title: Body snatching

text: In 2007, the Indian police discovered a stash of hundreds of human skulls and thigh bones and arrested a gang for allegedly carrying out the practice of body snatching and indulging in bone trade. This gang was arrested after they exhumed dozens of graves from Muslim cemeteries in Burdwan district, and smuggled the skeletons not just to medical institutions in need of cadavers across the world, but also to the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan for use in Buddhist monasteries. Kamal Sah was caught carrying 67 human skulls and 10 bones on a bus in Chhapra, in the state of Bihar, by fellow passengers who had noticed a jagged bone sticking out of a bag beneath his seat. The investigating officer of the incident, Ravinder Nalwa, reported to a Reuters journalist that, "during the interrogation the gang members confessed that the hollow human thigh bones were in great demand in monasteries and were used as blow-horns, and the skulls as vessels to drink from at religious ceremonies."


title: Body snatching

text: Buddhist monks in India likewise admitted that human thigh bones and skulls were used by followers of a Tibetan school of Buddhism. A 2009 report from The National stated that alleged bone smuggler Kamal Sah was identified by civilians in Bihar state and handed over to police with two bags of human skulls and bones. When questioned on the subject, the police refused to acknowledge the authorities failure to stamp out the practice and simply claimed that the police lacked "equipment, manpower and expertise to stop this practice". The criminal lawyer, Majid Menon, acknowledges that the dire economic conditions for vast numbers of people living in such states as Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and some parts of Uttar Pradesh, have favored the practice of body snatching till date and given room for bone smugglers to flourish.


title: Body snatching

text: According to estimates, 20,000-25,000 human skeletons are smuggled out of India every year through Nepal, China, and Bangladesh. The skeletons reach markets in the US, Japan, Europe and the Middle East, mostly for medical institutions. The price for a complete the skeleton in these markets ranges from $700 to $1500 depending on the quality and size. In India, a full skeleton costs around $350 in the open market. Young Brothers, a Calcutta-based bone dealer, sells a human skeleton for $300. While the complete skeletons mostly find their way to medical laboratories mostly in the West, the assorted bones and skulls are used for religious rituals mostly in Hindu and Buddhist-dominated areas. As part of their tantric rituals, many tantrics drink wine in human skulls in places such as Nepal and the state of Assam in India.


title: Body snatching

text: And even though till date police have been unable to unearth any irregularity in the skeleton trade, the exporter-turned-moralist, Sanker Narayan Sen, maintains that the people from the Domar caste are often responsible for body snatching and later process the procured cadavers for export.The Government of India had twice earlier banned exports, only to revoke its decision on each occasion. According to the Exporters Association, the CBI, in 2014 had once again recently concluded its investigations and submitted a report exonerating such body snatchers and exporters.


title: Body snatching

text: In April 2000, the skull of antipope Benedict XIII was stolen from the ruined palace of Argillo in Sabiñán, Spain.


title: Body snatching

text: The Spanish Civil Guard recovered the skull in September 2000 and found that the thieves were two local brothers who were sentenced in November 2006 to 6-month prison, substituted with .


title: Body snatching

text: Rare reports of body snatching continue to occur. One notorious case in the United Kingdom involved the removal of the remains of Gladys Hammond from Yoxall Churchyard near Lichfield in south Staffordshire. Mrs Hammond's remains were taken by animal rights activists who were campaigning against Darley Oaks Farm, a licensed facility that bred guinea pigs for scientific research. Mrs Hammond was the mother in law of one of the farm's owners. After a four-year investigation by Staffordshire Police four leaders of the Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs campaign group (three men: Kerry Whitburn of Edgbaston, John Smith of Wolverhampton, John Ablewhite of Manchester; and one woman: Josephine Mayo of Staffordshire) were jailed for conspiracy to blackmail. The men received 12 years each and the woman received four years. The police said the conspiracy included the removal of Mrs Hammond's remains, which were recovered by police following information given by one of the four.


title: Body snatching

text: In February 2006, Michael Mastromarino, then a 42-year-old former New Jersey-based oral surgeon and CEO and executive director of operations at Biomedical Tissue Services, was convicted along with three employees of illegally harvesting human bones, organs, tissue and other cadaver parts from individuals awaiting cremation, for forging numerous consent forms, and for selling the illegally obtained body parts to medical companies without consent of their families, and then sentenced to long prison terms. BTS sold its products to five companies, including Life Cell Corporation, of New Jersey, and Regeneration Technologies, of Florida.


title: Body snatching

text: There is still a demand for corpses for transplantation surgery in the form of allografts. Modern body snatchers feed this demand. Tissue gained in this way is medically unsafe and unusable. The broadcaster Alistair Cooke's bones were removed in New York City and replaced with PVC pipe before his cremation.


title: Body snatching

text: The 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an American science-fiction film, was directed by Don Siegel and demonstrates body-snatching as a loss of personal autonomy where aliens take over the bodies of the main characters loved ones. This allowed for publicity of body snatching and interest in the history of its uses outside a science-fiction context. Body snatching was portrayed in a new way of the moral consequences and surrounding effect it has on the stolen body's loved ones. In the film The Doctor and the Devils, Timothy Dalton plays an anatomist who runs Edinburgh's School of Anatomy in the 19th century. The characters in this film steal corpses after murdering locals and use them for their medical school: this is the practice of body snatching. In another film involving stealing corpses, I Sell the Dead, Dominic Monaghan and Larry Fessenden play two men who make a living stealing and selling corpses.


title: Body snatching

text: A famous short story by Robert Louis Stevenson is "The Body Snatcher", adapted into a film starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. This story accurately portrayed the act of body snatching and common uses in its background while adding a fictional plot of using murder to obtain the bodies for educational purposes. This story and film showed how body snatching was viewed as a dark practice with disturbing elements. Another novel mentioning the idea of robbing a grave is the series by H. P. Lovecraft called The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and Herbert West–Reanimator. One of the main characters Joseph Curwen is a merchant and slave trader who steals corpses of well-known individuals around the world and brings them to Providence to torture them until they share their secrets. This reflects the concept of body snatching as this character secretly removed a corpse from grave sites proving it as an unethical act. In the 1985 novel City of Joy written by French Author and Fulbright Scholar, Dominique Lapierre, one sees how in order to pay for his daughter's wedding, the dying rickshaw driver sells his bones for science. Hours after demise and before properly mourned, bone traders come to collect his bones. This provides the metaphorical practice of body snatching where a body is surrender, or stolen, and used for science such as in medical schools.


title: Body snatching

text: In Tess Gerritsen's 2007 novel The Bone Garden, set in Boston in 1830, the protagonist Norris Marshall, a talented but poor medical student, attempts to pay his college tuition by working as a "resurrectionist". The main character Injun Joe in the popular literature work The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, takes the opportunity to murder Dr. Robinson when he and Muff Potter are hired by him for body snatching. In Jonathan L. Howards novel Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, the eponymous protagonist practices body snatching. In Charles Dickens's novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Jerry Cruncher works as a "resurrection man" stealing bodies to resurrect them in addition to his work as a porter and messenger at Tellson's Bank.


title: Body snatching

text: In popular culture, music referencing the act of body snatching includes the Pet Shop Boys' song "The Resurrectionist" which appeared as a bonus track on "I'm with Stupid", the first single from their 2006 album Fundamental. The track is inspired by the book The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave-Robbery in 1830s London by Sarah Wise. (See London Burkers.) The 9th track of leATHERMØUTH's album XØ is titled "Bodysnatchers 4 Ever", and it talks about a man and his lover taking fresh bodies and somehow using them to live forever. The second track on Radiohead's 2007 album In Rainbows is titled "Bodysnatchers".


title: Tinospora cordifolia

text: Tinospora cordifolia (common names gurjo, heart-leaved moonseed, guduchi or giloy) is a herbaceous vine of the family Menispermaceae indigenous to tropical regions of the Indian subcontinent. It has been used in Ayurveda to treat various disorders, but there is no clinical evidence for the effectiveness of such treatment.


title: Tinospora cordifolia

text: It is a large, deciduous, extensively-spreading, climbing vine with several elongated twining branches. Leaves are simple, alternate, and exstipulate with long petioles up to long which are roundish and pulvinate, both at the base and apex with the basal one longer and twisted partially and half way around. It gets its name heart-leaved moonseed by its heart-shaped leaves and its reddish fruit. Lamina are broadly ovate or ovate cordate, long or broad, seven nerved and deeply cordate at base, membranous, pubescent above, whitish tomentose with a prominent reticulum beneath. Flowers are unisexual, small on separate plants and appearing when the plant is leafless, greenish-yellow on axillary and terminal racemes. Male flowers are clustered, but female flowers are usually solitary. It has six sepals in two series of three each. The outer ones are smaller than the inner. It has six petals which are smaller than sepals, obovate, and membranous. Fruits aggregate in clusters of one to three. They are ovoid smooth drupelets on thick stalks with sub terminal style scars, scarlet or orange colored.


title: Tinospora cordifolia

text: Endophytic fungi colonize the living, internal tissues of their host without causing any harmful effects. A recent study has shown that 29 endophytes belonging to different taxa were present in the samples collected from "T. cordifolia".


title: Tinospora cordifolia

text: Extracts of the endophytic fungus "Nigrospora sphaerica" obtained from "T. cordifolia" were found to have insecticidal properties against the Oriental leafworm moth ("Spodoptera litura"), a polyphagous pest.


title: Tinospora cordifolia

text: "Tinospora cordifolia" contains diverse phytochemicals, including alkaloids, phytosterols, glycosides, tinosporide, and mixed other chemical compounds.


title: Tinospora cordifolia

text: Although used in Ayurveda over centuries in the belief that "Tinospora" has medicinal properties, there is no good evidence that it is effective for treating any disease.


title: Tinospora cordifolia

text: During the 2020-22 COVID-19 outbreak in India, the Ministry of AYUSH recommended use of "T. cordifolia" ("giloy") as a home remedy for immune support, but such a practice appeared to be associated with hepatitis cases among six people in Mumbai who used boiled or capsule preparations of the plant. Another analysis from April 2020 to July 2021 across multiple Indian states found "43 patients with acute hepatitis which had no identifiable cause other than giloy consumption."


title: South Park controversies

text: "South Park" is an American adult animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Its frequent depiction of taboo subject matter, unusual (especially sophomoric) humor and portrayal of religion for comic effect has generated controversy, ire from critics, and debate throughout the world over the course of its 25 seasons. Stone and Parker, who also write the show, use it frequently to lampoon a wide range of topics and both sides of contentious issues.


title: South Park controversies

text: Parker and Stone usually reply to such controversies by regarding themselves as "equal opportunity offenders". They reject the notion of political correctness, and state that no particular topic or group of people will be exempt from mockery and satire, out of fairness to any person or group of people who have been ridiculed before.


title: South Park controversies

text: In the United States, "South Park" is mainly rated TV-MA: This program is specifically made to be viewed by adults only. Therefore it may be unsuitable for children under 17 and may contain one or more of the following: crude indecent language (L), strong sexual content (S), or graphic violence (V). To note, some episodes on syndication have been reclassified TV-14. However, starting in 2017, uncut airings of South Park on Comedy Central have been receiving a TV-14-DLSV rating, mainly from the first 20 seasons. Episodes from season 22-onwards, as well as particularly offensive episodes (i.e., "Bloody Mary", "Trapped in the Closet") still carry the TV-MA rating.


title: South Park controversies

text: In Australia, the first three seasons, and some episodes in season 4, were rated M: Recommended for mature audiences 15 years and over. The M rating is unrestricted and moderate in impact, and it is equivalent to America's TV-14 rating. The latter seasons are rated MA15+, which is a rating restricted for people 15 years and older unless accompanied by adult, and is strong in impact. Despite being rated M on television, the season 3 DVD set was the first season to receive an MA15+ rating. The consumer advice usually goes as follows; Adult themes (A), coarse language (L), sexual references (S) and/or animated violence (V). Depending on the rating, the terms "moderate" and "strong" precede these descriptions.


title: South Park controversies

text: The video game, "", was initially banned. Due to backlash, however, a censored version would be released for Australia along with Israel and Europe, receiving an R18+ rating, much like the other video games based on the series. One scene and one minigame were banned in the Australian release. The banned scene featured a character (the show's protagonists are depicted as primary school children) surrounded by aliens, being probed with a so-called 'anal probe' in the shape of a penis. Additionally, the scene was interactive. The scene was classified as 'child sexual abuse' and banned twice. The banned minigame was also interactive and instructed the player to perform abortion on a pregnant woman. South Australia was the last state to decriminalise abortion, doing so on January 1, 2021.


title: South Park controversies

text: In the United Kingdom, the show is generally rated 15, until season 7 when it gets an 18 rating due to the audio commentaries (the episodes are only rated 15). However, some episodes, such as those in the first four seasons, do have a 12 rating (Cartman Gets an Anal Probe). Furthermore, the season 3 DVD set was originally rated 18 in the UK, Canada and Ireland, due to references to child molestation in the final episode, World Wide Recorder Concert. It was re-rated 15 in the UK upon its re-release in 2008, although in Ireland it is still rated 18, as are a number of episodes in the latter seasons. Later in the series, season 20 was rated 18 due to strong sex references, and season 22 was also rated 18 for child sexual abuse references.


title: South Park controversies

text: In Canada, the VHS/DVD sets were originally rated 18A, but later re-rated to a 14A rating. On Canadian streaming services such as CraveTV, it carries an 18+ rating for violence (V), strong language (L), sex (S), nudity (N) and mature themes (M).


title: South Park controversies

text: Season 4 and (season 16) are the only seasons rated R13 in New Zealand and the first season is rated M, akin to Australia's rating. The rest of the seasons have an R16 rating. The television rating of the show in New Zealand is AO (adults only).


title: South Park controversies

text: "South Park" was banned in India in 2010. According to VH1 India's channel head Ferzad Palia, after being reviewed by the Indian Ministry of Broadcasting, the show was banned for its vulgarity. However, in 2019, South Park was added to Netflix India, where it is rated 18+ for strong language and nudity.


title: South Park controversies

text: As the series first became popular in the United States, several schools punished students for wearing T-shirts related to the series, while a group of school principals in New Jersey mounted a small campaign to notify parents of the show's content. Hickory Flat Elementary School in Cherokee County, Georgia, issued a ban on wearing any "South Park" clothing. In a 1999 poll conducted by NatWest Bank, eight- and nine-year-old children in the United Kingdom voted the show's character Eric Cartman their favorite personality. This drew the concern of several parent councils, who were expecting that a children's television show character would top the list, and the headmaster of a Cambridgeshire public school urged parents to prevent their children from watching the show. While not opposed to allowing kids to watch the show, Parker and Stone, did however assert that the show is not meant to be viewed by kids, and it is almost "always" rated TV-MA, while being accompanied by the following warning: "All characters and events in this show—even those based on real people—are entirely fictional. All celebrity voices are impersonated... poorly. The following program contains coarse language and due to its content it should not be viewed by anyone."


title: South Park controversies

text: Conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III, founder of the advocacy group Parents Television Council, has frequently criticized the show. Calling it "sordid" and "filth", Bozell said it "shouldn't have been made".


title: South Park controversies

text: Action for Children's Television founder Peggy Charren claimed that the show's use of language and racial slurs represents the depravity of Western civilization, and that it is "dangerous to the democracy".


title: South Park controversies

text: Several other Christian activist groups have protested the show's parodies of Christianity-related matter and portrayal of Jesus Christ—whom "South Park" has depicted blaspheming, shooting and stabbing other characters, and as unable to perform actual miracles. The Christian Family Network prepared an educational guide on how to "protect youth from vile trash like "South Park"", and claims that their efforts to "restore morality, and protect life for the individual, family, and community" would be impeded if children watched the series.


title: South Park controversies

text: Stone insists that "[kids] don't have any kind of social tact or etiquette", and claims that parents who disapprove of "South Park" for its portrayal of how kids behave are upset because they "have an idyllic vision of what kids are like".


title: South Park controversies

text: Several groups have called for a boycott of the show, its sponsors, and the networks that air it. For example, in late 2008, on behalf of Muslim activists and members of the Russian Pentecostalist Church, a group of prosecutors in Moscow sought to have the Russian channel 2×2 closed in an attempt to prevent them from broadcasting the series, which they claimed promoted "hatred between religions". Their appeal was rejected by Russian media officials, and the channel's broadcasting license was extended until 2013. Aside from the efforts in Russia, no group or individual in a country where the show is aired has mounted a significant campaign to ban the series and its availability on home media entirely.


title: South Park controversies

text: A Canadian judge in the Calgary Judicial District has described "South Park" as a "vulgar, socially irreverent program that contributes nothing to society".


title: South Park controversies

text: Critics have also panned the show for being "preachy". In "", the film adaptation of another Comedy Central animated series, "Drawn Together", "South Park" was criticized for its sense of humor and use of social commentary. The show was also parodied in "The Simpsons" episode "The Bart of War".


title: South Park controversies

text: The show further lampooned the controversy surrounding its use of profanity, as well as the media attention surrounding the network show "Chicago Hope"<nowiki>'s</nowiki> single use of the word "shit", with the season five premiere "It Hits the Fan". A counter superimposed on the bottom left corner of the screen tracked each of the episode's utterances of the word "shit", which was said 162 times without being bleeped, while also appearing uncensored in written form 32 times, totaling 194 times used. The backlash to the episode was mostly limited to 5,000 disapproving e-mails sent to Comedy Central.


title: South Park controversies

text: The PTC also criticized the show for its excessive use of the racial epithet "nigger" in the season 11 (2007) premiere "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson". Despite its 43 uncensored uses of the word, the episode generated relatively little other controversy, as most in the black community and the NAACP praised the episode for its context and its comedic way of conveying other races' perceptions of how black people feel when hearing the word. While some in the Jewish community have praised the show's depiction of the character Eric Cartman holding an anti-Semitic attitude towards fellow student Kyle Broflovski as a means of accurately portraying what it is like for a young Jewish person to have to endure bigotry as an ethnic minority, other Jewish people have blamed "South Park" and Cartman for having found themselves surrounded by "acceptable racism".


title: South Park controversies

text: "South Park" parodied Scientology in a short that aired as part of the 2000 MTV Movie Awards. The short was entitled "The Gauntlet" and also poked fun at John Travolta, a Scientologist. The season five (2001) episode "Super Best Friends" features illusionist David Blaine forming his own cult, called "Blaintology". Parker and Stone have acknowledged that this is meant to be a reference to Scientology.


title: South Park controversies

text: In the season nine (2005) episode "Trapped in the Closet", Stan Marsh is recognized as the reincarnation of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard before denouncing the church as nothing more than "a big fat global scam". Tom Cruise, also a Scientologist, is seen in the episode locking himself in Stan's closet and refusing to come out, as other characters ambiguously plead for him to "come out of the closet" in a parody of rumors involving Cruise's sexuality. One scene retold the story of Xenu, a story Scientology normally attempts to keep confidential and only reveals to members once they make significant monetary contributions to the church. The show's closing credits billed every member of the episode's cast and crew as "John Smith" and "Jane Smith" in a parody of both Cruise's and the church's reputations for litigiousness.


title: South Park controversies

text: On March 13, 2006, nearly two months after suffering a stroke, Isaac Hayes, the voice of the character Chef, quit "South Park". A press release cited his objections to the show's attitudes toward and depiction of various religions. While the press release did not specifically mention "Trapped in the Closet", Parker and Stone assert that he quit because of the episode and its treatment of Scientology, as Hayes was a member. Stone commented that Hayes practiced a double standard regarding the treatment of religion on "South Park": "[We] never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we [lampooned] Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin". Fox News suggested that, because he was still suffering from the effects of his stroke, Hayes was hospitalized and not in a position to make a rational decision to leave the show. Fox also reported that Hayes left the show because of pressure from fellow Scientologists and that the decision was not voluntary, noting that Hayes had previously defended the episode after an amicable discussion with Parker and Stone about its content. Moreover, the original press release announcing his departure was put out by someone not authorized to represent him. In a 2016 oral history of "South Park" in "The Hollywood Reporter", Hayes's son, Isaac Hayes III, confirmed that the decision to leave the show was made by Hayes's entourage while Hayes was unable to make such decisions on his own.


title: South Park controversies

text: "Trapped in the Closet" was scheduled to rebroadcast on March 15, 2006, on Comedy Central, but the broadcast was canceled without prior notice and was replaced with a repeat of the season two (1998) episode "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls". The controversy that soon followed was dubbed "Closetgate" by the "Los Angeles Times". Representatives of Comedy Central insist that the episode was changed as a tribute to Hayes following his departure. Comedy Central's parent company, Viacom, also owns Paramount Pictures, which was set to distribute the then-upcoming film "", which stars Cruise. Several media outlets alleged that Cruise threatened to boycott the publicity tour for the film unless Viacom cancelled the episode's rebroadcast. Comedy Central, as well as Cruise's representative and publicist, immediately denied the allegations. Cruise himself later said that he would not "dignify" the rumors by personally addressing whether or not they were true.


title: South Park controversies

text: In response to the episode being pulled, Parker and Stone issued the following statement, with several mocking references to Scientology:


title: South Park controversies

text: "Mission: Impossible III" was released on May 5, 2006, while "Trapped in the Closet" was rebroadcast without controversy on July 19, 2006. Stone stated that he and Parker would have threatened to end their relationship with Comedy Central had the network finally refused to rebroadcast the episode. The episode was nominated for an Emmy, and is included on "South Park's" 10th Anniversary DVD, called "South Park – The Hits, Volume 1", and is the favorite episode of April Stewart, one of the show's voice actors.


title: South Park controversies

text: Cameron Adams of the "Herald Sun" highlighted the episode "All About Mormons" among "Top Choice" picks in television. Chris Quinn of the "San Antonio Express-News" placed the episode at number 7 on his list of: "Top 10 Most Offensive South Park Episodes and Therefore, Maybe The Best, List". The episode was used as an exhibit in discussing Mormonism in popular culture, by Utah Valley State College religious studies professor Dennis Potter, in a presentation titled: "The Americanization of Mormonism Reflected in Pop Culture". The LDS Church called the episode a gross portrayal of Church history, but contended that "it inflicted no perceptible or lasting damage to [the] church", and that such portrayals are distractions.


title: South Park controversies

text: Several Roman Catholics took offense at the season nine (2005) finale "Bloody Mary". In the episode, a statue of the Virgin Mary is portrayed as releasing copious amounts of actual blood while undergoing overt menstruation; characters had declared the phenomenon a miracle when they initially thought the blood was flowing from her rectum. Another scene features Pope Benedict XVI closely inspecting the anal and vaginal regions of the statue and being sprayed with blood. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights demanded an apology from Comedy Central and unsuccessfully campaigned to have the episode both removed permanently from the network's rotation and never be made available on DVD. Viacom board member Joseph A. Califano Jr. and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued formal complaints with then-Viacom CEO Tom Freston.


title: South Park controversies

text: In February 2006, leaders of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference, the Council of Christians and Muslims, and other religious groups together lobbied media conglomerate CanWest to stop the episode's debut airing and potential rebroadcasts in New Zealand on the music channel C4, while protesters condemned the lobby for attempting to take advantage of the New Zealand people's lack of a guaranteed right to the freedom of speech. The network rejected the plea, and was allowed to air the episode, doing so ahead of schedule to take advantage of the media attention surrounding the campaign.


title: South Park controversies

text: The season 10 episodes "Cartoon Wars Part I" and "Cartoon Wars Part II" feature a plot in which the Fox network plans to air an episode of the animated show "Family Guy" that contains an uncensored cartoon depiction of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. Residents of South Park panic, fearing violent responses similar to those that occurred worldwide after some Muslims regarded cartoon depictions of Muhammad in Danish newspaper "Jyllands-Posten" as insulting. The first episode had a cliffhanger ending instructing viewers to watch part two to find out whether the image of Muhammad would be shown uncensored. In the second episode, Kyle persuades a Fox executive to air the "Family Guy" with the image uncensored, while echoing Parker and Stone's sentiments regarding what should or should not be censored of "[either] it's got to all be OK or none of it is". Within the universe of the episode, the "Family Guy" episode is aired uncensored, despite a retaliation threat from Al-Qaeda. When the episode aired on Comedy Central, the channel censored the scene with a title card reading "Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Mohammed on their network" instead of the scene containing Muhammad's depiction, which Parker and Stone say was neutral and not intended to insult Muslims.


title: South Park controversies

text: Parker and Stone note the contradiction in being allowed to feature a profane depiction of Jesus, while being forbidden to feature a purely benign depiction of Muhammad, but claim they harbor no hard feelings toward Comedy Central for censoring the scene, since the network confessed to being "afraid of getting blown up" rather than claim "religious tolerance" like other networks. Parker and Stone claim the only regrets they have over the incident was that their mocking of the show "Family Guy" in the episode generated more attention than its commentary on the ethics of censorship. Previously, Muhammad was depicted uncensored and portrayed in a heroic light in the season five (2001) episode "Super Best Friends", which resulted in virtually no controversy. Muhammad also appears among the large crowd of characters gathered behind the main characters and "South Park" sign in some of the show's previous opening sequences.


title: South Park controversies

text: Parker and Stone repeated this plot for the 200th episode, "200". Again, the depiction was censored throughout the episode. After the episode aired, a leader of Revolution Muslim, an obscure New York-based radical Muslim organization, targeted "South Park"s creators for satirizing issues surrounding the depiction of Muhammad. The author of the post, Zachary Adam Chesser who went by the username Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee, wrote on Twitter that he prayed for Allah to kill the show's creators and "burn them in Hell for all eternity". He also posted a similar entry on his blog and on the Revolution Muslim website. The post included a picture of the assassination of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by a Muslim extremist in 2004, with the caption: "Theo Van Gogh – Have Matt Stone And Trey Parker Forgotten This?" He also noted: "We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."


title: South Park controversies

text: Following the airing of this episode, Malaysia's conservative Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) demanded that the makers of "South Park" apologize to Muslims around the world for its portrayal of Muhammad dressed as a bear, though it was later shown that it was actually Santa inside the suit. "Even though they have added the audio bleeps, "South Park"s producer and broadcaster should apologize to the Muslims, as this is a sensitive issue", said PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar. "The show itself spells of bad intention, and the depiction of the Prophet is provocative. It creates religious tension."


title: South Park controversies

text: The following episode, "201", censored the word "Muhammad" throughout the episode, as well as several lines from the "Super Best Friends" during the final act. According to the South Park Studios webpage, episode "201" was censored by Comedy Central after the studio delivered the episode, but before it was aired. The studio advises that the episode is not available online because they do not have network clearance to air the uncensored episode. A user on the imageboard website 4chan later discovered a partially uncensored version of the episode on the official website's RTMP web server, and it has since been distributed across the Internet.


title: South Park controversies

text: Due to the controversies, the episode "201" was removed from the British Comedy Central TV schedule, and replaced with a repeat of "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs", and the repeat of "200" was replaced with a repeat of "Sexual Healing". The episode "Super Best Friends", previously available via the South Park Studios website has been made unavailable. Additionally, the Netflix streaming version of the episode, also previously available, has been changed to "Disc Only". "Super Best Friends" was also removed from the iTunes Store as well as the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. When the series was added to HBO Max, "Super Best Friends", both parts of "Cartoon Wars", "200", and "201" were all skipped over.


title: South Park controversies

text: Despite the controversies, "200" and "201" are available on the region 1 release of "South Park – The Complete Fourteenth Season" disc. The episodes were censored and so were the commentaries regarding the episodes. The regions 2 and 4 releases of "South Park – The Complete Fourteenth Season" had both "200" and "201" removed for undisclosed reasons, despite the packaging claiming that all fourteen episodes are included in the set.


title: South Park controversies

text: In the chalkboard gag of "The Simpsons" episode, "The Squirt and the Whale", Bart pokes fun at the death threats Parker and Stone received by writing "South Park, We'd Stand Beside You If We Weren't So Scared."


title: South Park controversies

text: Several viewers criticized the season 10 (2006) episode "Hell on Earth 2006" for its depiction of Steve Irwin with a stingray stuck in his chest.


title: South Park controversies

text: The episode originally aired seven weeks after Irwin, an internationally popular Australian TV personality and wildlife expert, died when his heart was pierced by a stingray barb. Several groups and even devout fans of the show derided the scene and its timing as "grossly insensitive" and "classless", while Irwin's widow Terri Irwin expressed concern that her children could one day see the episode.


title: South Park controversies

text: In the 2009 episode "Pinewood Derby" several world leaders were depicted, including Mexican President Felipe Calderón, failing to successfully deal with an international crisis. MTV withdrew the episode in Mexico, causing controversy amongst Mexico's "South Park" fans, who felt it was censorship; MTV denied this, claiming they had just failed to get permission in time to show the Mexican flag on TV.


title: South Park controversies

text: Comedy Central (Netherlands) chose temporarily not to broadcast some scenes from several shows following the November 2015 Paris attacks. While no specifics were given, it included a scene in the 2015 episode "Sponsored Content" where presidential candidate Mr. Garrison states that he knows there is only one way how to deal with Syrian refugees, and the crowd shouts "fuck them all to death".


title: South Park controversies

text: South Park has repeatedly mocked the concept of climate change and pushed forward climate change denialist talking points. This happened most prominently in the 2006 episode "ManBearPig", which made fun of US presidential candidate Al Gore and his climate change activism by comparing it to alarmism about a mythical monster. For this the series has been repeatedly criticized by the general media, which called this approach by the popular show as "irresponsible". Twelve years later, in "Time to Get Cereal" as well as "Nobody Got Cereal?", the show tried to reverse its previous stance by depicting its stand-in allegory as an actual real issue and showed the protagonists making (forced) apologies to Al Gore.


title: South Park controversies

text: The show's turnaround on the issue garnered generally positive reactions from the press, praising the episodes for their humor, braveness and honesty. However, others pointed out that even this depicted reversal was just a "mild repudiation" and a "half-apology"; with this change of heart just being part of what seems to be increased concerns of the creators for the legacy of their long-running show.


title: South Park controversies

text: One of Parker and Stone's earliest responses to the show being condemned as "nothing but bad animation and fart jokes" was creating a show-within-the-show about two even-more-crudely-drawn characters named Terrance and Phillip who do little else but pass gas around each other. The child characters on the show find Terrance and Phillip, who debuted in the season one (1997) episode "Death", to be hysterical, while their parents find them to be horribly offensive. An entire episode featuring the duo aired on April 1, 1998 in lieu of an episode that was supposed to continue from the show's previous episode from four weeks earlier, which ended with a cliffhanger promising to reveal the identity of Cartman's father in the show's next airing. Several fans were angered by the April Fools' Day prank, to which Comedy Central received 2,000 email complaints. Following this, Comedy Central moved the planned air date of the next show up a month so that fans could sooner watch the actual show they originally expected to see.


title: South Park controversies

text: Michael Moore interviewed Matt Stone for his 2002 film "Bowling for Columbine". Stone discussed his experiences growing up in the Littleton area and the social alienation that might have contributed to the Columbine High School massacre. Stone, who is a gun owner himself, said that Moore's presentation of their interview was fair, but he criticized the director for a short animated segment that followed the interview. The cartoon, which is about the history of guns in the United States, implies that there is a connection between the Ku Klux Klan and the establishment of the National Rifle Association. Matt Stone, who did not have anything to do with that short cartoon, criticized Moore for making the cartoon "very "South Park"-esque" and argued that Moore deliberately sought to give viewers the incorrect impression that he and Trey Parker had produced the animation, by playing these two completely separate segments consecutively. "We have a very specific beef with Michael Moore. I did an interview, and he didn't mischaracterize me or anything I said in the movie. But what he did do was put this cartoon right after me that made it look like we did that cartoon." Stone called it "a good reference to what Michael Moore does in films [...] he creates meaning where there is none by cutting things together". The pair responded by depicting Moore in an unflattering light before having his character blow himself up in their 2004 film "".


title: South Park controversies

text: Due to the references to many forbidden topics such as Dalai Lama, Winnie-the-Pooh and organ transplants in the season 23 (2019) episode "Band in China", since the episode's broadcast, "South Park" has been entirely banned in China: the series' Baidu Baike article, Baidu Tieba forum, Douban page, Zhihu page and Bilibili videos have been deleted or inaccessible to the public. In addition to this fact, all related keywords and topics have been prohibited from being searched and discussed on China-based search engines and social media sites including Baidu, Sina Weibo, WeChat public platform (微信公众号), etc.


title: Ellen Muth

text: Ellen Muth (; born March 6, 1981) is an American former actress best known for her role as Georgia "George" Lass in Showtime's series "Dead Like Me" (2003–2004 series, 2009 film).


title: Ellen Muth

text: As of 2004, Muth was a member of Intertel and Mensa, high-IQ societies. She attended the Skip Barber Racing School and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.


title: Ellen Muth

text: After a brief stint as a model with Ford Models and Rascal's Agency, Muth pursued a career in acting, studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York City, and getting her first professional experience doing commercials in 1993. Her first major role was in the 1995 film "Dolores Claiborne". She followed that with a role in the eighth-season premiere of "Law & Order".


title: Ellen Muth

text: Muth's appearance as the daughter in the 1999 film "The Young Girl and the Monsoon" earned praise from Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" for her range in portraying a character "who one minute can be as clinging as a baby and the next delights in cruelly demolishing the nearest grownup with laser-like sarcasm" and her chemistry "whenever Constance (who narrates the film) is on the screen with her father Hank (Terry Kinney)".


title: Ellen Muth

text: Her 2000 work includes appearances in episodes of "The Beat" and "", as well as a role in The American Collection adaptation of "Cora Unashamed", a short story by Langston Hughes from his 1934 collection "The Ways of White Folks". Muth also had a guest role in "Don't Ask", the original unaired pilot episode of the 2000 Fox show that eventually aired as "Normal, Ohio". The show's revamp eliminated her role. That year, Muth played the lead in the Lifetime Original Movie "The Truth About Jane" about a high school girl's struggle with her sexuality and acceptance.


title: Ellen Muth

text: Muth starred in the 2003–04 Showtime television series "Dead Like Me" in the role of Georgia "George" Lass, the protagonist and one of a team of grim reapers.


title: Ellen Muth

text: Muth's next roles were lower in profile. She appeared in "Jack 'n' Jill", a 2007 MFA thesis film. She voiced the character of Addie Vost in the first animated short of "Tofu the Vegan Zombie" and a character in the audio dramatization "Anne Manx in the Empress Blair Project". In September 2008 she joined three other actors at the Theatre Artist Workshop in Norwalk, Connecticut in a reading of "Fleece the Flock", an original musical comedy in development and directed by Joel Vig.


title: Ellen Muth

text: After some delay, "", a film directed by Stephen Herek based on "Dead Like Me" and featuring many members of the show's cast, including Muth, was released direct-to-video in March 2009.


title: Ellen Muth

text: In 2012, Muth returned to the big screen in the romantic comedy "Margarine Wars" alongside Robert Loggia and Doris Roberts. The film debuted in Los Angeles on March 29, 2012.


title: Ellen Muth

text: In 2013, Muth made a guest appearance in two episodes of the first season of the TV series "Hannibal", produced by Bryan Fuller, the creator of "Dead Like Me".


title: Ellen Muth

text: Muth shared a best supporting actress award at the 1995 Tokyo International Film Festival for her screen debut in "Dolores Claiborne". In 1999 she won the American Film Institute (AFI) Best Actress Award for "The Young Girl and the Monsoon".


title: Ellen Muth

text: In 2004, Muth's work on "Dead Like Me" received two nominations: for a Saturn Award in the Best Actress in a Television Series category and for a Satellite Award in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Drama series.


title: Ellen Muth

text: Muth has withdrawn from public life since her 2013 appearances on "Hannibal", instead concentrating on a coffee business she launched, and a cat-breeding business. Saying she eventually wanted "to settle down and have a family of my own", Muth told a relaxed-lifestyle website in December 2015 that she had "hit the pause button on the acting for now."


title: Billy Bremner

text: William John Bremner (9 December 1942 – 7 December 1997) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Regarded as one of the game's great midfielders, he combined precision passing skills with tenacious tackling and physical stamina. He played for Leeds United from 1959 to 1976, serving as captain from 1965, in one of the most successful periods in the club's history.


title: Billy Bremner

text: At Leeds, Bremner won the First Division (1968–69 and 1973–74), Second Division (1963–64), Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1968 and 1971), FA Cup (1972), League Cup (1968) and FA Charity Shield (1969). The club also finished second in numerous competitions, being runners-up five times in the English league and seven times in cup finals, including the 1975 European Cup. He was also named as the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1970 and was listed on the PFA Team of the Year in 1973–74. He has since been voted Leeds United's greatest player of all time and has a statue outside the south-east corner of their Elland Road stadium. He has also been included in the Football League 100 Legends and is a member of both the English Football Hall of Fame and Scottish Football Hall of Fame.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Bremner played for Hull City from 1976 to 1978, before being appointed player-manager at Doncaster Rovers in November 1978. He spent seven years as Doncaster manager, guiding the club to promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1980–81 and 1983–84, before he took on the manager's job at Leeds United in October 1985. He failed to gain promotion to the top flight and left the club in September 1988. He returned to Doncaster in July 1989, ending his second spell in charge in November 1991.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Bremner is on the Scotland national football team roll of honour for having won more than 50 caps for Scotland. He captained his country at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, where Scotland failed to advance from the group stage despite being unbeaten in the competition.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Born in Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland, to James and Bridget Bremner, he attended St Modan's High School and represented Scotland Schoolboys. His father forbade him from joining Celtic as he did not want him involved in the religion-based rivalry with Rangers, and Bremner rejected both Arsenal and Chelsea as he did not enjoy his stay in London during trial spells with the two clubs, and was instead convinced to join Bill Lambton's Leeds United in 1959. He joined along with his friend Tommy Henderson, who would return to Scotland due to homesickness without making a first team debut. Manager Jack Taylor gave him his debut at outside-right in a 3–1 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, at the age of 17 years and 47 days; "Yorkshire Evening Post" reporter Phil Brown noted that Bremner showed "enthusiasm, guts, intelligence, most accurate use of the ball and unselfishness" despite poor weather conditions. A "The Sunday Times" headline later dubbed him as "10st of barbed wire" due to his tenacity and tough tackling. Regular outside-right Chris Crowe was sold to Blackburn Rovers in March 1960, allowing Bremner to take his place on a permanent basis. However, Leeds went on to be relegated from the First Division at the end of the 1959–60 season.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Dropped following an opening day defeat by Liverpool at Anfield, Bremner had to win back his first team place later in the 1960–61 season after meeting with Jack Taylor to explain his frustration at being left out of the team. Taylor resigned in March 1961, and player Don Revie was promoted to manager. Revie rejected an approach of £25,000 from Hibernian for Bremner, despite the player wanting to return to Scotland to be with his fiancée. Leeds struggled in the 1961–62 campaign, finishing just three points above the Second Division relegation zone, despite 12 goals in 45 appearances from Bremner, who finished as the club's joint top-scorer alongside centre-half Jack Charlton. One bright spot was the signing of Bobby Collins in March, who helped form the "win-at-all-costs" attitude that defined Leeds and Bremner throughout the rest of Revie's 13 years as manager.


title: Billy Bremner

text: United had a more promising 1962–63 campaign, finishing four points shy of promotion, though Bremner was limited to 24 appearances. He was out of form and dropped from the first team during the end of season run-in, which contained a disproportionately large number of games due to the high level of postponements that occurred during the harsh winter. Revie moved Bremner to central midfield, and bought Manchester United's Johnny Giles to create what would prove to be one of the most highly effective central midfield partnerships of the next 12 years. With Bremner, Collins and Giles in midfield, Leeds went on to win promotion as champions in the 1963–64 season. The club won no friends in doing so however, and the following summer were labelled by the Football Association's own "FA News" as "the dirtiest [team] in the Football League. In November of the 1964–65 season Bremner featured heavily in a win at Everton that was marred by violent clashes on the pitch, the game was stopped for a short spell ten minutes before half-time as the referee felt that a spell of cooling down was needed to prevent further violence; despite the referee only giving 12 Leeds fouls to Everton's 19 the match helped to cement United's reputation as a dirty and overly physical team. A run of victories put the club top by the new year, however they lost the title on goal average to Manchester United after drawing the last game of the season with already-relegated Birmingham City. The Manchester club would become a keen rival, one which intensified after Leeds knocked them out of the FA Cup at the semi-finals after two physical encounters. Leeds faced Liverpool in the final at Wembley, and the game went to extra-time after a 0–0 draw; Bremner scored a half-volley in the 100th minute to cancel out Roger Hunt's opener, but Ian St John won the game for Liverpool in the 113th minute.


title: Billy Bremner

text: In October 1965, Leeds skipper Collins was injured in an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup game against Torino and Revie gave the captaincy to Bremner after initially handing the armband to Charlton for the remainder of the season; Charlton was keen to give up the captaincy as it prevented his superstitious ritual of coming out of the tunnel last on match days. Revie and Bremner had a strong bond of trust, which was why the manager gave him the captaincy at such a young age. Leeds finished second in the league in the 1965–66 campaign to Liverpool, who had finished six points clear at the top.


title: Billy Bremner

text: A poor start to the 1966–67 season prevented another push for the title, and Leeds eventually finished in fourth place. They made it to the FA Cup semi-finals, before Chelsea knocked them out with a 1–0 win. In Europe they beat DWS (Netherlands), Valencia (Spain), Bologna (Italy) and Kilmarnock (Scotland) to reach the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final against Dinamo Zagreb (Yugoslavia); Zagreb won 2–0 at the Stadion Maksimir and held Leeds to a 0–0 draw at Elland Road to leave Leeds with another second-place finish.


title: Billy Bremner

text: The club had a slow start to the 1967–68 season but soon picked up, particularly so with a 7–0 victory over Chelsea, though for the second successive season they ended up in fourth spot. Success instead came from the cup competitions, as they first knocked out Luton Town, Bury, Sunderland, Stoke City and Derby County in the League Cup en route to the final against Arsenal at Wembley; Leeds won the game 1–0 in a dour defensive manner but striker Jimmy Greenhoff later said it was the most memorable of the club's trophies due to it being the first such success. The second soon followed, despite a disappointment of exiting the FA Cup at the semi-final stage with defeat by Everton, as they reached the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by beating CA Spora (Luxembourg), FK Partizan (Yugoslavia), Hibernian (Scotland), Rangers (Scotland), and Dundee (Scotland). They beat Ferencvárosi (Hungary) 1–0 at Elland Road and held them to a 0–0 draw at Népstadion to win the club's first European trophy.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Revie targeted the title for the 1968–69 campaign and played Bremner in every league game as Leeds finished six points clear at the top to become champions of England for the first time. The title was secured with a 0–0 draw with title rivals Liverpool at Anfield on 28 April, after which Bremner led the players to applaud the Liverpool fans who responded by chanting "Champions, Champions, Champions ...". Leeds set a number of records: most points (67), most wins (27), fewest defeats (2), and most home points (39). A still-unbroken club record is their 34 match unbeaten run that extended into the following season.


title: Billy Bremner

text: The 1969–70 season opened with victory in the 1969 FA Charity Shield, as Bremner captained Leeds to a 2–1 victory over Manchester City. With new arrival Allan Clarke played upfront alongside Mick Jones and Peter Lorimer Revie had to instruct Bremner and Giles to resist the temptation to get forward and attack. It took the team some time to gel, as only two wins came from the opening eight league games, and Leeds eventually finished a distant second to champions Everton. They chased Everton all season only to give up on the title after a home defeat by Southampton late in the campaign. In the European Cup Leeds recorded a club record 10–0 win over Norwegian side Lyn, with Bremner netting two of the goals. However they exited the competition at the semi-final stage after two defeats to Celtic; Bremner levelled the aggregate score by putting United 1–0 ahead in front of a competition record 136,505 spectators at Hampden Park, but Celtic came back to win the game and the tie with two second half goals. Further disappointment came in the 1970 FA Cup Final, where Leeds were beaten 2–1 by Chelsea in extra-time of the replay at Old Trafford. Bremner was named as FWA Footballer of the Year for the season.


title: Billy Bremner

text: The league title in the 1970–71 season was decided in mid-April in front of the "Match of the Day" cameras at Elland Road, when Leeds lost their lead at the top with defeat by West Bromwich Albion. The Leeds players blamed the referee for costing them the title as offside was not given for Colin Suggett for Jeff Astle's winner, and despite Bremner saying "But we fight on. Make no mistake about that, it is not over yet" Leeds could not overtake Arsenal, who went on to win the Double. Success instead came in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, as Leeds knocked out Sarpsborg (Norway), Dynamo Dresden (East Germany), Sparta Prague (Czechoslovakia), Vitória (Portugal) and Liverpool to reach the final with Juventus (Italy). Bremner recovered from an ankle injury just in time to face Liverpool in the semi-finals, and scored the only goal of the two-legged tie with a header at Anfield. Leeds won the final on the away goals rule after recording a 2–2 draw at the Stadio Olimpico di Torino and then a 1–1 draw at Elland Road.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Leeds finished second in the league for the third successive season in the 1971–72 campaign, despite playing some of the best football in the club's history. They knocked out Bristol Rovers, Liverpool, Cardiff City, Tottenham Hotspur and Birmingham City to reach the 1972 FA Cup Final with Arsenal; they then won the trophy for the first time in the club's history with Allan Clarke scoring the final's only goal. Two days after the final Leeds could have secured the Double by winning a point against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, but a 2–1 defeat handed the title to Derby County. On 3 February 1982, Bremner won £100,000 libel damages, along with legal costs, after he sued the "Sunday People" newspaper for publishing an article on 11 September 1977 that alleged he tried to fix football matches, including the May 1972 game at Wolves. Bremner donated the damages to a Leeds Hospice.


title: Billy Bremner

text: The title was nowhere near as close in the 1972–73 season, which saw Leeds finish third, seven points behind Liverpool. However more runners-up medals came from the FA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup. After Bremner scored the only goal of the semi-final clash with Wolves, Leeds went on to lose the FA Cup final 1–0 to Second Division Sunderland. They were then beaten 1–0 by Italian side A.C. Milan at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium in the European Cup Winners' Cup Final, though Bremner missed the final due to suspension.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Revie instructed Bremner to be more attacking in the 1973–74 campaign, and the result was 11 goals in 52 appearances, his biggest goal tally in 12 years. The manager focused entirely on the league and told his team the aim was to go the season unbeaten, and although they lost three games they secured a second league title by a five-point margin on second-place Liverpool. Bremner was named on the PFA Team of the Year and finished second in the FWA Footballer of the Year voting to Ian Callaghan. At the end of the season he was given a testimonial match against Sunderland which raised him £32,500; he had chosen the opponents in an attempt to avenge defeat in the previous year's FA Cup final.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Manager Don Revie took the England management job in July 1974. Bremner applied for the vacant Leeds job after Johnny Giles had been named by Revie as his successor, but instead the board surprised everyone by appointing Brian Clough, who went on to a disastrous 44-day spell in charge of Leeds at the start of the 1974–75 season. Revie's departure was tough for Bremner, who had a strong bond with his manager. Leeds lost the 1974 FA Charity Shield in a penalty shoot-out to Liverpool, but more significantly Bremner and Kevin Keegan were sent off for fighting and received eleven game suspensions. By the time Bremner was allowed to play again Jimmy Armfield was the manager, though he refuted the accusation that he had attempted to undermine Clough as "ridiculous". Teammate Peter Lorimer insisted that the only criticism he had of Bremner was in applying for the management job against Giles, which had caused to board to look elsewhere for fear of dividing the dressing room by choosing between Bremner and Giles. Results improved with Bremner back in the side, and though they ended the season in ninth place, they were only eight points behind champions Derby. The club's biggest aim would be success in the European Cup, and they made it to the final after knocking out FC Zürich (Switzerland), Újpest FC (Hungary), Anderlecht (Belgium), and Barcelona (Spain). Their final opponents at Parc des Princes were defending champions Bayern Munich (Germany), who beat Leeds 2–0; United had a goal controversially ruled out for offside and the tie ended in rioting by United fans.


title: Billy Bremner

text: With most of the Revie built team retiring or moving on to other clubs, Armfield had to rebuild the squad, though Bremner would still play 38 games in the 1975–76 campaign. However, he missed a lengthy spell in the new year due to injury and results dipped during this time and ultimately ended the club's title hopes; they went on to end the campaign in fifth spot.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Bremner signed with Hull City for a £25,000 fee on 23 September 1976, manager John Kaye feeling that Bremner's experience would benefit his youthful Second Division side. His debut at Boothferry Park came against Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest, and Bremner was credited with scoring the winning goal of the game with a free-kick, though it seemed to have gone in with a significant deflection. Despite the good start results dipped midway through the 1976–77 season and the "Tigers" ended the season in 14th place. Despite suffering with a back injury Bremner was appointed as captain and played 32 games.


title: Billy Bremner

text: He missed the 1977–78 pre-season with a knee injury, but recovered well enough to make 36 appearances throughout the campaign. Kaye was sacked after a poor start to the season, and was replaced by Bremner's former Leeds teammate Bobby Collins, who had joined the club as assistant manager in the summer; as at Leeds, Bremner had applied for the vacant managerial role, but was rejected. After being turned down for the job he announced his intention to retire as a player at the end of his contract in June 1978. The season was a disaster, and though Collins was sacked and replaced by youth coach Ken Houghton in February, results did not improve and Hull were relegated in last place, ten points from safety.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Bremner was well established in the Scotland set-up, playing in a trial match against the Scottish Football League XI and winning four under-23 caps, before he made his senior debut for Scotland in May 1965, in a 0–0 draw with Spain at Hampden Park. He went on to feature in qualifying games for the 1966 FIFA World Cup, but defeats to Poland and Italy left Scotland second in their group, which was not enough to qualify. He also played in friendlies against Brazil and Portugal, and received a black eye from Pelé's elbow in a clash during a high ball; despite this being an accident it still demonstrated to Bremner how he had failed to intimidate Pelé as he had done to many other great players of the day.


title: Billy Bremner

text: The England–Scotland football rivalry was intense throughout his playing career, and so great media attention came upon Bremner and the rest of the Scottish players after they beat world champions England 3–2 at Wembley to become the "unofficial world champions" on 15 April 1967. Many teammates said that Bremner held this match as one of the proudest moments of his career.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Placed in a tough group for qualification to the 1970 FIFA World Cup, Scotland failed to qualify after finishing in second place. Bremner captained his country throughout the process, having first taken up the armband in a friendly defeat by Denmark in Copenhagen. He scored his first international goal in a 2–1 qualifying victory over Austria at Hampden Park, his first game as captain. This game was followed by two victories over Cyprus and a 1–1 draw with West Germany, however a 3–2 defeat by West Germany in Hamburg ended their hopes of making it to the World Cup. Bremner's second international goal came in a 3–2 win over Wales in a British Home Championship game at the Racecourse Ground.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Scotland were the only home nation to qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup after finishing ahead of Czechoslovakia and Denmark in their group. However, Bremner was nearly not selected by manager Willie Ormond after Ormond found him drunk in a bar not long after Jimmy Johnstone had to be rescued by the coastguard having gotten stranded in a rowing boat during a night out following a home international match against Northern Ireland. Having been selected, Bremner captained Scotland to a 2–0 win over Zaire at the Westfalenstadion. He was later accused by Zairian player Ndaye Mulamba of racially abusing him during this match, as well as spitting at Mulamba and Mana Mamuwene. A highly creditable 0–0 draw against world champions Brazil left Scotland with high hopes of qualifying to the second round. Yet a 1–1 draw with Yugoslavia sent Scotland out of the competition unbeaten due to Brazil and Yugoslavia finishing level on points but with superior goal difference.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Bremner's last cap came against Denmark on 3 September 1975. An incident in Copenhagen after the game where several players were ejected from a nightclub for an alleged fight led to a lifetime ban from international football by the Scottish Football Association; four other players, Willie Young, Joe Harper, Pat McCluskey and Arthur Graham also were banned for life (Graham and Harper later had their bans overturned). Bremner maintained his innocence, stating that the incident had been blown out of proportion by the SFA.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Bremner was appointed manager of struggling Fourth Division side Doncaster Rovers in November 1978. He oversaw a 1–0 win over Rochdale at Belle Vue in his first match in charge. Results fluctuated during the 1978–79 season, demonstrated by a 7–1 defeat by struggling AFC Bournemouth punctuating a run of five wins in six games. Rovers ended the season in 22nd place, though 11 points ahead of Halifax Town and Crewe Alexandra, and successfully applied to the Football League for re-election.


title: Billy Bremner

text: He introduced massages and changed the canteen and team kit for the 1979–80 campaign. With no money available for transfers he was forced to turn to the youth team for new players, though he could afford to take on Ian Nimmo, Hugh Dowd, John Dowie and Billy Russell on free transfers. He appointed former Leeds coach Les Cocker as his assistant. The season started poorly, but the squad bonded following Cocker's death on 4 October and went on a run of six straight wins, for which Bremner was credited with the Fourth Division Manager of the Month award. However a run of just one win in 15 games followed, for which Bremner blamed his small squad and lack of training facilities. A mounting injury crisis caused him to make a return to playing on 29 March for the visit of Bournemouth, a game in which 16-year-old Ian Snodin was named on the bench. Rovers ended the season in 12th place.


title: Billy Bremner

text: A disappointing opening sequence of the 1980–81 season was followed by six wins in six games in September, and Bremner won his second Manager of the Month award. The good results continued for the rest of the campaign, and Rovers were promoted in third place. He signed Celtic's Colin Douglas for the challenge of Third Division football, but otherwise remained loyal to his promotion squad for the approaching 1981–82 season. Another strong September, six wins seeing the club rise to second in the table, won Bremner the Third Division Manager of the Month award. However a lean spell would follow, and from November to February Doncaster failed to win in the league. Results again picked up with only two defeats in the last 14 games, and they ended the campaign in 19th spot, three points above the relegation zone.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Strong competition promoted from the Fourth Division – Wigan Athletic, Sheffield United and Bradford City – made the 1982–83 campaign a tough prospect. A weak defence saw an unusual sequence of high-scoring matches early in the season: 6–1 win over Exeter City, 7–5 win over Reading, 6–3 defeat by Wigan, and a 4–4 draw with Brentford. Only seven wins from the last 36 games of the season left Doncaster relegated in 23rd place, 16 points behind 20th-place Orient.


title: Billy Bremner

text: To try and win immediate promotion during the 1983–84 season Bremner signed veteran forward Ernie Moss (who had won three promotions out of the division), Andy Kowalski, left-back John Breckin, experienced defender Bill Green, and young midfielder Mark Miller. Investment by new director Peter Wetzel allowed Bremner to spend £120,000 on three players in March: £60,000 on Stirling Albion defender John Philliben, £25,000 on young Celtic midfielder Jim Dobbin, and £35,000 on Shrewsbury Town defender Alan Brown. Promotion was secured in comfortable fashion, as they finished as runners-up to runaway champions York City, ten points above fifth-place Aldershot.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Building for the 1984–85 campaign, Bremner signed former Leeds striker Aiden Butterworth and winger John Buckley (£25,000 from Partick Thistle). Doncaster won five of their opening seven games, and though they were unable to sustain a promotion push they showed their ability with a 1–0 win over eventual champions Bradford at Valley Parade on Boxing Day and a 1–0 FA Cup win over First Division side Queens Park Rangers on 5 January. Rovers finished the season in 14th place, some distance from the promotion and the relegation places.


title: Billy Bremner

text: To pay for stadium upgrades necessitated by the aftermath of the Bradford City stadium fire Doncaster were forced to sell Ian and Glynn Snodin, who went to Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday and respectively for a total of £315,000. To replace then he bought Dave Rushbury from Gillingham for £10,000 and spent £60,000 on Millwall defender Dave Cusack.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Bremner was appointed as Leeds United manager in October 1985, having impressed the boardroom with his work at Doncaster, particularly his negotiation skills during the sale of Ian Snodin; Leeds paid Doncaster £45,000 in compensation. The club had declined during his absence; Leeds had dropped down into the Second Division, sold Elland Road to the council to raise money, and club supporters picked up a reputation for violence after regular hooligan riots in the stands. He quickly reinstated Don Revie's philosophy and his little traditions, for example he reinstated the sessions of carpet bowls on Friday evenings. Despite this he appointed Ian Snodin as club captain, and dropped former captain and teammate Peter Lorimer from the starting line eleven. He also moved on the young players signed by former manager and teammate Eddie Gray, choosing to sign experienced players in their place. Five key young players to leave the club were Scott Sellars (£20,000 to Blackburn Rovers), Terry Phelan (free transfer to Swansea City), Denis Irwin, Tommy Wright and Andy Linighan (all to Oldham Athletic for £60,000, £55,000 and £80,000 respectively). The money raised allowed him to buy central defender Brendan Ormsby (£65,000 from Aston Villa), and also sign David Rennie, Brian Caswell and Ronnie Robinson. Leeds struggled in the 1985–86 season, but managed to steer away from the relegation zone to finish in 14th place.


title: Billy Bremner

text: During the 1986 close season, Bremner spent £125,000 on 29-year-old Sheffield United striker Keith Edwards, and a further £80,000 to bring in 31-year-old Carlisle United defender Jack Ashurst and Newcastle United defender Peter Haddock. Other new arrivals were winger Russell Doig (£15,000 from East Stirlingshire), goalkeeper Ronnie Sinclair (free transfer from Nottingham Forest) and midfielder John Buckley (£35,000 from Doncaster Rovers, having also signed him whilst at Doncaster). Aiming for a promotion push in the 1986–87 campaign, Leeds were stuck in mid-table by February after selling Snodin to Everton for £840,000. This sale though allowed Bremner money for further signings and he took left-back Bobby McDonald from Oxford United, full-back Micky Adams from Coventry City for £110,000, and striker John Pearson and defender Mark Aizlewood from Charlton Athletic for £72,000 and £200,000 respectively. A 2–1 FA Cup Fifth Round victory over First Division side Queens Park Rangers then raised belief in the players, and they qualified for the play-offs by the end of the campaign. The FA Cup run continued into the semi-finals, where they were knocked out 3–2 by Coventry City at Hillsborough in a close-run game that ran into extra-time. After overcoming Oldham in the play-off semi-final their opponents in the play-off final were Charlton Athletic, and after 1–0 home wins in both legs the tie went to a replay at St Andrew's. John Sheridan put Leeds ahead in extra-time of the replay, but two late goals from Peter Shirtliff changed the game and denied Leeds promotion.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Bremner signed a new three-year contract in the 1987 close season. New arrivals at the club were Glynn Snodin (£150,000 from Sheffield Wednesday), winger Gary Williams (£230,000 from Aston Villa) and Bobby Davison (£350,000 from Derby County), as well as Jim Melrose and Ken DeMange. A more significant new face was David Batty, a key player of the future who was given his debut from the youth team. United started the season inconsistently, but five straight wins in December won Bremner the Second Division Manager of the Month award. The inconsistent results returned however, and Leeds finished the 1987–88 season in seventh place, eight points outside the play-offs. Bremner did not enjoy a good relationship with the club's board, who felt him to be uncommunicative with them, and after a poor start to the 1988–89 season he was sacked in September 1988. His successor, Howard Wilkinson, was given money to spend by the board and Leeds went on to win promotion in 1990.


title: Billy Bremner

text: In July 1989 Bremner went back as manager to Doncaster, who had fallen back into the Fourth Division during his absence. He signed Lincoln City winger John McGinley and Leeds midfielder John Stiles, and led the club to a 20th-place finish in 1989–90, which represented a small improvement on the previous season. Greater success came in the Football League Trophy, Rovers reaching the area finals, where they were beaten by Third Division leaders Tranmere Rovers.


title: Billy Bremner

text: New additions for the 1990–91 campaign were Peterborough United goalkeeper Paul Crichton, Stoke City defender Andy Holmes and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Eddie Gormley, as well as his former Leeds captain Brendan Ormsby. Rovers were top of the table at the turn of the year, but injuries and lack of form caused results to fall away, as did hopes of promotion, and Doncaster finished the campaign in 11th place. Rovers started the 1991–92 season badly and Bremner tendered his resignation on 2 November, with the club sitting bottom of the Football League.


title: Billy Bremner

text: He married Vicky Dick in November 1961. He had a ghost-written column in "Shoot" throughout the 1970s. After retiring from football in November 1991 he took up work as an after dinner speaker.


title: Billy Bremner

text: At the beginning of December 1997, Bremner was rushed to hospital after suffering from pneumonia, but suffered a suspected heart attack at his Doncaster home in the small village of Clifton and died two days before his 55th birthday. His funeral, attended by many of Bremner's former team-mates and other football players and coaches, was held four days later in the Yorkshire village of New Edlington.


title: Billy Bremner

text: A statue by sculptor Frances Segelman of Bremner in celebratory pose was erected outside Elland Road in tribute in 1999. In 1988, the Football League, as part of its centenary season celebrations, included Bremner on its list of 100 League Legends. He was inducted into both the English Football Hall of Fame and the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame in 2004, with the acknowledgement that: "his priceless precision passing, stamina and skill led him to become a Leeds United legend and one of the games' greatest midfielders" and that he "was not simply tough but a skilful player with an ability to score in crucial games". In 2006, he was voted Leeds United's greatest player of all time. In September 2013 he was voted as the greatest captain in the Football League's history.


title: Billy Bremner

text: Bremner was portrayed by Stephen Graham in the 2009 biographical drama film "The Damned United", directed by Tom Hooper and starring Michael Sheen as Brian Clough.


title: Billy Bremner

text: In late 2021 and early 2022, the University of Stirling began research into Billy Bremner’s life. They have consulted local sources, including former St Modan’s pupils as researchers, which is where Bremner attended high school.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: Jerry Winston Jarrett (born September 4, 1942) is an American retired professional wrestling promoter and professional wrestler. Along with his long-term business partner Jerry Lawler, Jarrett is a key figure in the history of professional wrestling in the Mid-Southern United States. Described as a "wrestling genius", he was inducted into the National Wrestling Alliance Hall of Fame in 2009.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: Jarrett founded the Memphis, Tennessee-based Continental Wrestling Association in 1977. In 1989, Jarrett merged his promotion with the Dallas, Texas-based promotion World Class Championship Wrestling, creating the United States Wrestling Association, which Jarrett sold to Lawler in 1997. He made another foray into promoting in 2002 when he co-founded NWA:TNA with his son Jeff Jarrett, selling his controlling interest to Panda Energy International later that year.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: Jarrett was born to Christine "Teeny" Jarrett (1923–1998) in Nashville, Tennessee on September 4, 1942. His parents divorced when he was three years old, and to support Jarrett and his sister, Christine began working as a ticket vendor at the Nashville Hippodrome for Nick Gulas and Roy Welch, the promoters of NWA Mid-America. Over time, Christine was given more responsibility by Gulas and Welch, and by the early-1970s she was promoting shows on their behalf in Indiana and Kentucky. At the age of seven, Jarrett began selling programs for Gulas and Welch.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: After receiving a hardship driving license at the age of 14, Jarrett began promoting professional wrestling events: renting buildings, advertising shows, constructing the ring, selling tickets, and stocking refreshments. He worked as a promoter until enrolling in Peabody College. Upon graduating in 1963, Jarrett spent four years working for the Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company as a purchasing agent before deciding to pursue a career in professional wrestling. He began working for Welch and Gulas as an office assistant, and became a referee by default after a referee no-showed.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: While working as a referee in the 1960s, Jarrett decided to become a professional wrestler. He was trained by his friend Tojo Yamamoto and veteran wrestler Sailor Moran. He wrestled his first match in Hayti, Missouri in 1965. After debuting, Jarrett formed a tag team with Yamamoto. Jarrett spent the first few years of his career performing primarily for NWA Mid-America. Between 1970 and 1976, he won the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship once, the NWA World Tag Team Championship "(Mid-America version)" once, and the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship "(Mid-America version)" 10 times. Jarrett also performed for Gulas' Southeastern Championship Wrestling promotion, holding the NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship in 1975.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: In 1977, Jarrett founded the Continental Wrestling Association. In addition to booking the promotion, he also occasionally wrestled. Jarrett and Yamamoto became the inaugural CWA World Tag Team Champions in July 1980, losing the championship to Austin Idol and Dutch Mantel the following month. In 1985, Jarrett briefly wrestled under a mask as "The Hawaiian Flash".


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: Jarrett formally retired in 1988, although he broke his retirement in the mid-1990s to wrestle on a number of occasions for his United States Wrestling Association.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: In the early-1970s, Jarrett and his mother began promoting professional wrestling shows on behalf of Gulas in the Memphis area. After a dispute with Gulas in 1977, Jarrett opted to break away and found his own promotion, the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). With the support of Buddy Fuller, Jerry Lawler and Jarrett's mother, Jarrett built the CWA into a successful promotion, staging events each Monday that regularly sold-out the Mid-South Coliseum and airing television shows each Saturday morning on WMC-TV. In 1981, NWA Mid-America folded due to competition from the CWA with Gulas selling his territory to Jarrett.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: In 1979, The Freebirds wanted Jarrett to allow them to play Freebird on their entrances. They first tried it in the Mid-South Coliseum along with twirling the house spotlights. So Jarrett became one of the first promoters to use music and videos to promote his roster of wrestlers.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: In 1984, Jarrett entered into a talent exchange with Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling promotion. Jarrett and Lawler advised Watts to bring more young performers into his territory to attract a younger generation of fans; especially females since they bring their boyfriends to the shows.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: In 1988, Jarrett entered talks with Verne Gagne, owner of the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based American Wrestling Association, about a potential merger. After the talks were abandoned in 1989, Jarrett instead entered into a merger with the Dallas, Texas-based promotion World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) to create the United States Wrestling Association.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: The United States Wrestling Association began promoting shows in Tennessee and Texas in 1989, with Jarrett aspiring to take the promotion national. In 1990, WCCW withdrew from the USWA after a revenue dispute, folding shortly thereafter.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: In 1992, the USWA began a talent exchange programme with the World Wrestling Federation. By the mid-1990s, attendances at the Mid-South Coliseum had fallen sharply, and in 1995 Jarrett sold his stake in the promotion to Jerry Lawler and Larry Burton.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: After stepping back from promoting, Jarrett worked as a consultant for both World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the WWF.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: In 2001, Jarrett put together proposals for an acquisition of WCW, calculating that he could return the company to profitability by aggressively cutting costs. The company's assets were, however, acquired by the WWF after its programming on TBS and TNT was cancelled.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: After the sale of World Championship Wrestling to the World Wrestling Federation and the bankruptcy of Extreme Championship Wrestling, the North American professional wrestling industry lacked a viable competitor to the WWF which Jerry and Jeff Jarrett attempted to fill with the formation of NWA:TNA. On May 9, 2002, the Jarretts announced the formation of J Sports and Entertainment (JSE), the parent company of NWA:TNA, a new professional wrestling promotion that began airing weekly pay-per-views on In Demand on June 19, 2002.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: In October 2002, JSE sold a 72% controlling interest in NWA:TNA to Panda Energy. Jarrett remained part of the NWA:TNA management team until departing in late-2005 over a dispute about the direction of the company.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: In October 2005, Jarrett introduced professional wrestler Oleg Prudius to World Wrestling Entertainment. Prudius was hired by WWE and went on to wrestle for them as Vladimir Kozlov.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: After stepping away from professional wrestling, Jarrett operated a construction company and an international television distribution company.


title: Jerry Jarrett

text: Jarrett is married to Eddie Marlin's daughter Deborah, with whom he has four children: sons Jerry Jr., Jeff, and Jason and daughter Jennifer. Jarrett became estranged from Jeff in 2005 after disputes about the running of NWA:TNA; they reconciled in 2015.


title: Sali Berisha

text: Sali Ram Berisha (; born 15 October 1944) is an Albanian conservative politician and former cardiologist who served as the second President of Albania from 1992 to 1997 and Prime Minister from 2005 to 2013.


title: Sali Berisha

text: On 9 September 2021 Berisha was expelled by party chairman Lulzim Basha from the Democratic Party's Parliamentary Group due to legal issues with the US Department of State.


title: Sali Berisha

text: This decision led to Berisha starting a nation-wide movement to remove Basha as leader of the Democratic Party, causing a major rift in the party's internal structures, between Berisha's and Basha's supporters.


title: Sali Berisha

text: Berisha was born in Viçidol, then Tropojë District, in northern Albania, to a Muslim family of mountain farmers. As a child, he tended sheep.


title: Sali Berisha

text: After his father became a functionary of the Party of Labour of Albania, Berisha enjoyed a higher education and was then able to study medicine at the University of Tirana, graduating in 1967. With a one-year scholarship, he specialized in cardiology in Paris.


title: Sali Berisha

text: Subsequently, he was appointed as an assistant professor of medicine at the same university and as staff cardiologist at the Tirana General Hospital. At the same time, Berisha became a member of a discussion forum for changes in the Albanian Party of Labor while having been enrolled as a member a few years earlier. During the 1970s, Berisha gained distinction as the leading researcher in the field of cardiology in Albania and became professor of cardiology at the University of Tirana. In 1978 he received a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural (UNESCO) fellowship for nine months of advanced study and training in Paris.


title: Sali Berisha

text: He also conducted a research program on hemodynamics that attracted considerable attention among his colleagues in Europe. In 1986 he was elected to be a member of the European Committee for Research on Medical Sciences.


title: Sali Berisha

text: In an interview for the Albanian Writers League newspaper published also in the international press, Berisha demanded that the remaining barriers to freedom of thought and expression be ended, that Albanians be granted the right to travel freely within the country and abroad, and that Albania abandon its isolationist foreign policy. At an August 1990 meeting of the nation's intellectuals convened by President Ramiz Alia, Berisha urged the Albanian Party of Labor (APL) to abolish the third article of the communist constitution which sanctioned that the Party of Labor had the hegemony of the Power, to recognize the Human Rights Charter, the drafting of a new democratic constitution, and to remove all monuments of Stalin in the country.


title: Sali Berisha

text: In an article published in the "Bashkimi" newspaper on 17 September 1990, Berisha condemned what he termed the "cosmetic reforms" of the Alia regime, which had only served to aggravate unrest within the nation. Without political pluralism, he argued, there could be no true democracy in Albania.


title: Sali Berisha

text: Berisha emerged as the chairman of the Democratic Party of Albania (DP), the first and largest of the new opposition parties. All leading members of the party wore white coats during demonstrations. He was formally elected DP chairman in February 1991 at the party's first national congress. He was elected member of Albania parliament in 1991, 1992, 1997, 2001 from the constituency of Kavajë.


title: Sali Berisha

text: After the 1992 elections—the second free legislative elections held in the country—Berisha was elected president on 9 April 1992. He was the country's second freely elected head of state, and the first non-Communist head of state in 53 years.


title: Sali Berisha

text: Following his election, Berisha and his government were engaged in a profound course of political, economic, institutional, legislative and multifaceted reforms. Therefore, the complete privatisation of land and residencies, as well as of all small and medium state enterprises, was accomplished over the period 1992–96; prices and exchange rates were fully liberalised, and Albania changed from a country of a three figure inflation rate and economic growth regression of −20% into a country with a one-figure inflation rate and with an average economic growth rate of 9% in 1992 and, in '93 – '96, 75% of GDP was generated from the private sector.


title: Sali Berisha

text: Albania opened towards the West: it signed the Partnership for Peace Agreement in 1994 and it became a member of the Council of Europe in 1995.


title: Sali Berisha

text: Berisha also introduced Islam to the Albanian political scene, pursued re-Islamisation of the country (approximately 74% Sunni Muslims of Albania's population) to reverse decades of anti-religious policy under Communism. Non-Governmental Organisations from Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Muslim world were invited in to build mosques and schools and provide other aid, and spread Wahhabi or Salafi Islam to Albania (and along with it, Saudi geopolitical influence).


title: Sali Berisha

text: The collapse of the Ponzi schemes towards the end of 1996, into which Albanians allegedly invested $1 billion worth of life savings from 1994, recapped the crisis. The schemes failed, one by one, from December 1996, and demonstrators took to the streets accusing the government of having stolen the money. In the midst of the crisis that had escalated into a civil war, Sali Berisha was re-elected president for a second five-year term on 3 March 1997 by a parliament totally controlled by the Democratic Party.


title: Sali Berisha

text: During the first ten days of March, the situation deteriorated, culminating in the desertion of large numbers of police and military, leaving their arsenals unlocked. These were promptly looted, mostly by militias and some criminal gangs, and for a time it looked like civil war would erupt between the government and rebels. Although the Prime Minister resigned immediately, Berisha refused opposition demands to step down, claiming he had to ensure continuity, and UN and European Multinational Forces were required to step in and take the situation under control. After their intervention in Albania, early elections were held in June 1997, leading to the victory of a socialist-led coalition of parties. On 23 July 1997, a month after the DP lost the 1997 elections to the left coalition, Berisha stepped down as president and was replaced by the socialist Rexhep Meidani. In 1997 he became the chairman of the Democratic Party, which became the biggest opposition party. He eventually returned to power as Prime Minister between 2005 and 2013.


title: Sali Berisha

text: The murder of DP MP Azem Hajdari on 12 September 1998, triggered two days of violent protests in Tirana. During Hajdari's funeral procession on 14 September 1998, armed DP supporters ransacked government offices, and for a brief period, held the PM's office, the parliament building, and the Albanian State television and radio building. Estimates of casualties during the protests and riots ranged between 3 and 7 deaths and 14 and 76 injuries. After 72 hours, the Government restored order and reclaimed tanks and armored personnel carriers seized by DP supporters that were being held at the Democratic Party main offices in Tirana. Parliament subsequently lifted Berisha's immunity due to his alleged role in what the government described as a "coup d'état", but no charges were laid. Berisha blamed the Socialist Party of Albania and its leaders for the murder. Twelve people were arrested for their alleged involvement in the violence. In February 2002 five people, including Jaho Mulosmani, were sentenced for the murder by a Tirana district court.


title: Sali Berisha

text: Sali Berisha led the coalition of the center-right parties in the general elections held in five rounds in June–August 2001.


title: Sali Berisha

text: In the winter of 2004, a number of protests with over 20,000 people were organized by the opposition led by Berisha demanding Nano resign as prime minister which became known as the "Nano Go Away" Movement ("Levizja "Nano Ik"").


title: Sali Berisha

text: On 3 July 2005, Sali Berisha led a coalition of five right center parties into the 2005 parliamentary elections, which eventually won a majority of 74 MPs from a total of 140. He was appointed Prime Minister of Albania on 8 September 2005.


title: Sali Berisha

text: On 10 June 2007, Berisha met with U.S. President George W. Bush in Tirana. Bush became the first U.S. president to visit Albania and repeated his staunch support for the independence of neighbouring Kosovo from Serbia: "At some point in time, sooner rather than later, you've got to say, enough is enough. Kosovo is independent."


title: Sali Berisha

text: On 15 March 2008, Berisha faced the toughest challenge of his government when an ammunition dump exploded in the village of Gërdec near Tirana, killing 26 people and injuring over 100. Defense Minister Fatmir Mediu resigned, and the press reported many irregularities at the blast site, operated by an Albanian company that deactivated the country's aging ammunition and then sold it for scrap.


title: Sali Berisha

text: Berisha's alliance came up one seat short of a majority and had to join forces with a splinter socialist party, the Socialist Movement for Integration of Ilir Meta, in order to retain power. Berisha appointed Meta to the post of Deputy Prime Minister and at the same time Minister for Foreign Affairs, and later Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy. It was the first time since the start of multi-party democracy in 1991 that a ruling party had been forced into a coalition due to not winning enough seats on its own.


title: Sali Berisha

text: The 2009 elections were called called flawed by the socialist opposition, which asked for a recount of the ballots. Berisha refused, on the ground that the Albanian Constitution does not call for such a procedure. He however called the opposition to the Parliament to change the Constitution, but the Socialist Party refused. The political crisis between government and opposition worsened over time, with the Socialists abandoning parliamentary debates for months and staging hunger strikes to ask for internal and international support. The EU attempted a conciliation, which failed. The ongoing political crisis was one of the reasons for the EU's refusal to grant Albania official candidate status in late 2010.


title: Sali Berisha

text: On 21 January 2011, clashes broke out between police and protesters in an anti-government rally in front of the Government building in Tirana. Four people were shot dead by government special forces. The EU issued a statement to Albanian politicians, warning both sides to refrain from violence, while Berisha called the protests and subsequent charges by judges upon policemen as stages of an attempted coup against him – consequently, he attempted to consolidate his grip on state institutions. He accused the then-President of having been part of the coup after relations had soured between the two, and embraced his perceived victim status to install his own 'yes man' in the office.


title: Sali Berisha

text: In 2011, commenting on the Middle East, Berisha said: "Peace between Israel and the Palestinians must go through direct negotiations, and by guaranteeing the security of both states... The solution must bring full security to both states, but I have not seen any support for the acceptance and recognition of the State of Israel."


title: Sali Berisha

text: Under his leadership, Albania made several strides in sustainable development. In the 2012 Environmental Performance Index, the country ranked 4th out of 132 countries, while maintaining an average GDP growth of 5.1% between 2007 and 2011. By 2012, the country was producing more than 96 percent of the energy through renewable hydropower resources. For his significant achievements and contributions to sustainable development, he was awarded the Fray International Sustainability Award in 2012.


title: Sali Berisha

text: After his party's defeat in the 2013 parliamentary election, Berisha resigned as party leader, but remained in parliament.


title: Sali Berisha

text: Following the decisions of Lulzim Basha in expelling Berisha from the Democratic Party and its parliamentary group. Prior to this members of the Democratic Party who had been also unsettled with Basha over election results following two consecutive losses in parliament. Calling for him Basha to resign. However Basha was not willing to resign. On 9 September 2021, Basha had expelled Berisha from the Democratic party due to issues concerning the United States and Berisha and his Public Designation. On 11 December at Arena Kombëtare, Berisha and members who were against Basha during the national council voted to remove Basha as leader of the Democratic party. More than 4,446 voted for the removal of Lulzim Basha from party leader of the Democratic Party. On 8 January 2021, Berisha and members of the Democratic party who were against Basha staged protests outside the Democratic Party headquarters. Which resulted in Special forces being called in due to the protests becoming violent.


title: Sali Berisha

text: On 21 March 2022, due to demand Lulzim Basha stepped down from party leadership which resulted in Berisha being elected. However, Alibeaj claims he is the official leader of the Democratic party. Berisha is considered the De Facto leader of the Democratic Party of Albania. Due to an ongoing dispute both Berisha and Alibeaj consider themselves leader of the Democratic party. As de facto Opposition leader Sali Berisha On 7 July 2022 staged protests against the Albanian government over prices and wages in which they were held Tirana in front of the Prime Minister's Office. As de facto Opposition leader of Albania Berisha stated that the future of Albania and the Albanians was at risk and the people should decide in their own hands. Berisha has stated that protests will continue and that the next protest will be on 12 November 2022.