title: Only the Lonely (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 65% based on reviews from 23 critics, with an average rating of 6/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Wolf Warrior

text: Wolf Warrior () is a 2015 Chinese war film written and directed by Wu Jing. It stars Wu Jing along with Scott Adkins, Yu Nan and Kevin Lee. It was released on 2 April 2015. A sequel, titled "Wolf Warrior 2", was released in China in 2017 and became the all-time highest-grossing film in China.


title: Wolf Warrior

text: In 2008, a combined task group of People's Liberation Army Special Operations Forces and Chinese police raid a drug smuggling operation in an abandoned chemical facility in southern China. The leader of the smuggling operation, Wu Ji, holds one of his own men hostage while taking cover behind a section of the facility's reinforced wall.


title: Wolf Warrior

text: Leng Feng, a skilled PLA sniper, ignores orders to stand down and fires three shots at a weak section of the wall, penetrating through on the third shot and killing Wu Ji. Leng Feng is sent to solitary confinement as punishment, but is approached by Long Xiaoyun, the female commander of the legendary 'Wolf Warriors', an elite unit within the PLA tasked with simulating foreign tactics for the PLA to train against. Long Xiaoyun offers Leng Feng a place in the Wolf Warriors. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, crime lord Min Deng, the older brother of Wu Ji, hires ex-US Navy SEAL “Tom Cat” (Scott Adkins) and his group to assassinate Leng Feng and avenge his brother.


title: Wolf Warrior

text: The Wolf Warriors participate in a training exercise in a remote and uninhabited forested region on China's southern border. During the exercise, Tom Cat and his mercenaries ambush a Wolf Warrior squad, killing one of Leng Feng's comrades. Subsequently, the PLA and the Wolf Warriors are tasked with hunting down Tom Cat‘s squad to restore their honor. The combined infantry force move into the forest but are delayed by multiple traps set by Tom Cat and pinned down by sniper fire until Leng Feng manages to kill the shooter. Afterwards, the rest of the PLA force engages Tom Cat's other mercenaries, who stage a fighting retreat but are eventually overwhelmed and killed one by one. Meanwhile, Long Xiaoyun and the other PLA commanders deduce that Ming Deng himself is also in the training area to take possession of a smuggled cache of biotechnology, which could allow the creation of a genetic weapon that could target Chinese people exclusively.


title: Wolf Warrior

text: Leng Feng eventually catches Tom Cat just before China's southern border. Leng Feng is nearly defeated, but manages to kill Tom Cat with his own knife. Medical personnel from a PLA relief force arrive, but Leng Feng recognises the wrist tattoo of the medic that approaches him and realizes that they are Min Deng's men in PLA uniforms. He attacks them, eventually holding Min Deng himself at bayonet point on the very edge of the Chinese border. Min Deng's paramilitary force approaches from the other side of the border, but so do the rest of the Wolf Warriors and PLA soldiers. Min Deng's force retreats, leaving him to be arrested.


title: Wolf Warrior

text: The script went through 14 drafts over seven years. In order to portray more realistic combat scenes, the movie used five missiles (each at a value of one million yuan), more than 30,000 rounds of ammunition, and a variety of Chinese active military aircraft, including the Chengdu J-10, Harbin Z-9, and CAIC Z-10. In one large battle scene, 32 active tanks appeared in the same shot, including a Type 96 tank.


title: Wolf Warrior

text: In order to prepare for the film, with the support of Chinese PLA Nanjing Military Region, Wu Jing trained for 18 months at a camp in Nanjing Military Region.


title: Wolf Warrior

text: On the first day of shooting, it was the hottest summer in Nanjing's history. The temperature was up to 49.8 °C, making 5 extra actors suffer from shock.


title: Wolf Warrior

text: Most of the film was made on location in Jiangsu province, at sites including Nanjing and Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.


title: Wolf Warrior

text: In China, it opened on 2 April 2015, earning US$33.32 million in its 4-day opening weekend topping the Chinese box office. In its second weekend, it fell to number two, earning US$36.19 million (behind "Furious 7").


title: Wolf Warrior

text: The film had an overall rating of 6.8 on the Chinese review site Douban as of August 2017. Variety magazine wrote: "To a layperson's eyes, the military exercise does look authentic, and the cross-country skirmishes are ruggedly watchable on an acrobatic level. Yet it's impossible to overlook the inanity of the plotting".


title: Wolf Warrior

text: "Wolf Warrior" and its sequel, "Wolf Warrior 2", are the namesake of China's aggressive 'wolf warrior diplomacy' under Xi Jinping's administration.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria (Spanish for "St. Mary") is a city near the Central Coast of California in northern Santa Barbara County. It is approximately northwest of Santa Barbara and northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Its population was 109,707 at the 2020 census, making it the most populous city in the county and the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA Metro Area. The city is notable for its wine industry and Santa Maria-style barbecue.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The Santa Maria Valley, stretching from the Santa Lucia Mountains toward the Pacific Ocean, was the homeland of the Chumash people for several thousand years. The Native Americans made their homes on the slopes of the surrounding hills among the oaks, on the banks of the Santa Maria River among the sycamores, and along the coast. They had unique plank-built boats, called Tomol, which they used for ocean fishing.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: In 1769, the Portolá Expedition passed through the Santa Maria Valley during the first Spanish land exploration up the coast of Las Californias Province. Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa was established just north of the valley in 1772, and Mission La Purísima Concepción was established near present-day Lompoc in 1787. Rather than rich soil, white settlers were attracted here by the possibility of free land. In 1821, after the Mexican War of Independence, the mission lands in Santa Maria Valley were made available for private ownership under a Mexican land grant called Rancho Punta de Laguna. At the end of the Mexican War in 1848, California was ceded to the United States, and was granted statehood with the Compromise of 1850.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: In the late 19th century, the area's rich soil attracted farmers and other settlers. By the end of the century, the Santa Maria River Valley had become one of the most productive agricultural areas in the state. Agriculture remains a key component of the economy for the city and the entire region.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Between 1869 and 1874, four of the valley's settlers, Rudolph Cook, John Thornburg, Isaac Fesler (for whom Fesler Jr. High School is named), and Isaac Miller (for whom Miller Elementary School is named), built their homes near each other at the present corners on Broadway and Main Street. The townsite was recorded in Santa Barbara in 1875. The new town was named Grangerville, then changed to Central City. It became Santa Maria on February 18, 1885, since mail was often being sent by mistake to Central City, Colorado. Santa Maria was chosen from the name Juan Pacifico Ontiveros had given to his property 25 years earlier. Streets named after the four settlers now form a 6-block square centered at Broadway and Main Street, the center of town.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Oil exploration began in 1888, leading to large-scale discoveries at the turn of the 20th century. In 1902, Union Oil discovered the large Orcutt Oil Field in the Solomon Hills south of town, and a number of smaller companies also began pumping oil. Two years later, Union Oil had 22 wells in production. Other significant discoveries followed, including the Lompoc Oil Field in 1903 and the Cat Canyon field in 1908. Over the next 80 years more large oil fields were found, and thousands of oil wells drilled and put into production. Oil development intensified in the 1930s, with the discovery of the Santa Maria Valley Oil Field in 1934, right underneath the southern and western parts of the city of Santa Maria, which spurred the city's growth even further. By 1957 there were 1,775 oil wells in operation in the Santa Maria Valley, producing more than $640 million worth of oil.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it (2.73%) is water.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria is situated north of the unincorporated community of Orcutt, California, and south of the Santa Maria River (which serves as the line between Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County). The valley is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and to the east by the San Rafael Mountains and the Los Padres National Forest. The city of Guadalupe, California is approximately to the west of Santa Maria.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria experiences a cool Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification "Csb") typical of coastal areas of California north of Point Conception. The climate is mostly sunny, refreshed by the ocean breeze. Fog is common. Snow in the mountains is seen during the winter however, in the lowest parts of the city it is virtually unknown; with the last brief flurry recorded in January 1949. The only recorded earlier snowfall was in January 1882. Rainfall averages annually. The record high temperature of was observed on June 20, 2008, while the record low of was observed twice: on January 2, 1976 and December 7, 1978.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The 2010 United States Census reported that Santa Maria had a population of 99,553. The population density was . The racial makeup of Santa Maria was 55,983 (56.2%) White, 1,656 (1.7%) African American, 1,818 (1.8%) Native American, 5,054 (5.1%) Asian, 161 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 29,841 (30.0%) from other races, and 5,040 (5.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 70,114 persons (70.4%).


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The Census reported that 98,546 people (99.0% of the population) lived in households, 588 (0.6%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 419 (0.4%) were institutionalized.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: There were 26,908 households, out of which 13,223 (49.1%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 14,616 (54.3%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 3,962 (14.7%) had a female householder with no husband present, 1,901 (7.1%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1,754 (6.5%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 190 (0.7%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 5,079 households (18.9%) were made up of individuals, and 2,431 (9.0%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.66. There were 20,479 families (76.1% of all households); the average family size was 4.06.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The population was spread out, with 31,302 people (31.4%) under the age of 18, 12,170 people (12.2%) aged 18 to 24, 28,486 people (28.6%) aged 25 to 44, 18,204 people (18.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 9,391 people (9.4%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.7 males.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: There were 28,294 housing units at an average density of , of which 13,893 (51.6%) were owner-occupied, and 13,015 (48.4%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.9%; the rental vacancy rate was 3.8%. 46,463 people (46.7% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 52,083 people (52.3%) lived in rental housing units.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: According to the 2000 census, there were 77,423 people, 22,146 households, and 16,653 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 22,847 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 58.1% White, 1.9% African American, 1.8% Native American, 4.7% Asian, 0.18% Pacific Islander, 28.02% from other races, and 5.36% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 59.7% of the population.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: There were 22,146 households, out of which 42% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.4% were married couples living together, 13.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.8% were non-families. 20.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.40 and the average family size was 3.85.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 31.6% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 15.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.6 males.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The median income for a household in the city was $51,739, and the median income for a family was $48,233. Males had a median income of $28,700 versus $22,364 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,780. About 15.5% of families and 19.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.5% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Agriculture plays an important role in the city's economy. The Santa Maria area is home to an increasing number of vineyards, wineries and winemakers and is centrally located to both the Santa Ynez and Foxen Canyon areas of Santa Barbara County's wine country, and San Luis Obispo County's Edna Valley-Arroyo Grande wine country.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The agricultural areas surrounding the city are some of the most productive in California, with primary crops including strawberries, wine grapes, celery, lettuce, peas, squash, cauliflower, spinach, broccoli and beans. Many cattle ranchers also call the Santa Maria Valley home.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Two of the city's major retail centers, the Crossroads, completed in 1999, and the historic Enos Ranch site, still under development, are both situated adjacent to the U.S. Route 101/Betteravia Road interchange and feature several prominent big-box stores. The city is also home to the Santa Maria Town Center, the only enclosed shopping mall in Santa Barbara County and the largest on the Central Coast, located at the junction of Broadway and Main Street.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria also features the historic Santa Maria Inn, located on South Broadway; originally built in 1917 by Frank McCoy, it is a registered historic landmark and features a wide range of amenities. Several famous guests have stayed at this inn, including Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, Bette Davis, Bing Crosby, and Herbert Hoover.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: In recent years, other industries have been added to the city's agricultural and retail mix, including: aerospace; communications; high-tech research and development; energy production; military operations; and manufacturing.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The petroleum industry has long had a large presence in the area, since oil was first discovered at the Orcutt Oil Field in 1902. By 1957, there were 1,775 oil wells in operation in the Santa Maria Valley, producing more than $640 million worth of oil.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: According to the city's 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria-style barbecue is a regional culinary tradition rooted in the Santa Maria Valley. The tri-tip steak has its roots in Santa Maria. Tri-tip is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin. It is a small triangular muscle, usually per side of beef. In the United States, this cut was typically used for ground beef or sliced into steaks until the late 1950s, when it became a local specialty in Santa Maria. "Santa Maria-style" barbecue is usually used in reference to the seasoning of tri-tip or other meats (most notably top sirloin, or "top block") when rubbed with salt, pepper, and spices and cooked whole on a rotisserie or grilled over local red oak wood. The side dishes complementing a typical "Santa Maria-style" barbecue generally consist of garlic bread, pinquito beans, and a salad.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Sunset Magazine's August 2013 issue features a 10-page spread on Santa Maria Style BBQ, crowning Santa Maria as "The West's Best BBQ Town".


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria, along with the neighboring Lompoc, Los Alamos and Santa Ynez Valleys, combine to create one of the nation's largest wine-producing regions, referred to as the Santa Barbara Wine Country.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The often foggy and windswept Santa Maria Valley is the northernmost appellation in Santa Barbara County. The region's first officially approved American Viticultural Area (AVA) enjoys extremely complex soil conditions and diverse microclimates. Chardonnay and Pinot noir are two varietals which especially benefit from the ocean's influence, and are the flagship wines of this appellation.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria Valley grapes are also used by wineries throughout Santa Barbara County and at many wineries outside of the county. The Santa Maria Valley name is used on labels from wineries that are based far away from the Santa Barbara County sunshine. The Santa Maria Valley appellation is bounded by the San Rafael Mountains and the Los Padres National Forest to the east, and by the Solomon Hills and the city of Santa Maria to the west.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria's Allan Hancock College is the home of The Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts (PCPA), a theatrical school and production company. Notable alumni include: Robin Williams, Kathy Bates, Kelly McGillis, Mercedes Ruehl, and Zac Efron. An additional PCPA theatre is located in Solvang, California in the Santa Ynez Valley.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria is also home to two large indoor Regal Edwards movie theaters; one located in the Town Center Mall, and one located off the 101 Freeway.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria also has a small community theatre, the Santa Maria Civic Theatre which is located on the northwest side of town.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria Fairpark, located at Stowell Road and Thornberg Street, is home to the annual Santa Barbara County Fair, which began in 1891. It is also home to the annual Strawberry Festival, in addition to a wide variety of other events, concerts, and conventions.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Waller Park is a 154-acre park located at the south end of Santa Maria, featuring two large duck ponds with water fountains, several playgrounds, picnic and sports areas, a hiking trail, and a frisbee golf course. The first parcels of land that would become Waller Park were donated by the Santa Maria Golf and Country Club in 1928, and the remainder of the land was purchased in 1964 and 1967.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Preisker Park, located at the north end, is home to large open fields, a disc golf course, playgrounds and picnic areas. Its main feature is the large pond with a small replica of the Santa Maria ship, which children can play on.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The Santa Maria Skate Park is located in Fletcher Park. There is also the Paul Nelson Aquatic Center/Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center. Rotary Centennial Park has a basketball court, a baseball field, a large open grass area, and two playgrounds. Each year, the Annual Free Family Kite Festival organized by the Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum is held there.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria's government is split down the middle of the political spectrum, in contrast to Santa Barbara, which tends to be more liberal. Due in part to this political division, plus irrigation and water-supply issues, many attempts have been made to divide the county, the northern portion from Point Conception upwards to become Mission County. Thus far the movement has been unsuccessful. Santa Maria is a reliably Democratic stronghold, having voted for the Democratic candidate for the past six elections, .


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District (SMJUHSD) is the oldest high school district in the State of California and runs the three primary public high schools in the area: Santa Maria High School, Pioneer Valley High School, and Ernest Righetti High School. The Santa Maria-Bonita School District is home to 16,900 students in 17 elementary schools (K-6th grade) and four junior high schools (7th-8th grade). The schools in the Santa Maria-Bonita School District serve students who live within the city limits of Santa Maria, the county area of Tanglewood and the county area just outside Santa Maria heading toward Guadalupe. There are also four notable private schools in the valley: St. Joseph High School, St. Marys Catholic School, Valley Christian Academy, and Pacific Christian School (K-6th grade).


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The Orcutt Union School District serves students who live in the unincporporated community of Orcutt and serves students in grades K through 12.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Allan Hancock College is a California public community college located in northern Santa Barbara County. Allan Hancock College was ranked as one of the five best community colleges in California and one of the nation's top 120 community colleges. Approximately 11,500 credit students enroll each semester at one of the college's four locations in Santa Maria, Lompoc, Solvang, or at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The main campus is in a 105-acre park in Santa Maria. Allan Hancock College is known for its distinguished athletic programs which have included former head football coaches John Madden and Ernie Zampese, as well as Gunther Cunningham. The college is also home to the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, one of the state's finest theatre programs.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria is also home to Santa Barbara Business College, which has been serving the community since 1982.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The following TV stations broadcast in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Maria Television Market Area:


title: Santa Maria, California

text: U.S. Route 101 runs through the middle of the Santa Maria Valley and is the main freeway connecting many West Coast cities. It has been improved to freeway status (meaning all at-grade intersections have been eliminated) within the city of Santa Maria itself. A $32 million widening project that expanded the freeway from four to six lanes between Santa Maria Way and the Highway 166 exit was completed by early 2009.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: State Route 1 runs around the western edge of the city and connects it to nearby Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc. The section of US 101 in the city is a freeway, and a small part of a nearby section of Highway 1 that runs between the city and the base is also a freeway, but the two freeway segments do not directly connect to each other.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: State Route 135 is considered to be the major artery through the city. It comes from Los Alamos, a town to the south of Santa Maria, and it enters Orcutt and Santa Maria as an expressway. The expressway runs all the way to Santa Maria Way. Highway 135 then turns into Broadway and runs through the heart of the city and all the way up to the Santa Maria River and U.S. 101.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The Santa Maria Valley Railroad (SMVRR) is a shortline freight railroad to Guadalupe where the Union Pacific Railroad Interchange point is. Main business includes storage of railroad cars when northern California and southern California storage area are full. In the 1990s, the city proposed a light rail service to replace the SMV's right-of-way, as its future was uncertain.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The nearest train station with long-distance Amtrak service is in Guadalupe, to which Amtrak provides bus service from Santa Maria. Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner provides twice daily service in each direction, running to San Luis Obispo to the north and to San Diego via Los Angeles to the south.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: SMAT, Santa Maria Area Transit, is a local bus service provided by both city and county-run lines, it has recently expanded its services during the evening that stretch to 10:15 P.M. The Breeze Bus provides service to Lompoc, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and Santa Maria. RTA Route 10 connects Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo. The Guadalupe Flyer connects Santa Maria and Guadalupe.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Long-distance intercity bus service is provided by Greyhound Lines. The Clean Air Express commuter bus runs between Santa Maria and Goleta as well as a line to Santa Barbara weekdays.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: The Santa Maria Public Airport is served by two airlines, United Airlines. United Airlines announced service to Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco daily starting June 4, 2020. United is now booking flights to San Francisco and Denver starting Fall 2021, instead of this summer which was previously announced. Allegiant Air operates nonstop jet service three days a week to Las Vegas.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: Santa Maria is home to one of three official Superior Court locations in Santa Barbara County, with the other courthouse located in Santa Barbara. From 2003 to 2005, the Superior Court handled a felony complaint against Michael Jackson (see ) which reached a not guilty verdict on June 13, 2005. The District Attorney chose to present the trial in Santa Maria due to its close proximity from Neverland Ranch where the alleged incident took place.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: As the primary law enforcement agency for the City of Santa Maria, the Santa Maria Police Department handles approximately 130,000 calls for service each year. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office also operates within the city in addition to the Santa Maria Park Officers who consist of 6 sworn officers who derive their authority under CA Penal code section 831.31(b). The SMPD is administratively divided into the three divisions, Administration, Operations, and Support, and has 111 sworn officers and 49 full-time support personnel.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: In the "" episode "", the "Earth" Alphans, during their period on Earth, have built a small village in the destroyed Santa Maria, discovering that on Earth there was an Atlantis-like civilization.


title: Santa Maria, California

text: In the 1995 film Nick of Time, the main character Gene Watson who is played by Johnny Depp is from Santa Maria, CA.


title: Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives

text: Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives is an Indian reality television series. The show focuses on the personal and professional lives of Neelam Kothari, Maheep Kapoor, Bhavna Pandey and Seema Kiran Sajdeh (formerly known as Seema Khan), wives of Bollywood actors Samir Soni, Sanjay Kapoor, Chunky Pandey and Sohail Khan (divorced) respectively. The series debuted on 27 November 2020 on Netflix. A second season premiered on 2 September 2022.


title: Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives

text: Debasree Purkayastha from "The Hindu " stated "Maheep Kapoor, Neelam Kothari, Seema Khan and Bhavana Pandey star in this half-baked reality show that doesn’t have enough drama or wit to hold your attention". Devki Nehra from "Firstpost" wrote "Fabulous Lives fulfils the voyeuristic drive of watching people unlike us in action, but is bereft of the drama that we have come to associate with reality TV".


title: Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives

text: Jyoti Knayal from "India Today" added "The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives is the latest cringe fest from Netflix. You will hate it, but you will probably still watch it". Saibal Chatterjee from "NDTV" shared her review stating "Fabulous Lives Of Bollywood Wives Review: It does not offer any meaningful glimpses into lives of the stars and their families in an exacting, unforgiving movie industry where those with the right surnames are like cats."


title: Bulworth

text: Bulworth is a 1998 American political satire black comedy film co-written, co-produced, directed by, and starring Warren Beatty. It co-stars Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden, and Isaiah Washington. The film follows the title character, California Senator Jay Billington Bulworth (Beatty), as he runs for re-election while trying to avoid a hired assassin. The film received generally positive reviews and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay yet narrowly failed to break even on a $30 million budget. However, Beatty was praised for tackling race, poverty, dysfunction in the health care system, and corporate control of the political agenda, with eminent legal scholar Patricia J. Williams noting the film examined "racism's intersection with America's deep, and growing, class divide." The movie is an uncredited remake of Aki Kaurismäki's "I Hired a Contract Killer".


title: Bulworth

text: Jay Bulworth, a Democratic U.S. Senator from California, faces a primary challenge from a fiery young populist. Once politically liberal, Bulworth has over time conceded to more conservative politics and to accepting donations from large corporations. While he and his wife have been having affairs with each other's knowledge for years, they maintain a happy facade for the sake of their public image. Tired of politics and unhappy with life, Bulworth makes plans to kill himself, and negotiates a $10 million life insurance policy with his daughter as the beneficiary. Knowing that a suicide would void the policy, he contracts to have himself assassinated within two days.


title: Bulworth

text: He arrives extremely drunk at a Los Angeles campaign event, where he freely speaks his mind in the presence of the C-SPAN film crew following his campaign. After dancing all night in an underground club and smoking marijuana, he begins rapping in public. His frank, offensive remarks make him an instant media darling and re-energize his campaign. He becomes romantically involved with Nina, a young black activist, who begins to join him on campaign stops. He is pursued by the paparazzi, his insurance company, his campaign managers, and an increasingly adoring public, all the while awaiting his impending assassination.


title: Bulworth

text: After a televised debate during which Bulworth derides insurance companies and the American healthcare system while drinking from a flask, he retreats to the home of Nina's family in impoverished South Central Los Angeles. He witnesses a group of children selling crack and intervenes to rescue them from an encounter with a racist police officer, and later discovers they work for L.D., a local drug kingpin to whom Nina's brother owes money. Bulworth eventually makes it to a television appearance arranged earlier by his campaign manager, during which he raps and repeats verbatim statements that Nina and L.D. have told him about the lives of poor black people and their opinions of various American institutions, such as education and employment. Eventually he offers the solution that "everybody should fuck everybody" until everyone is "all the same color," stunning the audience and his interviewer.


title: Bulworth

text: Bulworth spends the film fearful of a man who had been following him under the assumption that he was the assassin trying to murder him. After the man finally pushes Bulworth to complete terror, he corners Bulworth on a set at the television studio and begins photographing Bulworth with Nina, revealing himself to be simply paparazzi. Bulworth, frustrated, flees with Nina, who reveals that she is the assassin he indirectly hired (ostensibly to make the money needed to pay off her brother's debt) and will now not carry out the job. Relieved, Bulworth falls asleep for the first time in days in Nina's arms. He sleeps for 36 hours, during which the media speculates over his sudden absence leading up to election day. Bulworth wins the primary in a landslide, and L.D. allows Nina's brother to work off the debt. Bulworth accepts a new campaign for the presidency during his victory speech, but is suddenly shot by Graham Crockett, an agent of the insurance company that was fearful of Bulworth's recent push for single-payer health care, who makes a quick escape.


title: Bulworth

text: Bulworth's fate is left ambiguous. The final scene shows an elderly vagrant, whom Bulworth met previously, standing alone outside a hospital. He exhorts Bulworth, who is presumably inside, to not be "a ghost" but "a spirit" which, as he had mentioned earlier, can only happen if you have "a song". In the final shot of the film, he asks the same of the audience.


title: Bulworth

text: Beatty first pitched the film in 1992 under the basic pitch of a depressed man putting a hit on himself for the life insurance before falling in love. 20th Century Fox executive Joe Roth approved of the pitch and a budget of $30 million before Beatty got to work on the point of view in politics that would take center stage for the film, with Beatty taking input from writers such as Jeremy Pikser, James Toback and Aaron Sorkin (who reportedly did a re-write on the script). Beatty, long involved in politics since his first hero of Robert Kennedy, wanted to make a film that would strike the perceived notion that politics had become too absorbed in polls and fundraising while losing sight on the issues that matters most. Beatty styled his film in hip-hop and rap because of the "great comic contrast" that would come from it.


title: Bulworth

text: On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 76% approval rating based on 67 reviews, with an average rating of 7.10/10. The site's consensus states: "Star and director Beatty's ambitious take on race and politics in 20th-century America isn't perfect, but manages to provide more than its share of thought-provoking laughs." On Metacritic it has a score of 75% based on reviews from 28 critics. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C+" on scale of A to F.


title: Bulworth

text: Writing in "Time Out New York", Andrew Johnston observed: "More than anything else, "Bulworth" is descended from Preston Sturges's topical farces of the 1940s, which juxtaposed a deep belief in the promise of America with irreverent attacks on the hypocrisy of its institutions."


title: Bulworth

text: Patricia J. Williams saw the film three times, saying: "[Beatty] knows power, if not the ghetto, and this movie is effective precisely because it takes on the issue of power... I kept going back because I am amazed by a movie this overtly left wing, fearless and eccentric." She added: "Bulworth isn't about race alone; more specifically, it's about racism's intersection with America's deep, and growing, class divide."


title: Bulworth

text: The "Los Angeles Times" commented that "Bulworth" did "extremely well" on a limited release. Despite this, the film ultimately grossed just $29,202,884 worldwide at the box office.


title: Bulworth

text: In 2013, "The New York Times" reported that President Barack Obama had, in private, "talked longingly of 'going Bulworth,'" in reference to the film.


title: Tarshish

text: Tarshish (Phoenician: "TRŠŠ", "Taršīš", , "Tharseis") occurs in the Hebrew Bible with several uncertain meanings, most frequently as a place (probably a large city or region) far across the sea from Phoenicia (modern Lebanon) and the Land of Israel. Tarshish was said to have exported vast quantities of important metals to Phoenicia and Israel. The same place-name occurs in the Akkadian inscriptions of Esarhaddon (the Assyrian king, d. 669 BC) and also on the Phoenician inscription of the Nora Stone in Sardinia; its precise location was never commonly known, and was eventually lost in antiquity. Legends grew up around it over time so that its identity has been the subject of scholarly research and commentary for more than two thousand years.


title: Tarshish

text: Its importance stems in part from the fact that Hebrew biblical passages tend to understand Tarshish as a source of King Solomon's great wealth in metals – especially silver, but also gold, tin, and iron (Ezekiel 27). The metals were reportedly obtained in partnership with King Hiram of Phoenician Tyre (Isaiah 23), and fleets of ships from Tarshish.


title: Tarshish

text: Tarshish is also the name of a modern village in the Mount Lebanon District of Lebanon, and Tharsis is a modern village in Southern Spain.


title: Tarshish

text: The biblical phrase "ships of Tarshish" refers not to ships from a particular location, but to a class of ships: large vessels for long-distance trade.


title: Tarshish

text: The existence of Tarshish in the western Mediterranean, along with any Phoenician presence in the western Mediterranean before c. 800 BC, has been questioned by some scholars in modern times, because there is no direct evidence. Instead, the lack of evidence for wealth in Israel and Phoenicia during the reigns of Solomon and Hiram, respectively, prompted a few scholars to opine that the archaeological period in Mediterranean prehistory between 1200 and 800 BC was a 'Dark Age'.


title: Tarshish

text: The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the Targum of Jonathan render Tarshish as Carthage, but other biblical commentators as early as 1646 (Samuel Bochart) read it as Tartessos in ancient Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula), near Huelva and Sevilla today. The Jewish-Portuguese scholar, politician, statesman and financier Isaac Abarbanel (1437–1508 AD) described Tarshish as "the city known in earlier times as Carthage and today called Tunis." One possible identification for many centuries preceding the French scholar Bochart (d. 1667), and following the Roman historian Flavius Josephus (d. 100 AD), had been with inland town of Tarsus in Cilicia (south-central Turkey).


title: Tarshish

text: American scholars William F. Albright (1891–1971) and Frank Moore Cross (1921–2012) suggested Tarshish was Sardinia because of the discovery of the Nora Stone, whose Phoenician inscription mentions Tarshish. Cross read the inscription to understand that it was referring to Tarshish as Sardinia. Recent research into hacksilver hoards has also suggested Sardinia.


title: Tarshish

text: This is repeated in 2 Chronicles 20:37 preceded by the information that the ships were actually built at Ezion-geber, and emphasizing the prophecy of the otherwise unknown Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah against Jehoshaphat that "Because you have joined with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made." And the ships were wrecked and were not able to go to Tarshish. This may be referenced in Psalm 48:7 which records "By the east wind you shattered the ships of Tarshish." From these verses commentators consider that "Ships of Tarshish" was used to denote any large trading ships intended for long voyages whatever their destination, and some Bible translations, including the NIV, go as far as to translate the phrase "ship(s) of Tarshish" as "trading ship(s)."


title: Tarshish

text: Tarshish is placed on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea by several biblical passages, and more precisely: west of Israel. It is described as a source of various metals: "beaten silver is brought from Tarshish" (Jeremiah 10:9), and the Phoenicians of Tyre brought from there silver, iron, tin and lead (Ezekiel 27:12).


title: Tarshish

text: The context in Isaiah 23:6 and 66:19 seems to indicate that it is an island, and from Israel it could be reached by ship, as attempted by Jonah (Jonah 1:3) and performed by Solomon's fleet (2 Chronicles 9:21). Some modern scholars identify Tarshish with Tartessos, a port in southern Spain, described by classical authors as a source of metals for the Phoenicians, while Josephus' identification of Tarshish with the Cilician city of Tarsus is even more widely accepted. However, a clear identification of Tarshish is not possible, since a whole array of Mediterranean sites with similar names are connected to the mining of various metals.


title: Tarshish

text: According to Rashi, a medieval rabbi and commentator of the Bible, quoting Tractate Hullin 9lb, 'tarshish' means the Tarshish Sea of Africa.


title: Tarshish

text: Thompson and Skaggs argue that the Akkadian inscriptions of Esarhaddon (AsBbE) indicate that Tarshish was an island (not a coastland) far to the west of the Levant. In 2003, Christine Marie Thompson identified the Cisjordan Corpus, a concentration of hacksilver hoards in Israel and Palestine (Cisjordan). This Corpus dates between 1200 and 586 BC, and the hoards in it are all silver-dominant. The largest hoard was found at Eshtemo'a, present-day as-Samu, and contained 26 kg of silver. Within it, and specifically in the geographical region that was part of Phoenicia, is a concentration of hoards dated between 1200 and 800 BC. There is no other known such concentration of silver hoards in contemporary Mediterranean, and its date-range overlaps with the reigns of King Solomon (990–931 BC) and Hiram of Tyre (980–947 BC).


title: Tarshish

text: Hacksilber objects in these Phoenician hoards have lead isotope ratios that match ores in the silver-producing regions of Sardinia and Spain, only one of which is a large island rich in silver. Contrary to translations that have been rendering Assyrian "tar-si-si" as 'Tarsus' up to the present time, Thompson argues that the Assyrian tablets inscribed in Akkadian indicate "tar-si-si" (Tarshish) was a large island in the western Mediterranean, and that the poetic construction of Psalm 72:10 also shows that it was a large island to the very distant west of Phoenicia. The island of Sardinia was always known as a hub of the metals trade in antiquity, and was also called by the ancient Greeks as "Argyróphleps nésos" "island of the silver veins".


title: Tarshish

text: The same evidence from hacksilber is said to fit with what the ancient Greek and Roman authors recorded about the Phoenicians exploiting many sources of silver in the western Mediterranean to feed developing economies back in Israel and Phoenicia soon after the fall of Troy and other palace centers in the eastern Mediterranean around 1200 BC. Classical sources starting with Homer (8th century BC), and the Greek historians Herodotus (484–425 BC) and Diodorus Siculus (d. 30 BC) said the Phoenicians were exploiting the metals of the west for these purposes before they set up the permanent colonies in the metal-rich regions of the Mediterranean and Atlantic.


title: Tarshish

text: The editors of the "New Oxford Annotated Bible", first published in 1962, suggest that Tarshish is either Sardinia or Tartessos.


title: Tarshish

text: Rufus Festus Avienus the Latin writer of the 4th century AD, identified Tarshish as Cadiz. This is the theory espoused by Father Mapple in Chapter 9 of Moby Dick.


title: Tarshish

text: Bochart, the 17th century French Protestant pastor, suggested in his "Phaleg" (1646) that Tarshish was the city of Tartessos in southern Spain. He was followed by others, including Hertz (1936). In the Oracle against Tyre, the prophet Ezekiel () mentions that silver, iron, lead, and tin came to Tyre from Tarshish (Trsys). They were stored in Tyre and resold, probably to Mesopotamia.


title: Tarshish

text: Sir Peter le Page Renouf (1822–1897) thought that "Tarshish" meant a coast, and, as the word occurs frequently in connection with Tyre, the Phoenician coast is to be understood.


title: Tarshish

text: T. K. Cheyne (1841–1915) thought that "Tarshish" of Genesis 10:4 and "Tiras" of Genesis 10:2 are really two names of one nation derived from two different sources, and might indicate the Tyrsenians or Etruscans.


title: Tarshish

text: Some 19th-century commentators believed that Tarshish was Britain, including Alfred John Dunkin who claimed "Tarshish demonstrated to be Britain" (1844), George Smith (1850), James Wallis and David King's "The British Millennial Harbinger" (1861), John Algernon Clarke (1862), and Jonathan Perkins Weethee of Ohio (1887). This idea stems from the fact that Tarshish is recorded to have been a trader in tin, silver, gold, and lead which were all mined in Cornwall. This is still reputed to be the "Merchants of Tarshish" today by some Christian sects.


title: Tarshish

text: Augustus Henry Keane (1833–1912) believed that Tarshish was Sofala, and that the Biblical land of Havilah was centered on the nearby Great Zimbabwe.


title: Tarshish

text: Bochart, apart from Spain (see there), also suggested eastern localities for the ports of Ophir and Tarshish during King Solomon's reign, specifically the Tamilakkam continent (present day South India and Northern Ceylon) where the Dravidians were well known for their gold, pearls, ivory and peacock trade. He fixed on "Tarshish" being the site of Kudiramalai, a possible corruption of Thiruketheeswaram.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The politics of Spain takes place under the framework established by the Constitution of 1978. Spain is established as a social and democratic sovereign country wherein the national sovereignty is vested in the people, from which the powers of the state emanate.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The form of government in Spain is a parliamentary monarchy, that is, a social representative democratic constitutional monarchy in which the monarch is the head of state, while the prime minister—whose official title is "President of the Government"—is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the Government, which is integrated by the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers and other ministers, which collectively form the Cabinet, or Council of Ministers. Legislative power is vested in the Cortes Generales ("General Courts"), a bicameral parliament constituted by the Congress of Deputies and the Senate. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature, administering justice on behalf of the King by judges and magistrates. The Supreme Court of Spain is the highest court in the nation, with jurisdiction in all Spanish territories, superior to all in all affairs except constitutional matters, which are the jurisdiction of a separate court, the Constitutional Court.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Spain's political system is a multi-party system, but since the 1990s two parties have been predominant in politics, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the People's Party (PP). Regional parties, mainly the Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV), from the Basque Country, and Convergence and Union (CiU) and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), from Catalonia, have also played key roles in Spanish politics. Members of the Congress of Deputies are selected through proportional representation, and the government is formed by the party or coalition that has the confidence of the Congress, usually the party with the largest number of seats. Since the Spanish transition to democracy, when parties failed to obtain absolute majorities, the tendency was to form minority governments. However, this tendency was broken in 2020 with the formation of the Second government of Pedro Sánchez, formed by members of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and Unidas Podemos, as well as independents proposed by both parties. This was the first nationwide coalition government to be formed in Spain since the Second Spanish Republic.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Regional government functions under a system known as "the state of autonomies", a highly decentralized system of administration (systematically ranked 2nd in the world after Germany at the Regional Authority Index, since 1998). Initially framed as a kind of "assymmetrical federalism" for the regions styled as "historic nationalities", it has evolved in practice into an approach that gives way to a devolution of powers for all regions, widely known as "coffee for everyone". Exercising the right to self-government granted by the constitution, the "nationalities and regions" have been constituted as 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities. The form of government of each autonomous community and autonomous city is also based on a parliamentary system, in which executive power is vested in a "president" and a Council of Ministers, elected by and responsible to a unicameral legislative assembly.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The Economist Intelligence Unit downgraded Spain from "full democracy" to "flawed democracy" in 2022, because of concerns about its judicial independence, given the "political divisions over the appointment of new magistrates to the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ)".


title: Politics of Spain

text: The Spanish monarch, currently, Felipe VI, is the head of the Spanish State, symbol of its unity and permanence, who arbitrates and moderates the regular function of government institutions, and assumes the highest representation of Spain in international relations, especially with those who are part of its historical community. His title is "King of Spain", although he can use all other titles of the Crown. The Crown, as a symbol of the nation's unity, has a two-fold function. First, it represents the unity of the State in the organic separation of powers; hence he appoints the prime ministers and summons and dissolves the Parliament, among other responsibilities. Secondly, it represents the Spanish State as a whole in relation to the autonomous communities, whose rights he is constitutionally bound to respect.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The King is proclaimed by the "Cortes Generales" – the Parliament – and must take an oath to carry out his duties faithfully, to obey the constitution and all laws and to ensure they are obeyed, and to respect the rights of the citizens, as well as the rights of the autonomous communities.


title: Politics of Spain

text: According to the Constitution of Spain, it is incumbent upon the King: to sanction and promulgate laws; to summon and dissolve the "Cortes Generales" (the Parliament) and to call elections; to call a referendum under the circumstances provided in the constitution; to propose a candidate for prime minister, and to appoint or remove him from office, as well as other ministers; to issue the decrees agreed upon by the Council of Ministers; to confer civil and military positions, and to award honors and distinctions; to be informed of the affairs of the State, presiding over the meetings of the Council of Ministers whenever opportune; to exercise supreme command of the Spanish Armed Forces, to exercise the right to grant pardons, in accordance to the law; and to exercise the High Patronage of the Royal Academies. All ambassadors and other diplomatic representatives are accredited by him, and foreign representatives in Spain are accredited to him. He also expresses the State's assent to entering into international commitments through treaties; and he declares war or makes peace, following the authorization of the "Cortes Generales".


title: Politics of Spain

text: In practical terms, his duties are mostly ceremonial, and constitutional provisions are worded in such a way as to make clear the strict neutral and apolitical nature of his role. In fact, the Fathers of the Constitution made careful use of the expressions "it is incumbent upon of the King", deliberately omitting other expressions such as "powers", "faculties" or "competences", thus eliminating any notion of monarchical prerogatives within the parliamentary monarchy. In the same way, the King does not have supreme liberty in the exercise of the aforementioned functions; all of these are framed, limited or exercised "according to the constitution and laws", or following requests of the executive or authorizations of the legislature.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The king is the commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces, but has only symbolic, rather than actual, authority over the Spanish military. Nonetheless, the king's function as the commander-in-chief and symbol of national unity have been exercised, most notably in the military coup of 23 February 1981, where King Juan Carlos I addressed the country on national television in military uniform, denouncing the coup and urging the maintenance of the law and the continuance of the democratically elected government, thus defusing the uprising.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The Spanish Constitution, promulgated in 1978, established explicitly that Juan Carlos I is the legitimate heir of the historical dynasty. This statement served two purposes. First, it established that the position of the King emanates from the constitution, the source from which its existence is legitimized democratically. Secondly, it reaffirmed the dynastic legitimacy of the person of Juan Carlos I, not so much to end old historical dynastic struggles – namely those historically embraced by the Carlist movement – but as a consequence of the renunciation to all rights of succession that his father, Juan de Borbón y Battenberg, made in 1977. Juan Carlos I was constitutional king of Spain from 1978 to 2014. He abdicated in favor of his son Felipe VI.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The constitution also establishes that the monarchy is hereditary following a "regular order of primogeniture and representation: earlier line shall precede older; within the same line, closer degree shall precede more distant; within the same degree, male shall precede female; and within the same sex, older shall precede the younger". What this means in practice, is that the Crown is passed to the firstborn, who would have preference over his siblings and cousins; women can only accede to the throne provided they do not have any older or younger brothers; and finally "regular order of representation" means that grandchildren have preference over the deceased King's parents, uncles or siblings. Finally, if all possible rightful orders of primogeniture and representation have been exhausted, then the General Courts will select a successor in the way that best suits the interest of Spain. The heir presumptive or heir apparent holds the title of Prince or Princess of Asturias. The current heir presumptive is princess Leonor de Borbón.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Legislative power is vested in the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes Generales. (Literally "General Courts", but rarely translated as such. "Cortes" has been the historical and constitutional name used since Medieval Times. The qualifier "General", added in the Constitution of 1978, implies the nationwide character of the Parliament, since the legislatures of some autonomous communities are also labeled "Cortes"). The "Cortes Generales" are the supreme representatives of the Spanish people. This legislature is bicameral, integrated by the Congress of Deputies () and the Senate (). The General Courts exercise the legislative power of the State, approving the budget and controlling the actions of the government. As in most parliamentary systems, more legislative power is vested in the lower chamber, the Congress of the Deputies. The Speaker of Congress, known as "president of the Congress of Deputies" presides a joint-session of the "Cortes Generales".


title: Politics of Spain

text: Each chamber of the "Cortes Generales" meets at separate precincts, and carry out their duties separately, except for specific important functions, in which case they meet in a joint session. Such functions include the elaboration of laws proposed by the executive ("the Government"), by one of the chambers, by an autonomous community, or through popular initiative; and the approval or amendment of the nation's budget proposed by the prime minister.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The Congress of Deputies must be integrated by a minimum of 300 and a maximum of 400 deputies (members of parliament) – currently 350 – elected by universal, free, equal, direct and secret suffrage, to four-year terms or until the dissolution of the "Cortes Generales". The voting system used is that of proportional representation with closed party lists following D'Hondt method in which the province forms a constituency or electoral circumscription and must be assigned a minimum of 2 deputies; the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, are each assigned one deputy.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The Congress of Deputies can initiate legislation, and they also have the power to ratify or reject the decree laws adopted by the executive. They also elect, via a vote of investiture, the prime minister (the "president of the Government"), before being formally sworn to office by the King. The Congress of Deputies may adopt a motion of censure whereby it can vote out the prime minister by absolute majority. On the other hand, the prime minister may request at any time a vote of confidence from the Congress of Deputies. If the prime minister fails to obtain it, then the "Cortes Generales" are dissolved, and new elections are called.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The upper chamber is the Senate. It is nominally the chamber of territorial representation. Four senators are elected for each province, with the exception of the insular provinces, in which the number of senator varies: three senators are elected for each of the three major islands – Gran Canaria, Mallorca and Tenerife – and one senator for Ibiza-Formentera, Menorca, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma. The autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla each elect two senators.


title: Politics of Spain

text: In addition, the legislative assembly of each autonomous community designates one senator, and another for each one million inhabitants. This designation must follow proportional representation. For the 2011 elections, this system allowed for 266 senators, 208 of which were elected and 58 of which were designated by the autonomous communities. Senators serve for four-year terms or until the dissolution of the "Cortes Generales". Even though the constitution explicitly refers to the Senate as the chamber of territorial representation, as seen from the numbers before, only one-fifth of the senators actually represent the autonomous communities. Since the constitution allowed for the creation of autonomous communities, but the process itself was embryonic in nature – they were formed "after" the promulgation of the constitution, and the outcome was unpredictable – the constituent assembly chose the province as the basis for territorial representation.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The Senate has less power than the Congress of Deputies: it can veto legislation, but its veto can be overturned by an absolute majority of the Congress of Deputies. Its only exclusive power concerns the autonomous communities, thus in a way performing a function in line with its nature of "territorial representation". By an overall majority, the Senate is the institution that authorizes the Government to adopt measures to enforce an autonomous community's compliance with its constitutional duties when it has failed to do so.


title: Politics of Spain

text: For the first time ever, on Friday, 27 October 2017, the senate voted, by majority, to invoke article 155 of the constitution, which gave the central government the power to remove the government of the autonomous region of Cataluña for acting against the constitution of 1978 by having called an illegal referendum on 1 October.


title: Politics of Spain

text: At the national level, executive power in Spain is exercised only by "the Government". (The King is the head of state, but the constitution does not attribute to him any executive faculties). The Government is composed by a prime minister, known as the "president of the Government" (), one or more deputy prime ministers, known as "vice-presidents of the Government" () and all other ministers. The collegiate body composed by the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and all other ministers is called the Council of Ministers. The Government is in charge of both domestic and foreign policy, as well as defense and economic policies. As of 2 June 2018, the prime minister of Spain is Pedro Sánchez.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The constitution establishes that after elections, the King, after consulting with all political groups represented in the Congress of Deputies, proposes a candidate to the "presidency of the Government" or prime ministership through the Speaker of Congress. The candidate then presents the political program of his or her government requesting the Congress's confidence. If the Congress grants him confidence by absolute majority, the King then nominates him formally as "president of the Government"; if he or she fails to obtain absolute majority, the Congress waits 48 hours to vote again, in which case, a simple majority suffices. If he or she fails again, then the King presents other candidates until one gains confidence. However, if after two months no candidate has obtained it, then the King dissolves the "Cortes Generales" and calls for new elections with the endorsement of the Speaker of Congress. In practice, the candidate has been the leader of the party that obtained the largest number of seats in the Congress. Since the constitution of 1978 came into effect, there have not been any coalition governments, even if the party with the largest number of seats has failed to obtained absolute majority, though in such cases the party in government has had to rely on the support of minority parties to gain confidence and to approve the State's budgets.


title: Politics of Spain

text: After the candidate obtains the confidence of the Congress of Deputies, he is appointed by the King as prime minister in a ceremony of inauguration in which he is sworn at the Audience Hall of the Palace of Zarzuela – the residence of the King – and in presence of the Major Notary of the Kingdom. The candidate takes the oath of office over an open copy of the Constitution next to a Bible. The oath of office used is: ""I swear/promise to faithfully carry out the duties of the position of president of the Government with loyalty to the King; to obey and enforce the Constitution as the fundamental law of the State, as well as to keep in secret the deliberations of the Council of Ministers"".


title: Politics of Spain

text: The prime ministers proposes the deputy prime ministers and the other ministers, which are then appointed by the King. The number and the scope of competences of each of the Ministries is established by the prime minister. Ministries are usually created to cover one or several similar sectors of government from an administrative function. Once formed, the Government meets as the "Council of Ministers", usually every Friday at the Palace of Moncloa in Madrid, the official residence of the prime minister who presides over the meetings, even though, on exceptions they can be held in any other Spanish city. Also, on exceptions, the meeting can be presided by the King of Spain, by request of the prime minister, in which case, the Council informs the King of the State's affairs.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The constitution also established the Council of State, a supreme advisory council to the Spanish government. Though the body has existed intermittently since medieval times, its current composition and the nature of its work are defined in the constitution and subsequent laws that have been published, the most recent in 2004. It is currently composed by a president, nominated by the Council of Ministers, several ex officio councillors – former prime ministers of Spain, directors or presidents of the Royal Spanish Academy, the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation, the Royal Academy of History, the Social and Economic Council, the Attorney General of the State, the Chief of Staff, the Governor of the Bank of Spain, the Director of the Juridical Service of the State, and the presidents of the General Commission of Codification and Law – several permanent councilors, appointed by decree, and no more than ten elected councilors in addition to the council's Secretary General. The Council of State serves only as an advisory body, that can give non-binding opinions upon request and to propose an alternative solution to the problem presented.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The Judiciary in Spain is integrated by judges and magistrates who administer justice in the King's name. The Judiciary is composed of different courts depending on the jurisdictional order and what is to be judged. The highest ranking court of the Spanish judiciary is the Supreme Court (), with jurisdiction in all Spain, superior in all matters except in constitutional guarantees. The Supreme Court is headed by a president, nominated by the King, proposed by the General Council of the Judiciary. This institution is the governing body of the Judiciary, integrated by the president of the Supreme court, twenty members appointed by the King for a five-year term, among whom there are twelve judges and magistrates of all judicial categories, four members nominated by the Congress of Deputies, and four by the Senate, elected in both cases by three-fifths of their respective members. They are to be elected from among lawyers and jurists of acknowledged competence and with over 15 years of professional experience.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The Constitutional Court () has jurisdiction over all Spain, competent to hear appeals against the alleged unconstitutionality of laws and regulations having the force of law, as well as individual appeals for protection ("recursos de amparo") against violation of the rights and liberties granted by the constitution. It consists of 12 members, appointed by the King, 4 of which are proposed by the Congress of Deputies by three-fifths of its members, 4 of which are proposed by the Senate by three-fifths of its members as well, 2 proposed by the executive and 2 proposed by the General Council of the Judiciary. They are to be renowned magistrates and prosecutors, university professors, public officials or lawyers, all of them jurists with recognized competence or standing and more than 15 years of professional experience.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The second article of the constitution declares the Spanish nation is the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards, which is integrated by nationalities and regions to which the constitution recognizes and guarantees the right to self-government. Since the constitution of 1978 came into effect, these nationalities and regions progressively acceded to self-government and were constituted into 17 autonomous communities. In addition, two autonomous cities were constituted on the coast of North Africa. This administrative and political territorial division is known as the "State of Autonomies". Though highly decentralized, Spain is not a federation since the nation – as represented in the central institutions of government – retains full sovereignty.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The State, that is, the central government, has progressively and asymmetrically devolved or transferred power and competences to the autonomous communities after the constitution of 1978 came into effect. Each autonomous community is governed by a set of institutions established in its own Statute of Autonomy. The Statute of Autonomy is the basic organic institutional law, approved by the legislature of the community itself as well as by the "Cortes Generales", the Spanish Parliament. The Statutes of Autonomy establish the name of the community according to its historical identity; the delimitation of its territory; the name, organization and seat of the autonomous institutions of government; and the competences that they assume and the foundations for their devolution or transfer from the central government.


title: Politics of Spain

text: All autonomous communities have a parliamentary form of government, with a clear separation of powers. Their legislatures represent the people of the community, exercising legislative power within the limits set forth in the constitution of Spain and the degree of devolution that the community has attained. Even though the central government has progressively transferred roughly the same amount of competences to all communities, devolution is still asymmetrical. More power was devolved to the so-called "historical nationalities" – the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia. (Other communities chose afterwards to identify themselves as nationalities as well). The Basque Country, Catalonia and Navarre have their own police forces (Ertzaintza, Mossos d'Esquadra and the Chartered Police respectively) while the National Police Corps operates in the rest of the autonomous communities. On the other hand, two communities (the Basque Country and Navarre) are "communities of chartered regime", that is, they have full fiscal autonomy, whereas the rest are "communities of common regime", with limited fiscal powers (the majority of their taxes are administered centrally and redistributed among them all for fiscal equalization).


title: Politics of Spain

text: The names of the executive government and the legislature vary between communities. Some institutions are restored historical bodies of government of the previous kingdoms or regional entities within the Spanish crown – like the Generalitat of Catalonia – while others are entirely new creations. In some, both the executive and the legislature, though constituting two separate institutions, are collectively identified with a specific name. A specific denomination may not refer to the same branch of government in all communities; for example, "Junta" may refer to the executive office in some communities, to the legislature in others, or to the collective name of all branches of government in others.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The two autonomous cities have more limited competences. The executive is exercised by a president, which is also the major of the city. In the same way, limited legislative power is vested in a local Assembly in which the deputies are also the city councilors.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The constitution also guarantees certain degree of autonomy to two other "local" entities: the provinces of Spain (subdivisions of the autonomous communities) and the municipalities (subdivisions of the provinces). If the communities are integrated by a single province, then the institutions of government of the community replace those of the province. For the rest of the communities, provincial government is held by Provincial Deputations or Councils. With the creation of the autonomous communities, deputations have lost much of their power, and have a very limited scope of actions, with the exception of the Basque Country, where provinces are known as "historical territories" and their bodies of government retain more faculties. Except in the Basque Country, members of the Provincial Deputations are indirectly elected by citizens according to the results of the municipal elections and all of their members must be councilors of a town or a city in the province. In the Basque Country direct elections do take place.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Spanish municipal administration is highly homogeneous; most of the municipalities have the same faculties, such as managing the municipal police, traffic enforcement, urban planning and development, social services, collecting municipal taxes, and ensuring civil defense. In most municipalities, citizens elect the municipal council, which is responsible for electing the mayor, who then appoints a board of governors or councilors from his party or coalition. The only exceptions are municipalities with under 50 inhabitants, which act as an open council, with a directly elected major and an assembly of neighbors. Municipal elections are held every four years on the same date for all municipalities in Spain. Councilors are allotted using the D'Hondt method for proportional representation with the exception of municipalities with under 100 inhabitants where block voting is used instead. The number of councilors is determined by the population of the municipality; the smallest municipalities having 5, and the largest – Madrid – having 57.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Spain is a multi-party constitutional parliamentary democracy. According to the constitution, political parties are the expression of political pluralism, contributing to the formation and expression of the will of the people, and are an essential instrument of political participation. Their internal structure and functioning must be democratic. The Law of Political Parties of 1978 provides them with public funding whose quantity is based on the number of seats held in the Cortes Generales and the number of votes received. Since the mid-1980s two parties dominate the national political landscape in Spain: the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party () and the People's Party ().


title: Politics of Spain

text: The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) is a social democratic centre-left political party. It was founded in 1879 by Pablo Iglesias, at the beginning as a Marxist party for the workers' class, which later evolved towards social-democracy. Outlawed during Franco's dictatorship, it gained recognition during the Spanish transition to democracy period, when it officially renounced Marxism, under the leadership of Felipe González. It played a key role during the transition and the Constituent Assembly that wrote the Spanish current constitution. It governed Spain from 1982 to 1996 under the prime ministership of Felipe González. It governed again from 2004 to 2011 under the prime ministership of José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The People's Party (PP) is a conservative centre-right party that took its current name in 1989, replacing the previous People's Alliance, a more conservative party founded in 1976 by seven former Franco's ministers. In its refoundation it incorporated the Liberal Party and the majority of the Christian democrats. In 2005 it integrated the Democratic and Social Center Party. It governed Spain under the prime ministership of José María Aznar from 1996 to 2004, and again from December 2011, and after much uncertainty caused by the inconclusive results of the 2015 general election and the 2016 election when the People's Party formed a minority government with confidence and supply support from liberal Ciudadanos (Cs) and the Canarian Coalition (CC), which passed due to the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) abstaining. A motion of no confidence in the Spanish government of Mariano Rajoy was held between 31 May and 1 June 2018, registered by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) after the People's Party (PP) was found to have profited from the illegal kickbacks-for-contracts scheme of the Gürtel case. The motion was successful and resulted in the PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez becoming the new Prime Minister of Spain until his 2019 state budget was rejected requiring him to call a snap election for 28 April of the same year.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The parties or coalitions represented in the "Cortes Generales" after the 10 November 2019 election are:


title: Politics of Spain

text: In addition, the Aragonese Party, United Extremadura, and the Union of Navarrese People participated in the 2011 elections forming regional coalitions with the People's Party.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Suffrage is free and secret to all Spanish citizens of age 18 and older to all elections, and to residents who are citizens of all European Union countries only in local municipal elections and elections to the European Parliament.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Elections to the Cortes Generales are held every four years or before if the prime minister calls for an early election. Members of the Congress of Deputies are elected through proportional representation with closed party lists where provinces serve as electoral districts; that is, a list of deputies is selected from a province-wide list. Under the current system, sparsely populated provinces are overrepresented because more seats of representatives are allocated to the sparsely populated provinces than they would have if number of seats are allocated strictly according to the population proportion.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Not only provinces with small population are over-represented in Spain's election system, the system also tends to favors major political parties. Despite the use of proportional representation voting system, which in general encourages the development of a larger number of small political parties rather than a few larger ones, Spain has effectively a two-party system in which smaller and regional parties tend to be underrepresented. This is owing to various reasons:


title: Politics of Spain

text: In the Senate, each province, with the exception of the islands, select four senators using block voting: voters cast ballots for three candidates, and the four senators with the greatest number of votes are selected. The number of senators selected for the islands varies, depending on their size, from 1 to 3 senators. A similar procedure of block voting is used to select the three senators from the three major islands whereas the senators of the smaller islands or group of islands, are elected by plurality. In addition, the legislative assembly of each autonomous community designates one senator, and another for each additional one million inhabitants.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Electoral participation, which is not compulsory, has traditionally been high, peaking just after democracy was restored in the late 1970s, falling during the 1980s, but trending upwards in the 1990s. Since then, voting abstention rate has been around one-fifth to nearly one-third of the electorate.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The end of the Spanish Civil War put an end to the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939), after which a dictatorial regime was established, headed by general Francisco Franco. In 1947 he decreed, in one of the eight Fundamental Laws of his regime, the Law of Succession of the Head of State, that Spain was a monarchy with a vacant throne, that Franco was the head of State as general and caudillo of Spain, and that he would propose, when he deemed opportune, his successor, who would bear the title of King or Regent of Spain. Even though Juan of Bourbon, the legitimate heir of the monarchy, opposed the law, Franco met him in 1948, when they agreed that his son, Juan Carlos, then 10 years old, would finish his education in Spain – he was then living in Rome – according to the "principles" of the Francoist movement. In 1969, Franco finally designated Juan Carlos as his successor, with the title "Prince of Spain", bypassing his father Juan of Bourbon.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Francisco Franco died on 20 November 1975, and Juan Carlos was crowned King of Spain by the Spanish Cortes, the non-elected Assembly that operated during Franco's regime. Even though Juan Carlos I had sworn allegiance to "National Movement", the sole legal party of the regime, he expressed his support for a transformation of the Spanish political system as soon as he took office. Such an endeavor was not meant to be easy or simple, as the opposition to the regime had to ensure that nobody in their ranks would turn into extremism, and the Army had to resist the temptation to intervene to restore the "Movement".


title: Politics of Spain

text: In 1976 he designated Adolfo Suárez as prime minister – "president of the Government" – with the task of convincing the regime to dismantle itself and to call for elections to a Constituent Assembly. He accomplished both tasks, and the first democratically elected Constituent "Cortes" since the Second Spanish Republic met in 1977. In 1978 a new democratic constitution was promulgated and approved by referendum. The constitution declared Spain a constitutional parliamentary monarchy with H.M. King Juan Carlos I as Head of State. Spain's transformation from an authoritarian regime to a successful modern democracy was a remarkable achievement, even creating a model emulated by other countries undergoing similar transitions.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Adolfo Suárez headed the prime ministership of Spain from 1977 to 1982, as the leader of the Union of the Democratic Center party. He resigned on 29 January 1981, but on 23 February 1981, the day when the Congress of Deputies was to designate a new prime minister, rebel elements among the Civil Guard seized the "Cortes Generales" in a failed coup that ended the day after. The great majority of the military forces remained loyal to the King, who used his personal and constitutional authority as commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed forces, to diffuse the uprising and save the constitution, by addressing the country on television.


title: Politics of Spain

text: In October 1982, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, led by Felipe González, swept both the Congress of Deputies and Senate, winning an absolute majority in both chambers of the "Cortes Generales". González headed the prime ministership of Spain for the next 13 years, during which period Spain joined NATO and the European Community. The government also created new social laws and large scale infrastructural buildings, expanding the educational system and establishing a welfare state. While traditionally affiliated with one of Spain's major trade unions, the General Union of Workers (UGT), in an effort to improve Spain's competitiveness in preparation for admission to the EC as well as for further economic integration with Europe afterwards, the PSOE distanced itself from trade unions. Following a policy of liberalization, González's government closed state corporations under the state holding company, the National Industry Institute (INI), and downsized the coal, iron and steel industries. The PSOE implemented the single-market policies of the Single European Act and the domestic policies consistent with the Maastricht Treaty EMU criteria. The country was massively modernized and economically developed in this period, closing the gap with other European Community members. There was also a significant cultural shift, into a tolerant contemporary open society.


title: Politics of Spain

text: In March 1996, José María Aznar, from the People's Party, obtained a relative majority in Congress. Aznar moved to further liberalize the economy, with a program of complete privatization of state-owned enterprises, labor market reform and other policies designed to increase competition in selected markets. Aznar liberalized the energy sector, national telecommunications and television broadcasting networks. To ensure a successful outcome of such liberalization, the government set up the Competition Defense Court (), an anti-trust regulator body entrusted with restricting monopolistic practices. During Aznar's government Spain qualified for the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union, and adopted the euro, replacing the peseta, in 2002. Spain participated, along with the United States and other NATO allies, in military operations in the former Yugoslavia. Spanish armed forces and police personnel were included in the international peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Having obtained an absolute majority in the 2000 elections, Aznar, headed the prime ministership until 2004. Aznar supported transatlantic relations with the United States, and participated on the War on Terrorism and the invasion of Iraq. In 2004, he decided not to run as a candidate for the Popular Party, and proposed Mariano Rajoy, who had been minister under his government, as his successor as leader of the party.


title: Politics of Spain

text: In the aftermath of the terrorist bomb attacks in Madrid, which occurred just three days before the elections, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party won a surprising victory. Its leader, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, headed the prime ministership from 2004 to 2011, winning a second term in 2008. Under a policy of gender equality, his was the first Spanish Government to have the same number of male and female members in the Council of Ministers. During the first four years of his prime ministership the economy continued to expand rapidly, and the government ran budget surpluses. His government brought social liberal changes to Spain, promoting women's rights, changing the abortion law, and legalizing same-sex marriage, and tried to make the State more secular. The economic crisis of 2008 took a heavy toll on Spain's economy, which had been highly dependent on construction since the boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s. When the international financial crisis hit, the construction industry collapsed, along with property values and several banks and "cajas" (savings banks) were in need of rescuing or consolidation. Economic growth slowed sharply and unemployment soared to over 20%, levels not seen


title: Politics of Spain

text: since the late 1990s. In applying counter-cyclical policies during the beginning of the crisis, and the ensuing drop in State revenues, the government financing fell into deficit. During an 18-month period from 2010 to 2011, the government adopted severe austerity measures, cutting spending and laying off workers.


title: Politics of Spain

text: In March 2011, Rodríguez Zapatero made his decision not to lead the Socialist Party in the coming elections, which he called ahead of schedule for 20 November 2011. The People's Party, which presented Mariano Rajoy for the third time as candidate, won a decisive victory, obtaining an absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies. Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, first deputy prime minister during Rodríguez Zapatero's government and candidate for the Socialist Party in 2011, was elected secretary general of his party in 2012, and became the leader of the opposition in Parliament.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The elections of 20 December 2015 were inconclusive, with the People's Party remaining the largest party in Congress, but unable to form a majority government. The PSOE remained the second largest party, but the Podemos and Ciudadanos parties also obtained substantial representation; coalition negotiations were prolonged but failed to install a new government. This led to a further general election on 26 June 2016, in which the PP increased its number of seats in parliament, while still falling short of an overall majority. Eventually on 29 October, Rajoy was re-appointed as prime minister after the majority of the PSOE members abstained in the parliamentary vote rather than oppose him.


title: Politics of Spain

text: In June 2018, Pedro Sánchez, leader of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), was sworn in as the country's new prime minister after conservative Mariano Rajoy was defeated in a no-confidence vote in parliament. In November 2019 elections, the governing PSOE won the most seats, but fell short of a majority. The conservative Popular Party (PP) came in second and far-right party Vox doubled its seats to become the country's third most-powerful party. In January 2020, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez formed a new government with radical left-wing Unidas Podemos. It was Spain's first coalition government since democracy was restored in 1978.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Spanish political developments since the early twentieth century have been marked by the existence of peripheral nationalisms and the debate of whether Spain can be viewed as a plurinational federation. Spain is a diverse country with different and contrasting polities showing varying economic and social structures, as well as different languages and historical, political and cultural traditions. Peripheral nationalist movements have been present mainly in the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia, some advocating for a special recognition of their "national identity" within the Spanish nation and others for their right of self-determination or independence.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The Constituent Assembly in 1978 struck a balance between the opposing views of centralism, inherited from Franco's regime, and those who viewed Spain as a "nation of nations". In the second article, the constitution recognizes the Spanish nation as the common and indivisible homeland of all Spaniards, integrated by nationalities and regions. In practice, and as it began to be used in Spanish jurisprudence, the term "nationalities" makes reference to those regions or autonomous communities with a strong historically constituted sense of identity or a recognized historical cultural identity, as part of the indivisible Spanish nation. This recognition, and the process of devolution within the "State of Autonomies" has led to the legitimation of the Spanish state among the "nationalities", and many of its citizens feel content within the current status quo. Nonetheless, tensions between peripheral nationalism and centralism continue, with some nationalist parties still advocating for a recognition of the other "nations" of the Spanish Kingdom or for a peaceful process towards self-determination. The 2014 Catalan self-determination referendum resulted in a vote of 80.76% for independence, with a turnout percentage of 37.0%, and it was supported by five political parties.


title: Politics of Spain

text: The Government of Spain has been involved in a long-running campaign against Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA), an armed secessionist organization founded in 1959 in opposition to Franco and dedicated to promoting Basque independence through violent means, though originally violence was not a part of their method. They consider themselves a guerrilla organization but are considered internationally as a terrorist organisation. Although the government of the Basque Country does not condone any kind of violence, their different approaches to the separatist movement are a source of tension between the Central and Basque governments.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Initially ETA targeted primarily Spanish security forces, military personnel and Spanish Government officials. As the security forces and prominent politicians improved their own security, ETA increasingly focused its attacks on the tourist seasons (scaring tourists was seen as a way of putting pressure on the government, given the sector's importance to the economy) and local government officials in the Basque Country. The group carried out numerous bombings against Spanish Government facilities and economic targets, including a car bomb assassination attempt on then-opposition leader Aznar in 1995, in which his armored car was destroyed but he was unhurt. The Spanish Government attributes over 800 deaths to ETA during its campaign of terrorism.


title: Politics of Spain

text: On 17 May 2005, all the parties in the Congress of Deputies, except the PP, passed the Government's motion giving approval to the beginning of peace talks with ETA, without making political concessions and with the requirement that it give up its weapons. PSOE, CiU, ERC, PNV, IU-ICV, CC and the mixed group —BNG, CHA, EA and NB— supported it with a total of 192 votes, while the 147 PP parliamentarians objected. ETA declared a "permanent cease-fire" that came into force on 24 March 2006 and was broken by Barajas T4 International Airport Bombings on 30 December 2006. In the years leading up to the permanent cease-fire, the government had had more success in controlling ETA, due in part to increased security cooperation with French authorities.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Spain has also contended with a Marxist resistance group, commonly known as GRAPO. GRAPO (Revolutionary group of 1 October) is an urban guerrilla group, founded in Vigo, Galicia; that seeks to overthrow the Spanish Government and establish a Marxist–Leninist state. It opposes Spanish participation in NATO and U.S. presence in Spain and has a long history of assassinations, bombings, bank robberies and kidnappings mostly against Spanish interests during the 1970s and 1980s.


title: Politics of Spain

text: In a June 2000 communiqué following the explosions of two small devices in Barcelona, GRAPO claimed responsibility for several attacks throughout Spain during the past year. These attacks included two failed armored car robberies, one in which two security officers died, and four bombings of political party offices during the 1999–2000 election campaign. In 2002, Spanish authorities were successful in hampering the organization's activities through sweeping arrests, including some of the group's leadership. GRAPO is not capable of maintaining the degree of operational capability that they once enjoyed. Most members of the groups are either in jail or abroad.


title: Politics of Spain

text: Spain has established itself as a major participant in multilateral international security activities. Spain's European Union membership represents an important part of its foreign policy. Even on many international issues beyond Western Europe, Spain prefers to coordinate its efforts with its EU partners through the European political cooperation mechanisms.


title: Andrej Plenković

text: Andrej Plenković ( ; born 8 April 1970) is a Croatian politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Croatia since 19 October 2016. He was previously one of eleven Croatian members of the European Parliament, serving from Croatia's accession to the European Union in 2013 until his resignation as MEP when he took office as prime minister. Plenković has also been serving as the president of the Croatian Democratic Union since 2016.


title: Andrej Plenković

text: Following his graduation from the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb in 1993, Plenković held various bureaucratic positions in the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. After completing a postgraduate degree in 2002 (research master in International law), he served as deputy chief of Croatia's mission to the European Union. Between 2005 and 2010, he was Croatia's deputy ambassador to France, before leaving the post to become State Secretary for European Integration. He was subsequently elected to the Croatian Parliament in 2011.


title: Andrej Plenković

text: He was elected president of the HDZ in 2016, following Tomislav Karamarko's resignation. Plenković campaigned on a pro-European and moderate agenda and led his party to a plurality of seats in the 2016 parliamentary election. He was designated as Prime Minister of Croatia by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on 10 October 2016 after presenting 91 signatures of support by members of Parliament to her. His cabinet was confirmed by a vote of Parliament on 19 October with a majority of 91 out of 151 MPs. His first cabinet had 20 ministers, while the second cabinet has 16 ministers.


title: Andrej Plenković

text: He is one of only two Croatian prime ministers (along with Ivo Sanader) who have served more than one term, winning general elections in 2016 and 2020. He is also, along with Ivica Račan and Sanader, one of the three prime ministers who have been at the head of more than one government cabinet. Furthermore, on 4 May 2022 Plenković surpassed Sanader's tenure, thus becoming the longest-serving prime minister in Croatia's post-independence history.


title: Andrej Plenković

text: Plenković was born on 8 April 1970 in Zagreb to a university professor, Mario Plenković, from Svirče on the island of Hvar, and cardiologist Vjekoslava Raos. He attended elementary and the 16th Grammar School in Zagreb. As his GPA was below A range, Plenković had to write and submit a thesis to obtain his "Matura". His thesis "The Means of Mass Communication" was published in 1989 by the office of printing and publishing companies in Yugoslavia. He was exempted from a then-mandatory conscription for a one-year active duty with the Yugoslav People's Army due to his diagnosis of thalassemia minor, a mild form of anemia, and he was deemed unfit for military service. This fact has been often put at issue later on by his political opponents during electoral campaigns, especially due to the fact that his mother worked as a doctor in a military hospital in Zagreb.


title: Andrej Plenković

text: He enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb in 1988, graduating in 1993 with dissertation "Institution of European Community and the Decision-Making Process" at the department of International public law under Professor Nina Vajić, a former judge of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.


title: Andrej Plenković

text: During university, Plenković worked as a volunteer translator in the observing mission of the European Community in Croatia from 1991 to 1992. At the beginning of the 1990s, he became interested in Europe and actively participated in European Law Students Association (ELSA), of which he was president in Zagreb in 1991. He was the first president of ELSA Croatia in 1992 and president of the international ELSA committee, situated in Brussels. During that time Plenković participated in numerous conferences throughout Europe and the United States, as well as organising numerous symposiums in Croatia. As a student, he interned in the London law firm Stephenson Harwood in 1992 and following this, an internship in the European People's Party in the European Parliament (as a part of Robert Schuman Foundation program). He also worked in the Croatian mission for the European Community in 1993 and 1994, which was then chaired by Ambassador Ante Čičin-Šain.