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Rotating furnace

A rotating furnace is a device for making solid objects which have concave surfaces that are segments of axially symmetrical paraboloids. Usually, the objects are made of glass. The furnace makes use of the fact, which was known already to Newton, that the centrifugal-force-induced shape of the top surface of a spinning liquid is a concave paraboloid, identical to the shape of a reflecting telescope's primary focusing mirror.

Paraboloids can be used in various ways, including (after being silvered) as primary mirrors in reflecting telescopes and solar cookers.

Design

The furnace includes a mechanism that rotates an open-topped container at constant speed around a vertical axis. A quantity of glass sufficient to make the mirror is placed in the container, heated until it is completely molten, and then allowed to cool while continuing to rotate until it has completely solidified. When the glass is solid, the rotation is stopped and the paraboloidal shape of its top surface is preserved. This process is called spin casting.

The same process can be used to make a lens with a concave paraboloidal surface. The other surface is shaped by the container that holds the molten glass acting as a mold. Lenses made this way are sometimes used as objectives in refracting telescopes.

The axis of rotation becomes the axis of the paraboloid. It is not necessary for this axis to be in the center of the container of glass, or even for it to pass through the container. By placing the container away from the axis, off-axis paraboloidal segments can be cast. This is done in the making of very large telescopes which have mirrors consisting of several segments.

Rotation speed and focal length
The focal length of the paraboloid is related to the angular speed at which the liquid is rotated by the equation: $$2f \omega^2=g$$, where $$f$$ is the focal length, $$\omega$$ is the rotation speed, and $$g$$ is the acceleration due to gravity. On the Earth's surface, $$g$$ is about 9.81 metres per second-squared, so $$f\omega^2 \approx 4.905 $$ meters per second-squared. Equivalently, as 1 radian per second is about 9.55 rotations per minute (RPM), $$fs^2 \approx 447$$, where $$f$$ is the focal length in metres, and $$s$$ is the rotation speed in RPM.

Uses
Generally, a spin-cast paraboloid is not sufficiently accurate to permit its immediate use as a telescope mirror or lens, so it is corrected by computer-controlled grinding machines. The amount of grinding done, and the mass of glass material wasted, are much less than would have been required without spinning.

Spin casting can also be used, often with materials other than glass, to produce prototype paraboloids, such as spotlight reflectors or solar-energy concentrators, which do not need to be as exactly paraboloidal as telescope mirrors. Spin casting every paraboloid that is made would be too slow and costly, so the prototype is simply copied relatively quickly and cheaply and with adequate accuracy.

Liquid-mirror telescopes have rotating mirrors that consist of a liquid metal such as mercury or a low-melting alloy of gallium. These mirrors do not solidify and they are used while liquid and rotating. The rotation shapes them into paraboloids that are accurate enough to be used as primary reflectors in telescopes. Compared with spin-cast glass mirrors which need correction due to the distortions that arise during and after solidification, these mirrors require no such correction.

title: Rotating furnace


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Mogen David

Mogen David Wine Co. is a company based in Westfield, New York that makes wines, including the fortified wine MD 20/20. Mogen David Wine Co. is a trademark held by their parent company The Wine Group in Livermore, California.

Mogen David is the Ashkenazic pronunciation of the Hebrew Magen David, which literally means "shield of David", but is used metaphorically to refer to the six-pointed Star of David.

Products
Mogen David wine is sold in 750mL, 1.5L, and 3L bottles. It is also Kosher for Passover.

Mogen David Concord Red wine is made from must of no less than 51% Concord grapes, an American grape variety, which is typically used for grape juices, jellies, and preserves, but also used for Kosher wines. This makes the wine less expensive, averaging $5 per bottle. In addition to Concord red, Mogen David also markets Blackberry and Pomegranate wines.

History
Founded months before the Repeal of Prohibition by Max Cohen and Henry Markus in Chicago, the California Wine Company bottled medicinal and sacramental wines, changing its name to Wine Corporation of America in 1941 when it began making wine from Concord grape juice (or concentrate) shipped from growers in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and later Michigan.

Chicago winery
Following World War II the company purchased a 50000 sqfoot building at 3737 South Sacramento Ave in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood which was converted into one of the largest wineries in the Midwestern United States. The entire winery was allocated to a single product, Mogen David, a kosher wine originally marketed for the Passover Seder that turned out to be popular year-round with the general public. Annual production of Mogen David was 75000 USgal in 1946. Wine Corporation of America began advertising Mogen David nationally in 1947; by the early 1950s the advertising budget for Mogen David was the fourth or fifth largest for wines. Max Cohen, company President and founder, noted that 98 percent of Mogen David's customers were not Jewish.

Annual production of Mogen David increased to more than 3000000 USgal of wine in 1949 and to nearly 5000000 USgal for 1953, and in that year Wine Corporation of America took the name of its most important product, becoming the Mogen David Wine Corporation.

In 1955 Mogen David announced the purchase of new plant facilities at 3700 South Kedzie Ave, about 2000 ft from the main plant on Sacramento Ave, designed to triple its capacity and enable production of two additional wines. The company launched a new line of wines under a different brand name, Key, in 1957. This marketing campaign was unsuccessful and line was dropped after three years.

In the early 1960s, concord wine was still the biggest seller in the Mogen David line, along with a rosé, a blackberry wine, a cherry wine and a dry red wine.

Company founder and chairman Max Cohen announced his resignation on 8 January 1962, citing friction with his brother-in-law, Henry A. Markus who was president of the company. Cohen sold all of his stock to Markus, saying that "I am no longer connected with the firm and I have no interest in it."

The sale of a controlling interest in Mogen David to Richard T. Schofield of Westfield, New York was announced on 9 May 1963, with Schofield taking over as president of the company and Markus appointed chairman. Some operations were moved to Westfield in 1967; Mogen David's Westfield winery was closer to the vineyards in the Northeast that grow Concord grapes for its wines, the Chicago plants remained open.

By 1968, Mogen David was producing a dozen different wines and two kinds of champagne. The company broke away from its conventional Mogen David line with the introduction of the MD 20/20 brand of flavored fortified wines that were well received by younger consumers, especially college students. The MD 20/20 line included unusual flavors such as pink grapefruit, wild berry, and Hawaiian blue.

Acquisition by Coke-New York
In 1970 the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York was the largest soft drink bottler in the world, having merged with the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New Haven (acquired in 1969) but its growth prospects were limited by the franchise boundaries. When Coke-New York was approached by an investment banking firm to let them know that Mogen David was for sale, they saw an opportunity to become a major competitor in a new industry (Mogen David was the sixth largest winery and the largest Concord grape wine producer in the country) and to pick up a national sales and distribution network. Coke-New York acquired Mogen David on 1 November 1970 by paying $16,750,000 in cash. J. Myron "Mike" Bay was an officer in both companies: President of Mogen David as well as a VP of Coke-New York.

By 1972 Mogen David was producing 27000 USgal a day in Westfield, NY and 80000 USgal a day from the two plants in Chicago, for an estimated annual output of 13000000 USgal. Mogen David company introduced a "pop wine" product line, Cold Bear (Concord) and Black Bear (blackberry), leading to overall growth in sales of 32 percent for 1972. Mogen David had a staff of over 45 salesmen. Mogen David wines and Tribuno vermouths were marketed nationally through over 300 independent distributors in 1972, in order to strengthen their market position, New York Coca-Cola began consolidating Tribuno and Mogen David distribution networks.

The Jug line of strawberry and apple pop wines, packaged in country-style brown and white jugs, was introduced in 1973. Mogen David had the fourth largest winery and the third largest advertising budget in the wine industry in 1973

With its 1973 acquisitions of Tribuno Wines (previously Vermouth Industries of America) and later the well established California winery Franzia, Coke-New York was, in all, the third largest US wine producer. Franzia also shipped wine, grape concentrates and brandy in bulk to the Mogen David winery in Westfield, New York, for use in Mogen David products.

Jerome W. "Jerry" Alder joined Mogen David as President and COO in September 1976; former President Mike Bay moved into the new position of Chairman, and continued as Mogen David's CEO. In 1977, the company's administrative and marketing offices moved from the original winery at 3737 South Sacramento Ave, and into space in a new building at 444 Michigan Ave in downtown Chicago.

A study of wine marketing in 1980 found that Mogen David consumers apparently had the strongest brand loyalty in the varietal table wine category.

Acquisition by The Wine Group
Discussions between The Coca-Cola Company and The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York about a possible acquisition of the latter began in 1974, to little effect.

When merger discussions resumed in 1980, The Coca-Cola Company had already entered the alcoholic beverage market; their Wine Spectrum subsidiary consisting of wineries in California and New York. As part of the proposed merger, The Coca-Cola Company agreed to sell the wine business of Coke-New York to a partnership formed by First Boston and top-level managers of the New York bottler's wine business. Coke-New York divested itself of its three wineries, which were bought in 1981 by The Wine Group, a limited partnership headed by Arthur A. Ciocca, to avoid a buyout involving a third party. The Wine Group was the fifth largest wine producer nationally (just behind Coca-Cola's Wine Spectrum) for 1981 with sales of nine million cases, the same as the year before.

In 1998, 1.5 million adults were drinking Mogen David, putting it just ahead of its chief competitor Manischewitz. By 2005, Manischewitz was again dominant with more than half of kosher wine sales, Mogen David was second with 33 percent of the market.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Mogen David


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Prime Minister of Denmark

The prime minister of Denmark (Danmarks statsminister, Forsætisráðharri, Ministeriuneq) is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark comprising the three constituent countries: Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Before the creation of the modern office, the kingdom did not initially have a head of government separate from its head of state, namely the monarch, in whom the executive authority was vested. The Constitution of 1849 established a constitutional monarchy by limiting the powers of the monarch and creating the office of premierminister. The inaugural holder of the office was Adam Wilhelm Moltke.

The prime minister presides over a cabinet that is formally appointed by the monarch. In practice, the appointment of the prime minister is determined by their support in the Folketing (the National Parliament). Since the beginning of the 20th century, no single party has held a majority in the Folketing so the prime minister must head a coalition of political parties, as well as their own party. Additionally, only four coalition governments since World War II have enjoyed a majority in the Folketing, so the coalitions (and the prime minister) must also gain loose support from other minor parties.

The current prime minister of Denmark is Mette Frederiksen, since 27 June 2019. Since 2022 her cabinet consists of the Social Democrats, Venstre, and the Moderates.

Establishment
From approximately 1699 to 1730, the highest-ranking non-monarchial government official was titled "Grand Chancellor" (storkansler) and from 1730 until 1848, this office was titled "Minister of State" (Statsminister). These titles foreshadowed the modern office of prime minister, however, unlike the current office, the grand chancellor and state minister were not formal heads of government. The king held executive authority as absolute ruler from 1661 until the enactment of a liberal Constitution in the early nineteenth century.

The office of prime minister was introduced as a part of the constitutional monarchy outlined in 1848 and signed as the Danish Constitution on 5 June 1849. The new Constitution established a parliamentary system by creating a new bicameral parliament (Rigsdagen) and a Council Presidium, headed by a council president. The Council Presidium is regarded as the predecessor of the modern Prime Minister's Office. The first council president was Adam Wilhelm Moltke, who came to power on 22 March 1848. Molte and his next two successors also held the title of premierminister, which translates as "prime minister".

From 1855 onwards the prime minister was known simply as the "council president" (Konseilspræsident). Carl Christian Hall became the first prime minister/council president to lead a political party (the National Liberal Party).

Modern office
The modern Prime Minister's Office was founded on 1 January 1914, when the Council Presidium was established as a department under the prime minister, when it had previously existed as an informal council gathered by the prime minister. The title of the prime minister changed again in 1918 under the premiership of Carl Theodor Zahle, becoming titled "Minister of State" (in-line with its Scandinavian neighbours, Norway and Sweden), which it remains to this day.

By the mid-nineteenth century a strong party-system had developed, with most prime ministers being the leader of either Venstre (left) or Højre (right). However, by 1924 the Social Democrats had become the largest party and Højre had disappeared.

During the first years of Occupation of Denmark, the governments of prime ministers Vilhelm Buhl and then Erik Scavenius cooperated with the Nazi occupiers. On 29 August 1943, the Danish government resigned, refusing to grant further concessions to Nazi Germany. All government operations were assumed by the permanent secretaries of the individual departments, and this arrangement lasted until the Liberation of Denmark on 5 May 1945. Since King Christian X never accepted the resignation of the government, it existed de jure until a new cabinet was formed on 5 May 1945.

The twentieth century was dominated by Social Democratic prime ministers leading left-wing coalitions; Social Democratic prime ministers were in power nearly continuously from 1924 until 1982. The first prime minister from the Conservative People's Party, Poul Schlüter, came to power as the head of a broad centre-right coalition in 1982. The centre-right coalition rule until 1993, lasting for eleven years, made it the longest centre-right government in Danish history since the 1920s.

In November 2001 the left-wing coalition in the Folketing lost seats to the right-wing coalition led by Venstre, ending their eight years rule. Venstre became the largest party since 1924. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, leader of Venstre, served as the prime minister from 2001 to April 2009. His coalition government consisted of Venstre and the Conservative People's Party, with parliamentary support from the national-conservative Danish People's Party (Dansk Folkeparti). On 5 April 2009, Rasmussen resigned to become Secretary General of NATO, leaving minister of finance and vice president of Venstre Lars Løkke Rasmussen to be the prime minister.

Following the September 2011 election the right-wing lost by a small margin to the opposing centre-left coalition, led by Helle Thorning-Schmidt who on 3 October 2011 formed a new government initially consisting of the Social Democrats, the Danish Social Liberal Party and the Socialist People's Party. Following a general election defeat, in June 2015 Thorning-Schmidt resigned as Prime Minister and was succeeded by Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who headed a minority government consisting entirely of ministers from Venstre.

The Social Democrats returned to power after the 2019 election, with Mette Frederiksen assuming the role of prime minister.

Role and authority
The Constitution of Denmark states that the monarch, who is the head of state, has supreme authority and acts out this power through their ministers. However, the modern role of the Monarch is symbolic only. The monarch formally appoints and dismisses ministers, including the prime minister. However, any action of the monarch requires a countersignature from a minister. It is also a principle in Danish constitutional literature that "the power follows the responsibility" (magten følger ansvaret), and the monarch being free from responsibility means they have no genuine power. In the case of appointing ministers, it is the signature of the prime minister. This means that the power to appoint ministers practically lies entirely with the prime minister and not the monarch.

Although the country's leading politician, the prime minister is not nearly as powerful as other prime ministers in Europe. This is mainly because it is nearly impossible for one party to get a majority of seats in the Folketing (Parliament), so the government is always either a coalition or a one-party minority government. No Danish party has won a majority since 1901, and for much of that time there has not even been a majority coalition. Because of their limited powers, the prime minister is primus inter pares (first among equals). Additionally, unlike most of their counterparts, Danish prime ministers can never be certain that their agenda will pass, and must cobble together a majority for each piece of legislation.

Although, as stated, the monarch formally appoints all ministers of the cabinet freely according to the constitution, in practice monarchs only conventionally select the prime minister after a leader has gathered support from a majority in the Folketing. This has been the case since parliamentarianism became the convention after the Easter Crisis in 1920. Parliamentarianism was added to the constitution in 1953 with section 15. Today, it means that the monarch on the responsibility of the resigning prime minister cannot appoint a new prime minister which they expect will be met with a successful vote of no confidence. With no party having held a majority in over a century, parties form alliances. Usually, the Social Democrats join with centre-left parties, and Venstre with centre-right parties. Following elections when there is no clear leader, the monarch will hold a "king/queen's meeting" where, after a series of discussions and agreements, the leader of the largest alliance and the largest party within that alliance—usually the Social Democrats or Venstre- is appointed as prime minister-elect (kongelig undersøger, "royal investigator/examiner"). The new prime minister-elect, together with the leaders of the junior parties, select ministers to form a new coalition cabinet, which is the presented to the monarch. The government is allowed to take office without a vote of confidence, and is allowed to stay in office as long as it does not lose a vote of no confidence.

The prime minister chairs the weekly meetings of the cabinet meetings and has the power to set the agenda of these meetings. The prime minister traditionally gathers together a government ministry known as the "Ministry of the State of Denmark" (Statsministeriet) or Prime Minister's Office. Atypical of a Danish ministry it does not have any councils, boards or committees associated with it and its near sole responsibility is to act as the secretariat of the prime minister. There is a small department under the ministry that takes care of special legal issues not covered under other ministries, among others Greenland's and the Faroe Islands' relation to the monarchy, the mass media's contact to the state, the number of ministers in the government, or Queen Margrethe II's legal status as a civilian.

The prime minister has the power to choose to dissolve the Folketing and call a new election (although this is formally undertaken by the monarch), which the prime minister is obligated to do within four years of the previous election. In spite of this, the prime minister has no say with respect to Denmark's autonomous regions, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, while the Folketing on the other hand does, as all laws passed by the Faroese and Greenlandic parliaments must be ratified by the Folketing.

There are checks on the prime minister's power. If the Folketing revokes its confidence in an incumbent prime minister, the prime minister must either resign along with the entire cabinet or call a new election. Whenever a prime minister resigns, dies, or is forced from office, the monarch asks them (or, in the case of death, the next available leader in a coalition) to keep the government as a caretaker government until a successor has been elected.

Amenities
The government offices, including the Ministry of the State of Denmark (Statsministeriet; The Prime Minister's Office), is located inside Christiansborg Palace, along with the Folketing and the courts.

The official summer residence of the prime minister is Marienborg, an eighteenth-century estate that was acquired by the state. It is situated on the shore of Lake Bagsværd in Kgs. Lyngby, 15 km north of Copenhagen. It has served as an official summer residence for ten prime ministers since 1960. Marienborg is frequently used for governmental conferences and informal summits between the government, industry and organisations in Denmark.

title: Prime Minister of Denmark


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List of prime ministers of Iraq

This is a list of prime ministers of Iraq since 1920.

title: List of prime ministers of Iraq


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Prime Minister of Ireland (disambiguation)

The Taoiseach is the head of government of the Republic of Ireland, whose territory covers the island of Ireland, save Northern Ireland, which is a self-governing part of the United Kingdom.

Prime Minister of Ireland or First Minister of Ireland may also refer to:

Northern Ireland

 * Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (1921–1972), who was appointed by the Governor of Northern Ireland based on the composition of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, the lower house of its devolved Parliament
 * First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, the co-heads of government of Northern Ireland, elected by the Northern Ireland Assembly on the basis of consociationalism (called cross-community voting in the laws of the region)

Republic of Ireland

 * President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State (1922–1937), the head of government or prime minister of the Irish Free State
 * Chief Secretary for Ireland (1566–1922), the chief minister of Ireland while under British rule


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Prime Minister of the Netherlands

The prime minister of the Netherlands (Minister-president van Nederland) is the head of the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands. Although the monarch is the de jure head of government, the prime minister de facto occupies this role as the officeholder chairs the Council of Ministers and coordinates its policy with the rest of the cabinet. In his role as head of government, the prime minister also represents the Netherlands in the European Council. The current prime minister, Dick Schoof, has been in the position since 2 July 2024, with his cabinet being sworn in on the same day.

History
Gradually the prime minister became an official function of government leader, taken by the political leader of the largest party. Since 1845, the role of the first minister is relevant. In that year the Constitution of the Netherlands was amended to make ministers responsible to the States General and no longer responsible to the king, who acted as the leader of cabinet. Until 1901, the position chair of the Council of Ministers officially rotated between ministers. Between 1901 and 1945, the position formally still rotated, but prominent politicians could claim a rotation period of four years.

In 1937, a separate Ministry of General Affairs was instituted, which was informally linked to the prime minister. Barend Biesheuvel (1971–1974) was the last prime minister who was not the political leader of the largest party in cabinet; his was actually the third largest. In 1983 the function of prime minister was laid down in the constitution.

The position of the prime minister has been reinforced by the creation of the European Council. In November 2006, the rules of procedure of the council of ministers was changed to allow the prime minister to put any item on the agenda of the council and no longer have to wait for a minister to take the initiative. A change of the rules of procedure of the cabinet in July 2008 allowed the prime minister to manage costs of the Royal House across departments, to make one department in control of cost of the Royal House which are covered by several ministries.

Role
Although the prime minister is the leading Dutch political figure and holder of the de facto highest office, they are not as powerful as, for example, the British prime minister or the German chancellor. This is mainly because, historically, all Dutch ministers used to be responsible to the monarch (also true of prime ministers in other countries); ministers took turns to fill the position of prime minister, and in the role had little if any control over the other ministers. The prime minister's role gained importance when ministers became responsible to the parliament, and the position became mostly reserved for the leader of the biggest political party in the House of Representatives. Still, because the position holds limited powers compared to its equivalent in other neighboring parliamentary democracies, the prime minister's role is described as primus inter pares ("first among equals").

Following the constitutional review of 1983, the position of prime minister was formalised in the Dutch Constitution for the first time. According to the Constitution of the Netherlands, the Government is constituted by the king and the ministers. The Constitution stipulates that the prime minister chairs the Council of Ministers (article 45) and is appointed by royal decree (article 43). The royal decree of their own appointment and those of the other ministers are to be countersigned by the prime minister (article 48). The Council of Ministers is no longer attended by the king.

The prime minister chairs the weekly meetings of the Council of Ministers and has the power to set the agenda of these meetings. The prime minister is also Minister of General Affairs (Minister van Algemene Zaken), which takes an important role in coordinating policy and is responsible for the Government Information Service (Dutch: Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst).

The prime minister is also responsible for the royal house and has a weekly meeting with the king on government policy. Informally the prime minister functions as the "face" of the cabinet to the public. After the meetings of the cabinet on Friday, the prime minister hosts a press conference on the decisions of the cabinet and current affairs. The prime minister also has some functions in international affairs, attending the European Council every six months and maintaining bilateral contacts. The prime minister's office has since the 1980s been an octagonal tower, named "The Little Tower" (Torentje), in the Binnenhof in The Hague. The official residence (which is only used for official functions) is the Catshuis; the last prime minister to live in the Catshuis was Dries van Agt. During his tenure, Mark Rutte lived in a flat in downtown The Hague. The prime minister has a security detail and which, in 2021, was increased amid fears of kidnapping.

Although prime ministers are almost always the political leader of their party and as such chosen as a member of the House of Representatives, they (and other ministers who were chosen as representative) are required to give up their seat for the duration of their tenure, as Dutch ministers are not allowed to be members of parliament.

Appointment
The Dutch electoral system makes it all but impossible for one party to win an outright majority in the House of Representatives; no party has done so since 1900. Hence, Dutch governments are always coalitions between two or more parties. Following the most recent elections, the House appointed a "scout" to seek advice on how to interpret the election results (a role coordinated by the monarch prior to 2012). On the basis of this advice, the House appoints an informateur to check on prospective coalitions and lead negotiations between potential partners. If successful, the House then appoints a formateur, who concludes the talks between the members of the prospective coalition. The formateur is almost always the leader of the largest party in the prospective coalition, and thus de facto prime minister-designate. Prior to 2012, the monarch had a considerable role in this process in particular during the initial phases and the appointment of informateurs and formateurs. Reforms in 2012 pulled these tasks to the House of Representatives, thus largely eliminated royal influence on the process.

It usually takes several months of negotiations before a formateur is ready to accept a formal royal invitation to form a government. The monarch then appoints the ministers and state secretaries (junior ministers), who then resign their seats in the House or other job if appointed without being a representative.

The second largest coalition parties usually provides the senior Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands. If there are more parties in the coalition, generally they also each appoint one of their ministers to deputy prime ministers.

Deputies
The king appoints deputy prime ministers. Conventionally, all of the junior partners in the coalition get one deputy prime minister; they are ranked according to the size of their respective parties. The senior deputy present chairs the cabinet meeting when the prime minister is not present. In the current Fourth Rutte cabinet, Sigrid Kaag chaired those meetings as first deputy prime minister of the Netherlands, with the other deputies being Wopke Hoekstra and Carola Schouten. The oldest member of the cabinet chairs the meeting when the prime minister and all deputies are absent.

Kingdom of the Netherlands
The prime minister is also chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and therefore also deals with matters affecting the other countries Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten in the kingdom. The independent cabinets of Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten also have their own prime ministers: Evelyn Wever-Croes (Prime Minister of Aruba), Gilmar Pisas (Prime Minister of Curaçao), and Luc Mercelina (Prime Minister of Sint Maarten). The Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of the Netherlands includes ministers plenipotentiary from the other countries of the kingdom. These are not included in the government of the kingdom.

title: Prime Minister of the Netherlands


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Historical parks of Thailand

In Thailand, historical parks (อุทยานประวัติศาสตร์, ) are protected areas managed by the Fine Arts Department for their historical value, usually covering an extensive group of archaeological sites in an area, which are themselves legally protected as ancient monuments.

There are eleven historical parks, five of which constitute three of Thailand's World Heritage Sites:

title: Historical parks of Thailand


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Prime Minister of Italy

The prime minister of Italy, officially the president of the Council of Ministers (Presidente del Consiglio dei ministri),  is the head of government of the Italian Republic. The office of president of the Council of Ministers is established by articles 92–96 of the Constitution of Italy; the president of the Council of Ministers is appointed by the president of the Republic and must have the confidence of the Parliament to stay in office.

Prior to the establishment of the Italian Republic, the position was called President of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of Italy (Presidente del Consiglio dei ministri del Regno d'Italia). From 1925 to 1943 during the Fascist regime, the position was transformed into the dictatorial position of Head of the Government, Prime Minister Secretary of State (Capo del Governo, Primo Ministro Segretario di Stato) held by Benito Mussolini, Duce of Fascism, who officially governed on the behalf of the king of Italy. King Victor Emmanuel III removed Mussolini from office in 1943 and the position was restored with Marshal Pietro Badoglio becoming prime minister in 1943, although the original denomination of President of the Council was only restored in 1944, when Ivanoe Bonomi was appointed to the post of prime minister. Alcide De Gasperi became the first prime minister of the Italian Republic in 1946.

The prime minister is the president of the Council of Ministers which holds executive power and the position is similar to those in most other parliamentary systems. The formal Italian order of precedence lists the office as being, ceremonially, the fourth-highest Italian state office after the president and the presiding officers of the two houses of parliament. In practice, the prime minister is the country's political leader and de facto chief executive.

Giorgia Meloni has been the incumbent prime minister since 22 October 2022.

Functions

As the president of the Council of Ministers, the prime minister is required by the Constitution to have the supreme confidence of the majority of the voting members of the Parliament.

In addition to powers inherent in being a member of the Cabinet, the prime minister holds specific powers, most notably being able to nominate a list of Cabinet ministers to be appointed by the president of the Republic and the countersigning of all legislative instruments having the force of law that are signed by the president of the Republic.

Article 95 of the Italian constitution provides that the prime minister "directs and coordinates the activity of the ministers". This power has been used to a quite variable extent in the history of the Italian state as it is strongly influenced by the political strength of individual ministers and thus by the parties they represent.

The prime minister's activity has often consisted of mediating between the various parties in the majority coalition, rather than directing the activity of the Council of Ministers. The prime minister's supervisory power is further limited by the lack of any formal authority to fire ministers. In the past, in order to make a cabinet reshuffle, prime ministers have sometimes resigned so that they could be re-appointed by the president and allowed to form a new cabinet with new ministers. In order to do this the prime minister needs the support of the president, who could theoretically refuse to re-appoint them following their resignation.

History
The office was first established in 1848 in Italy's predecessor state, the Kingdom of Sardinia—although it was not mentioned in its constitution, the Albertine Statute.

Historical Right and Historical Left
After the unification of Italy and the establishment of the kingdom, the procedure did not change. In fact, the candidate for office was appointed by the king and presided over a very unstable political system. The first prime minister was Camillo Benso di Cavour, who was appointed on 23 March 1861, but he died on 6 June the same year. From 1861 to 1911, Historical Right and Historical Left prime ministers alternatively governed the country.

According to the letter of the Statuto Albertino, the prime minister and other ministers were politically responsible to the king and legally responsible to Parliament. With time, it became all but impossible for a king to appoint a government entirely of his own choosing or keep it in office against the will of Parliament. As a result, in practice the prime minister was now both politically and legally responsible to Parliament, and had to maintain its confidence to stay in office.

One of the most famous and influential prime ministers of this period was Francesco Crispi, a left-wing patriot and statesman, the first head of the government from Southern Italy. He led the country for six years from 1887 until 1891 and again from 1893 until 1896. Crispi was internationally famous and often mentioned along with world statesmen such as Otto von Bismarck, William Ewart Gladstone and Salisbury.

Originally an enlightened Italian patriot and democrat liberal, Crispi went on to become a bellicose authoritarian prime minister, ally and admirer of Bismarck. His career ended amid controversy and failure due to becoming involved in a major banking scandal and subsequently fell from power in 1896 after a devastating colonial defeat in Ethiopia. He is often seen as a precursor of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

Giolittian Era
In 1892, Giovanni Giolitti, a leftist lawyer and politician, was appointed Prime Minister by King Umberto I, but after less than a year he was forced to resign and Crispi returned to power. In 1903, he was appointed again head of the government after a period of instability. Giolitti was Prime Minister five times between 1892 and 1921 and the second-longest serving prime minister in Italian history.

Giolitti was a master in the political art of trasformismo, the method of making a flexible, fluid centrist coalition in Parliament which sought to isolate the extremes of the left and the right in Italian politics. Under his influence, the Italian Liberals did not develop as a structured party. They were instead a series of informal personal groupings with no formal links to political constituencies.

The period between the start of the 20th century and the start of World War I, when he was Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior from 1901 to 1914 with only brief interruptions, is often called the Giolittian Era. A left-wing liberal with strong ethical concerns, Giolitti's periods in the office were notable for the passage of a wide range of progressive social reforms which improved the living standards of ordinary Italians, together with the enactment of several policies of government intervention.

Besides putting in place several tariffs, subsidies and government projects, Giolitti also nationalized the private telephone and railroad operators. Liberal proponents of free trade criticized the "Giolittian System", although Giolitti himself saw the development of the national economy as essential in the production of wealth.

Fascist regime
The Italian prime minister presided over a very unstable political system as in its first sixty years of existence (1861–1921) Italy changed its head of the government 37 times.

Regarding this situation, the first goal of Benito Mussolini, appointed in 1922, was to abolish the Parliament's ability to put him to a vote of no confidence, basing his power on the will of the King and the National Fascist Party alone. After destroying all political opposition through his secret police and outlawing labor strikes, Mussolini and his Fascist followers consolidated their power through a series of laws that transformed the nation into a one-party dictatorship. Within five years, he had established dictatorial authority by both legal and extraordinary means, aspiring to create a totalitarian state. In 1925 the title of "President of the Council of Ministers" was changed into "Head of the Government, Prime Minister Secretary of State", symbolizing the new dictatorial powers of Mussolini. The convention that the prime minister was responsible to Parliament had become so entrenched that Mussolini had to pass a law stating that he was not responsible to Parliament.

Mussolini remained in power until he was deposed by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1943 following a vote of no confidence by the Grand Council of Fascism and replaced by General Pietro Badoglio. A few months later, Italy was invaded by Nazi Germany and Mussolini was reinstated as head of a puppet State called Italian Social Republic, while the authorities of the Kingdom were forced to relocate in Southern Italy, which was under the control of the Allied Forces.

In 1944 Badoglio resigned and Ivanoe Bonomi was appointed to the post of Prime Minister, restoring the old title of "President of the Council of Ministers. Bonomi was briefly succeeded by Ferruccio Parri in 1945 and then by Alcide de Gasperi, leader of the newly formed Christian Democracy (Democrazia Cristiana, DC) political party.

First decades of the Italian Republic
Following the 1946 Italian institutional referendum, the monarchy was abolished and De Gasperi became the first Prime Minister of the Italian Republic. The First Republic was dominated by the Christian Democracy which was the senior party in each government coalitions from 1946 to 1994 while the opposition was led by the Italian Communist Party (PCI), the largest one in Western Europe.

In the first years of the Republic, the governments were led by De Gasperi, who is also considered a founding father of the European Union.

After the death of De Gasperi, Italy returned in a period of political instability and a lot of cabinets were formed in few decades. The second part of the 20th century was dominated by De Gasperi's protégé Giulio Andreotti, who was appointed Prime Minister seven times from 1972 to 1992.

From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, the country experienced the Years of Lead, a period characterised by economic crisis (especially after the 1973 oil crisis), widespread social conflicts and terrorist massacres carried out by opposing extremist groups, with the alleged involvement of United States and Soviet intelligence. The Years of Lead culminated in the assassination of the Christian Democrat leader Aldo Moro in 1978 and the Bologna railway station massacre in 1980, where 85 people died.

In the 1980s, for the first time since 1945 two governments were led by non-Christian Democrat prime ministers: one Republican (Giovanni Spadolini) and one Socialist (Bettino Craxi). However, the Christian Democrats remained the main government party. During Craxi's government, the economy recovered and Italy became the world's fifth-largest industrial nation, gaining entry into the Group of Seven, but as a result of his spending policies, the Italian national debt skyrocketed during the Craxi era, soon passing 100% of the GDP.

In the early 1990s, Italy faced significant challenges as voters—disenchanted with political paralysis, massive public debt and the extensive corruption system (known as Tangentopoli) uncovered by the "Clean Hands" (mani pulite) investigation—demanded radical reforms. The scandals involved all major parties, but especially those in the government coalition: the Christian Democrats, who ruled for almost 50 years, underwent a severe crisis and eventually disbanded, splitting up into several factions. Moreover, the Communist Party was reorganised as a social-democratic force, the Democratic Party of the Left.

The "Second Republic"
In the midst of the mani pulite operation which shook political parties in 1994, media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, owner of three private TV channels, founded Forza Italia (Forward Italy) party and won the elections, becoming one of Italy's most important political and economic figures for the next decade. Berlusconi is also the longest-serving prime minister in the history of the Italian Republic and the third-longest serving in the whole history after Mussolini and Giolitti.

Ousted after a few months of government, Berlusconi returned to power in 2001, lost the 2006 general election five years later to Romano Prodi and his Union coalition, but won the 2008 general election and was elected Prime Minister for the third time in May 2008. In November 2011, Berlusconi lost his majority in the Chamber of Deputies and resigned. His successor, Mario Monti, formed a new government, composed of "technicians" and supported by both the center-left and the center-right. In April 2013, after the general election in February, the Vice Secretary of the Democratic Party (PD) Enrico Letta led a government composed by both center-left and the center-right.

On 22 February 2014, after tensions in the Democratic Party the PD's Secretary Matteo Renzi was sworn in as the new prime minister. Renzi proposed several reforms, including a radical overhaul of the Senate and a new electoral law. However, the proposed reforms were rejected on 4 December 2016 by a referendum. Following the referendum's results, Renzi resigned and his Foreign Affairs Minister Paolo Gentiloni was appointed new Prime Minister. On 1 June 2018, after the 2018 Italian general election where the anti-establishment Five Star Movement become the largest party in Parliament, Giuseppe Conte (leader of Five Star) was sworn in as Prime Minister, at the head of a populist coalition of Five Star Movement and the League. After the 2019 European Parliament election in Italy, where the League exceeded Five Star Movement, Matteo Salvini (leader of the League) proposed a no-confidence vote in Conte. Conte resigned, but after the consultations between the President Sergio Mattarella and the political parties, Conte was reappointed as Prime Minister, heading a government of the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party of Nicola Zingaretti.

In January 2021, the centrist party Italia Viva, led by former Prime Minister Renzi, withdrew its support to Conte's government. In February 2021, President Mattarella appointed Mario Draghi, former President of the European Central Bank, Prime Minister. His new cabinet was supported by most Italian parties, including the League, M5S, PD, and FI.

In October 2022, President Mattarella appointed Giorgia Meloni as Italy's first female prime minister, following the resignation of Mario Draghi amidst a government crisis and a general election.

title: Prime Minister of Italy


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Trading card

A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other text (attacks, statistics, or trivia). There is a wide variation of different types of cards.

Trading cards are traditionally associated with sports (baseball cards are particularly common) but can also include subjects such as Pokémon and other non-sports trading cards. These often feature cartoons, comic book characters, television series and film stills. In the 1990s, cards designed specifically for playing games became popular enough to develop into a distinct category, collectible card games. These games are mostly fantasy-based gameplay. Fantasy art cards are a subgenre of trading cards that focus on the artwork.

Origins
Trade cards are the ancestors of cigarette and food (bubble gum) cards. Some of the earliest prizes found in retail products were cigarette cards— trading cards were designed to advertise products (not to be confused with trading cards) that were inserted into paper packs of cigarettes as stiffeners to protect the contents. Allen and Ginter in the U.S. in 1886, and British company W.D. & H.O. Wills in 1888, were the first tobacco companies to print advertisements. A couple of years later, lithograph pictures on the cards with an encyclopedic variety of topics from nature to war to sports — subjects that appealed to men who smoked - began to surface as well. By 1900, there were thousands of tobacco card sets manufactured by 300 different companies. Children would stand outside of stores to ask customers who bought cigarettes for the promotional cards. Following the success of cigarette cards, trade cards were produced by manufacturers of other products and included in the product or handed to the customer by the store clerk at the time of purchase. World War II put an end to cigarette card production due to limited paper resources, and after the war cigarette cards never really made a comeback. After that collectors of prizes from retail products took to collecting tea cards in the UK and bubble gum cards in the US.

Early baseball cards
The first baseball cards were trade cards printed in the late 1860s by a sporting goods company, around the time baseball became a professional sport. Most of the baseball cards around the beginning of the 20th century came in candy and tobacco products. It was during this era that the most valuable baseball card ever printed, the T206 tobacco card featuring Honus Wagner, was produced. The T206 set, distributed by the American Tobacco Company in 1909, is considered by collectors to be the most popular set of all time. In 1933, the Goudey Gum Company of Boston issued baseball cards with players biographies on the backs and was the first to put baseball cards in bubble gum. The 1933 Goudey set remains one of the most popular and affordable vintage sets to this day. Bowman Gum of Philadelphia issued its first baseball cards in 1948.

Modern trading cards
Topps Chewing Gum, Inc., now known as "The Topps Company, Inc.", started inserting trading cards into bubble gum packs in 1950 with such topics as TV and film cowboy Hopalong Cassidy; "Bring 'Em Back Alive" cards featuring Frank Buck on big game hunts in Africa; and All-American Football Cards. Topps produced its first baseball trading card set in 1951, with the resulting design resembling that of playing cards. Topps owner and founder Sy Berger created the first true modern baseball card set, complete with playing record and statistics, the following year in the form of 1952 Topps Baseball. This is one of the most popular sets of all time; its most valued piece was 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311, which is sometimes erroneously referred to as Mantle's rookie card, though he had in fact appeared in the 1951 Bowman Baseball set. On August 28, 2022, a Mickey Mantle baseball card (Topps; #311; SGC MT 9.5) was sold for $12.600 million.

Topps purchased their chief competitor, Bowman Gum, in 1956. Topps was the leader in the trading card industry from 1956 to 1980, not only in sports cards but in entertainment cards as well. Many of the top selling non-sports cards were produced by Topps, including Wacky Packages (1967, 1973–1977), Star Wars (beginning in 1977) and Garbage Pail Kids (beginning in 1985). In 1991 Topps ceased packaging gum with their baseball cards, making many collectors happy that their cards could no longer be damaged by gum stains The following year, in 1992, Topps ceased using heavily waxed paper to wrap their packs of cards and began using cellophane plastic exclusively, thus eliminating the possibility of wax stains on the top and bottom cards in the packs.

Digital trading cards
In an attempt to stay current with technology and digital trends, existing and new trading card companies started to create digital trading cards that lived exclusively online or as a digital counterpart of a physical card.

In 1995 Michael A. Pace produced "computer based" trading cards, utilizing a CD ROM computer system and floppy discs.

In 2000, Topps launched a brand of sports cards, called etopps. These cards were sold exclusively online through individual IPO's (initial player offering) in which the card is offered for usually a week at the IPO price. That same year, Tokenzone launched a digital collectibles platform that was used by media companies to distribute content in the form of digital trading cards. The quantity sold depended on how many people offered to buy but was limited to a certain maximum. After a sale, the cards were held in a climate-controlled warehouse unless the buyer requests delivery, and the cards could be traded online without changing hands except in the virtual sense. In January 2012, Topps announced that they would be discontinuing their eTopps product line.

Digital collectible card games were estimated to be a $1.3B market in 2013. A number of tech start-ups have attempted to establish themselves in this space, notably Stampii (Spain, 2009), Fantom (Ireland, 2011), Deckdaq (Israel, 2011), and 2Stic (Austria, 2013).

Panini launched their Adrenalyn XL platform with an NBA and NFL trading card collection. Connect2Media together with Winning Moves, created an iPhone Application to host a series of trading card collections, including Dinosaurs, James Bond - 007, Celebs, Gum Ball 3000, European Football Stars and NBA. In 2011, mytcg Technologies launched a platform that enabled content holders to host their content on.

On July 1, 2011, Wildcat Intellectual Property Holdings filed a lawsuit against 12 defendants, including Topps, Panini, Sony, Electronic Arts, Konami, Pokémon, Zynga and Nintendo, for allegedly infringing Wildcat's "Electronic Trading Card" patent.

In 2012, Topps also launched their first phone application. Topps Bunt was an app that allowed users to connect with other fans in a fantasy league type game environment wherein they can collect their favorite players, earn points based on how well they play and trade and compete with other fans. Three years later, the same company launched a digital experiment in Europe (geotargeted to exclude the USA) with its Marvel Hero Attax, using digital as an overlay to its physical product.

Value
Today, the development of the Internet has given rise to various online communities, through which members can trade collectible cards with each other. Cards are often bought and sold via eBay and other online retail sources. Many websites solicit their own "sell to us" page in hopes to draw in more purchase opportunities.

The value of a trading card depends on a combination of the card's condition, the subject's popularity and the scarcity of the card. In some cases, especially with older cards that preceded the advent of card collecting as a widespread hobby, they have become collectors' items of considerable value. In recent years, many sports cards have not necessarily appreciated as much in value due to overproduction, although some manufacturers have used limited editions and smaller print runs to boost value. Trading cards, however, do not have an absolute monetary value. Cards are only worth as much as a collector is willing to pay.

Valued at $44 billion today, the global sports trading card market is expected to surge to approximately $100 billion by 2027.

Condition
Card condition is one aspect of trading cards that determine the value of a card. There are four areas of interest in determining a card's condition. Centering, corners, edges and surface are taken into consideration, for imperfections, such as color spots and blurred images, and wear, such as creases, scratches and tears, when determining a trading card's value. Cards are considered poor to pristine based on their condition, or in some cases rated 1 through 10. A card in pristine condition, for example, will generally be valued higher than a card in poor condition. Major card grading companies which provide these ratings on a scale of 1-10 include PSA, Beckett, and SGC. They provide individual grades for the centering, corners, edges, and surface of the card to eventually combine for one final grade. Older cards are generally more sensitive to wear and tear, meaning a '7' might lessen the value of a card printed in 2018, but could significantly increase the value of a card from 1950. While the grade has a major impact on the card's value, the population does as well. For example, there are over 20,000 Luka Doncic 2018 Base Prizm Cards graded a PSA 10, meaning this large population drives down the value of each card.

Popularity
Popularity of trading cards is determined by the subject represented on the card, their real life accomplishments, and short term news coverage as well as the specifics of the card.

Scarcity
While vintage cards are truly a scarce commodity, modern-day manufacturers have to artificially add value to their products in order to make them scarce. This is accomplished by including serial-numbered parallel sets, cards with game-worn memorabilia, autographs, and more. Time can also make cards more scarce due to the fact that cards may be lost or destroyed.

Catalogs
Trading card catalogs are available both online and offline for enthusiast. They are mainly used as an educational tool and to identify cards. Online catalogs also contain additional resources for collection management and communication between collectors.

Sports cards
Sports card is a generic term for a trading card with a sports-related subject, as opposed to non-sports trading cards that deal with other topics. Sports cards were among the earliest forms of collectibles. They typically consist of a picture of a player on one side, with statistics or other information on the reverse. Cards have been produced featuring most major sports, especially those played in North America, including, but not limited to, American football, association football (soccer), baseball, basketball, boxing, golf, ice hockey, racing and tennis.

The first set with a sporting theme appeared in 1896, a cricket series by W.D. & H.O. Wills of 50 cricketers. The tobacco companies soon realised that sports cards were a great way to obtain brand loyalty. In 1896 the first association football set, "Footballers & Club Colours", was published by Marcus & Company, a small firm in Manchester. Other football sets issued at that time were "Footballers & Club Colours" (Kinner, 1898); "Footballers" (J. F. Bell, 1902); "Footballers" (F. J. Smith, 1902) and "Footballers" (Percy E. Cadle, 1904).

The first stage in the development of sports cards, during the second half of the 19th century, is essentially the story of baseball cards, since baseball was the first sport to become widely professionalized. Hockey cards also began to appear early in the 20th century. Cards from this period are commonly known as cigarette cards or tobacco cards, because many were produced by tobacco companies and inserted into cigarette packages, to stiffen cigarette packaging and advertise cigarette brands. One of the most expensive cards in the hobby is a cigarette card of Honus Wagner in a set called 1909 T-206. The story told is that Wagner was against his cards being inserted into something that children would collect. So the production of his cards stopped abruptly. It is assumed that less than 100 of his cards exist in this set. The 1909 T-206 Honus Wagner card has sold for as much as $2.8 million. More recently, on August 28, 2022, a Mickey Mantle baseball card (Topps; #311; SGC MT 9.5) was sold for $12.600 million.

Sets of cards are issued with each season for major professional sports. Since companies typically must pay players for the right to use their images, the vast majority of sports cards feature professional athletes. Amateurs appear only rarely, usually on cards produced or authorized by the institution they compete for, such as a college.

Many older sports cards (pre-1980) command a high price today; this is because they are hard to find, especially in good quality condition. This happened because many children used to place their cards in bicycle spokes, where the cards were easily damaged. Rookie cards of Hall of Fame sports stars can command thousands of dollars if they have been relatively well-preserved.

In the 1980s, sports cards started to get produced in higher numbers, and collectors started to keep their cards in better condition as they became increasingly aware of their potential investment value. This trend continued well into the 1990s. This practice caused many of the cards manufactured during this era to stay low in value, due to their high numbers.

The proliferation of cards saturated the market, and by the late 1990s, card companies began to produce scarcer versions of cards to keep many collectors interested. The latest trends in the hobby have been "game used memorabilia" cards, which usually feature a piece of a player's jersey worn in a real professional game; other memorabilia cards include pieces of bats, balls, hats, helmets, and floors. Authenticated autographs are also popular, as are "serially numbered" cards, which are produced in much smaller amounts than regular "base set cards".

Autographs obtained by card manufacturers have become the most collected baseball cards in the hobby's history. This started in 1990 in baseball when Upper Deck randomly inserted autographs of Reggie Jackson into boxes. They are commonly referred to as "Certified Autographed Inserts" or "CAI's". Both the athlete's and card company's reputations are on the line if they do not personally sign these cards. This has created the most authentic autographs in existence. These cards all have some form of printed statements that the autographs are authentic, this way, no matter who owns the autograph there is no question of its authenticity. CAI's have branched out into autographs of famous actors, musicians, Presidents, and even Albert Einstein. Mostly these autographs are cut from flat items such as postcards, index cards, and plain paper. Then they are pasted onto cards. In 2001, a company called Playoff started obtaining autographs on stickers that are stuck on the cards instead of them actually signing the cards. There is strong opposition against these types of autographs because the players never even saw the cards that the stickers were affixed to.

Association football
The first association football (or "soccer") cards were produced in 1898 by the Marcus & Company Tobacco in Manchester, England. The set consisted of over 100 cards and was issued under the title of "Club Colours". They featured illustrated images of players on the front of the card, and a tobacco advertisement on the back of the card. Many other cigarette companies quickly created their own series, beginning with Kinner in 1898. A later series of cards was produced in 1934 by Ardath, which was a 50-card set called Famous Footballers featuring images of players on the front of the card, and a tobacco advertisement and short biography of the player on the back of the card.

Modern association football trading cards were sold with bubble gum in the United Kingdom from 1958 to 1975 by A&BC, and later by Topps, UK from 1975 to 1981. Similar smaller sized cards were issued in Spain and Italy beginning in the late 1940s. Cards have been produced from 1981 to present, save 1985 and 1986. Under its Merlin brand, since 1994 Topps has held the licence to produce stickers for the Premier League sticker album. Launched by Topps in the 2007–08 season, Match Attax, the official Premier League trading card game, is the best selling boys collectable in the UK – with around 1.5m collectors in the UK – and with global sales it is also the biggest selling sports trading card game in the world.

Other variations of football products exist, such as marbles, cut-outs, coins, stamps and stickers, some made of light cardboard and attached with glue or stickers, into sticker albums specifically issued for the products. Forming a partnership with FIFA in 1970, Panini first produced a World Cup sticker album for the 1970 World Cup. Initiating a craze for collecting and trading stickers, since then, it has become part of the World Cup experience, especially for the younger generation. The Guardian states, “the tradition of swapping duplicate [World Cup] stickers was a playground fixture during the 1970s and 1980s.” Panini begins assembling World Cup squads for their sticker album a few months before they are officially announced by each nation, which means surprise call ups often don’t feature in their album. A notable example of this was 17-year-old Brazilian striker Ronaldo who was called up for the Brazil squad for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Panini’s football trading card game Adrenalyn XL was introduced in 2009. In 2010 Panini released a UEFA Champions League edition of Adrenalyn XL, containing 350 cards from 22 of the competing clubs, including defending champions FC Barcelona. The fourth edition of Panini FIFA 365 Adrenalyn XL was released for 2019, featuring top clubs, teams and players.

In 2022, Indonesian manufacturer FanGir established a partnership with PT Liga Indonesia Baru to introduce the inaugural BRI Liga 1 trading card collection.

Australian rules football
Australian rules football cards are almost exclusively found in Australia as no top-level leagues are present outside the country. The first Australian rules football cards were produced in conjunction with Goodwin & Co's Old Judge Cigarettes in the late 1880s. In the set were Australian celebrities which included Australian rules footballers from Victoria and South Australia. Other companies that issued earlier football cards were W.D. & H.O. Wills in 1905, and Sniders & Abrahams (featuring scenes of matches in 1908 and then releasing other sets with portraits of football players in the 1910s, all in full color). In the 1930s, the Australian division of British Godfrey Phillips Co. released a set of football cards. By the same time, Hoadleys, a local confectionery company, released a set of illustrated cards. Another confectionery company, Clarke-Ellis, also released its own set of cards. Other companies that launched cards sets in the 1930s were Pals Periodical, Plaistowe & Co., Carreras (two illustrated sets in 1933, the first of them with footballers caricatures by Bob Miram), Giant Licorice Cigarettes, MacRobertson's and W.D. & H.O. Wills, among others. The most popular set of Australian rules football cards are often the considered to be the 1963 Scanlens card set. Select Australia is currently the longest continuously operating and largest producer of Australian rules football cards. Prices for Australian rules football cards can be relatively high compared to other sporting codes in Australia. This is illustrated for both vintage and modern cards, such as an 1894 American Tobacco Company card featuring Essendon player Will Crebbin which sold for $10,110 in 2018 and a 2004 Select AFL Conquest Triple Brownlow Medallist signature card featuring Nathan Buckley, Adam Goodes and Mark Ricciuto which was valued at $3,000 in 2018.

Baseball
Baseball cards will usually feature one or more baseball players or other baseball-related sports figures. The front of the card typically displays an image of the player with identifying information, including, but not limited to, the player's name and team affiliation. The reverse of most modern cards displays statistics and/or biographical information. Cards are most often found in the United States but are also common in countries such as Canada, Cuba, and Japan, where baseball is a popular sport and there are professional leagues.

The earliest baseball cards were in the form of trade cards produced in 1868. They evolved into tobacco cards by 1886. In the early 20th century other industries began printing their own version of baseball cards to promote their products, such as bakery/bread cards, caramel cards, dairy cards, game cards and publication cards. Between the 1930s and 1960s the cards developed into trading cards, becoming their own product. In 1957, Topps changed the dimensions of its cards slightly, to 2-1/2 inches by 3-1/2 inches, setting a standard that remains the basic format for most sports cards produced in the United States.

In 2005, the long-standing sports card producer Fleer went bankrupt and was bought out by Upper Deck. Not long after that, Donruss lost its MLB license. Since 2009, Topps has held exclusive rights to produce MLB-licensed baseball cards.

Basketball

Basketball cards feature one or more players of the NBA, NCAA, Olympic basketball, WNBA, WBL, or some other basketball-related theme. The first basketball cards were produced in 1910, in a series cataloged as "College Athlete Felts B-33". The complete series included ten different sports, with only 30 cards being associated with basketball. The cards were issued as a cigarette redemption premium by Egyptiene Cigarettes. The number of cigarette packages needed to redeem for the tobacco cards is not known.

The next series of basketball cards were issued in 1911, in two separate series; "T6 College Series", measuring approximately 6" by 8", and "T51 College Series", measuring approximately 2" by 3". These series included a variety of sports, with only 4 cards being associated with basketball, one card from the T6 series and three cards from the T51 series. Both series were produced in two variations, one variation reading "College Series", the other, "2nd Series". The cards were acquired in trade for fifteen Murad cigarette coupons. The offer expired June 30, 1911.

Basketball cards were not seen again until 1932, when C.A. Briggs Chocolate issued a 31-card set containing multiple sports. In exchange for a completed set of cards, Briggs offered baseball equipment. The number of basketball cards in the set is not known.

Boxing
One of the first boxing cards on record in "America's Greatest Boxing Cards" and encyclopedia and check-list of boxing cards, was of John C. Heenan issued by photographs Charles D. Fredericks in the 1860s. The first set of boxer cards was issued by Goodwin & Company in 1886. Other companies, including Duke and Sons and the Lorillard Tobacco Company, also issued boxing cards in this period. American company Allen & Ginter issued several boxing cards in the "World Champions" series, among other sportsmen.

After the World War II, other companies took over the manufacturing of boxing cards, such as Leaf (1948), Topps (1951) and Donruss.

More recently, Upper Deck released several boxing series.

In March 2023, Indonesian trading card manufacturer, FanGir, released their debut "Legacy" collection that featured Indonesian Boxing Legends Chris John and Daud Yordan. The collection includes a standout item: the Chris John Autographed Card 1/1 Red Foil. Notably, this card achieved a groundbreaking sale at an auction, fetching IDR 6,900,000 and attaining the distinction of being the most valuable Indonesian Trading Card at that time.

Cricket
Cricket cards usually feature one or more players or a cricket-related theme. One of the first cricket collections was released by tobacco company W.D. & H.O. Wills in 1896. Other companies that released cricket collections were Australian Sniders & Abrahams in 1905, and Capstan (a Wills brand) in 1909–10. Alexander Boguslavsky Ltd. also released an illustrated sports collection (that included cricket) in 1925.

In modern times, cricket cards have been produced by Futera (1993–98) and Topps.

Cycling
Panini released collections of some of the most famous bicycle races in Europe, such as the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia.

Gridiron football
A gridiron football card is a type of collectible trading card typically printed on paper stock or card stock that features one or more American football, Canadian football or World League of American Football players or other related sports figures. These cards are most often found in the United States and Canada where the sport is popular.

Most football cards features National Football League players. There are also Canadian Football League and college football cards. Player cards normally list the player's statistics.

Golf
Golf cards will usually feature one or more golf players or a golf-related theme. Golf cards were first introduced in 1901 by Ogden.

Horse racing
Horse racing cards will usually feature jockeys or an equestrian related theme.

Ice hockey
The first hockey cards were included in cigarette packages from 1910 to 1913. After World War I, only one more cigarette set was issued, during the 1924–25 season by Champ's Cigarettes. NHL player Billy Coutu's biography includes an example of one of the 40 cards issued at that time.

During the 1920s, some hockey cards were printed by food and candy companies, such as Paulin's Candy, Maple Crispette, Crescent, Holland Creameries and La Patrie.

Through 1941, O-Pee-Chee printed hockey cards, stopping production for World War II. Presumably, the 1941 involvement of the US in the war affected the hockey card market, since Canada had been in the war since 1939.

Hockey cards next appeared during 1951–52, issued by Shirriff Desserts, York Peanut Butter and Post Cereal. Toronto's Parkhurst Products Company began printing cards in 1951, followed by Brooklyn's Topps Chewing Gum in 1954–1955. O-Pee-Chee and Topps did not produce cards in 1955 or 1956, but returned for 1957–58. Shirriff also issued "hockey coins."

Lacrosse
Lacrosse cards will usually feature one or more lacrosse players or another lacrosse-related theme.

Netball
With the Suncorp Super Netball competition in Australia Tap'n'Play decided to enter the Netball trading card market. In 2018 they produced their first very basic release but in 2019 they have ramped it with a release full of colour and signature cards.

Racing
Racing cards consist of a card stock with stats and pictures on it. Sometimes it shows the car, sometimes it shows the driver's face, and sometimes both. It also shows the endorsing companies for the car.

In September 2020, it was announced that Topps has signed an exclusive worldwide agreement to become the Official Sticker and Trading Card Licensee of Formula 1.

Rugby League
Rugby League cards were first produced in England in 1895. Initially these were produced as part of a multi-sport series. Early in the 1920s the first dedicated Rugby League series was produced, featuring star players from the Northern Union, as the English based Rugby Football League was then known. These were followed shortly after by cards produced in Australia, New Zealand, and Wales. Rugby League trading cards are popular in Australia, with sets having been produced annually since 1968. These sets primarily featured players from the Sydney based New South Wales Rugby Football League, with some sets also being produced featuring players from the Brisbane based Queensland Rugby League. In 1988 the New South Wales Rugby League expanded to become a de facto national league, and the cards were branded accordingly as "Australian Rugby League" cards in 1995, and "National Rugby League" cards in 1998.

Rugby Union
Rugby Union cards have been produced since the 1880s, however production has been sporadic, with limited interest post-1940.

Surfing
In 1993 Futera trading card company produced its first surfing trading card release Hot Surf with a similar release following in 1994 and 1995. These are the only three surfing trading card release for the Australian market.

Upper Deck has also produced surfing trading cards as a part of its annual Goodwins champion release and World of Sport series.

Sumo
Sumo cards consist of sports card that features one or more sumo wrestlers (sumoists) or another sumo-related theme.

Tennis
From the early 1900s through to the 1980s several companies produced tennis trading cards as part of general sports card promotional release or exclusive tennis card release. One of these being W.A. & A.C. Churchman tobacco company Men of the Moment in sport release of 1936. They also produced an exclusive lawn tennis release in 1928.

In 1983 Robinson's Barley Water produced a Sporting Records series which featured many tennis superstars of the era like Billie Jean King.

In 1986 Panini trading cards produced a Supersport series featuring Tennis trading cards.

In 1996 the Intrepid trading card company produced the only Australian market tennis trading card release " Blitz ".

During the 1990s and early 2000s the major players in the international tennis trading card market have been NetPro, Leaf and Ace Authentic. Upper Deck has also produced tennis trading cards as part of its Goodwin's Champions annual series.

Wrestling
Wrestling and pro wrestling cards will usually feature one or more wrestlers or another Wrestling-related theme.

Manufacturers
This list contains companies that produce, or have produced, sports trading cards. This list does not contain all the brand names associated with their respective manufacturers.

 * Notes

Non-sports cards
Non-sports trading cards feature subject material relating to anything other than sports, such as comics, movies, music and television. Supersisters was a set of 72 trading cards produced and distributed in the United States in 1979 by Supersisters, Inc, featuring famous women from politics, media and entertainment, culture, and other areas of achievement. The cards were designed in response to the trading cards popular among children in the US at the time which mostly featured men.

The following list includes companies that, apart from producing sports cards, manufacture/have manufactured non-sports cards as well:

For companies that produce non-sports cards exclusively, see Non-sports manufacturers

title: Trading card


text:
Chief Executive of Hong Kong

The chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and head of the Government of Hong Kong. The position was created to replace the office of governor of Hong Kong, the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom during British rule. The office, stipulated by the Hong Kong Basic Law, formally came into being on 1 July 1997 with the handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China.

The functions of the chief executive include nominating principal officials for appointment by the State Council of China, which is headed by the premier, conducting foreign relations, appointing judges and other public officers, giving consent to legislation passed by the Legislative Council, and bestowing honours. The Basic Law grants the chief executive a wide range of powers, but obliges him or her, before making important policy decisions, introducing bills to the Legislative Council, making subsidiary legislation, and dissolving the Legislative Council, to act only after consultation with the Executive Council (all of whose members are the CE's own appointees). The Executive Council consists of official and non-official members, including the Chief Secretary for Administration, the most senior official and head of the Government Secretariat, in charge of overseeing the administration of the Government.

The chief executive holds the title "The Honourable", and ranks first in the Hong Kong order of precedence. The official residence of the chief executive is Government House in Central, Hong Kong Island.

The current chief executive is John Lee selected as Chief Executive in the 2022 election, appointed by the Chinese State Council with the designation decree signed by Premier Li Keqiang on 30 May 2022 and took office on 1 July 2022. Lee is the fifth Chief Executive; each of his four predecessors are still living.

Eligibility for office
According to article 44 of the Basic Law, the chief executive must be a Chinese citizen as defined by the HKSAR Passports Ordinance. The individual must be at least 40 years old, a Hong Kong permanent resident who is a Chinese citizen with right of abode in Hong Kong, and has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than 20 years. Article 47 further requires that the chief executive be a person of integrity, dedicated to his or her duties. In addition, candidates are ineligible to stand for selection by the Election Committee without first obtaining nominations from one eighth of its total members.

Selection
The specific method for selecting the chief executive is prescribed in Annex I of the Basic Law. The Election Committee shall be composed of 1500 members from the following sectors pursuant to the amended Annex I under the 2021 Hong Kong electoral changes initiated by the National People's Congress. The Election Committee consists of individuals (i.e. private citizens) and representatives of bodies (i.e. special interest groups or corporate bodies) selected or elected by 40 prescribed sub-sectors as stipulated in Annex I to the Basic Law.

Election Committee
The Election Committee is responsible for the nomination of chief executive candidates and election of the chief executive-elect. Under the 2021 Hong Kong electoral changes initiated by the National People's Congress, each candidate running for chief executive elections is to be nominated by at least 188 members of the Election Committee, before their eligibility is reviewed and confirmed by the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee of the HKSAR. The chief executive-designate is then returned by the Election Committee with an absolute majority.

The Election Committee is now principally elected by body voters. The number of subsectors with individual votes were significantly reduced, together with elimination of mixed individual and body voting:
 * Half of seats (150 seats) in Sector III are nominated by members of national professional organisations or filled by ex officio members;
 * District Council subsectors were replaced by subsectors consisting of government-appointed representatives of members of Area Committees, District Fight Crime Committees, and District Fire Safety Committees;
 * All NPC and CPPCC sectors serve as ex officio EC members; and
 * subsectors consisting of grassroot organisations, associations of Chinese Fellow Townsmen, associations of Hong Kong residents in Mainland and Hong Kong members of relevant national organisations were introduced.

Chief executive elections
Chief executive candidates must receive nominations by at least 188 members of the Election Committee, with nomination by at least 15 members of each sector of the Election Committee. Candidacy is confirmed upon review and confirmation of eligibility by the Candidate Qualification Review Committee, according to opinions issued by the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on the basis of a review by the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force on whether a candidate meets the legal requirements and conditions of upholding the Basic Law and swearing allegiance to the HKSAR of the People's Republic of China.

The chief executive-designate is then returned by the Election Committee with an absolute majority in a two-round system:

The chief executive-designate must publicly disaffiliate with a political party within seven days of the election and must not become a member of a party during their term of office. The chief executive-designate is then appointed by the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China before taking office.

Electoral reform
In the first selection of the chief executive, the committee consisted of only 400 members. It was expanded to 800 for the second term. As a result of enabling legislation stemming from a public consultation in 2010, and its approval by the National People's Congress Standing Committee in Beijing, the number of representatives was increased from 800 to 1200. Following the electoral reform initiated by the Chinese government in 2021 to tighten its grip on Hong Kong, the number of representatives was increased to 1500 but most are appointed or ex-officio seats.

Term
According to article 46 the term of office of the chief executive is five years with a maximum of two consecutive terms. If a vacancy occurs mid-term, the new chief executive's first term is for the remainder of the previous chief executive's term only. The method of selecting the chief executive is provided under Article 45 and Annex I of the Basic Law, and the Chief Executive Election Ordinance.

Duties and powers
Under the Basic Law the chief executive is the chief representative of the people of Hong Kong and is the head of the government of Hong Kong. The chief executive's powers and functions include leading the government, implementing the law, signing bills and budgets passed by the Legislative Council, deciding on government policies, advising appointment and dismissal of principal officials of the Government of Hong Kong to the Central People's Government of China, appointing judges and holders of certain public offices and to pardon or commute sentences. The position is also responsible for the policy address made to the public.

The chief executive's powers and functions are established by article 48 of the Basic Law.

The Executive Council of Hong Kong is an organ for assisting the chief executive in policy-making. The council is consulted before making important policy decisions, introducing bills to the Legislative Council, making subordinate legislation or dissolving the Legislative Council.

Resignation
Article 52 of the Basic Law stipulates that the chief executive must resign when:
 * the chief executive loses the ability to discharge his or her duties as a result of serious illness or other reasons;
 * the chief executive refuses to sign a bill passed by a two-thirds majority of a re-elected Legislative Council, after the Legislative Council is dissolved; or
 * the Legislative Council refuses to pass the budget or any other important bill for a second time after the Legislative Council is dissolved.

Impeachment
The Legislative Council has the power to propose a motion of impeachment of the chief executive for decision by the Central People's Government of China, with the following steps as stipulated in article 73(9) of the Basic Law:

 * One-fourth of all Legislative Council (LegCo) members can jointly initiate a motion, charging the chief executive with serious breach of law or dereliction of duty;
 * the motion for investigation passed by simple majority of votes of each of the two groups of members present;
 * the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal is mandated to form and chair an independent investigation committee for carrying out the investigation and reporting its findings to LegCo;
 * the independent investigation committee considers the evidence sufficient to substantiate such charges;
 * a two-thirds majority of all LegCo members passes the motion of impeachment;
 * the motion of impeachment is reported to the Central People's Government of China for decision.

Acting and succession
The acting and succession line is spelled out in article 53. If the chief executive is not able to discharge his or her duties for short periods (such as during overseas visits), the duties would be assumed by the chief secretary for administration, the financial secretary or the secretary for justice, by rotation, in that order, as acting chief executive. In case the position becomes vacant, a new chief executive would have to be selected.

Residence and office
Prior to the handover in 1997, the office of the chief executive-designate was at the seventh floor of the Asia Pacific Finance Tower. When Tung Chee-hwa assumed duty on 1 July 1997, the office of the chief executive was located at the fifth floor of the Former Central Government Offices (Main Wing). In the past the governor had his office at Government House. Tung did not use Government House as the primary residence because he lived at his own residence at Grenville House. Donald Tsang decided to return to the renovated Government House during his first term, and moved in on 12 January 2006, for both his office and residence. In 2011, the office of the chief executive moved to the low block of the new Central Government Complex in Tamar. Government House continues to serve as the official residence of the chief executive.

Former chief executives
Upon retirement, former chief executives have access to office space at the Office of Former Chief Executives, 28 Kennedy Road. The office provides administrative support to former chief executives to perform promotional, protocol-related, or any other activities in relation to their former official role. The activities include receiving visiting dignitaries and delegations, giving local and overseas media interviews, and taking part in speaking engagements. A chauffeur-driven car is provided to discharge promotional and protocol-related functions.

Depending on police risk assessment, personal security protection is provided. Former chief executives also enjoy medical and dental care.

Former chief executives hold the title "The Honourable", and ranks third in the Hong Kong order of precedence.

Remuneration
Remuneration for the chief executive of Hong Kong is among the highest in the world for a political leader, and only second to that of the prime minister of Singapore. The pay level took a cue from the handsome amounts paid to the city's colonial governors – worth $273,000 per annum plus perks in 1992.

In 2005, Tung Chee Hwa received some HK$3 million ($378,500) in pay as chief executive. From 2009 until the end of 2014, the salary for the job stood at HK$4.22 million. In January 2015, CY Leung reversed a pay freeze imposed in 2012, resulting in its increase to HK$4.61 million ($591,000).

In July 2017, directors of bureaux (DoBs) were approved to have a 12.4% pay rise and the 3.5% pay differential between secretaries of departments (SoDs) and DoBs remained, indicating a new annual pay of approximately HK$5 million for the city's leading role because the chief executive received a salary of 112% of the chief secretary. The new salary of chief executive of Hong Kong is about thirty-nine times more than the annual salary of president of China.

Criticism of the office
Since the chief executive is directly appointed by the Central People's Government of China after an election by a committee of 1,500 people selected by the Chinese Government, rather than the general population, many people, in particular the pro-democrats, have criticised the office as undemocratic, and have criticised the entire election process as a "small-circle election." Former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa has even stated that the election's result is a non-binding one, saying that the Chinese government would refuse to appoint the winning candidate if that person was unacceptable to them.

Many events, including the Five Constituencies Referendum in 2010, Umbrella Revolution in 2014 and Anti-Extradition Movement during 2019–20, have attempted to push for greater democracy and universal suffrage.

In January 2015, when CY Leung reversed a pay freeze imposed on the chief executive and senior civil servants in 2012, he was accused of granting himself a pay rise by stealth and going against the trend of top politicians taking pay cuts instead of pay increases.

In July 2021, Carrie Lam refused to remove the legal immunity of the chief executive on anti-bribery legislations, stating that the officeholder has to be accountable to the Beijing government and hence, extending such provisions to CE would 'sabotage its superior constitutional status'. She was accused of positioning herself above the law whilst going against the principles of separation of power and rule of law.

title: Chief Executive of Hong Kong


text:
Governor of Hong Kong

The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong. The governor's roles were defined in the Hong Kong Letters Patent and Royal Instructions. Upon the end of British rule and the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, most of the civil functions of this office went to the chief executive of Hong Kong, and military functions went to the commander of the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison.

The governor
Authorities and duties of the governor were defined in the Hong Kong Letters Patent and Royal Instructions in 1843. The governor, appointed by the British monarch (on the advice of the Foreign Secretary), exercised the executive branch of the government of Hong Kong throughout British sovereignty and, with the exception of a brief experiment after World War II, no serious attempt was made to introduce representative government, until the final years of British rule.

The governor of Hong Kong chaired the colonial cabinet, the Executive Council (ExCo), and, until 1993, was also the president of the Legislative Council. The governor appointed most, if not all, of the members of the colony's legislature (known colloquially as LegCo), which was largely an advisory body until the first indirect election to LegCo was held in 1985. Initially, both councils were dominated by British expatriates, but this progressively gave way to local Hong Kong Chinese appointees in later years. Historically, the governors of Hong Kong were either professional diplomats or senior colonial officials, except for the last governor, Chris Patten, who was a career politician. In December 1996, the governor's salary was HK$3,036,000 per annum, tax-free. It was fixed at 125% of the chief secretary's salary.

In the absence of the governor, the chief secretary immediately became the acting governor of the colony. The chief secretaries were historically drawn from the Colonial Office or British military. One Royal Navy Vice Admiral served as administrator after World War II. Four Japanese military officers (three Army officers and one naval vice admiral) served as administrators during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in World War II.

Transport
The governor of Hong Kong used a Daimler DS420 for day to day transport and a Rolls-Royce Phantom V landaulet for ceremonial occasions. Both vehicles were removed by the Royal Navy immediately following the handover to China on 1 July 1997.

Residences

 * The first governor, Sir Henry Pottinger, 1st Bt., resided at the site of the now Former French Mission Building from 1843 to 1846. It was used as the home of the Provisional Government after Japanese surrender from 1945 to 1946. The building now houses the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. His successor, Sir John Davis, 1st Bt., also lived there before moving to Caine Road.
 * Since the 4th governor, Sir John Bowring, the governors resided at Government House, excluding the period from 1941 to 1946.
 * From 1941 to 1945 the Commandant of Japanese Forces as Military Governor of Hong Kong occupied Flagstaff House as their residence. The residence was returned to the Commander of British Forces following the end of World War II.

Firsts

 * Charles Elliot, first administrator
 * Sir Henry Pottinger, first governor, first Irishman and first Ulsterman to serve in the role
 * Sir John Francis Davis, first Sinologist to serve as governor
 * Sir John Bowring, first Puritan to serve as governor
 * Sir John Pope Hennessy, first Irish Catholic to serve as governor
 * Sir Matthew Nathan, first Jew to serve as governor
 * Sir Francis H. May, first police chief to serve as governor and the first governor to suffer an assassination attempt (which failed)
 * Sir Cecil Clementi, first Indian-born and Cantonese-speaking governor
 * Sir Mark Young, first prisoner of war to serve as governor
 * Takashi Sakai, first Japanese administrator to serve as governor
 * Cecil Harcourt, first British military administrator to serve as governor (all past governors with military service had retired before assuming the post)
 * Sir Murray MacLehose, first non-colonial officer to serve as governor; he was a diplomat, a foreign service officer
 * Sir Edward Youde, first governor fluent in Mandarin; only governor to die in office
 * Chris Patten, first politician to serve as governor; only governor not to don the formal dress as governor; only governor never to have held any title of nobility or knighthood during his tenure, the last Governor of Hong Kong under British rule before 1 July 1997

title: Governor of Hong Kong


text:
New York Titans

New York Titans may refer to:
 * Titans of New York (1960–1962), the former name of the National Football League's New York Jets
 * New York Titans (lacrosse), a National Lacrosse League team now known as the Orlando Titans

title: New York Titans