title: Gorky Park (Moscow)

text: Gorky Park, located at Krymsky Val and situated just across the Moskva River from Park Kultury Metro station, opened in 1928. The park followed the plan of Konstantin Melnikov, a widely known Soviet avant-garde and constructivist architect, and amalgamated the extensive gardens of the old and of the Neskuchny Palace, covering an area of along the river. The history of the Neskuchny Garden can be traced back to 1753, when it emerged in the area between Kaluzhskaya Zastava and Trubetskoy Moskva river-side estate. The neighboring area to Neskuchny Garden, from Krymsky Val to Neskuchny Garden, received little attention right up until the 1920s. Initially it was covered with park gardens, meadows and vegetable gardens belonging to the owners of neighboring estates. It formed a wasteland by the end of the 19th century, and served as a waste heap.


title: Gorky Park (Moscow)

text: The First All-Russian Agricultural and Handicraft Industries Exhibition opened in 1923 on a former rubbish dump in Moscow. The area had been cleared during the course of communist community work days. A resolution for the exhibition was passed on 19 October 1922 and the exhibition opened one and a half years later on 19 May 1923. After bidding for the exhibition's layout plan, which proposed four arrangements—Sokol, Khodynskoye Pole, Petrovsko-Razumovsky park and the river areas near Krymsky bridge—preference was given to the last option.


title: Gorky Park (Moscow)

text: On 15 March 1928 by a resolution of the Presidium of the Moscow Council, the Agricultural and Handicraft Industries Exhibition was enlarged and transformed into the Central Park of Culture and Leisure—the country's first park of its kind, which was referred to as an outdoor "cultural enterprise". In 1932 the park was named after M. A. Gorky. The idea of a need for a central park of culture and leisure in Moscow arose in the late 1920s in relation to Moscow's reconstruction with notions of a socialist "city of the future". The park was named after the writer and political activist Maxim Gorky.


title: Gorky Park (Moscow)

text: In 2011 Gorky Park underwent a major reconstruction. New director of Central Park of Culture and Leisure Sergei Kapkov demolished approximately 100 attractions and illegal objects. More than two thousand square meters of new asphalt roadbed was laid on the site of demolished objects and 1.9 ha of new lawns and flowerbeds were laid out. All amusement rides but one, a two deck carousel, have been removed in order to transform the place into a recreational zone. Abandoned buildings, carts, tents, advertising structures and attractions were cleaned in the process. Renovation of monuments, cleaning the ponds and delivering soil and grass turf was started. Gorky Park was transformed in several months, becoming the first Russian park that could now compete with the leading parks of the world. A 15,000 square meter ice rink, with separate zones for children, hockey, dancing, and general skating, was officially opened in December 2011. In winter, a skating school of Alexei Yagudin runs on the skating rink.


title: Gorky Park (Moscow)

text: Shortly after he took over the park, Sergei Kapkov was appointed to the role of Moscow Government Minister and Head of the Department of Cultural Heritage. Olga Zakharova has since replaced Sergei Kapkov and has held the position ever since.


title: Yoshi Sudarso

text: Sudarso was born in Surabaya, Indonesia to Indonesian parents of Chinese and Japanese descent. His family moved to Cerritos, California, when he was nine years old. He studied at Cal State Long Beach initially pursuing a career in math and accounting before eventually switching to theater. Sudarso also has one younger brother, Peter Adrian Sudarso, who is also an actor and model.


title: Yoshi Sudarso

text: Sudarso began his career working in stunts working on major motion pictures and television shows such as "The Maze Runner", "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.", "" and more.


title: Yoshi Sudarso

text: Sudarso was a suit-actor for "Power Rangers Samurai" and "Power Rangers Megaforce" before he was finally cast in a main role as Koda for "Power Rangers Dino Charge".


title: Yoshi Sudarso

text: He was cast as the lead in Mike Wiluan's Indonesian-language spaghetti western film "Buffalo Boys". The film was the first project back in his home country. The movie became Singapore's submission for the Oscars Foreign Film category.


title: Yoshi Sudarso

text: In August 2018, he joined the cast of the Manila-set independent drama "Empty by Design" and starred alongside Rhian Ramos, Osric Chau and Chris Pang. The same month, it was announced he joined the cast in a key supporting role in his second Indonesian-language project Milly & Mamet, a spin-off from Riri Riza's popular "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?" franchise, alongside Sissy Priscilla and Dennis Adhiswara.


title: Yoshi Sudarso

text: In 2022, Sudarso starred in the David Leitch action film, "Bullet Train" as the younger version of Hiroyuki Sanada's character, "the Elder."


title: Firestarter (The Prodigy song)

text: "Firestarter" is a song by British band the Prodigy, released on 18 March 1996 as the first single from their third album, "The Fat of the Land" (1997). It was their tenth single overall and is the group's first number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, staying on top for three weeks, and their first big international hit, topping the charts in the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, and Norway. In 2020, British newspaper "The Guardian" ranked the song number eight on their list of "The 100 Greatest UK No 1 Singles".


title: Firestarter (The Prodigy song)

text: The songwriting credits include Kim Deal of alternative rock group the Breeders, as the looped wah-wah guitar riff in "Firestarter" was sampled from the Breeders' track "S.O.S." from the album "Last Splash". The drums are sampled from a remix of the song "Devotion" of the group Ten City. The "hey" sample is from the 1984 song "Close (to the Edit)" by Art of Noise. Then-members Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, J. J. Jeczalik, Gary Langan and Paul Morley also receive songwriting credits. The "Empirion Mix", which does not include these samples, is credited solely to Liam Howlett and Keith Flint.


title: Firestarter (The Prodigy song)

text: British magazine "Music Week" rated "Firestarter" five out of five, picking it as Single of the Week. The reviewer added, "Powerful return for the kings of live techno." Brad Beatnik from the magazine's "RM" Dance Update described it as "a typically searing chunk of heavy techno featuring some manie vocale and an awesome synth line". He concluded, "Straight in the Top 10, no question, and destined to be pounded in the clubs." Gerald Martinez from "New Sunday Times" noted its "heavy metal meets techno-dance stylisations". Writing for pitchfork.com in 2005, Jess Harvell said, "'Firestarter' sounds like Trent Reznor in one of his all-too-rare moments of self-aware humor, like the Bomb Squad at +5 with a pink-haired British bulldog bellowing about how tuff he is." David Sinclair from "The Times" noted, "A racing, twitchy, all-hands-on-deck rhythmic pulse, with a first beat in the bar that lands like a bodyblow, it is spiced up by a siren-wail synth sound and various shrieks that resemble an Art of Noise vocal sample."


title: Firestarter (The Prodigy song)

text: The accompanying black-and-white music video for "Firestarter" was directed by English director Walter Stern and was filmed in an abandoned London Underground tunnel at Aldwych.


title: Firestarter (The Prodigy song)

text: In October 2011, "NME" placed it at number 52 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". Following Flint's death on 4 March 2019, fans used the hashtag 'Firestarter4Number1' on various social media platforms to replicate the song's success by getting it to the number one spot again. This was done out of respect for Keith Flint and to raise awareness of suicide among men. During this time the single also returned to the "Billboard" charts, entering number 13 on its Dance/Electronic Digital Songs Sales chart in its 16 March 2019 issue, marking the first time that this song has appeared on a "Billboard" dance chart. In 2020, British newspaper "The Guardian" ranked "Firestarter" number eight on their list of "The 100 Greatest UK No 1 Singles". In 2022, "Rolling Stone" ranked it number 110 on their list of "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time".


title: Firestarter (The Prodigy song)

text: "Weird Al" Yankovic created a loose parody of "Firestarter", titled "Lousy Haircut", for an episode of "The Weird Al Show"; he could not do a full parody of the song as the network CBS did not want to pay royalties to the Prodigy. The song has also been covered by Jimmy Eat World, Gene Simmons of KISS, Torre Florim of De Staat, Sepultura, Papa Roach, and Kristina Esfandiari under her project NGHTCRWLR.


title: Bud Powell

text: Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Along with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie, Powell was a leading figure in the development of modern jazz. His virtuosity led many to call him the Charlie Parker of the piano. Powell was also a composer, and many jazz critics credit his works and his playing as having "greatly extended the range of jazz harmony".


title: Bud Powell

text: He was born in Harlem, New York, United States. Powell's father was a stride pianist. Powell started classical piano lessons at the age of five. His teacher, hired by his father, was a West Indian man named Rawlins. At 10 years of age, Powell showed interest in the swing music that could be heard all over the neighborhood. He first appeared in public at a rent party, where he mimicked Fats Waller's playing style. The first jazz composition that he mastered was James P. Johnson's "Carolina Shout". Powell's older brother, William, played trumpet and violin, and by the age of 15 Powell was playing in William's band. Powell heard Art Tatum on the radio and tried to match his technique. Powell's younger brother, Richie Powell, was also a noted bebop pianist.


title: Bud Powell

text: In his youth Powell listened to the adventurous performances at Uptown House, a venue near his home. This was where Charlie Parker first appeared as a solo act when he briefly lived in New York. Thelonious Monk played at Uptown House. When Monk met Powell he introduced Powell to musicians who were starting to play bebop at Minton's Playhouse. Monk was a resident pianist, and he presented Powell as his protégé. Their mutual affection grew, and Monk became Powell's greatest mentor. Powell eagerly experimented with Monk's idea. Monk's composition "In Walked Bud" is a tribute to their time together in Harlem. Powell was engaged in a series of dance bands, his incubation culminating in becoming the pianist for the swing orchestra of Cootie Williams. In late 1943 he was offered the chance to appear at a nightclub with the quintet of Oscar Pettiford and Dizzy Gillespie, but Powell's mother decided he would continue with the more secure job with the popular Williams.


title: Bud Powell

text: Powell was the pianist on a handful of Williams's recording dates in 1944. The last included the first recording of Monk's "'Round Midnight". His job with Williams was terminated in Philadelphia in January 1945. After the band finished for the night, Powell wandered near Broad Street Station and was apprehended, drunk, by the private railroad police. He was beaten by them and incarcerated briefly by the city police. Ten days after his release, his headaches persisted and he was hospitalized at Bellevue, an observation ward, and then in a state psychiatric hospital sixty miles away. He remained there for two and a half months.


title: Bud Powell

text: Powell resumed playing in Manhattan after his release. In 1945–46 he recorded with Frank Socolow, Sarah Vaughan, Dexter Gordon, J. J. Johnson, Sonny Stitt, Fats Navarro, and Kenny Clarke. Powell became known for his sight-reading and his skill at fast tempos. Charlie Parker chose Powell to be his pianist on a May 1947 quintet recording session with Miles Davis, Tommy Potter, and Max Roach; this was the only studio session in which Parker and Powell played together.


title: Bud Powell

text: The Parker session was the only appearance that Powell made in a studio in 1947 besides his Jan 10 recording date with Curly Russell and Max Roach for the album Bud Powell Trio. In November, he had an altercation with a customer at a bar in Harlem. In the ensuing fight, Powell was hit over his eye with a bottle. When the staff at Harlem Hospital found him incoherent and rambunctious, they sent him to Bellevue, which had a record of his previous confinements. He was sent to Creedmoor State Hospital, where he spent eleven months. Powell adjusted to being in the hospital, though in psychiatric interviews he expressed feelings of persecution founded in racism. From February to April 1948, he received electroconvulsive therapy after an outburst which may have been prompted by learning from his girlfriend that she was pregnant with their child. The electroconvulsive therapy was considered ineffective, so the doctors gave him a second series of treatments in May. He was released in October 1948.


title: Bud Powell

text: After a brief hospitalization in early 1949, Powell made several recordings over the next two and a half years, most of them for Blue Note, Mercury, Norgran, and Clef. He also recorded that summer for two independent producers, a session that resulted in eight masters. Max Roach and Curly Russell were his accompanists. The recordings were unreleased till 1950, when Roost Records bought the masters and released them on a series of 78 rpm records. Musicologist Guthrie Ramsey wrote of the session that "Powell proves himself the equal of any of the other beboppers in technique, versatility, and feeling." The first Blue Note session in August 1949 included Fats Navarro, Sonny Rollins, Tommy Potter and Roy Haynes, and the compositions "Bouncing with Bud" and "Dance of the Infidels". The second Blue Note session in 1951 was a trio with Curley Russell and Max Roach and included "Parisian Thoroughfare" and "Un Poco Loco". The latter was selected by literary critic Harold Bloom for his short list of the greatest works of twentieth-century American art. Sessions for Granz included Ray Brown, George Duvivier, Percy Heath, Roach, Russell, Lloyd Trotman, Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke, Osie Johnson, Buddy Rich, and Art Taylor.


title: Bud Powell

text: Powell's rivalry with Parker led to feuding and bitterness on the bandstand. Contributing factors were Powell's worsening mental and physical health. Powell recorded for Blue Note and Granz throughout the 1950s, interrupted by another stay in a psychiatric facility from late 1951 to early 1953 after being arrested for possession of heroin. He was released into the guardianship of Oscar Goodstein, owner of the Birdland nightclub. A 1953 trio session for Blue Note with Duvivier and Taylor included Powell's composition "Glass Enclosure", the title inspired possibly by his near-imprisonment in Goodstein's apartment. On May 15, 1953 he played at Massey Hall in Toronto with the quintet, including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach. The performance was recorded and released by Debut Records as the album "Jazz at Massey Hall". After being released from the hospital, his piano playing was negatively affected by the Largactil he was taking as treatment for schizophrenia. In 1956 his brother Richie Powell and trumpeter Clifford Brown were killed in a car crash.


title: Bud Powell

text: After several more periods in the hospital, Powell moved to Paris in 1959 with Altevia "Buttercup" Edwards and her son, John. Powell had met Edwards directly after an incarceration in 1954. The couple and child moved into the Hotel La Louisiane. She managed his finances and his medicine. Powell continued to perform and record.


title: Bud Powell

text: In 1963, Powell contracted tuberculosis. During the next year, he returned to New York to perform at Birdland with drummer Horace Arnold and bassist John Ore. His performances during these years were adversely affected by his alcoholism. His emotions became unbalanced, and he was hospitalized in New York after months of erratic behavior and self-neglect. On July 31, 1966, he died of tuberculosis, malnutrition, and alcoholism. He was given the last rites of the Catholic Church.


title: Bud Powell

text: His solos featured an attacking style similar to that of horn players, contained frequent arpeggios, and utilized much chromaticism.


title: Bud Powell

text: His comping often consisted of single bass notes outlining the root and fifth. He used voicings of the root and the tenth or the root with the minor seventh.


title: Bud Powell

text: Miles Davis in his autobiography said of Powell: "[He] was one of the few musicians I knew who could play, write, and read all kinds of music." "Bud was a genius piano player – the best there was of all the bebop piano players."


title: Bud Powell

text: In 1986 Francis Paudras wrote a book about his friendship with Powell, translated into English in 1997 as "Dance of the Infidels: A Portrait of Bud Powell". The book was the basis for "Round Midnight", a film inspired by the lives of Powell and Lester Young, in which Dexter Gordon played the lead role of an expatriate jazzman in Paris.


title: Bud Powell

text: Powell influenced countless younger musicians, especially pianists. These included Horace Silver, Wynton Kelly, Andre Previn, McCoy Tyner, Cedar Walton, and Chick Corea. Corea debuted a song called "Bud Powell" on his live album with Gary Burton, "In Concert, Zürich, October 28, 1979", and in 1997 dedicated an entire album, "Remembering Bud Powell" to him.


title: Bud Powell

text: Bill Evans, who described Powell as his single greatest influence, paid the pianist a tribute in 1979: "If I had to choose one single musician for his artistic integrity, for the incomparable originality of his creation and the grandeur of his work, it would be Bud Powell. He was in a class by himself".


title: Bud Powell

text: Herbie Hancock said of Powell, in a "Down Beat" magazine interview in 1966: "He was the foundation out of which stemmed the whole edifice of modern jazz piano".


title: Bud Powell

text: Jazz pianist Bill Cunliffe said Powell was "the first pianist to take Charlie Parker's language and adapt it successfully to the piano." This was, in part, due to his desire to see the pianist get the adulation usually reserved for the saxophonist or trumpeter.


title: Bud Powell

text: The drummer Art Taylor, who is listed among the personnel on about a dozen Powell recordings, elicited comments concerning Powell from numerous musicians in his 1993 book of interviews, "Notes and Tones". Among the comments were these:


title: 2gether: The Movie

text: 2gether: The Movie (; "The Movie", 'Because We Belong Together the Movie') is a 2021 Thai romantic comedy-drama film based on "", which is an adaptation of the 2019 Thai novel of the same name, and "Still 2gether" by JittiRain. It is directed by Weerachit Thongjila, Noppharnach Chaiwimol and Kanittha Kwanyu and produced by GMMTV with The One Enterprise. The film stars Metawin "Win" Opas-iamkajorn and Vachirawit "Bright" Chivaaree.


title: 2gether: The Movie

text: The film was originally set to be released theatrically in Thailand on 22 April 2021, but was postponed due to an upsurge of COVID-19 cases in the country. The film had its theatrical debut first in Japan on June 4, 2021, and was released in Thailand on November 11, 2021. It is later released on the Disney+ Hotstar streaming service in Thailand on February 11, 2022.


title: Apartheid legislation

text: The system of racial segregation and oppression in South Africa known as "apartheid" was implemented and enforced by many acts and other laws. This legislation served to institutionalize racial discrimination and the dominance by white people over people of other races. While the bulk of this legislation was enacted after the election of the National Party government in 1948, it was preceded by discriminatory legislation enacted under earlier British and Afrikaner governments. Apartheid is distinguished from segregation in other countries by the systematic way in which it was formalized in law.


title: Apartheid legislation

text: Although apartheid as a comprehensive legislative project truly began after the National Party came into power in 1948, many of these statutes were preceded by the laws of the previous British and Afrikaner administrations in South Africa's provinces. An early example is the Glen Grey Act, passed in 1894 in Cape Colony, and which had the effect of diminishing the land rights of Africans in scheduled areas.


title: Apartheid legislation

text: The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act was repealed by the Discriminatory Legislation regarding Public Amenities Repeal Act, 1990, and the Population Registration Act was repealed by the Population Registration Act Repeal Act, 1991, but the racial classifications remained on the population register until 1992.


title: Apartheid legislation

text: These and other discriminatory acts related to land tenure were repealed by the Abolition of Racially Based Land Measures Act, 1991.


title: Apartheid legislation

text: The pass laws were repealed by the Identification Act, 1986 and the influx control laws by the Abolition of Influx Control Act, 1986.


title: Apartheid legislation

text: The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993 established universal non-racial adult suffrage.


title: Apartheid legislation

text: The bantustans were abolished by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993, and the nominally independent states were integrated back into South Africa.


title: Russian Olympic Committee athletes at the 2020 Summer Olympics

text: Prior to the 2019 decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Russia was expected to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which took place from 23 July to 8 August 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It would have been the country's seventh consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics as an independent nation, but their athletes were entered by and representing the "Russian Olympic Committee", using the acronym "ROC" for a country name.


text: This was the outcome of a decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on 9 December 2019 banning Russia from all international sport for four years, after it was found that data provided by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had been manipulated by Russian authorities with a goal of protecting athletes involved in its state-sponsored doping scheme. As at the 2018 Winter Olympics, WADA would allow individual cleared Russian athletes to compete neutrally under a title to be determined (which may not include the name "Russia", unlike the use of "Olympic Athletes from Russia" in 2018).


text: Russia later filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the WADA decision. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, on review of Russia's appeal of its case from WADA, ruled on 17 December 2020 to reduce the penalty that WADA had placed. Instead of banning Russia from sporting events, the ruling allowed Russia to participate at the Olympics and other international events, but for a period of two years, the team cannot use the Russian name, flag, or anthem and must present themselves as "Neutral Athlete" or "Neutral Team". The ruling does allow for team uniforms to display "Russia" on the uniform as well as the use of the Russian flag colors within the uniform's design, although the name should be up to equal predominance as the "Neutral Athlete/Team" designation. Russia can appeal the decision.


text: On 19 February 2021, it was announced that Russia would compete under the acronym "ROC", after the name of the Russian Olympic Committee. On aftermatch, the IOC announced that the Russian national flag would be substituted by the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee. It would also be allowed to use team uniforms featuring the logo of the Russian Olympic Committee, or the acronym "ROC" would be added.


text: On 15 April 2021, the uniforms for the Russian Olympic Committee athletes were unveiled, featuring the colours of the Russian flag. On 22 April 2021, the replacement for Russia's anthem was approved by the IOC, after an earlier choice of the patriotic Russian war song "Katyusha" was rejected. A fragment of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 is used.


text: On 23 July 2021, the Russian Olympic Committee athletes appeared at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics. With the usage of traditional Japanese characters order, named "Gojūon", ROC is not translated into Japanese script and was pronounced "āru ō shī", so it placed 77th in the parade, and not as scheduled just after the Refugee Olympic Team ("ai ō shī") as had been announced. Representatives of the Russian Olympic Committee did not have Japanese transcription on the back of their nametag, which was carried in front. Channel 1, which was broadcasting the ceremonies, attributed this to the inability to display the name "ROC" in Japanese characters.


text: The opening ceremony flag-bearers for the ROC are fencer Sofya Velikaya and volleyball player Maksim Mikhaylov. Wrestler Abdulrashid Sadulaev is the flag-bearer for the closing ceremony.


text: Three Russian archers qualified for the women's events by reaching the quarterfinal stage of the women's team recurve at the 2019 World Archery Championships in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.


text: ROC fielded a squad of eight artistic swimmers to compete in the women's duet and team events, by winning the 2019 LEN European Champions Cup.


text: No more than 10 Authorised Neutral Athletes will be granted by World Athletics to the Russian Olympic Committee. On 1 May 2021, only four Russian athletes were granted this status. On 22 May 2021, 23 Russian athletes were granted this status. On 27 June 2021, 123 Russian athletes were granted this status.


text: Four Russian badminton players have been entered in the following events into the Olympic tournament based on the BWF Race to Tokyo Rankings.


text: Russia men's national 3x3 team qualified directly for the Olympics by securing an outright berth, as one of the three highest-ranked squads, in the men's category of the FIBA rankings.


text: Russia women's national 3x3 team qualified directly for the Olympics by securing an outright berth, as one of the four highest-ranked squads, in the women's category of the FIBA rankings.


text: One Russian boxer entered into the Olympic tournament: Albert Batyrgaziev scored a round-of-16 victory to secure a spot in the men's featherweight division at the 2020 European Qualification Tournament in London, United Kingdom.


text: Russian canoeists qualified one boat for each of the following classes through the 2019 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in La Seu d'Urgell, Spain.


text: Russian canoeists qualified five boats in each of the following distances for the Games through the 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary. Meanwhile, two additional boats were awarded to the Russian squad each in the men's K-1 200 m and women's C-2 500 m, respectively, with a top-two national finish at the 2021 European Canoe Sprint Qualifying Regatta.


text: ROC has entered a squad of four riders (three men and one woman) to compete in their respective Olympic road races, by virtue of their top 50 national finish (for men) and her top 100 individual finish (for women) in the UCI World Ranking.


text: Following the completion of the 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, Russian riders accumulated spots for both men and women in the team sprint, as well as the women's omnium and madison, based on their country's results in the final UCI Olympic rankings. As a result of their place in the men's and women's team sprint, Russia won its right to enter two riders in both the men's and women's sprint and men's and women's keirin.


text: Two Russian mountain bikers, one male and one female, qualified based on the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and UCI Olympic Mountain Biking rankings.


text: Russian riders qualified for three quota place (one men and two women) for BMX at the Olympics, as a result in the UCI BMX Olympic Qualification Ranking List of 1 June 2021.


text: Russian divers qualified for five individual spots and a synchronized team at the Olympics through the 2019 FINA World Championships and the 2019 European Championships.


text: ROC is fielding a squad of three equestrian riders into the Olympic team dressage competition by securing an outright berth as the top-ranked nation at the International Equestrian Federation (FEI)-designated Olympic qualifier for Group C (Central and Eastern Europe) in Moscow. Meanwhile, two eventing spots were awarded to the Russian equestrians based on the results in the individual FEI Olympic rankings for Group C (Central and Eastern Europe).


text: Russian fencers qualified a full squad each in the men's and women's team foil, women's team épée, and women's team sabre at the Games by finishing among the top four nations in the FIE Olympic Team Rankings, while the remaining men's teams claimed the spot each as the highest-ranked nation from Europe outside the world's top four.


text: ROC are fielding a full squad of four gymnasts each in both the men's and women's artistic gymnastics events by virtue of a top three finish in the team all-around at the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Doha, Qatar. Both teams were announced on 10 June 2021.


text: ROC qualified a squad of rhythmic gymnasts for the group all-around by virtue of a top-three finish at the 2018 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. Two more rhythmic gymnasts were added to the roster by finishing in the top sixteen of the individual all-around at the 2019 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.


text: ROC qualified one gymnast each for the men's and women's trampoline by finishing in the top eight, respectively, at the 2019 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. They qualified an additional spot for the men's and women's trampoline during the 2019–2020 Trampoline World Cup series.


text: ROC's handball team qualified for the Olympics by securing a top-two finish at the Győr leg of the 2020 IHF Olympic Qualification Tournament.


text: One Russian karateka entered into the inaugural Olympic tournament: Anna Chernysheva qualified directly for the women's kumite 55 kg category by finishing top three at 2021 World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Paris, France.


text: Russian athletes qualified for the following spots in the modern pentathlon at the Games. Alexander Lifanov and Adelina Ibatullina confirmed places each in the men's and women's event, respectively, with the former and the latter finishing seventh among those eligible for Olympic qualification at the 2019 European Championships in Bath, England.


text: ROC qualified seven boats for each of the following rowing classes into the Olympic regatta. Rowing crews in the women's single sculls and women's lightweight double sculls confirmed Olympic places for their boats at the 2021 FISA European Olympic Qualification Regatta in Varese, Italy. Meanwhile, four more crews (men's single sculls, men's double sculls, women's double sculls, and women's pair) were added to the Russian roster with their top-two finish at the 2021 FISA Final Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.


text: The Russian women's rugby sevens team qualified by securing a spot in the final repechage tournament on 20 June 2021.


text: Russian sailors qualified one boat in each of the following classes through the 2018 Sailing World Championships, the class-associated Worlds, and the continental regattas.


text: Russian shooters achieved quota places for the following events by virtue of their best finishes at the 2018 ISSF World Championships, the 2019 ISSF World Cup series, European Championships or Games, and European Qualifying Tournament, as long as they obtained a minimum qualifying score (MQS) by May 31, 2020.


text: ROC has entered three sport climbers into the Olympic tournament. Iuliia Kaplina qualified directly for the women's combined event, by finishing in the top six of those eligible for qualification at the 2019 IFSC World Olympic Qualifying Event in Toulouse, France. Meanwhile, Viktoria Meshkova and Alexey Rubtsov completed the Russian sport climbing roster for the rescheduled Games, by winning the gold medal and securing an outright berth at the 2020 IFSC European Championships in Moscow.


text: Russian swimmers further achieved qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT), and potentially 1 at the Olympic Selection Time (OST)): To assure their selection to the Olympic team, swimmers must finish in the top two of each individual event with the federation's corresponding standard slightly faster than the FINA A-cut at the Russian Championships & Olympic Trials (April 3 to 9) in Kazan.


text: Thirty-three swimmers (19 men and 14 women) were selected to the Russian roster at the end of the trials, with the Olympic medalists Anastasia Fesikova (women's backstroke double) and Yuliya Yefimova (women's breaststroke double) racing in the pool at their fourth consecutive Games. Notable swimmers also featured the reigning world champions Evgeny Rylov in the men's backstroke double, world-record holder Anton Chupkov in the men's breaststroke double, Youth Olympic champions Andrey Minakov (sprint freestyle and butterfly) and junior world-record holder Kliment Kolesnikov (sprint freestyle and backstroke), and freestyle veteran and London 2012 bronze medalist Vladimir Morozov.


text: Three Russian athletes have been entered into the table tennis competition at the Games. Rio 2016 Olympian Polina Mikhailova scored a third-match final triumph to secure one of the five available places in the women's singles, while Kirill Skachkov notched the last of four men's singles spots with a repechage final victory at the 2021 ITTF World Qualification Tournament in Doha, Qatar. Meanwhile, London 2012 Olympian Yana Noskova rounded out the nation's roster by winning the third-stage final match at the European Qualification Tournament in Odivelas, Portugal.


text: Four ROC athletes have been entered into the taekwondo competition at the Games. Mikhail Artamonov (men's 58 kg), Maksim Khramtsov (men's 80 kg), defending world champion Vladislav Larin (men's +80 kg), and Tatiana Kudashova (women's 57 kg) qualified directly for their respective weight classes by finishing among the top five taekwondo practitioners at the end of the World Taekwondo Olympic Rankings.


text: ROC has entered eight tennis players (four men and four women) into the Olympic tournament. Daniil Medvedev (world no. 2), Andrey Rublev (world no. 7), Aslan Karatsev (world no. 24), and Karen Khachanov (world no. 25) qualified directly for the men's singles as four of the top 58 eligible players in the ATP World Rankings, while Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (world no. 19), Veronika Kudermetova (world no. 33), Ekaterina Alexandrova (world no. 34), and Elena Vesnina (former world no. 13, replace for world no. 31 Daria Kasatkina after Daria withdrew in 15 July) did so for the women's singles based on their WTA World Rankings as of 24 June 2021.


text: In women's doubles, the reigning Olympic champion Vesnina partnered Kudermetova. In men's doubles, Karatsev and Medvedev, Khachanov and Rublev partnered each other. In mixed double, Karatsev and Rublev took turns pairing with Vesnina and Pavlyuchenkova.


text: Russian men's beach volleyball pair qualified for the Olympics by winning the gold medal and securing an outright berth at the 2019 FIVB World Championships in Hamburg, Germany.


text: The Russian men's volleyball team qualified for the Olympics by securing an outright berth as the highest-ranked nation for pool E at the Intercontinental Olympic Qualification Tournament in Saint Petersburg.


text: Russia women's volleyball team qualified for the Olympics by securing an outright berth as the highest-ranked nation for pool E at the Intercontinental Olympic Qualification Tournament in Kaliningrad.


text: The ROC women's water polo team qualified for the Olympics by advancing to the final match and securing an outright berth at the 2020 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary.


text: After the International Weightlifting Federation imposed restrictions on the number of team places available to Russian athletes following large numbers of anti-doping rule violations failures by Russian weightlifters in the ten years preceding the 2020 Summer Olympics, only two athletes were permitted to represent Russia (one male athlete and one female athlete). The Russian Olympic Committee selected Kristina Sobol and Timur Naniev.


text: ROC qualified seventeen wrestlers for each of the following classes into the Olympic competition. Nine of them finished among the top six to book Olympic spots in the men's freestyle (all classes except 125 kg), men's Greco-Roman (60, 67 and 97 kg), and women's freestyle 50 kg at the 2019 World Championships, while four additional licenses were awarded to the Russian wrestlers, who progressed to the top two finals of their respective weight categories at the 2021 European Qualification Tournament in Budapest, Hungary. Four Russian wrestlers claimed one of the remaining slots in the men's freestyle 125 kg and women's freestyle events (53, 57, & 62 kg) to complete the nation's roster at the 2021 World Qualification Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.


title: Chavo Guerrero Sr.

text: Salvador Guerrero Llanes (January 7, 1949 – February 11, 2017), better known as Chavo Guerrero or Chavo Guerrero Sr., and also known during the 21st century as "Chavo Classic", was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his work in Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), American Wrestling Association (AWA), and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and for being the father of third-generation wrestler Chavo Guerrero Jr. He was the oldest son of Salvador "Gory" Guerrero, and part of the Guerrero wrestling family. He was the oldest WWE Cruiserweight Champion.


title: Chavo Guerrero Sr.

text: In 1977, Chavo competed for NWA Western States. Guerrero later moved his family to California so he could compete in Los Angeles's NWA Hollywood Wrestling and San Francisco's Big Time Wrestling. In NWA Hollywood, he feuded with Roddy Piper for the NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship. Between 1979 and 1980, he held the title 15 times.


title: Chavo Guerrero Sr.

text: He spent the early 80's splitting his time between All Japan Pro Wrestling, Mid South Wrestling, CWF, and Houston Wrestling. In 1982, Guerrero feuded with Atsushi Onita over the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship in All Japan Pro Wrestling. In 1983, he feuded with Gino Hernandez in Mid South Wrestling. The feud resulted in Loser Leaves Town matches, Texas Death Matches and a Mexican Chicken Match. In 1984, he teamed with his brother Hector Guerrero in Championship Wrestling from Florida. They had rivalries with The U.S. Express, from whom they captured the NWA United States Tag Team Titles from and The Breakdancers of Brickhouse Brown and Mark Ragin. In 1985, Hector and Chavo then traveled back over to Mid South Wrestling, where they feuded with The Rock 'n' Roll Express. They then engaged in a rivalry with Ted DiBiase and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams over the UWF Tag Team Championship. In 1986, they wrestled The Fabulous Ones on multiple occasions for Mid South.


title: Chavo Guerrero Sr.

text: In 1988, Mando and Chavo stopped in the AWA. They went after the AWA World Tag Team Championship held by Diamond Dallas Page's team of Badd Company (Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka). However, they were unable to capture the titles in multiple attempts. In 1990, Chavo teamed with his brothers Mando and Eddie in EMLL. He competed with his brothers in multiple trios matches.


title: Chavo Guerrero Sr.

text: In 2004, Guerrero began working for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), joining his son Chavo Jr. in a feud with his younger brother Eddie. While with WWE, he competed as 'Chavo Classic’. On the May 20, 2004 episode of Smackdown, Chavo Classic became the oldest WWE Cruiserweight Champion in history, defeating Chavo Jr. and Spike Dudley in a triple-threat match. On the April 1 episode of "SmackDown!", Classic and Chavo Jr. lost to Spike Dudley and Rey Mysterio. On the April 22 episode of "SmackDown!", Classic and Chavo Jr defeated John Cena in a 2-on-1 handicap match. On the May 13 episode of "SmackDown!", Chavo Classic defeated Jacqueline thanks to outside help by Chavo Jr. On the June 3 episode of "SmackDown!", Chavo Classic retained the Cruiserweight title against Funaki, thanks to outside help from Chavo Jr. He lost the title to Rey Mysterio less than a month later. On June 15, 2004, he was fired by WWE for no-showing multiple "SmackDown!" house shows. On the November 15, 2010, "Old School" episode of "Raw", Guerrero returned as Chavo Classic, driving Alberto Del Rio to the arena.


title: Chavo Guerrero Sr.

text: Chavo Classic first appeared on Lucha Underground talking with Rey Mysterio about the upcoming match of the latter against his son Chavo Guerrero Jr. in a "Loser Leaves Lucha match". During the match, Classic, who was in the attendance, turned on Mysterio, helping his son win the match, but Dario Cueto ordered to restart the match, and Mysterio hit the "619" on Classic and defeated Chavo Guerrero, leaving Lucha Underground without the Guerreros.


title: Chavo Guerrero Sr.

text: Chavo was the son of Gory Guerrero and the older brother of Mando, Hector, and Eddie Guerrero. He grew up in El Paso, Texas He had two children, wrestler Chavo Jr. and daughter Victoria, and he was the brother in-law of Vickie Guerrero.


title: Chavo Guerrero Sr.

text: In July 2016, Guerrero and his son were named as part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE that alleged wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE. Over a year after his death, US District Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant dismissed the lawsuit in September 2018.


title: Chavo Guerrero Sr.

text: In 1978 he co-starred with Henry Winkler in the movie "The One and Only" as a wrestler called Indian Joe. He is the subject of the song "The Legend of Chavo Guerrero" by The Mountain Goats and is featured in its music video. The 2017 Netflix series, GLOW has its 7th episode dedicated to Chavo Guerrero Sr.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: Liberty, commonly known as Liberty's, is a luxury department store in London, England. It is located on Great Marlborough Street in the West End of London. The building spans from Carnaby Street on the East to Kingly Street on the West, where it forms a three storey archway over the Northern entrance to the Kingly Street mall that houses the Liberty Clock in its centre. Liberty is known around the world for its close connection to art and culture, it is most famous for its bold and floral print fabrics. The vast mock-Tudor store also sells men's, women's and children's fashion, beauty and homewares from a mix of high-end and emerging brands and labels.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: The store is known to spot and champion young designers at the start of their careers, and many now-prominent brands were first available at Liberty. The store played essential role in spreading and popularizing the Modern Style. This continues Liberty's long reputation for working with British artists and designers.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: Arthur Lasenby Liberty was born in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, in 1843. He was employed by Messrs Farmer and Rogers in Regent Street in 1862, the year of the International Exhibition. By 1874, inspired by his 10 years of service, he decided to start a business of his own, which he did the next year. With a £2,000 loan from his future father-in-law, he accepted the lease of half a shop at 218a Regent Street with three staff members.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: The shop opened during 1875 selling ornaments, fabric and "objets d'art" from Japan and the East. Within eighteen months, he had repaid the loan and acquired the second half of 218 Regent Street. As the business grew, neighbouring properties were bought and added. In 1884, he introduced the costume department, directed by Edward William Godwin (1833–86), a distinguished architect and a founding member of The Costume Society. He and Arthur Liberty created in-house apparel to challenge the fashions of Paris.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: In 1885, 142–144 Regent Street was acquired and housed the ever-increasing demand for carpets and furniture. The basement was named the Eastern Bazaar, and it was the vending place for what was described as "decorative furnishing objects". He named the property Chesham House, after the place in which he grew up. The store became the most fashionable place to shop in London, and Liberty fabrics were used for both clothing and furnishings.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: In November 1885, Liberty brought forty-two villagers from India to stage a living village of Indian artisans. Liberty's specialised in Oriental goods, in particular imported Indian silks, and the aim of the display was to generate both publicity and sales for the store. In 1889, Oscar Wilde, a regular client of the store, wrote "Liberty's is the chosen resort of the artistic shopper".


title: Liberty (department store)

text: During the 1890s, Liberty built strong relationships with many English designers. Many of these designers, including Archibald Knox, practised the artistic styles known as Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau, and Liberty helped develop Art Nouveau through his encouragement of such designers. The company became associated with this new style, to the extent that in Italy, Art Nouveau became known as the "Stile Liberty", after the London shop.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: The Tudor revival building was built so that trading could continue while renovations were being completed on the other premises, and in 1924, this store was constructed from the timbers of two ships: HMS "Impregnable" (formerly HMS "Howe") and HMS "Hindustan". The frontage on Great Marlborough Street is the same length as the "Hindustan". It is a Grade II* listed building.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: The emporium was designed by Edwin Thomas Hall and his son, Edwin Stanley Hall. They designed the building at the height of the 1920s fashion for Tudor revival. The shop was engineered around three light wells that formed the main focus of the building. Each of these wells was surrounded by smaller rooms to create a homey feel. Many of the rooms had fireplaces and some still exist.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner was very critical of the building's architecture, saying: "The scale is wrong, the symmetry is wrong. The proximity to a classical façade put up by the same firm at the same time is wrong, and the goings-on of a store behind such a façade (and below those twisted Tudor chimneys) are wrongest of all".


title: Liberty (department store)

text: Liberty, during the 1950s, continued its tradition for fashionable and eclectic design. All departments in the shop had a collection of both contemporary and traditional designs. New designers were promoted and often included those still representing the Liberty tradition for handcrafted work.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: In 1955, Liberty began opening several regional stores in other UK cities; the first of these was in Manchester. Subsequent shops opened in Bath, Brighton, Chester, York, Kingston upon Thames, Exeter and Norwich.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: During the 1960s, extravagant and Eastern influences once again became fashionable, as well as the Art Deco style, and Liberty adapted its furnishing designs from its archive.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: In 1996, Liberty announced the closure of its twenty shops outside London, and instead focused on smaller outlets at airports.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: Since 1988, Liberty has had a subsidiary in Japan which sells Liberty-branded products in major Japanese shops. It also sells Liberty fabrics to international and local fashion stores with bases in Japan.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: Liberty's London store was sold for £41.5 million and then leased back by the firm in 2009, to pay off debts ahead of a sale. Subsequently, in 2010, Liberty was taken over by private equity firm BlueGem Capital in a deal worth £32 million.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: Turnover for 2018 was forecast to be £133m with much of its growth coming from its own brand collections of fabrics, homeware, accessories and ready-to-wear fashion.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: From 2 December 2013, Liberty was the focus of a three-part hour-long episode TV documentary series titled "Liberty of London", airing on Channel 4. The documentary follows Ed Burstell (Managing Director) and the department's retail team in the busy lead up to Christmas 2013.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: Channel 4 further commissioned a second series of the documentary on 28 October 2014. This series featured four, one hour-long episodes based on six months worth of unprecedented footage. Series two commenced on 12 November 2014.


title: Liberty (department store)

text: Liberty has a history of collaborative projects – from William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the nineteenth century to Yves Saint Laurent and Dame Vivienne Westwood in the twentieth century. Recent collaborations include brands such as Scott Henshall, Nike, Dr. Martens, Hello Kitty, Barbour, House of Hackney, Vans, Onia, Manolo Blahnik, Uniqlo, J.Crew, Superga, T. M. Lewin, Drew Pritchard of Salvage Hunters and antique lighting specialist Fritz Fryer. In their Autumn/Winter 2020 collection, Liberty recreated some of William Morris' classic prints. These recreations have been 'vibrantly reimagined' for a contemporary market, incorporating more detail and colour than the Morris originals.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: The HAL Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) along with its derivative Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) was designed and developed by Rotary Wing Research and Design Center (RWR&DC) one of the R&D sections of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for civilian and military applications. These are intended to replace license-built versions of Aérospatiale SA 315B Lama (designated Cheetah) and Aérospatiale Alouette III (designated Chetak) in service with Indian Army and Indian Air Force.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: During the 1990s and the 2000s, the procurement of a modern successor to the aging HAL Cheetah and HAL Chetak helicopters of the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force had been recognised as an impending need. Multiple attempts at establishing a competitive tendering programme; one such effort specified a total of 197 utility helicopters for the Indian Army, 60 of which were to be directly purchased and the remaining 137 to be produced under licence by Indian aerospace company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). However, this tender, in which the Eurocopter Fennec appeared to be the frontrunner against the rival Bell 407, eventually ended up being cancelled in response to allegations of irregularities in the selection process; Eurocopter was subsequently investigated and exonerated of any wrongdoing. Consequently, new safeguards were implemented to ensure impartiality and the replacement effort was subsequently restarted.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: During July 2008, the Government of India circulated a request for proposals (RFP) to various helicopter companies, including AgustaWestland, Bell Helicopter, Eurocopter, Kamov and Sikorsky, for a fleet of 197 light utility helicopters to be purchased in a fly-away condition directly from the manufacturer in order to speed up their delivery. Intended for military purposes, the potential contract was valued as a maximum of $750 million, of which 30 per cent was required to be invested within India under the government's policy of industrial offsets; HAL was also specified as to provide domestic maintenance activities for the fleet, who were reportedly also keen to manufacture further examples locally and further develop the selected type. It had been initially hoped that trials would begin in 2009 and that helicopter deliveries could commence as early as 2010.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: By late 2008, Bell had announced its decision not to participate despite earlier considerations on offering a variant of their Bell 407 helicopter; according to Bell, the high offset requirements had made any bid less feasible and thus the company chose to withdraw from the Indian military market. Rival firm Russian Helicopters, submitting its Kamov Ka-226T, was another major competitor for the competition. Shortly after the selection of the Ka-226T to meet the requirement, during December 2015, an agreement was signed for the creation of a joint venture between Rostec, Russian Helicopters and HAL to manufacture the Ka-226T at a new factory to be built at Tumakuru, India. Meanwhile, HAL, which had long held ambitions to design and produce such an aircraft, sought to establish a partnership with a Western manufacturer with considerable technical knowhow in the field; reportedly, Eurocopter were viewed as being the favourite, having already worked with HAL for decades on previous ventures, such as the Chetak and Cheetal that were being replaced.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: During February 2009, India's defence ministry approved HAL's proposal to enter the design phase on an indigenous design that could potentially meet the requirements of the competition, as well to explore partnership arrangements. HAL promptly performed preliminary design studies on a prospective 3-tonne light helicopter, powered by a single HAL/Turbomeca Shakti turboshaft engine and possessing a range of up to 500 km (270 nm) and a payload capacity of up to 500 kg (1,100 lb). In March 2010, HAL announced that it had decided to proceed on the LUH project alone, without any international partner participating in its development.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: In February 2011, HAL unveiled a full-sized mockup of its LUH design. At this point, the design of the LUH was officially frozen, but some elements, such as the powerplant, were yet to be selected for the type; additionally, the first prototype was anticipated to be constructed by the end of 2012 and the first flight was scheduled to occur during 2013. By early November 2012, the bottom structure assembly of the LUH ground test vehicle had been completed. According to HAL, the manufacturing jigs, which are of a modular and gaugeless design, consisting of five assembly jigs and a coupling jig, had been developed and validated using Computer Aided Measurement System (CAMS) to establish high accuracy and stability, which produces smooth and flawless 'First off' structure build.In March 2014, HAL promoted its LUH's capabilities as a civilian multirole helicopter, noting its ability to carry up to six passengers in an appropriate configuration.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: Following repeated delays to the type's first flight, on 6 September 2016, the first prototype LUH PT-1 (ZG4620) conduct its maiden flight outside HAL's manufacturing facility at Bangalore. The maiden flight, which was reportedly flown without any issues, marked the commencement of the flight test phase of development.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: On 14 February 2017, the first prototype performed an aerobatic display in front of members of the general public in Aero India 2017. Based on the feedback from the first prototype, a more refined second prototype performed its first flight on 22 May 2017.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: The LUH flew at 6 km altitude Envelope Expansion Test at Bengaluru, a critical certification requirement, in December 2018. Subsequently, on 14 December 2018, the third prototype PT-3 had its maiden flight. In 2018, the LUH finished hot weather trials at Nagpur. Testing at sea-level altitudes was completed at Chennai in 2018 and at Puducherry in 2019.In January 2019, the LUH successfully completed cold weather trials. The LUH undertook successful high altitude hot weather trials between 24 August and 2 September 2019. By 7 February 2020, three prototypes had cumulatively performed over 550 flights. On 7 February 2020, the LUH received its Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) from the Ministry of Defence's (MoD) department of Defence Research and Development.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: The Indian Army has requested a final demonstration trial prior to the LUH goes into mass production. HAL announced the completion of the final demonstration trial on 9 September 2020, which involved envelope expansion, performance, flying qualities, payload and landing capabilities at the highest altitudes of Siachen Glacier. The Final Operational Clearance (FOC) is planned for 2021, following tests focused on its automatic flight control system (AFCS).


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: During an official visit on 7 October 2021, Director General of Army Aviation Corps Lt Gen AK Suri flew the final test sortie in Light Utility Helicopter which successfully completed the Army Acceptance Trial. HAL LUH is now ready for induction by the Indian Armed Forces. From August 2022, HAL will start flight trial of limited series production (LSP) platform.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: While limited series production (LSP) will be completed from Bengaluru, HAL intends to perform mass production of the LUH at its new helicopter manufacturing complex at Tumakur that will have the capacity to produce helicopters of 3 ton to 12 ton category. The Tumakur assembly line will complete around 30 LUHs per year by 2019–2020; upon enacting Phase II, which will take another three-four years, production would be ramped up to 60 helicopters per year from 2023.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: Tumakur assembly line will become fully operational from March 2022. As per government report from Rajya Sabha, Army and IAF will get two LSP each from 2022-23. After that HAL will start rolling out series production (SP) variants. The gearbox was developed by Microtec company located in Hyderabad, while the ring gear is built by Shanti Gears and transmission by HAL. Avionics hardware is supplied by Chennai based Data patterns and HAL worked on the software. With supplies from many other Indian companies, HAL plans to take the indigenous content to over 60 percent.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: Ministry of Defence placed an initial order of 12 Light Utility Helicopters out of which 6 are for Indian Army and another 6 for the Indian Air Force. First LUH will be delivered by August 2022. Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on 2 November 2021 approved purchase of 12 Limited Series Production (LSP) variant of LUH. HAL on 20 October 2022, awarded the contract for design and development of night vision goggles for LUH to MKU. It will be powered by Generation 3 (GEN III) technology. The development will be handled by Netro Optronics division at MKU.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: Indian Coast Guard Director General V S Pathania lead a delegation of officials to Helicopter Division of HAL, during which he undertook a 45 minute sortie in LUH. ICG is evaluating replacement of Chetak helicopters in fleet with the LUH.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: The HAL Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) is a 3-tonne class highly agile new generation light helicopter. According to HAL, it possesses a cruise speed of 235 km/h, maximum speed of 260 km/h, service ceiling of up to 6.5 km, a range of 350 km with maximum take-off weight of 3.12 tonne and an empty weight of 1.91 tonne. The LUH will be capable of accommodating a maximum of two pilots and six passengers, all of which shall be seated on crash-worthy seats; externally, it is capable of carrying cargoes of up to 1 tonne under-slung. LUH with glass cockpit will be able to undertake various missions, including emergency medical services (EMS), troop transport, utility, search and rescue (S&R), VVIP, aerial reconnaissance and surveillance missions.


title: HAL Light Utility Helicopter

text: LUH is powered by a single 750 KW rated Shakti-1U turboshaft engine derived from Safran Ardiden, co-developed by HAL and Turbomeca. It supports dual channel Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) system along with backup fuel control system. The helicopter will be equipped with a glass cockpit featuring a Smart Cockpit Display System (SCDS) along with a skid-based landing gear arrangement. LUH is the only helicopter in the 3 ton class to have foldable rotors.


title: 2 Esdras

text: 2 Esdras (also called 4 Esdras, Latin Esdras, or Latin Ezra) is an apocalyptic book in some English versions of the Bible. Tradition ascribes it to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the , but scholarship places its composition between 70 and .


title: 2 Esdras

text: It is reckoned among the apocrypha by Roman Catholics, Protestants, and most Eastern Orthodox Christians. 2 Esdras was excluded by Jerome from his Vulgate version of the Old Testament, but from the 9th century onwards, the Latin text is sporadically found as an appendix to the Vulgate, inclusion becoming more general after the 13th century.


title: 2 Esdras

text: As with 1 Esdras, some confusion exists about the numbering of this book. The Vulgate of Jerome includes only a single book of Ezra, but in the Clementine Vulgate 1, 2, 3 and 4 Esdras are separate books. Protestant writers, after the Geneva Bible, called 1 and 2 Esdras of the Vulgate, Ezra and Nehemiah; and called 3 and 4 Esdras of the Vulgate, 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras respectively. These then became the common names for these books in English Bibles.


title: 2 Esdras

text: Medieval Latin manuscripts denoted it 4 Esdras, which to this day is the name used for chapters 3–14 in modern critical editions, which are typically in Latin, the language of its most complete exemplars.


title: 2 Esdras

text: It appears in the Appendix to the Old Testament in the Slavonic Bible, where it is called 3 Esdras, and the Georgian Orthodox Bible numbers it 3 Ezra. This text is sometimes also known as Apocalypse of Ezra (chapters 3–14 known as the Jewish Apocalypse of Ezra or 4 Ezra. In modern critical editions, chapters 1–2 are named as 5 Ezra, and chapters 15–16 as 6 Ezra). Bogaert speculates that the "fourth book of Ezra" referred to by Jerome most likely corresponds to modern 5 Ezra and 6 Ezra combined – and notes a number of Latin manuscripts where these chapters are together in an appendix.


title: 2 Esdras

text: The first two chapters of 2 Esdras are found only in the Latin version of the book, and are called 5 Ezra by scholars. They are considered by most scholars to be Christian in origin; they assert God's rejection of the Jews and describe a vision of the Son of God. These are generally considered to be late additions (possibly third century) to the work.


title: 2 Esdras

text: Chapters 3–14, or the great bulk of 2 Esdras, is a Jewish apocalypse, also sometimes known as 4 Ezra or the Jewish Apocalypse of Ezra. The latter name should not be confused with a later work called the "Greek Apocalypse of Ezra".


title: 2 Esdras

text: The Ethiopian Church considers 4 Ezra to be canonical, written during the Babylonian captivity, and calls it Izra Sutuel (ዕዝራ ሱቱኤል). It was also often cited by the Fathers of the Church. In the Eastern Armenian tradition, it is called 3 Ezra. It was written in the late following the destruction of the Second Temple.


title: 2 Esdras

text: Among Greek Fathers of the Church, 4 Ezra is generally cited as Προφήτης Ἔσδρας "Prophetes Esdras" ("The Prophet Ezra") or Ἀποκάλυψις Ἔσδρα "Apokalupsis Esdra" ("Apocalypse of Ezra"). Most scholars agree that 4 Ezra was composed in Hebrew, which was translated into Greek, and then to Latin, Armenian, Ethiopian, and Georgian, but the Hebrew and Greek editions have been lost.


title: 2 Esdras

text: Slightly differing Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, Georgian, and Armenian translations have survived; the Greek version can be reconstructed, though without absolute certainty, from these different translations, while the Hebrew text remains more elusive. The modern Slavonic version is translated from the Latin.


title: 2 Esdras

text: 4 Ezra consists of seven visions of Ezra the scribe. The first vision takes place as Ezra is still in Babylon. He asks God how Israel can be kept in misery if God is just. The archangel Uriel is sent to answer the question, responding that God's ways cannot be understood by the human mind. Soon, however, the end would come, and God's justice would be made manifest. Similarly, in the second vision, Ezra asks why Israel was delivered up to the Babylonians, and is again told that man cannot understand this and that the end is near. In the third vision, Ezra asks why Israel does not possess the world. Uriel responds that the current state is a period of transition. Here follows a description of the fate of evil-doers and the righteous. Ezra asks whether the righteous may intercede for the unrighteous on Judgment Day, but is told that "Judgment Day is final".


title: 2 Esdras

text: The next three visions are more symbolic in nature. The fourth is of a woman mourning for her only son. She is transformed into a city when she hears of the desolation of Zion. Uriel says that the woman is a symbol of Zion. The fifth vision concerns an eagle with three heads and 20 wings (12 large wings and eight smaller wings "over against them"). The eagle is rebuked by a lion and then burned. The explanation of this vision is that the eagle refers to the fourth kingdom of the vision of Daniel, with the wings and heads as rulers. The final scene is the triumph of the Messiah over the empire. The sixth vision is of a man, representing the Messiah, who breathes fire on a crowd that is attacking him. This man then turns to another peaceful multitude, which accepts him.


title: 2 Esdras

text: Finally, a vision of the restoration of scripture is related. God appears to Ezra in a bush and commands him to restore the Law. Ezra gathers five scribes and begins to dictate. After 40 days, he has produced 94 books: the 24 books of the Tanakh and 70 secret works:


title: 2 Esdras

text: Make public the 24 books that you wrote first, and let the worthy and the unworthy read them; but keep the 70 that were written last, in order to give them to the wise among your people." (2 Esdras 14:45–46 RSV; 4 Ezra 12:45–46)


title: 2 Esdras

text: The "seventy" might refer to the Septuagint, most of the apocrypha, or the lost books that are described in the Bible. But it is more probable that the number is just symbolic.


title: 2 Esdras

text: Almost all Latin editions of the text have a large lacuna of 70 verses between 7:35 and 7:36 that is missing because they trace their common origin to one early manuscript, "Codex Sangermanensis I", from which an entire page had been cut out very early in its history. In 1875 Robert Lubbock Bensly published the lost verses and in 1895 M.R. James oversaw a critical edition from Bensly's notes restoring the lost verses from the complete text found in the "Codex Colbertinus"; this edition is used in the Stuttgart edition of the Vulgate. The restored verses are numbered 7:35 to 7:105, with the former verses 7:36–7:70 renumbered to 7:106–7:140. For more information, see the article "Codex Sangermanensis I".


title: 2 Esdras

text: Second Esdras turns around a radical spiritual conversion of Ezra in a vision, where he stops to comfort a sobbing woman who turns instantly into a great city (2 Esd. 10:25–27). On this pivotal event, one scholar writes that Ezra:


title: 2 Esdras

text: is badly frightened, he loses consciousness and calls for his angelic guide. The experience described is unique, not just in 4 Ezra, but in the whole Jewish apocalyptic literature. Its intensity complements the pressure of unrelieved stress evident in the first part of the vision, and it resembles the major orientation of personality usually connected with religious conversion.


title: 2 Esdras

text: The following verses (10:28–59) reveal that Ezra had a vision of the heavenly Jerusalem, the true city of Zion, which the angel of the Lord invites him to explore. As the angel tells Ezra at the end of Chapter 10 in the Authorised Version:


title: 2 Esdras

text: But tomorrow at night thou shalt remain here and so shall the Highest show thee visions of the high things which the Most High will do unto them that dwell upon earth in the last days.


title: 2 Esdras

text: The last two chapters, also called 6 Ezra by scholars, and found in the Latin, but not in the Eastern texts, predict wars and rebuke sinners. Many assume that they probably date from a much later period (perhaps late third century) and may be Christian in origin; though not certain, they possibly were added at the same time as the first two chapters of the Latin version. They likely are Jewish in origin, however; 15:57–59 have been found in Greek, which most scholars agree was translated from a Hebrew original.


title: 2 Esdras

text: The main body of the book appears to be written for consolation in a period of great distress (one scholarly hypothesis is that it dates to Titus' destruction of the Second Temple in ). The author seeks answers, similar to Job's quest for understanding the meaning of suffering, but the author does not like or desire only the answer that was given to Job.


title: 2 Esdras

text: Critics question whether even the main body of the book, not counting the chapters that exist only in the Latin version and in Greek fragments, has a single author. Kalisch, De Faye, and Charles hold that no fewer than five people worked on the text. However, Gunkel points to the unity in character and holds that the book is written by a single author; the author of 2 Esdras has also been suggested to have written the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch. In any case, the two texts may date from about the same time, and one almost certainly depends on the other.


title: 2 Esdras

text: Critics have widely debated the origin of the book. Hidden under two layers of translation, determining if the author was Roman, Alexandrian, or Palestinian is impossible.


title: 2 Esdras

text: The scholarly interpretation of the eagle being the Roman Empire (the eagle in the fifth vision, whose heads might be Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian if such is the case) and the destruction of the temple would indicate that the probable date of composition lies toward the end of the first century, perhaps 90–96, though some suggest a date as late as 218.


title: 2 Esdras

text: The book is found in the Orthodox Slavonic Bible (Ostrog Bible, Elizabeth Bible, and later consequently Russian Synodal Bible). 2 Esdras is in the Apocrypha of the King James Version, and Pope Clement VIII placed it in an appendix to the Vulgate along with 3 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh "lest they perish entirely". The chapters corresponding to 4 Ezra, i.e. 2 Esdras 3–14, make up the "Book of II Izra", aka "Izra Sutuel", canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church; it was also widely cited by early Fathers of the Church, particularly Ambrose of Milan, as the 'third book of Esdras'. Jerome states that it is apocryphal. It may also be found in many larger English Bibles included as part of the Biblical apocrypha, as they exist in the King James Version, the Revised Version, the Revised Standard Version, and the earliest editions of the Catholic Douay–Rheims Bible, among others.


title: 2 Esdras

text: The "introitus" of the traditional Requiem Mass of the Extraordinary Form of the 1962 Missal in the Catholic Church is loosely based on 2:34–35: "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them." Several other liturgical prayers are taken from the book. The same chapter, verses 36 and 37, is cited in the Introit of Pentecost Tuesday, ""Accipite jucunditatem gloriae vestrae, alleluia: gratias agentes Deo, alleluia: qui vos ad caelestia regna vocavit, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia". Ps. 77 "Attendite, popule meus, legem meam: inclinate aurem vestram in verba oris mei. Gloria Patri. Accipite". – Receive the delight of your glory, alleluia, giving thanks to God, alleluia, Who hath called ye to the heavenly kingdoms, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Psalm 77 Attend, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. Glory be. Receive.” The Alleluia verse "Crastina die" for the Vigil Mass of Christmas in the Roman Missal is taken from chapter 16, verse 52.


title: 2 Esdras

text: Christopher Columbus quoted verse 6:42, which describes the Earth as being created with six parts land and one part water, in his appeal to the Catholic Monarchs for financial support for his first voyage of exploration.


title: 2 Esdras

text: The book is appointed as a scripture reading in the Ordinariate’s Evensong service for All Hallows' Eve.


title: Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft

text: The Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program was initiated by the United States Army in 2019 to develop a successor to the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter as part of the Future Vertical Lift program. The UH-60, developed in the early 1970s, has been in service since June 1979. Like the UH-60, FLRAA variants would also serve United States Special Operations Command and the United States Marine Corps. Under the existing Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) program, the Army has been gathering data from flying prototype designs that could fill the FLRAA role.


title: Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft

text: The Army posted a request for information (RFI) in April 2019, which was intended to identify interested manufacturers. According to the RFI, the Army plans to bring the FLRAA into service in 2030, in anticipation of retiring the UH-60 after a 50-year life.


title: Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft

text: On December 5, 2022, the Army selected the Bell Textron V-280 Valor powered by Rolls Royce engines for the FLRAA contract award.


title: Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft

text: According to the RFI, the Army has set a per-unit cost goal of $43 million (in 2018 dollars). The Army envisions combat scenarios where a future scout helicopter being developed under the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program and unmanned drones would control an area or corridor, which would then allow FLRAA to insert troops. FLRAA is intended to be more agile and faster than the existing UH-60.


title: Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft

text: FLRAA is part of the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program; in 2016, Major General William Gayler declared the first FVL aircraft would fill the medium-lift role. The proposed FLRAA program schedule overlaps with the FARA procurement, which is also part of FVL. FARA would provide a light-lift helicopter for the armed reconnaissance/scout role that was previously filled by the Bell OH-58 Kiowa until its retirement in 2014.


title: Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft

text: On April 4, 2019, the Army released a formal request for information and outlined its proposed schedule for FLRAA:


title: Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft

text: The FVL program is headed by Brigadier General Wally Rugen; according to Rugen, based on the data gathered during JMR-TD with the Bell V-280 Valor and the Sikorsky–Boeing SB-1 Defiant, the Army was ready to move on to open competition for the FLRAA contract. In March 2020, the Army awarded competitive demonstration contracts to Bell and Sikorsky/Boeing, who will proceed to complete conceptual designs and explain how the FLRAA requirements are met by the Valor and Defiant candidate designs, respectively.


title: 1992 Democratic Party presidential primaries

text: From February 10 to June 9, 1992, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1992 United States presidential election. Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1992 Democratic National Convention held from July 13 to July 16, 1992, in New York City.


text: Although the McGovern-Fraser commission had recommended proportionality as early as 1972, this primary was the first to adopt the proportional 15% rule, still in place today, as the standard throughout the country. Any candidate receiving greater than 15% of the vote in a given congressional district (or in the case of New Jersey, state legislative district) would receive a proportional share of the apportioned delegates for that district or state.


text: During the aftermath of the Gulf War, President George H. W. Bush's approval ratings were high. At one point after the successful performance by U.S. forces in Kuwait, President Bush enjoyed an 89% approval rating.


text: As a result of Bush's high popularity, major high-profile Democratic candidates feared a high likelihood of defeat in the 1992 general election. This fear was "captured perfectly by "Saturday Night Live" in a skit called 'Campaign '92: The Race to Avoid Being the Guy Who Loses to Bush,'" in which each prospective major candidate "tried to top the other in explaining why they were unfit to run" for the presidency.


text: Mario Cuomo and Jesse Jackson declined to seek the Democratic nomination for president, as did U.S. Senator and eventual Vice-President Al Gore, whose son had been struck by a car and was undergoing extensive surgery and physical therapy. However, Governors Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown and U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas opted to run for president.


text: Other notable individuals campaigning for the nomination but receiving less than 1% of the national vote included:


text: Clinton, a Southerner with experience governing a more conservative state, positioned himself as a centrist New Democrat. He prepared for a run in 1992 amidst a crowded field seeking to beat the incumbent President George H. W. Bush. In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, Bush seemed unbeatable, but an economic recession—which ultimately proved to be small by historical standards—spurred the Democrats on. Tom Harkin won his native Iowa without much surprise. Clinton, meanwhile, was still a relatively unknown national candidate before the primary season when a woman named Gennifer Flowers appeared in the press to reveal allegations of an affair. Clinton sought damage control by appearing on "60 Minutes" with his wife, Hillary Clinton, for an interview with Steve Kroft. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts won the primary in neighboring New Hampshire but Clinton's second-place finish – strengthened by Clinton's speech labeling himself "The Comeback Kid" – re-energized his campaign. Clinton swept nearly all of the Southern Super Tuesday primaries, making him the solid front runner. Jerry Brown, however, began to run a surprising insurgent campaign, particularly through use of a 1-800 number to receive grassroots funding. Brown "seemed to be the most left-wing and right-wing man in the field. [He] called for term limits, a flat tax, and the abolition of the Department of Education." Brown scored surprising wins in Connecticut and Colorado.


text: On March 17, Tsongas left the race when he decisively lost both the Illinois and Michigan primaries to Clinton, with Brown as a distant third. Exactly one week later, Brown eked out a narrow win in the bitterly fought Connecticut primary. As the press focused on the primaries in New York and Wisconsin, which were both to be held on the same day, Brown, who had taken the lead in polls in both states, made a serious gaffe: he announced to an audience of various leaders of New York City's Jewish community that, if nominated, he would consider the Reverend Jesse Jackson as a vice presidential candidate. Jackson was still a controversial figure in that community and Brown's polling numbers suffered. On April 7, he lost narrowly to Bill Clinton in Wisconsin (37-34), and dramatically in New York (41-26). In addition, his "willingness to break with liberal orthodoxy on taxes led to denunciations from the party regulars, but by the end of the race he had been embraced by much of the Left."


text: Although Brown continued to campaign in a number of states, he won no further primaries. Despite this, he still had a sizable number of delegates, and a big win in his home state of California would have deprived Clinton of sufficient support to win the nomination. After nearly a month of intense campaigning and multiple debates between the two candidates, Clinton managed to defeat Brown in the California primary by a margin of 47% to 40%.


text: Clinton became the second candidate after George McGovern in 1972 to win the nomination without winning Iowa or New Hampshire. The same feat would be repeated nearly 30 years later by Joe Biden in 2020.


text: Clinton chose U.S. Senator Albert A. Gore Jr. (D-Tennessee) to be his running mate on July 9, 1992. Choosing Gore, who is from Clinton's neighboring state of Tennessee, went against the popular strategy of balancing a Southern candidate with a Northern partner. Gore did serve to balance the ticket in other ways, as he was perceived as strong on foreign policy and environmental issues, while Clinton was not. Also, Gore's similarities to Clinton allowed him to push some of his key campaign themes, such as centrism and generational change.


text: Before Gore's selection, other politicians were mentioned as a possible running-mate, "e.g." Bob Kerrey, Dick Gephardt, Mario Cuomo, Indiana Representative Lee H. Hamilton, Pennsylvania Senator Harris Wofford, Florida Senator Bob Graham, and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry.


text: The Democratic Convention in New York City was essentially a solidification of the party around Clinton and Gore, though there was controversy over whether Jerry Brown, who did not endorse Clinton, would be allowed to speak. Brown did speak at the convention by seconding his own nomination.


text: Another additional controversy concerned Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey, who sought a speaking slot at the convention but was not granted one. Casey complained that it was because of his outspoken anti-abortion views: he had warned the platform committee that Democrats were committing political suicide because of their support for abortion rights. Clinton supporters have said that Casey was not allowed to speak because he had not endorsed the ticket.


text: Clinton selected Tennessee Senator and 1988 candidate Al Gore to be his running-mate. Among others confirmed possible V.P. nominees, who were finalists of Clinton's selection were:


text: Clinton's list of finalists did not include Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey and Governor of New York Mario Cuomo, who publicly disavowed interest in the vice presidency.


text: The story of the race was covered in the 1993 documentary film "The War Room" and fictionalized into the 1996 novel and 1998 film "Primary Colors".


title: Jean M. Auel

text: Jean Marie Auel (; ; born February 18, 1936) is an American writer who wrote the "Earth's Children" books, a series of novels set in prehistoric Europe that explores human activities during this time, and touches on the interactions of Cro-Magnon people with Neanderthals. Her books have sold more than 45 million copies worldwide.


title: Jean M. Auel

text: Auel was born Jean Marie Untinen in 1936 in Chicago. She is of Finnish descent, the second of five children of Neil Solomon Untinen, a housepainter, and Martha ("née" Wirtanen) Untinen.


title: Jean M. Auel

text: Auel attended University of Portland. While a student, she joined Mensa and worked at Tektronix as a clerk (1965–1966), a circuit-board designer (1966–1973), a technical writer (1973–1974), and a credit manager (1974–1976). She earned an MBA from the University of Portland in 1976. She received honorary degrees from her alma mater, Pacific University, Portland State University, the University of Maine and the Mount Vernon College for Women.


title: Jean M. Auel

text: In 1977, Auel began extensive library research of the Ice Age for her first book. She joined a survival class to learn how to construct an ice cave, and learned primitive methods of making fire, tanning leather, and knapping stone from the aboriginal skills expert Jim Riggs.


title: Jean M. Auel

text: "The Clan of the Cave Bear" was nominated for numerous literary awards, including an American Booksellers Association nomination for best first novel. It was also later adapted into a screenplay for the film of the same name.


title: Jean M. Auel

text: After the sales success of her first book, Auel has been able to travel to the sites of prehistoric ruins and relics, and also to meet many of the experts with whom she had been corresponding. Her research has taken her across Europe from France to Ukraine, including most of what Marija Gimbutas called Old Europe. In 1986, she attended and co-sponsored a conference on modern human origins at the School of American Research, Santa Fe. She has developed a close friendship with Doctor Jean Clottes of France, who was responsible for the exploration of the Cosquer Cave discovered in 1985 and the Chauvet Cave discovered in 1994.


title: Jean M. Auel

text: In October 2008, Auel was named an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture and Communication.


title: Jean M. Auel

text: By 1990, Auel's first three books in her "Earth's Children" series had sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and been translated into 18 languages; Crown Publishers paid Auel about $25 million for the rights to publish "The Plains of Passage" and the two subsequent volumes. By May 2002, on the cusp of the publication of the fifth book, the series had sold 34 million books. The sixth and final book in the series, "The Land of Painted Caves", was published in 2011.


title: Jean M. Auel

text: Jean Marie Untinen married Ray Bernard Auel after high school. They have five children and live in Portland, Oregon in the Goose Hollow neighborhood.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: The Battle of Lake Khasan (29 July – 11 August 1938), also known as the Changkufeng Incident (, Chinese and Japanese: ; Chinese pinyin: ; Japanese romaji: ) in China and Japan, was an attempted military incursion by Manchukuo, a Japanese puppet state, into the territory claimed and controlled by the Soviet Union. That incursion was founded in the Japanese belief that the Soviet Union had misinterpreted the demarcation of the boundary based on the Treaty of Peking between Imperial Russia and Qing China and the subsequent supplementary agreements on demarcation and tampered with the demarcation markers. Japanese forces occupied the disputed area but withdrew after heavy fighting and a diplomatic settlement.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: For most of the first half of the twentieth century, there was considerable tension between the Russian (later Soviet), Chinese, and Japanese governments, along their common borders in what became North East China. The Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) was a railway in northeastern China (Manchuria). It connected China and the Russian Far East. The southern branch of the CER, known in the West as the South Manchuria Railway, became the locus and partial "casus belli" for the Russo-Japanese War and subsequent incidents, leading to the Second Sino-Japanese War and Soviet-Japanese border conflicts. Larger incidents included the Sino-Soviet conflict of 1929 and the Mukden Incident between Japan and China in 1931. The Battle of Lake Khasan was fought between two powers which had long mistrusted each other.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: In the period before the battle, a series of purges left the Soviet army with many positions filled by inexperienced officers who feared to take the initiative. In July 1938 alone, four and a half times as many people were purged from the Far Eastern Front (the Soviet command in the region) as in the previous twelve months. This in combination with lack of infrastructure, the overburdening of the front's commander, Marshal Vasily Blyukher (or Blücher), shortage of equipment, and poor organization led to the Front being in poor shape.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: The confrontation was triggered in July 1938, when Far Eastern Front and Soviet State Security (NKVD) Border Guard troops reinforced the Khasan border with Manchuria. This was prompted in part by the defection one month before (13 June) of Soviet General G. S. Lyushkov, in charge of all NKVD forces in the Soviet Far East at Hunchun, in the Tumen River area. He provided the Japanese with intelligence on the poor state of Soviet Far Eastern forces and the purge of army officers.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: On 6 July 1938, the Japanese Kwantung Army decoded a message sent by the Soviet commander in the Posyet region to Soviet headquarters in Khabarovsk. The message recommended that Soviet soldiers be allowed to secure unoccupied high ground west of Lake Khasan, most notably the disputed Changkufeng Heights, because it would be advantageous for the Soviets to occupy terrain which overlooked the Korean port-city of Rajin, as well as strategic railways linking Korea to Manchuria. In the next two weeks, small groups of Soviet border troops moved into the area and began fortifying the mountain with emplacements, observation trenches, entanglements and communication facilities.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: At first, the Japanese Korean Army, which had been assigned to defend the area, disregarded the Soviet advance. However, the Kwantung Army, whose administrative jurisdiction overlapped Zhāng Gǔfēng (Changkufeng), pushed the Korean Army to take more action, because it was suspicious of Soviet intentions. Following this, the Korean Army took the matter to Tokyo, recommending that a formal protest be sent to the Soviet Union.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: The conflict started on 15 July, when the Japanese attaché in Moscow demanded the removal of Soviet border troops from the Bezymyannaya (сопка Безымянная, Chinese name: Shācǎofēng = 沙草峰) and Zaozyornaya (сопка Заозёрная, Chinese name: Zhāng Gǔfēng = 张鼓峰 (Changkufeng)) Hills to the west of Lake Khasan in the south of Primorye not far from Vladivostok, claiming this territory by the Soviet–Korea border; the demand was rejected.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: The Japanese 19th Division along with some Manchukuo units took on the Soviet 39th Rifle Corps under Grigori Shtern (eventually consisting of the 32nd, 39th and 40th Rifle Divisions, the 2nd Mechanised Brigade and two tank battalions). One of the Japanese Army Commanders at the battle was Colonel Kotoku Sato, the commander of the 75th Infantry Regiment. Lieutenant General Suetaka Kamezo gave Sato an order: "You are to meet out a firm and thorough counterattack without fail, once you gather that the enemy is advancing even in the slightest". The hidden meaning of this was that Sato had been ordered to expel the Soviets from Changkufeng.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: On 31 July, Sato's regiment launched a night sortie on the fortified hill. In the Changkufeng sector, 1,114 Japanese engaged a Soviet garrison of 300, eliminating them and knocking out 10 tanks, with casualties of 34 killed and 99 wounded. In the Shachofeng sector, 379 Japanese surprised and routed another 300 Soviet troops, while knocking out seven tanks, for 11 killed and 34 wounded. Thousands more Japanese soldiers from the 19th Division arrived, dug in, and requested reinforcements. High Command rejected the request, as they knew General Suetaka would use these forces to assault vulnerable Soviet positions, escalating the incident. Japanese troops defended the disputed area. In 1933, the Japanese had designed and built a "Rinji Soko Ressha" (Special Armoured Train). The train was deployed at "2nd Armoured Train Unit" in Manchuria and participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Changkufeng conflict against the Soviets, transporting thousands of Japanese troops to and from the battlefield, displaying to the West the capability of an Asian nation to implement western ideas and doctrine concerning rapid infantry deployment and transport.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: On 31 July, People's Commissar for Defence Kliment Voroshilov ordered combat readiness for 1st Coastal Army and the Pacific Fleet. The Soviets gathered 354 tanks and assault guns at Lake Khasan, including 257 T-26 tanks (with 10 KhT-26 flame-throwing tanks), three ST-26 bridge-laying tanks, 81 BT-7 light tanks and 13 SU-5-2 self-propelled guns. The chief of the Far East Front, Vasily Blücher, arrived at the front line on 2 August 1938. Under his command, additional forces were moved up and from August 2–9, the Japanese forces at Changkufeng were attacked. Such was the disparity of forces that one Japanese artillery commander observed that the Soviets fired more shells in one day than the Japanese did in the two-week affair. Despite this, the Japanese defenders organized an anti-tank defense, with disastrous results for the poorly coordinated Soviets, whose attacks were defeated with many casualties. Thousands of Soviet troops were killed or wounded and at least 46 (or 45 unoperational because of gun fire and getting stuck in the marshes or damaged or 80 of which 24 completely destroyed) tanks were knocked out, with another 39 damaged to varying degrees.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: After the Japanese pushed the Soviet border security unit, later reinforced by the 40th Rifle Division, from the hill and other positions the Japanese dug in while the Soviets reinforced their troops. Unlike the Japanese the Soviets didn't have a railway close to the battlefield, but instead a single unpaved road so when Soviet reinforcements got to the battlefield the Japanese were already well entrenched. The Soviets had attacked Japanese positions by air during the preparations for a ground attack. On the morning before the Soviet attack, 13 Soviet aircraft attacked the hill and 12 the rear of the Japanese forces, even though this isn't documented by all sources. This was followed by an attack of three Soviet infantry regiments, but this attack didn't have artillery or air support, either because of poor preparations or in the case of air support possibly fog. Some sources, however, do claim that two artillery batteries supported the attack. The attack was supported by a tank regiment but regardless it soon stalled. This was largely due to the low preparedness of the Soviet troops. Some of the artillery was not ready, little was known of the Japanese dispositions, communications had not fully been set up and the left wing was not ready to start the attack at the appointed time. Despite the poor state of the Soviet force and the knowledge that the enemy was well entrenched the attack was ordered to go ahead. The tank crews had not been prepared for the hostile terrain so they weren't able to keep up the momentum. During the attack a number of commanders including the commander of the 40th rifle division's tank battalion abandoned their troops.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: On August 6 the Soviets renewed their attack. First multiple waves of bombers attacked the Japanese positions. This attack was delayed either because of fog or poor preparations. After the bombers an assault by tanks and infantry, including mechanized troops, supported by artillery was made. In the difficult terrain the tanks suffered heavy losses, only individual tanks made it to their objectives, all of which were destroyed or retreated later. During the attack an outflanking movement was made. The Soviets pushed back the Japanese after heavy fighting, the subsequent days the Japanese counterattacked but were unable to recapture their positions.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: The Japanese were pushed back by the Soviet attacks but were still on the battlefield. Despite not being forced off the battlefield, it was clear that the local Japanese units would not be able to keep Changkufeng without widening the conflict. On 10 August, Japanese ambassador Mamoru Shigemitsu asked for peace. Satisfied that the incident had been brought to an "honourable" conclusion, on 11 August 1938, at 13:30 local time the Japanese stopped fighting and Soviet forces reoccupied the heights.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: More than 6,500 Soviet officers and soldiers were awarded the orders, decorations, and medals of the Soviet Union; 26 of them were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, and 95 were awarded the Order of Lenin.


title: Battle of Lake Khasan

text: Soviet losses totalled 792 killed or missing and 3,279 wounded or sick, according to their records and the Japanese claimed to have destroyed or immobilized 96 enemy tanks and 30 guns. Soviet armoured losses were significant, with dozens of tanks being knocked out or destroyed and hundreds of "tank troops" becoming casualties. Japanese casualties, as revealed by secret Army General Staff statistics, were 1,439 casualties (526 killed or missing, 913 wounded); the Soviets claimed Japanese losses of 3,100, with 600 killed and 2,500 wounded. The Soviets concluded that this was because of poor communications infrastructure and roads as well as the loss of unit conference due to poor organization, headquarters and commanders and a lack of combat supply units. The faults in the Soviet army and leadership at Khasan were blamed on the incompetence of Blyukher. In addition to leading the troops into action at Khasan, Blyukher was also supposed to oversee the trans-Baikal military district's and the far eastern fronts move to combat readiness using an administrative apparatus that delivered army group, army and corps level instructions to the 40th Rifle Division by accident. On 22 October, he was arrested by the NKVD and is thought to have been tortured to death.