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LGBT rights in Belarus

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Belarus face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Although same-sex sexual activity is legal in Belarus, gay and lesbian rights in the country are otherwise severely limited and homosexuality remains highly stigmatized in Belarusian society. Households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. Belarus provides no anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people, nor does it prohibit hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Many Belarusian people believe that homosexuality is a psychiatric illness, and many LGBT persons in Belarus tend to hide their sexual orientation in public. Those who are "out" face harassment, violence and physical abuse.

LGBT history in Belarus
While a part of the Soviet Union, Belarus used the laws common for all Soviet republics. As such, homosexuality was considered illegal. Sexual relationships between females have never been illegal in Belarus (though lesbians could be sent to mental institutions if discovered) while those between males were frequently prosecuted. Words such as homosexuality or gay were not present in any old Soviet code and the Soviet juridical system used the term sodomy.

Article 119-1 of the previous Criminal Code of Belarus set out that homosexual men having voluntary sexual contact were to be convicted to prison terms of up to five years. In 1989 nearly 50 Belarusian citizens were fired due to their sexual orientation. A special department was set up in the KGB to combat homosexuality. The secret services used blackmail to recruit agents from the gay community. This prevented the possibility of the emergence of any gay organization, or print media designed specifically for sexual minorities. Nonetheless, gay people met in the streets, toilets, railway stations, or gathered in private flats or houses.

In 1992 a newspaper named Sex-AntiAIDS-Plus was founded through help provided by a non-governmental organization called Stop-AIDS-Belarus (SAB). The second issue of the newspaper was intercepted by a procurator's office, and a criminal case was initiated against the newspaper. The newspaper contained personal ads for gays and lesbians. The prosecution regarded these announcements as pandering.

In 1994, the criminal case against the newspaper was dropped. However, its founder and chief editor, Ruslan Geniush, fearing persecution, stopped his publishing endeavour. In 1992 a magazine named Randez-vous was registered, and began publishing. The magazine focused primarily on personal ads and contained articles written by psychologists, sexologists and letters and announcements from LGBT readers in a special column called "Blue Salon". In 1994 the magazine ceased to exist.

On 1 March 1994, the Parliament of Belarus changed Article 119-1 of the Criminal Code of Belarus, and homosexuality became legal.

In April 2024, the Ministry of Culture of Belarus expanded the definition of pornography to include “non-traditional sexual relations”, which, according to the new definition, includes homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality. In Belarus, the production, distribution, or possession with intent to distribute or promote pornographic materials can be punished by a prison term.

Legality of same-sex sexual activity
Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1994. The age of consent for sex acts is equal and set at 16 years for homosexuals and heterosexuals.

Recognition of same-sex unions
Belarus does not recognise same-sex marriage, nor any form of same-sex partnership.

Article 32 of the Constitution and the Marriage and Family Code (Articles 1 and 12) specifically define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Discrimination protections
The Labour Code (Article 14) prohibits discrimination in the sphere of labour relations. However, sexual orientation is left out of the list of social characteristics on whose basis discrimination is legally prohibited.

Persecution on the basis of sexual orientation is not explicitly recognized in law as a ground for granting refugee status. Same sex partners are not recognized for the purposes of immigration law. After the fall of the communist regime many Belarusians requested and were granted political asylum abroad, based on fear of persecution because of their sexual orientation. The most frequent reason cited was formal or informal harassment by the police. Amnesty International and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Network – Belarus (AILGBT-Belarus) has information on individuals who were granted asylum in the Czech Republic, France, Netherlands, and Sweden.

Free speech rights
The internet provider Beltelecom (a telecom provider with a monopoly in Belarus), which controls the external gateway, tried to block access to gay sites, at least from internet clubs. Internet resources for gays and lesbians in Belarus recently have been operating without problems. However, access was blocked to Russian gay internet sites, including Gay.ru.

A private company in Belarus censored gay personal ads on Apagay.com, a gay-oriented website, later known as Gay.by. In response to complaints, the website owner first explained that he had the right to edit personal ads. Then he stated the site was merely implementing recommendations; he did not state whose recommendations.

The only specialised magazine for the LGBT community (Forum Lambda magazine) was published by Lambda Belarus in Russia and disseminated in Belarus from 1998 to 2002. The publication has been banned several times by the State Publishing Committee.

The main source of information about life of LGBT community in Belarus is Gay.by. It is one of 10 most visited sites in Belarus with a monthly audience of over 350,000 visitors. The creators of the website encounter a lot of problems when trying to disseminate information about homosexuality. In December 2002, Belarusian State University in Minsk banned access to all gay internet resources. In March 2003, the administration of the internet café Soyuz Online, the biggest and most popular among gays in Minsk, blocked Gay.by. In January 2004, the national web-hosting company N1.BY refused services to Gay.by. Earlier in 2003, the system administrator of "Krasnaya Banernaya" (RED.BY) banned Gay.by from participating in banner exchange.

On 10 May 2003, an unknown hacker broke into Gay.by. The hacker deleted all topics on the site's forum and started a new thread containing an appeal to kill homosexuals. In addition, while downloading the home page of Gay.by, the notification “PIDARS MUST DIE” and “STOP PIDARS IN BELARUS” appeared on the screen. The hacker's break in was followed by telephone calls to the members of the site's team with threats of physical violence.

A new line of sites keeps the Belarus LGBT audience well-informed and entertained. Sunshine.by, the first gay blog in Belarus, provides invaluable insight into the world of the LGBT community of the country.

LGBT organizations
There is no official organization in Belarus that represents the interests of gays and lesbians in Belarus. The Women's Organization (Jyana), which was officially registered is working on "gender questions." Jyana, which protected young women in the country, recently announced that it soon will close. The men's organization, Republican Youth (Vstrecha) is not an LGBT-organization, but conducts a great deal of work aimed at preventing HIV infection and AIDS among men who have sex with men. Any other organization or initiative is working outside the legal framework.

 * Belarus Lambda League
 * Belarusian initiative by sexual and gender equality gay.by - gay Resources and Information. This website is for sale!
 * GayBelarus - LGBT Human Rights Project, the organizer of the Slavic Pride in May 2010 in Minsk
 * Vstrecha ["Meeting"], located in Minsk, Главная - РМОО ВСТРЕЧА - САЙТ МУЖСКОГО ЗДОРОВЬЯ. The oldest gay group in Belarus, founded in the early 1990s. Activities include HIV/AIDS prevention and support groups.
 * Gay Alliance Belarus was founded in 2008 and represents the interests of the LGBT community. Gay Alliance organized a national competition of Mister Gay Belarus and edits a national LGBT web site www.gayby.net and LGBT.BY.

Gay pride controversies
Violations of the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly in Belarus were repeatedly condemned by the international community. After previous failed efforts, in 1999 a gay pride festival was organised by the Belarusian League for Sexual Equality “Lambda” BLL and Forum Lambda, a magazine for Belarusian gays and lesbians. The festival program included a seminar for journalists on "lesbians and gay men in the media", conference on the rights of gays and lesbians in Belarus and in the world, the exhibition of photographs and films taken homosexuals, and the competitions “Mr. Gay Belarus” and “Transmission”. The festival was supported by the UN Development Programme, studio Tatyana, United Way Belarus, IREX, the Titanic Club, and guests from Ukraine. During one of the parties, the club was raided by riot police that frisked the contestants.

In 2000, the organisers of the festival encountered great difficulty in preparing for the event. According to Edward Tarletski, head of the organising committee, the radio station Radio BA which was to cover the event and grant its dancehall for evening events received an order from the presidential administration not to do so. Other radio stations reportedly refused support on the same grounds, and events at other venues also were canceled. Orthodox Church-related groups demonstrated in Minsk against the gay festival on 9 September, on the day before the festival was planned. The pride march through the city was banned by the city government 24 hours before it was due to take place, and authorities acted on the day to prevent festivities. Newspapers reported the outcome of the day.

In 2001, the Belarus government allegedly prohibited the Belarus Gay Pride Festival. On 3 August 2001, unidentified vandals broke into and vandalised the flat of Lambda Belarus leader Andrei Babkin where fliers, posters and booklets of Gay Pride 2001 had been kept.

In 2002, days before Gay Pride 2002, Lambda Belarus leader Edward Tarletski was called to the Minsk police station where he was told that if a gay pride parade took place, "the police will not take any responsibility for possible disorder."

In 2004, an international gay and lesbian festival was forced to be canceled. The organizing committee of the final (Belarusian) phase of the 4th International Moonbow Human Rights & Homo Cultural Festival and the first stage of this year's ILGCN (International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network) World Lesbian and Gay World Conference in August 2004 were forced to cancel the event in Minsk. This came after authorities frightened a club owner into withdrawing his promise to host the event. In addition, threatening phone calls from authorities said foreigners trying to attend the event for workshops and discussions "would be immediately expelled from the country in keeping with the article of intervention in domestic affairs of the Republic of Belarus."

On 27 October 2008, the same group asked permission to hold a protest in support of gay rights near the Russian Embassy in Minsk. Both events were not authorised. Because the country is currently not a member of the Council of Europe, Belarusian activists cannot appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. It is the same group which decided to organise with Russian LGBT activists a Slavic Pride which is planned to alternate between Moscow and Minsk every year. In January 2009, an event titled "The Right to Love" was planned and designed to raise public awareness about homophobia and discrimination against LGBT people in Belarus. Authorization was denied. LGBT activist Roman Mandryk filed a complaint in the Court of the Central Borough of Gomel in response to this decision of the Gomel City Administration. In the text of the complaint, Mr. Mandryk claims that the decision of the Gomel City Administration violated his right to freedom of Assembly as guaranteed by Article 35 of the Constitution of Belarus. He adds that Regulation 299 itself is unconstitutional in that it imposes unreasonable burdens on those seeking to organize public gatherings. The organizers intend to pursue this claim until it is resolved and hope to be able to organize a gathering in 2010.

Month against Homophobia
The "Month against Homophobia" was a campaign by Belarusian LGBT activists from 17 April to 17 May 2009 in Minsk, Grodno and Luninets. It consisted of informational campaigns and events. The month was organized by Gayby.org, Gay.by, members of the League of Sexual Equality "Lambda", and Amnesty International (Belarus). More than 50 media outlets reported about the month's events. Belarusian media began to talk about gay and lesbian people.

The main aim of the Month against Homophobia was to resist any kind of physical, moral and symbolic violence to people with a different sexual orientation and gender identity, to show solidarity to LGBT in the world who are unable to fight for their rights, and to carry a wider campaign for human rights.

Anti-LGBT violence
There is no Belarusian law that refers specifically to perpetrators of crimes motivated by homophobia. In the Criminal Code, homosexuals are only singled out when they are the “subjects” of a crime (e.g., when they are the perpetrators), and not when they are “objects” (e.g., victims of a crime). Judicial and police organs do not express any eagerness to collect evidence about the homophobic motives of those who perpetrate crimes. Judges are not obliged to consider such motives as aggravating the circumstances of guilt, or to impose more severe punishments when homophobic motives are present. LGBT people are in danger to face discrimination and violence.

On 18 April 2001, a dead body of the pensioner Alexander Stephanovich, known in Minsk as a homosexual, was found in the yard of the apartment block where he lived. His body was stabbed all over with knives. On 16 May of the same year, Andrei Babkin, an activist with Lambda Belarus, was badly beaten and raped at the entrance to his flat. He was taken to the hospital with severe injuries.

On 2 July, the police in Minsk detained and badly beat Andrei Scherbakov, one of the founders of Lambda Belarus. The next day, Ivan Suchinski, the owner of the gay club Oskar was killed. The club had been closed by the authorities in February 2000, and Ivan brought civil claims because of the unfair actions of the police. On 13 November 2001 in Molodechno, Lambda Belarus leader Edward Tarletski was assaulted which resulted in a concussion and required seven days' hospitalization.

On 15 February 2002 in Zhlobin (Gomel Region), 34-year-old accountant Victor Kovyl was found dead in his parents’ flat. He was an openly gay man both at work and in public. The police refused to give the details of the murder to Kovyl's partner Alexander and one of the members of the police said to him: “It serves you right, sodomites (faggots)!”.

On 12 April 2002, an assault and beating of gay men took place outside the gay club “Babylon”. According to witnesses a group of skin heads (10 to 12 men) attacked three patrons before the police arrived. Among the victims was Edward Tarletski, editor-in-chief of gay magazine Forum Lambda and leader of Lambda Belarus. On 10 June in Kommunar, Buda-Kashalyova District, Gomel region, three unidentified men beat and raped local resident Dmitrii L., 18. The victim was taken to the hospital where he spent two weeks.

On the evening of 2 October 2002, Edward Tarletski was assaulted outside his flat entrance on his way home. Four unidentified men asked him if his name was Tarletski and started beating him. That night he was taken to the hospital. He had a broken shoulder and three smashed teeth.

In 2002, the Minsk police started a criminal case in connection with the murder of Mikhail M., 50, whose mutilated body was found in his flat on 17 November. According to the police this was the fifth murder of this kind committed in the capital of Belarus. However, the detectives fully denied the possibility of a serial killer.

On 18 February 2003 Tarletski was beaten again by unidentified persons near his house. Edward was taken to the hospital with a head injury and plenty of bruises on his body. On 29 March of the same year, a bouncer at the night club Budda-Bar in Minsk beat Yuliya Yukhnovetz, a volunteer for Minsk Pride, because she kissed a girl in the club hallway. She was taken to the hospital where she was diagnosed with an injured cranium.

On 28 May 2008, Edward Tarletski was attacked again by three youths in Minsk. Tarletski stated that he did not intend to report the attack to police because they would not do anything about the incident. He also said this attack was the third against him in five years.

At the mid of September 2008, two transgender men had been raped in Minsk. Victims did not report to the police; they were not sure that they would help them.

In prisons and correctional facilities, homosexuality is subject to speculation, blackmail and extortion. While in prison, gays and lesbians are largely unprotected. Reportedly, executing bodies often make use of prisoners’ sexual inclinations to receive needed data, and turnkeys often encourage prisoners to abuse homosexuals.

Police officers seek information of a personal nature about homosexual persons who are victims of violence. This information is of no relevance to the prosecution the perpetrators of the crimes against those victims. Police officers collect information of a personal nature as well as passport data and mugshots of homosexual persons who visit known gay cruising areas. The national NGO “Vstrecha” [“Meeting”] (HIV-prevention group for gay men) reported about those practices in Brest and Gomel. Police officers refuse to register cases of brutality committed against sexual minorities and do not conduct investigations that would seek criminal responsibility from the perpetrators of crimes motivated by homophobic prejudice. Lambda Belarus reported many cases of brutality against lesbians and gays and passive behaviour of police in all regions of the country. Police have conducted unprovoked actions in bars frequented by homosexuals. AILGBT-Belarus, “Vstrecha”, Lambda Belarus and lesbian group “YANA” reported about those practices in Gomel and Minsk.

Mental health
A high percentage of suicide is observed amongst gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. Qualified psychological help generally is not available. In Minsk, the capital of Belarus, three universities – Belarus State University, Belarus Pedagogical University and European Humanities University – have full psychology courses in their curriculum but do not address the problems of sexual minorities.

In education
In May 2003, the administration of the European Humanities University in Minsk banned a showing of the documentary Outlawed about discrimination of gays and lesbians all around the world. According to the university staff, the ban was made under pressure of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In the military
According to the Belarusian Ministry of Defense and the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military of the University of California, Santa Barbara, Belarus bans gays from serving in the military. AILGBT-Belarus has documented at least five cases of gay men from Gomel who did not serve in the army because of their sexual orientations. No cases of harassment of gays in the army are reported, but this may be the result of gay individuals hiding their sexuality.

Political figures' stances on LGBT rights
The open support of lesbians and gays is not a popular position for a political movement in Belarus. In July 2001, the Organising Committee of the 1st Belarusian Youth Congress, voted against allowing delegates of Lambda Belarus to participate. In March 2002, a number of Belarusian media published the statements of Young Front (the youth organisation of Belarusian Popular Front), which contained homophobic statements. Specifically, Young Front leader Paval Sieviaryniec published a letter where he called homosexuality “a death-worthy sin and perversion”. According to Sieviaryniec, the fact of the existence of homosexuals is “the result of spoiling and sinfulness in the world”.

In another incident, Belarusian sexual minorities attempted to make a formal statement of solidarity with victims of the Chernobyl disaster. This attempt created a backlash, which led to an opposition youth leader, Zmitser Dashkevich, stating on the radio program "Freedom Night" that Belarus is no place for gays, and that homosexuals are sick people and that the opposition would not enter into a dialogue with them.

In September 2004, President Lukashenko, in a speech before the Belarusian Security Council, said, "we have to show our society in the near future, what ‘they’ [the European Union and the United States] are doing here, how they are trying to turn our girls into prostitutes, how they are feeding our citizens with illicit drugs, how they are spreading sexual perversion here, which methods they are employing".

In 2018, minister of interior Igor Shunevich used abusive language on national television describing homosexuals. Human rights defenders called to open a criminal case for discriminatory statements, but the government didn't find any violations by Shunevich.

Blood donation
There are no particular limitations for gay and bisexual men to donate blood. All the procedures and requirements are the same for all donors.

Public opinion
Gay life is still largely underground, and most Belarusians consider homosexuality a disorder. Homophobic attitudes, suspicions and prejudices are still very strong. According to a survey by the Belarusian Lambda League for Sexual Equality (Lambda Belarus) in April 2002, 47% of Belarusians think that gays should be imprisoned. In 2007, Information Center TEMA and MyGomel.com organized a vote about the reaction of Gomel region youth to sexual minorities. 47.6% had negative feelings to sexual and gender minorities, 10% want to criminalize homosexual relations.

The most recent poll by Pew Research Center published in May 2017 suggests that 16% of Belarusians are in favor of same-sex marriage while 81% oppose the idea, which was significantly higher than in Ukraine (12%), Russia (5%) and Moldova (5%). Younger people are more likely than their elders to favor legal gay marriage (22% vs. 14%).

In May 2017, a survey by the Pew Research Center in Eastern European countries showed that 84% of Belarusians believed that homosexuality should not be accepted by society.

title: LGBT rights in Belarus


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User:Maltmomma

 "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." ~ Anatole France  My passion is the Maltese (dog) breed and I am owned by 3 of the precious pooches. I am currently trying to learn all I can about dog conformation and I hope to one day show Maltese. I am a Registered Nurse with a current focus on Pediatrics with a subspecialty in Neonatology.

I'm an Episcopalian /Anglican, conservative Texan. I was born in Germany and am an Army brat and proud of it. My family's roots are in Connecticut, Nebraska, Nova Scotia and Western Europe but I consider myself Texan through and through.

 * Texan Collaboration of the Month
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title: User:Maltmomma


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Sivasankari

Sivasankari (born 14 October 1942) is an Indian author and activist who writes in Tamil. She is one of the four Tamil writers asked by the United States Library of Congress to record their voice as part of the South Asian article on Sivashankari.

Early life
Sivasankari was born in Madras. Including herself, all the children in her family were educated in the Sri Ramakrishna Mission and Sarada Vidyalaya schools. She then studied at SIET College for Women.

She worked for Citibank as a Public relations officer.

Career
Her novels were made into the films Avan Aval Adhu (1980) Novel Oru Singam Muyalagiradhu Directed by Muktha Srinivasan (125days) 47 Natkal (1981) directed by K. Balachander and starred Chiranjeevi and Jaya Prada. She is the author of the novel, which was made into a TV series called Subah on Doordarshan in 1987.

Books

 * 47 Naatkal
 * Aatril Oru Kaal Setril Oru Kaal
 * Aayiram Kaalathu Payir
 * Adimaadugal
 * Anilgal
 * Amma Pillai
 * Amma, Please, Enakkaga
 * Appa
 * Aval
 * En?
 * Ini
 * Innoruthi + Innoruthi
 * Karunai Kolai
 * Kinattru Thavalaigal
 * Kulappangal
 * Malaiyin Adutha Pakkam
 * Mella Mella
 * Mudhal Konal
 * Naan Naanaga
 * Nandu
 * Nerunji Mul
 * Nooleni
 * Oru Manithanin Kathai
 * Paalangal
 * Pogapoga
 * Suriya Vamsam Ninaivalaigal - 1
 * Suriya Vamsam Ninaivalaigal - 2
 * Sutta Man
 * Theppakulam
 * Thirisangu Sorgam
 * Uyarnthavargal
 * Vaanathu Nila

Filmography

 * Avan Aval Adhu (1980)
 * 47 Natkal (1981)
 * Nandu (1981)
 * Thiyagu (1990)
 * Kutty (2001)

title: Sivasankari


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Garcia de Orta

Garcia de Orta (or Garcia d'Orta; 1501–1568) was a Portuguese physician, herbalist, and naturalist, who worked primarily in Goa and Bombay in Portuguese India.

A pioneer of tropical medicine, pharmacognosy, and ethnobotany, Garcia used an experimental approach to the identification and the use of herbal medicines, rather than the older approach of received knowledge.

His most famous work is Colóquios dos simples e drogas da India, a book on simples (herbs used individually and not mixed with others) and drugs. Published in 1563, it is the earliest treatise on the medicinal and economic plants of India. Carolus Clusius translated it into Latin, which was widely used as a standard reference text on medicinal plants.

Although Garcia de Orta did not suffer the Goa Inquisition, his sister Catarina was burnt at the stake in 1569 for being a secret Jew and, based on her confession, his remains were later exhumed and burnt, along with an effigy, at an auto-da-fé.

Memorials recognizing his contributions have been built in both Portugal and India.

Life
Garcia de Orta was born in Castelo de Vide, probably in 1501, the son of Fernão (Isaac) da Orta, a merchant, and Leonor Gomes. He had three sisters, Violante, Catarina and Isabel. Their parents were Spanish Jews from Valencia de Alcántara who had taken refuge, as many others did, in Portugal at the time of the great expulsion of the Spanish Jews by the Reyes Catolicos Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain in 1492. Forcibly converted to Christianity in 1497, they were pejoratively classed as Cristãos Novos (New Christians) and marranos ("swine"). Some of these refugees maintained their Jewish faith secretly. A friendly neighbor at Castelo de Vide was the nobleman Dom Fernão de Sousa, Lord of Labruja, who may have influenced the idea for Garcia's father to send him to University. Dom Fernão's son Martim Afonso de Sousa would become a key figure in later life.

Garcia studied medicine, arts and philosophy at the Universities of Alcalá de Henares and Salamanca in Spain. He graduated and returned to Portugal in 1525, two years after his father's death. He practiced medicine first in his hometown and from 1526 onwards in Lisbon, where he gained a lectureship at the university in 1532. He also became a royal physician to John III of Portugal.

Perhaps fearing the increasing power of the Portuguese Inquisition, and fortunately evading the ban on emigration of New Christians, he sailed for Portuguese India leaving the Tagus in March 1534 as Chief Physician aboard the fleet of Martim Afonso de Sousa, later to be named Governor. He reached Goa in September. He travelled with Sousa on various campaigns, then, in 1538, settled at Goa, where he soon had a prominent medical practice. He was a physician to Burhan Nizam Shah I of the Nizam Shahi dynasty of Ahmadnagar, and concurrently to several successive Portuguese Viceroys and governors of Goa. While Garcia de Orta was a physician of the Sultan and teacher of Portuguese of his son, the Prince, he met and dined several times with the high ranking cavalry general of the Sultan, Firangi Khan. Garcia de Orta reports that the cavalry commander sometimes violated religious directives, eating pork and drinking wine in these private dinners. Firangi Khan had converted to Islam for apparently material reasons and had a very important role in the court of the Sultanate, but subsidized charities to Misericórdias in the relationship he had with the Portuguese empire (despite serving an intermittent enemy Muslim state) and, according to Orta, "urged other Christians to never abdicate their principles." He even projected return to his home city in his country (already secretly pardoned by the viceroy Afonso de Noronha). Firangi Khan was not his title (and name, which literally means "foreigner Khan") of origin. His name was Sancho Pires, a former gunner (bombardeiro), Portuguese, and natural of Matosinhos. He died in battle in India.

The King of Portugal through the Viceroy Dom Pedro Mascarenhas granted a lifelong lease (on payment of a quit-rent) to Garcia da Orta for the Ilha da Boa Vida ("the Island of the Good Life") which became a part of Bombay. This was probably somewhere between September 1554 and June 1555. The only condition of the lease was that he had to improve the place. He had a manor house with a large garden. He probably maintained an excellent library here. This manor stood not far from where the Town Hall of Bombay was built. Garcia probably let out the house to Simao Toscano. At the time of Bombay's transfer to the English, the manor was occupied by Dona Ignez de Miranda, widow of Dom Rodrigo de Monsanto. It was in this house that the treaty by which Bombay was transferred to the English was signed by Humphrey Cooke on February 18, 1665. Garcia describes the people around Bassein and their traditions in his book. Contrary to some early biographical accounts, Garcia de Orta married a wealthy cousin, Brianda de Solis, in 1543; the marriage was unhappy, but the couple had two daughters. In 1549, his mother and two of his sisters, who had been imprisoned as Jews in Lisbon, managed to join him in Goa. According to a confession by his brother-in-law after his death, Garcia de Orta privately continued to assert that "the Law of Moses was the true law"; in other words, he, probably in common with others in his family, remained a Jewish believer. In 1565, an inquisitorial court was opened in Goa. Active persecution against Jews, secret Jews, Hindus and New Christians began. Garcia himself died in 1568, apparently without having suffered seriously from this persecution, but his sister Catarina was arrested as a Jew in the same year and was burned at the stake for Judaism in Goa on October 25, 1569. Garcia himself was posthumously convicted of Judaism. His remains were exhumed and burned along with an effigy in an auto da fé on December 4, 1580. A compilation of the auto-da-fé statistics of the Goa Inquisition from 1560 to 1812 reveal that a total of 57 persons (crypto-Jews, crypto-Muslims, etc.) were burnt in the flesh and 64 in effigy (i.e. a statue resembling the person). The fate of his daughters is not known. During his lifetime, Orta's family members, including his mother and sisters were arrested and interrogated briefly in Portugal but they were probably protected by his friend and patron, Martim Afonso de Sousa, who was Governor-General of Portuguese India from 1542 to 1545.

Work
Garcia de Orta's busy practice evidently prevented him from travelling much beyond the west coast of India, but in the busy market and trading hub of Goa he met spice merchants, traders and physicians from many parts of southern Asia and the Indian Ocean coasts. He was confident in Portuguese, Spanish, Hebrew, Latin, Greek and Arabic (he did not know Sanskrit ); his work shows that he gathered considerable knowledge from traditional medicine practitioners from several regions of India. Correspondents and agents sent him seeds and plants; he also traded in spices, drugs and precious stones. He evidently kept a laboratory and botanical garden. De Orta was influenced by Yunnani medicine as well as Ayurveda, although quoting Galen, al-Rhazi and Ibn-Sina more often. He tended to use European approaches in medicine and only when they failed did he make use of local methods.

His remarkable knowledge of Eastern spices and drugs is revealed in his only known work, Colóquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da Índia ("Conversations on the simples, drugs and medicinal substances of India"), the first edition of which was published at Goa in 1563. This book deals with a series of substances, many of them unknown or the subject of confusion and misinformation in Europe at this period. For instance, prior to his publication, tamarind was thought to come from a palm tree. He also noted many details on plants and their propagation. He was the first European to describe the symptoms of several Asiatic tropical diseases, notably cholera; he performed an autopsy on a cholera victim, the first recorded autopsy in India. Garcia de Orta reveals in his writings an unusual independence in the face of the usually revered texts of ancient authorities, Greek, Latin and Arabic. The Coloquios has 59 chapters and it was written in the style of a dialogue between da Orta and a traditional doctor, Ruano. Using a dialogue form was a common literary practice when dealing with the tensions between established and new forms of knowledge. Orta's work questions assumptions made in the past with alternative hypotheses to the ideas from Ibn-Sina and Averroes. His scientific method has been suggested to be a combination of empiricism and hypothesism.

Da Orta critiqued the work of Leonhart Fuchs. Through his character he commented that Fuchs "...knew little of physic, and still less of things to save his soul, being a heretic condemned for Lutheranism. His books were put in the condemned catalogue" and "though medicine is not the science of the Christian religion, still I abhor the author".

In one place he points out that the Portuguese traders took little interest in acquiring knowledge: "The Portuguese, who navigate over a greater part of the world only procure a knowledge of how best to dispose of that merchandise of what they bring here and what they shall take back. They are not desirous of knowing anything about the things in the countries they visit. If they know a product they do not learn from what tree it comes, and if they see it they do not compare it with one of our Indian trees, nor ask about its fruit or what it is like."

The printing press was introduced into Goa in 1556. The printer for Garcia is thought to have been João de Endem who began with Joao Quinquenio de Campania and continued after him. The rare first edition was full of typographical errors and was only the fifth European book ever printed in Goa and among the first few from India. The errata, probably the longest in printing history, ran to twenty pages and end with a statement that the list was probably incomplete. The English translation by Clements Markham included illustrations of some of the Indian plants by Cristóvão da Costa. Markham considered da Costa's work published in Spanish in 1578, Tractado de las drogas y medicinas de las Indias orientales ("Treatise of the drugs and medicines of the East Indies") to be largely based on that of de Orta but some others have pointed out significant differences.

Garcia's travels to Portuguese Ceylon (Jaffna) on campaigns with Martim allowed him to study Sri Lankan medicinal plants. Among the descriptions from here are plants used in the treatment of snakebite. Some of the information is based on folklore, such as the plants that were supposedly eaten by mongoose after being bitten by cobras. Orta also described plants of forensic importance such as the use of Datura used by thieves and robbers to poison their victims.

The preface of the book includes a verse by his friend, the poet Luís de Camões, now considered as Portugal's national poet. Luis de Camões had worked briefly in Portuguese Macau before returning to Goa in 1561. In his poem Os Lusíadas, Camões plays on the word "Orta" which refers to his friend as well as meaning "garden". The book was dedicated to Dom Francisco Coutinho, Count of Redondo, Viceroy of Goa from 1561 to 1564, and to his friend Martim de Sousa. In the preface he pointed out that he could well have written the book in Latin but chose Portuguese so that the traders and other locals could make use of it.

Garcia de Orta's work was accidentally discovered by Clusius in early 1564 and he translated it into Latin, while also changing it from a dialogue to an epitomized form, and this was widely read across Europe and underwent several editions.

Books
The first edition of Garcia de Orta's book was in Portuguese and published from Goa in 1563 and had 217 pages. Only about six copies were thought to exist according to Valentine Ball in 1890. A second version was published in Lisbon in 1872. An abridged Latin version was produced by Carolus Clusius in 1567 with subsequent editions in 1574, 1579, 1582, 1584, 1593, 1595 and 1605/6. A translation of the Latin version into Italian was produced by Annibal de Briganti in 1576, followed by other editions in 1582, 1589 and 1616. A Spanish version of the Tractado of Cristobal A'Costa which included Clusius's abridgement and A'Costas's personal observation was published in 1578 from Burgos.
 * Coloquios dos Simples e Drogas da India. Band 1 . Imprensa nacional, Lisboa 1891 (Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf)
 * Coloquios dos Simples e Drogas da India. Band 2 . Imprensa nacional, Lisboa 1892 (Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf)
 * Histoire des drogues, espiceries, et de certains medicamens simples, qui naissent és Indes et en l'Amerique : divisé en deux parties: La première comprise en 4 livres: Les deux premiers de Garcie Du Jardin, le troisième de Christophle de La Coste, et le quatrième de l'histoire du baulme, adjousteée de nouveau en ceste 2. éd.: où il est prouvé, que nous avons le vray baulme d'Arabie, contre l'opinion des anciens et modernes ; la seconde composée de deux livres de maistre Nicolas Monard traictant de ce qui nous est apporté de l'Amerique.... Lyon : Pillehotte, 1619. (Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.)

Legacy
Garcia's work influenced a number of later herbals and botanical works including those by Juan Fragoso, Nicolas Monardes, Hendrik van Rheede and Jacobus Bontius. The "Jardim Garcia de Orta", a public garden in Lisbon, as well the "Escola Secundária Garcia de Orta" high school in Porto and the "Hospital Garcia de Orta" in Almada, are named in his memory.

In Goa, the municipal garden (built in 1855) in the capital city of Panjim has been named as "Garcia de Orta" in his memory. It is located facing the main city square that also houses the majestic church of Our Lady of Immaculate conception (Nossa Senhora da Concepção Imaculada) and was renovated in 2010.

A postal stamp of Garcia de Orta was released by Portugal in 1963. In 1971, the 20 Escudos bank note carried a picture of Garcia de Orta.

Name variants
Garcia de Orta has been Latinized in some works as "Garcias ab Horto" and then translated variously with some French works referring to him as "de la Huerta" and "Dujardin".

title: Garcia de Orta


text: User talk:82.77.240.157

title: User talk:82.77.240.157


text:
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A., known as BMPS or just MPS, is an Italian bank. Tracing its history to a mount of piety founded in 1472 (552.7722198016237 years ago) and established in its present form in 1624 (400.844015907661 years ago), it is the world's oldest or second oldest bank, depending on the definition, and the fifth largest Italian commercial and retail bank.

In 1995, the bank (then known as Monte dei Paschi di Siena) was transformed from a statutory corporation to a limited company called Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (Banca MPS). The Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena was created to continue the charitable functions of the bank and to be, until the bailout in 2013, its largest single shareholder.

According to research by Mediobanca and a press release issued by Banco BPM, Banco BPM overtook BMPS as the third largest commercial banking group in Italy (in terms of total assets) on 31 December 2016, after Banco BPM's formal formation on 1 January 2017. In 2016–17, BMPS was struggling to avoid a collapse, and it was bailed out again by the Italian government in July 2017.

In 2020, BMPS had approximately 1,400 branches, 21,000 employees and 3.9 million customers in Italy, as well as branches and businesses abroad. A subsidiary, MPS Capital Services, handles corporate and investment banking. It has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of European Banking Supervision in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the European Central Bank.

History

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena traces its history to a mount of piety (monte di pietà) founded by order of the Magistrature of the Republic of Siena on 4 March 1472, when its statute was approved. It is therefore often regarded as being the oldest bank in the world in continuous operation. The basis of its foundation is the Statuto dei Paschi, written in 1419, a law that regulated all activities related to agriculture and pastoralism in Maremma.

Its current form dates from 1624, when Siena was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and Grand Duke Ferdinando II granted to depositors of Monte, in their warranty, the income of the state-owned pastures of Maremma (the so-called "Paschi" which gave the bank its name). The bank consolidated and increased its banking activity during the 17th and 18th centuries.

With the unification of Italy, the bank expanded its business throughout the Italian peninsula, initiating new activities, including mortgage loans, the first experience in Italy. It was still state-owned by the late 19th century. MPS was also involved in the bail-out of Cassa di Risparmio di Prato, becoming the major shareholder.

In 1995, a decree of the Ministry of the Treasury of the Italian Republic dated 8 August 1995, gave rise to two institutions: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. and Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena, a non-profit organization with the statutory purpose of providing assistance, charity and social utility in the fields of education, science, health and art, especially with reference to the city and the province of Siena.

On 25 June 1999, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena was listed successfully on the Italian Stock Exchange.

Expansion (2000–2006)

After its debut on the Italian Stock Exchange, the bank began an intense phase of commercial and operational expansion. The bank acquired some regional banks: Banca Agricola Mantovana and Banca del Salento, while subsidiary Banca Toscana was absorbed. In 2003, the controlling interests (79%) of Cassa di Risparmio di Prato was sold to Banca Popolare di Vicenza in March 2003 for €411.2 million. The bank had also started a process to reinforce the structures of production in strategic market segments through the development of product companies:

 * Consum.it in the sector of consumer credit
 * MPS Leasing and Factoring in the parabanking sector
 * MPS Finance in investment banking
 * MP Asset Management SGR in managed savings
 * MPS Bsersonale in financial promotion
 * MPS Banca per l'Impresa in credit for businesses and corporate finance services

At the same time, the bank upgraded its commercial productivity, with the aim of improving the level of assistance and consultancy to investors and businesses, and updated its activities in private banking and in private pension plans. At the conclusion of this plan of expansion, the bank implemented a vast program of opening new branches of the Group, with more than 2,000 branches. In order to finance this expansion model, the bank entered into some derivatives that were hidden: operations Santorini in 2002 and Alexandria in 2006.

Antonveneta acquisition (2006–2008)
On 8 November 2007, Monte dei Paschi di Siena announced that it had reached an agreement with Banco Santander to buy Banca Antonveneta for €9 billion excluding the subsidiary Interbanca that is owned by the Spanish bank. Antonveneta is the bank that after the Bancopoli scandal was acquired by ABN AMRO and was supposed to go to Banco Santander after the purchase of the Dutch bank by the consortium of RBS, Santander, Fortis.

From February 2007 to June 2008 Banca MPS sold all the shares (27.839%) in Finsoe, an intermediate holding company of Unipol Group, for €584.8 million. In 2008, Quadrifoglio Vita, a joint venture insurance company of Unipol and Banca Agricola Mantovana, was acquired by AXA from Unipol via Banca MPS, Banca Agricola Mantovana was also absorbed into Banca MPS.

Banca MPS also acquired regional bank Cassa di Risparmio di Biella e Vercelli from Intesa Sanpaolo in December 2007 for about €399 million.

Global financial crisis (2008–2012)

In the wake of rising yields and declining valuations on Italian government debt in the European sovereign-debt crisis, MPS lost over $2 billion in the first half of 2012, had to recapitalize, and faced restructuring or worse. The majority owner until the recapitalization, the Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena, long resisted issuing new capital which would dilute its holding. In September 2012, even after the dilution, the bank "appear[ed] poised" also to give the national government a greater ownership stake in return for more capital.

In December 2012, Cassa di Risparmio di Biella e Vercelli was sold to Cassa di Risparmio di Asti for about €205.5 million.

Hidden losses and Bank of Italy bailout (2013)
In 2009, the Santorini and Alessandria operations began creating huge losses. In order to hide them in the bank's financial statements, the top management, including Giuseppe Mussari, the bank president, chose to enter into derivative contracts with Deutsche Bank and Nomura. This arrangement eventually led to prison sentences for 13 bank executives.

Estimates of the losses accumulated by the Santorini and Alessandria operations in the period leading up to the derivative contracts range from €500 to €750 million. The documentation concerning these operations was never communicated to the bank's own auditors or the Banca d'Italia. The derivative contracts and related documentation were discovered and made public by the new board of the bank at the end of November 2012. The documentation was then forwarded to the Banca d'Italia between December 2012 and mid-January 2013. The shareholders and the analysts have ascertained that the bank had not declared losses from derivatives. On 22 January 2013, the bank's shares lost 5.6% on the stock exchange and Mussari resigned as president of Associazione Bancaria Italiana.

On 23 January 2013, the scandal of the hidden derivatives was revealed. The bank's shares dropped 8.43% on the stock exchange that day, and another 8% the next day.

On 25 January 2013, an extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders of the bank was convened. They resolved to grant the Board of Directors the power to increase the share capital by a maximum amount of €4.5 billion to service the exercise of conversion rights of the bank of the Monti bonds. MPS called for an intervention of €3.9 billion, including €1.9 billion for the replacement of the previous Tremonti bonds.

The delegation of the extraordinary powers to the Board of Directors has also included the possibility of increasing the share capital of €2 billion at the exclusive service of the payment of interest payable in shares. The shareholders approved with a 98% vote in favour.

After the vote, the bank recovered 11.36% on the stock exchange after having lost more than 20% of its value in three sessions in three days.

On 26 January 2013 the Banca d'Italia (Bank of Italy) approved a bailout request from the bank for €3.9 billion ($5.3 billion).

The firm sparked fresh controversy in 2013 when it was accused of misleading Italy's market regulator in October 2012, shortly before it received a 4.1-billion euro ($5.47 billion) state bailout.

On 29 December 2013, Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena rejected plans for issuing €3 billion worth of new shares, delaying the raising of capital until at least May 2014 and increasing the risk of nationalization.

In November 2019, after a three-year trial, 13 former bank executives received prison sentences. The Monte dei Paschi ex-chairman and CEO received seven years each; two senior executives five and four years. Three bankers from Deutsche Bank received five years and two from Nomura received five and three years. The court decided that they had conspired to hide Monte dei Pasche's losses of €2bn between 2008 and 2012 by using complicated derivative contracts. Deutsche Bank and Nomura were fined €160m; Monte dei Paschi had paid €10.6m after a plea bargain in 2016.

Following an appeal, in May 2022, a Milan appeals court ruling overturned the 2019 conviction of the former executives and the two banks over derivative deals and cancelled the seizures imposed on Deutsche Bank and Nomura Holdings Inc. In October 2023, Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation confirmed the acquittals in Monte dei Paschi derivatives case.

A very slow recovery (2014–2022)
In March 2014, BlackRock declared a 5.748 percent stake in the bank (as the bank was still a constituent of stock market indices at that time, such as the FTSE MIB, fund managers held stakes in their index tracking funds, and were required to disclose stakes of 5% or higher). In July, the capital increase was completed, of which the banking foundation had just owned 2.500% shares. In October, the bank failed the ECB's stress test of major European banks, (first Comprehensive Assessment of European Banking Supervision) and was given two weeks to prepare a plan to raise €2.11 billion in capital. Despite issuing €5 billion in shares just four months earlier, the ECB declared the bank unable to withstand a financial catastrophe. Shares proceeded to drop 22%. In November, 2014, the bank reported a loss of €1.1497 billion in the 3rd quarter of the year. Eventually in 2014 financial year, the bank had a net loss of €5.3429 billion, resulting in the capital increase to be vaporized. The Tier 1 capital ratio of the bank was 8.7% as at 31 December 2014.

On 6 July 2015, following the Greek bailout referendum, trading in Monte dei Paschi shares was suspended after they fell 5.7%. Eventually Banca MPS achieved a net profit of €388 million in 2015. but mainly due to the effect of the restatement as a CDS derivative of the Alexandria transaction. The CET1 capital ratio of the bank was 12%, mainly due to another capital increase during the year, which the European Central Bank required Banca MPS to have a minimum of 10.75% from 31 December 2016 onward, or 10.2% in the transitional period. Moreover, both the gross (34%) and net non-performing loan to total loan ratio (22%) were still higher than the Italian average (18.1% in gross and 10.8% in net at December 2015) and the Italian average itself was higher than the European Union average.

On 21 January 2016 MPS securitized €1.6 billion performing lease receivables portfolio for a value of €1.4173 billion. The bank repurchased €656 million of the securities (tranches B to D) and sold €761.3 million of the securities to the market (tranche A).

In April 2016 German Bundesbank board member Andreas Dombret commented that many Greek and Italian banks were zombie banks that were kept for political reasons. He urged that European Central Bank should deal with banks with high level of non-performing loans. However, he did not state specifically if BMPS was one of the zombie banks or not. On 23 June a gross value of €290 million bad loan portfolio was disposed of without recourse to Kruk Group. On 4 July the bank confirmed that a request of reducing non-performing loans from European Central Bank was received. In 2015 the bank had €46.9 billion NPLs in gross and €24.2 billion in net. The bank targeted to reduce the gross NPLs to total loans ratio to 20% in 2018. However, this was still higher than the Italian average at 31 December 2015.

On 29 July 2016, 2016 European Union bank stress test was announced. Among the 51 banks in the test, BMPS was the only bank that CET1 ratio (in full Basel III basis) was forecast as negative in the adverse scenario in 2018. If setting CET1 Ratio and Total Capital Ratio (fully loaded basis) targets at 8% and 11.5% respectively even in the adverse scenario in 2018, it would mean the bank would have a capital shortfall of €8.8 billion (core tier 1, additional tier 1 and tier 2 capitals combined), according to European Central Bank publication on 29 December 2016.

On the same day, the plan to recapitalize the bank for €5 billion was announced; the bank also planned to securitize the entire bad loan portfolio for a target of €9.2 billion, which had a net book value of €10.2 billion as at 31 March 2016. The junior tranche would be allocated to the shareholders of the bank (for a proposed €1.6 billion); the mezzanine tranche would be sold to Atlante for €1.6 billion (revised to purchase junior mezzanine tranche for €1.526 billion in December 2016); the senior tranches would be sold to the market with some of them being eligible to state guarantee (Garanzia sulla Cartolarizzazione delle Sofferenze) for €6 billion. It was expected to reduce the gross NPLs ratio to 17.8%, on par with Italian average but still higher than many European peers. In December 2016, the disposal plan was modified: a senior mezzanine tranche (for €1.171 billion) was added—to be underwritten by the bank itself.

In September 2016, CEO Fabrizio Viola and chairman Massimo Tononi resigned. They were replaced by Marco Morelli and Alessandro Falciai, respectively.

On 28 November 2016, every 100 BMPS shares were converted into one new BMPS share and, on 2 December 2016, AXA and BMPS announced a renewal of their partnership bancassurance—an agreement intended to prevail until 2027.

In December 2016, BMPS successfully made debt-to-equity swap for part of their subordinated debt and Tier 1 capital instrument, for a maximum price of €24.9 per new share (on top of €5 billion new shares issue). In mid-December, BMPS reopened the offer for the swap, which reached approx. €2.451 billion. However, due to the failure to issue €5 billion new shares, the swap offer and disposal of NPLs were voided. Although J.P. Morgan, Mediobanca, Banco Santander, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs had signed a pre-underwriting agreement with BMPS in July. No banks and no anchor investor entered into contracts with BMPS.

At 01:20am, on 23 December 2016, the midnight after the failed recapitalisation, BMPS requested a precautionary recapitalisation by the Italian Government in order to bail out the bank by excising Article 32(4) of EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (The EU-wide banking resolution law, which restricted state aid to a mean of last resort). On 20 December the Italian Government had already raised €20 billion to set up a save-savings (salva-risparmio) fund in order to subscribe a possible recapitalisation of UniCredit, BMPS, Banca Popolare di Vicenza, Veneto Banca and Banca Carige, as well as banks that need recapitalisation in the near future.

It was reported that the subordinate bond would be mandatorily converted to shares by the resolution authority of Italy (which is Bank of Italy) as a "bail-in". However, the bank had requested a Tier 2 subordinate capital instrument "Fresh 2008" excluded from such bail-in, as many investors were retail investors.

On 25 January 2017 BMPS issued bonds with €7 billion face value. The bonds would mature from 1 to 3 years, with the state guarantee from the aforementioned government fund. The bank said the bond would be sold to the market or used as a collateral in borrowing process.

On 3 February 2017 BMPS sold its card business to Istituto Centrale delle Banche Popolari Italiane (ICBPI) for €520 million. Other leading banks of Italy, such as Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit had already sold their division in 2016.

On 9 February 2017 BMPS announced their 2016 financial results subject to the approval of general shareholders' meeting. The bank 2016 revenue, net interest income and pre-provision profit were decreased, compared to 2015. Combined with the write-down and provisions for NPLs, the net loss of the year was €3.380 billion. The CET1 ratio was reaching the legal minimal threshold of 8.0% (below ECB requirement in individual basis on the bank for 10.75%)

On 1 June 2017 European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager agreed in-principle for the state aid of the bank. On 5 July, the industrial plan of the bank was approved, which the bank would be re-capitalized for €8.1 billion, but only €3.9 billion would be underwritten by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (excluding additional shares that would be buyback from retail bondholders by the government), with the rest were the "bail-in" of bondholders, mandatorily converted the bond of the bank to shares.

On 29 July, the bank announced that the issue price of the new shares to the government was €6.49, with €8.65 for debt-to-equity shares.

Stefania Bariatti replaced her predecessor as chairperson of MPS during December 2017.

On 5 October 2018, BMPS announced the sale of its Belgian subsidiary, Banca Monte Paschi Belgio (BMPB), to a company participated in by funds managed by Warburg Pincus. The sale price was set at €42 million, subject to an adjustment mechanism. Between 2018 and 2020 the bank made 49.8% of its pre-tax profits in tax havens.

Returned to profitability & Privatisation (since 2023)
On 20 November 2023, the Italian government sold a 25% stake in MPS, thus partially privatising the bank and reducing the government's stake from 64% to 39%.

After a €178mn loss in 2022, MPS returned to full-year profit with record earnings of just over €2bn for 2023. In February 2024, MPS paid its first dividend since 2010, returning €315mn to shareholders.

On 27 March 2024, the Italian government sold a further 12.5% stake in MPS, for about €650 million. This sell further cuts Italy's stake in MPS, reducing it to 26.7% from 39.2%, and advances the government's plan to privatise MPS.

Cultural and economic-development
MPS headquarters in the Palazzo Salimbeni in Siena hosts an art collection and a large number of priceless historical documents spanning the centuries of its existence. However, this collection is not usually open to the public. The most recent publicly known acquisition of art, a gold-plated panel by Segna di Bonaventura, cost the bank nearly one million Euro. It is also internationally known as the primary sponsor of Italian basketball club Mens Sana Basket of Siena, currently in Lega A and a regular participant in the Euroleague.

In 2010, the bank was funding the expansion of a small airport in the heart of the Tuscan countryside, Siena–Ampugnano Airport, to become an international airport. Both international and local groups had raised objections to this expansion on the grounds it would damage the natural beauty of the area, the environment and the attraction of the countryside to tourism. Eventually, Aeroporto di Siena S.p.A., the company incorporated for the project, was liquidated.

Until the euro-crisis, profits from the bank financed the Palio di Siena, Siena's historic-building renovations and "biotech programs" intended to turn the Tuscan plain into a research hub. Nearly all that money – $150 million a year, on average, from 1996 to 2010 – has "evaporated" since 2010.

According to the annual report of the banking foundation, which acted as both the largest shareholders of the bank and the charity organization for Tuscan area, the foundation suffered a sharp decrease in revenue from the bank in 2009, which dropped from €340 million to just €62.5 million, thus affecting the endowment to other organizations. Along with other loss related and not related to the bank since 2010, the foundation had to suspend all the endowment to other organizations.

Major shareholders
Main shareholders of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena

 * Ministry of Economy and Finance (Italy) 68.247%
 * Generali Group 4.319%
 * treasury shares 3.181%

Concerning the share percentage of Banca MPS hold by the Italian government, it decreased from 64.23% to 39.23% in November 2023, after the Italian government sold a 25% stake in Banca MPS: this stake sale means Italy's ownership in the bank falls below 50%. In March 2024, the Italian government further reduced its stake in MPS, from 39.2% to 26.7%.

The share owned by Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena dropped from over 55% on 31 December 2009 to below CONSOB requirement to disclose (<2%) in 2015.

Since the 1936 statute 16 members of the Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena were appointed by local authorities: 8 members by the Municipality of Siena, 5 by the Province of Siena, 1 by the University of Siena, 1 by the Tuscany Region and the last by the Archdiocese of Siena-Colle di Val d’Elsa-Montalcino. The Foundation appoints the MPS governing body whose governance and operations have been highly influenced by Italian politics since the 20th century. Further research is needed to clarify the degree of this relationship, which involved some exponents of the governing body who were closely connected to Italian Freemasonry.

title: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena


text:
Talk:Serre's multiplicity conjectures

Slashdot thread

 * Section added. —Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 21:36, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

http://science.slashdot.org/science/05/04/25/1237240.shtml?tid=228&tid=14

The poster in that thread linked to the wrong conjecture. The Serre conjecture discussed there is the one relating 2 dimensional Galois representations to modular forms. 69.234.22.86 (talk) 03:27, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

title: Talk:Serre's multiplicity conjectures


text: Talk:John Brunt

title: Talk:John Brunt


text: User talk:206.80.199.222

title: User talk:206.80.199.222


text:
Allen & Overy

Allen & Overy LLP (now A&O Shearman) was a British multinational law firm headquartered in London, England. The firm has 590 partners and over 5,800 employees worldwide. In 2023 A&O reported an increase in revenue to GBP2.1 billion and is the second largest law firm headquartered in the UK by revenue.

History

Allen & Overy was founded in the City of London on 1 January 1930 by George Allen and Thomas Overy, formerly partners at Roney & Co. The main purpose was to build a commercial practice. The firm's reputation was made as a result of George Allen's role as adviser to King Edward VIII during the abdication crisis of 1936. By the time World War II broke out in 1939, Allen & Overy had firmly established itself as a leading City law firm.

Over the years, Allen & Overy has been involved in many developments in the legal field. Such work has included advising on the first hostile takeover in the City of London and acting for S. G. Warburg & Co. The firm arranged the first Eurobond (issued by Italian motorway group Autostrada) in the 1960s. The Eurobond transaction significantly diversified Allen & Overy's practice from a purely commercial into commercial and financial firm. Through the 1970s the firm's finance and corporate practice grew in the UK and internationally.

In 1996, non-UK clients contributed more to Allen & Overy's revenue than UK clients. In 1998, non-UK clients contributed two-thirds of revenue.

In 1999, Allen & Overy hired a team of banking and finance lawyers in Paris from its then ally, Gide Loyrette Nouel.

In 2000, Allen & Overy merged with part of the Amsterdam, Brussels and Luxembourg offices of Loeff Claeys Verbeke.

In May 2004, the worldwide partnership of Allen & Overy converted to a limited liability partnership, Allen & Overy LLP, which works together with associated undertakings in some jurisdictions to form a worldwide legal practice. In July 2008 Allen & Overy broke the £1 billion turnover mark, and, for the first time, over half of its turnover was generated outside London.

In 2009, following the Global Financial Crisis, Allen & Overy completed a redundancy programme which saw 400 partners and staff lose their jobs globally. As well as cutting 47 partners, the firm cut around 200 fee-earners and 200 members of support staff, half of which were based in London. Allen & Overy de-equitised a further 35 partners. In the same year, Allen & Overy demerged its private client department, which became Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP.

In 2014, Allen & Overy became the first Magic Circle firm to establish an office in sub-Saharan Africa when it opened an office in Johannesburg, South Africa.

A 2021 assessment singled out Allen & Overy among law firms as engaging in the most transactional work for fossil fuel companies.

On May 21, 2023, it was announced that Allen & Overy had agreed to terms in a merger with AMLaw100 member Shearman & Sterling, creating a firm estimated to have over 4,000 attorneys across 48 offices with a combined revenue of $3.4bn. The combined firm will be known as Allen Overy Shearman Sterling (A&O Shearman). On 13 October 2023, the deal was approved by more than 99% of partners from both firms.

Projects

 * ContractMatrix. ContractMatrix is a contract negotiation tool. It is a SaaS product with Microsoft and Harvey.
 * Harvey. In February 2023, A&O started using generative AI tool, Harvey. It is a platform that uses natural language processing, machine learning, and data analytics for various aspects of legal work, such as contract analysis, due diligence, litigation and regulatory compliance.
 * Markets Innovation Group (MIG). The Markets Innovation Group (MIG) is a team of lawyers and developers. Their projects include ContractMatrix, BrexitMatrix, IBORMatrix, and MarginMatrix. They built ContractMatrix and deployed Harvey.
 * aosphere. aosphere is an online legal analysis business tool.
 * Fuse. Fuse is a technology innovation space where technology companies, Allen & Overy lawyers, technologists and their clients can collaborate to "explore, develop and test legal, regulatory and deal-related solutions". Fuse started in September 2017. Technology startups that have formed part of Fuse include data extraction and machine-learning software providers, Kira Systems and Neota Logic, as well as Bloomsbury AI, a natural language processing software provider. Bloomsbury AI was acquired by Facebook in 2018. Facebook uses its software to address content issues, including fake news. In September 2017, content aggregator Vable was selected as one of the first seven companies to benefit from the innovation space.
 * Legal services centre. In 2011, Allen & Overy opened a legal services centre in Belfast. In 2022 Allen & Overy opened an additional legal services centre in Johannesburg.
 * Peerpoint. Peerpoint is a contract lawyer service platform.

Offices
Allen & Overy has over 40 offices in 31 countries across Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America and the Middle East.

Diversity and inclusion
In 2018, the firm has faced criticism over diversity and gender pay gap
 * Gender. In 2010, Allen & Overy announced that it was offering full equity partners the option to work part-time. The move was hailed as a "watershed moment" for the legal sector. It is believed to be the first scheme of its kind by any major international law firm.
 * LGBT+. Allen & Overy's LGBT+ network, A&Out, which was launched in 2016, supports its members by hosting a variety of events that aim to raise awareness of LGBT issues, and to allow members to network. Allen & Overy was ranked in the top 100 of the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index 2018, an audit of workplace culture for LGBT+ staff in the UK. In 2017, Allen and Overy advised Stonewall on the Alan Turing law on a pro bono basis. The Alan Turing law is an informal term for the law in the United Kingdom, contained in the Policing and Crime Act 2017, which serves as an amnesty law to pardon men who were cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts.

Leadership
The table below sets out a history of Allen & Overy's leadership:

Notable alumni
Some of the firm's notable alumni include:

Academia

 * Marike Paulsson – Director of the University of Miami's School of Law International Arbitration Institute.
 * John Dewar – UK law professor and the Vice-Chancellor of La Trobe University.

Arts

 * Nick Laird – Northern Irish novelist and poet.

Business

 * Steuart Walton – American heir, attorney, pilot, businessman and philanthropist.

Politics and government

 * Ferdinand Grapperhaus – Dutch politician and Minister of Justice and Security.
 * Annagrazia Calabria – Italian politician.
 * Patricia Ceysens – Belgian politician.
 * David Wootton – British lawyer and politician. He was the 684th Lord Mayor of London, from 2011 to 2012, and Alderman of the Ward of Langbourn.
 * Sir Christopher Walford – a British lawyer and politician. He was the 667th Lord Mayor of London, and the seventh solicitor since records began in 1730 to become Lord Mayor. He also became the fifth person in A&O's history to receive a knighthood.
 * Heath Tarbert – Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets and Investment Policy.

title: Allen & Overy


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User talk:Desertpatrol33

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Genelec

Genelec Oy is a manufacturer of active loudspeaker systems based in Iisalmi, Finland. It designs and produces products for professional studio recording, mixing and mastering applications, broadcast, and movie production. The company was co-founded by the late Ilpo Martikainen (1947–2017) and Topi Partanen in 1978.

Early history
Genelec began operations to meet the needs of Finland's national public-broadcasting company YLE. YLE was building a new radio house in Pasila, Helsinki. Juhani Borenius, who worked for YLE as an acoustician, asked his friends at a postgraduate acoustics seminar if they could make an active monitoring speaker. Ilpo Martikainen and Topi Partanen had the first sample in two weeks. The prototype was promising enough to raise serious interest. In 1978, after two years of research and development, the company opened for business with their first speaker, the S30. The company moved immediately from Helsinki to Iisalmi, in the center of Finland. The first facilities were in Satamakatu, 190 m2 in the basement of an apartment building where Martikainen lived.

The first order went to RAI in Italy, the second to YLE in Finland. Four people worked for the company at the time, so YLE's order for 340 pieces gave work for one year. It also gave one year's time to explore other options to keep the company running. The company also began providing sound reinforcement contracting services.

Sound reinforcement contracting was half of the business. Genelec installed systems in many drama theatres in Finland—including the National Theatre, city theatres in Rovaniemi and Kuopio, the congress hall of the new cardiologic hospital in Moscow, the Moscow Circus, and two recording vans for YLE. The last contract job was Tampere Hall and the last audio system supplied went to the Royal Opera in Madrid.

The decision to quit the sound reinforcement business in 1989 was crucial for the future of Genelec. There was no financial need to leave contracting, but the company wanted to be known as a manufacturer.

There was high demand for Genelec speakers from the beginning, and production quantities grew every year, as did the number of employees. In 1981 Genelec delivered active monitors to ZDF’s new control rooms in Mainz. The facilities in Satamakatu became far too small. By 1981 the company had spread across different locations and searched for either a new factory or a lot where they could build one. In 1983, the town offered a lot next to lake Porovesi at Luuniemi. The company has expanded their facilities four times since then. In addition to production areas, the last expansion adds more room for training and quality listening.

International business
Genelec has exported speakers from their beginning, and has increased exports over the years. In 1980, they exported 20% of production, in 1984 80%, and on into the 1990s exports peaked at 95% but have settled to around 90% in the 2000s. The first export countries were Italy, the Nordic countries, Federal Republic of Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Great Britain. Cooperation with Otaritec Corp. in Japan began in 1986. In 1993, Genelec had distributors in 45 countries, and now has sales in more than 70 countries.

As the export trade has grown, the degree of domestic added value of the products has remained around 80%. The 77th AES convention in Hamburg in 1985 was a turning point for Genelec. They introduced the 1022A and displayed a whole family of speakers: Biamp 1019A mini monitor, broadcasting monitors S30 and 1022A, and music monitors 1024B and 1025A. By 1985, Genelec produced 12 models. They also made sound reinforcement and passive Hi-Fi speakers for the domestic market. The passive Biway 1050A and Triway 1051A were in production in 1980–1982 and production of the small 1049A began in 1988. They have long since discontinued production of passive hi-fi speakers.

In the 1990s, Genelec was increasingly known as a manufacturer of active monitoring speakers. They designed new products, notably the large control Room Monitors 1035A, 1034A and 1033A between 1988 and 1990. In 1991 Genelec designed the 1031A, which was inducted into the TECnology Hall of Fame in 2014. Genelec followed the 1031A with the 1030A, 1032A, 1029A, 1037A, and 1038A, and subwoofers 1091A, 1092A and 1094A.

21st century
The first years of the 21st century presented challenges. Genelec introduced the LSE-series of subwoofers and replaced most of the 2-way series with the new 8000 Series. The 8000 Series comprises four models (8020B, 8030A, 8040A and 8050A 2-way Active Loudspeakers), some of which are clearly smaller than their predecessors, which was obtained by using aluminium as the material of the speaker enclosures instead of traditional MDF. Renowned Finnish industrial designer Harri Koskinen designed the 8000 Series' appearance. Adding to the series are the smallest 6010A 2-way loudspeaker and its supporting 5040A Active Subwoofer, introduced in 2008.

Many new Genelec products feature digital signal processing and software control. The 8200 DSP series adds three products to the line (8240A, 8250A 2-way and 8260A 3-way Active Loudspeakers) with ability to automatically adapt their performance to any acoustical conditions with AutoCal calibration through the GLM Software.

As of 2010, Genelec produced over 50 active loudspeaker models, and numerous modifications and versions of these for specific applications. They also produced software products for acoustic calibration. After finishing sound reinforcement contracting, Genelec concentrated solely on active speakers.

Awards
Genelec won two Technical Excellence & Creativity (TEC) Awards at the NAMM TEC Experience, held on Thursday, April 13, at The 2023 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California.

Genelec won outstanding Technical Achievement in the Production Essentials category for its GLM V4.0 loudspeaker management software. Additionally, FM Design won Outstanding Creative Achievement for its design of the Genelec Immersive Experience Centerin the 37th annual NAMM TEC Awards in June 4, 2022, as part of The NAMM Show.

Current products
Studio Monitors
 * Active Monitors and Subwoofers
 * Active 2-Way Monitors: 8010A, 8020D, 8030C, 8040B, 8050B
 * Active Subwoofers: 7040A, 7050C
 * SAM™ Smart Active Monitors and Subwoofers
 * Smart Active 2-Way Monitors
 * 8000 Series: 8320A, 8330A, 8340A, 8350A
 * Audio over IP Series: 8430A IP
 * 1000 Series: 1032C
 * Coaxial Studio Monitors
 * The Ones: 8331A, 8341A, 8351B, 8361A
 * W371A Adaptive Woofer System
 * Main Monitors
 * 1237A, 1238A, 1238AC, 1238DF, 1234A, 1234AC, 1235A, 1236A
 * S360A Studio Monitor
 * The Main Ones: 8381A Adaptive Point Source Main Monitor
 * Smart Active Subwoofers and Woofer Systems
 * 7350A, 7360A, 7370A, 7380A, 7382A

Home Speakers
 * G Series Active Speakers
 * G One (B)
 * G Two (B)
 * G Three (B)
 * G Four (A)
 * G Five (A)
 * F Series Active Subwoofers
 * F One (B)
 * F Two (B)
 * Signature Series
 * 6040R Smart Active Loudspeaker

AV Installation Speakers
 * 4000 Series Installation Speakers
 * 4010A Installation Speaker
 * 4020C Installation Speaker
 * 4030C Installation Speaker
 * 4040A Installation Speaker
 * Smart IP Installation Speakers
 * 4410A Smart IP Installation Speaker
 * 4420A Smart IP Installation Speaker
 * 4430A Smart IP Installation Speaker
 * 4435A Smart IP Active In‑Ceiling Speaker
 * 4436A Smart IP Installation Speaker
 * Architectural Speakers
 * AIW26B Active In-Wall Speaker
 * 5041A Active In-Wall Subwoofer

Retired products
Limited-production models are not included. Models shown in bold in the "Replaced by" column are in production.

Studio Monitors

Home Speakers

AV Installation Speakers

title: Genelec


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User talk:Hubertrabbit

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Maipú

Maipú may refer to the following places:

Argentina

 * Maipú Partido, an administrative division of Buenos Aires Province
 * Maipú, Buenos Aires, capital of Maipú Partido
 * Maipú Department, Chaco
 * Maipú Department, Mendoza
 * Maipú, Mendoza
 * Deportivo Maipú, an association football slub

Chile

 * Maipú, Chile
 * Battle of Maipú

title: Maipú