text: Visas for Cambodia, Myanmar, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Turkey are obtainable online.


title: National School of Drama

text: National School of Drama (NSD) is a theatre training institute situated at New Delhi, India. It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and became an independent school in 1975. In 2005, it was granted deemed university status, but in 2011 it was revoked. Paresh Rawal is the current Chairperson of


title: National School of Drama

text: The origins of the school can be traced back to a seminar in 1954, where the idea of a Central institution for theatre was mooted, subsequently, a draft scheme was prepared in 1955, and the Sangeet Natak Akademi, which had Jawaharlal Nehru as its president, started drawing plans for the institution. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Delhi, Bharatiya Natya Sangh (BNS) with assistance from UNESCO, independently established the 'Asian Theatre Institute' (ATI) on 20 January 1958, and in July 1958, ATI was taken over by the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA), India's National Academy of Music, dance and drama of Government of India.


title: National School of Drama

text: In the following year, the government merged it with the newly founded school, and thus NSD was established in April 1959 under the auspices of Sangeet Natak Akademi. Initially, the school was situated at Nizamuddin West and was called 'National School of Drama and Asian Theatre Institute, whose first batch passed out in 1961. During his tenure as the director of the institution, Ebrahim Alkazi (1962–1977), not just overhauled the syllabus, but also had the students dig and build platforms for a theatre in the backyard of a rented Kailash Colony house, where NSD had moved. Later when it moved to its present location, he also designed two theatres for NSD, including a 200-seat studio theatre, and the open-air Meghdoot theatre, under a banyan tree.


title: National School of Drama

text: In 1975 it became an autonomous organization, under the erstwhile Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture, Department of Culture, with the name 'National School of Drama' and relocated in May 1975, to its present premises at Bahawalpur House, the residence of Bahawalpur a former princely state. However, the place is generally known by adjacent (now demolished) Mandi House, the former residence of Raja of erstwhile Mandi princely state. In 1999, the school organized its first National Theatre Festival, 'Bharat Rang Mahotsav', generally held during the second week of January each year.


title: National School of Drama

text: In 2008, the institution celebrated its golden jubilee at its annual theatre festival, "Bharat Rang Mahotsav", with a gathering of its alumni from all over the country, the festival's satellite edition in Mumbai showcased plays of NSD graduates, including Ratan Thiyam's Prologue, Bansi Kaul (Aranyadhipati Tantiya), Neelam Mansingh Chowdhury (The Suit), Sanjay Upadhyay (Harsingar), Baharul Islam (Akash), Mohan Maharishi (Dear Bapu) and M K Raina (Stay Yet Awhile). Waman Kendre was appointed as Director the school in 2013. He will serve a five-year term. He has done post-graduate with research in folk theatre of Kerala from NSD. He belongs to the nomadic Vanjara tribal community of Marathwada and was one of the leading lights of the Dalit theatre movement in Maharashtra in the late 1970s. As of 10 September 2020 Paresh Rawal, has been appointed as the Chairman of the National School of Drama.


title: National School of Drama

text: On 16 March 2005, the Government of India granted the NSD the status of deemed university. However, in 2010 the NSD Society asked for the deemed university status to be revoked since "[it] could undermine the professional training, autonomy, and flexibility required in the creative fields such as theatre." Thus, in October 2011, the status was revoked on request of NSD.


title: National School of Drama

text: The professional performing wing of NSD, the 'National School of Drama' Repertory Company was set up in 1964, with an aim to promote professional theatre in India. Its first head was Om Shivpuri, followed by Manohar Singh, Ram Gopal Bajaj (Acting Chief), J.N. Kaushal (Acting Chief), Anuradha Kapur (Acting Chief), and [Suresh Sharma], Sagar Kamble, Atul Singhai (Animation chief).


title: National School of Drama

text: Today, the Repertory Company has staged over 120 plays based on the works of about 70 playwrights and featuring around 50 directors in several countries, and various cities across the nation, and has its own festival every year called 'Annual Repertory Company Summer Festival', in which it performs new and past plays. In 2004, the repertory celebrated its 40th anniversary with a theatre festival in New Delhi.


title: National School of Drama

text: In 1989 NSD established the 'Theatre-in-Education Company' (T.I.E), called 'Sanskaar Rang Toli', which coaches children aged 8 to 16 years. The company regularly performs plays for school and adult audiences alike, and has its own yearly theatre festivals, 'Jashn-e-Bachpan' and Bal Sangam.


title: National School of Drama

text: Apart from that, it has a studio theatre and minor performances spaces used on special occasions, like the Bharat Rangmahotsav.


title: National School of Drama

text: In a bid to decentralize its activities, NSD opened Regional Resource Centres (RRC) across India, the first of which was opened at Bengaluru in 1994. A new centre was established in Varanasi.


title: National School of Drama

text: Bharat Rang Mahotsav, or the 'National Theatre Festival', established in 1999, is the annual theatre festival of National School of Drama (NSD), held in New Delhi, today it is acknowledged as the largest theatre festival of Asia, dedicated solely to theatre. The School also organizes a festival showcasing tribal traditions, the Adirang Mahotsav.


title: National School of Drama

text: The National School of Drama's Extension Programme connects the school in Delhi to other regional theatres around the country. The school has been imparting training and creating plays with theatre practitioners all throughout the country through a series of well-planned theatrical workshops that take into account the individual demands of each location. These courses instruct those who cannot afford to spend three years at NSD and those who have been practising theatre for a long time.


title: National School of Drama

text: The school also builds contact with a significant number of theatrical groups and organizations that are performing good work in the regions through collaborative projects through this programme.


title: National School of Drama

text: NSD has recently arranged a series of theatre workshops in the Northeastern States as part of its Extension Programme. The workshops followed a three-step programme: the first was to pique all participants' interest in the complexities of the theatre experience - performance and transference; the second was to impart training in the area; and the third was to assist and guide them in preparing productions based on the received training. Once the productions were completed, participants were given the opportunity to present ten shows in various sections of the region in order to build self-confidence, a variety of experience, and audience engagement. Finally, the School decided to provide a forum to present these creations, which is how the Poorvottar Natya Samaroh was born.


title: National School of Drama

text: The first Poorvottar Natya Samaroh took place in Guwahati in 2007, followed by the second in Gangtok, Sikkim, in 2008. The plays in the Poorvottar Natya Samaroh covered a wide range of topics, including romance, social issues such as caste and gender, exploitation in a feudal system, survival and hope in a conflict-torn societal milieu, philosophical ideas, and resistance.


title: National School of Drama

text: This combination of theatre experiences will not only allow for the mixing of all those engaged, but the spectrum of representation and performance will also highlight varied styles of portrayal, each as valid as the other. The festival seeks to provide a space of meaningful interaction and involvement for all by emphasizing this oneness in the variety of human life and existence.


title: National School of Drama

text: Several NSD alumni have gone on to achieve national recognition for their work on stage, television and film. The following is a partial listing as provided by the school's website.


title: National School of Drama

text: In August 2018, a woman student alleged molestation – that she was inappropriately touched by National School of Drama's guest professor Suresh Shetty during the entrance workshop. The accused professor was a retired Academics Dean of NSD.


title: Ken Hakuta

text: Ken Hakuta (born 1951), known as Dr. Fad since 1983, is a South Korean-born Japanese-American inventor and television personality. Hakuta, as Dr. Fad, was the host of the popular children's invention TV show "The Dr. Fad Show", which ran from 1988 to 1994. The show featured children's inventions, and promoted creativity and inventiveness in children. Hakuta was the organizer of four Fad Fairs, conventions of inventors with fun, wacky ideas, in Detroit, New York City and Philadelphia.


title: Ken Hakuta

text: Hakuta imported and merchandised the Wacky Wall Walker, one of the best selling toys of the 1980s. The Wacky Wall Walker became a fad hit in 1983, and over 240 million units have sold. In 1983, NBC aired an animated Christmas special, "Deck the Halls with Wacky Walls", to capitalize on the toy fad. Their popularity peaked after the Kellogg Company inserted them as free prizes in cereal boxes. The VH1 program "I Love the 80s: 1983" features Dr. Fad and the Wall Walkers.


title: Ken Hakuta

text: Hakuta is also an art collector and is particularly known for a large group of Shaker items, furniture and other pieces, that he purchased in 1991. These are now part of the so-called Mount Lebanon Shaker Society collection.


title: Ken Hakuta

text: In 1998, Hakuta built on his long-standing interest in herbal medicine to found AllHerb.com, an eCommerce company offering herbal remedy products and information. AllHerb.com sought to differentiate itself from other competitors in the space by positioning itself as "the most authentic resource for herbal medicine available today"; for instance, one of its spokespeople was a shaman, tribal healer, and herbalist from the Peruvian rainforest. AllHerb.com ceased operations in February 2000.


title: Ken Hakuta

text: Hakuta has been featured in numerous media including: "The Washington Post", "The New York Times", the "Los Angeles Times", the "Detroit Free Press", "USA Today", "Time", "Newsweek", "Forbes", "Fortune", "Inc.", "Entrepreneurship", "Business Week", "CBS Evening News", "60 Minutes", "48 Hours", "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", "Oprah", "Geraldo", "Today Show", "The Tonight Show", "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", "The Don and Mike Show", "Larry King", and numerous radio shows around the country. There are two Harvard Business School case studies on AllHerb.com: "Ken Hakuta: AllHerb.com" and "AllHerb.com: Evolution of an E-tailer".


title: Ken Hakuta

text: Hakuta was born in Seoul, South Korea. His Korean name is Paik Kun (백건) and he was born as the first child of Paik Nam-il, who was the CEO of a textile company originally owned by his father who was accused in 2002 of having been a Chinilpa, or traitor/collaborator with the Japanese during their occupation of Korea. The textile company was the biggest of its kind during the Japanese colonial era in Korea. His family relocated to Japan in 1951 where they changed their Korean surname to a Japanese name based on the original Chinese character (白). Ken Hakuta subsequently grew up in Japan. Hakuta married Marilou Cantiller, a Filipina he met while the pair worked at the World Bank, in 1977. The pair have three children: Justin, Kenzo, and Aki. Justin is the former husband of comedian Ali Wong.


title: Ken Hakuta

text: Hakuta is the nephew of the video artist Nam June Paik and was the manager of Paik's New York City studio at the time of his death. He is the executor of his uncle's estate.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history in the top tier of Finnish football. The club's home ground is the 10,770-seat Bolt Arena, where they have played since 2000.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: Generally considered as Finland's biggest club, HJK is the most successful Finnish club in terms of championship titles with 32. The club has also won 14 Finnish Cups and 5 Finnish League Cups. Many of Finland's most successful players have played for HJK before moving abroad. The club has also similar success with women's Kansallinen Liiga.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: HJK is the only Finnish club that has participated in the UEFA Champions League group stage. In 1998, they beat Metz in the play-off round to clinch their place in the competition for the following season. HJK have also participated twice in the group stages of the UEFA Europa League in 2014–15 and 2022–23 respectively, along with appearing the inaugural edition of the UEFA Conference League. The club's highest score in a European competition came during the 2011–12 season, with a 13–0 aggregate victory over Welsh champions Bangor City, which included a 10–0 home win.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: HJK's traditional kit colours have long been blue and white striped shirts with blue shorts and socks. The club's crest has been nearly untouched for a century, it has only undergone one minor font change in order to modernize it.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: The club was founded as Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi – Helsingfors Fotbollsklubb in 1907 by Fredrik Wathén. The founding meeting was held at a bowling alley in Kaisaniemi Park in May. The first ever competitive fixture was played against Ekenäs IF in Ekenäs. HJK won 2–4.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: Early on, HJK became popular amongst Finnish-speaking students, while Swedish-speaking students preferred to play mainly for Unitas or HIFK. In late 1908, after a heated debate, the language was switched to unilingually Finnish and this resulted in many Swedish-speaking members switching over to HIFK and other clubs, although a few chose to stay.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: In 1909, the colours blue and white were chosen to support the fennoman movement and bandy was introduced as the club's second official sport. The club moved from Kaisaniemi Ground to the new Eläintarha Stadium. At the end of the year, Fredrik Wathen was forced to leave his post as the club's chairman due to illness.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: In 1910, Lauri Tanner became the longest-running club chairman to date. The same year, the club's first international match was played, against Eriksdals IF from Stockholm in Kaisaniemi. The first championship title was won in 1911. In 1915, the club moved to newly build Töölön Pallokenttä. In 1916, tennis was introduced as the third official sport in HJK, and it was played in the club until the early 1920s. During the Finnish Civil War in 1918, two HJK club members, fighting for the "Whites", were killed.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: In 1921, the first bandy championship was won and during the following five seasons, HJK reached five finals, winning three more titles. Bowling was added to the club's repertoire in 1925, but the bowlers formed their own club, Helsingin Keilaajat, the following year. In 1928, ice hockey became an official sport and the first championship was won in 1929. League format was introduced to Finnish football in 1930 but HJK failed to qualify for the first season. In 1931, HJK played their first season in the league, however at the end of the season, they were relegated.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: During World War II, HJK lost 22 members serving in the military, of which nine fell in the Winter War, twelve in the Continuation War and one in the Lapland War. In 1943, handball was introduced as the club's sixth official sport. HJK won one silver and two bronze medals in handball during the following three seasons but did not gain further success. Handball was first of HJK's sports where women also competed. The women's team played a total of 22 seasons at the highest level; their highest finish was fourth.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: In 1963, HJK played their last ever season in the second level of the football pyramid, winning 20 out of 22 matches and scoring 127 goals. In 1964, the newly promoted club won their tenth championship title and the following season, in 1965–66, they played their first European Cup match, against Manchester United at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. However, a 2–9 aggregate loss resulted in HJK's elimination from the competition.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: In 1966, the club secured their first ever cup title by winning KTP 6–1 in the final in front of 7,000 spectators. Bandy section was disbanded in the late 1960s. The last official sport, figure skating, was added into the club's repertoire in 1966, was abolished in 1972. The ice hockey section was also disbanded in 1972 and the last season in handball was played in 1978. Hereafter, HJK therefore only participated in football following 69 years as a multisport club.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: The 1998–99 season saw HJK become the first and, to date, only Finnish club to play in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League after defeating Metz in the second qualifying round. The club also managed a respectable five points in their group, defeating Benfica at home and earning draws at home to 1. FC Kaiserslautern and away to Benfica. They lost to PSV twice and to Kaiserslautern away.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: The club's current home stadium, the Bolt Arena, was opened in 2000. The 20th championship title was won in 2002 and in 2008, the club won its tenth Finnish Cup title. The 2009 season was the start of a championship run that resulted in six titles in a row from 2009 to 2014.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: In 2014, HJK became the first Finnish club to play in the UEFA Europa League group stage after defeating Rapid Wien in the play-off round. HJK, with wins over Torino and Copenhagen at home, finished third in their group with six points.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: HJK made several acquisitions during the winter of 2015, including Córdoba forward Mike Havenaar, J-league playmaker Atomu Tanaka and Birmingham City holding midfielder Guy Moussi. With the new signings on their side, HJK began the season on a high by winning the league cup, a feat they had not accomplished since 1998. HJK also played its first local derby against HIFK since April 1972, drawing 1–1. However, HJK could not replicate the league success they had enjoyed for the last six seasons, finishing the 2015 season in third place, behind champions SJK and runners-up RoPS.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: In 1910, HJK arranged competition to find a crest for club, but the club board wasn't happy with the proposals. The crest was finally designed by Osmo Korvenkontio in 1913, it has only gone through minor changes during history.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: First kit of HJK was plain white shirt, black shorts and black socks with few white horizontal stripes on top. In 1909 HJK introduced its trademark blue and white striped shirt. Blue and white colours were homage to fennoman movement. Black trunks still remained for decades. Shirt was changed to unicolour blue for season 1973 due to pressure from sponsors. In attempt to professionalize hockey department club had fallen in to financial despair and sponsors demanded more visibility for their logos. Clubs financial situation had improved by 1986 and due fans demands shirt was changed back to striped by the end of the year and has remained so ever since.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: Historically HJK had a wide support within Finnish speaking, prosperous middle class of Helsinki. The club's supporters were often nationalistic after the fashion of almost every other Finnish FA club at the time. Leftist working class' clubs played their own leagues and competitions under the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation. However, The club remained open to all 'honorable citizens' regardless of their native language, race or social class, and always had members from other communities as well. Before the 1970s HJK came to be known especially as a Töölöan club due to most of their activity taking place in this particular district.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: During recent decades the club's old image as a prosperous, middle class group from Töölö has largely disappeared due to social changes in Finland as well as migration from inner city to housing projects built during the mass migration from the countryside during the 1960s and the 1970s.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: HJK's main rivals in Helsinki were widely considered to be Kiffen, HPS and HIFK. In the past these were the four big clubs from Helsinki. The clubs were mainly separated by language, HJK and HPS being Finnish speaking clubs whereas HIFK and KIF were Swedish speaking. These four clubs competed also in bandy, ice hockey and handball. The support for HJK mainly came from around the inner city and after 1940s also from Töölö, in its early years HPS Support came from same areas as HJK. Later in 1940s and 1950s when HJK support shifted more towards Töölö area, HPS gained more support in Vallila and Alppila districts, this was mostly due their youth activities taking part in those particular areas, these boundaries were not strict however and each of the four clubs had support, players and members across the city. HJK were already founding youth teams to new suburbs in 1960s and their reputation as a Töölöan club was short lived. KIF and HPS were both struggling to survive and were both relegated to lower leagues after 1964 season and rapidly lost their support. KIF made a brief two season stint to first level in 1977–78. While both KIF and HPS are still active as of 2020, they have spend their recent decades playing in lower levels, HPS focusing more on youth football in northern Helsinki.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: HJK and HIFK share the biggest rivalry being two of the oldest and most successful clubs. Both were also successful in Bandy which was major winter sport in the first half of the 20th century, KIF and HPS gained lesser success. Also in Ice Hockey clubs faced numerous times and played more seasons in first level than HPS or KIF. A match between these two clubs is called as Stadin derby. Language was the biggest separating factor between the clubs, HIFK was the club of choice for the Swedish speaking population of the city and HJK for the Finnish speaking. In 2015 HIFK was promoted back to the top flight after 40 years of struggling in the lower leagues having played their last season in the top division in 1972. Since HJK ceased their activity in other sports during the 1960s and 1970s the rivalry faded away on a large scale and in recent decades many even supported both clubs at the same time, HJK in football and HIFK in ice hockey. However, due to the rise of the Finnish supporter scene in the 2000s, there is a high tension between the most vocal supporters.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: HJK shared a short but fierce rivalry with FC Jokerit around the late 1990s and the early 2000s. Jokerit were well supported due to their popular ice hockey section and the clubs also competed against each other in ice hockey in the late 1960s and the early 1970s.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: Multiple Helsinki based clubs have played in the league but due to their short term visits and relatively low support base large scale rivalries were never born. Some notable clubs were Ponnistus, FinnPa, Pallo-Pojat and Helsingin Toverit.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: HJK has competed against Lahti based clubs from the 1960s, between 1964 and 1980 HJK and Lahden Reipas had a minor rivalry as both clubs gained good success winning some titles and were also generally well supported. Reipas also won seven cup titles against one of HJK. Reipas was relegated after 1980 season. More notable rivalry was against Kuusysi from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s. Between 1981 and 1992 HJK won six league titles against Kuusysi's five, both clubs also won the cup twice, facing two times in the finals (which were both won by HJK). Both clubs also performed well in the European competitions. In 1996 both the Lahti clubs merged and FC Lahti was born, HJK and FC Lahti matches are more known from outside pitch activities, some crowd disturbances and small fights have occurred which otherwise are rare in Finnish football. Due to a relatively short distance between the two cities, these matches often draw more notable away support than others.


title: Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi

text: HJK and Valkeakosken Haka are the two most successful clubs in Finnish football, HJK with 27 league and 12 cup titles and Haka with 9 league and 12 cup titles. The match is also considered as "urban vs. rural" rivalry as HJK is a club from Finland's biggest city Helsinki and Haka is representing the small town of Valkeakoski.


title: LIGO

text: The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory designed to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Two large observatories were built in the United States with the aim of detecting gravitational waves by laser interferometry. These observatories use mirrors spaced four kilometers apart which are capable of detecting a change of less than one ten-thousandth the charge diameter of a proton.


title: LIGO

text: The initial LIGO observatories were funded by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) and were conceived, built and are operated by Caltech and MIT. They collected data from 2002 to 2010 but no gravitational waves were detected.


title: LIGO

text: The Advanced LIGO Project to enhance the original LIGO detectors began in 2008 and continues to be supported by the NSF, with important contributions from the United Kingdom's Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Max Planck Society of Germany, and the Australian Research Council. The improved detectors began operation in 2015. The detection of gravitational waves was reported in 2016 by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) and the Virgo Collaboration with the international participation of scientists from several universities and research institutions. Scientists involved in the project and the analysis of the data for gravitational-wave astronomy are organized by the LSC, which includes more than 1000 scientists worldwide, as well as 440,000 active Einstein@Home users .


title: LIGO

text: LIGO is the largest and most ambitious project ever funded by the NSF. In 2017, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry C. Barish "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves".


title: LIGO

text: Observations are made in "runs". , LIGO has made three runs (with one of the runs divided into two "subruns"), and made 90 detections of gravitational waves. Maintenance and upgrades of the detectors are made between runs. The first run, O1, which ran from 12 September 2015 to 19 January 2016, made the first three detections, all black hole mergers. The second run, O2, which ran from 30 November 2016 to 25 August 2017, made eight detections, seven black hole mergers, and the first neutron star merger. The third run, O3, began on 1 April 2019; it was divided into O3a, from 1 April to 30 September 2019, and O3b, from 1 November 2019 until it was suspended on 27 March 2020 due to COVID-19. The O3 run made the first detection of a merger of a neutron star with a black hole.


title: LIGO

text: The gravitational wave observatories LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA are coordinating to continue observations after the COVID-caused stop and as of September 2022, plan to start the O4 Observing run together in March 2023 (launch of LIGO Livingston's interferometer planned for February 2023 ). LIGO projects a sensitivity goal of 160-190 Mpc for binary neutron star mergers (sensitivities: Virgo 80-115 Mpc, KAGRA greater than 1 Mpc).


title: LIGO

text: The LIGO concept built upon early work by many scientists to test a component of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, the existence of gravitational waves. Starting in the 1960s, American scientists including Joseph Weber, as well as Soviet scientists Mikhail Gertsenshtein and Vladislav Pustovoit, conceived of basic ideas and prototypes of laser interferometry, and in 1967 Rainer Weiss of MIT published an analysis of interferometer use and initiated the construction of a prototype with military funding, but it was terminated before it could become operational. Starting in 1968, Kip Thorne initiated theoretical efforts on gravitational waves and their sources at Caltech, and was convinced that gravitational wave detection would eventually succeed.


title: LIGO

text: Prototype interferometric gravitational wave detectors (interferometers) were built in the late 1960s by Robert L. Forward and colleagues at Hughes Research Laboratories (with mirrors mounted on a vibration isolated plate rather than free swinging), and in the 1970s (with free swinging mirrors between which light bounced many times) by Weiss at MIT, and then by Heinz Billing and colleagues in Garching Germany, and then by Ronald Drever, James Hough and colleagues in Glasgow, Scotland.


title: LIGO

text: In 1980, the NSF funded the study of a large interferometer led by MIT (Paul Linsay, Peter Saulson, Rainer Weiss), and the following year, Caltech constructed a 40-meter prototype (Ronald Drever and Stan Whitcomb). The MIT study established the feasibility of interferometers at a 1-kilometer scale with adequate sensitivity.


title: LIGO

text: Under pressure from the NSF, MIT and Caltech were asked to join forces to lead a LIGO project based on the MIT study and on experimental work at Caltech, MIT, Glasgow, and Garching. Drever, Thorne, and Weiss formed a LIGO steering committee, though they were turned down for funding in 1984 and 1985. By 1986, they were asked to disband the steering committee and a single director, Rochus E. Vogt (Caltech), was appointed. In 1988, a research and development proposal achieved funding.


title: LIGO

text: From 1989 through 1994, LIGO failed to progress technically and organizationally. Only political efforts continued to acquire funding. Ongoing funding was routinely rejected until 1991, when the U.S. Congress agreed to fund LIGO for the first year for $23 million. However, requirements for receiving the funding were not met or approved, and the NSF questioned the technological and organizational basis of the project. By 1992, LIGO was restructured with Drever no longer a direct participant. Ongoing project management issues and technical concerns were revealed in NSF reviews of the project, resulting in the withholding of funds until they formally froze spending in 1993.


title: LIGO

text: In 1994, after consultation between relevant NSF personnel, LIGO's scientific leaders, and the presidents of MIT and Caltech, Vogt stepped down and Barry Barish (Caltech) was appointed laboratory director, and the NSF made clear that LIGO had one last chance for support. Barish's team created a new study, budget, and project plan with a budget exceeding the previous proposals by 40%. Barish proposed to the NSF and National Science Board to build LIGO as an evolutionary detector, where detection of gravitational waves with initial LIGO would be possible, and with advanced LIGO would be probable. This new proposal received NSF funding, Barish was appointed Principal Investigator, and the increase was approved. In 1994, with a budget of US$395 million, LIGO stood as the largest overall funded NSF project in history. The project broke ground in Hanford, Washington in late 1994 and in Livingston, Louisiana in 1995. As construction neared completion in 1997, under Barish's leadership two organizational institutions were formed, LIGO Laboratory and LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC). The LIGO laboratory consists of the facilities supported by the NSF under LIGO Operation and Advanced R&D; this includes administration of the LIGO detector and test facilities. The LIGO Scientific Collaboration is a forum for organizing technical and scientific research in LIGO. It is a separate organization from LIGO Laboratory with its own oversight. Barish appointed Weiss as the first spokesperson for this scientific collaboration.


title: LIGO

text: Initial LIGO operations between 2002 and 2010 did not detect any gravitational waves. In 2004, under Barish, the funding and groundwork were laid for the next phase of LIGO development (called "Enhanced LIGO"). This was followed by a multi-year shut-down while the detectors were replaced by much improved "Advanced LIGO" versions. Much of the research and development work for the LIGO/aLIGO machines was based on pioneering work for the GEO600 detector at Hannover, Germany. By February 2015, the detectors were brought into engineering mode in both locations.


title: LIGO

text: By mid-September 2015, "the world's largest gravitational-wave facility" completed a 5-year US$200-million overhaul at a total cost of $620 million. On 18 September 2015, Advanced LIGO began its first formal science observations at about four times the sensitivity of the initial LIGO interferometers. Its sensitivity was to be further enhanced until it was planned to reach design sensitivity


title: LIGO

text: On 11 February 2016, the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration published a paper about the detection of gravitational waves, from a signal detected at 09.51 UTC on 14 September 2015 of two ~30 solar mass black holes merging about 1.3 billion light-years from Earth.


title: LIGO

text: Current executive director David Reitze announced the findings at a media event in Washington D.C., while executive director emeritus Barry Barish presented the first scientific paper of the findings at CERN to the physics community.


title: LIGO

text: On 2 May 2016, members of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and other contributors were awarded a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for contributing to the direct detection of gravitational waves.


title: LIGO

text: On 16 June 2016 LIGO announced a second signal was detected from the merging of two black holes with 14.2 and 7.5 times the mass of the Sun. The signal was picked up on 26 December 2015, at 3:38 UTC.


title: LIGO

text: The detection of a third black hole merger, between objects of 31.2 and 19.4 solar masses, occurred on 4 January 2017 and was announced on 1 June 2017.


title: LIGO

text: A fourth detection of a black hole merger, between objects of 30.5 and 25.3 solar masses, was observed on 14 August 2017 and was announced on 27 September 2017.


title: LIGO

text: In 2017, Weiss, Barish, and Thorne received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves." Weiss was awarded one-half of the total prize money, and Barish and Thorne each received a one-quarter prize.


title: LIGO

text: LIGO resumed operation after shutdown for improvements on 26 March 2019, with Virgo expected to join the network 1 April 2019.


title: LIGO

text: LIGO's mission is to directly observe gravitational waves of cosmic origin. These waves were first predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity in 1916, when the technology necessary for their detection did not yet exist. Their existence was indirectly confirmed when observations of the binary pulsar PSR 1913+16 in 1974 showed an orbital decay which matched Einstein's predictions of energy loss by gravitational radiation. The Nobel Prize in Physics 1993 was awarded to Hulse and Taylor for this discovery.


title: LIGO

text: Direct detection of gravitational waves had long been sought. Their discovery has launched a new branch of astronomy to complement electromagnetic telescopes and neutrino observatories. Joseph Weber pioneered the effort to detect gravitational waves in the 1960s through his work on resonant mass bar detectors. Bar detectors continue to be used at six sites worldwide. By the 1970s, scientists including Rainer Weiss realized the applicability of laser interferometry to gravitational wave measurements. Robert Forward operated an interferometric detector at Hughes in the early 1970s.


title: LIGO

text: In fact as early as the 1960s, and perhaps before that, there were papers published on wave resonance of light and gravitational waves. Work was published in 1971 on methods to exploit this resonance for the detection of high-frequency gravitational waves. In 1962, M. E. Gertsenshtein and V. I. Pustovoit published the very first paper describing the principles for using interferometers for the detection of very long wavelength gravitational waves. The authors argued that by using interferometers the sensitivity can be 10 to 10 times better than by using electromechanical experiments. Later, in 1965, Braginsky extensively discussed gravitational-wave sources and their possible detection. He pointed out the 1962 paper and mentioned the possibility of detecting gravitational waves if the interferometric technology and measuring techniques improved.


title: LIGO

text: Since the early 1990s, physicists have thought that technology has evolved to the point where detection of gravitational waves—of significant astrophysical interest—is now possible.


title: LIGO

text: In August 2002, LIGO began its search for cosmic gravitational waves. Measurable emissions of gravitational waves are expected from binary systems (collisions and coalescences of neutron stars or black holes), supernova explosions of massive stars (which form neutron stars and black holes), accreting neutron stars, rotations of neutron stars with deformed crusts, and the remnants of gravitational radiation created by the birth of the universe. The observatory may, in theory, also observe more exotic hypothetical phenomena, such as gravitational waves caused by oscillating cosmic strings or colliding domain walls.


title: LIGO

text: LIGO operates two gravitational wave observatories in unison: the LIGO Livingston Observatory () in Livingston, Louisiana, and the LIGO Hanford Observatory, on the DOE Hanford Site (), located near Richland, Washington. These sites are separated by 3,002 kilometers (1,865 miles) straight line distance through the earth, but 3,030 kilometers (1,883 miles) over the surface. Since gravitational waves are expected to travel at the speed of light, this distance corresponds to a difference in gravitational wave arrival times of up to ten milliseconds. Through the use of trilateration, the difference in arrival times helps to determine the source of the wave, especially when a third similar instrument like Virgo, located at an even greater distance in Europe, is added.


title: LIGO

text: Each observatory supports an L-shaped ultra high vacuum system, measuring four kilometers (2.5 miles) on each side. Up to five interferometers can be set up in each vacuum system.


title: LIGO

text: The LIGO Livingston Observatory houses one laser interferometer in the primary configuration. This interferometer was successfully upgraded in 2004 with an active vibration isolation system based on hydraulic actuators providing a factor of 10 isolation in the 0.1–5 Hz band. Seismic vibration in this band is chiefly due to microseismic waves and anthropogenic sources (traffic, logging, etc.).


title: LIGO

text: The LIGO Hanford Observatory houses one interferometer, almost identical to the one at the Livingston Observatory. During the Initial and Enhanced LIGO phases, a half-length interferometer operated in parallel with the main interferometer. For this 2 km interferometer, the Fabry–Pérot arm cavities had the same optical finesse, and, thus, half the storage time as the 4 km interferometers. With half the storage time, the theoretical strain sensitivity was as good as the full length interferometers above 200 Hz but only half as good at low frequencies. During the same era, Hanford retained its original passive seismic isolation system due to limited geologic activity in Southeastern Washington.


title: LIGO

text: The primary interferometer consists of two beam lines of 4 km length which form a power-recycled Michelson interferometer with Gires–Tournois etalon arms. A pre-stabilized 1064 nm emits a beam with a power of 20 W that passes through a power recycling mirror. The mirror fully transmits light incident from the laser and reflects light from the other side increasing the power of the light field between the mirror and the subsequent beam splitter to 700 W. From the beam splitter the light travels along two orthogonal arms. By the use of partially reflecting mirrors, Fabry–Pérot cavities are created in both arms that increase the effective path length of laser light in the arm. The power of the light field in the cavity is 100 kW.


title: LIGO

text: When a gravitational wave passes through the interferometer, the spacetime in the local area is altered. Depending on the source of the wave and its polarization, this results in an effective change in length of one or both of the cavities. The effective length change between the beams will cause the light currently in the cavity to become very slightly out of phase (antiphase) with the incoming light. The cavity will therefore periodically get very slightly out of coherence and the beams, which are tuned to destructively interfere at the detector, will have a very slight periodically varying detuning. This results in a measurable signal.


title: LIGO

text: After an equivalent of approximately 280 trips down the 4 km length to the far mirrors and back again, the two separate beams leave the arms and recombine at the beam splitter. The beams returning from two arms are kept out of phase so that when the arms are both in coherence and interference (as when there is no gravitational wave passing through), their light waves subtract, and no light should arrive at the photodiode. When a gravitational wave passes through the interferometer, the distances along the arms of the interferometer are shortened and lengthened, causing the beams to become slightly less out of phase. This results in the beams coming in phase, creating a resonance, hence, some light arrives at the photodiode, indicating a signal. Light that does not contain a signal is returned to the interferometer using a power recycling mirror, thus increasing the power of the light in the arms. In actual operation, noise sources can cause movement in the optics which produces similar effects to real gravitational wave signals; a great deal of the art and complexity in the instrument is in finding ways to reduce these spurious motions of the mirrors. Observers compare signals from both sites to reduce the effects of noise.


title: LIGO

text: Based on current models of astronomical events, and the predictions of the general theory of relativity, gravitational waves that originate tens of millions of light years from Earth are expected to distort the mirror spacing by about , less than one-thousandth the charge diameter of a proton. Equivalently, this is a relative change in distance of approximately one part in . A typical event which might cause a detection event would be the late stage inspiral and merger of two 10-solar-mass black holes, not necessarily located in the Milky Way galaxy, which is expected to result in a very specific sequence of signals often summarized by the slogan "chirp," "burst," "quasi-normal mode ringing," "exponential decay."


title: LIGO

text: In their fourth Science Run at the end of 2004, the LIGO detectors demonstrated sensitivities in measuring these displacements to within a factor of two of their design.


title: LIGO

text: During LIGO's fifth Science Run in November 2005, sensitivity reached the primary design specification of a detectable strain of one part in over a bandwidth. The baseline inspiral of two roughly solar-mass neutron stars is typically expected to be observable if it occurs within about , or the vicinity of the Local Group, averaged over all directions and polarizations. Also at this time, LIGO and GEO 600 (the German-UK interferometric detector) began a joint science run, during which they collected data for several months. Virgo (the French-Italian interferometric detector) joined in May 2007. The fifth science run ended in 2007, after extensive analysis of data from this run did not uncover any unambiguous detection events.


title: LIGO

text: In February 2007, GRB 070201, a short gamma-ray burst arrived at Earth from the direction of the Andromeda Galaxy. The prevailing explanation of most short gamma-ray bursts is the merger of a neutron star with either a neutron star or a black hole. LIGO reported a non-detection for GRB 070201, ruling out a merger at the distance of Andromeda with high confidence. Such a constraint was predicated on LIGO eventually demonstrating a direct detection of gravitational waves.


title: LIGO

text: After the completion of Science Run 5, initial LIGO was upgraded with certain technologies, planned for Advanced LIGO but available and able to be retrofitted to initial LIGO, which resulted in an improved-performance configuration dubbed Enhanced LIGO. Some of the improvements in Enhanced LIGO included:


title: LIGO

text: Science Run 6 (S6) began in July 2009 with the enhanced configurations on the 4 km detectors. It concluded in October 2010, and the disassembly of the original detectors began.


title: LIGO

text: After 2010, LIGO went offline for several years for a major upgrade, installing the new Advanced LIGO detectors in the LIGO Observatory infrastructures.


title: LIGO

text: The project continued to attract new members, with the Australian National University and University of Adelaide contributing to Advanced LIGO, and by the time the LIGO Laboratory started the first observing run 'O1' with the Advanced LIGO detectors in September 2015, the LIGO Scientific Collaboration included more than 900 scientists worldwide.


title: LIGO

text: The first observing run operated at a sensitivity roughly three times greater than Initial LIGO, and a much greater sensitivity for larger systems with their peak radiation at lower audio frequencies.


title: LIGO

text: On 11 February 2016, the LIGO and Virgo collaborations announced the first observation of gravitational waves. The signal was named GW150914. The waveform showed up on 14 September 2015, within just two days of when the Advanced LIGO detectors started collecting data after their upgrade. It matched the predictions of general relativity for the inward spiral and merger of a pair of black holes and subsequent ringdown of the resulting single black hole. The observations demonstrated the existence of binary stellar-mass black hole systems and the first observation of a binary black hole merger.


title: LIGO

text: On 15 June 2016, LIGO announced the detection of a second gravitational wave event, recorded on 26 December 2015, at 3:38 UTC. Analysis of the observed signal indicated that the event was caused by the merger of two black holes with masses of 14.2 and 7.5 solar masses, at a distance of 1.4 billion light years. The signal was named GW151226.


title: LIGO

text: The second observing run (O2) ran from 30 November 2016 to 25 August 2017, with Livingston achieving 15–25% sensitivity improvement over O1, and with Hanford's sensitivity similar to O1. In this period, LIGO saw several further gravitational wave events: GW170104 in January; GW170608 in June; and five others between July and August 2017. Several of these were also detected by the Virgo Collaboration. Unlike the black hole mergers which are only detectable gravitationally, GW170817 came from the collision of two neutron stars and was also detected electromagnetically by gamma ray satellites and optical telescopes.


title: LIGO

text: The third run (O3) began on 1 April 2019 and was planned to last until 30 April 2020; in fact it was suspended in March 2020 due to COVID-19. On 6 January 2020, LIGO announced the detection of what appeared to be gravitational ripples from a collision of two neutron stars, recorded on 25 April 2019, by the LIGO Livingston detector. Unlike GW170817, this event did not result in any light being detected. Furthermore, this is the first published event for a single-observatory detection, given that the LIGO Hanford detector was temporarily offline at the time and the event was too faint to be visible in Virgo's data.


title: LIGO

text: Future observing runs will be interleaved with commissioning efforts to further improve the sensitivity. It was aimed to achieve design sensitivity in 2021; the next observing run (O4) was planned to start in December 2022, but the date was pushed back to March 2023.


title: LIGO

text: LIGO-India, or INDIGO, is a planned collaborative project between the LIGO Laboratory and the Indian Initiative in Gravitational-wave Observations (IndIGO) to create a gravitational-wave detector in India. The LIGO Laboratory, in collaboration with the US National Science Foundation and Advanced LIGO partners from the U.K., Germany and Australia, has offered to provide all of the designs and hardware for one of the three planned Advanced LIGO detectors to be installed, commissioned, and operated by an Indian team of scientists in a facility to be built in India.


title: LIGO

text: The LIGO-India project is a collaboration between LIGO Laboratory and the LIGO-India consortium: Institute of Plasma Research, Gandhinagar; IUCAA (Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics), Pune and Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore.


title: LIGO

text: The expansion of worldwide activities in gravitational-wave detection to produce an effective global network has been a goal of LIGO for many years. In 2010, a developmental roadmap issued by the Gravitational Wave International Committee (GWIC) recommended that an expansion of the global array of interferometric detectors be pursued as a highest priority. Such a network would afford astrophysicists with more robust search capabilities and higher scientific yields. The current agreement between the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo collaboration links three detectors of comparable sensitivity and forms the core of this international network. Studies indicate that the localization of sources by a network that includes a detector in India would provide significant improvements. Improvements in localization averages are predicted to be approximately an order of magnitude, with substantially larger improvements in certain regions of the sky.


title: LIGO

text: The NSF was willing to permit this relocation, and its consequent schedule delays, as long as it did not increase the LIGO budget. Thus, all costs required to build a laboratory equivalent to the LIGO sites to house the detector would have to be borne by the host country. The first potential distant location was at AIGO in Western Australia, however the Australian government was unwilling to commit funding by 1 October 2011 deadline.


title: LIGO

text: A location in India was discussed at a Joint Commission meeting between India and the US in June 2012. In parallel, the proposal was evaluated by LIGO's funding agency, the NSF. As the basis of the LIGO-India project entails the transfer of one of LIGO's detectors to India, the plan would affect work and scheduling on the Advanced LIGO upgrades already underway. In August 2012, the U.S. National Science Board approved the LIGO Laboratory's request to modify the scope of Advanced LIGO by not installing the Hanford "H2" interferometer, and to prepare it instead for storage in anticipation of sending it to LIGO-India. In India, the project was presented to the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Science and Technology for approval and funding. On 17 February 2016, less than a week after LIGO's landmark announcement about the detection of gravitational waves, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Cabinet has granted 'in-principle' approval to the LIGO-India mega science proposal.


title: LIGO

text: A site near pilgrimage site of Aundha Nagnath in the Hingoli district of state Maharashtra in western India has been selected.


title: LIGO

text: As of July 2021, the LIGO-India project was still waiting for ‘full-approval’ from the Cabinet of Government of India. The ‘full-approval’ from the Cabinet is needed for any construction to begin at the site, and for the funding from India to be secured.


title: LIGO

text: Like Enhanced LIGO, certain improvements will be retrofitted to the existing Advanced LIGO instrument. These are referred to as proposals, and are planned for installation starting from 2019 until the upgraded detector is operational in 2024. The changes would almost double Advanced LIGO's sensitivity, and increase the volume of space searched by a factor of seven. The upgrades include:


title: LIGO

text: Because the final LIGO output photodetector is sensitive to phase, and not amplitude, it is possible to squeeze the signal so there is less phase noise and more amplitude noise, without violating the quantum mechanical limit on their product. This is done by injecting a "squeezed vacuum state" into the dark port (interferometer output) which is quieter, in the relevant parameter, than simple darkness. Such a squeezing upgrade was installed at both LIGO sites prior to the third observing run. The A+ improvement will see the installation of an additional optical cavity that acts to rotate the squeezing quadrature from phase-squeezed at high frequencies (above 50 Hz) to amplitude-squeezed at low frequencies, thereby also mitigating low-frequency radiation pressure noise.


title: LIGO

text: A third-generation detector at the existing LIGO sites is being planned under the name "LIGO Voyager" to improve the sensitivity by an additional factor of two, and halve the low-frequency cutoff to 10 Hz. Plans call for the glass mirrors and to be replaced by even larger 160 kg silicon test masses, cooled to 123 K (a temperature achievable with liquid nitrogen), and a change to a longer laser wavelength in the 1500–2200 nm range at which silicon is transparent. (Many documents assume a wavelength of 1550 nm, but this is not final.)


title: LIGO

text: A design for a larger facility with longer arms is called "Cosmic Explorer". This is based on the LIGO Voyager technology, has a similar LIGO-type L-shape geometry but with 40 km arms. The facility is currently planned to be on the surface. It has a higher sensitivity than Einstein Telescope for frequencies beyond 10 Hz, but lower sensitivity under 10 Hz.


title: Goran Pandev

text: Goran Pandev (, ; born 27 July 1983) is a Macedonian former professional footballer who played as a forward.


title: Goran Pandev

text: After establishing himself at Lazio, Pandev moved to Inter Milan in early 2010. While playing for the "Nerazzurri", Pandev collected a host of honours including winning the Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League in 2010 as part of a treble for the club. On 22 April 2021, he became the first Macedonian to score 100 goals in one of the top five European football leagues. He was the captain of the North Macedonia national team until deciding to retire from international football in 2021, following UEFA Euro 2020. He is the country's all-time top scorer with 38 goals.


title: Goran Pandev

text: Pandev was born in Strumica, SR Macedonia, then still part of SFR Yugoslavia, and began his football career with FK Belasica, the club with which he progressed through the youth academy. He only spent one season in the local Prva Liga, however, before being signed by Serie A giants Inter Milan in the summer of 2001 when he was just 18 years old.


title: Goran Pandev

text: Inter loaned Pandev to feeder club Spezia in July 2002, where he was a regular in Serie C1. The following year, he was again sent on loan, this time to newly promoted Serie A club Ancona. During his time at Ancona, the team had the worst season of any club in Serie A history.


title: Goran Pandev

text: In January 2004, Serbian player Dejan Stanković was signed by Inter from Lazio and Pandev was sent to the capital in exchange on a co-ownership deal, for a nominal fee of €500, but he remained at Ancona until the end of the 2003–04 season. Pandev impressed in his first year at Lazio, as he made 29 appearances, scoring three goals, which included a memorable effort away to Juventus where he beat Fabio Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta before beating Gianluigi Buffon with an angled shot. In July 2005, 50 percent of his player registration rights were transferred to Udinese in exchange for David Pizarro's transfer to the Milanese club.


title: Goran Pandev

text: The following season, Delio Rossi was appointed manager of Lazio and Pandev began to form a deadly strike partnership with Tommaso Rocchi. In June 2006, Lazio bought the remaining 50 percent of his registration rights from Udinese for €4 million.


title: Goran Pandev

text: On 24 March 2009, Pandev was awarded the Medal for Service to the Country by the then-President Branko Crvenkovski in acknowledgement of his sporting achievements and his contribution to developing and popularizing sport in Macedonia as well as promoting the country abroad.


title: Goran Pandev

text: In the summer of 2009, a dispute between Pandev and Lazio chairman Claudio Lotito erupted, resulting in a legal battle between Pandev and his club. The ruling was announced on 23 December 2009.


title: Goran Pandev

text: The dispute started with Pandev indicating his desire to leave Lazio during the summer of 2009. Chairman Lotito, apparently unhappy with Pandev's decision, froze him out of the squad. As a result, Pandev spent the remaining four months training on his own, without making a single appearance for his club. During this period, various clubs had indicated their interest in buying Pandev, most notably Zenit Saint Petersburg, who made an offer of €13 million for the player. Lazio chairman Lotito rejected the offer, demanding €15 million instead. The deal eventually fell through after both parties failed to come to an agreement on price.


title: Goran Pandev

text: On 26 September, Pandev officially filed for a termination of his contract with Lazio, having been frozen out of the squad and labelled a "rebel" by the club. Pandev argued that by freezing him out of the squad, Lazio had violated the terms of their contract with him. On 23 December 2009, the Lega Nazionale Professionisti ruled in Pandev's favor, ordering Lazio to release Pandev from his contract and pay him €170,000 for emotional distress. Lotito indicated his desire to appeal the decision.


title: Goran Pandev

text: On 4 January 2010, Pandev signed a four-and-a-half year contract with Inter Milan, wearing the number 27 shirt. He made his Inter debut as a starter in the 1–0 away win against Chievo on 6 January. His first two games for the "Nerazzurri" resulted in him contributing to both winners — setting up Mario Balotelli against Chievo and setting up Walter Samuel to score a last minute winner against Siena. He opened his scoring account in his third appearance for the club, pulling a goal back for Inter in an eventual 2–2 draw at Bari. Pandev was the main protagonist in the 2–0 victory over local rivals Milan as he first assisted Diego Milito with an overhead cross and scored a curling freekick to complete the win. He continued with his solid performances throughout the season, being an important player in Inter's winning of the first treble in the history of Italian football. Inter won their fifth consecutive Serie A title by defeating Siena in the final match, and also defeated Roma at Stadio Olimpico to win the Coppa Italia. On 22 May 2010, Inter won the UEFA Champions League in the final against Bayern Munich, with Pandev playing for 79 minutes and becoming the third Macedonian football player in history to ever win this championship.


title: Goran Pandev

text: He began the new season on 21 August by winning the 2010 Supercoppa Italiana under Rafael Benítez, scoring the equalizer versus Roma in an eventual 3–1 home win for the first silverware of the season. Six days later, he made an appearance as substitute as Inter lost the 2010 UEFA Super Cup to Atlético Madrid. Later in December 2010, Pandev was part of the team that competed at 2010 FIFA Club World Cup. He made his debut in the competition by playing full-90 minutes in the 3–0 win versus Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in the semi-final. On 18 December, in the final against Congo's TP Mazembe, Pandev netted inside 13 minutes to make it his first goal in a major final as Inter won 3–0 to lift the trophy. On 15 March 2011, in the second leg of 2010–11 UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie against Bayern Munich, Pandev resulted decisive by scoring in the 88th minute following a Samuel Eto'o pass to make it 3–2 for Inter. Inter progressed to the quarter-finals on away goals rule, with Pandev describing his goal as the "most important" of his career. Later on 29 May 2011, in the 2011 Coppa Italia Final match against Palermo, Pandev entered in the second half and provided the assist of Diego Milito goal in the 92nd minute for a 3–1 success. This turned out to be his last appearance for the club as he was removed during the summer transfer window.


title: Goran Pandev

text: On 26 August 2011, Pandev joined Napoli on a season-long loan. On 10 September, Pandev came on as a substitute to make his Napoli debut against Cesena in the 66th minute with the score tied at 1–1. Despite Napoli making it 2–1 in their favour right after the Macedonian striker came on, Pandev missed an open goal in the 85th minute, hitting the crossbar from six yards out after a square pass across the face of goal was played to him; Napoli managed to win the match 3–1.


title: Goran Pandev

text: On 29 November, Pandev came in for an injured Edinson Cavani and started a home game against rivals Juventus. He scored two goals, the first of which was his first for Napoli, and the second a volleyed goal. The two goals put Napoli up 3–1 but Juventus came back to tie the game at 3–3, the final score. Pandev then went on to score his third Serie A goal for Napoli in their 6–1 pummeling of Genoa on 21 December.


title: Goran Pandev

text: Following the winter break, Pandev netted his side's opening goal in a 1–3 win in Sicily over Palermo on 8 January 2012.


title: Goran Pandev

text: On 20 May 2012, Pandev won another Coppa Italia, setting up Marek Hamšík's goal in a 2–0 win over Juventus in Rome, meaning that he had been on the tournament's winning side for the past four consecutive years.


title: Goran Pandev

text: On 6 June 2012, Pandev made a permanent switch from Inter to Napoli. Later, Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis noted on a radio interview that Pandev had taken a pay cut to join the Neapolitans, with the President noting this as a sign of commitment to the club and fans.


title: Goran Pandev

text: On 28 September 2013, Pandev scored both goals in Napoli's win over Genoa, sending the Neapolitans to the top of the league table.


title: Goran Pandev

text: Pandev came on in place of Gonzalo Higuaín for the last 20 minutes of the 2014 Coppa Italia Final, which Napoli won 3–1 against Fiorentina.


title: Goran Pandev

text: On 1 September 2014, Pandev signed a 1+1-year contract with Turkish club Galatasaray worth €2.4 million a year. Pandev struggled for game time at Galatasaray and he was mainly used as a cup player.


title: Goran Pandev

text: Pandev signed a two-year contract with Italian club Genoa in 2015 after failing to get playing time at Galatasaray. He planned on retiring at the end of the 2019–20 season, but extended his contract following the postponement of Euro 2020 to 2021.


title: Goran Pandev

text: With a brace against Benevento on 21 April 2021, Pandev reached the 100-goal mark in his Serie A career. He became the first Macedonian to reach the century mark in one of the "Big 5" European leagues. He ended the 2020–21 season with his highest goals plus assists per 90 minutes since 2013–14.


title: Goran Pandev

text: On 31 January 2022, Pandev moved to Parma in Serie B on a permanent deal, retiring after the completion of the 2021/22 season.


title: Goran Pandev

text: Pandev made his senior debut for Macedonia in a June 2001 FIFA World Cup qualification match away against Turkey. With two goals against Spain on 12 August 2009, he became the national team's all-time leading scorer, surpassing Gjorgji Hristov.


title: Goran Pandev

text: He intended to retire from international football in 2015, but was persuaded to keep playing by national manager Igor Angelovski. Pandev earned his 100th cap in a 3–1 home win over Latvia in UEFA Euro 2020 qualification in March 2019. He scored the team's only goal in North Macedonia's 1–0 Euro 2020 play-off victory over Georgia in November 2020, which saw his nation qualify for a major international tournament for the very first time. In the tournament he scored North Macedonia's first ever goal at a major tournament, pouncing on a mistake to score in an open net in a 3–1 defeat to Austria at Euro 2020 in the nation's competition debut, making him the second-oldest scorer in the finals of a European Championship, only behind Ivica Vastić. On 21 June 2021, he played his last match for his national team against the Netherlands in the last group stage match of the Euro 2020.


title: Goran Pandev

text: Considered to be the greatest Macedonian forward of all time, Pandev was a quick, creative, and hard-working left-footed forward with good technique, who was capable both of creating and scoring goals, due to his opportunism and shooting accuracy, as well as his vision and passing ability. He was capable of playing in several offensive positions, either on the right or through the centre of the pitch, and was usually deployed in a supporting role, as a winger, as a second striker, or as an attacking midfielder, although he had also been fielded as a striker or as a false nine.


title: Goran Pandev

text: Goran Pandev is married to Nada Pandeva and they have three children, Filippo, Ana and Sofia. His younger brother Sashko is also a football player. In 2019, Pandev obtained Italian citizenship in Naples. A year later, he auctioned the shirt he wore in the match in which he gained his 100th cap for Macedonia for a hospital fighting the coronavirus pandemic.


title: Goran Pandev

text: In 2010, he founded a football academy in his native Macedonia, named Akademija Pandev. Their senior team now plays in the Macedonian First League, and is a one-time cup winner from back to 2019.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: Monsters of Rock was an annual hard rock and heavy metal music festival held in Castle Donington, England, from 1980 to 1996, taking place every year except 1989 and 1993. It later branched into other locations such as the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the United States, and the Soviet Union.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: In 1980, promoter Paul Loasby, along with Maurice Jones, planned a one-day festival dedicated specifically for bands within the hard rock and heavy metal genre. Loasby was an established and successful promoter working that year on the Rainbow UK tour and penned the festival as the final show of the tour for the band to headline. Jones knew the owner of the Donington Park race track, Tom Wheatcroft, located next to the village of Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England, and the site was chosen to host the event.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: Donington Park was unknown as a major location but its location in the East Midlands next to the M1 and A42 allowed for better transportation to the site from around the country. Additionally the site ground level sloped which allowed for a better viewing for the audience throughout the site.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: The first Monsters of Rock line-up consisted of a mix of British and international bands and was a success with 35,000 heavy metal fans attending. Although only conceived as a one-off event, it was mentioned on the day the idea that the festival will return the following year and the first edition birthed what would become a regular festival for the next 15 years, becoming synonymous as a Mecca for fans of the genre and further establishing the Midlands as the home of heavy metal.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: Over the years, the attendance continued to grow, reaching 107,000 in 1988, when two fans died during the Guns N' Roses set. Initially the blame was thought to be the size of the crowd and a rush forward during the band's set but officially the cause is laid on the weather, causing muddy and wet conditions on the sloping ground. As a result, the festival did not take place in 1989, and it was replaced that year by a two-day festival similar to Monsters of Rock, the Moscow Music Peace Festival in Russia, which included performances by several Monsters of Rock veterans Bon Jovi, Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe and Scorpions. Monsters of Rock returned the year after with a limitation to the crowd of 75,000.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: The festival had been held in parallel in West Germany from 1983 to 1991. In 1984 and 1986 the festival branched into Sweden. In 1988, the festival occurred for the first time in France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. It was held as a one-time event in 1991 in Soviet Union (one of the largest concerts of all time, with an estimated audience of over 1.6 million), Poland, Belgium, Hungary. In 1994, the festival was exported overseas to Chile, Argentina and Brazil.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: In 1993 the "Monsters of Rock" radio show debuted in the United States with host Harlan Hendrickson. Guests on the show include everyone from AC/DC, KISS, Van Halen, Judas Priest, Motörhead, Cinderella, Ozzy Osbourne, Bon Jovi, Cheap Trick, Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Dio, Y&T, Guns N' Roses, Slayer and Poison.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: The Monsters of Rock festival continued on as the premier hard rock and heavy metal event in Great Britain in the 1990s but started to fall upon hard times as heavy metal became less popular, with another cancellation in 1993 due to being unable to find a strong enough headliner. In 1995 the festival found itself in a similar situation until Metallica agreed to play with the condition of the band having control over the event and naming it "Escape from the Studio". In 1996 Ozzy Osbourne and KISS co-headlined the festival and although there were plans to extend the festival into a two-day event in 1997, the promoters once again found themselves in a struggle for headliners and the event was cancelled and discontinued.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: Donington Park remained event-less until 2001 when the Rock and Blues Festival and Stereophonics held events at the site. In 2002 the Ozzfest tour returned to the UK using Donington Park as their only British event and the following year Live Nation picked up the reins as Monsters of Rock's successor in the name of Download Festival. An outstanding success from the offset, the festival continues to this day having increased to a three-day event with five stages, though as of 2008 the event has been relegated outside of the track.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: In 2006, the Monsters of Rock name was revived and held at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, England, for a one-off event headlined by Deep Purple and with Alice Cooper as a special guest.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: In 2012 Harlan Hendrickson & Monsters of Rock Worldwide partnered with Larry Morand and Mike London to launch the inaugural Monsters Of Rock Cruise.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: The entire 1990 festival was simultaneously broadcast live on BBC Radio 1, which had previously recorded many festivals for later broadcast.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: This was the first year that two stages were used. Readers of "Kerrang!" magazine were invited to vote on bands to appear at the festival, and Extreme easily won the right to appear second on the bill.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: 1995 was not officially billed as 'Monsters of Rock' but as 'Escape from the Studio' due to Metallica's decision to headline while recording the "Load" album.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: West Germany: Dortmund, Westfalenhallen – 2 September 1983 Kaiserslautern, Waldstadion am Erbsenberg – 3 September 1983


title: Monsters of Rock

text: Note: Face to Face was a French band related to Trust. Faith No More was not on the ticket list but was present to the show.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: Partially released as . The versions of "Whole Lotta Rosie" and "The Jack" that AC/DC performed at this concert, were released on two of AC/DC's live albums, "AC/DC Live" and "AC/DC Live: 2 CD Collector's Edition". Metallica's performances of "Harvester of Sorrow" and "Creeping Death" from this show were used as B-sides for the "Sad but True" single in different regional editions. Pantera's "Cowboys from Hell" performance is featured as a playable song in the video games "Guitar Hero Smash Hits" and "Rock Band 4". The Airfield itself was recreated as a virtual venue in "Guitar Hero Metallica".


title: Monsters of Rock

text: The bands Danzig and Gun both canceled their appearances at the festival. They are featured on the poster for the event.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: This event marked the last performance of the original lineup of Skid Row, before parting with singer Sebastian Bach and drummer Rob Affuso.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: Iron Maiden was going to appear at the festival as a headliner, but they were forced to cancel due to the arrest of Augusto Pinochet in London.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: Marilyn Manson was going to appear at the festival, but they were forced to cancel due to the Columbine High School massacre


title: Monsters of Rock

text: Germany: Sankt Goarshausen, Loreley Freilichtbühne – 17 June 2016; Bietigheim-Bissingen, Festplatz am Viadukt - 18 June 2016


title: Monsters of Rock

text: In 1993, the Monsters of Rock radio show debuted. Harlan Hendrickson, host and creator of the Monsters of Rock, broadcasts from the rock radio station WRIF in Detroit. The Monsters of Rock is currently syndicated nationally/internationally through United Stations Radio Networks where it currently airs in over 60 markets in the United States alone. The program currently holds the number-one or number-two slots among males 25–54 on the majority of stations that carry it. Guests on the show have included of AC/DC, KISS, Van Halen, Motörhead, Cinderella, Ozzy Osbourne, Bon Jovi, Cheap Trick, Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Slayer and Poison.


title: Monsters of Rock

text: In 1994, Beavis and Butt-Head episode "Take A Number", Beavis and Butt-Head attempt to get tickets to "Creatures of Rock" which is a parody of "Monsters of Rock"


title: Monsters of Rock

text: In the 2005 Half Man Half Biscuit song "Mate of the Bloke" on their album "Achtung Bono", the protagonist sings of legal action taken against him by More O'Ferrall for spraying the legend "in church hall if wet" onto a billboard for "Monsters of Rock".


title: Monsters of Rock

text: In 2012, Harlan Hendrickson teamed up with Larry Morand and Mike London to launch the "Monsters of Rock Cruise", which is a multi day music cruise celebrating the Castle Donington festival. Artists such as Saxon, UFO, Cinderella, Tesla, The Quireboys and others from the original festival have been featured on the cruise.


title: Churuli

text: science fiction horror film directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery and written by S. Hareesh, starring Vinay Forrt, Chemban Vinod Jose, Joju George, Soubin Shahir and Jaffar Idukki in key roles. The film was produced by Lijo Jose Pellissery and Chemban Vinod Jose under the banner of Movie Monastery and Chembosky Motion Pictures, with Jesto Varghese, O Thomas Panicker and Naushad Salahudin as co-producers. The original story and characters are based on a short story "Kaligeminarile Kuttavalikal" from the book "Mullaranjanam" written by Vinoy Thomas.


title: Churuli

text: Churuli tells the story of two undercover police officers who search for a wanted criminal known as Mayiladumparambil Joy. However, they find themselves stuck in the village of Churuli as eerie mysteries unfold. The film premiered at IFFK on 11 February 2021. It was later released via OTT platform Sony LIV on 19 November 2021.


title: Churuli

text: The movie begins with a prologue story of a Monk who is traveling through a forest to capture Perumadan, an evil spirit, which misleads travelers in the forest. All the creatures in the forest wink at the Monk as if he is familiar to them. On his way he comes across a rolled up Pangolin. Assuming that it is a ball, he takes it with him to gift it to his children. After a while, the Pangolin starts speaking and advises the monk to take another path. He listens to the Pangolin and gets lost in the woods. It is said that he is still wandering in the forest because he failed to realize that the Pangolin was Perumadan in disguise all along.


title: Churuli

text: In the present day, two policemen go on a covert mission to capture a criminal named Myladumparambil Joy hiding in a village named Churuli. The duo assume false names, Anthony and Shajivan. Anthony is an experienced policeman, while Shajivan is a rookie. The duo boards a jeep heading to Churuli under the pretext of working for a man named Thankan. The jeep driver tells them that Thankan is currently not in Churuli, but to stay in the village until he returns. Anthony attempts to befriend fellow passengers who seem friendly. On their way, they cross a wooden bridge. After this, the passengers and the driver abruptly change their pleasant demeanor and start being crass towards the duo, which shocks them. In Churuli, the duo stay and work in a tavern owned by a man named Philip and wait for Thankan's return. Anthony quickly adapts to Churuli's unusual environment and people, spending most of the day drinking alcohol and eating game meat. Shajivan struggles to adjust and starts dreaming of strange lights and two mysterious alien-like figures. After spending many days in tavern waiting for Thankan and searching for clues about Joy, Shajivan goes looking for Thankan's house. On the way he inquires about Joy to an old lady who remarks that he looks familiar and starts chasing after him with an axe. Shajivan escapes and returns to the tavern. That night the policemen discuss the current situation and comes to the conclusion that most of the inhabitants of the village are criminals with multiple aliases. Shajivan suggests informing the police department so that they can come and apprehend all of the villagers. But Anthony advises him that they should ignore the people of the village while on this mission. The next day, the tavern keeper instructs them to clean up the tavern so that it can be turned into a makeshift church for his daughters' first communion ceremony. During the event Shajivan meets the old lady again, who closes her eyes in a strange manner after seeing him. Since Thankan wasn't at the ceremony, the duo assumes that Thankan is Joy's alias.


title: Churuli

text: Anthony accompanies a local hunter for a hunt and doesn't return, even after three days has passed. Shajivan, looking for answers, goes for a trek and comes across the house of the person who supplies Cassava to the tavern. While staring into a window of the house, he is startled by strange cogs and gears accompanied by lights. Anthony and the local hunter return empty-handed, for which the man blames and berates Anthony, but Shajivan, who is now surprisingly confident, defends Anthony. After an unspecified amount of time, a Kodagu man in the village begins to find the duo suspicious. The two policemen, locals, and the Kodagu man visit a local mela, where he and Shajivan play slap boxing. During the game he is trashed and humiliated by the Kodagu man, whose every slap causes Shajivan to experience strange visions. That night, Anthony is woken up by thunder and finds Shajivan missing from bed. The next day, Anthony asks him about the previous night but Shajivan brushes it off, saying it might have been a dream. The Kodagu man goes missing, and his corpse is shown to be laying on a riverbank.


title: Churuli

text: One night, the hunter and the duo head out for another hunt. Shajivan confidently takes lead of the hunt and tries to track down a bison. He spots two creatures similar to what he saw in his dreams where the bison is supposed to be. The creatures surprise him with a sound, causing him to shoot in their direction. The bullet hits the bison and Anthony tries to chase it, but he falls and sprains his ankle. The hunter butchers the animal and abandons the policemen, taking all the meat with him. Shajivan carries Anthony on his back, but loses his way in the forest. After much effort they return to the village and take Anthony to a local healer woman, who lives with a boy. Her hut is shown to be similar to the visions Shajivan saw during the slap boxing. The woman performs a healing ritual and Anthony begins to have hallucinations of spirals and the people of Churuli. The following morning, Anthony is completely cured, and he flirts with the woman and then leaves. As they leave, the woman accuses Shajivan of abusing the boy. Anthony settles the issue by giving her money, fearing legal repercussions, while Shajivan denies the whole affair.


title: Churuli

text: Meanwhile, Thankan returns from town and is informed about the duo. He becomes furious as he hadn't asked anyone to work for him. Thankan and rest of the villagers question the duo and decide to kill them both. Since their cover is blown, Shajivan fires a warning shot and apprehends Thankan. Upon questioning Thankan reveals that he is not Joy, but the real Joy resides in his home; he leads two policemen to his house while the locals follow behind. Upon arriving at the house, they find a paralyzed Joy, for whom Thankan and his wife plead for mercy. Shajivan declines their request for mercy, but the tone quickly shifts and Thankan and the villagers start taunting the policemen. The villagers try to overpower them, causing Shajivan to fire at the crowd. The shot wounds two villagers, including Philip, who remain unfazed and laugh it off. Joy calls Philip nearby and tells him that he wishes to surrender and leave the village.


title: Churuli

text: The police duo ties up Joy and takes him away in the Jeep. On the way Joy starts narrating a reimagined version of the story told in the beginning of the movie, now with two policemen instead of the monk and Joy instead of Perumadan. The policemen notice that the wooden bridge they crossed to arrive at Churuli is now nowhere to be seen and speculate that they have lost the way. Joy guides them to another road and continues his story. This road is revealed to be a spiral path deep in the forest which leads to nowhere. Joy explains everything that has happened to the duo since they arrived in Churuli through the story and reveals that this process is cyclical. After the story ends, Joy miraculously cures himself of his paralysis and frees himself from his restrains. Anthony stops the Jeep and becomes distracted by mysterious orbs of light which float past them. The orbs combine to form a moon, which starts floating above the woods. Anthony looks towards Shajivan, who seems strangely calm. Shajivan closes his eyes and inexplicably switches place with Joy. The trio, now completely under a strange influence, are overjoyed as the moon grows larger, pulsating. The Jeep starts floating towards the moon with the trio gleefully clinging onto it, until they merge with the moon.


title: Churuli

text: The film was shot in Kulamavu, Idukki under great secrecy. Actor Vinay Forrt revealed that all of the filming was completed in just 19 days, months before the Coronavirus outbreak. The voiceover for the trailer was given by actress Geethi Sangeetha, who also played an important role in the film.


title: Churuli

text: "Churuli" received positive to mixed reviews from the critics, upon release. The visuals, performances, screenplay, and complex storyline were praised. The extreme profanity used in the film became highly controversial.


title: Churuli

text: "The Times of India" gave a rating of 3 out of 5, writing that "Churuli is so bound by this idiosyncrasy of the filmmaker, that the story - slight as it is - seems to have been sacrificed for the sake of creating an ambiance." "The News Minute" wrote that, "This Lijo Jose movie is mysterious, funny but loses focus at times. Beautiful performances by Chemban Vinod and Vinay Forrt, humour, fantasy, and mystery make ‘Churuli’ a charming film and it is a worth to watch movie." Baradwaj Rangan of "Film Companion" wrote that, "Usually films come full-circle. But here it's like a hypnotist's wheel. From the center point of the inciting incident, the narrative spins further and further away into an unending whirlpool." "Malayala Manorama" wrote: "Churuli will throw your world into a perpetual spiral. Walk into Lijo's Churuli baring your values, and if that's a problem, then at least be ready to embrace the darkness that resides in the centre of your light for two hours".


title: Churuli

text: On 24 November 2021, the Central Board of Film Certification of India confirmed that "The SonyLIV streaming version of the film is not certified".


title: Kunming

text: Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquarters of many of Yunnan's large businesses are in Kunming. It was important during World War II as a Chinese military center, American air base, and transport terminus for the Burma Road. In the middle of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, Kunming is at an altitude of above sea level and a latitude just north of the Tropic of Cancer. As of 2020 census, Kunming had a total population of 8,460,088 inhabitants, of whom 5,604,310 lived in its built-up (or metro) area made of all urban districts but Jinning, not conurbated yet. It is at the northern edge of Dian Lake, surrounded by temples and lake-and-limestone hill landscapes.


title: Kunming

text: Kunming consists of an old, previously walled city, a modern commercial district, residential zones and university areas. It is also one of the top 200 cities in the world by scientific research output. The city has an astronomical observatory, and its institutions of higher learning include Yunnan University, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Kunming Medical University, Yunnan Normal University, Yunnan Agricultural University and Southwest Forestry University. On the northeast mountainous outskirt is a bronze temple dating from the Ming dynasty, the largest of its kind in China.


title: Kunming

text: Kunming's economic importance derives from its geographical position. It is near the border with Southeastern Asian countries, serving as a transportation hub in Southwest China, linking by rail to Vietnam and by road to Burma, Laos and Thailand. This positioning also makes it an important trade center in the region. As a gateway to Southeast Asia and South Asia, the Kunming Changshui International Airport is one of the top 40th-busiest airports in the world. Kunming also houses some manufacturing, chiefly the processing of copper, as well as various chemicals, machinery, textiles, paper and cement. Kunming has a nearly 2,400-year history, but its modern prosperity dates only to 1910, when the railway from Hanoi was built. The city has continued to develop rapidly under China's modernization efforts. Kunming's streets have widened while office buildings and housing projects develop at a fast pace. Kunming has been designated a special tourism center and as such sports a proliferation of high-rises and luxury hotels.


title: Kunming

text: The name "Kunming" evolved from an ancient ethnicity named "Kunming Yi" or "Kunming Barbarian" (), which was a branch of Di-Qiang. The "Kunming Yi" lived in the neighbouring region of Erhai Lake during the Western Han dynasty. The Han dynasty incorporated the territory of the Dian Kingdom and set a division called Yizhou Commandery in 109 BC; the Han dynasty also incorporated the "Kunming Yi" into Yizhou Commandery soon after. Therefore, "Kunming Yi" expanded east to the Lake Dian area later. "Kunming" has acted as a place name since the Three Kingdoms period, but the reference was not clear because this ethnicity occupied a large region. In the Yuan dynasty, the central government set "Kunming County" in modern Kunming; the name "Kunming" has continued to this day.


title: Kunming

text: Some modern research states that the name "Kunming" of "Kunming Yi" is a cognate word of "Khmer" and "Khmu" that originally meant "people".


title: Kunming

text: Kunming long profited from its position on the caravan roads through to South-East Asia, India and Tibet. Early townships in the southern edge of Lake Dian (outside the contemporary city perimeter) can be dated back to 279 BC, although they have been long lost to history. Early settlements in the area around Lake Dian date back to Neolithic times. The Dian Kingdom, whose original language was likely related to Tibeto-Burman languages was also established near the area.


title: Kunming

text: Dian was subjugated by the Chinese Han dynasty under the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in 109 BC. The Han dynasty incorporated the territory of the Dian Kingdom into their Yizhou Commandery, but left the King of Dian as the local ruler.


title: Kunming

text: The Han dynasty (205 BC–AD 220), seeking control over the Southern Silk Road running to Burma and India, brought small parts of Yunnan into China's orbit, though subsequent dynasties could do little to tame what was then a remote and wild borderland. During the Sui dynasty (581–618), two military expeditions were launched against the area, and it was renamed "Kunzhou" in Chinese sources.


title: Kunming

text: Founded in 765, Kunming was known to the Chinese as "Tuodong" () city in the Kingdom of Nanzhao (737–902) during the 8th and 9th centuries. Tuodong later became part of the successor Kingdom of Dali (937–1253). The possession of Tuodong changed hands when the city came under the control of the Yuan dynasty invasion of the southwest in 1252–1253. During the reign of provincial governor Ajall Shams al-Din Omar, a "Chinese Style" city named Zhongjing Chen was founded where modern Kunming is today. Shams al-Din ordered the construction of Buddhist temple, a Confucian temple, and two mosques in the city. The Confucian temple, doubling as a school, was the first of its kind in Yunnan, attracting students from minority groups across the province. Coupled with his promotion of Confucian ceremonies and customs, Shams al-Din has been largely credited with the sinicization of the region. The city grew as a trading center between the southwest and the rest of China. It is considered by scholars to have been the city of Yachi Fu (Duck Pond Town) where people had used cowries as cash and ate their meat raw, as described by the 13th-century Venetian traveler Marco Polo.


title: Kunming

text: In the 14th century, Kunming was retaken from Khan Mongolian control when the Ming dynasty defeated the Yuan dynasty, later building a wall surrounding present-day Kunming. 300 years later, Ming General Wu Sangui defected to Manchu invaders and held the city until his death in 1678, long after the rest of China had fallen under Manchu rule. During the beginning of Qing rule, the entirety of Yunnan and Guizhou were ruled from Kunming and Wu. During the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, the seat of Wu's newly declared Zhou dynasty was moved to Hengzhou, Hunan. Later in 1678 when Wu died, his grandson Wu Shifan resisted the Qing for two more months before committing suicide, thereby reverting control of the city back into Qing hands. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was the seat of the superior prefecture of Yunnan.


title: Kunming

text: The area was first dubbed Kunming in the period towards the decline of the Yuan dynasty and later still in 1832, the beginnings of a real city were acknowledged within the city walls and significant structures within their confines. Founding of the city can, therefore be said to have been a predominantly 19th century affair. It was also in this century that the city grew to become the major market and transport centre for the region. Many of the city's inhabitants were displaced as a result of the 1833 Kunming earthquake.


title: Kunming

text: The rebel leader Du Wenxiu, the Muslim Han Sultan of Dali, attacked and besieged the city several times between 1858 and 1868. Many of the city's wealth did not survived the 1856 Panthay Rebellion, when most of the Buddhist sites in the capital were bad damaged, converted to mosques or razed. Decades later, Kunming began to be influenced by the West, especially from the French Empire. In the 1890s, an uprising against working conditions on the Kunming–Haiphong rail line saw many laborers executed after France shipped in weapons to suppress the revolt. The meter-gauge rail line, only completed by around 1911, was designed by the French so that they could tap Yunnan's mineral resources for their colonies in Indochina.


title: Kunming

text: Kunming was a communications center in early times and a junction of two major trading routes, one westward via Dali and Tengchong County into Myanmar, the other southward through Mengzi County to the Red River in Indochina. Eastward, a difficult mountain route led to Guiyang in Guizhou province and thence to Hunan province. To the northeast was a well-established trade trail to Yibin in Sichuan province on the Yangtze River. But these trails were all extremely difficult, passable only by mule trains or pack-carrying porters.


title: Kunming

text: "In the late 1800s, the French started to build the Kunming-Haiphong railway for trade and shipping of weapons".


title: Kunming

text: Kunming reverted to county status in 1912, under the name Kunming, and became a municipality in 1935. The opening of the Kunming area began in earnest with the completion in 1906–1910 of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway to Haiphong in north Vietnam (part of French Indochina).


title: Kunming

text: Kunming became a treaty port opening to foreign trade in 1908 and soon became a commercial center. A university was set up in 1922. In the 1930s the first highways were built, linking Kunming with Chongqing in Sichuan and Guiyang in Guizhou to the east.


title: Kunming

text: The local warlord General Tang Jiyao established the Wujiaba Aerodrome in 1922; an additional 23 airports would be established in Yunnan from 1922 to 1929.


title: Kunming

text: Kunming was transformed into a modern city as a result of fighting of the Second Sino-Japanese War/World War II in 1937 with the outbreak of the Battle of Shanghai, Nanking and Taiyuan, forcing a great movement of refugees from the north and eastern coastal regions of China, bringing much commerce and industry into the southwest of China, including Kunming. They brought with them dismantled industrial plants, which were then re-erected beyond the range of Japanese bombers. In addition, a number of universities and institutes of higher education were evacuated there. The increased trade and expertise quickly established Kunming as an industrial and manufacturing base for the wartime government in Chongqing.


title: Kunming

text: As the battles of Shanghai, Taiyuan and Nanjing were lost by the end of 1937, and with the Battle of Wuhan falling into Japanese occupation by the end of 1938, many more of China's military forces and civilians retreated to cities outside the reach of the Japanese military ground forces a year prior to the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe in 1939, including the relocation of the Chinese Air Force Academy from Jianqiao Airbase to Kunming's Wujiaba Airbase, where the airfield was vastly expanded, becoming the new training hub for the battered but regrouped Chinese Air Force in which Lieutenant General Claire Lee Chennault took command of cadet training duties in the summer of 1938. The Chinese Air Force command established the 41st Pursuit Squadron based in Kunming, also known as the French Volunteer Group squadron in June 1938, and with them they brought Dewoitine D.510 fighters, with the intention of securing the sale of the planes to the Chinese Air Force; the French participated in some combat engagements against Japanese raids, including dogfights against Mitsubishi A5M fighters with Chinese "Hawk III" fighters over Nanchang, but after several setbacks, including a fighter pilot "KIA", the group was disbanded in October 1938.


title: Kunming

text: Although the Empire of Japan was focusing on ending the Chinese war of resistance at the Battle of Chonqing and Chengdu, Kunming was not out of the reach of Japanese air raids, and faced attacks by IJAAF and IJNAF bombers; military assets and infrastructure were under regular attack, while the RoCAF 18th Fighter Squadron and units of the Air Force Academy at Wujiaba were tasked with aerial defense of Kunming. The city of Kunming was prepared as an alternate National Redoubt in case the temporary capital in Chongqing fell, with an elaborate system of caves to serve as offices, barracks and factories, but never utilised. Kunming was to have served again in this role during the ensuing Chinese Civil War, but the Nationalist garrison there switched sides and joined the Communists. Instead Taiwan would become the last redoubt and home of the Republic of China government; a role it fulfills to this day.