title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: The human skin consists of two layers: an outermost layer called the epidermis and a layer underneath called the dermis. In individuals with healthy skin, there are protein anchors between these two layers (Dermo epidermal junction) that prevent them from moving independently from one another (shearing). In people born with EB, the two skin layers lack the protein anchors that hold them together, resulting in extremely fragile skin—even minor mechanical friction (like rubbing or pressure) or trauma will separate the layers of the skin and form blisters and painful sores. EB  individuals manifest unremitting skin blistering that evolves into chronic wounds, inflammation, and fibrosis. People with EB have compared the sores with third-degree burns. Furthermore, as a complication of the chronic skin damage, people with EB have an increased risk of malignancies (cancers) of the skin. Virtually any organ lined or covered by epithelium may be injured in inherited EB. External eye, esophagus, upper airway, and genitourinary tract are the epithelial surfaced tissues that are at particular risk.


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: EB can be diagnosed either by a skin (punch) biopsy at the edge of a wound with immunofluorescent mapping, or via blood sample and genetic testing.


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: The combination of birch bark extract from "Betula pendula" and "Betula pubescens" is used to treat epidermolysis bullosa.


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: Research has focused on changing the mixture of keratins produced in the skin. There are 54 known keratin genes—of which 28 belong to the type I intermediate filament genes and 26 to type II—which work as heterodimers. Many of these genes share substantial structural and functional similarity, but they are specialized to cell type and/or conditions under which they are normally produced. If the balance of production could be shifted away from the mutated, dysfunctional keratin gene toward an intact keratin gene, symptoms could be reduced. For example, sulforaphane, a compound found in broccoli, was found to reduce blistering in a mouse model to the point where affected pups could not be identified visually, when injected into pregnant mice (5 μmol/day = 0.9 mg) and applied topically to newborns (1 μmol/day = 0.2 mg in jojoba oil).


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: As of 2008 clinical research at the University of Minnesota has explored allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for RD and junctional EB, treating a two-year-old child who is one of two brothers with EB. A second transplant has also been performed on the child's older brother, and a third transplant is scheduled for a California baby. A clinical trial is planned for 30 subjects. However, the immune suppression that bone marrow transplantation requires causes a risk of serious infections with large scale blisters and skin erosion. Indeed, at least four people have died in the course of either preparation for or institution of bone marrow transplantation for EB, out of only a small group of patients treated so far. The mechanism of action of this therapy is unclear as hematopoietic stem cells are not thought to contribute to epithelial lineages. Rather, it is speculated that cross-correction from tissue-resident graft-derived immune cells contributes to the observed clinical benefit.


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: A pilot study performed in 2015 suggests that systemic granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) may promote increased wound healing in people with dystrophic EB. Transplanting skin derived from genetically modified stem cells onto the wound surfaces has been studied with a report of improvements in one person.


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: A 2017 clinical trial with male RDEB (recessive dystrophic EB) patients conducted successful grafting of type VII gene corrected keratinocytes (COL7A1 gene correction using retrovirus transduction), without any serious adverse effects. Type VII collage formation was observed at the dermis-epidermis junction in significant amounts.


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: A 2020 study demonstrated the safe allogenic grafting of acellular dermal matrix/scaffolds in EB patients without any observed infection or necrosis and instead noted fewer required dressing changes, promoted wound healing, pain reduction, and an overall improvement in the quality of life of the patients.


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: The Epidermolysis Bullosa Disease Activity and Scarring index (EBDASI) is a scoring system that objectively quantifies the severity of EB. The EBDASI is a tool for clinicians and patients to monitor the severity of the disease. It has also been designed to evaluate the response to new therapies for the treatment of EB. The EBDASI was developed and validated by Professor Dedee Murrell and her team of students and fellows at the St George Hospital, University of New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia. It was presented at the International Investigative Dermatology congress in Edinburgh in 2013 and a paper-based version was published in the "Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology" in 2014.


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: A 2014 study classified cases into three types—EBS, JEB and DEB—and reviewed their times of death. The first two types tended to die in infancy and the last in early adulthood. In a survey of 11 families affected by the disease, lack of awareness of the disease by both the public and health care providers raised concerns about the care provided.


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: An estimated 20 per million live births are diagnosed with EB, and 9 per million people in the general population have the condition. Of these cases, approximately 92% are EBS, 5% are DEB, 1% are JEB, and 2% are unclassified. Carrier frequency ranges from 1 in 333 for JEB, to 1 in 450 for DEB; the carrier frequency for EBS is presumed to be much higher than JEB or DEB.


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: In 2010, Emma Fogarty, a campaigner for DEBRA Ireland (the EB charity) was awarded a People of the Year Award. Actor Colin Farrell has campaigned with Fogarty on behalf of affected people.


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: In 2014, Pearl Jam lead vocalist Eddie Vedder together with his wife Jill McCormick co-founded the EB Research Partnership, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure for EB. McCormick is childhood friends with Ryan Fullmer, whose son, Michael, was born with EB. Vedder, McCormick, Ryan Fullmer, and his wife, Heather founded Heal EB. In 2014, they merged Heal EB with the Jackson Gabriel Research Foundation to create the EB Research Partnership. The EBRP hosts several annual fundraising events. To date, they have raised $12 million to fund research to find a cure. On March 1, 2019, heavyweight boxer Luis Ortiz was named an honorary ambassador for the EB community by the EB Research Partnership. Ortiz's daughter, Lismercedes, was born with EB.


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: The condition was brought to public attention in 2004 in the UK through the Channel 4 documentary "The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off", chronicling the life and death of Jonny Kennedy, an Englishman with EB. In the United States, the same could be said of the HBO documentary "My Flesh and Blood" from 2003. Additionally, the film "Butterfly Girl" follows Abigail Evans with the disease. In Canada, The Sports Network's award-winning documentary on Jonathan Pitre led to extensive coverage on the boy's disease, treatment, and death.


title: Epidermolysis bullosa

text: Other terms used to describe those affected include "butterfly children" as the skin is fragile as a butterfly's wings, "cotton wool babies", or "crystal skin children".


title: Negligence

text: Negligence (Lat. "negligentia") is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as "negligence" involves harm caused by failing to act as a form of "carelessness" possibly with extenuating circumstances. The core concept of negligence is that people should exercise reasonable care in their actions, by taking account of the potential harm that they might foreseeably cause to other people or property.


title: Negligence

text: Someone who suffers loss caused by another's negligence may be able to sue for damages to compensate for their harm. Such loss may include physical injury, harm to property, psychiatric illness, or economic loss. The law on negligence may be assessed in general terms according to a five-part model which includes the assessment of duty, breach, actual cause, proximate cause, and damages.


title: Negligence

text: Some things must be established by anyone who wants to sue in negligence. These are what are called the "elements" of negligence.


title: Negligence

text: Some jurisdictions narrow the definition down to three elements: duty, breach and proximately caused harm. Some jurisdictions recognize five elements, duty, breach, actual cause, proximate cause, and damages. However, at their heart, the various definitions of what constitutes negligent conduct are very similar.


title: Negligence

text: The legal liability of a defendant to a plaintiff is based on the defendant's failure to fulfil a responsibility, recognised by law, of which the plaintiff is the intended beneficiary. The first step in determining the existence of a legally recognised responsibility is the concept of an obligation or duty. In the tort of negligence the term used is duty of care


title: Negligence

text: The case of "Donoghue v Stevenson" [1932] established the modern law of negligence, laying the foundations of the duty of care and the fault principle which, (through the Privy Council), have been adopted throughout the Commonwealth. May Donoghue and her friend were in a café in Paisley. The friend bought Mrs Donoghue a ginger beer float. She drank some of the beer and later poured the remainder over her ice-cream and was horrified to see the decomposed remains of a snail exit the bottle. Donoghue suffered nervous shock and gastro-enteritis, but did not sue the cafe owner, instead suing the manufacturer, Stevenson. (As Mrs Donoghue had not herself bought the ginger beer, the doctrine of privity precluded a contractual action against Stevenson).


title: Negligence

text: The Scottish judge, Lord MacMillan, considered the case to fall within a new category of delict (the Scots law nearest equivalent of tort). The case proceeded to the House of Lords, where Lord Atkin interpreted the biblical ordinance to 'love thy neighbour' as a legal requirement to 'not harm thy neighbour.' He then went on to define neighbour as "persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions that are called in question."


title: Negligence

text: In England the more recent case of "Caparo Industries Plc v Dickman" [1990] introduced a 'threefold test' for a duty of care. Harm must be (1) reasonably foreseeable (2) there must be a relationship of proximity between the plaintiff and defendant and (3) it must be 'fair, just and reasonable' to impose liability. However, these act as guidelines for the courts in establishing a duty of care; much of the principle is still at the discretion of judges.


title: Negligence

text: In Australia, "Donoghue v Stevenson" was used as a persuasive precedent in the case of "Grant v Australian Knitting Mills" (AKR) (1936). This was a landmark case in the development of negligence law in Australia.


title: Negligence

text: Whether a duty of care is owed for psychiatric, as opposed to physical, harm was discussed in the Australian case of "Tame v State of New South Wales; Annetts v Australian Stations Pty Ltd" (2002). Determining a duty for mental harm has now been subsumed into the "Civil Liability Act 2002" in New South Wales. The application of Part 3 of the "Civil Liability Act 2002" (NSW) was demonstrated in "Wicks v SRA (NSW); Sheehan v SRA (NSW)".


title: Negligence

text: Once it is established that the defendant owed a duty to the plaintiff/claimant, the matter of whether or not that duty was breached must be settled. The test is both subjective and objective. The defendant who knowingly (subjective, which is totally based on observation and personal prejudice or view) exposes the plaintiff/claimant to a substantial risk of loss, breaches that duty. The defendant who fails to realize the substantial risk of loss to the plaintiff/claimant, which any reasonable person [objective, Which is totally based on ground facts and reality without any personal prejudice or point of view.] in the same situation would clearly have realized, also breaches that duty. However, whether the test is objective or subjective may depend upon the particular case involved.


title: Negligence

text: There is a reduced threshold for the standard of care owed by children. In the Australian case of "McHale v Watson", McHale, a 9-year-old girl was blinded in one eye after being hit by the ricochet of a sharp metal rod thrown by a 12-year-old boy, Watson. The defendant child was held not to have the level of care to the standard of an adult, but of a 12-year-old child with similar experience and intelligence. Kitto J explained that a child's lack of foresight is a characteristic they share with others at that stage of development. The same principle was demonstrated to exist in English law in "Mullin v Richards".


title: Negligence

text: Certain jurisdictions, also provide for breaches where professionals, such as doctors, fail to warn of risks associated with medical treatments or procedures. Doctors owe both objective and subjective duties to warn; and breach of either is sufficient to satisfy this element in a court of law. For example, the Civil Liability Act in Queensland outlines a statutory test incorporating both objective and subjective elements. For example, an obstetrician who fails to warn a mother of complications arising from childbirth may be held to have breached their professional duty of care.


title: Negligence

text: In "Donoghue v Stevenson", Lord Macmillan declared that "the categories of negligence are never closed"; and in "Dorset Yacht v Home Office" it was held that the government had no immunity from suit when they negligently failed to prevent the escape of juvenile offenders who subsequently vandalise a boatyard. In other words, all members of society have a duty to exercise reasonable care toward others and their property. In "Bolton v. Stone" (1951), the House of Lords held that a defendant was not negligent if the damage to the plaintiff were not a reasonably foreseeable consequence of his conduct. In the case, a Miss Stone was struck on the head by a cricket ball while standing outside a cricket ground. Finding that no batsman would normally be able hit a cricket ball far enough to reach a person standing as far away as was Miss Stone, the court held her claim would fail because the danger was not reasonably or sufficiently foreseeable. As stated in the opinion, 'reasonable risk' cannot be judged with the benefit of hindsight. In "Roe v Minister of Health", Lord Denning said the past should not be viewed through rose coloured spectacles, finding no negligence on the part of medical professionals accused of using contaminated medical jars, since contemporary standards would have indicated only a low possibility of medical jar contamination.


title: Negligence

text: Further establishment of conditions of intention or malice where applicable may apply in cases of gross negligence.


title: Negligence

text: In order for liability to result from a negligent act or omission, it is necessary to prove not only that the injury was caused by that negligence, but also that there is a legally sufficient connection between the act and the negligence.


title: Negligence

text: For a defendant to be held liable, it must be shown that the particular acts or omissions were the cause of the loss or damage sustained. Although the notion sounds simple, the causation between one's breach of duty and the harm that results to another can at times be very complicated. The basic test is to ask whether the injury would have occurred 'but for', or without, the accused party's breach of the duty owed to the injured party. In Australia, the High Court has held that the 'but for' test is not the exclusive test of causation because it cannot address a situation where there is more than one cause of damage. When 'but for' test is not satisfied and the case is an exceptional one, a commonsense test ('Whether and Why' test) will be applied


title: Negligence

text: Even more precisely, if a breaching party materially increases the risk of harm to another, then the breaching party can be sued to the value of harm that he caused.


title: Negligence

text: Asbestos litigations which have been ongoing for decades revolve around the issue of causation. Interwoven with the simple idea of a party causing harm to another are issues on insurance bills and compensations, which sometimes drove compensating companies out of business.


title: Negligence

text: Sometimes factual causation is distinguished from 'legal causation' to avert the danger of defendants being exposed to, in the words of Cardozo, J., "liability in an indeterminate amount for an indeterminate time to an indeterminate class." It is said a new question arises of how remote a consequence a person's harm is from another's negligence. We say that one's negligence is 'too remote' (in England) or not a 'proximate cause' (in the U.S.) of another's harm if one would 'never' reasonably foresee it happening. Note that a 'proximate cause' in U.S. terminology (to do with the chain of events between the action and the injury) should not be confused with the 'proximity test' under the English duty of care (to do with closeness of relationship). The idea of legal causation is that if no one can foresee something bad happening, and therefore take care to avoid it, how could anyone be responsible? For instance, in "Palsgraf v. Long Island Rail Road Co." the judge decided that the defendant, a railway, was not liable for an injury suffered by a distant bystander. The plaintiff, Palsgraf, was hit by coin-operated scale which toppled because of fireworks explosion that fell on her as she waited on a train platform. The scales fell because of a far-away commotion but it was not clear that what type of commotion caused the scale to fall, either it was the explosion's effect or the confused movement of the terrified people. A train conductor had run to help a man into a departing train. The man was carrying a package as he jogged to jump in the train door. The package had fireworks in it. The conductor mishandled the passenger or his package, causing the package to fall. The fireworks slipped and exploded on the ground causing shockwaves to travel through the platform, which became the cause of commotion on platform, and as a consequence, the scales fell. Because Palsgraf was hurt by the falling scales, she sued the train company who employed the conductor for negligence.


title: Negligence

text: The defendant train company argued it should not be liable as a matter of law, because despite the fact that they employed the employee, who was negligent, his negligence was too remote from the plaintiff's injury. On appeal, the majority of the court agreed, with four judges adopting the reasons, written by Judge Cardozo, that the defendant owed no duty of care to the plaintiff, because a duty was owed only to foreseeable plaintiffs. Three judges dissented, arguing, as written by Judge Andrews, that the defendant owed a duty to the plaintiff, regardless of foreseeability, because all men owe one another a duty not to act negligently.


title: Negligence

text: Such disparity of views on the element of remoteness continues to trouble the judiciary. Courts that follow Cardozo's view have greater control in negligence cases. If the court can find that, as a matter of law, the defendant owed no duty of care to the plaintiff, the plaintiff will lose his case for negligence before having a chance to present to the jury. Cardozo's view is the majority view. However, some courts follow the position put forth by Judge Andrews. In jurisdictions following the minority rule, defendants must phrase their remoteness arguments in terms of proximate cause if they wish the court to take the case away from the jury.


title: Negligence

text: Remoteness takes another form, seen in "The Wagon Mound (No. 2)". The Wagon Mound was a ship in Sydney harbour. The ship leaked oil creating a slick in part of the harbour. The wharf owner asked the ship owner about the danger and was told he could continue his work because the slick would not burn. The wharf owner allowed work to continue on the wharf, which sent sparks onto a rag in the water which ignited and created a fire which burnt down the wharf. The Privy Council determined that the wharf owner 'intervened' in the causal chain, creating a responsibility for the fire which canceled out the liability of the ship owner.


title: Negligence

text: In Australia the concept of remoteness, or proximity, was tested with the case of "Jaensch v Coffey". The wife of a policeman, Mrs Coffey suffered a nervous shock injury from the aftermath of a motor vehicle collision although she was not actually at the scene at the time of the collision. The court upheld that, in addition to it being reasonably foreseeable that his wife might suffer such an injury, it required that there be sufficient proximity between the plaintiff and the defendant who caused the collision. Here there was sufficient causal proximity. See also "Kavanagh v Akhtar", "Imbree v McNeilly", and "Tame v NSW".


title: Negligence

text: Even though there is breach of duty, and the cause of some injury to the defendant, a plaintiff may not recover unless he can prove that the defendant's breach caused a pecuniary injury. This should not be mistaken with the requirements that a plaintiff prove harm to recover. As a general rule, a plaintiff can only rely on a legal remedy to the point that he proves that he suffered a loss; it was reasonably foreseeable. It means something more than pecuniary loss is a necessary element of the plaintiff's case in negligence. When damages are not a necessary element, a plaintiff can win his case without showing that he suffered any loss; he would be entitled to nominal damages and any other damages according to proof. (See "Constantine v Imperial Hotels Ltd" [1944] KB]).


title: Negligence

text: Negligence is different in that the plaintiff must prove his loss, and a particular kind of loss, to recover. In some cases, a defendant may not dispute the loss, but the requirement is significant in cases where a defendant cannot deny his negligence, but the plaintiff suffered no pecuniary loss as a result even though he had suffered emotional injury or damage but he cannot be compensated for these kind of losses. The plaintiff can be compensated for emotional or non-pecuniary losses on the condition that If the plaintiff can prove pecuniary loss, then he can also obtain damages for non-pecuniary injuries, such as emotional distress.


title: Negligence

text: The requirement of pecuniary loss can be shown in a number of ways. A plaintiff who is physically injured by allegedly negligent conduct may show that he had to pay a medical bill. If his property is damaged, he could show the income lost because he could not use it, the cost to repair it, although he could only recover for one of these things.


title: Negligence

text: The damage may be physical, purely economic, both physical and economic (loss of earnings following a personal injury,) or reputational (in a defamation case).


title: Negligence

text: In English law, the right to claim for purely economic loss is limited to a number of 'special' and clearly defined circumstances, often related to the nature of the duty to the plaintiff as between clients and lawyers, financial advisers, and other professions where money is central to the consultative services.


title: Negligence

text: Emotional distress has been recognized as an actionable tort. Generally, emotional distress damages had to be parasitic. That is, the plaintiff could recover for emotional distress caused by injury, but only if it accompanied a physical or pecuniary injury.


title: Negligence

text: A claimant who has suffered only emotional distress and no pecuniary loss would not recover for negligence. However, courts have recently allowed recovery for a plaintiff to recover for purely emotional distress under certain circumstances. The state courts of California allowed recovery for emotional distress aloneeven in the absence of any physical injury, when the defendant physically injures a relative of the plaintiff, and the plaintiff witnesses it.


title: Negligence

text: The eggshell skull rule is a legal doctrine upheld in some tort law systems, which holds that a tortfeasor is liable for the full extent of damage caused, even where the extent of the damage is due to the unforeseen frailty of the claimant. The eggshell skull rule was recently maintained in Australia in the case of "Kavanagh v Akhtar".


title: Negligence

text: "Res ipsa loquitor". This is Latin for "the thing speaks for itself." To prove negligence under this doctrine the plaintiff must prove (1) the incident does not usually happen without negligence, (2) the object that caused the harm was under the defendant's control and (3) the plaintiff did not contribute to the cause.


title: Negligence

text: Negligence "per se" comes down to whether or not a party violated a standard in law meant to protect the public such as a building code or speed limit.


title: Negligence

text: Damages place a monetary value on the harm done, following the principle of "restitutio in integrum" (Latin for "restoration to the original condition"). Thus, for most purposes connected with the quantification of damages, the degree of culpability in the breach of the duty of care is irrelevant. Once the breach of the duty is established, the only requirement is to compensate the victim.


title: Negligence

text: One of the main tests that is posed when deliberating whether a claimant is entitled to compensation for a tort, is the "reasonable person". The test is self-explanatory: would a reasonable person (as determined by a judge or jury), under the given circumstances, have done what the defendant did to cause the injury in question; or, in other words, would a reasonable person, acting reasonably, have engaged in similar conduct when compared to the one whose actions caused the injury in question? Simple as the "reasonable person" test sounds, it is very complicated. It is a risky test because it involves the opinion of either the judge or the jury that can be based on limited facts. However, as vague as the "reasonable person" test seems, it is extremely important in deciding whether or not a plaintiff is entitled to compensation for a negligence tort.


title: Negligence

text: Damages are compensatory in nature. Compensatory damages addresses a plaintiff/claimant's losses (in cases involving physical or mental injury the amount awarded also compensates for pain and suffering). The award should make the plaintiff whole, sufficient to put the plaintiff back in the position he or she was before Defendant's negligent act. Anything more would unlawfully permit a plaintiff to profit from the tort.


title: Negligence

text: There are also two other general principles relating to damages. Firstly, the award of damages should take place in the form of a single lump sum payment. Therefore, a defendant should not be required to make periodic payments (however some statutes give exceptions for this). Secondly, the Court is not concerned with how the plaintiff uses the award of damages. For example, if a plaintiff is awarded $100,000 for physical harm, the plaintiff is not required to spend this money on medical bills to restore them to their original position – they can spend this money any way they want.


title: Negligence

text: With regard to negligence, Indian jurisprudence follows the approach stated in "Ratanlal & Dhirajlal: The Law of Torts", laying down three elements:


title: Negligence

text: The Indian approach to professional negligence requires that any skilled task requires a skilled professional. Such a professional would be expected to be exercising his skill with reasonable competence. Professionals may be held liable for negligence on one of two findings:


title: Negligence

text: The United States generally recognizes four elements to a negligence action: duty, breach, proximate causation and injury. A plaintiff who makes a negligence claim must prove all four elements of negligence in order to win his or her case. Therefore, if it is highly unlikely that the plaintiff can prove one of the elements, the defendant may request judicial resolution early on, to prevent the case from going to a jury. This can be by way of a demurrer, motion to dismiss, or motion for summary judgment.


title: Negligence

text: The elements allow a defendant to test a plaintiff's accusations before trial, as well as providing a guide to the finder of fact at trial (the judge in a bench trial, or jury in a jury trial) to decide whether the defendant is or is not liable. Whether the case is resolved with or without trial again depends heavily on the particular facts of the case, and the ability of the parties to frame the issues to the court. The duty and causation elements in particular give the court the greatest opportunity to take the case from the jury, because they directly involve questions of policy. The court can find that regardless of any disputed facts, the case may be resolved as a matter of law from undisputed facts because as a matter of law the defendant cannot be legally responsible for the plaintiff's injury under a theory of negligence.


title: Negligence

text: On appeal, depending on the disposition of the case and the question on appeal, the court reviewing a trial court's determination that the defendant was negligent will analyze at least one of the elements of the cause of action to determine if it is properly supported by the facts and law. For example, in an appeal from a final judgment after a jury verdict, the appellate court will review the record to verify that the jury was properly instructed on each contested element, and that the record shows sufficient evidence for the jury's findings. On an appeal from a dismissal or judgment against the plaintiff without trial, the court will review "de novo" whether the court below properly found that the plaintiff could not prove any or all of his or her case.


title: Said Nurmagomedov

text: Said Nurmagomedov (born April 5, 1992) is a Russian mixed martial artist, currently competing as a bantamweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 2009, he formerly competed for Absolute Championship Berkut and World Fighting Championship Akhmat. He is a former AFC Bantamweight Champion. As of December 6, 2022, he is #15 in the UFC bantamweight rankings.


title: Said Nurmagomedov

text: Said Nurmagomedov made his professional MMA debut in 2009 at World Ultimate Full Contact 15, facing the undefeated 4–0 Oscar Nave. He won the bout in the first round by way of an armbar. After a three year break, he returned in 2012 at Vale Tudo 3 to fight the debuting Jolon Uulu Jayloobay. Said won the fight in the first round by way of an armbar. Said returned in 2013 to welcome another debutante, Akhmed Sarapov, at Liga Kavkaz - Battle in Khiv 1. Nurmagomedov scored the first KO win of his career, ending the fight in the dying seconds of the first round.


title: Said Nurmagomedov

text: In 2014 Nurmagomedov signed with Absolute Championship Berkut, with his first fight being against the experienced Asulan Toktarbaev, at ACB 1 bantamweight Grand Prix. Said won a unanimous decision. In the next round of the bantamweight Grand Prix, at ACB 4 he faced Magomed-Emin Khazhgeriev, again winning by a unanimous decision. In the penultimate bout of the Grand Prix, at ACB 7, he fought against the undefeated German Barsegyan. He won by TKO, after the doctor stopped the fight in the first round. In the final of the Grand Prix, Nurmagomedov faced the undefeated Magomed Bibulatov, losing the final by a unanimous decision.


title: Said Nurmagomedov

text: He would then move to World Fighting Championship Akhmat two years later, with his first fight being against the veteran Diego Marlon, winning a unanimous decision. At WFCA 22 he would face Walter Pereira Jr, winning a unanimous decision. He fought against Abdul-Rakhman Dudaev during WFA 30 for the vacant AFC Bantamweight Championship. Said won a unanimous decision to become the AFC bantamweight champion. During WFCA 35 he fought Anderson dos Santos. Following several jumping knees in the clinch, Said ended the fight by submission in the first round. In his final fight with World Fighting Championship Akhmat he won a unanimous decision against Luis Nogueira at WFC 42.


title: Said Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov made his promotional debut on July 14, 2018, at UFC Fight Night 133 against Justin Scoggins. He won the fight via split decision.


title: Said Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov next faced Ricardo Ramos on February 2, 2019, at UFC Fight Night 144. He won the fight via TKO in the first round.


title: Said Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov faced Raoni Barcelos on December 21, 2019, at UFC Fight Night 165. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Said Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov faced promotional newcomer Mark Striegl, whose debut was delayed after testing positive for COVID-19, on October 18, 2020, at UFC Fight Night 180. He won the fight via knockout in round one.


title: Said Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov was scheduled to face Jack Shore at UFC Fight Night 191 However, Nurmagomedov was pulled from the event due to visa issues, and was replaced by Zviad Lazishvili.


title: Said Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov faced Cody Stamann on January 22, 2022, at UFC 270. He won the fight via submission in round one. This win earned him the "Performance of the Night" award.


title: Said Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov faced Douglas Silva de Andrade on July 9, 2022, at UFC on ESPN 39. He won the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Said Nurmagomedov

text: Nurmagomedov faced Saidyokub Kakhramonov on December 17, 2022, at UFC Fight Night 216. He won the fight via submission in round two.


title: The Wedding Date

text: The Wedding Date is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Clare Kilner and starring Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, and Amy Adams. Based on the 2002 novel "Asking for Trouble" by Elizabeth Young, the film is about a single woman who hires a male escort to pose as her boyfriend at her sister's wedding in order to dupe her ex-fiancé, who dumped her a few years prior. Despite the film receiving negative reviews from critics, it was commercially successful, achieving $47 million worldwide at the box office against a budget of $15 million.


title: The Wedding Date

text: Kat Ellis is a single New Yorker who returns to her parents' house in London to be the maid of honor at her younger half-sister Amy's wedding. The best man is her former fiancé, who unexpectedly dumped her two years ago. Anxious about confronting and eager to impress him, she hires suave escort Nick Mercer to pose as her boyfriend.


title: The Wedding Date

text: Kat intends to make her former flame, Jeffrey, jealous, but her plan backfires when Nick convinces everyone, including her, that they are madly in love. Kat then feels herself, too, falling for Nick as he slowly falls for her.


title: The Wedding Date

text: The night before the wedding, Kat discovers Amy slept with Jeffrey when they were still together, and he dumped Kat because he believed he was in love with Amy. Nick had discovered this a day earlier, and when Kat finds that out, she feels betrayed from all sides, and puts Nick off. He decides to return to America, and leaves Kat the money she had paid him.


title: The Wedding Date

text: On the wedding day, seeing Kat distressed, her step-father asks her if Nick 'is the guy for you'. Kat realizes he is, so she sets off to find him. Meanwhile, just before the wedding ceremony, Amy confesses her betrayal to her fiancé, Ed, but professes her love for him. Upset, Ed chases Jeffrey out of the church and down the road. Jeffrey says he gave up on Amy and believes he's done nothing wrong. To which Ed, calls him a "back-stabbing weasel", though Jeffrey believes he's still not in the wrong as he slept with Amy before they dated. Ed shouts out that he was engaged to Kat, proving he was still in the wrong for what he did to Kat.


title: The Wedding Date

text: Nick picks up Ed in a car as Jeffrey disappears into the woods. They talk about love, and Ed decides he loves Amy more than he is angry. To make it clearer he should go back, Nick tells Ed if he went back the couple would end up having great makeup sex. They return to the church, with Nick as 'new' best man. Just before the ceremony, Nick tells Kat he realized he'd "... rather fight with you than make love with anyone else", and they kiss passionately.


title: The Wedding Date

text: Kat and Nick begin a real relationship. Amy and Kat now reconcile, Kat lets go of her anger and forgives Amy as she confessed the truth to Ed. TJ, Kat's cousin also apparently enjoys a moment with Woody after the wedding. Jeffrey learns absolutely nothing, at the end he is seen trying to get the attention of a female neighbor.


title: The Wedding Date

text: Some outdoor scenes where they are playing rounders were filmed on location in Parliament Hill Fields, overlooking central London. The film was also filmed in parts of Surrey, mainly Shere, Godalming and Guildford.


title: The Wedding Date

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 11% based on 140 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Critics are leaving "The Wedding Date" at the altar, calling it shopworn, bland, and lightweight." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 32 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: The Wedding Date

text: The film was a reasonable financial success grossing $47 million, about three times its $15 million budget.


title: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun

text: High school student Chiyo Sakura has a crush on schoolmate Umetarou Nozaki. When she confesses her love to him, he mistakes her for a fan and gives her an autograph. When she says she wants to be with him, he invites her to his house and has her help on some drawings. Sakura discovers that Nozaki is actually a renowned "shōjo" manga artist working under the pen name Sakiko Yumeno. She agrees to be his assistant in order to get closer to him. As they work on his manga , they encounter other schoolmates, who assist them and serve as inspirations for the story.


title: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun

text: Izumi Tsubaki began serializing the manga in Square Enix's online magazine "Gangan Online" on August 25, 2011. As of August 2022, the series has been collected into fourteen "tankōbon" volumes. Apart from the comics, an official fanbook and an anthology manga (containing stories by Satsuki Yoshino ("Barakamon"), Yasunobu Yamauchi ("Daily Lives of High School Boys"), Tachibana Higuchi ("Gakuen Alice"), Shigeru Takao, and Dan Ichikawa) have also been published, both on August 22, 2014. North American publisher Yen Press announced that they had licensed the series at Sakura-Con in April 2015. Individual chapters are called "issues".


title: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun

text: Frontier Works released a drama CD on June 26, 2013 featuring the casts below which differ from the later produced anime. It reached number 32 on Oricon's CD Album rankings.


title: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun

text: Media Factory announced an anime adaptation on March 21, 2014 and the anime's official website posted several videos, revealing key cast and staff members, which differ from the drama CD. The anime is produced by Doga Kobo and directed by Mitsue Yamazaki, who had worked on "" and "Durarara". Series composition is handled by Yoshiko Nakamura. Junichirō Taniguchi, who did the second season of "Genshiken" and the "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" film, is in charge of character design. It premiered on July 7, 2014 on TV Tokyo, followed by TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TSC, TV Hokkaido, TVQ, AT-X over the rest of the week. The opening theme, titled is composed and performed by Masayoshi Ōishi, and the ending theme is performed by Ari Ozawa under her character name, Chiyo Sakura.


title: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun

text: On July 25, 2014, Sentai Filmworks announced it has licensed the series for home video release. Media Factory released it on Blu-ray and DVD formats in Japan starting on September 24, 2014 across six volumes. Mini-OVA specials were bundled with each Blu-ray/DVD volume.


title: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun

text: The series began streaming on Netflix on May 1, 2020, including dubs in English, Spanish and Portuguese.


title: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun

text: The manga's second volume reached number 18 on Oricon's weekly manga chart, its third volume reached number 11, and its fourth volume debuted at number 5 with 117,310 copies. The fifth manga volume debuted at number 4, selling 185,392 copies. The series placed at number 3 on a list of top 15 manga recommended by bookstores in 2013, and ranked number 11 in the list of top 20 manga for female readers of the 2014 edition of Takarajimasha's "Kono Manga ga Sugoi!" guidebook, which surveys manga industry professionals. It was a nominee for the 8th Manga Taishō.


title: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun

text: The official fan book reached number 14, and the anthology book reached number 17 on Oricon's weekly best-sellers chart.


title: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun

text: Greg Smith of The Fandom Post found the anime adaptation to be a "both a celebration and a send-up of shoujo manga at the same time". He found it to have a natural flow and enjoyed the emotions and expressions presented by the characters. He gave the series an A, noting it was one of the two consistently funny comedies of the season. He liked that "there was in general a lack of meanness or malice (except towards Maeno, which was quite well deserved)," and that it effectively showcased the absurdity of shojo tropes. Andy Hanley of UK Anime Network gave the series 7 out of 10, highlighting its charming and lovable cast as well as the show's visuals, although he would not call it a comedy classic. Dee Hogan, in an article for "The Mary Sue", found the show to be "simultaneously very funny and sneakily brilliant" and wrote about how the show "manages the rare feat of a triple-reversal, and all three deal with our understanding of gender roles in fiction".


title: Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun

text: The reviewers at Anime News Network listed the anime as one of the best of the year for 2014, with Amy McNulty and Theron Martin naming it their top pick. Kelly Quinn of Tor.com also listed it among her top 10 best shows of 2014.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: The ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy is a national dispute in the Philippines regarding the renewal of the congressional franchise that would have allowed Philippine media network ABS-CBN to continue broadcasting.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Disputes between the government of President Rodrigo Duterte and ABS-CBN arose on the terms and conditions of the franchise renewal agreement. Amid the controversy, the Congress of the Philippines, country's legislature, was unable to renew the franchise before its expiration date. The congressional franchise expired on May 4, 2020, as the Philippines was dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon. The next day, exercising constitutional powers, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) then issued a cease-and-desist order demanding ABS-CBN to cease all of its free TV and radio broadcasting immediately. ABS-CBN complied with the government order and shut down all of its radio stations and free television channels later that day. On June 30, 2020, the NTC and Solicitor General Jose Calida released two alias cease-and-desist orders against ABS-CBN TV Plus and Sky Direct.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Beginning in 2014 (during the presidency of Benigno Aquino III), the network had repeatedly applied for the renewal of their broadcast franchise through private bills that had been pending in the House of Representatives but had not been addressed by the 16th, 17th, and 18th congresses of the Philippines. Prominent figures in ABS-CBN Corporation, the political opposition in the Philippines, media advocacy groups, and the international press have labeled the refusal of Congress to renew the franchise as a result of Duterte's pressure for ABS-CBN to cease broadcasting and a direct attack on the country's democracy and press freedoms, although sources from the previous administration reported that there was lack of support for renewal because "Mr. Aquino’s allies felt the criticisms against the President were too personal and offensive and went to the point of nitpicking." Duterte's ruling coalition maintains a supermajority in both chambers of Congress, and Duterte criticized the ABS-CBN Network for their allegedly biased and unfavorable news coverage against Duterte beginning with his presidential campaign in the 2016 Philippine presidential election, repeatedly voicing his opposition against the renewal of the network's congressional franchise. ABS-CBN subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court of the Philippines to nullify as unconstitutional the cease-and-desist order.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: The resulting franchise expiration and withdrawal of its broadcast rights marked the first time ABS-CBN, considered a historical and cultural icon in the Philippines, had been off the air since the 1986 revolution, having been seized and liquidated by the authoritarian government of the Martial Law dictatorship from 1972 until the regime's collapse in 1986. Critics of the Duterte government consider the NTC's cease-and-desist order and the denial of the franchise application as contributing to a growing democratic backsliding in the Philippines under the Duterte administration.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: As prescribed by the American Insular government-era Act No. 3846, or the Radio Control Act, which became effective in 1931 (later amended in 1963), broadcasting networks require a congressional franchise to operate television and radio stations, which usually lasts for up to 25 years. ABS-CBN, which had been operating since June 13, 1946, made its first television broadcast on October 23, 1953, had last been granted a 25-year franchise extension on March 30, 1995, under Republic Act No. 7966 (but later implemented on May 4, 1995). This expired on May 4, 2020, as upheld by the Department of Justice (DOJ).


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: The Philippines is touted to have the "freest and liveliest press" in Asia, where media is considered a watchdog and a "fourth estate" helping to maintain the checks and balances of democratic governance.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Despite this, the country is consistently ranked as one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists. In May 2020, it slipped two spots down to 136th place (out of 180 countries) in the World Press Freedom Index.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Media watchdogs such as Reporters Without Borders, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, Amnesty International, the Photojournalists' Center of the Philippines (PCP), Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP), and the Consortium on Democracy and Disinformation (D&D) have noted that various forms of attacks against the press have increased since the Duterte administration came to power in 2016 – with the "Philippine Daily Inquirer", news website Rappler, nonprofit media organizations like Vera Files and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and ABS-CBN being particular targets because of coverage critical of the administration.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Many of these media watchdogs have issued statements placing the ABS-CBN broadcast stoppage in the context of systemic attacks against press freedom in the Philippines. Media groups and people's organizations denounced the shutdown order for being a loss of democracy, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press. Some groups also placed the matter in the context of attacks and harassment aimed at those that criticize the government.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: The ABS-CBN broadcast network is acknowledged to be one of the Philippines' oldest and most influential media networks, run by the Lopez family. The company generates about 50 to 60 percent of the group's total annual revenue, mainly from selling airtime of its television and radio properties to advertisers. The remaining revenue is generated from consumer sales through the distribution of cable and international channels, operations of over-the-top platform services, and a family entertainment center in Taguig. According to the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), ABS-CBN Corporation controlled "somewhere between 31% and 44%" of the Philippines' total television market as of 2020.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Before the 2020 stoppage, ABS-CBN had been closed down on September 23, 1972, when martial law under Ferdinand Marcos was announced and the station's television and radio stations were sequestered. Marcos' Letter of Instruction No. 1-A, signed September 22, 1972 and addressed to the Secretary of the Department of National Defense, accused ABS-CBN and the Associated Broadcasting Corporation (now known as TV5) of delivering "deliberately slanted and overly exaggerated news stories and commentaries," of promoting the ends of the Communist Party of the Philippines, and of having been instrumental in an assassination attempt on Marcos. This stoppage lasted until July 1986, when the sequestered stations were recovered, and the frequencies returned to ABS-CBN.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: During those 13 years, use of the company's frequencies (except DZXL-AM 620, awarded to KBS/RPN as DWWW, DZMM-AM 1000, awarded to GMA (later Nation Broadcasting Corporation) as DWXX (now DZAR Sonshine Radio), DZMY-AM 1160 awarded to BBC as DWWA, DZQL-AM 830, awarded to Office of Civil Defense as DZCA, and DZXL-TV 4, awarded to the government-owned National Media Production Center for the launch of Government Television as DWGT-TV in 1974) was awarded to the Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) owned by Marcos crony and sugar plantation owner Roberto Benedicto and was launched on November 4, 1973. Under martial law, BBC formed a de facto media monopoly with Kanlaon Broadcasting System/Radio Philippines Network (KBS/RPN), Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC, acquired in 1975), and government-owned Government Television/Maharlika Broadcasting System (GTV/MBS). The company's headquarters, the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center, was also sequestered without compensation from the network's owners and was renamed as Broadcast Plaza to serve as headquarters of BBC, KBS/RPN, GTV/MBS and, from 1980, the Bureau of Broadcasts (BB). Moreover, copies of the old pre-Martial Law ABS-CBN shows had also been lost due to the raid by Marcos troops.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Marcos was eventually deposed by the People Power Revolution of February 1986. The newly created revolutionary government agency Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) sequestered and later dissolved BBC and returned the frequencies to ABS-CBN in July 1986, eventually resuming broadcast on September 16, 1986.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: In 2014 and 2015, ABS-CBN requested the 16th Congress to tackle the extension of its franchise early, although its renewal was not due until six years later, in 2020.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Media sources in the legislature indicated that the network's 2016 initiative was the result of having been "particularly singled out" by supporters of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte because of the perception that they "consistently showed him in a negative light". The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that a member of the House legislative franchise committee said ABS-CBN "did not want to risk going through the renewal under an 'unfriendly' administration".


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: The Inquirer's source also said that the initiative "lacked support from President Benigno Aquino III's allies in the House" because they felt that ABS-CBN's criticisms against Aquino were "too personal and offensive and went to the point of nitpicking".


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attributed his objection to the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN to an election ad controversy during the campaign leading up to the 2016 Philippine presidential election. He said the network refused to air his 2016 presidential campaign ads and favored the negative political ads paid by then-vice presidential candidate Antonio Trillanes critical of his remarks on the campaign trail.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On February 24, 2020, the network's president and chief executive officer Carlo Katigbak apologized to Duterte for not airing his political advertisements during his 2016 polls. Duterte accepted the apology, leaving the franchise's renewal to Congress. ABS-CBN also offered to return the money spent for these advertisements, which Duterte declined, stating that the money should be donated to a charity instead.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Meanwhile, Commission on Elections spokesperson James Jimenez defended the controversial ad as well within Election Law, under "Partisan Political Activity".


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Throughout his term, which coincides with the 17th and 18th Congress, Duterte publicly reiterated that he would oppose the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Opposition lawmakers, as well as labor groups, objected to Duterte's stand on ABS-CBN as the franchise non-renewal will compromise the employees of the network; stating that the blocking of the franchise renewal had no merit. Opposition groups have expressed their opinions that the non-renewal of the franchise violates press freedom.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Duterte later changed his stance after the network's apology, stating that he would not interfere with the franchise renewal in Congress. However, Duterte did not say whether he would veto the bill or not.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: In November 2016, Nueva Ecija representative Micaela Violago filed House Bill 4349 in the 17th Congress to renew the network's franchise. The 17th Congress adjourned sine die with the bill never getting out of committee.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: During the 18th Congress of the Philippines, at least 12 house representatives and two senators filed their versions for a new network franchise. House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano made assurances that Congress will tackle the franchise with fairness.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On January 6, 2020, Albay representative Edcel Lagman filed House Resolution 639, urging the House Committee on Legislative Franchises for its immediate action on the several bills lodged to the committee. At least 91 other representatives signed the resolution.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On February 24, 2020, the Congress finally made its decision to tackle their franchise renewal. During a Senate hearing on the same day, public services panel chair Grace Poe stated they were to tackle ABS-CBN's compliance with the terms and conditions of its franchise. The conclusion was that there was no breach of laws or franchise terms. The following is a summary of the findings:


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On February 10, 2020, Solicitor General of the Philippines Jose Calida filed a "quo warranto" petition before the Supreme Court of the Philippines seeking to revoke ABS-CBN's franchise and that of its subsidiary ABS-CBN Convergence over alleged breaches of its franchise, including operating its pay-per-view service Kapamilya Box Office (KBO), constitutional restriction on foreign ownership of mass media, and resorted to an ingenious corporate layering scheme, to transfer its subsidiary's franchise without Congressional approval. The network responded to disprove the allegations leveled against it.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Within the same month, various congressmen urged the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to grant a provisional authority to ABS-CBN to continue operations after the lapse of its current franchise until Congress should have decided on its franchise application. Having consulted with the Department of Justice (DOJ), the NTC affirmed in March 2020 that it would "likely" issue a provisional authority to ABS-CBN and "let ABS-CBN continue operations based on equity". However, the Federation of International Cable TV and Telecommunications Associations of the Philippines (FICTAP) questioned the provisional authority, stating that it would be unconstitutional.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On June 23, 2020, the Supreme Court of the Philippines dismissed the "quo warranto" petition to revoke ABS-CBN Corporation's franchise, stating that the petition was moot and academic as the franchise had already expired, therefore the Court would not be changing anything by voiding the franchise "ab initio". However, the "quo warranto" petition filed against ABS-CBN Convergence Inc. for allegedly illegally operating remains pending.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On March 5, 2020, lawyer Larry Gadon filed a "petition for prohibition" before the Supreme Court of the Philippines, seeking to stop Telecommunications Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, and House Committee on Legislative Franchises Chairman Franz Alvarez from issuing ABS-CBN's provisional authority, saying the provisional authority to operate violates the doctrine of separation of powers.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Sixteen days after the shutdown, Gadon announces that he is withdrawing the petition which he filed, seeking to stop Cordoba, Cayetano, and Alvarez from issuing provisional authority, stating that was rendered moot and the act sought to be prevented no longer exists.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On June 2, 2020, the Supreme Court of the Philippines dismissed the "petition for the prohibition" against Telecommunications Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, and House Committee on Legislative Franchises Chairman Franz Alvarez from issuing provisional authority, stating that the court does not deem it efficient.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On May 3, 2020, Calida warned the NTC against granting the provisional authority to ABS-CBN, citing a Supreme Court decision in 2014, stating that provisional authority can only be granted after the franchise is secured in Congress. In the same statement, Calida cautioned that the agency would put itself at risk of prosecution under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act should they issue the provisional authority without a legal franchise being held by ABS-CBN's operating companies and that a 1991 DOJ opinion stating the NTC may issue provisional authority without a legal franchise was overturned by the Supreme Court.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On May 5, 2020, Philippine House Committee on Legislative Franchises chairperson Franz Alvarez warned the NTC from backtracking. If they did, the NTC could be held in contempt for refusal to issue a provisional authority to ABS-CBN. Six days before, the House Committee on Legislative Franchises issued a show cause order against NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba, Deputy Commissioners Edgardo Cabarios, Delilah Deles, and Legal Branch Head Ella Blanca Lopez to explain why should not be cited in contempt for issuing the cease and desist order against ABS-CBN. The NTC responded by stating that it was legally bound to order the shutdown of ABS-CBN and apologized to the House of Representatives for failing to notify it of the shutdown order.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On the same day, NTC issued a cease and desist order to immediately close its free-to-air broadcasting operations, including its radio stations DZMM, S+A, and MOR Philippines, following the expiration of its broadcast franchise the day before. The cease and desist order covers 42 free television stations operated by ABS-CBN across the country, including the main ABS-CBN Network, ten digital broadcast channels, 18 FM stations, and five AM stations. However, ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), The Filipino Channel (TFC), DZMM TeleRadyo (renamed TeleRadyo due to the inclusion of DZMM in the order), and its sister cable channels (run by subsidiary Creative Programs including Metro Channel, which was named after Metro Magazines whose publisher is ABS-CBN Publishing), as well as its online properties, and production companies Star Music and Star Cinema, were allowed to continue as their operations are not contingent on the legislative franchise.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Following the news program "TV Patrol", the network signed off the air at 7:52 pm (PST)"." ABS-CBN executives Carlo Katigbak and Mark Lopez aired statements on the program appealing the NTC's cease and desist order. The newscast was also simulcast on DZMM, S+A, and MOR stations."" DZMM radio and television counterpart signed off at 8:20 pm, following "SRO: Suhestyon, Reaksyon at Opinyon" and rebranded simply as TeleRadyo following the newscast and the digital television networks available on ABS-CBN TV Plus including Asianovela Channel, Movie Central, and the terrestrial operations of Jeepney TV, Myx, O Shopping, and Knowledge Channel also signed off. After the cease and desist order, Cine Mo!, Yey!, and the KBO remain unaffected (during the television premiere of "The Mall, The Merrier" on KBO channel from May 1–6, 2020).


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Along with the order, NTC gave ABS-CBN 10 days to explain why its assigned frequencies should not be recalled. In response on May 15, 2020, ABS-CBN reasoned that "it would be detrimental to the public interest as it would hamper the ability of ABS-CBN to immediately resume serving the public through its broadcasts, once the franchise is granted". Additionally, House Bill 6732 was proposed by House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano on May 13, 2020, which would have granted the network a provisional franchise to operate until October 31, 2020. Subsequently, on May 27, 2020, NTC was told to refrain from carrying out the recall while the Congress deliberates on the measures to grant provisional franchise and a fresh franchise.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On May 7, 2020, "TV Patrol" resumed broadcast on ABS-CBN News Channel, as it simulcast the program from the leading network since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic programming changes. It was also simulcast on its news website, its Facebook and YouTube pages, as well as on The Filipino Channel to viewers outside the country. On May 8, 2020, the following day, "TV Patrol" began airing on Cine Mo! and returned on TeleRadyo.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: ABS-CBN Corporation filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition as well as temporary restraining order (TRO) to the Supreme Court of the Philippines, seeking to nullify the NTC's cease and desist order on May 7, 2020. (See below.) The Senate and the House of the Representatives filed respective bills urging NTC to reconsider its order, as well as to abolish the agency itself.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On May 8, 2020, DZMM TeleRadyo, now rebranded as simply TeleRadyo, resumed its regular programming airing the usual DZMM programming format. TeleRadyo is carried through ABS-CBN TV Plus, making it one of three exclusive channels (the others being Cine Mo! and Yey!) that remain operational on digital free-to-air television after the NTC's order takes effect. ABS-CBN later clarified in a statement that the three channels, along with Kapamilya Box Office channel, continued broadcasting and received in Metro Manila, Laguna province, Iloilo province, and selected areas of Baguio through a block time agreement with AMCARA Broadcasting Network (former owner of Studio 23 from its 1996 launch until ABS-CBN acquired a stake in AMCARA in 2010) owned by the Carandang family. On the same day, MOR Philippines also resumed its online and cable operations through a national programming service set up by the network's flagship station in Metro Manila.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On May 11, 2020, House Representatives Paolo Duterte, Eric Go Yap, and Abraham Tolentino filed House Resolution No. 853, seeking to probe into the corporation's possible violation of its franchise.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On June 1, 2020, Jeepney TV and Asianovela Channel resumed broadcasting on ABS-CBN TV Plus as temporary channel replacements for ABS-CBN and S+A, but both channels are still on free trial.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On June 4, 2020, ABS-CBN announced on "TV Patrol" that a cable-and-satellite channel named Kapamilya Channel would launch on June 13, resuming the productions of ABS-CBN's dramas and live entertainment shows and airing its entertainment, educational, and current affairs programming, along with temporary movie blocks. However, because of the network's temporary suspension of production of entertainment programs during the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (and later shutdown), the dramas "Pamilya Ko" and "Make It With You" confirmed their cancellations and failed to complete their respective stories. Comedy gag show "Banana Sundae" would also not return to air.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On June 30, 2020, the NTC and Solicitor General Jose Calida issued an alias cease-and-desist order demanding ABS-CBN TV Plus to stop further broadcasting all of its digital free-to-air channels on UHF Channel 43 in Metro Manila and some provinces, as well as Sky Direct to stop broadcasting nationwide as compliance to President Duterte's Objection to its franchise bid.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: The Supreme Court initially set the date of tackling ABS-CBN's petition for a TRO on July 13, however, it was moved to August 4.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On May 13, 2020, House Bill 6732, proposed by House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, which grants the network a provisional franchise to operate until October 31, 2020 "unless sooner revoked or canceled", was approved by the House of Representatives convening as a Committee of the Whole. The said bill was awaiting for third and final reading after which it would have been transmitted to the Senate; but on May 19, 2020, the proposal was withdrawn with the chamber opting to go straight to hearing measures seeking to grant the media giant a fresh 25-year franchise.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On May 7, 2020, ABS-CBN filed a petition for "certiorari" and prohibition asking the Court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the implementation of the National Telecommunications Commission's cease and desist order. If granted, this TRO would allow them to operate until the case is decided. However, some lawyers have questioned the legal merits of the petition, as it was filed right to the Supreme Court, even before a motion for reconsideration before the or a case in the Court of Appeals. In the petition, ABS-CBN argues that it is proper to have filed first in the Supreme Court, as the case in their view involves "genuine issues of constitutionality that must be addressed at the most immediate time" and that their petition is of "transcendental importance". On May 18, Larry Gadon filed a motion for consolidation against the ABS-CBN's temporary restraining order, stating that it violates the hiearchy of the courts and the case must be filed at the . The following day, the Court accepted the case, ordered the to reply, and impleaded both the House and Senate and dismissing Gadon's plea for a consolidation. The filed its required comment on May 26.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: The Supreme Court set a further hearing for July 13 on the merits of the petition, though there may not be a ruling on that date. However, the hearing was rescheduled to August 4, 2020.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: The petition to issue a temporary restraining order was dismissed by the Supreme Court on August 25, 2020. In its ruling, the Court invoked the principle of the separation of powers, leaving the matter to Congress.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On October 6, 2020, ABS-CBN Corporation announced a blocktime deal with ZOE Broadcasting Network to air selected ABS-CBN shows from its owned television network on Channel 11's A2Z (formerly ZOE TV) beginning on October 10, after almost three years of speculated rumors. Alongside, the network would also air Light TV-produced programs, ZOE's content partners including CBN Asia and Trinity Broadcasting Network, and others including its blocktimers, licensors, and providers, similar to what GMA News TV (formerly QTV/Q and later GTV) has done before.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On January 18, 2021, the Philippine Star's entertainment columnist Ricky Lo reported that a possible partnership between ABS-CBN and its rival TV5 might happen very soon through its programming partner Cignal TV, which will allow ABS-CBN to air its programs on the rival network and its regional stations, aside from its existing agreement with ZOE Broadcasting Network (which only limited to Mega Manila area). The partnership become evident when ABS-CBN's flagship Sunday variety show "ASAP Natin 'To" is reported to be carried on TV5 beginning January 24, replacing Sunday Noontime Live! (which was headlined by some ABS-CBN talents). Both ABS-CBN and TV5 later confirmed this move in collaboration with Brightlight Productions and Cignal TV on January 21, with a movie block "FPJ: Da King" starring Fernando Poe Jr. also included in the Sunday's lineup.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: YES to the resolution to deny the ABS-CBN franchise (77 - Note: Unofficial list compiled from various news sources. Congressmen refuse to release official list. According to Prof. Jean Franco, associate professor for the University of the Philippines Political Science Department, this translates to lack of transparency and accountability. Franco also stated that the congressmen may be hiding their votes out of fear of vendetta.):


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On September 10, 2020, the NTC issued an order recalling all TV and radio frequencies and channels assigned to ABS-CBN and its related radio and local TV stations. The NTC cited the absence of a "valid legislative franchise" as justification for the order. In addition, the NTC also said that all provisional authorities and certificates of public convenience granted to ABS-CBN were also revoked and canceled.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On December 8, 2020, Buhay Party-List Representative and Deputy Speaker Lito Atienza said that the approval of the ABS-CBN franchise might happen on 2021 under the House leadership of Lord Allan Velasco, as he assures the speaker to give some ample time to settle the franchise. On January 4, 2021, Senate President Tito Sotto filed a Senate Bill No. 1967 that seeks to grant ABS-CBN's franchise for another 25 years, with at least 16 senators backing its support for Sotto's bill. Later that day, Batangas 6th District Representative and Deputy Speaker Vilma Santos-Recto, one of the 11 representatives who voted in favor of the franchise on July 10, 2020, said that she will refile her same franchise bill in the House, which Santos-Recto filed a House Bill No. 8298 on January 18. However, SAGIP Party-List Representative Rodante Marcoleta, one of the 70 representatives who voted against the franchise on July 10, 2020, and the host of Net 25's public affairs program, "Sa Ganang Mamamayan" (lit. "For Citizens"), reiterated that "major changes are needed" for the network to be able to regain its franchise.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On February 9, 2021, during his public address and an IATF meeting over government-owned People's Television Network, Duterte said that he will not allow ABS-CBN to operate, even if a franchise was given to them by Congress until they settle their taxes. The following day, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, in his Malacañang virtual press briefing, said that Duterte would leave it to the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate ABS-CBN over alleged unpaid taxes and condonation of the network's soured loans.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On February 11, 2021, House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said that ABS-CBN's franchise renewal will have to wait until 2022.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On July 26, 2021, during Duterte's State of the Nation Address, Duterte intended to reassign the former frequencies of ABS-CBN to different companies.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On January 5, 2022, Advanced Media Broadcasting System (which airs its flagship TV Station ALLTV), backed by the Villar Group through Planet Cable, was awarded a provisional authority license for the Channel 2 analog frequency and its digital counterpart Channel 16 frequency by the National Telecommunications Commission. On January 26, Channel 23 was awarded to Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, and Channel 43 was awarded to Sonshine Media Network International.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On August 16, 2022, the House of Representatives has originally set a briefing on the investment of ABS-CBN in TV5 on August 18, however the briefing was silently announced its cancellation on the following day that was scheduled to happen on that day. Rodante Marcoleta commented on the deal.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Before the expiration of the broadcast franchise, ABS-CBN talents and employees conducted weekly demonstrations in front of its headquarters in Quezon City as well as in its regional stations from January to February 2020. During these demonstrations, presidential daughter and incumbent Davao City mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio expressed support for the franchise renewal.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: The NTC's cease and desist order on ABS-CBN was met by widespread criticism by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) (in which the network is one of its members), as well as various advocacy groups, business organizations, the local Catholic church, and even some members of the Congress. Several journalists and celebrities from the network and its rival GMA Network expressed solidarity with ABS-CBN after it was ordered to cease its radio and TV broadcast. In addition, former president Benigno Aquino III criticized the shutdown of ABS-CBN, stating that Duterte and his administration made their own "unnecessary problem". The hashtag #NoToABSCBNShutDown topped the local and worldwide Twitter trending lists the same day.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Within a day, numerous colleges and universities in the Philippines, including the UPLB College of Development Communication, Ateneo de Manila University and its Communication Department, the University of Santo Tomas, St. Scholastica's College and its Mass Communication Department, De La Salle University, and the UP Diliman College of Mass Communication released statements supporting the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: The network's shutdown was noted to have placed the job security of 11,000 ABS-CBN employees in jeopardy during the COVID-19 pandemic, though the company assured them a stable salary, as well as a complete health and financial benefits for the next two months following the shutdown. In response, the government may give a 2-month aid to the employees of ABS-CBN.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: GMA Network's shares increased by 24% as the Philippine Stock Exchange voluntarily suspended ABS-CBN's trading. However, investors remained cautious about GMA's stock rally due to the effects of the shutdown on business confidence.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Duterte denied involvement with the network's shutdown, despite earlier assertions that he would oppose franchise renewal. His spokesman, Harry Roque, also thanked the network for its assistance to the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Roque, Duterte could not mark the bill renewing ABS-CBN's franchise as urgent as it would involve private interest and that Duterte would be neutral to the renewal.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On May 5, 2020, GMA Network's primetime news program "24 Oras," interviewed the Federation of International Cable TV and Telecommunications Association of the Philippines (FICTAP) President Estrellita Juliano Tamano, who claimed that ABS-CBN violated their 1995 legislative broadcast by airing six channels. She argued that ABS-CBN should be instead broadcasting in one channel only and instead file for a new franchise for every channel they broadcast.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On May 7, 2020, Philippine Cable and Telecommunications Association Inc (PCTA) President Ronaldo Manlapig argued that there is no need to file for a separate franchise for each channel as ABS-CBN uses digital transmission their frequency, hence the multiple channels.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Public criticism in the early days after the shutdown revolved around the NTC, for lack of fairness on the agency's cease and desist order on the network, and Congress – especially the lower house – for inaction to pass the franchise renewal bill.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: ABS-CBN's shutdown received international attention as news websites, magazines, newspapers, and broadcasters from around the world including, "The New York Times", "The Washington Post," "Variety", BBC News, CBS News, "Time," Al Jazeera, "The Guardian," the Associated Press, ABC News, NHK, KBS, Yonhap News Agency, the "Financial Times," and "The Straits Times" published stories on the network's shutdown.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: The discontinuation of ABS-CBN's terrestrial broadcast operations created difficulties during the onslaught of Typhoon Vongfong (Ambo), when authorities and residents of some distant provinces, including Aurora, Quezon, and Sorsogon, reported being unable to get updated information about the typhoon from other sources because ABS-CBN was the only national television station whose signal could reach them, and internet data was hard to get in their area.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On June 4, 2020, it was announced that Kapamilya Channel would air programs from ABS-CBN such as "Ang Probinsyano" and "ASAP Natin 'To" beginning June 13, 2020, on cable and satellite TV providers nationwide.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Some members of Congress expressed dismay over the decision, including Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who called the denial "defying evidence". Progressive and sectoral groups in the Philippines such as Akbayan, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, and Pamalakaya also slammed the body for the vote. However, on July 13, 2020, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano stood by the decision to deny the network its franchise.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: From July 11 until the end of the month, supporters organized a nightly noise barrage in front of the ABS-CBN studios in Quezon City in opposition to the verdict. Other similarly styled demonstrations were held in front of respective ABS-CBN stations in Davao City, Bacolod, and Naga, Camarines Sur. On July 26, demonstrations in Cagayan de Oro City were marred after three funeral wreaths containing ribbons glorifying unidentified individuals left the New People's Army in front of the ABS-CBN station in the city. National Union of Journalists of the Philippines Western Mindanao Safety Officer JB Deveza called such action "a form of death threat" aimed to intimidate the network employees, and the action appeared to be a part of a coordinated red-tagging operation.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On July 16, a movement named People's Initiative for Reforms and Movement for Action (PIRMA), an independent and organic collective of concerned Filipinos moving to advance reforms via people's initiative and referendum launched a signature campaign called "PIRMA Kapamilya" that aims to grant ABS-CBN a people's franchise via democratic experiment of a people's initiative. The signature campaign started on July 25 and aimed to gather 7 million signatures nationwide (3% of registered voters in each legislative district and at least 10% of total registered voters) as a requirement for the COMELEC to call for a referendum on the franchise.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: In a related manner, Kantar Media Philippines (ABS-CBN's main client and partner) originally announced the closure of its television ratings service by the end of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the broadcast stoppage of ABS-CBN, however, the decision was reversed following the block time deal between ABS-CBN and ZOE, as well as retaining the majority of its existing staff.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: In a related manner, boxing promotion company ALA Promotions (promoted the "Pinoy Pride" series of bouts aired on ABS-CBN and its sister network, S+A) announced its closure on August 18, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the broadcast stoppage of ABS-CBN, while its gym division ALA Gym remained operational.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: On July 15, ABS-CBN released a statement that it would lay off a number of its workers and close down some of its business operations in light of the denial of the franchise effective August 31.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: According to a town-hall meeting called by management hours before the release of the statement, among the first entities bound to close were:


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Other company divisions that announced their respective dissolution and reduction of workforces prior to or beyond the July 15 announcement and the August 31 take effect, unless otherwise noted were:


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: As of December 31, 2020, there were about 5,932 employees and workers that were displaced, retrenched, or laid-off by the company itself, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Among the notable ones were:


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: The ABS-CBN shutdown was attributed to information gaps during the media coverage of typhoons that occurred since November 2020, particularly Super Typhoon Rolly, Typhoon Ulysses, Super Typhoon Odette, Super Typhoon Karding and Typhoon Paeng with reports noting the void left by the closure of its provincial news bureaus and lack of a substantial signal reach in provinces far from Manila.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, however, disagreed with netizens claiming that the shutdown of ABS-CBN exposed “information gaps” in calamities such as Super Typhoon Rolly. Responding to a question, Roque said both private and government media are doing their best in providing news updates to keep the public informed. Roque also vehemently refuted the claim of Vice President Leni Robredo that the absence of ABS-CBN's regional unit left some residents in the dark. Roque said his team has been holding public briefings to update Filipinos about the national situation amid recent calamities.


title: ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy

text: Media experts noted that the shutdown of ABS-CBN has had a chilling effect on newsrooms in the country. Journalism professor Rolando Tolentino defines "chilling effect" as the discouragement of free speech and other legal rights via legal sanction. According to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, after the shutdown, fear had taken over some newsrooms resulting in reluctance to do investigative reports. Journalism professor Danilo Arao said the chilling effect caused coverage by some media outlets to become skewed to favor the President Duterte administration and its supporters.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: The Fellowship, also known as The Family and the International Foundation, is a U.S.-based religious and political organization founded in 1935 by Abraham Vereide. The stated purpose of The Fellowship is to provide a fellowship forum for decision makers to share in Bible studies, prayer meetings, worship of God, and to experience spiritual affirmation and support.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: The Fellowship has been described as one of the most politically well-connected and most secretly funded ministries in the United States. They shun publicity and its members share a vow of secrecy. The Fellowship's former leader, the late Douglas Coe, and others have explained the organization's desire for secrecy by citing biblical admonitions against public displays of good works, insisting they would not be able to tackle diplomatically sensitive missions if they drew public attention.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: The Fellowship holds one regular public event each year, the National Prayer Breakfast, which is in Washington, D.C. Every sitting United States president since Dwight D. Eisenhower has participated in at least one National Prayer Breakfast during his term.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: The group's known participants include ranking United States government officials, corporate executives, heads of religious and humanitarian aid organizations, and ambassadors and high-ranking politicians from across the world. Many United States senators and congressmen have publicly acknowledged working with the Fellowship or are documented as having worked together to pass or influence legislation.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: Doug Burleigh is a key figure in the organization and has taken over organizing the National Prayer Breakfast since the death of his father-in-law, Doug Coe. Prior to that, he had a leadership role in the organization and had spoken at the Russian prayer breakfast.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: In "Newsweek", Lisa Miller wrote that rather than calling themselves "Christians", as they describe themselves, they are brought together by common love for the teachings of Jesus and that all approaches to "loving Jesus" are acceptable.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: The Fellowship Foundation traces its roots to its founder, Abraham Vereide, a Methodist clergyman and social innovator, who organized a month of prayer meetings in 1934 in San Francisco. Vereide was a Norwegian immigrant who founded Goodwill Industries in Seattle in 1916 to assist the city's unemployed Scandinavian immigrant population. Goodwill Industries soon occupied a city block, where they repaired and processed discarded clothing and furniture and converted "waste to wages". The Fellowship was founded in 1935 in opposition to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. His work spread down the West Coast and eventually to Boston.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: The author Jeff Sharlet described the beginning of the Family as a reaction to union activities of Harry Bridges, "The Family really begins when the founder (Abraham Vereide) has this vision, which he thinks comes from God, that Harry Bridges, this Australian labour organiser who organised really the biggest strike in American history, a very successful strike, is a Satanic and Soviet agent."


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: In April 1935, Vereide and Major J.F. Douglas invited 19 business and civic leaders for a prayer breakfast meeting. By 1937, 209 prayer breakfast groups had been organized throughout Seattle. In 1940, 300 men from all over the state of Washington attended a prayer breakfast for the new governor, Arthur Langlie. Vereide traveled throughout the Pacific Northwest, and later around the country, to develop similar groups. The non-denominational groups were meant to informally bring together civic and business leaders to share vision, study the Bible and develop relationships of trust and support.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: The Fellowship Foundation was incorporated by Abraham Vereide in Chicago in 1942 as Fellowship Foundation, Inc. It also acquired the names International Christian Leadership (ICL), Fellowship House, and International Foundation for venues as its global outreach ministry expanded. The Fellowship Foundation, Inc. does most of its business as the International Foundation, which is its DBA name.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: By 1942 there were 60 breakfast groups in major cities around the US and Canada, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington and Vancouver. That same year, Vereide began to hold small prayer breakfasts for members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: The Fellowship in Chicago, Illinois was Vereide's center of national outreach to businessmen and civic and clergy leadership. Vereide had moved the group's offices from Seattle to the more centralized location of Chicago, headquarters of the businessmen's luncheon outreach "Christian Businessmen's Committee", which Vereide led with industrialist C.B. Hedstrom. That same year the Fellowship Foundation established a delegation ministry in Washington DC on Massachusetts Avenue at Sheridan Circle named "Fellowship House". Vereide later described it as the nerve center of the breakfast groups.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: In 1944, Vereide held his first joint Senate–House prayer breakfast meeting. He held another breakfast on June 16, 1946, attended by Senators H. Alexander Smith and Lister Hill, and "U.S. News & World Report" publisher David Lawrence.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: In 1946, Vereide wrote and released a book with Reverend John G. Magee, chaplain to President Harry Truman, entitled "Together" (Abingdon Cokesbury). In the book, Vereide explained his philosophy of visionary discipleship and gathering together in what he termed spiritual cells:


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: Man craves fellowship. Most of us want an opportunity to make our feelings known, to relate our personal experiences, to compare notes with others, and, in unity of spirit to receive renewal, inspiration, guidance, and strength from God. Such groups as we are thinking of have characterized every spiritual awakening. Jesus began with Peter and James and John. He had the twelve and the Seventy. At Bethany he established a cell... there you have the formula... faith embodied the same close informal fellowship... one common practice—gathering together in the name of Jesus.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: In January 1947, a conference in Zurich led to the formation of the International Council for Christian Leadership (ICCL), an umbrella group for the national fellowship groups in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Hungary, Egypt and China. ICCL was incorporated as a separate organization in 1953. ICL and ICCL were governed by different boards of directors, joined by a coordinating committee: four members of ICCL's board and four from the ICL's executive committee.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower attended the Senate Prayer Breakfast Group. He was invited by fellow Kansan Frank Carlson. By that time, Vereide's congressional members also included Senators Frank Carlson, Karl Mundt, Everett Dirksen and Strom Thurmond.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: By 1957, ICL had established 125 groups in 100 cities, with 16 groups in Washington, D.C. alone. It had set up another 125 groups in other countries. During 1958, a mentor from The Navigators, Douglas Coe, joined Vereide as assistant executive director of ICL in Washington, D.C. After over 35 years of leading the Fellowship Foundation, Vereide died in 1969 and was succeeded by Richard C. Halverson as executive director. Halverson and Coe worked side by side until Halverson's death in 1995.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: Prominent evangelical Christians have described the Fellowship as one of the most, or the most, politically well-connected ministries in the world.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: D. Michael Lindsay, a former Rice University sociologist who studies the evangelical movement, said "there is no other organization like the Fellowship, especially among religious groups, in terms of its access or clout among the country's leadership." He also reported that lawmakers mentioned the Fellowship more than any other organization when asked to name a ministry with the most influence on their faith. Lindsay interviewed 360 evangelical elites, among whom "One in three mentioned [Doug] Coe or the Fellowship as an important influence." Lindsay reported that it "has relationships with pretty much every world leader—good and bad—and there are not many organizations in the world that can claim that."


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: In 1977, four years after he had converted to Christianity, Fellowship member and Watergate conspirator Charles Colson described the group as a "veritable underground of Christ's men all through the U.S. government."


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: Former Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, also a former member of the Senate Prayer Group, has described Fellowship members' method of operation: "Typically, one person grows desirous of pursuing an action"—a piece of legislation, a diplomatic strategy—"and the others pull in behind." Brownback has often joined with fellow Family members in pursuing legislation. For example, in 1999 he joined together with fellow Family members, Senators Strom Thurmond and Don Nickles to demand a criminal investigation of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and in 2005 Brownback joined with Fellowship member Sen. Tom Coburn to promote the Houses of Worship Act to allow tax-exempt religious institutions to endorse political candidates.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: Rob Schenck, founder of the Washington, D.C. ministry Faith and Action in the Nation's Capital, described the Family's influence as "off the charts" in comparison with other fundamentalist groups, specifically compared to Focus on the Family, Pat Robertson, Gary Bauer, Traditional Values Coalition, and Prison Fellowship. (These last two are associated with the Family: Traditional Values Coalition uses their C Street House and Prison Fellowship was founded by Charles Colson.) Schenck also says that "the mystique of the Fellowship" has helped it "gain entree into almost impossible places in the capital."


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: "The Fellowship's reach into governments around the world is almost impossible to overstate or even grasp," says David Kuo, a former special assistant in George W. Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: "Newsweek" reported that the Fellowship has often been criticized by conservative and fundamentalist Christian groups for being too inclusive and not putting enough emphasis on doctrine or church attendance. NPR has reported that the evangelical group's views on religion and politics are so singular that some other Christian right organizations consider them heretical.


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: David Kuo, staffer in President George W. Bush's Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives, who has been affiliated with the Fellowship since college, said of the Fellowship:


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: Current Fellowship prayer group member and former U.S. Representative Tony P. Hall (D-OH) said, "If people in this country knew how many Democrats and Republicans pray together and actually like each other behind closed doors, they would be amazed." The Fellowship is simply "men and women who are trying to get right with God. Trying to follow God, learn how to love him, and learn how to love each other." When he lost his teenage son to leukemia, Hall says, "This family helped me. This family was there for me. That's what they do."


title: The Fellowship (Christian organization)

text: Hillary Clinton described meeting the leader of the Fellowship in 1993: "Doug Coe, the longtime National Prayer Breakfast organizer, is a unique presence in Washington: a genuinely loving spiritual mentor and guide to anyone, regardless of party or faith, who wants to deepen his or her relationship to God."