title: Kaitlan Collins

text: Kaitlan Collins (born April 7, 1992) is an American journalist who served as chief White House correspondent for CNN until 2022. She currently hosts "CNN This Morning" alongside Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow. Previously, she was the White House correspondent for the website "The Daily Caller".


title: Kaitlan Collins

text: Kaitlan Collins was born in Alabama. Her father, Jeff Collins, is a mortgage banker. Collins has described her upbringing as "apolitical", and has stated that she does not recall her parents voting or expressing strong opinions about political candidates.


title: Kaitlan Collins

text: Collins graduated from Prattville High School and went on to attend the University of Alabama. She initially chose to major in chemistry, like her sister had done, before majoring in journalism. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and journalism in May 2014. Collins was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority.


title: Kaitlan Collins

text: In 2018, the group Log Cabin Republicans unearthed some tweets from her time at Alabama in 2011. Collins used the slur "fag" and expressed that she did not know "if I wanna room with a lesbian". She apologized for the tweets, saying: "When I was in college, I used ignorant language in a few tweets to my friends. It was immature but it doesn’t represent the way I feel at all."


title: Kaitlan Collins

text: After graduating from college, Collins moved to Washington, D.C. In June 2014, she was hired by "The Daily Caller" as an entertainment reporter. After covering the 2016 presidential election, the "Daily Caller" named her its White House correspondent in January 2017, and she began covering the Trump administration.


title: Kaitlan Collins

text: While she was still with "The Daily Caller", Collins was invited to make several appearances on CNN. At a White House correspondent event in spring 2017, she met network president Jeff Zucker and thanked him for having her on despite the ideological nature of her current employer. Collins was subsequently interviewed and hired to join the White House team at CNN in July 2017. She traveled with President Trump to at least half a dozen countries.


title: Kaitlan Collins

text: On Wednesday, July 25, 2018, Collins attended a photo op in the Oval Office as the day's pool reporter. As the event concluded, Collins asked Trump a series of questions about Vladimir Putin and Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen. Trump ignored her questions. Collins was subsequently barred from a Trump administration press conference in the White House Rose Garden that afternoon and was told by senior White House officials that such questions were "inappropriate for that venue." Trump's press secretary Sarah Sanders asserted that Collins had "shouted questions and refused to leave," while Trump's advisor Kellyanne Conway said that the action was about "being polite." Trump's deputy chief of staff for communications, Bill Shine, objected to the characterization of the White House's action as a "ban" but "declined to tell reporters what word he would use to characterize the White House’s decision to block her from attending the event." CNN stated that Collins' ban was "retaliatory" and "not indicative of an open and free press." The White House Correspondents Association called the ban "wholly inappropriate, wrong-headed, and weak." Jay Wallace, president of Fox News, issued a statement in support of Collins, saying that his organization "[stood] in strong solidarity with CNN for the right to full access for our journalists as part of a free and unfettered press."


title: Kaitlan Collins

text: In January 2019, Collins was included as one of Crain's NewsPro's 12 to Watch in TV News in January 2019. She was also named one of "Forbes" magazine's "30 under 30: Media" in 2019. That December, she was selected among Mediaite's Most Influential in News Media 2019.


title: Kaitlan Collins

text: In April 2020, Collins questioned the president about his claim of total authority to manage social distancing restrictions related to the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. At a White House press briefing later in April, she was asked by a White House official to exchange her front-row seat in the White House press room with a different network's reporter seated in the rear. Both Collins and the other reporter refused to comply with the request. The socially distanced seating plan for the briefing room had been managed by the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) and agreed to by White House officials the previous month. Collins' refusal to comply with the order issued by the White House official prompted that official to suggest that Secret Service may be summoned, a development that ultimately did not unfold.


title: Kaitlan Collins

text: In November 2020, Collins was in the news again after White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany refused to call on Collins, explaining "I don't call on activists."


title: Kaitlan Collins

text: Collins served as the CNN White House correspondent for a large part of the written and televised live coverage of the 2020 United States presidential election.


title: Kaitlan Collins

text: On January 11, 2021, Collins was promoted to chief White House correspondent for the incoming Biden administration. At 28 years old, she was the youngest chief White House correspondent in CNN's history, and one of the youngest chief correspondents for a major media network.


title: Kaitlan Collins

text: On June 16, 2021, at his press conference following his Geneva summit with Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden challenged a question from Collins about his confidence that Putin would change his behavior when he continues to deny cyber attacks and persecution of political opposition. President Biden said this was a mischaracterization of his comments and that he actually said Russia's behavior would change if the rest of the world reacted and diminished Russia's world standing. "Biden responded, 'If you don’t understand that, you’re in the wrong business.' He then left the stage without addressing the substance of her question." Shortly after the exchange, before boarding Air Force One, President Biden publicly apologized by walking over to a group of reporters on the tarmac and said that he owed "an apology" to Collins.


title: Kaitlan Collins

text: On September 15, 2022, it was announced that Collins would co-anchor a new revamped CNN morning show with Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow later in the year and vacate the White House beat. On October 12, 2022, it was announced that the morning show would be named "CNN This Morning".


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with over 8.8 million residents as of the 2020 census.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Lower Manhattan is defined most commonly as the area delineated on the north by 14th Street, on the west by the Hudson River, on the east by the East River, and on the south by New York Harbor. The Lower Manhattan business district, known as the Financial District (FiDi), forms the main core of the area below Chambers Street. It is a leading global center for commerce, housing Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: The city itself originated at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in 1624 at a point that now constitutes the present-day Financial District. The population of the Financial District alone has grown to an estimated 61,000 residents as of 2018, up from 43,000 as of 2014, which in turn was nearly double the 23,000 recorded at the 2000 census.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Lower Manhattan is defined most commonly as the area delineated on the north by 14th Street, on the west by the Hudson River, on the east by the East River, and on the south by New York Harbor (also known as Upper New York Bay). When referring specifically to the Lower Manhattan business district and its immediate environs, the northern border is commonly designated by thoroughfares about a mile-and-a-half south of 14th Street and a mile north of the island's southern tip: approximately around Chambers Street from near the Hudson east to the Brooklyn Bridge entrances and overpass. Two other major arteries are also sometimes identified as the northern border of "Lower" or "Downtown Manhattan": Canal Street, roughly half a mile north of Chambers Street, and 23rd Street, roughly half a mile north of 14th Street.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: The Lower Manhattan central business district forms the core of the area below Chambers Street. It includes the Financial District (FiDi, or often referred to as Wall Street, after its primary artery) and the World Trade Center site. At the island's southern tip is Battery Park; City Hall is just to the north of the Financial District. Also south of Chambers Street are the planned community of Battery Park City and the South Street Seaport historic area. The neighborhood of TriBeCa straddles Chambers Street on the west side; at the street's east end is the giant Manhattan Municipal Building. North of Chambers Street and the Brooklyn Bridge and south of Canal Street lies most of New York's oldest Chinatown neighborhood. Many court buildings and other government offices are also located in this area. The Lower East Side neighborhood straddles Canal Street. North of Canal Street and south of 14th Street are the neighborhoods of SoHo, the Meatpacking District, the West Village, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Nolita, and the East Village. Between 14th and 23rd streets are lower Chelsea, Union Square, the Flatiron District, as well as Gramercy, with the large residential development known as Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village situated on the eastern flank of this zone.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: The area that would eventually encompass modern-day New York City was inhabited by the Lenape people. These groups of culturally and linguistically identical Native Americans traditionally spoke an Algonquian language now referred to as "Unami".


title: Lower Manhattan

text: European settlement began with the founding of a Dutch fur trading post in Lower Manhattan, later called New Amsterdam () in 1626. The first fort was built at The Battery to protect New Netherland.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Soon thereafter, most likely in 1626, construction of Fort Amsterdam began. The Dutch West Indies Company subsequently imported African slaves to serve as laborers; they helped to build the wall that defended the town against English and native attacks. Early directors included Willem Verhulst and Peter Minuit. Willem Kieft became a director in 1638 but five years later was embroiled in Kieft's War against the Native Americans. The Pavonia Massacre, across the Hudson River in present-day Jersey City, New Jersey resulted in the death of 80 natives in February 1643. Following the massacre, Algonquian tribes joined forces and nearly defeated the Dutch. The Dutch Republic sent additional forces to the aid of Kieft, leading to the overwhelming defeat of the Native Americans and a peace treaty on August 29, 1645.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: On May 27, 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was inaugurated as director general upon his arrival. The colony was granted self-government in 1652, and New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2, 1653. The first mayors ("burgemeesters") of New Amsterdam, Arent van Hattem and Martin Cregier, were appointed in that year.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: In 1664, the English conquered the area and renamed it "New York" after the Duke of York and the city of York in Yorkshire.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: At that time, people of African descent made up 20% of the population of the city, with European settlers numbering approximately 1,500, and people of African descent numbering 375 (with 300 of that 375 enslaved and 75 free). While it has been claimed that African slaves comprised 40% of the small population of the city at that time, this claim has not been substantiated. During the mid 1600s, farms of free blacks covered where Washington Square Park later developed.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: The Dutch briefly regained the city in 1673, renaming the city "New Orange", before permanently ceding the colony of New Netherland to the English for what is now Suriname in November 1674.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: The new English rulers of the formerly Dutch New Amsterdam and New Netherland renamed the settlement back to New York. As the colony grew and prospered, sentiment also grew for greater autonomy. In the context of the Glorious Revolution in England, Jacob Leisler led Leisler's Rebellion and effectively controlled the city and surrounding areas from 1689 to 1691, before being arrested and executed.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: By 1700, the Lenape population of New York had diminished to 200. By 1703, 42% of households in New York had slaves, a higher percentage than in Philadelphia or Boston.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: The 1735 libel trial of John Peter Zenger in the city was a seminal influence on freedom of the press in North America. It would be a standard for the basic articles of freedom in the United States Declaration of Independence.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: By the 1740s, with expansion of settlers, 20% of the population of New York were slaves, totaling about 2,500 people. After a series of fires in 1741, the city became panicked that blacks planned to burn the city in a conspiracy with some poor whites. Historians believe their alarm was mostly fabrication and fear, but officials rounded up 31 blacks and 4 whites, all of whom were convicted of arson and executed. City officials executed 13 blacks by burning them alive and hanged 4 whites and 18 blacks.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: In 1754, Columbia University was founded under charter by George II of Great Britain as King's College in Lower Manhattan.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: The Stamp Act and other British measures fomented dissent, particularly among the Sons of Liberty, who maintained a long-running skirmish with locally stationed British troops over Liberty Poles from 1766 to 1776. The Stamp Act Congress met in New York City in 1765 in the first organized resistance to British authority across the colonies. After the major defeat of the Continental Army in the Battle of Long Island, General George Washington withdrew to Manhattan Island, but with the subsequent defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington the island was effectively left to the British. The city became a haven for loyalist refugees, becoming a British stronghold for the entire war. Consequently, the area also became the focal point for Washington's espionage and intelligence-gathering throughout the war.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: In 1771, Bear Market was established along the Hudson River shoreline on land donated by Trinity Church, and replaced by Washington Market in 1813.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: New York City was greatly damaged twice by fires of suspicious origin during British military rule. The city became the political and military center of operations for the British in North America for the remainder of the war and a haven for Loyalist refugees. Continental Army officer Nathan Hale was hanged in Manhattan for espionage. In addition, the British began to hold the majority of captured American prisoners of war aboard prison ships in Wallabout Bay, across the East River in Brooklyn. More Americans lost their lives from neglect aboard these ships than died in all the battles of the war. British occupation lasted until November 25, 1783. George Washington triumphantly returned to the city that day, as the last British forces left the city.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Starting in 1785, the Congress met in New York City under the Articles of Confederation. In 1789, New York City became the first national capital of the United States under the new United States Constitution. The Constitution also created the current Congress of the United States, and its first sitting was at Federal Hall on Wall Street. The first United States Supreme Court sat there. The United States Bill of Rights was drafted and ratified there. George Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall. New York City remained the capital of the U.S. until 1790, when the role was transferred to Philadelphia.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: New York grew as an economic center, first as a result of Alexander Hamilton's policies and practices as the first Secretary of the Treasury and, later, with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the North American interior. Immigration resumed after being slowed by wars in Europe, and a new street grid system, the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, expanded to encompass all of Manhattan. Early in the 19th century, the landfill was used to expand Lower Manhattan from the natural Hudson shoreline at Greenwich Street to West Street.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: In 1898, the modern City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then an independent city), Manhattan and outlying areas. The borough of Brooklyn incorporated the independent City of Brooklyn, recently joined to Manhattan by the Brooklyn Bridge in Lower Manhattan. Municipal governments contained within the boroughs were abolished, and the county governmental functions, housed in Lower Manhattan after unification, were absorbed by the city or each borough.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Washington Market was located between Barclay and Hubert Streets, and from Greenwich Street to West Street. It was demolished in the 1960s and replaced by a new Independence Plaza, Washington Market Park, and other developments.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Lower Manhattan retains the most irregular street grid plans in the borough. Throughout the early decades of the 1900s, the area experienced a construction boom, with major towers such as 40 Wall Street, the American International Building, Woolworth Building, and 20 Exchange Place being erected.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Greenwich Village took the lives of 146 garment workers, which would eventually lead to great advancements in the city's fire department, building codes, and workplace regulations.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. Interborough Rapid Transit (the first New York City Subway company) began operating in 1904. The area's demographics stabilized, labor unionization brought new protections and affluence to the working class, the city's government and infrastructure underwent a dramatic overhaul under Fiorello La Guardia, and his controversial parks commissioner, Robert Moses, ended the blight of many tenement areas, expanded new parks, remade streets, and restricted and reorganized zoning controls, especially in Lower Manhattan.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: In the 1950s, a few new buildings were constructed in Lower Manhattan, including an 11-story building at 156 William Street in 1955. A 27-story office building at 20 Broad Street, a 12-story building at 80 Pine Street, a 26-story building at 123 William Street, and a few others were built in 1957. By the end of the decade, Lower Manhattan had become economically depressed, in comparison with Midtown Manhattan, which was booming with the continued march uptown. David Rockefeller spearheaded widespread urban renewal efforts in Lower Manhattan, beginning with constructing One Chase Manhattan Plaza, the new headquarters for his bank. He established the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association (DLMA) which drew up plans for broader revitalization of Lower Manhattan, with the development of a world trade center at the heart of these plans. The original DLMA plans called for the "world trade center" to be built along the East River, between Old Slip and Fulton Street. After negotiations with New Jersey Governor Richard J. Hughes, the Port Authority decided to build the World Trade Center on a site along the Hudson River and the West Side Highway, rather than the East River site.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: When building the World Trade Center, 1.2 million cubic yards (917,000 m) of material was excavated from the site. Rather than dumping the spoil at sea or in landfills, the fill material was used to expand the Manhattan shoreline across West Street, creating Battery Park City. The result was a 700-foot (210-m) extension into the river, running six blocks or , covering , providing a riverfront esplanade and over of parks.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Through much of its history, the area south of Chambers Street was mainly a commercial district, with a small population of residents—in 1960, it was home to about 4,000. Construction of Battery Park City, on landfill from construction of the World Trade Center, brought many new residents to the area. Gateway Plaza, the first Battery Park City development, was finished in 1983. The project's centerpiece, the World Financial Center, consists of four luxury highrise towers. By the turn of the century, Battery Park City was mostly completed, with the exception of some ongoing construction on West Street. Around this time, Lower Manhattan reached its highest population of business tenants and full-time residents.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: In 1993, the Downtown Lower Manhattan Association (D-LMA), led by Robert Douglass, contributed to a city Planning Department plan calling for the revitalization of Lower Manhattan. The plan included recommended zoning changes, tax incentives to encourage new tenants and the conversion of commercial buildings into apartments. It also called for the creation of a “business improvement district”, The Alliance for Downtown New York, to help spur the area's renewal. Between 1995 and 2014, 15.8 million square feet of office space has been converted to residential or hotel use. As a result, Lower Manhattan's residential population rose from 14,000 to 60,000.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent protests by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. They are widely considered to constitute the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Since the early twentieth century, Lower Manhattan has been an important center for the arts and leisure activities. Greenwich Village was a locus of bohemian culture from the first decade of the century through the 1980s. Several of the city's leading jazz clubs are still located in Greenwich Village, which was also one of the primary bases of the American folk music revival of the 1960s. Many art galleries were located in SoHo between the 1970s and early 1990s; today, the downtown Manhattan gallery scene is centered in Chelsea. From the 1960s onward, Lower Manhattan has been home to many alternative theater companies, constituting the heart of the Off-Off-Broadway community. Punk rock and its derivatives emerged in the mid-1970s largely at two venues: CBGB on the Bowery, the western edge of the East Village, and Max's Kansas City on Park Avenue South. At the same time, the area's surfeit of reappropriated industrial lofts played an integral role in the development and sustenance of the minimalist composition, free jazz, and disco/electronic dance music subcultures. The area's many nightclubs and bars—though mostly shorn of the freewheeling iconoclasm, pioneering spirit, and do-it-yourself mentality that characterized the pre-gentrification era—still draw patrons from throughout the city and the surrounding region. In the early twenty-first century, the Meatpacking District, once the sparsely populated province of after-hours BDSM clubs and transgender prostitutes, gained a reputation as New York's trendiest neighborhood.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: During the September 11 attacks in 2001, two of four hijacked planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center, and the towers collapsed. The 7 World Trade Center was not struck by a plane but collapsed because of heavy debris falling from the impacts of planes and the collapse of the North Tower. And the 3,4,5,6 World Trade Center buildings were damaged beyond repair or destroyed, and soon after demolished. The collapse of the Twin Towers also caused extensive damage to surrounding buildings and skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan. A total of 2,753 people, including those on the planes, were killed in New York. About 400,000 people, including rescue workers and residents of the area were exposed to toxic dust and debris; many developed serious respiratory illnesses, cancers, and other harms arising from the attack, and 3,496 died.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Following September 11, Lower Manhattan lost much of its economy and office space but has since rebounded significantly. Private sector employment reached 233,000 at the end of 2016, the highest levels since the end of 2001. This was largely due to growth and diversification in the local workforce with gains in employment sectors like Technology, Advertising, Media and Information, as well as Hotel, Restaurants, Retailing, and Health care. As of 2016, Lower Manhattan's business district is home to approximately 700 retail stores and 500 bars and restaurants.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has consummated plans to rebuild downtown Manhattan by adding new streets, buildings, and office space. The National September 11 Memorial at the site was opened to the public on September 11, 2011, while the National September 11 Museum was officially inaugurated by President Barack Obama on May 15, 2014. As of the time of its opening in November 2014, the new One World Trade Center, formerly known as the "Freedom Tower", is the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere and the sixth-tallest in the world, at ; while other skyscrapers are under construction at the site.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: The Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park, formerly known as Liberty Plaza Park, began in the Financial District on September 17, 2011, receiving global attention and spawning the Occupy movement against social and economic inequality worldwide.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: On October 29 and 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy ravaged portions of Lower Manhattan with record-high storm surge from New York Harbor, severe flooding, and high winds, causing power outages for hundreds of thousands of Manhattanites and leading to gasoline shortages and disruption of mass transit systems. The storm and its effects have prompted the discussion of constructing seawalls and other coastal barriers around the shorelines of Manhattan and the New York City metropolitan region to minimize the risk of destructive consequences from another such event in the future.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Lower Manhattan has been experiencing a baby boom, well above the overall birth rate in Manhattan, with the area south of Canal Street witnessing 1,086 births in 2010, 12% greater than 2009 and over twice the number born in 2001. The Financial District alone has witnessed growth in its population to approximately 43,000 as of 2014, nearly double the 23,000 recorded at the 2000 Census.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: There are currently 61,000 residents in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan (FiDi), south of Chambers Street and more than 62 percent of the population is between 18 and 44. Lower Manhattan is home to more young professionals than Greenpoint, the East Village, and Downtown Brooklyn and on par with Downtown Jersey City and Williamsburg.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: In June 2015, "The New York Times" wrote that Lower Manhattan's dining scene was experiencing a renaissance. Currently, there are 416 casual dining and 129 full-service dining restaurants. "The Village Voice", based at 80 Maiden Lane in the Financial District and historically the largest alternative newspaper in the United States, announced in 2017 that it would cease publication of its print edition and convert to a fully digital venture.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: On October 31, 2017, a man drove a pickup truck into the Hudson River Park's bike path between Houston Street and Chambers Street, killing eight people and injuring at least 15. Most of those who were hit were bicyclists. It was the first deadly terrorist attack in Manhattan since 9/11.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Since 2010, a Little Australia has emerged and is growing in the Nolita neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Before the September 11 attacks, the Twin Towers were iconic of Lower Manhattan's global significance as a financial center. The new office towers built since the attack (including One World Trade Center) have transformed the skyline of Lower Manhattan. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum at the former World Trade Center site has become a popular draw for visitors.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: The area contains many historical buildings and sites, including Castle Clinton, Bowling Green, the old United States Customs House (now the National Museum of the American Indian), Federal Hall National Memorial (commemorating the site where George Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. President), Fraunces Tavern, New York City Hall, the Museum of American Finance, the New York Stock Exchange Building, renovated original mercantile buildings of the South Street Seaport (and a modern tourist building), the Brooklyn Bridge, South Ferry (embarkation point for the Staten Island Ferry), and Trinity Church. Lower Manhattan is home to some of New York City's most spectacular skyscrapers, including the Woolworth Building, 40 Wall Street (the Trump Building), 26 Wall Street (the Standard Oil Building), and 70 Pine Street (the American International Building).


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Among the commercial districts of Lower Manhattan no longer in existence was Radio Row on Cortlandt Street, which was demolished in 1966 to make way for construction of the former World Trade Center.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: "Downtown" in the context of Manhattan, and of New York City generally, has different meanings to different people, especially depending on where in the city they reside. Residents of the island or of The Bronx generally speak of "going" "downtown" to refer to any southbound excursion to any Manhattan destination. A declaration that one is going to "be" "downtown" may indicate a plan to be anywhere south of 14th Street—the definition of downtown according to the city's official tourism marketing organization—or even 23rd Street. The full phrase "Downtown Manhattan" may also refer more specifically to the area of Manhattan south of Canal Street. Within business-related contexts, many people use the term "Downtown Manhattan" to refer only to the Financial District and the corporate offices in the immediate vicinity. For instance, the Business Improvement District managed by the Alliance for Downtown New York defines Downtown as south of Murray Street (essentially South of New York City Hall), which includes the World Trade Center area and the Financial District. The phrase "Lower Manhattan" may apply to any of these definitions: the broader ones often if the speaker is discussing the area in relation to the rest of the city; more restrictive ones, again, if the focus is on business matters or on the colonial and early post-colonial history of the island.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: As reflected in popular culture, "Downtown" in Manhattan has historically represented a place where one could "forget all your troubles, forget all your cares, and go Downtown," as the lyrics of Petula Clark's 1964 hit "Downtown" celebrate (although Tony Hatch, the songwriter of the track, later clarified that he naively believed Times Square to be "downtown," and was the actual inspiration for the hit single). The protagonist of Billy Joel's 1983 hit "Uptown Girl" contrasts himself (a "downtown man") with the purportedly staid uptown world. Likewise, the chorus of Neil Young's 1995 single "Downtown" urges "Let's have a party, downtown all right."


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Lower Manhattan is the third largest business district in the United States, after Midtown Manhattan and the Chicago Loop. Anchored by Wall Street, New York City functions as the financial capital of the world and has been called the world's most economically powerful city. Lower Manhattan is home to the New York Stock Exchange, at 11 Wall Street, and the corporate headquarters of NASDAQ, at 165 Broadway, representing the world's largest and second largest stock exchanges, respectively, when measured both by overall average daily trading volume and by total market capitalization of their listed companies in 2013. Wall Street investment banking fees in 2012 totaled approximately US$40 billion.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Prior to the September 11 attacks, One World Trade Center served as the headquarters of Cantor Fitzgerald. Prior to its dissolution, the headquarters of US Helicopter were in Lower Manhattan. When Hi Tech Expressions existed, its headquarters were in Lower Manhattan.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Lower Manhattan is accessible by vehicle through several major thoroughfares. From New Jersey, Lower Manhattan is accessible through the Holland Tunnel from Interstate 78. From Queens, Long Island, and points east, it is accessible through the Queens–Midtown Tunnel from the Long Island Expressway. From Midtown and Upper Manhattan, it is accessible from the West Side Highway.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: The headquarters of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is located in Four World Trade Center of the World Trade Center complex.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: The city hall and related government infrastructure of the City of New York are located in Lower Manhattan, next to City Hall Park. The Jacob K. Javits Federal Building is located in Civic Center. It includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation New York field office.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Many New York City Subway routes converge downtown. The largest hub, Fulton Center, was completed in 2014 after a $1.4 billion reconstruction project necessitated by the September 11, 2001, attacks, and involves six separate stations. This transit hub was expected to serve 300,000 daily riders as of late 2014. The World Trade Center Transportation Hub and PATH station opened in 2016. Ferry services are also concentrated downtown, including the Staten Island Ferry at the Whitehall Terminal, NYC Ferry at Pier 11/Wall Street (and Battery Park City Ferry Terminal starting in 2020), and service to Governors Island at the Battery Maritime Building.


title: Lower Manhattan

text: Many MTA express buses stop in lower Manhattan, the , and to Staten Island, the , and to Brooklyn, the , and to Queens, and the to The Bronx.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: There are three major types of submarines in the United States Navy: ballistic missile submarines, attack submarines, and cruise missile submarines. All submarines in the U.S. Navy are nuclear-powered. Ballistic missile submarines have a single strategic mission of carrying nuclear submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Attack submarines have several tactical missions, including sinking ships and subs, launching cruise missiles, and gathering intelligence.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The submarine has a long history in the United States, beginning with the "Turtle", the world's first submersible with a documented record of use in combat.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The first submarine used in combat was the "USS Turtle". The "Turtle" was built in 1775 and was made to attach explosive charges to the hulls of the ships. Several attempts were made against British Ships in American harbors in 1776, but none were successful.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Other submersible projects date to the 19th century. "Alligator" was a US Navy submarine that was never commissioned. She was being towed to South Carolina to be used in taking Charleston, but was lost in bad weather on 2 April 1863 off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. On February 17, 1864, the H. L. Hunley (submarine) became the first submarine to sink a warship.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Real progress began late in the century with the building of the , named after John Philip Holland. The boat was developed at Lewis Nixon's Crescent Shipyard located in Elizabeth, New Jersey. This pioneering craft was in service for 10 years and was a developmental and trials vessel for many systems on other early submarines.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The submarine truly came of age in World War I. The US Navy did not have a large part in this war, with action mainly being confined to escorting convoys later in the war and sending a division of battleships to reinforce the British Grand Fleet. However, there were those in the submarine service who saw what the Germans had done with their U-boats and took careful note.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Doctrine in the inter-war years emphasized the submarine as a scout for the battle fleet, and also extreme caution in command. Both these axioms were proven wrong after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The submarine skippers of the fleet boats of World War II waged a very effective campaign against Japanese merchant vessels, eventually repeating and surpassing Germany's initial success during the Battle of the Atlantic against the United Kingdom.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: During the war, submarines of the United States Navy were responsible for 55% of Japan's merchant marine losses; other Allied navies added to the toll. The war against shipping was the single most decisive factor in the collapse of the Japanese economy.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The Navy adopted an official policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, and it appears the policy was executed without the knowledge or prior consent of the government. The London Naval Treaty, to which the U.S. was signatory, required submarines to abide by prize rules (commonly known as "cruiser rules"). It did not prohibit arming merchantmen, but arming them, or having them report contact with submarines (or raiders), made them "de facto" naval auxiliaries and removed the protection of the cruiser rules. This made restrictions on submarines effectively moot. U.S. Navy submarines also conducted reconnaissance patrols, landed special forces and guerrilla troops and performed search and rescue tasks.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: In addition to sinking Japanese merchant ships, postwar records compiled by the Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee indicate Japan lost 686 warships of 500 gross tons (GRT) or larger to submarines during 1,600 war patrols. Only 1.6 percent of the total U.S. naval manpower was responsible for America's success on its Pacific high seas; more than half of the total tonnage sunk was credited to U.S. submarines. The tremendous accomplishments of American submarines were achieved at the expense of 52 subs with 374 officers and 3,131 enlisted volunteers lost during combat against Japan; Japan lost 128 submarines during the Second World War in Pacific waters. American casualty counts represent 16 percent of the U.S. operational submarine officer corps and 13 percent of its enlisted force.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: In addition to their commerce raiding role, submarines also proved valuable in air-sea rescue. While in command of United States Navy aircraft carrier task force 50.1 Rear Admiral Charles Alan Pownall, proposed to Admiral Charles A. Lockwood (commander of Pacific Fleet Submarine Force) that submarines be stationed near targeted islands during aerial attacks. In what became known as the "Lifeboat League", pilots were informed that they could ditch their damaged planes near these submarines (or bail out nearby) and be rescued by them. Eventually the rescue of downed American pilots became the second most important submarine mission after the destruction of Japanese shipping. Initially, the rescue submarines met several obstacles, most important of which was the lack of communication between the submarines and aircraft in the area; this led to several Lifeguard League submarines being bombed or strafed, possibly including the sinking of and by American planes.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: As fighting in the Pacific theater intensified and broadened in geographic scope, the eventual creation of Standing Operating Procedure (SOP TWO) led to several improvements such as the assignment of nearby submarines before air attacks, and the institution of reference points to allow pilots to report their location in the clear.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: After the capture of the Marianas, targets such as Tokyo, about 1,500 mi (2,400 km) north of the Marianas, were brought within range of B-29 attacks and Lifeguard League submarines began rescue operations along their flight paths.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Submarine lifeguards spent a combined 3,272 days on rescue duty and rescued 502 men. Famous examples include the rescue of 22 airmen by the , and the rescue of future U.S. President George H. W. Bush by the .


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: After WWII, things continued along much the same path until the early 1950s. Then, a revolution that was to forever change the nature of the submarine arm occurred. That revolution was .


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The was the first nuclear-powered submarine. "Nautilus" put to sea for the first time on 17 January 1955, transmitting the historic message, ""Under way on nuclear power."" Up until that point, submarines had been torpedo boats tied to the surface by the need to charge their batteries using diesel engines relatively often. The nuclear power plant of the "Nautilus" meant that the boat could stay underwater for literally months at a time, the only operational limit being the amount of food that the boat could carry. With resupply by mini-subs, even this could be overcome. The final limits would be for replacing equipment that wears out, the fatigue limit of the hull, and crew morale.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Another revolution in submarine warfare came with . Nuclear-powered like , the "George Washington" added strategic ballistic missiles making the nuclear triad. Earlier Regulus missile submarines were diesel powered. Their cruise missiles required the boat to surface in order to fire, and were vulnerable to air defenses in an era when there were no anti-ballistic missiles.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: "George Washington"s missiles could be fired while the boat was submerged, meaning that it was far less likely to be detected before firing. The nuclear power of the boat also meant that, like "Nautilus", "George Washington"s patrol length was limited only by the amount of food the boat could carry. Ballistic missile submarines, carrying Polaris missiles, eventually superseded all other strategic nuclear systems in the Navy. Deterrent patrols continue to this day, although now with s and Trident II missiles.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The United States lost two nuclear submarines during the Cold War: due to equipment failure during a test dive while at its operational limit, and due to unknown causes.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Given the lack of large scale conventional naval warfare since 1945, with the USN's role being primarily that of power projection, the submarine service did not fire weapons in anger for very many years. The BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) was developed to give naval vessels a long range land attack capability other than direct shore bombardment and strikes by aircraft flying off carriers. Submarines fitted with the Tomahawk could hit targets up to 1,000 miles inland. The mainstay of the Tomahawk equipped vessels in the early days of the missile's deployment were the , and the submarine fleet.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The Tomahawk was first used in combat on 17 January 1991, on the opening night of Operation Desert Storm. On that day, for the first time since the surrender of Japan in 1945, an American submarine fired in combat, when 12 Tomahawks were launched by U.S. boats in the eastern Mediterranean. Since then, the Tomahawk has become a staple of American campaigns, seeing use in three wars. It has also been exported to the United Kingdom, which has also fitted it to submarines. The use of the Tomahawk has seen a change in the design of attack submarines. The Tomahawk can be fired through 21-inch torpedo tubes, but the and s since have been fitted with vertical launch systems to enable them to carry more of the weapons.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: With the decommissioning of the final "Barbel"-class diesel-electric submarine in 1990, this meant that the USN submarine fleet is made up entirely of nuclear-powered vessels; each submarine possesses one nuclear reactor, which powers propulsion and all shipboard equipment.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The U.S. currently operates three classes of fast attack submarine: the , , and es. There are 34 "Los Angeles"-class submarines on active duty and 28 retired, making it the most numerous nuclear-powered submarine class in the world. Except for , , and , submarines of this class are named after U.S. cities, breaking a Navy tradition of naming attack submarines after sea creatures. Ships from the USS Virginia afterwards are named after US States, a convention traditionally reserved for battleships and nuclear missile submarines.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The final 23 boats in the "Los Angeles" class, referred to as "688i" boats, are more quiet than their predecessors and incorporate a more advanced combat system. These 688i boats are also designed for under-ice operations: their diving planes are on the bow rather than on the sail, and they have reinforced sails.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The U.S. has 18 "Ohio"-class submarines, of which 14 are Trident II SSBNs (Ship, Submersible, Ballistic, Nuclear), each capable of carrying 24 SLBMs. The first four which were all equipped with the older Trident I missiles have been converted to SSGN's each capable of carrying 154 Tomahawk guided missiles and have been further equipped to support Special Operations (SEALS). If the maximum of 154 Tomahawk missiles were loaded, one "Ohio"-class SSGN would carry an entire Battle Group's equivalent of cruise missiles. Ballistic missile submarines ("SSBNs" or "boomers" in American slang) carry submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads for attacking strategic targets such as cities or missile silos anywhere in the world. They are currently universally nuclear-powered to provide the greatest stealth and endurance. They played an important part in Cold War mutual deterrence, as both the United States and the Soviet Union had the credible ability to conduct a retaliatory strike against the other nation in the event of a first strike. This comprised an important part of the strategy of Mutual Assured Destruction.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: In order to comply with arms reduction against the START II treaty, the U.S. Navy modified the four oldest "Ohio"-class Trident submarines (, , , and ) to SSGN (Ship, Submersible, Guided, Nuclear) configuration. The conversion was achieved by installing vertical launching systems (VLS) in a configuration dubbed "multiple all-up-round canister (MAC)." This system was installed in 22 of the 24 missile tubes, replacing one large nuclear strategic ballistic missile with 7 smaller Tomahawk cruise missiles. The 2 remaining tubes were converted to lockout chambers (LOC) to be used by special forces personnel who can be carried on board. This gives each converted sub the capability to carry up to 154 Tomahawk missiles. The MAC tubes can also be used to carry and launch UAVs or UUVs which give the ship remote controlled "eyes & ears" allowing the ship to act as a forward-deployed command & control center.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The "boomers" were named for patriots, and together with the , , , and es, these SSBNs comprised the Cold War-era "41 for Freedom." Later "Ohio"-class submarines were named for states (recognizing the increase in striking power and importance once bestowed upon battleships), with the exception of , which was named for United States Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson (1912–1983) of Washington upon his death while in office (1983). This honor was in recognition of his advocacy on behalf of the nuclear submarine program. He strongly supported the rapid development of nuclear submarines and especially the development of an SSBN program. Senator Jackson also called for the establishment of a Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Undersea Warfare because he believed submarines were "lost in a welter of naval bureaucracy."


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: U.S. Navy submarines are manned solely by volunteers from within the Navy. Because of the stressful environment aboard submarines, personnel are accepted only after rigorous testing and observation, as a consequence submariners have significantly lower mental hospitalization rates than surface ship personnel. Furthermore, submariners receive submarine duty incentive pay (SUBPAY) in addition to sea pay.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Some 5,000 officers and 55,000 enlisted sailors make up the submarine force. In addition to submarines, they are assigned to submarine tenders, submarine rescue ships, deep-diving submersibles, floating dry docks, shore support facilities, submarine staffs, and senior command staffs.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Until 2014, submarine watchkeeping had an 18-hour day, as opposed to a standard 24-hour schedule. Sailors spent 6 hours on watch, 6 hours maintenance and training and 6 hours off (3 watches of 6 hours.) In 2014, the Navy began transitioning the fleet to a 24-hour schedule.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The submarine force has always been a small fraction of the active Navy. During World War II all submariners (including the rear echelon) accounted for less than two percent of Navy personnel, but accounted for 55 percent of Japan's merchant marine losses. In 1998 only about seven percent of the Navy's people were submariners, though they operated one-third of the Navy's warships.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: After acceptance into the submarine program, candidates undergo a demanding training schedule, which includes attendance by all Officers and non-nuclear trained enlisted personnel at the U.S. Naval Submarine School New London, located within the Naval Submarine Base New London, in Groton, Connecticut, (NAVSUBSCOL at SUBASENLON) as well as rigorous technical training in different specialty areas. Officer and enlisted engineering staff have their own advanced training at Nuclear Power School in Charleston, South Carolina, then nuclear prototype training at various locations.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Besides their academic and technical training, much of which is Classified Secret or Top Secret, all prospective US Naval Submariners, both officers and enlisted personnel, undergo 3 phases of physical training and testing related to the intense pressure differential between the surface and submarine operating depth.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The first test is for the ability to perform the Valsalva maneuver, named for Antonio Maria Valsalva. If a submarine training candidate cannot perform the Valsalva maneuver under doctor's supervision at normal atmospheric pressure, that candidate is not rejected as "unfit for submarine service" but may not continue the high risk pressure training as follows.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: In the second phase of testing, called "Pressure Testing", candidates who have successfully performed the Valsalva maneuver will be subjected to increased ambient pressure. This test is performed under the supervision of a diving-certified medical doctor. All testees enter a pressure chamber, accompanied by the doctor, and the 'tank' is sealed. Typically, there is in the chamber a somewhat surprising object: an inflated volleyball, water polo ball or similar inflated ball. Upon sealing the tank, pressure is increased, while the testees equalise their eardrum pressure. (if any testee is unable to 'Valsalva', the test stops, and pressure is slowly released.) Pressure builds within the chamber until the chamber is equal to water pressure at "escape depth". At this point, the chamber feels very warm and dry, and the volleyball has become compressed enough that it has become the shape of a bowl, and appears to have been emptied of air, due to the greatly increased air pressure inside of the tank. Sounds inside the tank at pressure sound as if they are "far away".


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: During the controlled release of pressure from the tank, the air in the chamber becomes quite chilled and a fog forms in the chamber, often precipitating as a sort of dew. (See adiabatic expansion) Once pressure is fully released, the candidates are examined with an otoscope to check for ruptured eardrums. Candidates with ruptured eardrums are removed from the testing cycle until healed, depending on the severity of the injury.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The third phase of testing for submarine fitness is escape training, utilizing the "Steinke hood submarine escape appliance", or colloquially known as the Steinke hood or, more familiarly, as "Stinky hood". This is a very complex device, but essentially it covers the head and shoulders during ascent from a stranded submarine, allowing air to escape during ascent, which is necessary as the expanding air in the lungs would otherwise cause disastrous injury. Actual training with the Steinke Hood is done in a Submarine Escape Training Tower to simulate a submarine stranded on the floor of the sea bed.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The escape testing proceeds as in the pressure test, except that this time, a hatch in the floor of the pressure chamber is opened. The chamber immediately adjoins a cylindrical tower full of water, tall enough to simulate the depth of a stranded submarine. Because the air pressure inside the chamber is equal to the pressure of the water in the tower, the water does not enter the chamber.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Donning the Steinke hood, the testee enters the water and immediately commences a rapid ascent, due to the buoyancy of the escape device. As they ascend, each testee must allow the air in his lungs to escape, this is facilitated by yelling as loudly as possible. Typically they are told to yell "HO HO HO" repeatedly. If one does not forcefully and continuously expel air from the lungs in this manner, they may be gravely injured or killed. The air exiting the lungs is allowed to exit the hood through a set of two one-way valves, keeping the device inflated but not over-inflated. Upon reaching the top, the testee swims to the side, climbs up, removes his Steinke Hood, deflates it, stands at parade rest, and yells "I FEEL FINE", while a corpsman examines the testee.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Successfully completing the escape training requires two trials, one of them at "double the depth" of the first. On completion of escape training, testees are now considered "bubbleheads".


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: , the Steinke Hood has been replaced with the Mark 10 Submarine Escape Immersion Equipment (SEIE) suit. The Mark 10 allows submariners to escape from much deeper depths than currently possible with the Steinke Hood.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The Mark 8, its predecessor, was a double layer suit which gave the wearer the appearance of a Michelin Man. One layer was eliminated, and the fabric was used to build a life raft that would fit in the same package that the original suit came in.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Because it is a full body suit, the Mark 10 provides thermal protection once the wearer reaches the surface, and the British Royal Navy has successfully tested it at six hundred foot depths.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Further training and qualification at sea are required before submariners are awarded the coveted Submarines insignia ("dolphins" or "fish") – the submarine insignia worn by officers (gold) and enlisted personnel (silver) to demonstrate their achievement.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The insignia of the U.S. Navy's Submarine Service is a submarine flanked by two stylized dolphins named Castor and Pollux.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The origin of this insignia dates back to June 1923, when Captain Ernest King, USN, Commander, Submarine Division Three (later Fleet Admiral and Chief of Naval Operations), suggested to the Secretary of the Navy that a device for qualified submariners be adopted. He submitted a pen-and-ink sketch as an example. A Philadelphia firm, Bailey, Banks and Biddle, was requested to design a suitable badge. In 1928, a member of that firm told Ensign William C. Eddy that they were looking for a design. Eddy, using sketches of the 1926 Naval Academy class crest that he had designed, came up with the present submarine insignia.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: In 1941 the Uniform Regulations were modified to permit officers and enlisted men to wear the submarine insignia after they had been assigned to other duties in the naval service, unless such right had been revoked. The officer insignia was a bronze gold-plated metal pin, worn centered above the left breast pocket and above the ribbons or medals. Enlisted men wore an embroidered silk insignia on the outside of the right sleeve, midway between the wrist and elbow until 1947 when it was shifted to above the left breast pocket. In 1943 the Uniform Regulations were modified to allow enlisted men, who were qualified for submarine duty then subsequently promoted to commissioned or warrant ranks, to continue wearing the enlisted submarine insignia until they qualified as submarine officers when they were entitled to wear the officers submarine pin. A 1950 change to Uniform Regulations authorized the embroidered insignia for officers (in addition to pin-on insignia) and a bronze, silver-plated, pin-on insignia for enlisted men (in addition to the embroidered device).


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: In addition to the Submarine Warfare insignia there are several special insignia. Since 1943 the Submarine Medical insignia has been awarded to medical officers of the Navy Medical Corps qualified in submarine warfare and medical expertise. The Submarine Engineering Duty insignia is issued to Engineering Duty Officers who have been designated as qualified in submarines through a program administered by the Naval Sea Systems Command and was first awarded in 1950. The Submarine Supply Corps insignia has been awarded to members of the Navy Supply Corps who have qualified as Supply Officers on board U.S. submarines since 1963.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Following the tradition of the World War II patrol pin, the silver SSBN Deterrent Patrol insignia is worn by both officer and enlisted members of SSBN crews in recognition of their sacrifice and hard work in completing strategic patrols. The badge depicts a with superimposed Polaris missiles, below which is a scroll with slots for up to six stars. One gold star marks each patrol completed. A silver star marks five patrols. Upon completion of 20 patrols, a gold patrol pin is authorized.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: The person on active duty, officer or enlisted, with the most deterrent patrols is presented with the Neptune Award. That person retains the award until someone else attains more patrols than the current holder or until he retires and it goes to the member with the next highest number of patrols.


title: Submarines in the United States Navy

text: Two sets of lyrics for the Submarine verse of the Navy Hymn have been written. The Reverend Gale Williamson wrote the following verse, which is generally associated with ballistic missile patrols:


title: Living Single

text: Living Single is an American television sitcom created by Yvette Lee Bowser that aired for five seasons on the Fox network from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The show centered on the lives of six friends who shared personal and professional experiences while living in a Brooklyn brownstone.


title: Living Single

text: "Living Single" centered on six people consisting of four women and two men living the single life in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.


title: Living Single

text: The series focused on two different households in one brownstone, one shared by a trio of independent women and another shared by two male friends who had known each other since childhood while living in Cleveland, Ohio. In the first apartment, Khadijah James (Queen Latifah), a hard-working editor and publisher of the fictional urban independent magazine "Flavor", lived with her sweet but naive cousin Synclaire James (Kim Coles), an aspiring actress who worked as Khadijah's receptionist and had an affinity for Troll dolls, and her childhood friend from East Orange, New Jersey, Regina "Régine" Hunter (Kim Fields), an image-conscious boutique buyer who was on a constant search for a well-to-do man to spend her life (and his money) with. Later in the series, Régine became a costume assistant for the soap opera "Palo Alto". When the soap was canceled, she became a wedding planner and left the apartment to move in with her fiancé Dexter Knight (Don Franklin). Maxine "Max" Shaw (Erika Alexander), a sharp-tongued Attorney and Khadijah's best friend from their college days at Howard University, frequently stopped by to share her unique insights and the events of her day, to make sure that the girls' refrigerator wasn't overstocked, and to start trouble with Kyle, looking for any chance to make his life worse.


title: Living Single

text: Kyle Barker (T.C. Carson) lived in the second apartment with Overton Wakefield Jones (John Henton). Overton was the friendly but bucolic maintenance man for the owner of their (and neighboring) building, who held a deep affection for Synclaire and plenty of hilarious homespun wisdom for everyone else. Kyle was a stockbroker whose constant verbal sparring with Max did little to mask their obvious sexual attraction to each other. Kyle and Max pursued a sexual relationship, but when he decided to take a job in London and invited Max to join him, she turned him down. Maxine subsequently became distraught over her decision and, after defending a man who claimed to be the second coming of Jesus (Harold Perrineau), she began to take her life more seriously. Through a series of events, Max decided that her purpose must be to become a mother. During the insemination process, she unknowingly picked Kyle's sperm specimen based on a list of qualities she would like for her child to have. Kyle returned in the series finale, and the two reconciled. Overton and Synclaire also got together, and their relationship culminated in marriage by the end of the fourth season. In season five, they moved in together, leaving Overton and Kyle's apartment open for new character Roni DeSantos (Idalis DeLeon), a New York-area D.J., to move in. It was eventually revealed that DeSantos had a fling with Ira Lee "Tripp" Williams III, (Mel Jackson), a songwriter whom Khadijah and Régine allowed to move in when Synclaire's room became available. Synclaire joined a comedy improv troupe where she gained the attention of Tony Jonas, a Warner Bros. Television executive who cast her as a nun for a new comedy series he was developing.


title: Living Single

text: Along with trying to make "Flavor" a success, Khadijah also looked for Mr. Right. She eventually found him in childhood friend Scooter (Cress Williams), with whom she left the brownstone for the final time in the series finale.


title: Living Single

text: Warner Home Video released the complete first season of "Living Single" on DVD in Region 1 on February 14, 2006.


title: Living Single

text: Warner Archive subsequently released seasons 2–5 on DVD in Region 1. These are Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) releases, available from Warner's online store and Amazon.com.


title: Living Single

text: Queen Latifah and Kim Coles both had development deals with Fox. In March 1993, Fox announced that Queen Latifah and Coles would star in a comedy sitcom called "My Girls", about roommates in New York City. The character of Khadijah was created for Queen Latifah. Khadijah is an entrepreneur who started an urban-lifestyle magazine, much as Latifah is an entrepreneur who started her hip-hop record label. Fox changed the show's name to "Living Single" three weeks before its television debut.


title: Living Single

text: Creator Yvette Lee Bowser's initial goal was to develop a show about herself and her friends that would change the portrayal of young Black people on television. Her overall goal was to portray Black characters positively and less stereotypical. She also noted that the women represented on "Living Single" are four different sides of herself, saying in an interview, "I've been as ditsy as Synclaire, as superficial as Regine, as bitter as Max, and as focused and driven as Khadijah."


title: Living Single

text: In May 1997, Fox announced that it had ordered 13 episodes of the fifth season of "Living Single" but would be delayed until January 1998. Three months later, Fox made a change to its fall schedule, delayed the airing of a new comedy called "Rewind", and decided to debut "Living Single"s fifth season on September 11. The final episode of the fifth season aired on January 1, 1998.


title: Living Single

text: "Living Single" started reruns in syndication on September 22, 1997, through various Fox, UPN, and WB affiliates; these were later CW affiliates in terms of UPN and WB. The series formerly reran on USA Network, Logo TV, and Oxygen. Syndication carriage on the local level fizzled out in 2006. Reruns of the series currently run daily on cable networks TV One, MTV2, Bounce TV, WCIU and VH1. As of January 11, 2018, all episodes began streaming on Hulu. BET will air reruns of the series starting October 11, 2021.


title: Living Single

text: An hour-long retrospective special, "Living Single: The Reunion Show", aired on TV One on September 22, 2008. Coles, Henton, Fields, Carson and Alexander reunited to share fond memories with the fans. Queen Latifah and Mel Jackson were unavailable to participate. The special featured clips and revealing secrets of the cast from the show's five-year run.


title: Living Single

text: From August 24 to 26, 2018, TV One aired a weekend marathon of "Living Single" to highlight the 25th anniversary of the show. Coles, Henton, Fields, and Carson reunited once again to share memories with the fans, to share their thoughts on the characters they portrayed and provided a tribute to Rita Owens (Queen Latifah's real-life and TV mother), who had passed in early 2018. Queen Latifah, Erika Alexander and Mel Jackson were unavailable to participate.


title: Living Single

text: During "Living Single"s first season, it consistently garnered higher ratings than "Martin", which aired in the time slot immediately before it on Thursday nights, and it quickly became the fourth highest-rated show aired on Fox.


title: Living Single

text: Throughout its run, "Living Single" became one of the most popular African-American sitcoms of its era, ranking among the top five in African-American ratings in all five seasons. Newspaper critics contrasted "Living Single" with the NBC sitcom "Friends" which was inspired by the former. "Living Single" featured successful Black characters including an attorney, a stockbroker, and a business owner, in contrast to "Friends", which featured white characters including a waitress, a folk singer, and an unemployed actor. Show creator Yvette Lee Bowser was disappointed that Warner Bros. did not promote "Living Single" nearly as much as it did "Friends".


title: Living Single

text: "Living Single" was never one of the highest-rated programs among audiences during its run from 1993 to 1998. Indeed, the show had struggled to break into lists of top television programs viewed by larger audiences and never broke into the Top 50, though it was a higher performer for the Fox network itself. Those who loved and watched the show regularly have told show creator Yvette Lee Bowser that they connect with its characters, love the cast, and are inspired by the positive, elegant, and professional portrayal of Black people on television. Bowser noted that "People say our characters remind them of themselves, their friends or their relatives. They all know someone like one of the characters."


title: Living Single

text: In 1995 and 1996, Living Single was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Comedy Series (Bryan Hays).


title: Marc Rebillet

text: Marc Rebillet (; born December 10, 1988) is a French-American electronic musician and YouTuber from Dallas, Texas, currently based in New York City. Known for his improvised funk and hip-hop electronic music with free flowing, humorous lyrics, Rebillet distributes his work primarily through YouTube videos and Twitch live streams using a loop station, keyboard, vocals and percussion instruments to produce his songs in his apartment. He has released three studio albums ("Marc Rebillet", "Europe" and "Loop Daddy III") and two extended play records ("Loop Daddy" and "Loop Daddy II").


title: Marc Rebillet

text: Rebillet's father was French and his mother is from South Carolina. His parents met in Paris. Rebillet started playing piano at age four; he studied classical music until age 15 while attending Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: In 2007, Rebillet first went viral after being interviewed on Fox 4 in Dallas while lining up to be the first to buy an iPhone during its initial release. A woman paid Rebillet $800 for his spot in the front of the line, attempting to buy many phones to resell. The plan backfired because the store's policy only allowed one iPhone sale per customer. The video of the encounter received four million views.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: Rebillet dropped out of Southern Methodist University after studying acting for a year. During the next decade, Rebillet worked as a server, an executive assistant, and in a corporate call center while producing music under the name "Leae". Rebillet moved to New York City in 2011 and back to Dallas in 2014 to care for his father, who had Alzheimer's disease.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: In 2016, Rebillet claimed on Reddit to have discovered an alleged unreleased 1998 Sufjan Stevens album in a dumpster outside record label Asthmatic Kitty's studios in Dumbo, Brooklyn in 2014. A representative from the label who responded to the post was unable to confirm the album's authenticity, but requested that Rebillet not share it. A few hours later, Rebillet proceeded to upload the album and share it on 4chan. In an interview with Stereogum the next day, he expressed regret for disrespecting the label's wishes, but stated he wanted to let the album be preserved online. When asked if the album was possibly a hoax, Rebillet responded, "I have neither the time nor the desire to prove its authenticity."


title: Marc Rebillet

text: Rebillet's professional music career began in 2016, when he began publishing YouTube videos and live streams of himself improvising songs in his bedroom, apartment, and hotel rooms, often while dancing in his boxer briefs. These videos began to go viral through Reddit and Facebook, generating a fan base, and earning Rebillet tips. Many of Rebillet's songs are inspired by live requests from his fans, who call him on a phone number that he posts on social media, or comment during the live stream. Rebillet's sessions can last from one to five hours. The content of the streams varies widely, from romance and sex to more frivolous topics, such as snacking.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rebillet's tour of Australia and New Zealand was cancelled and subsequently rescheduled for early 2021. In place of the cancelled shows, he scheduled four free live stream shows on Twitch named for four cities on the cancelled tour. He called this collection of shows the "Quarantine Livestream Tour", with the first show attracting over 1.57 million viewers and raising over $34,000 for coronavirus-related charity. Explaining why he chose to begin streaming on Twitch, Rebillet told "The Verge", "I’m just trying to survive, and Twitch has the highest earning potential for livestreams."


title: Marc Rebillet

text: Also related to the pandemic, Rebillet recorded a song, called "Essential Workers Anthem", dedicated to essential workers, to thank them for their work. Discussing the song for the "Boston Herald", Jed Gottlieb wrote that "the tune he built in a minute had more moxie and magic than anything on the recent lo-fi network TV concerts".


title: Marc Rebillet

text: On December 9 2020, in anticipation of hitting one million YouTube subscribers, Rebillet streamed live during and after hitting the milestone. He used the stream as an opportunity to donate to multiple charities.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: Rebillet has performed streams with Erykah Badu, Reggie Watts, Emily King, DJ Premier, Brady Watt, Flying Lotus, Madison McFerrin, Harry Mack, and Wayne Brady.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: In June 2021, Rebillet starred in a television commercial for German supermarket chain Edeka. The lighthearted commercial shows him creating music in the market by playing the produce and food products as musical instruments.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: As of August 2021, Rebillet has 11.8 million online streams of his music, more than 2 million YouTube subscribers, and over 127 million YouTube views.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: Rebillet was the host of a biweekly series "We've Got Company" that streamed on Twitch in early 2022, featuring Rebillet along with musical guests. Guests during the first season included Wyclef Jean, Tokimonsta, Alison Wonderland, Reggie Watts and Tenacious D.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: His first live shows took place in 2017 in bars in his native Dallas, Texas. He subsequently moved to New York to further develop his music career. Describing how his online presence quickly increased his fanbase, Rebillet told an interviewer:It happened very, very quickly...the whole online thing just took off in this very aggressive way. Like, people around the world just started sharing my stuff on Facebook primarily, and my audience on Facebook went from 7,000 or 10,000 followers to, within a week or two, 50,000. Then it was 100,000. And it just kept climbing! And with that spike came all of these booking requests from all over the world that I really had no clue how to deal with or what to do with.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: Starting in 2019, Rebillet has performed on tours in the United States and Europe, and ticket sales have become his primary source of revenue. Rebillet's live shows are energetic, interactive, and almost entirely improvised, with very little material being repeated from show to show. Explaining his approach to performance, Rebillet said, "I think up a couple of ideas, make some observations through the day, think of something that’s germane to the crowd I’m playing to, I use those things as seedlings for song ideas." The Dublin Gazette called Rebillet "a man who’s thoughtful far beyond his output. A considered artist, having fun." The "Irish Examiner" called Rebillet a "DJ/comedian/one-person emotional meltdown" and called his live performance "unnerving and very engaging". Tyler Hicks of the "Dallas Observer" said that "few performers can match the zealous intensity".


title: Marc Rebillet

text: In 2021, Rebillet embarked on the "Third Dose" tour, which included major American music festivals, such as Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits Music Festival and Lollapalooza.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, in which all concerts were cancelled, Rebillet scheduled a "drive-in concert tour" in June 2020, in which he performed at twelve shows at eight drive-in theaters in the United States while attendees watch from their cars and listen over a local radio frequency. The objective of these performances was to remain in compliance with social distancing regulations. In place of opening acts, short films were shown. Explaining how he planned to perform, Rebillet told "CNN", "Since everyone is going to be forced to be in their cars, I'll be able to do a lot of running around, 'interacting' with the audience, just by doing my thing." The tour was called the first of its kind in the United States, and was generally sold-out, grossing $523,000 with 12,132 attendees. Rebillet reached more fans on the drive-in tour than he would have on a comparable tour of indoor venues.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: In August 2019, "Billboard" named Rebillet as a "Billboard Dance Emerging Artist", writing that Rebillet creates "sexy hooks", "sensual R&B burners", and "hip-hop-tinged funk creations".


title: Marc Rebillet

text: In December 2019, "Shacknews" awarded Rebillet the "Do it for Shacknews Award 2019", saying that he rose to a "surprising level of Internet notoriety" in 2019. "Shacknews" CEO Asif Khan wrote: "The popularity of his very experimental style to creating music is inspiring to the countless part-time studio musicians who are out there on the Internet. Marc's ability to build a community has to pockets of cheerleaders appearing all over the place these days."


title: Marc Rebillet

text: In 2020, Clubbing TV named Rebillet No. 2 on its list of the top 40 live streaming DJs, saying, "No one can make you laugh and dance like Marc Rebillet."


title: Marc Rebillet

text: Rebillet's music is defined by his use of a Boss RC-505 loop station, which allows him to layer his voice with keyboards, tambourines, and other hand percussion instruments. Most of his songs are improvised, and include elements of funk, soul, hip hop, and house music, as well as comedy skits. Nick Pagano described Rebillet's music as ranging "from soulful serenading piano ballads to funky bass licks to downright club bangers, and is always accompanied by his unique sense of humor". His lyrics tend to be comical, silly, or vulgar, enough so that he has been referred to as a comedian. Rebillet's "goofy", "nerdy", and "earnest" personality plays a role in his popularity.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: Speaking about the lyrical content of Rebillet's songs, WBUR's Tonya Mosley said, "they’re actually really insightful. It’s sort of like social commentary."


title: Marc Rebillet

text: Rebillet has mentioned Reggie Watts, Nina Simone, Madlib, and James Blake as sources of inspiration. Speaking about Reggie Watts, Rebillet has said, "I would not be doing this if he didn’t exist."


title: Marc Rebillet

text: In 2021, "Architectural Digest" published a feature on Rebillet's apartment in Lower Manhattan. Carly Olson praised Rebillet's style and "killer eye for design", writing that his "light and airy two-bedroom apartment in Lower Manhattan is clean and pristine, featuring statement art, vintage finds, and even a couple trophy pieces that’ll give true furniture nerds hearts in their eyes." The apartment contains furniture by Ligne Roset and Pierre Paulin, and art by Verner Panton and Jack Youngerman.


title: Marc Rebillet

text: On September 10, 2021, Rebillet threw out the ceremonial first pitch in a Major League Baseball game in St. Louis, Missouri between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is the diplomatic service and a central civil service of the Government of India under the Ministry of External Affairs. The Foreign Secretary is the head of the service. Vinay Mohan Kwatra is the 34th and the current Foreign Secretary.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: The service, consisting of civil servants is entrusted with handling the foreign relations of India, providing consular services and to mark India's presence in international organizations. It is the body of career diplomats serving in more than 160 Indian diplomatic missions and international organizations around the world. In addition, they serve at the President's Secretariat, the Prime Minister's Office and at the headquarters of MEA in New Delhi. They also head Regional Passport Offices throughout the country and hold positions in several ministries on deputation.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: Post-retirement, Indian Foreign Service officers have held high offices including that of President, Vice President, Governors of States, Speaker of Lok Sabha and Cabinet ministers.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: On 13 September 1783, the board of directors of the East India Company passed a resolution at Fort William, Calcutta (now Kolkata), to create a department, which could help "relieve the pressure" on the Warren Hastings administration in conducting its "secret and political business." Although established by the Company, the Indian Foreign Department conducted business with foreign European powers. From the very beginning, a distinction was maintained between the "foreign" and "political" functions of the Foreign Department; relations with all "Asiatic powers" (including native princely states) were treated as "political", while relations with European powers were treated as "foreign".


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: In 1843, the Governor-General of India, Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough carried out administrative reforms, organizing the Secretariat of the Government into four departments: Foreign, Home, Finance, and Military. Each was headed by a secretary-level officer. The Foreign Department Secretary was entrusted with the "conduct of all correspondence belonging to the external and internal diplomatic relations of the government."


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: The Government of India Act 1935 attempted to delineate more clearly functions of the foreign and political wings of the Foreign Department, it was soon realized that it was administratively imperative to completely bifurcate the department. Consequently, the External Affairs Department was set up separately under the direct charge of the Governor-General.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: The idea of establishing a separate diplomatic service to handle the external activities of the Government of India originated from a note dated 30 September 1944, recorded by Lieutenant-General T. J. Hutton, the Secretary of the Planning and Development Department. When this note was referred to the Department of External Affairs for comments, Olaf Caroe, the Foreign Secretary, recorded his comments in an exhaustive note detailing the scope, composition and functions of the proposed service. Caroe pointed out that as India emerged as autonomous, it was imperative to build up a system of representation abroad that would be in complete harmony with the objectives of the future government.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: On 9 October 1946, the Indian government established the Indian Foreign Service for India's diplomatic, consular and commercial representation overseas. With independence, there was a near-complete transition of the Foreign and Political Department into what then became the new Ministry of External Affairs.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: Indian Foreign Service Day is celebrated on 9 October every year since 2011 to commemorate the day the Indian Cabinet created the Foreign Service.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: Officers of the Indian Foreign Service are recruited by the Government of India on the recommendation of the Union Public Service Commission. In 1948, the first group of Indian Foreign Service officers were recruited based on the Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission This exam is still used to select new foreign service officers. Previous to 1948, some were appointed directly by the Prime Minister and included former native rulers of India who had integrated their provinces into India.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: Fresh recruits to the Indian Foreign Service are trained at Sushma Swaraj Foreign Service Institute after a brief foundation course at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. In recent years, the number of candidates selected to the Indian Foreign Service has averaged between 25–30 annually.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: On acceptance to the Foreign Service, new entrants undergo significant training, which is considered to be one of the most challenging and longest service trainings in the Government of India and nearly takes more than 1 year to graduate from. The entrants undergo a probationary period (during which they are referred to as Officer Trainees). Training begins at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie, where members of the other elite Indian civil services are trained.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: After completing a 15-week training at the LBSNAA, the probationers join the Sushma Swaraj Foreign Service Institute, India in New Delhi for a more intensive training in a host of subjects important to diplomacy, including international relations theory, military diplomacy, trade, India's foreign policy, history, international law, diplomatic practice, hospitality, protocol and administration. They also go on attachments with different government bodies and defense (Army, Navy, Air Force, CAPF) establishments and undertake tours both in India and Indian missions abroad. The entire training program lasts for a period of 12 months.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: Upon the completion of the training program at the Institute, an officer is assigned a compulsory foreign language (CFL) training. After a brief period of desk attachment in the Ministry of External Affairs, at the rank of Assistant Secretary, the officer is posted to an Indian diplomatic mission abroad where her/his CFL is the native language. There the officer undergoes language training and is expected to develop proficiency in the CFL and pass an examination before being allowed to continue in the service.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: Ambassador, High Commissioner, Consul General, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations and Foreign Secretary are some of the offices held by the members of this service. As a career diplomat, the Foreign Service Officer is required to project India’s interests, both at home and abroad on a wide variety of issues. These include bilateral political and economic cooperation, trade and investment promotion, cultural interaction, press and media liaison as well as a whole host of multilateral issues.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: The below rank structure is for Indian Foreign Service officers who directly enter the service. "(in ascending order of rank)"


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: India has one of the most understaffed diplomatic forces of any major country in the world. Based on 2014 calculations there are about 2,700 "diplomatic rank" officers in overseas missions and at headquarters. A minority of the diplomatic officers are Foreign Service (A) officers, the senior cadre of Indian diplomacy, which is primarily drawn from direct recruitment through the Civil Services Examination. Although sanctioned strength was 912, the actual strength of Group A was 770 officers in 2014. In addition there were in 2014, 252 Grade-I officers of Indian Foreign Service (B) General Cadre who after promotion are inducted into Indian Foreign Service (A). The lower grades of the Indian Foreign Service(B) General Cadre included 635 attaches. The breakdown of other cadres and personnel included 540 secretarial staff, 33 from the Interpreters Cadre, 24 from the Legal and Treaties Cadre, and 310 personnel from other Ministries.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: Shashi Tharoor, a chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, had presented the 12th report for expanding and building the numbers, quality and capacity of India's diplomats.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: Since its inception and especially in the early decades of the service, the Indian Foreign Service had a reputation for attracting the country's most talented civil service aspirants. The quality of candidates based on exam rank has significantly declined and the quality of candidates has created concerns about harm to prestige in expanding the size of the service.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: In the 1960s and 1970s, exam toppers generally in the top 20 opted for the Indian Foreign Service over the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service, the other elite civil services. By late 1980s, the dip was appreciable and Indian Foreign Service spots did not fill until reaching much deeper down the list. The Indian Foreign Service continues in recent years to have difficulty in attracting the most promising candidates. For the 2017 Civil Services Exam, only 5 of the top 100 candidates chose the Indian Foreign Service with the last ranking person from the General Category in the 152th position. For candidates with reservation status, a candidate from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the 640th position closed the list for Indian Foreign Service. The Indian Foreign Service has become less attractive due to higher pay in corporate jobs, other elite civil services like the All India Services promising more power, and fading glamour as foreign travel became common place.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: A parliamentary committee reviewing Indian Foreign Service reform in 2016 feared a negative feedback loop with the "deterioration" in candidate quality as both a "both a symptom and a reason for the erosion of prestige in the Indian Foreign Service". However, the committee was hard pressed to address the issue because it was also concerned about increasing the "quantity" of Indian diplomats. T. P. Sreenivasan, a retired Foreign Service officer, argued in 2015 that "elitism should be preserved" for the Indian Foreign Service to perform effectively. He further lamented the Indian Foreign Service "is already a shadow of its former self" which dissuaded aspirants and the service needed to have its "attractiveness enhanced".


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: Several incidents involving maid abuse including alleged sexual abuse by Indian Foreign Service officers have caused disruption for bilateral relations with the countries where incidents occur. The heavy handed treatment by US authorities in arresting and strip searching Indian Foreign Service officer Devyani Khobragade stirred up outrage within India about the country's global image and shined the international spotlight on the treatment of maids by Indian diplomats.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: The arrest of Devyani Khobragade was one of three main incidents between 2010–2013 associated with Indian diplomats living in the United States. The Ministry of External Affairs made a proposal in 2013 to the Ministry of Finance to grant maids the status of government employees but the initiative was found too expensive.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: A maid for Prabhu Dayal, then the Consul-General in New York, escaped from the Upper East Side consular residence in January 2010. In 2011, the maid Santosh Bhardwaj filed a lawsuit with the representation of the Legal Aid Society against Prabhu Dayal, his wife Chandini Dayal and daughter Akansha Dayal in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The suit alleged she worked long hours 7 days a week against the terms of her work contract. She recounted running away with the assistance of the consular security guard and a family she met through the security guard after an "inappropriate sexual advance" by Prahbu Dayal asking from her a leg massage. The case was settled by Dayal in 2012 for an undisclosed sum.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: Another New York-based case involved Neena Malhotra who was press counselor at the Consulate General in New York from 2006 to 2009. Malhotra and her husband Joseph Malhotra were sued in 2010 for slavery in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by their former maid. The lawsuit alleged the family took away the passport of the maid and threatened her with beating and rape if she traveled alone. The court awarded a judgment of US$$1,458,335 against the Malhotras. A year after the judgment, Malhotra denied a visa for a US diplomatic spouse on the basis of homosexuality. As of 2016, the judgment remains unpaid.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: The most notable diplomatic incident of maid mistreatment embroiled Devyani Khobragade, the then Deputy Consul General of the Consulate General of India in New York City. She was arrested in December 2013 by US Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service and charged with visa fraud for failing to pay a minimum wage for Sangeeta Richard, who traveled from India to serve as Khobragade's maid. While in custody Khobrgaade was subjected to "the indignities of repeated handcuffing, stripping, and cavity searches". Khobragade was declared by the US government to be persona non grata after her indictment in January 2014 and refusal of the Indian government to waive immunity. Her treatment caused outrage in India and led to a diplomatic row between India and the United States. The support received by Khobragade in India was wide ranging. Prime Miniser Manmohan Singh criticised the actions of the US authorities as "deplorable". The Delhi Police removed security barricades on the road outside the US Embassy in New Delhi, citing need for improvement of traffic flow in that area. The Indian government ordered the expulsion of US diplomat Wayne May in January 2014 because he had assisted Richard's family in securing T-visas and traveling to the United States.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: The case of Lalita Oraon in 1999, a servant-girl in the household of Amrit Lugun, then first secretary at the Indian embassy in Paris, prompted outcry in French media and cast a shadow on bilateral relations. Oraon was from a Scheduled Tribe in Bihar and by her account an orphan given to Lugun's family at the age of eight. She fled Lugun's residence and was taken into custody by the French police after wandering the streets of Paris. Oraon alleged she was beaten, threatened, and sexually abused by her employer. Police put her in the care of Committee Against Modern Slavery, an anti-slavery NGO, at a convent where she attempted suicide by jumping from a high wall. Oroan was examined by medical staff at Hôpital Cochin in Paris. According to a doctor speaking to "Le Monde", Oraon had suffered "knife wounds, three to 6cm deep, all around the vagina" and described the injuries as "consistent with an act of torture or deliberate mutilation".


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: The Indian Ambassador in Paris at the time Kanwal Sibal strongly supported Lugun and prevented a full fledged enquiry into the matter by the MEA. In a statement, the Indian Embassy accused the anti-slavery group of "indecent lies" against Lugun and claimed Oraon had suffered cuts to her genitals while jumping off the wall to escape from the convent.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: Jawid Laiq writing for "Outlook" commented that the case was not only an example of deplorable behavior by a diplomat towards a fellow Indian but represented larger problems in a Foreign Service with a "caste (and racist) hierarchy". According to Laiq, Foreign Service officers from low caste backgrounds were rarely ambassadors in "coveted embassies in the white, Western countries" but were rather sent to hardship spots. As of 2020, Lugun is Indian Ambassador to Greece.


title: Indian Foreign Service

text: A number of diplomats have been sent home to India from foreign postings on the suspicion of spying. One officer has been convicted under the Official Secrets Act. Madhuri Gupta, an Indian Foreign Service (B) officer, was arrested in 2010 and convicted in 2018 for spying for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. Gupta served as a Second Secretary in Islamabad where she became involved in a relationship with a man believed to be a Pakistani agent and passed classified information to him. She was sentenced to three years in prison after her conviction in 2018. "Outlook" speculated that as a single woman in her 50s, she was vulnerable to recruitment or could have been motivated due to job disgruntlement. A reason according to the "Indian Express" for her dissatisfaction with the Ministry of External Affairs was she "felt discriminated against being a Group B Foreign Service officer".