sham

But no one claimed that its success was a sham: “At the end of the day, I’m selling naked girls,” he told The New York Times in 2008.

His former partner, Roland Beainy, the more public face of the chain, was detained in May over alleged visa violations and a suspected sham marriage.

Myanmar will begin its general elections on 28 December, its military government announced, in a phased poll widely condemned as a sham that will be used to entrench the junta's power.

Kiley said in a post on the social media site X that he expected his district to stay the same because voters would “defeat Newsom’s sham initiative and vindicate the will of California voters.”

Like Donetsk and Luhansk, Putin regards these places as part of Russia, and illegally annexed them three years ago in four referendums widely regarded as a sham.