Automobilfabrik A/S about production under license of Scania-Vabis cars and lorries. Production began in 1919, but was ended in 1921 after production of only 77 lorries, mostly built from Swedish produced parts.


title: Scania AB

text: During the Second World War Scania produced a variety of military vehicles for the Swedish Army, including Stridsvagn m/41 light tanks produced under licence.


title: Scania AB

text: During the 1950s, the company expanded its operations into new customer segments, becoming agents for the Willys Jeep and the Volkswagen Beetle, the latter being very profitable for Scania-Vabis. It also started to become a genuine competitor to Volvo with their new L71 Regent truck which was introduced in 1954.


title: Scania AB

text: During this period, Scania-Vabis expanded its dealer network and country-wide specialist workshop facilities. By the end of the 1950s, their market-share in Sweden was between 40 and 50%, and was achieving 70% in the heaviest truck sector – helped by the entrepreneurial efforts of their dealers into the haulier market.


title: Scania AB

text: Probably their largest impact was in export markets. Before 1950, exports accounted for only 10 percent of production output, but a decade later, exports were now at 50% of output. Beers in the Netherlands became a very important partner. Beers became official importers for Scania-Vabis in the Netherlands, and established a dealer network, along with training programmes for both mechanics and drivers. Beers also offered free twice-yearly overhauls of their customers vehicles, and offered a mobile service throughout the Netherlands with their custom-equipped service trucks. Due to Beers concerted efforts, Scania-Vabis market share in the country remained at a consistent 20% throughout this period. Scania-Vabis were to adopt the business model of Beers in their own overseas sales operations.


title: Scania AB

text: The 1960s saw Scania-Vabis expanding its production operations into overseas locations. Until now, all Scania-Vabis production had been carried out solely at Södertälje, but the 1960s saw the need to expand production overseas. Brazil was becoming a notable market for heavy trucks, and was also dependent on inter-urban buses, with particular requirement for Brazil's mountainous roads which became nigh-on impassable at times. On 2 July 1957, Brazilian subsidiary "Scania-Vabis do Brasil S.A." (today known as "Scania Latin America Ltda.") was established and started assembling some vehicles themselves in 1958. On 29 May 1959, a new engine plant was inaugurated in the Ipiranga district of São Paulo, and from June 1960, Scania-Vabis do Brasil assembled all vehicles themselves. Scania-Vabis vehicles had already been assembled in Brazil by a local company called Vemag ("Veículos e Máquinas Agrícolas S.A.") for several years. Scania-Vabis established its first full manufacturing plant outside Södertälje, by building a new facility in São Bernardo do Campo near São Paulo, which was opened on 8 December 1962, and this was to set the standard for Scania-Vabis international operations.


title: Scania AB

text: Closer to home, the recently formed European Economic Community (EEC) offered further opportunities. Based on their now strong presence in the Dutch markets, Scania-Vabis constructed a new plant in Zwolle, which was completed in 1964. This new Dutch facility provided Scania-Vabis with a stepping stone into the other five EEC countries, particularly the German and French markets.


title: Scania AB

text: In 1966, Scania-Vabis acquired ownership of a then valuable supplier – Be-Ge Karosserifabrik, who were based in Oskarshamn. Be-Ge had been making truck cabs since 1946, and had been supplying cabs not only to Scania-Vabis, but also to their Swedish competitors Volvo. It was normal practice for truck manufacturers to outsource production of cabs to independent bodybuilders, so their acquisition by Scania-Vabis seemed a good move. Be-Ge owner Bror Göthe Persson had also established an additional cab factory at Meppel.


title: Scania AB

text: Scania-Vabis continued their expansion of production facilities through acquisitions. In 1967, they acquired Katrineholm based coachwork company Svenska Karosseri Verkstäderna (SKV), and created a new subsidiary, Scania-Bussar. A year later, all bus production, along with R&D was moved to Katrineholm. Further production locations were added at Sibbhult and Falun, and Scania's employee numbers rose, particularly at Södertälje, which was to help double the town's population.


title: Scania AB

text: Scania-Vabis at some point in their history also manufactured trucks in Botswana, Brazil, South-Korea, Tanzania, the Netherlands, Zimbabwe and the United States.


title: Scania AB

text: For some time Daimler-Benz waged a 'logo war' with Scania-Vabis, claiming a possible confusion between the Scania-Vabis 'pedal crank' design featuring on Scania bicycles around 1900 and the Mercedes 'three-pointed star'. In 1968, Daimler-Benz won and the Scania-Vabis logo changed to a simple griffin's head on a white background.


title: Scania AB

text: In February 1968, a new range of trucks was launched, and at the same time the company was rebranded as just "Scania". In addition to "Vabis" disappearing from the name and a new logo, all current models received new model designations.


title: Scania AB

text: In 1976, the Argentinian industrial complex was launched. A few months later, on 10 September, the first gearbox outside of Sweden was manufactured and finally in December an L111 truck became the first Scania made in Argentina. Soon the plant specialised in the production of gearboxes, axles and differentials that equipped both the units produced in Tucumán and those built in Brazil.


title: Scania AB

text: Also in Argentina, in 1982 the Series 2 was launched as part of the "Scania Program", consisting of the T-112 and R-112 trucks with two cab versions and different options in engine and load capacity. In 1983, was launched the K112 made in Tucuman (like the rest models) for replace the BR-116.


title: Scania AB

text: In mid-1985 Scania entered the US market for the first time (aside from having sold 12,000 diesel engines installed in Mack trucks from 1962 until 1975), starting modestly with a goal of 200 trucks in all of 1987 (121 trucks were sold during calendar year 1986). Scania limited their marketing to New England, where conditions resemble those in Europe more closely.


title: Scania AB

text: Many examples of Scania, Vabis and Scania-Vabis commercial and military vehicles can be seen at the Marcus Wallenberg-hallen (the Scania Museum) in Södertälje.


title: Scania AB

text: On 1 September 1969, Scania merged with Saab AB, and formed Saab-Scania AB. When Saab-Scania was split in 1995, the name of the truck and bus division changed simply to "Scania AB". One year later, Scania AB was introduced on the stock exchange, which resulted in a minor change of name to "Scania AB (publ)".


title: Scania AB

text: On 7 August 1999, Volvo announced it had agreed to acquire a majority share in Scania. Volvo was to buy the 49.3% stake in Scania that was owned by Investor AB, Scania's then main shareholder. The acquisition, for US$7.5 billion (60.7 billion SEK), would have created the world's second-largest manufacturer of heavy trucks, behind DaimlerChrysler. The cash for the deal was to come from the sale of Volvo's car division to Ford Motor Company in January 1999.


title: Scania AB

text: The merger failed, after the European Union disapproved, announcing one company would have almost 100% market share in the Nordic markets.


title: Scania AB

text: In September 2006, the German truckmaker MAN AG launched a €10.3bn hostile offer to acquire Scania AB. Scania's CEO Leif Östling was forced to apologise for comparing the bid of MAN to a "Blitzkrieg". MAN AG later dropped its hostile offer, but in January 2008, MAN increased their voting rights in Scania up to 17%.


title: Scania AB

text: Scania AB is 100% owned by the German automotive company Volkswagen Group, forming part of its heavy commercial vehicle subsidiary, Traton, along with MAN Truck & Bus, Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus and Navistar.


title: Scania AB

text: Volkswagen gained ownership of Scania by first buying Volvo's stake in 2000, after the latter's aborted takeover attempt, increasing it to 36.4% in the first quarter 2007. It then bought out Investor AB in March 2008, raising its share to 70.94%. The deal was approved by regulatory bodies in July 2008. Scania then became the ninth marque in the Volkswagen Group. By 1 January 2015, Volkswagen controlled 100% of the shares in Scania AB.


title: Scania AB

text: In September 2017, Scania was fined 880 million euros (8.45bn Swedish krona) by the EU for taking part in a 14-year price fixing cartel. The other five members of the cartel – Daimler, DAF, MAN, Iveco and Volvo/Renault – settled with the commission in 2016.


title: Scania AB

text: Scania develops, manufactures and sells trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of more than 16 tonnes (Class 8), intended for long-distance haulage, regional, and local distribution of goods, as well as construction haulage.


title: Scania AB

text: The 1963 forward-control LB76 forged Scania-Vabis's reputation outside Sweden, being one of the first exhaustively crash-tested truck cabs.


title: Scania AB

text: All current trucks from Scania are part of the PRT-range, but are marketed as different series based on the general cab height.


title: Scania AB

text: Scania's bus and coach range has always been concentrated on chassis, intended for use with anything between tourist coaches to city traffic, but ever since the 1950s, when the company was still known as Scania-Vabis, they have manufactured complete buses for their home markets of Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia, and since the 1990s even for major parts of Europe.


title: Scania AB

text: Scania-Vabis was involved in bus production from its earliest days, producing mail buses in the 1920s.


title: Scania AB

text: In 1946, the company introduced their B-series of bus chassis, with the engine mounted above the front-axle, giving a short front overhang and the door behind the front-axle. The first generation consisted of the B15/B16, the B20/B21/B22 and the B31, primarily divided by weight class, and then by wheelbase. The latter became upgraded in 1948 and renamed 2B20/2B21/2B22 and 3B31. The T31/T32 trolleybus chassis was also available from 1947. In 1950, the next generation was introduced, with the B41/B42, the B61/B62/B63/B64 and later the B83. From then, Scania-Vabis also offered the BF-series chassis, available as BF61/BF62/BF63, which had the engine more conventionally mounted before the front-axle, leaving room for the door on a longer front overhang. From 1954, the B-series came as B51 and B71, and the BF as BF71 and later BF73. In 1959, the B55, B65 and B75, plus the BF75 were introduced, and were from 1963 available as B56, B66 and B76, plus the BF56 and BF76.


title: Scania AB

text: Before the rebranding to Scania in 1968, Scania-Vabis had delivered a very limited number of CR76 chassis-frameworks (less actual bodywork) with transversally rear-mounted engine for external bodying, based on the complete bus with the same name. From 1968 it was also delivered as a standard bus chassis known as BR110.


title: Scania AB

text: The other chassis models were renamed too, so the Scania-Vabis B56/B76 became the Scania B80/B110 and the BF56/BF76 became BF80/BF110. The numbers in the new model designations were based on the engine displacement (8 and 11-litre), a scheme that Scania used for almost 40 years.


title: Scania AB

text: In 1971, a new range of longitudinally mounted rear-engined chassis was launched, with the BR85 and its larger brother, the V8-powered 14-litre BR145, targeted at the coach market. In Brazil, the higher powered version was equipped with the standard 11-litre instead of the V8, known as the BR115. Also the BR111 was launched as the replacement for the BR110, being derived from the CR111 complete bus. In 1976, many of the models were renewed, and designations were upped from 80 and 85 to 86, and from 110 to 111, except the BR145 which was later replaced by the BR116 in 1978.


title: Scania AB

text: The BR112 was launched in 1978 as a forerunner to the 2-series, replacing the BR111. The rest of the 2-series were launched in 1981 with the F82/F112 replacing the BF86/BF111 and the S82/S112 replacing the B86/B111, and then in 1982 the K82/K112 replacing the BR86/BR116. The BR112 was then updated to the N112 in 1984, and a tri-axle version of the K112 became available, known as the K112T. In 1985, the K82 and F82 were replaced by the 8.5-litre engined K92 and F92. Front-engined versions were in general discontinued on the European markets in the mid-1980s, but production continued in Brazil.


title: Scania AB

text: In 1988, the 3-series was introduced, continuing the main models of the 2-series. In 1990, the new L113 became available, with a longitudinally rear-mounted engine which was inclined 60° to the left, to make a lower height than the K113. The 4-series was launched in 1997, continuing all model characteristics from the 3-series, but with all of them being just modular configurations of the basic chassis. The 8.5-litre engine was replaced by a 9-litre, and the 11-litre was replaced by an 11.7-litre. They were joined by a 10.6-litre engine in 2000.


title: Scania AB

text: The current "Scania's bus and coach range" has been available since 2006, and is marketed as the K-series, N-series and F-series, based on the engine position.


title: Scania AB

text: Scania-Vabis' first complete bus model was the transversally rear-engined commuter bus Metropol (C50), which was built in the workshop in Södertälje on licence from the Mack C50 in 1953–1954 for customer Stockholms Spårvägar. It was followed in 1955 by the slightly shorter city bus version Capitol (C70/C75/C76), which was manufactured until 1964. In 1959, the front-engined CF-series was introduced with the CF65 and CF75 (later CF66 and CF76). The CF-series was built until 1966.


title: Scania AB

text: In 1965, the rear-engined CR76 was introduced as a replacement for the Capitol. It was available in two versions; the CR76M with double doors (2-2-0) for city and suburban traffic, and the CR76L with single doors (1-1-0) for longer distances. Because of Sweden's switch to right-hand traffic in September 1967 and the need for new buses with doors on the right-hand side, the model sold well. With the rebranding from Scania-Vabis to Scania in 1968, the model was renamed CR110 (CR110M and CR110L). In 1967, the coachwork manufacturer Svenska Karosseri Verkstäderna (SKV) in Katrineholm was acquired, and all production of bus chassis soon moved there too. Together with the rebranding in 1968, Scania re-introduced the front-engined CF range for customers in Sweden as a body-on-chassis product with the newly acquired SKV's former bodywork model "6000" on standard Scania chassis, but less than 100 were delivered until 1970. The CF110L (BF110 chassis) was the most successful, while a handful of C80L (B80) and C110L (B110) were made.