title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Reade worked for Biden as a Congressional aide in 1992 and 1993, and later attended Antioch University and Seattle University School of Law. She works now as a domestic violence advocate. She has said she suffered emotional and violent physical abuse from both her father and her ex-husband, which in turn motivated her to work on behalf of victims.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Reade has misrepresented herself and her life experiences on numerous occasions, including lying under oath and in court proceedings. For example, she falsely claimed to hold a bachelor's degree from Antioch University.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Before accusing Biden of sexual assault in 2020, Reade made various other comments that cast her encounters with Biden differently. In April 2019, Reade said that she filed a complaint in 1993 against Biden with a Senate human resources office in which she alleged that Biden had made her feel uncomfortable through comments she deemed demeaning, allegedly including a compliment about her looks and a request for Reade to serve drinks at a Senate event. However, in her complaint, Reade did not accuse Biden of any kind of sexual misconduct and made no mention of the alleged assault. A few years before she accused Biden of sexual assault, Reade repeatedly praised Biden on her personal Twitter account, retweeting or otherwise endorsing comments which characterized Biden as a leader in combating sexual violence.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Tara Reade, née Tara Reade Moulton, lives in Nevada County, California. She changed her legal name to McCabe for protection in January 1998 because of domestic violence inflicted on her in the past. Reade has done advocacy work for domestic violence victims first in Washington state and later in California. In early 2020, she worked part time with families with special-needs children in Nevada County, California. Having earned a Seattle University law degree in 2004, she has not practiced law. She has held positions or done volunteer work for county governmental agencies or for private nonprofits, performing duties in such areas as victims advocacy or animal rescue.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Reade worked as a staff assistant in Biden's U.S. Senate office from December 1992 to August 1993, when she was in her late twenties. "Over the years, Reade spoke favorably about working for Biden", reported the Associated Press in 2020. A few years before she accused Biden of sexual assault, Reade repeatedly praised Biden on her personal Twitter account, retweeting or otherwise endorsing comments which characterized Biden as a leader in combating sexual violence. "CNN" reported in 2020 that "In more recent years, Reade has praised Biden on social media on numerous occasions." When CNN asked her why, she said she feels conflicted about him, liking what he did politically for women's issues and saying that "many things are true at once".


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Reade was one of several women who accused Biden in 2019 of "physical contact that made them feel uncomfortable, such as unwanted hugs, kisses on the head, and standing uncomfortably close", according to "ABC News".


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Reade, a Democrat who supported various candidates other than Biden during the 2020 primaries, said that her various allegations against Biden were not politically motivated.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: On April 4, 2019, Reade contacted "The Union", a local newspaper in Grass Valley, California, about her employment working for Joe Biden. Her position as a staff assistant in his Senate office in Washington, D.C., gave her responsibilities for the office's intern program and mail delivery.<ref name="Halper_3/31/2020"></ref> She alleged that Biden "used to put his hand on [her] shoulder and run his finger up [her] neck". Reade also told of another incident, in which, she alleged, members of Biden's staff, whom she did not name, argued about whether she should serve drinks at an event; Reade said that she heard from staff that Biden wanted her to do so because he liked her legs. Reade said after she had declined this assignment, she was admonished by Biden's office manager, Marianne Baker, who told her to wear longer skirts and to button up more. Reade said that she complained to Senate personnel and that Biden's office learned about her complaints.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Reade said "My life was hell ... this was about power and control ... [after my departure] I couldn't get a job on the Hill". Reade "didn't consider the acts toward her sexualization. She instead [likened herself to] a lamp that was displayed because it was pretty and discarded when too bright. Reade said she wanted Biden to say "I changed the trajectory of your life. I'm sorry." In 2018, she said that the reason for her 1993 departure from Washington was to pursue a career as an actress or artiste to her disappointment at the American government's "xenophobia" toward Russia. In 2009, she said that the reason for her 1993 departure from Washington was to move to the Midwestern United States with her boyfriend. She posted these conflicting accounts at the website "Medium", and they were deleted by 2020. In 2020, Reade described the accounts as "stupid blog posts" she had made while writing a novel, when she "wasn't ready to talk about Biden". Reade also said that she could not recall writing about the government's "xenophobia".


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: About the same time as that report, "The Union" published a column by Reade, in which she alleged that her supervisor had informed her that Biden wanted her to "serve drinks at a event" because he thought she was "pretty" and also "liked" her legs, but a senior aide intervened to stop Reade from having to do so, continuing an argument among the staff. After that, Biden would "often" touch her shoulder and neck. Reade thought that "these gestures were not so much about 'connection' but establishing dominance in the room." Reade also wrote in that essay "[T]his is not a story about sexual misconduct; it is a story about abuse of power." Reade said she spoke out in 2019 after watching an episode of "The View", during which, she says, most of the panelists defended Biden and attacked Lucy Flores, a former assemblywoman, who alleged that Biden kissed the back of her head without consent.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Within various of these articles and of Reade's 2019 self-published posts on "Medium", Reade directed her disappointments toward Biden's office staff's interactions with her, implying that she remained unsure whether Biden himself knew of her firing or of its rationale.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: In April 2019, the Associated Press interviewed Reade about the allegations she was making at the time; finding that parts of her story contradicted other reports, and that her accusations could not be corroborated, the A.P. declined to report them. At the time, Reade told the Associated Press that Biden rubbed her shoulders and neck and played with her hair. She said a fellow aide told her to dress more modestly at work. Reade said "I wasn't scared of [Biden], that he was going to take me in a room or anything. It wasn't that kind of vibe."


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: "The Washington Post" also interviewed Reade in 2019; it declined to report that interview. In 2020, "The Washington Post" wrote that Reade had told them that Biden touched her neck and shoulders, "and he had people around saying it was okay". Reade blamed Biden's staff for "bullying", putting less blame on Biden himself: "This is what I want to emphasize: It's not him. It's the people around him who keep covering for him ... he should have known what was happening to me ... Maybe he could have been a little more in touch with his own staff." "The Washington Post" stated that Reade in 2019 "did not mention the alleged assault or suggest there was more to the story".


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: In April 2019, Reade contacted "Vox" reporter Laura McGann to tell her story. "Vox" did not publish any stories about Reade in 2019, after McGann tried but was not able to verify Reade's account; McGann wrote an article praising other women who had shared allegations about Biden's inappropriate touching. In May 2020, McGann detailed the allegations Reade made to her in 2019 and quoted Reade as saying "I don't know if [Biden] knew why I left ... He barely knew us by name." Reade sent McGann an essay that was similar to her essay published by "The Union" in 2019. McGann highlighted the following sentences, which were identical in both essays: "This is not a story about sexual misconduct; it is a story about abuse of power. It is a story about when a member of Congress allows staff to threaten or belittle or bully on their behalf unchecked to maintain power rather than modify the behavior." Reade explained that she had not shared her full story in 2019 because she thought that "the media was shutting her down"; McGann disputes the accuracy of this characterization of reporters' interactions, and notes that Reade had formerly been "adamant ... that this wasn't a [sexual-]misconduct story".


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: In 2019, Reade told McGann that Reade's deceased mother and one of Reade's friends were the only people she could name as having confided in. The friend in 2019 told McGann "[I]t wasn't that bad. [Biden] never tried to kiss her directly. He never went for one of those touches. It was one of those, 'sorry you took it that way.' ... What was creepy was that it was always in front of people." Reade told McGann that media outlets including "The New York Times" were working on publishing her story.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: In a March 25, 2020, interview with Katie Halper, Reade alleged that Biden had pushed her against a wall, kissed her, put his hand under her skirt, penetrated her with his fingers, and asked, "Do you want to go somewhere else?" Reade told National Public Radio (NPR) for an April 19 article, "His hands went underneath my clothing and he was touching me in my private areas and without my consent." Reade told "The Intercept" her impression was that Biden believed he had consent and was surprised when she rejected him. Reade told "The New York Times" for an April 12 article that when she pulled away from Biden, he looked puzzled and said, "Come on, man, I heard you liked me." She then said he told her "You're nothing to me, nothing," followed by "You're OK, you're fine." Reade told NPR she could not remember the exact place or date of the incident, stating it was likely a basement of a D.C. Senate office building in the spring of 1993.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Reade told "The New York Times" that, after the alleged assault, she had reported about harassment to three of Biden's aides (Ted Kaufman, Dennis Toner, and Marianne Baker), but did not mention the assault. She said that nothing happened as a result, so she wrote a complaint to a Senate personnel office, where she filled out a form to request counselling. Reade told the Associated Press that her complaint to the Senate personnel office was about "retaliation" and "him wanting me to serve drinks because he liked my legs and thought I was pretty and it made me uncomfortable", with no explicit mention of sexual assault or sexual harassment. Reade does not have a copy of her Senate personnel office complaint.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Reade also told "The New York Times" that her office duties were eventually reduced and that Kaufman later said that she did not fit the office, instructing her to find a new job. However, Reade told the Associated Press that it was Toner who stated she did not fit the job and encouraged her to find another job, which the Associated Press noted was a contradiction with her account to "The New York Times". In blog posts in January and April 2020, she wrote that no one in Washington, D.C. wanted to hire her after her firing.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Addressing why she made her sexual assault allegation public, Reade said during her March interview, "I'm hoping by coming forward with and I know it's hard to listen to, and it's hard to live in it, right? But my justice now, the only justice I can have, is to be moving freely in the world and to heal and not be silenced." According to "The Intercept", Reade had feared coming forward with her full story of sexual assault and "went silent" after receiving harassment online related to her earlier allegations in April 2019 of inappropriate touching, saying that she later "thought about the world she wanted her daughter to live in and decided that she wanted to continue telling her story". She said she did not share her assault allegation when she initially came forward because, in part, she "just didn't have the courage", and that after publicly alleging that he had touched her inappropriately, she said she received death threats, a "wave of criticism", and was doxed.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Asked why she did not present the sexual assault allegations earlier, Reade told "Newsweek" she "didn't really know how to [come forward] because, how would you?" Reade had contacted Time's Up Legal Defense Fund seeking legal and public relations support in an effort to "get her story out in a safe way". Uma Iyer, vice president of The National Women's Law Center (NWLC), which oversees and distributes funds for Time's Up, expressed their desire to provide her as much assistance as they possibly could but funding her legal defense was not possible because of restrictions imposed by their 501(c)(3) status. Time's Up provided Reade a list of attorneys to contact; Reade said she contacted all of them, but none agreed to represent her. After failing to secure legal help, Reade wrote in a January 2020 post on "Medium", "I have not told the whole story of what occurred between Joe Biden and myself."


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Before Reade went public with her sexual assault allegation, reporter Ryan Grim wrote on Twitter: "A head-to-head Biden v Sanders contest will force voters to take a close look at Biden again. That went very badly for him last time." Reade responded via Twitter on March 3, 2020: "Yup. Timing... wait for it...tic toc". Grim later helped report Reade's story, although he maintains that he was unaware of her March 3 response and had yet to ever speak to Reade by that point. Reade explained her tweet by stating that at the time, she thought she had secured a lawyer from Time's Up to help tell her story.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: On April 12, 2020, a "New York Times" article reported that the publication had conducted interviews with Reade, several of her friends, lawyers, nearly two dozen people who worked with Biden in the early 1990s, and seven women who accused him of kissing, hugging, or touching them in ways that had made them feel uncomfortable. The seven women did not have any new information to add about their experiences. Still, several did acknowledge that they believed the account by Reade. During the course of conducting its interviews and reporting, "The Times" said no other allegations of sexual assault by Biden had surfaced. There was no pattern of sexual misconduct that they could find. One friend said that Reade had told her about the alleged assault in 1993, while another said that Reade told her in 2008 that Biden had touched her inappropriately and that "she'd had a traumatic experience while working in his office". The "New York Times" story included two former interns who said they remembered Reade "suddenly changing roles and no longer overseeing them" at the same time Reade said she had been "abruptly reassigned".


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Anonymous individuals who said that they have heard from Reade previously were reported in "The New York Times" and in other outlets. Due to a lack of identification, it is unknown which of these anonymous individuals overlap. The Associated Press reported in April that it spoke with two more people who said Reade had told them parts of her story years ago, publishing their accounts anonymously. One was told of the alleged assault in 1993, and another remembers hearing of "sexual harassment" in 2007 or 2008. "The Washington Post" spoke to "a friend, a former intern for another lawmaker", who said that Reade had alleged an assault soon after it happened. CNN spoke to a friend of Reade's who had previously interned for Senator Ted Kennedy, who says she was told of both sexual harassment and sexual assault at the time, and that in 2019, she had advised Reade to only go public about harassment, not assault.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Joseph Backholm was friends with Reade between 2002 and 2004 during law school. He said in late May 2020 that Reade had told him "When I was in Washington, D.C. I was sexually assaulted by someone you would know". Backholm said at the time Reade went by the name Tara McCabe and said he realized he knew Biden's accuser only after recognizing her from the Megyn Kelly interview.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Reade said in April 2020 that she had told her mother, Jeanette Altimus, about the incident in 1993. By the time Reade made her assault allegation in 2020, Altimus was dead. Reade and her brother stated that their mother had encouraged Reade to call the police after the alleged incident, and that her brother regretted having previously told Reade to "move on, guys are idiots". Reade previously said that Altimus called into "Larry King Live" anonymously "saying my daughter was sexually harassed and retaliated against and fired, where can she go for help?" The episode, which was about the "cutthroat nature of Washington, DC, politics and media", was broadcast by CNN on August 11, 1993, with the title "Washington: The Cruelest City on Earth?" and featured an anonymous caller from San Luis Obispo, California, who said: "I'm wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington? My daughter has just left there, after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him." King then asked: "So she had a story to tell but out of respect for the person she worked for she didn't tell it?" The caller answered: "That's true." CNN verified that Altimus lived in San Luis Obispo at the time of the call.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: On May 7, 2020, "The Tribune" reported on a declaration Reade's former husband, Theodore Dronen, submitted to a court in 1996 to contest a restraining order Reade had filed against him after he had filed for divorce. Dronen wrote that Reade had mentioned "a problem she was having at work regarding sexual harassment, in U.S. Senator Joe Biden's office." The document did not name Biden as the perpetrator or mention sexual assault. Dronen added that Reade "eventually struck a deal with the chief of staff of the Senator's office and left her position ... It was obvious that this event had a very traumatic effect on [Reade], and that she is still sensitive and effected by it". Dronen cited the alleged incident as one of several examples that "color [Reade's] perception and judgment" for her request of a restraining order. Dronen confirmed to "The Tribune" on May 7, 2020, that he had written the declaration and declined to comment any further on it, saying "Tara and I ended our relationship over two decades ago under difficult circumstances. I am not interested in reliving that chapter of my life. I wish Tara well, and I have nothing further to say."


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: In May 2020, "Vox" journalist Laura McGann spoke again to the anonymous friend who in 2019 told McGann that she heard Biden had touched Reade but had not sexually assaulted her, having not even "tried to kiss her directly". The friend now told McGann a story matching Reade's 2020 allegation of sexual assault, explaining the earlier lack of such: "She wanted to leave a layer there, and I did not want to betray that. It just wasn't my place." "Vox" journalist Laura McGann asked Reade why she had not mentioned Lynda LaCasse as a potentially relevant source either in 2019 or in 2020 to the first few journalists who had interviewed Reade, including Katie Halper. Reade replied that she did not think LaCasse was a relevant source because she only told LaCasse about the incident in 1995. Reade also told McGann that she had also originally thought that two other anonymous friends were not relevant, and thus had not mentioned them to journalists earlier.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Some associates of Reade who claim they have heard from her previously have disclosed their identities. Lorraine Sanchez came forward to "Business Insider"; she was Reade's co-worker from 1994 to 1996, and says she was told about "sexual harassment" by Reade, and about a complaint filed, leading to the loss of her job, but she does not recall if Reade named Biden or what kind of harassment took place. Lynda LaCasse, an ex-neighbour of Reade's, also came forward to "Business Insider", and later CNN, for articles published on April 27 and 28 respectively. LaCasse told CNN that Reade had told her about the alleged assault by Biden "...in the mid-1990s". LaCasse told CNN she had advised Reade at the time to file a police report. According to CNN, "it was last year when Reade brought up Biden that LaCasse told her that she remembered their conversation about the alleged sexual assault". LaCasse told "Business Insider" that she remembered the allegations when Reade contacted her recently, saying: "this Joe Biden thing is coming up again."


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Collin Moulton, Reade's brother, initially reported to "The Washington Post" that Reade told him in 1993 that Biden had touched her neck and shoulders. He said there was "a gym bag incident", and that Biden "was inappropriate". "ABC News" also interviewed Moulton in March 2020; he told them that Reade had mentioned "'harassment at work' from Biden" but that "he only heard her account of the assault this spring". Later that day, Moulton texted ABC News to "clarify" that Reade had told him in 1993 that Biden had "more or less cornered her against a wall" and "put his hands up her clothes."


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: According to a summary within an Associated Press investigative piece based on interviews with over a dozen of Reade's acquaintances, Reade used "her charm and flair for drama to manipulate those supporting her until their goodwill [ran] out", and "some people who dealt with her found her duplicitous and deceitful, while others found her a heroic survivor." Reade said to the Associated Press, "I'm not a lying, manipulative user. I've really understood what it's like to be struggling and poor."


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Natasha Korecki of "Politico" interviewed several former acquaintances of Reade's who said that they had bad experiences with her. Korecki describes two emerging themes from their stories: As recently as 2018, Reade "spoke favorably about her time working for Biden", and Reade "left them feeling duped." These acquaintances believe Reade had been "deceitful" and "manipulative" with them. One, attorney and domestic violence victims' advocate Kelly Klett, had rented a room in her home to Reade in 2018. Klett said that Reade phoned her in 2019 after Reade's interview with "The Union" alleging Biden touched her neck and shoulders. Klett said that she became suspicious of the motives behind the call, because of a sense that she "was trying to plant a story with me, so she could later say: 'I told the story to this attorney I worked with.'"


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Reade's then attorney Douglas Wigdor said to "Politico" that he believed that referring to Reade's disputes with former landlords "does not advance the conversation" regarding her allegation of sexual assault. Wigdor also asserted that positive comments from an accuser regarding the accused is "not uncommon."


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: On April 9, 2020, Reade filed a police report with the Washington Metropolitan Police Department alleging she was sexually assaulted in the spring of 1993. Reade acknowledged that the statute of limitations has lapsed, and she stated that she filed the report "for safety reasons only". The Washington Metropolitan Police said on April 25 that her complaint is an inactive case. According to "USA Today", "A record reviewed by AP didn't mention Biden by name. NPR has reported, however, that a record does name Biden and has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the full report."


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: On April 28, Reade told Fox News, "I'm calling for the release of the documents being held by the University of Delaware that contain Biden's staff personnel records because I believe it will have my complaint form, as well as my separation letter and other documents," and questioned why they were under seal. In response, on May 1, Biden issued a statement saying that staff personnel files are stored in the National Archives and Records Administration, and not stored in his documents at University of Delaware. He then called on the secretary of the Senate to work with the National Archives to identify and release any complaint by Reade and any other relevant documents.<ref name="Easley_5/1/2020"></ref> Biden reiterated his request later that morning in an interview with Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC. The same day, "New York Times" reporter Lisa Lerer said Reade had canceled a planned interview with Fox News, stating that "death threats received by her and her child made her nervous about being in the public eye". On May 4, the secretary of the Senate's office stated that it could not comply with Biden's request, as the records are "strictly confidential". Biden's campaign then asked whether the existence of the records and their complainants could be disclosed, as well as procedures and forms for such complaints in 1993. In an interview with Megyn Kelly, Reade said she would be willing to take a polygraph if Biden did. Kelly also asked whether Reade, like Christine Blasey Ford, would be willing to go under cross examination and testify under oath; Reade answered "absolutely" to both questions.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: On May 8, the Associated Press reported that lawyers Douglas Wigdor and William Moran were representing Reade. Wigdor, who is known for representing six women who alleged sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein and for being a prominent Donald Trump donor, stated that he was working "pro bono"; Moran is a former writer and editor for Russian news agency Sputnik. On May 11, Wigdor said that his firm had sent a letter to Biden to again ask for permission to search his archives and to the Senate Secretary's office to release a copy of the complaint Reade allegedly filed in 1993. On May 22, Wigdor announced that he was no longer representing Reade.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: On May 22, 2020, Reade's credentials and the veracity of her testimony as an expert witness in domestic violence cases was challenged by several California attorneys against whose clients she had appeared. Reade had served as an expert witness on multiple cases involving domestic violence in Monterey County, California. Defendants' attorneys and the district attorney's office announced the review of cases to determine whether Reade misrepresented her credentials, and whether her testimony significantly influenced the outcome of the cases.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: As part of a court case in 2018, Reade testified that she had received a bachelor's degree from Antioch University and falsely stated that she had worked as an "online visiting professor" as a member of the faculty at Antioch. When asked by the media why there was no record of her degree from Antioch, Reade claimed to have obtained a bachelor's degree through a secret "fast-track" program for survivors of sexual assault. Antioch university denied the claim and stated that Reade had attended the school only for three academic quarters without graduating. Reade professed to have obtained the undergraduate degree through an alleged program for victims of abuse that protected her identity and also that her degree was "fast-tracked" by the president of the university at the time, Tullise Murdock. This also was denied by the university, which stated that no such protected program had existed and Murdock said there had been no special arrangements.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Reade's resume also lists her as having worked for Antioch University Seattle as an "Ongoing Online Visiting Professor for degree completion". Again the university denied this. Reade had not been a faculty member and only worked in a part-time position performing administrative work at the school as a "Prior Learning Evaluator".


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Reade testified that she had never taken the bar exam, but a blog post of hers written in 2012 expressed hopes to pass the California bar exam on her third attempt. She testified that she had worked as a legislative assistant for Biden; according to U.S. Senate records, Reade provided mostly non-legislative work there as a staff assistant. Finally, Reade's resume said she worked for Biden from 1991 to 1994; however, Reade worked for Biden for eight months from 1992 to 1993.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Subsequently Reade was investigated by prosecutors in Monterey County, California, for lying under oath about her educational credentials in her appearances as an expert witness on domestic abuse. The investigation determined that she had made false statements under oath, but Reade was not prosecuted for perjury because those statements had not been material to the outcome of a legal case.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: In March 2020, Biden's presidential campaign issued a response through a deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield. She said, "Vice President Biden has dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women. He authored and fought for the passage and reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act. He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard and heard respectfully. Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press. What is clear about this claim: It is untrue. This absolutely did not happen."


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Biden personally addressed the allegation on May 1, declaring in a live interview on the MSNBC program "Morning Joe" that "it never, never happened". Additionally, Biden issued an official statement denying the allegation, and calling for the media to "examine and evaluate the full and growing record of inconsistencies in her story, which has changed repeatedly in both small and big ways". In his formal statement, Biden referenced the Violence Against Women Act he said he wrote "over 25 years ago", adding:


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Following the allegation, David Axelrod, a former top aide for President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, stated that the vetting process for choosing Biden as the Vice President did not find any allegations of sexual misconduct.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: On May 14, asked by MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell if he remembered Reade, Biden said, "to be honest with you, I don't."


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: In the April 12 "New York Times" article, Reade named three aides that she asserted she complained to about harassment by Biden, but not sexual assault. In the same article, these three aides denied Reade's assertion. Ted Kaufman, Biden's chief of staff at the time, said: "I did not know her. She did not come to me. If she had, I would have remembered her." Former deputy chief of staff, Dennis Toner, said "It's just so preposterous that Senator Biden would be faced with these allegations. I don't remember her. I don't remember this conversation. And I would remember this conversation." Biden's campaign released a statement from Marianne Baker, Biden's former executive assistant: "I never once witnessed, or heard of, or received, any reports of inappropriate conduct, period not from Ms. Reade, not from anyone. I have absolutely no knowledge or memory of Ms. Reade's accounting of events, which would have left a searing impression on me as a woman professional, and as a manager." Separately, Melissa Lefko, a contemporary staff assistant, said she had never experienced harassment and thought his office was a "very supportive environment for women".


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: On May 15, 2020, the "PBS NewsHour" published an article summarizing their interviews with 74 former Biden staffers. Many of the staffers did not believe Reade's allegations. Over 20 of the interviewees worked there at the same time as Reade; many of them did not remember her. The authors of the article, Daniel Bush and Lisa Desjardins, concluded from the interviews that "Biden was known as a demanding but fair and family-oriented boss, devoted to his home life in Delaware and committed to gender equality in his office", and that he was not one of the "creepy" male senators that female staffers told each other to avoid.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Some details of Reade's recollections of her time in Biden's office were corroborated (including Biden's gym route, being told to dress more modestly), and some were contradicted. None of the staffers had heard about any sexual misconduct by Biden. Some staffers doubted that Biden could have assaulted Reade as described without being seen, because the area was typically crowded with people and lacked any out-of-view private areas or alcoves that could match Reade's recollection. Certain staffers ruled out her claim of being asked to serve drinks at a fundraiser. Over 50 staffers said that they did not remember attending campaign fundraisers for Biden; some recounted that there was a policy banning staffers from campaigning.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: One staffer, Ben Savage, who said he worked directly beside Reade, told PBS and CNN that Reade was overwhelmed by the workload and that he reported her to deputy chief of staff Dennis Toner for mishandling constituent mail, resulting in her tasks being diminished, and her job was eventually terminated for not performing well enough. Savage additionally told CNN that Reade instead believed that she lost her job due to "being discriminated against for her health issue" (though Savage declined to reveal what the health issue was).


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: NPR's Asma Khalid wrote, "Some details of Reade's account have been inconsistent, and her story has changed over time", noting that in 2019 she did not mention sexual assault. Laura McGann of "Vox", who conducted multiple interviews of Reade and other relevant sources, stated: "The story that both she and her corroborating witnesses are telling has changed dramatically." Joan Walsh, writing in "The Nation", said Reade's allegation of sexual assault "doesn't stand up to close scrutiny". In "New York Magazine", political commentator Jonathan Chait stated that at first he found Reade's claims believable, but that the findings reported by PBS, Laura McGann in "Vox", and Natasha Korecki in "Politico" cast doubt on the veracity of the allegations.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Katie Halper, whose interview with Reade, which was published in "Current Affairs", broke the sexual assault allegation, wrote in "The Guardian": "Reade provided more details over time, something that is common among survivors of sexual assault." Nathan J. Robinson, Editor-In-Chief of "Current Affairs", talked to Reade extensively and wrote that she was "completely consistent and frank". Ryan Grim of "The Intercept", who has written articles on Reade's more serious allegation against Biden, opined to "The Washington Post" that, "given that multiple people say she's been telling this story for 25-plus years", subsequent revelations concerning Reade's reputation with these former acquaintances "don't really change [her] stories' basic contours".


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Laura McGann of "Vox" detailed her attempts to verify Reade's story and her frustration as a professional journalist wanting to break the story but not being able to get enough corroborating evidence to do so, as reporters were able to do for the accusations against Harvey Weinstein and Charlie Rose. As a result, "Vox" did not publish anything about Reade in 2019. Neither did "The New York Times", "The Washington Post", and the Associated Press, who were also pursuing the story. In "Slate", Christina Cauterucci questioned Reade's choice of Megyn Kelly's unaffiliated "one-woman show", which is not required to abide by strict journalistic standards, for her first on air interview.


title: Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

text: Amanda Marcotte of "Salon" stated that "The story of Reade's allegations against Biden shows what can happen when the rigorous standards espoused by mainstream publications are sidestepped for a more credulous and politicized approach. The failure to vet this story methodically and to preemptively address its odder elements opened the door to a whirlwind of conspiracy theories and misinformation." "The Guardian" columnist Arwa Mahdawi said it was frustrating to see conservatives "weaponize the accusations" and liberals "turning a blind eye" to them.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Theodoros "Theo" Paphitis (; born 24 September 1959) is a Greek-Cypriot British retail magnate and entrepreneur. He is best known for his appearances on the BBC business programme "Dragons' Den" and as former chairman of Millwall Football Club.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Paphitis has made the majority of his fortune in the retail sector. In 2006, he sold his equity stake in the lingerie brand La Senza for a reported £100 million. He is the owner of stationery chain Ryman, the homewares specialist Robert Dyas and lingerie retailer Boux Avenue.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Paphitis was inaugurated as the university's Chancellor on 11 October 2018. He will serve a minimum of three years. Paphitis succeeded Lord West of Spithead.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Paphitis was born on 24 September 1959 in Limassol. He is the second of three brothers, with elder brother Marinos and younger brother George. They also share two half-brothers. Paphitis first lived in Old Trafford in Greater Manchester when his family arrived in the UK from Cyprus. His father then bought a terraced house in Gorton, Manchester where he lived for three years, attending Peacock Street junior school in the area. Paphitis moved to London with his parents and Marinos when he was nine years old.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Paphitis attended Ambler Primary School in Islington and Woodberry Down Comprehensive School in Manor House, where he battled with dyslexia, but began his entrepreneurial activities by running the school's tuck shop at the age of 15.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Paphitis took a job as a tea boy and filing clerk at a City of London insurance broker. Wanting more money, he discovered his passion for retailing and sales when at 18 he worked as a sales assistant for Watches of Switzerland in Bond Street.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Aged 21, he joined Legal & General selling commercial mortgages, which taught him to read other businesses' balance sheets.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Aged 23, he set up a property finance company with close friend and business associate Mark Moran, and kept going when the friend left in partnership with Hanover Druce, making his first money on the rise of the 1980s commercial property markets. Spotting the rise in mobile telephones, he bought into NAG Telecom, becoming chairman alongside fellow director Tony Kleanthous. Paphitis gained a large market share for NAG by negotiating concessionary positions in Ryman stationery stores.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: When Ryman went bankrupt, Paphitis approached the administrators and bought the company. He turned it around by improving relations with suppliers, and enthusing the management team, cementing his reputation for turning failing companies into highly successful and profitable businesses. His ventures now include Ryman, Robert Dyas and Boux Avenue. He sold Red Letter Days with fellow "Dragons' Den" businessman Peter Jones. In 2006, he sold his equity stake in the UK and EU segment of the global lingerie brand, La Senza, for a reported £100m.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: In 2008, Paphitis was one of several interested parties in bidding for failed retail chain Woolworths. However, he later pulled out because of unrealistic numbers quoted by the administrators.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: In March 2011, Paphitis set up a lingerie chain, Boux Avenue, which by the end of 2018 had grown to 30 UK stores, with others overseas.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: In July 2012, he bought the hardware retailer Robert Dyas, saying: "It is a business which fits well with my investment criteria."


title: Theo Paphitis

text: In October 2016, Paphitis acquired London Graphic Centre, a specialist arts and stationery retailer based in London's Covent Garden.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: As chairman from 1997, Paphitis took Millwall out of administration and on to the 2004 FA Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium. He is perhaps best known for his work to reduce football hooliganism, and appointing as Millwall manager Dennis Wise, and together they guided the club to their first official appearance in the final of the FA Cup and European football. After almost eight years at the helm of Millwall, Paphitis stepped down from his role as chairman in 2005.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Paphitis is a director and part-owner of Isthmian League side Walton & Hersham. Paphitis' other companies became sponsors of the League's cup competitions with Robert Dyas sponsoring cup tournaments. Boux Avenue became title sponsor of the Boux Avenue Women's Cup.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: After appearing on series four of the BBC "Back to the Floor" series while chairman at Millwall FC, Paphitis was approached to become one of the "dragons" in the second series of the BBC Two entrepreneurship series "Dragons' Den" in 2005 and left the programme after series 10 in 2012.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Paphitis was known as a straight-talking but approachable and sincere 'dragon' who made many investments on the show, both alone and jointly with other dragon investors. In February 2013, he announced that he would be leaving the show.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: In 2010, Paphitis had a three-part television series on BBC Two called "Theo's Adventure Capitalists". The series followed British businesses looking to enter new markets in Brazil, India and Vietnam. The series was supported by the Open University.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: In 2011, Paphitis presented the seven-part BBC Two series called "Britain's Next Big Thing". The series examined the stories of artists, scientists, manufacturers and brand owners looking to sell their products and services to UK retailers including Boots and Liberty.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: After time away from television to concentrate on business, Paphitis returned with appearances on BBC's "Question Time" and ITV's "The Agenda". In March 2014, he appeared in "Famous, Rich and Hungry", a two-part BBC documentary series which aimed to promote awareness of British people living in poverty, and raise money for Sport Relief.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: In September 2019, Paphitis returned to the seventeenth series of "Dragons' Den" for four episodes, stepping-in for Touker Suleyman, who had been recovering from a short-term illness. In June 2021, Paphitis once again returned to "Dragons' Den," this time for its eighteenth series, for three episodes as a replacement for Peter Jones, due to him self isolating from COVID-19.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Paphitis lives with his wife Debbie in Weybridge, Surrey. They have two sons and three daughters, including twins, and eight grandchildren.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Paphitis attributes his success to his natural common sense, and his favourite motto is a famous business school motto: "KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid". He has said, "There are three reasons to be in business. To make money, to have fun, and to make money."


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Paphitis is a keen fan of cars. His car collection has a series of personalised number plates, including RYM4N on his Maybach.


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Paphitis has been criticised for some of his views on women. In 2008, Kira Cochrane of "The Guardian" newspaper criticised him for saying that although women may refuse to take maternity leave, "their brains turn to mush" after the pregnancy and "they take three months off".


title: Theo Paphitis

text: Paphitis voted for Brexit in 2016, describing the EU as a "failed experiment". However, whilst appearing as a panelist on "Question Time" in October 2019, Paphitis said that he had changed his mind and supported a second referendum on Brexit, whilst still being a supporter of leaving the European Union.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Religion in Singapore is characterised by a wide variety of religious beliefs and practices due to its diverse ethnic mix of peoples originating from various countries. This means that Singapore is commonly termed as a "melting pot" of various religious practices originating from different religious denominations around the world. Most major religious denominations are present in Singapore, with the Inter-Religious Organisation, Singapore (IRO) recognising 10 major religions in the city state. A 2014 analysis by the Pew Research Center found Singapore to be the world's most religiously diverse nation.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The most followed religion in Singapore is Buddhism, with 31.1% of the resident population declaring themselves as adherents at the most recent census (2020). A large majority of Buddhist in Singapore are Chinese, with 40.4% of the ethnic Chinese population in Singapore declaring themselves as Buddhists at the most recent census (2020). However, there are also sizeable numbers of non-Chinese ethnic groups in Singapore that practice Buddhism, such as the Sinhalese, Burmese and Thais. People with no religious affiliation forms the second largest group and constitute 20% of the population in the 2020 census, up from 17% in 2010 census. Up to a quarter (24%) of people between 15 to 24 are irreligious. Islam is followed mainly by Malays, though there are also many Indians adhering to it, and Hinduism is followed mainly by the Indians.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The government of Singapore is officially tolerant of different religions and encourages religious harmony among the different religions found in Singapore. However, some religions or denominations are officially banned by the government, such as Jehovah's Witnesses and the Unification Church, although their followers do still practise in secrecy. Some religions, especially those practised by Chinese ethnic groups, have merged their places of worship with other religions such as Hinduism and Islam. A prominent example is that of Loyang Tua Pek Kong Temple (situated in the eastern coastal line) wherein three religions, namely Taoism, Hinduism, and Buddhism are co-located.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Younger Singaporeans tend to combine traditional philosophies with religious beliefs introduced when the British colonised Singapore. One prominent example is South Bridge Street, which was a major road through the old Chinatown, where it houses the Sri Mariamman Temple (a south Indian Hindu temple that was declared a national historical site in the 1980s), as well as the Masjid Jamae Mosque that served Chulia Muslims from India's Coromandel Coast.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: In schools, children are taught in social studies lessons about the Maria Hertogh riots and the 1964 Race Riots, as a reminder of the consequences of inter-religious conflict. Mixed-race classes, interaction between students of different races and the celebration of religious festivals also help inculcate religious tolerance and understanding from a young age.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Another religious landmark in Singapore is the Armenian Church of Gregory the Illuminator, the oldest church in Singapore, which was completed in 1836. It was also the first building in Singapore to have an electricity supply, when electric fans and lights were installed. Today, the church no longer holds Armenian services, as the last Armenian priest retired in the 1930s. Nonetheless, the church and its grounds have been carefully preserved and various Oriental Orthodox Church services are still held in it occasionally and Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria service on the first weekend of every month.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The Singapore census includes detailed data on religion and ethnicity, and is taken on a ten or five-year basis. Figures for religion for the past four decades are:


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The figures for Singaporeans practiced religion by ethnicity for the past four decades are as follows:


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The above figures refer to the resident population only, and do not include the non-resident population (Singapore authorities do not release figures for the non-resident population which accounted for 18.33% of Singapore's population in 2005).


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Most Singaporeans celebrate the major festivals associated with their respective religions. The variety of religions is a direct reflection of the diversity of races living there. The Chinese are mainly Buddhists, Taoists and Christians, with many irreligious exceptions. Almost all Malays are predominantly Muslims (around 99%), while Indians are mostly Hindus, but with significant numbers of Muslims, Christians and Sikhs from the Indian ethnic groups.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Religion is still an integral part of cosmopolitan Singapore. Many of its significant buildings are religious, be it temples, churches or mosques. An understanding of these buildings do play a part in contributing to appreciation of their art.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Taoist and Confucian doctrines and deities, together with ancestral worship, are combined in various ways in the Chinese folk religions and Chinese folk religious sects.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: A large plurality of Singaporeans declare themselves as Buddhists, with 31.1% of the Singaporean population being Buddhists in 2020 census.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: There are Buddhist monasteries and centres from the three major traditions of Buddhism in Singapore: Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Most Buddhists in Singapore are Chinese and many of them adhered to Mahayana tradition.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Whilst a majority of Buddhists in Singapore are traditionally ethnic Chinese, there is a significant number of Buddhists in Singapore that come from other ethnic groups such as the Thai, Sinhalese and Burmese. Due to the presence of these Buddhists from these ethnic groups, there are Buddhist centres and temples that serves these communities, such as Wat Ananda Metyarama Thai Buddhist Temple, Sri Lankaramaya Buddhist Temple and Burmese Buddhist Temple.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Buddhism of every tradition is well represented in Singapore, such as Tibetan Buddhism, Thai Buddhism and Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. They were brought together over years of immigration to Singapore, brought by many foreign Buddhist monks. Due to the melting pot of Buddhist traditions here in Singapore, it is not uncommon to see Thai Buddhist Temples and Tibetan Buddhist Centres, besides the numerous Chinese Buddhist Temples.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The sight of such temples gives Buddhists in Singapore a warm feeling in their hearts, as these are places where they spend their times with their loved ones the most, such as going to temples to offer incense and attend meditation and chanting services.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Occasionally, Buddhist monks from the west such as Ajahn Brahm, who resided in Australia, is invited to Singapore to give Buddhist Talks to the public. Additionally, there are also Buddhist societies set up in Singapore tertiary institutions such as NUS Buddhist Society, Ngee Ann Polytechnic Buddhist Society, Singapore Polytechnic Buddhist Society and SMU Dhamma Circle have encouraged youths in Singapore gain a better insight into Buddhism.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Recently, there are many Buddhist temples in Singapore that are undergoing major renovations, to have a fresh new building facade and to cater to the younger crowd. Singapore Buddhist Lodge has recently renovated their Main Shrine Hall and since it has open its doors to the public, it has been drawing hundreds of people from all over Singapore to visit.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: In addition, Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery has also opened the Buddhist College of Singapore to provide a centre for Buddhist education to Singaporeans.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: As time goes by, a sizeable number of Buddhist temples in Singapore have decided to use English over Mandarin as their main language of communication during their temple services to cater to the growing English-Speaking Buddhist congregation.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Indirectly, many young Chinese Singaporeans are now spending time with their family to rediscover their Buddhist roots.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Below are the ethnic breakdown of Buddhists according to the 2020 Singapore Census of Population as follows:


title: Religion in Singapore

text: 18.9% of Singaporeans identified as Christians in the 2020 census. Of these, 35.8% or 220,900 people identified as Catholics. Among Protestants, the Methodist Church in Singapore is the largest denomination, with some 42,000 members in 46 churches, as well as Orthodox. Prominent megachurches have emerged over the last two decades with the rise of the Charismatic Movement; these include New Creation Church, City Harvest Church and Faith Community Baptist Church, which count among Singapore's 10 largest charities, according to a report by The Straits Times in 2019.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Below are the ethnic breakdown of Christians according to the 2020 Singapore Census of Population as follows:


title: Religion in Singapore

text: According to the 2020 census, 15.6% of the resident population in Singapore registered themselves as Muslims. Most mosques in Singapore cater to Sunni Muslims due to the vast majority of Singaporean Muslims adhering to the Sunni Shafi'i or Hanafi school of thought, although there are mosques that cater to the needs of the Shia community as well. There are approximately 200 Ahmadi. Singapore also contains the oldest Muslim women's organization in the world: Young Women Muslim Association of Singapore.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Whilst a majority of Muslims in Singapore are traditionally ethnic Malays, there is also a significant growing number of Muslims from other ethnic groups; in particular, there is a sizeable number of Muslims amongst ethnic Indians that statistically include Tamil Muslims and ethnic Pakistanis in Singapore as well. For this reason, a number of mosques (mostly Tamil-speaking) specifically cater to the needs of the Indian Muslim community. Additionally, under the direction of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS), English is increasingly being used as the language of administration, religious instruction and sermons for Friday prayers in mosques across Singapore to cater to Muslims who may not necessarily be Malay-speaking.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Below are the ethnic breakdown of Muslims according to the 2020 Singapore Census of Population as follows:


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Followers of Taoism ("The Way") adhere to the teachings of the ancient Chinese religious philosophy of Laozi, the founder of Taoism, also known as the Pure Celestial Worthy of the Way. Besides codified Taoism—which in some places, like Taiwan, is mostly represented by the Zhengyi order—Taoism in Singapore also comprehends a wide variety of Chinese folk religions.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Feng shui, literally "wind and water", originated from the school of yin and yang and is deeply rooted in ancestral worshiping that seeks to harmonise the pnuemas between the living (yang) and the dead (yin). Ancestral worship is a common practice of the Chinese and the Qingming Festival during the second full moon is observed by the majority. This reflects that Chinese tradition remains extant in modern Singapore. They pray in tribute to their bereaved ancestors, where their spirits are honoured with offerings including food, beverages, joss paper, incense sticks, and even paper houses, which are intrinsic practices for Taoists.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Although Taoist temples and shrines are abundant in Singapore, the official number of followers has dwindled drastically over the years from 22.4% to 8.5% between the years 1990 to 2000. This, however, may be accounted for by the unclear delineation between Taoism and Buddhism in popular perception. For example, the difference between the two religions can be negligible enough that when a Chinese says that they "offer incense sticks" it is usually assumed that they are Buddhist even though they may not actually be Buddhist. The 2010 and 2015 censuses have shown that Taoist identity has declined again to represent about 10% of Singapore's population.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Below are the ethnic breakdown of Taoists according to the 2020 Singapore Census of Population as follows:


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The majority of Singapore's present Hindus are descendants of Indians who migrated soon after the founding of Singapore in 1819. The early temples are still the central points of rituals and festivals, which are held throughout the year.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Below are the ethnic breakdown of Hindus according to the 2020 Singapore Census of Population as follows:


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The first Sikhs to settle in Singapore came in 1849. As of 2020 Census, there are 12,051 Sikhs (approximately 0.35% of the whole population) was registered in Singapore.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Below are the ethnic breakdown of Sikhs according to the 2020 Singapore Census of Population as follows:


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The Jain community celebrated 100 years in Singapore by rededicating the "Stanak" and consecrating the idol of Mahavira. This brought together the two main sects of Jains, the Śvētāmbara and Digambara. The Singapore Jain Religious Society actively engages in keeping traditions and practices alive by transmitting Jain principles to the next generation. It also has a strong history of community involvement. The Jains have no temple, but the Singapore Jain Religious Society has a building on 18 Jalan Yasin.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: There is a small community of about 300 Parsi Zoroastrians residing in Singapore. There is no fire temple in Singapore, but Zoroastrian House is home to the Parsi Zoroastrian Association of South East Asia, and contains a prayer hall for the community.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The first Jews to settle in Singapore came from India in 1819. As of 2008, there are about 1,000 Jews in Singapore. Their religious activities centre around two synagogues, the Maghain Aboth Synagogue and the Chesed-El Synagogue.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: There were over 1,500 Jewish inhabitants in 1939. Many were interned during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II, and a number subsequently emigrated to Australia, England, the United States, and Israel. As a result, the community numbered approximately 450 in 1968. In 2005, the number reached 300. Because of a large Ashkenazi immigration rate to Singapore in recent years, the population is now between 800 and 1,000, mostly foreign Ashkenazi Jews.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: K. M. Fozdar (1898–1958) and Shirin Fozdar (1905–1992), were the first to introduce the Bahá'í Faith to Singapore when they settled here in 1950. Shirin Fozdar was well known throughout Singapore and Asia for her work in the cause of women's emancipation. Her arrival in Singapore had been preceded by an article in The Straits Times on 15 September 1950 under the heading "A Woman with a Message". Through the efforts of Dr and Mrs Fozdar, by 1952 there were enough Bahá'ís in Singapore to form the first Local Spiritual Assembly. The community has since grown to over 2000 members and today there are five Local Spiritual Assemblies in Singapore.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Local Spiritual Assemblies oversee a wide range of activities including the education of children, devotional services, study classes, discussion groups, social functions, observance of holy days, marriages and funeral services. Bahá'í marriage is recognised under the laws of Singapore and the solemniser is appointed by the Registrar of Marriages. The Bahá'ís have been provided with a cemetery in Choa Chu Kang since 1957 and the nine Bahá'í Holy Days have been gazetted since 1972. Members of the first Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Singapore, incorporated 28 July 1952. The five Local Spiritual Assemblies come under the jurisdiction of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Singapore, the national governing council which was established in 1972.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The national governing council also appoints the executive members of the various offices which plan and carry out social service projects and collaborate with government and non-government organisations. The Bahá'í teachings stress the importance of obedience to civil government and laws. While Bahá'ís may accept non-partisan government appointments, they do not engage in partisan political activity. The members firmly uphold the injunction of Bahá'u'lláh, that 'they must behave towards the government with loyalty, honesty and truthfulness'.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: There is no Baha'i House of Worship in Singapore, but there is a Baha'i Centre that serves as the administrative headquarters of the religion in Singapore.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The Brahma Kumaris are a millenarian spiritual movement that originated in Hyderabad, Sindh in modern-day Pakistan in the 1930s. Founded by spiritualist and medium Lekhraj Kripalani，originally a follower of the Vaishnavite Vallabhacharya sect, the movement is known for the prominent role played by celibate women in it, and purports to teach an ancient form of meditation known as Raja Yoga. The group has since distanced itself from its Hindu roots, preferring to use the language of New Age and personal growth movements to draw students. Followers believe in an imminent "End of the World" situation that is slated to happen before 2036 but in more recent teachings, leaders have downplayed many of the apocalyptic prophecies of the destruction of the planet revealed earlier. Many of the group's beliefs, referred to as "The Knowledge", are largely kept hidden from outsiders. The Singapore Brahma Kumaris Centre operates out of its Hindoo Road location in Little India.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Christian Science is a non-trinitarian Christian new religious movement developed by Mary Baker Eddy who argued in her 1875 book "Science and Health" that sickness is an illusion that can be corrected by prayer alone. She founded the Church of Christ, Scientist in 1879 with 26 followers. The church is known for its Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, the "Christian Science Monitor". In Singapore, the church holds weekly Sunday Services at The Regent Hotel on Cuscaden Road.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Eckankar, a new religious movement founded by Paul Twitchell in 1965, is active in Singapore through the Eckankar Satsang Singapore. There is no published data available on the size of the group, which holds meetings at Peace Centre.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Falun Gong is a new religious movement founded in China by Li Hongzhi in the early 1990s. Riding on the "qigong" boom and initially enjoying support from Chinese officialdom, the movement was estimated to have 70 million practitioners in 1999. The Chinese government soon denounced the group as a cult and embarked on a nationwide crackdown. The group was registered as the Falun Buddha Society in 1996 and is headquartered at Geylang Road. The association is believed to have some 500 to 1,000 practitioners in Singapore, and publishes the Singapore edition of "The Epoch Times" in English and Chinese. In January 2001, 15 Falun Gong practitioners, mostly Chinese nationals, were charged with illegal assembly after organising an unauthorised vigil at a park in memory of fellow believers they say died in police custody in China. In July 2006, nine members were charged with disseminating material encouraging people to quit the Chinese Community Party, and another three members were charged with meditating and going on hunger strike outside the Chinese embassy.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The Hare Krishna movement is active in Singapore but not through the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) which was banned by the government in the 1970s and remains banned today. Foreign ISKCON monks as well as Srila Prabhupada, founder of the movement, were barred by wary government authorities from entering Singapore, and all attempts by followers to officially register the society failed. Nevertheless, by avoiding affiliation with ISKCON, Hare Krishna followers have subsequently succeeded in registering their societies under different names. These include the Sri Krishna Mandir in Geylang and the Gita Reading Society at the Gauranga Centre in Serangoon.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The Mata Amritanandamayi Math is a new Hindu movement established in 1981 by Indian guru Mātā Amritānandamayī Devī, popularly referred to by her followers as "Amma", or by the media as the "hugging saint". Singapore was the destination of her first trip out of India in 1987 and since then, she has made frequent visits to the city-state, often attracting tens of thousands to darshan events in recent years. The Amriteswari Society was registered in Singapore in 1993 and is located at Hindoo Road in Little India.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints first began holding meetings in 1963 with a handful of followers that were living in Singapore in 1963. Church membership grew to about 100 in 1970 when the government began restricting proselytization and visas for missionaries. In 1974, the church created the Singapore Mission, with G. Carlos Smith as the mission president. By January 1980, Singapore was opened to full-time missionaries. As of 2021, the church claims about 3,400 members in the country and operates three chapels in Bukit Timah, Pasir Panjang, and Sengkang. In August 1992, Jon Huntsman Jr., a Latter-day Saint was appointed as the United States Ambassador to Singapore. He served less than a year and left in June 1993. 21 Latter-day Saint missionaries have reportedly been sent out from Singapore to 15 countries.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Nichiren Shōshū is a branch of Nichiren Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese priest Nichiren. The Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist Association (Singapore) is located at Sims Avenue. A schism in Japan in 1991 saw the excommunication of Soka Gakkai out of Nichiren Shōshū, following which the respective branches in Singapore also parted ways.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The Quan Yin Famen, or the Quan Yin Method, is a transnational cybersect founded in 1988 by the self-styled Taiwanese-Vietnamese Ching Hai, known variously as "Suma Ching Hai" or "Supreme Master Ching Hai". The sect has been denounced in China as a cult and today propagates its teachings through an online tv station called Supreme Master Television. Ching Hai is the progenitor of the Loving Hut vegan restaurant chain which claims some 200 outlets in 35 countries. The Supreme Master Ching Hai Association (Singapore) is based at the Avari Centre on Geylang Road and runs a Loving Hut restaurant on Joo Chiat Road.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The Sathya Sai Baba movement is a new Hindu religious movement inspired by Indian spiritual guru Sathya Sai Baba (1926-2011) who followers claim to be the avatar of Shiva and Shakti and the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba. During his lifetime, Sai Baba taught the unity of religions and drew crowds with purported materialisations of "vibhuti" and other objects, as well as claims of miraculous healings, resurrections, clairvoyance, bilocation and purported omniscience and omnipotence. The movement's history in Singapore goes back to the early 1970s, when a handful of Singaporeans began making trips to India to visit Sai Baba. In 1975, the Sri Satha Sai Society, Singapore was registered, and in 1988, a S$613,500 purchase was made for a 8,000 square foot freehold site at 133 Moulmein Road.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Shinnyo-en is a Japanese Buddhist order founded in 1936 by Shinjō Itō and his wife Tomoji in the tradition of the Daigo branch of Shingon Buddhism. The group was formally registered in Singapore in 1994 and claims some 1,800 members who observe rituals and ceremonies at a temple at Jalan Kechot.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Soka Gakkai is a Japanese new religious movement based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren. Founded in Japan in 1930 and affiliated with Nichiren Buddhism, the movement soon made its way to Singapore. The Singapore Soka Association was officially registered in 1972. Its membership was estimated to be about 40,000 people in 25,000 households in 2005. The group has been an active participant at the annual National Day Parade and Chingay events. The association is headquartered in Tampines and runs a Soka Kindergarten there. In October 2020, it broke ground on a new centre in Punggol.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The Transcendental Meditation movement was founded by Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the mid-1950s. Central to the movement is a specific form of silent, mantra meditation that is practiced for 15–20 minutes twice per day and is taught by certified teachers through a standard course of instruction, which costs a fee that varies by country. The Singapore TM Centre is run by The Spiritual Regeneration Movement Foundation of Singapore and located at Cendex Centre on Lower Delta Road. It charges S$1,500 per adult and S$2,400 per family for a course that includes personal instruction and follow-up group sessions.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: True Jesus Church is a non-trinitarian restorationist Christian sect that emerged in 1917 in Beijing, China. With teachings influenced by both the early Pentecostal and Adventist movements, the church practices Sabbath keeping, speaking in tongues, foot washing, faith healing and water baptism by full body immersion in natural living waters, with head bowed and face downwards. Members of the True Jesus Church Singapore meet in four worship venues: Adam Road, Sembawang, Serangoon and Telok Kurau.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Tzu Chi is a new Buddhist movement that was established in 1966 by the Taiwanese "bhikkuni" Master Cheng Yen. Tzu Chi Singapore was founded in 1993 and headquartered at Elias Road in Pasir Ris. The movement runs clinics providing free general practitioner, traditional Chinese medicine and dental services to elderly residents and low-income households in Redhill and Khatib. It also operates the Lakeside Family Medicine Clinic in Jurong West and a day rehabilitation centre in Jurong East. The group's education mission runs pre-schools in Yishun and Toa Payoh and a Continuing Education Centre at Elias Road. The group's charitable arm provides financial assistance for kidney patients and people with HIV/AIDS.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The World Mission Society Church of God is a Korean sabbatarian, restorationist Christian new religious movement established in 1964. The church believes that Ahn Sahng-hong, a former Seventh-Day Adventist preacher who died in 1985, is Christ, and refers to his wife Zahng Gil-jah, who is still living, variously as "God the Mother", "Mother Jerusalem", "New Jerusalem Mother", and "Heavenly Mother". The World Mission Society Church of God Singapore is located at Cheong Chin Nam Road.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Non-religious Singaporeans are found in various ethnic groups and all walks of life in the diverse, multicultural city state. The proportion of Irregious people is higher among Chinese people, with one in four chinese having no religion in the 2020 Census. The Singapore non-religious community itself is very diverse, with many calling themselves atheists, agnostics, free thinkers, humanists, secularists, theists or sceptics. In addition, there some people who decline religious labels but still practice traditional rituals like ancestor worship. The number of non-religious people in Singapore has risen gradually over the decades. Census reports show that those who said they have no religion rose from 13.0% in 1980 to 17.0% in 2010 and to 20.0% in 2020 . In recent years, social gatherings of non-religious people are becoming popular in Singapore. The Singapore Humanism Meetup is a major network of over 400 secular Humanists, freethinkers, atheists, and agnostics. In October 2010, the Humanist Society (Singapore) became the first humanist group to be gazetted as a society.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: Below are the ethnic breakdown of Irreligious according to the 2020 Singapore Census of Population as follows:


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, other laws and policies restricted this right in some circumstances. Publications and public discussions of religious issues are generally censored, along with negative or inflammatory portrayals of religion. The Government does not tolerate speech or actions that it deems could adversely affect racial or religious harmony.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: In 1972, the Singapore government de-registered and banned the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses in Singapore on the grounds that its members refuse to perform military service (which is obligatory for all male citizens), salute the flag, or swear oaths of allegiance to the state. Singapore has banned all written materials published by the International Bible Students Association and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, both publishing arms of the Jehovah's Witnesses. A person who possesses a prohibited publication can be fined up to S$2,000 and jailed up to 12 months for a first conviction.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: In 1982, the Minister for Home Affairs dissolved the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, also known as the Unification Church (and colloquially as "Moonies"), for allegedly breaking up families.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: In February 2020, Singapore began a probe into the unregistered local chapter of the Korean new religious movement Shincheonji Church of Jesus. The apocalyptic, messianic sect was known for being the centre of the first COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea. The group had fewer than 100 members in Singapore and operated covertly through a front company called Spasie Enrichment. The Ministry of Home Affairs said the group had earlier tried, and failed, to register a company under the name of Heavenly Culture, World Peace and Restoration of Light.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: In November 2020, 21 members of the group were arrested for being members of an unlawful society. Five South Korean nationals who held key positions were repatriated and the group's front entities were dissolved.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: In 2011, Wikileaks published diplomatic cables which attributed controversial comments regarding Islam to Lee Kuan Yew, the Minister Mentor of Singapore's government. Wikileaks quoted Lee as having described Islam as a "venomous religion". Lee later denied making the comments.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The incident followed Lee's controversial book release "Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going". In the book, Lee claimed that Singaporean Muslims faced difficulties in integrating because of their religion, and urged them to "be less strict on Islamic observances" – an assertion that is seemingly contrary to statistics and studies on the levels of social acceptance, tolerance and interracial marriages practised by Singaporean Muslims.


title: Religion in Singapore

text: The speakers for broadcasting the Islamic call to prayer were turned inwards to broadcast towards the interior of the mosques as part of a noise abatement campaign in 1974.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: The American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein described the symphony as the first musical expedition into psychedelia because of its hallucinatory and dream-like nature, and because history suggests Berlioz composed at least a portion of it under the influence of opium. According to Bernstein, "Berlioz tells it like it is. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral."


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: Berlioz put a great deal of emotion into the piece, exploring the extremities of many ends of the emotional spectrum. He wanted people to understand his intentions behind it as they were the driving factor behind each movement and the story he attaches to the different parts of the piece. Berlioz said "For this reason I generally find it extremely painful to hear my works conducted by someone other than myself."


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: In 1831 Berlioz wrote a lesser-known sequel to the work, "Lélio", for actor, soloists, chorus, piano and orchestra.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: "" is a piece of program music that tells the story of an artist gifted with a lively imagination who has poisoned himself with opium in the depths of despair because of hopeless, unrequited love. Berlioz provided his own preface and program notes for each movement of the work. They exist in two principal versions – one from 1845 in the first score of the work and the second from 1855. From the revised preface and notes, it can be seen how Berlioz, later in his life, downplayed the programmatic aspect of the work.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: In the 1855 preface, a different outlook towards the work's programmatic undertones is established by Berlioz:


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: After attending a performance of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" on 11 September 1827, Berlioz fell in love with the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, who had played the role of Ophelia. He sent her numerous love letters, all of which went unanswered. When she left Paris in 1829, they had still not met. Berlioz then wrote "Symphonie fantastique" as a way to express his unrequited love. There are many different portrayals of Harriet Smithson throughout the symphony. For example, the harsh narrative in the last two movements can be attributed to her rejection of him during this period of the composition. Smithson did not attend the premiere in 1830, but she heard the work in 1832 and realized Berlioz's genius. The two finally met and were married on 3 October 1833. However, their marriage became increasingly bitter, and they eventually separated after years of unhappiness.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: Berlioz specified at least 15 1st violins, 15 2nd violins, 10 violas, 11 celli and 9 basses on the score.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: Berlioz originally wrote for one serpent and one ophicleide, but quickly switched to two ophicleides after the serpent proved to be difficult to use.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: Each of the 5 movements had a different make-up. Not all instruments are used in each movement. Berlioz was one of the first to employ such a huge orchestra, and his successors continue this trend.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: Berlioz also brings unique instrumentation and playing techniques into the piece. The piece was one of the earliest symphonies where the English horn played a large role. He includes an imitative duet between an off-stage oboe and the English horn. Berlioz also utilizes col legno bowing for the strings, a technique used very infrequently by major composers during his career.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: Each movement depicts an episode in the protagonist's life that is described by Berlioz in the program notes to the 1845 score. These program notes are quoted in each section below.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: The first movement is radical in its harmonic outline, building a vast arch back to the home key; while similar to the sonata form of the classical period, Parisian critics regarded this as unconventional. It is here that the listener is introduced to the theme of the artist's beloved, or the "idée fixe". The "idée fixe" begins:


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: Throughout the movement there is a simplicity in the way melodies and themes are presented, which Robert Schumann likened to Beethoven's epigrams' ideas that could be extended had the composer chosen to. In part, it is because Berlioz rejected writing the more symmetrical melodies then in academic fashion, and instead looked for melodies that were "so intense in every note as to defy normal harmonization", as Schumann put it. The theme itself was taken from Berlioz's "scène lyrique" "Herminie", composed in 1828.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: The second movement is a waltz in . It begins with a mysterious introduction that creates an atmosphere of impending excitement, followed by a passage dominated by two harps; then the flowing waltz theme appears, derived from the "idée fixe" at first, then transforming it. More formal statements of the "idée fixe" twice interrupt the waltz.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: The movement is the only one to feature the two harps, providing the glamour and sensual richness of the ball, and may also symbolize the object of the young man's affection. Berlioz wrote extensively in his memoirs of his trials and tribulations in having this symphony performed, due to a lack of capable harpists and harps, especially in Germany.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: Another feature of this movement is that Berlioz added a part for solo cornet to his autograph score, although it was not included in the score published in his lifetime. The work has most often been played and recorded without the solo cornet part. However, conductors Jean Martinon, Colin Davis, Otto Klemperer, Gustavo Dudamel, John Eliot Gardiner, Charles Mackerras, Jos van Immerseel and Leonard Slatkin have employed this part for cornet in performances of the symphony.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: The third movement is a slow movement, marked "Adagio", in . The two shepherds mentioned in the program notes are depicted by a cor anglais (English horn) and an offstage oboe tossing an evocative melody back and forth. After the cor anglais–oboe conversation, the principal theme of the movement appears on solo flute and violins. It begins with:


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: Berlioz salvaged this theme from his abandoned "Messe solennelle". The "idée fixe" returns in the middle of the movement, played by oboe and flute. The sound of distant thunder at the end of the movement is a striking passage for four timpani.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: Berlioz claimed to have written the fourth movement in a single night, reconstructing music from an unfinished project, the opera "Les francs-juges". The movement begins with timpani sextuplets in thirds, for which he directs: "The first quaver of each half-bar is to be played with two drumsticks, and the other five with the right hand drumsticks". The movement proceeds as a march filled with blaring horns and rushing passages, and scurrying figures that later show up in the last movement.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: Before the musical depiction of his execution, there is a brief, nostalgic recollection of the "idée fixe" in a solo clarinet, as though representing the last conscious thought of the soon-to-be-executed man.


title: Symphonie fantastique

text: There are a host of effects, including trilling in the woodwinds and "col legno" in the strings. The climactic finale combines the somber Dies Irae melody, now in A minor, with the fugue of the "Ronde du Sabbat", building to a modulation into E major, then chromatically into C major, ending on a C chord.


title: E-segment

text: The E-segment is the 5th category of the European segments for passenger cars, synonymous with the term executive car.


title: E-segment

text: E-Segment is a niche in Europe (2-3% penetration in 2010s). As of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, E-segment sales account for 2.7%, 2.7%, 2.3% and 2.1% market share in Europe respectively.


title: E-segment

text: Most E-segment cars are sedans/saloons, however several models are also produced in other body styles such as wagons/estates and hatchbacks.


title: E-segment

text: The terms E-segment or executive car do not have a one-to-one equivalent in the American car classification. However, if a modern E-segment sedan by a European brand is sold in the U.S., it falls into the category of both mid-size and full-size sedan, usually a mid-size luxury sedan.


title: E-segment

text: The American mid-size sedan classification spans both the D-segment and the E-segment. With size brackets of European car segments increasing, the Toyota Camry fell from the E-segment into the D-segment while remaining a mid-size car.


title: E-segment

text: In 2020 the highest selling E-segment cars in Europe were the Mercedes-Benz E-class, BMW 5 Series, Audi A6, Volvo V90/S90 and Porsche Taycan.


title: E-segment

text: 1. The table includes not only E-segment cars, but also a car fitting the F-segment in terms of size (the 2011 Chrysler 300).


title: E-segment

text: 2. Our source of information initial include BMW 8 Series in E-segment, but latter moved to F-segment.


title: E-segment

text: 2019 - Sales of large cars in Europe were down 13% in 2019 to 362,300 units, a new record low annual volume for this class, which now accounts for 2.3% of the total European car market, down from 2.7% in 2018.


title: E-segment

text: 2020 - The large cars segment in Europe is down 32% in 2020, to just over 246,000 deliveries. This means the segment loses ground on the overall market again and now accounts for just 2.1% of the total European car market, down from 2.3% in 2019. With the exception of a newcomer, the entire top-8, which accounts for nearly 91% of the segment’s sales, drops by 29% or more and thus falls behind the overall market. Only one single model in the class manages to keep its decline limited to single digits.


title: The Lancet

text: The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823.


title: The Lancet

text: The journal publishes original research articles, review articles ("seminars" and "reviews"), editorials, book reviews, correspondence, as well as news features and case reports. "The Lancet" has been owned by Elsevier since 1991, and its editor-in-chief since 1995 has been Richard Horton. The journal has editorial offices in London, New York City, and Beijing.


title: The Lancet

text: "The Lancet" was founded in 1823 by Thomas Wakley, an English surgeon who named it after the surgical instrument called a lancet (scalpel). Members of the Wakley family retained editorship of the journal until 1908. In 1921, "The Lancet" was acquired by Hodder & Stoughton. Elsevier acquired "The Lancet" from Hodder & Stoughton in 1991.


title: The Lancet

text: According to the "Journal Citation Reports", the journal has a 2021 impact factor of 202.731 ranking it first above "The New England Journal of Medicine" in the category "Medicine, General & Internal".


title: The Lancet

text: "The Lancet" also publishes several specialty journals: The Lancet Neurology (neurology), The Lancet Oncology (oncology), The Lancet Infectious Diseases (infectious diseases), The Lancet Respiratory Medicine (respiratory medicine), The Lancet Psychiatry (psychiatry), The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology (endocrinology), and The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology (gastroenterology) all of which publish original research and reviews. In 2013, The Lancet Global Health (global health) became the group's first fully open access journal. In 2014, The Lancet Haematology (haematology) and The Lancet HIV (infectious diseases) were launched, both as online only research titles. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health (paediatrics) launched in 2017. The three established speciality journals ("The Lancet Neurology", "The Lancet Oncology", and "The Lancet Infectious Diseases") have built up strong reputations in their medical speciality. According to the "Journal Citation Reports", "The Lancet Oncology" has a 2021 impact factor of 54.433, "The Lancet Neurology" has 59.935, and "The Lancet Infectious Diseases" has 71.421. There is also an online website for students entitled The Lancet Student in blog format, launched in 2007.


title: The Lancet

text: Since July 2018, "The Lancet" has also published two open access journals as part of The Lancet Discovery Science, dedicated to essential early evidence: eBioMedicine (translational research), a journal initially launched in 2014 by parent publisher Elsevier, since 2015 supported by Cell Press and "The Lancet", and eventually (July 2018) incorporated in "The Lancet family journals" together with its newly incepted sister journal eClinicalMedicine (clinical research and public health research).


title: The Lancet

text: Occasionally, the Editors of the specialty journals will feel it incumbent upon themselves to name Commissions about a certain particular issue of concern to a wide sub-audience of their readers. One example of this type of Commission is the "Lancet Infectious Diseases" Commission on "Preparedness for emerging epidemic threats", which reported on its mandate in January 2020.


title: The Lancet

text: Prior to 1990, "The Lancet" had volume numbering that reset every year. Issues in January to June were in volume "i", with the rest in volume "ii". In 1990, the journal moved to a sequential volume numbering scheme, with two volumes per year. Volumes were retro-actively assigned to the years prior to 1990, with the first issue of 1990 being assigned volume 335, and the last issue of 1989 assigned volume 334. The table of contents listing on ScienceDirect uses this new numbering scheme.


title: The Lancet

text: "The Lancet" has taken a political stand on several important medical and non-medical issues. Recent examples include criticism of the World Health Organization (WHO), rejection of a draft WHO report on the efficacy of homeopathy as a therapeutic option, disapproval during the time Reed Exhibitions (a division of Reed Elsevier) hosted arms industry fairs, a call in 2003 for tobacco to be made illegal in the United Kingdom, and a call for an independent investigation into the American bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan in 2015.


title: The Lancet

text: "The Lancet" was accused of sexism after using the phrase "bodies with vaginas" on the cover of the edition for 25 September 2021. Editor in Chief Richard Horton issued an apology on the journal's website.


title: The Lancet

text: A December 2003 editorial by the journal, titled "How do you sleep at night, Mr Blair?", called for tobacco use to be completely banned in the United Kingdom. The Royal College of Physicians rejected their argument. John Britton, chairman of the college's tobacco advisory group, praised the journal for discussing the health problem, but he concluded that a "ban on tobacco would be a nightmare." Amanda Sandford, spokesperson for the anti-tobacco group Action on Smoking and Health, stated that criminalising a behaviour 26% of the population commit "is ludicrous." She also said: "We can't turn the clock back. If tobacco were banned we would have 13 million people desperately craving a drug that they would not be able to get." The deputy editor of "The Lancet" responded to the criticism by arguing that no other measures besides a total ban would likely be able to reduce tobacco use.


title: The Lancet

text: The smokers rights group FOREST stated that the editorial gave them "amusement and disbelief". Director Simon Clark called the journal "fascist" and argued that it is hypocritical to ban tobacco while allowing unhealthy junk foods, alcohol consumption, and participation in extreme sports. Health Secretary John Reid reiterated that his government was committed to helping people give up smoking. He added: "Despite the fact that this is a serious problem, it is a little bit extreme for us in Britain to start locking people up because they have an ounce of tobacco somewhere."


title: The Lancet

text: "The Lancet" also published an estimate of the Iraq War's Iraqi death toll—around 100,000—in 2004. In 2006, a follow-up study by the same team suggested that the violent death rate in Iraq was not only consistent with the earlier estimate, but had increased considerably in the intervening period (see "Lancet" surveys of casualties of the Iraq War). The second survey estimated that there had been 654,965 excess Iraqi deaths as a consequence of the war. The 95% confidence interval was 392,979 to 942,636. 1,849 households that contained 12,801 people were surveyed.


title: The Lancet

text: The estimates provided in the second article are much higher than those published in other surveys from the same time. Most notably, the "Iraq Family Health Survey" published in the "New England Journal of Medicine" surveyed 9,345 households across Iraq and estimated 151,000 deaths due to violence (95% uncertainty range, 104,000 to 223,000) over the same period covered in the second "Lancet" survey by Burnham et al. The "NEJM" article stated that the second "Lancet" survey "considerably overestimated the number of violent deaths" and said the "Lancet" results were "highly improbable, given the internal and external consistency of the data and the much larger sample size and quality-control measures taken in the implementation of the IFHS."


title: The Lancet

text: In August 2014 and during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, "The Lancet" published an "Open letter for the people of Gaza" in their correspondence section. The principal author of the letter was Dr. Paola Manduca, Professor of Genetics at the University of Genoa in Italy. As reported in "The Daily Telegraph", the letter "condemned Israel in the strongest possible terms, but strikingly made no mention of Hamas' atrocities." According to "Haaretz", the authors of the letter include doctors who "are apparently sympathetic to the views of David Duke, a white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard." One of the doctors responded by saying that the letter was a legitimate exercise in freedom of expression, while a second one stated that he had no knowledge about David Duke or the Ku Klux Klan.


title: The Lancet

text: The editor of "The Lancet", Richard Horton, said: "I have no plans to retract the letter, and I would not retract the letter even if it was found to be substantiated." However, Horton subsequently came to Israel's Rambam Hospital for a visit and said that he "deeply, deeply regret[ted] the completely unnecessary polarization that publication of the letter by Dr Paola Manduca caused."


title: The Lancet

text: Mark Pepys, a member of the Jewish Medical Association, criticised the letter as being a "partisan political diatribe" which was inappropriate for a serious publication. In addition, Pepys accused Richard Horton personally for allowing the publication of such political views.


title: The Lancet

text: On 19 February 2020, "The Lancet" published a letter signed by 27 scientists that stated: "We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin... and overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife," adding: "Conspiracy theories do nothing but create fear, rumours, and prejudice that jeopardise our global collaboration in the fight against this virus." The letter has been criticized for having a chilling effect on scientific research and the scientific community by implying that scientists who "bring up the lab-leak theory... are doing the work of conspiracy theorists"; the statement was deemed to have "effectively ended the debate over COVID-19's origins before it began". Further criticism of the letter was focused on the fact that, according to emails obtained through FOIA, members involved in producing the letter concealed their involvement "to creat[e] the impression of scientific unanimity" and failed to disclose conflicts of interest.


title: The Lancet

text: After having published letters supporting only the natural origins theory, "The Lancet" published a letter in September 2021 from a group of 16 virologists, biologists and biosecurity specialists saying that "Research-related hypotheses are not misinformation or conjecture" and that "Scientific journals should open their columns to in-depth analyses of all hypotheses." "The Times of India" described "The Lancet"'s decision to publish the letter as a "u-turn".