title: Fist of Legend

text: In 1937, Chen Zhen is a Chinese martial artist from Shanghai, who attends Kyoto University. Thugs from the ultranationalist Black Dragon Clan burst in and attempt to force him out because he is Chinese. Mitsuko, one of Chen's classmates who is in a romantic relationship with him, along with Chen's professor and classmates, defend his presence. The thugs turn violent but Chen easily defeats them using a variety of controlled Chin Na techniques. The Japanese thugs' sensei, Fumio Funakoshi, who is also Mitsuko's uncle, arrives to take control of the situation and apologizes for his students' behavior. Funakoshi is impressed by Chen's skill and converses with him, and Chen learns that his master, Huo Yuanjia, has died after losing in a match against a Japanese karateka named Akutagawa. Chen is distraught after hearing the bad news and he leaves Kyoto for Shanghai immediately.


title: Fist of Legend

text: Chen returns to Jingwu School and learns that his master's son, Ting'en, has become the new master. The next day, Chen goes to the Japanese dojo to challenge Akutagawa, who honorably accepts. Chen defeats Akutagawa easily and concludes that Akutagawa was not capable of defeating Huo, after which he suspects foul play in his master's death. Chen has Huo's corpse exhumed for an autopsy against the wishes of Ting'en and his fellow Jingwu members. It is revealed that Huo was poisoned and weakened before his match against Akutagawa. Over the next few days, word of Chen's victory against Akutagawa spreads and Chen becomes a local celebrity in Shanghai. The Jingwu members begin to look up to Chen as their new instructor, which incurs the jealousy of Ting'en. Ting'en remains silent and seeks comfort in a brothel, where he becomes romantically involved with a prostitute.


title: Fist of Legend

text: Meanwhile, Akutagawa confronts General Fujita of the Imperial Japanese Army after suspecting that his match against Huo had been rigged, which he considers dishonorable. After a heated argument, Fujita kills Akutagawa by breaking his back in front of the Japanese ambassador, and then places the blame on Chen. Enraged by their master's death, Akutagawa's students attack the Jingwu School, culminating in a fight that is eventually stopped by the local police. Chen is arrested and placed on trial for allegedly murdering Akutagawa. Several bribed witnesses provide false and conflicting accounts of the murder, but the court refuses to accept testimony from any Chinese defense witnesses on the grounds of bias towards Chen. Mitsuko shows up and testifies that Chen is innocent because he spent the night with her, and the court accepts her false testimony because she is Japanese. Chen is exonerated, but his apparent relationship with Mitsuko ruins his reputation because the Chinese view it as an act of betrayal against his fellow Chinese. Ting'en and the senior Jingwu members demand that Chen leaves either Mitsuko or the school. Huo uses the opportunity to settle his personal vendetta against Chen by challenging him to a fight. Although Chen defeats Ting'en, he still chooses to leave with Mitsuko. Huo feels humiliated by his defeat so he gives up his position as master of Jingwu before leaving to join his lover. Jingwu's members eventually discover Huo's relationship with her and reprimand him. Huo learns his lesson and returns to Jingwu.


title: Fist of Legend

text: Chen and Mitsuko face hostility from the locals and are forced to take shelter in an abandoned hut near Huo Yuanjia's grave. At the same time, Funakoshi arrives from Japan, as requested by Fujita, to eliminate Chen. Funakoshi engages Chen in a fight, which ends in a draw and the conclusion that if Chen learns to adapt to his opponent's moves, he will be unbeatable. Funakoshi leaves after warning Chen about Fujita's ill intentions and brutal methods. Days later, Huo Ting'en visits Chen and apologizes for his earlier behavior, saying that Jingwu School accepts Chen and Mitsuko's relationship now. Huo teaches Chen the Mizong Fist that night while Mitsuko leaves secretly, leaving behind a message for Chen that she will wait for him in Japan.


title: Fist of Legend

text: The next day, Chen and Huo confront Fujita at his dojo, where Fujita exposes a traitor from Jingwu who played a role in Huo Yuanjia's death, and shoots him. Huo Ting'en then fights Fujita, who appears to be incredibly strong and resilient, and Huo suffers grave injuries. Chen engages Fujita in a long and exhausting fight, and eventually defeats him. Just as Chen and Huo are about to leave, the enraged Fujita comes after them with a katana. Huo pushes Chen out of the katana's way but is stabbed in the arm, and Chen is forced to kill Fujita. Japanese soldiers surround them and prepare to open fire. The Japanese ambassador, who is a pacifist against rising militarism in his country, arrives and orders his soldiers to stand down. He agrees with Chen's actions as he has been aware that Fujita is a madman, but also warns them that the Japanese government will use Fujita's death as an excuse to start a war with China, unless the Chinese can account for Fujita's death by executing the murderer. Chen expresses his willingness to accept the blame for Fujita's death in order to prevent war, earning the ambassador's further admiration. Instead of ordering Chen's death, the ambassador stages a fake execution and substitutes the dead Jingwu's traitor's body for Chen's. Meanwhile, Chen secretly leaves Shanghai for Manchuria.


title: Fist of Legend

text: Though "Fist of Legend" is widely considered one of Li's best films, during the downturn period of the Hong Kong film industry, its HK$14,785,382 box office gross was considered a disappointment. By comparison, Li's "Fong Sai-yuk" grossed over HK$30 million, and "Fong Sai-yuk II" grossed HK$23 million. However, its overall box office from other countries was good.


title: Fist of Legend

text: In the United Kingdom, the film (released as "Jet Li's Fist of Legend") was watched by viewers on television in 2004, making it the year's seventh most-watched foreign-language film on television (below six other Hong Kong action films).


title: Fist of Legend

text: The English-dubbed U.S. release by Miramax and Buena Vista Distribution contains four specific mistranslations that drastically alter the meaning of the film as a whole.


title: Fist of Legend

text: With regard to footage, this version deletes the final moments of students training and contains a brand new set of opening (animated) and closing credits in English, abandoning the previous ones completely.


title: Fist of Legend

text: Compared to the Hong Kong version, the 106-minute Mandarin-dubbed Taiwanese version contains the following footage:


title: Fist of Legend

text: In the Mandarin soundtracks of the film, there is background music when Chen fights Huo. However, in the Cantonese soundtrack, the music only plays after Chen performs a Capoeira-style kick later on in the fight.


title: Fist of Legend

text: In 1997, the first DVD was released by Ritek in Taiwan, which fans later reported to be an "uncut" version. This has been a widely held misconception - whilst this version does carry some more footage (as a Taiwanese version), it is in turn missing a few moments that the Hong Kong version has.


title: Fist of Legend

text: On 15 February 2000, Miramax issued a DVD of this film in the U.S. (later in the U.K. too by Hollywood Pictures on VHS first, then DVD later on 29 March 2002). Whilst it featured better visual quality than any other release (some agree even to this day), it immediately caused an uproar with the Hong Kong Cinema fan community because it contained only a new English dub/score with alterations to the original dialogue and no original Cantonese option - a defect shared with many of their Hong Kong-acquired titles (not to mention the edits).


title: Fist of Legend

text: On 20 March 2002, the first official DVD of the Hong Kong version with a Cantonese soundtrack was issued by HKVideo in France. However, it contained no English subtitles. One notable difference to other versions carrying a Chinese/Taiwanese version is that it doesn't contain the ending text describing the aftermath of Jingwu School, but is otherwise the same and, bar a few missing frames, uncut.


title: Fist of Legend

text: A lesser-known DVD was issued on 25 March 2005 by Japanese distributor Maxam which contains the Hong Kong version (and its ending text) in complete form, but no English subtitles.


title: Fist of Legend

text: A R1 2-DVD "Ultimate Edition" was finally released on 9 September 2008 from The Weinstein Company's Dragon Dynasty label in America, which features many extras and the original Cantonese soundtrack with English subtitles, marking the first official DVD release to do so. This version was also released in Australia (Region 4), in single disk.


title: Fist of Legend

text: However, this is still visually the previous US version with the Cantonese soundtrack edited to fit its visuals. Matters are worsened when the subtitles revert to dubtitles towards the end - relying on the previous incorrectly transcribed "Sick Men Of Asia" sign and story-changing ending (see above) from Miramax's English dub.


title: Fist of Legend

text: German-issued DVDs from distributor 'New Age 21' (released 12 November 2008) and 'HMH' (released 20 November 2008) were released in an uncut state and contain a Cantonese soundtrack with English subtitles.


title: Fist of Legend

text: Other uncut English-subtitled releases of the Hong Kong Cantonese-language versions (now OOP) include the US Tai Seng VHS (released 20 October 2000), the Australian Chinatown Video VHS, the U.K. Made in Hong Kong VHS (released 1 October 1999), and the Mei Ah VCD, VHS and LD.


title: Fist of Legend

text: The Malaysian Speedy VCD also contains a similar version, but enforces cuts to some scenes for violence:


title: Fist of Legend

text: The Spanish Manga Films DVD titled "El Mejor Luchador" (released 24 October 2001) and a slightly edited Indian Diskovery VCD titled "The Hitter: Fist of the Legend" contain an English-dubbed version intended for export to English-speaking territories. Strangely, this version has aired occasionally on US TV with a Miramax ident instead of their own produced version.


title: Fist of Legend

text: "Fist of Legend" inspired the Wachowskis to hire choreographer Yuen Woo-ping for the fight scenes in "The Matrix" (1999). The style of fighting in the two films bears some resemblance.


title: Fist of Legend

text: In 1996, an unofficial sequel titled "Fists of Legends 2: Iron Bodyguards" was released starring Jet Le (not Jet Li).


title: Fist of Legend

text: Later films have also been influenced by "Fist of Legend". "Hitman" contains a scene involving the main character using a belt as a weapon as seen in "Fist of Legend". The more realistic and less wire-driven fight choreography seen in "Kiss of the Dragon" was a result of fan criticism to Corey Yuen's choreography in "Romeo Must Die" and preference for the style seen in "Fist of Legend".


title: Fist of Legend

text: In 2010, Gordon Chan and Andrew Lau produced a continuation of this film named "" with Donnie Yen as Chen Zhen in his thirties.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: The Kandahar massacre, also called the Panjwai massacre, was a mass murder that occurred in the early hours of 11 March 2012, when United States Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales murdered 16 Afghan civilians and wounded six others in the Panjwayi District of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Nine of his victims were children, and eleven of the dead were from the same family. Some of the corpses were partially burned. Bales was taken into custody later that morning when he told authorities, "I did it".


title: Kandahar massacre

text: The U.S. and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) authorities apologized for the deaths. Afghan authorities condemned the act, describing it as "intentional murder". The National Assembly of Afghanistan passed a resolution demanding a public trial in Afghanistan, but then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said the soldier would be tried under U.S. military law. Bales pleaded guilty on 5 June 2013 to 16 counts of premeditated murder in exchange for the prosecution not seeking a death sentence. At the time of the plea, he said he did not know why he committed the murders. On 23 August 2013, Bales was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: United States authorities concluded that the killings were the act of a single individual. On 15 March 2012, an Afghan parliamentary probe team consisting of several members of the National Assembly of Afghanistan had speculated that up to 20 U.S. soldiers were involved in the killings. The team later said they could not confirm claims that multiple soldiers took part in the killings.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: Panjwai is the birthplace of the Taliban movement and has traditionally been a stronghold of the Taliban. It has been an area of heavy fighting and was the focus of a in 2010, which brought a more than two-fold increase in airstrikes, night raids into Afghan homes, insurgent casualties, and a six-fold increase in special forces operations throughout Afghanistan.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: Fighting in Panjwai and adjacent Zhari, Arghandab and Kandahar districts was particularly intense. Conflict between the civilian population and U.S. forces was exacerbated by the wholesale destruction of some villages by U.S. forces, mass arrests, murder of civilians by rogue units, and high casualties from improvised explosive devices (IEDs). One of the families targeted in the Kandahar massacre had returned to the area in 2011 after previously being displaced by the surge. Fearing the Taliban but encouraged by the U.S. government, the Army, and the Afghan government, they settled near the U.S. military base because they thought it would to be a safe place to live.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: Approximately three weeks before the incidents, Afghan–U.S. relations were strained by an incident where copies of the Quran were burnt at the Bagram Air Base. A couple of months before the shootings, U.S. Marines were videorecorded urinating on dead Taliban fighters.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: The shooter, Robert Bales, was based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM). The primary medical treatment facility at the base, Madigan Army Medical Center, has come under investigation for downgrading diagnoses of soldiers with PTSD to lesser ailments. Military support groups around the base have alleged that base commanders did not give returning troops sufficient time to recover before sending them on further deployments, and that the base's medical unit was understaffed and overwhelmed by the numbers of returning veterans with deployment-related physical and psychological trauma.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: Soldiers from the base have been linked to other atrocities and crimes. The 2010 Maywand District murders involved JBLM-based soldiers. Also in 2010, a recently discharged AWOL soldier from JBLM shot a police officer in Salt Lake City. In April 2011, a JBLM soldier killed his wife and 5-year-old son before killing himself. In January 2012, a JBLM soldier murdered a Mount Rainier National Park ranger. In two separate incidents, unrelated JBLM soldiers have been charged with waterboarding their children.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: Jorge Gonzalez, executive director of a veterans resource center near Fort Lewis, said that the Kandahar killings offer more proof that the base was dysfunctional: "This was not a rogue soldier. JBLM is a rogue base, with a severe leadership problem", he said in a statement. Base officials responded, saying that the crimes committed by its soldiers were isolated events which do not "reflect on the work and dedication of all service members." Robert H. Scales, a retired U.S. Army major general and former commandant of the Army War College, suggested that the major factor in the shootings was the overuse of infantry personnel in the last ten years for close combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: Residents of Mokhoyan, a village about 500 metres east of Camp Belamby, stated that a bomb had exploded in their vicinity on 8 March, destroying an armored vehicle and wounding several U.S. soldiers. They recounted that U.S. soldiers afterwards lined many of the male villagers against a wall, threatening to "get revenge for this incident by killing at least 20 of your people", and threatening that "you and your children will pay for this". One Mokhoyan resident told "The Associated Press" "It looked like they were going to shoot us, and I was very afraid." U.S. officials from The Pentagon declared that they had "no evidence" that villagers had been lined up against a wall and threatened in Mokhoyan. U.S. officials refused to confirm or deny that U.S. soldiers were wounded outside the village on 8 March.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: Bales' lawyer, John Henry Browne, later stated that his client was upset because a fellow soldier had lost a leg in an explosion on 9 March. It is unclear whether the bombing cited by Browne was the same as the one described by the villagers.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: According to official reports, Bales left combat outpost Camp Belamby at 3:00 a.m. local time wearing night vision goggles. Bales was wearing traditional Afghan clothing over his ACU.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: According to government officials with knowledge of the investigation, the killings were carried out in two phases, with Bales returning to base in between. An Afghan guard reported a soldier returning to base at 1:30 am, and another guard reported a soldier leaving at 2:30 am. Bales is believed to have first gone to Alkozai, about north of Camp Belambay, then to Najiban (called Balandi in earlier reports), located south of the base. Four people were killed and six wounded in Alkozai, and twelve people were killed in Najiban. U.S. sentries at the base heard gunshots in Alkozai, but did not take action besides attempting to view Alkozai from their post inside the base. Until 22 March, U.S. authorities recognized 16 people killed, including nine children, four men, and three women. On 22 March that number was revised to 17, but later reduced back to 16. It was initially reported that five others were injured, and that number was eventually increased to six.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: Four members of the same family were killed in Alkozai. According to a 16-year-old boy who was shot in the leg, Bales woke up his family members before shooting them. Another witness said she saw the man drag a woman out of her house and repeatedly hit her head against a wall.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: The first victim in Najiban appears to have been Mohammad Dawood. According to Dawood's brother, Bales shot Dawood in the head, but spared Dawood's wife and six children after the wife screamed at him.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: Eleven members of Abdul Samad's family were killed in a house in Najiban village, including his wife, four girls between the ages of two and six, four boys between eight and twelve, and two other relatives. According to a witness, "he dragged the boys by their hair and shot them in the mouth". At least three of the child victims were killed by a single shot to the head of each. Their bodies were then set on fire. Another civilian, Mohammad Dawoud, age 55, was then killed in another house in the village. Witnesses reported that Bales was wearing a headlamp and/or a spotlight attached to his weapon.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: Bales burned some of the victims' bodies. Witnesses said that the eleven corpses from one family were shot in the head, stabbed, then gathered into one room and set on fire. A pile of ashes was found on the floor of one victims' house; at least one child's body was found partially charred. A reporter for "The New York Times" inspected the children's bodies taken to a nearby American military base and reported seeing burns on some of the legs and heads.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: Following the events at Alkozai and Balandi, Bales handed himself over into ISAF custody. Afghan forces spotted him leaving his outpost before the killings and U.S. commanders on base assembled their troops for a head count when it was discovered that a soldier was missing. A patrol was dispatched to find the missing soldier, but did not find him before he returned to base after the killings. He was reportedly taken into custody without incident. There were no military operations being conducted in the area at the time of the shootings.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: The surveillance video from the base reportedly shows "the soldier walking up to his base covered in a traditional Afghan shawl. The soldier removes the shawl and lays his weapon on the ground, then raises his arms in surrender." The video has not been released to the public.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: U.S. investigators suspect that Bales may have departed the base before midnight, committed the murders in Alkozai, then returned to the base around 1:30 a.m. Bales may have then departed the base at 2:30 a.m. and committed the murders in Najiban. It was apparently the second departure which caused the alert and the commencement of the patrol to locate the missing soldier.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: According to U.S. defense officials, upon his return to the base Bales said: "I did it" and then told individuals what happened. Later he retained a lawyer and refused to speak further with investigators. The U.S. flew Bales out of Afghanistan to Kuwait on 14 March 2012, then to the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas on 16 March. A Pentagon spokesman said the move was done because of a "legal recommendation".


title: Kandahar massacre

text: According to U.S. authorities, a single soldier – Staff Sergeant Robert Bales – conducted the attack. The U.S. military showed Afghan authorities the footage from the surveillance video at the base as proof that there was only one perpetrator of the shootings.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: According to Reuters, some neighbors and relatives of the dead saw a group of U.S. soldiers arrive at their village at about 2 a.m., enter homes and open fire. "They were all drunk and shooting all over the place," said neighbor Agha Lala. According to "The New York Times", one of the attack's survivors and "at least five other villagers" described seeing a number of soldiers, while some other Afghan residents described seeing only one gunman. Some elected officials said that they believed the attack was planned, claiming that one soldier could not have carried out such an act without help.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: On 15 March 2012, an Afghan parliamentary probe team made up of several members of the National Assembly of Afghanistan announced that up to 20 American soldiers were involved in the killings, with support from two helicopters. They had spent two days in the province on site, interviewing the survivors and collecting evidence. One of the members of the probe team, Hamizai Lali, said: "We closely examined the site of the incident, talked to the families who lost their beloved ones, the injured people and tribal elders... The villages are one and a half kilometer from the U.S. military base. We are convinced that one soldier cannot kill so many people in two villages within one hour... [the victims] have been killed by the two groups." Lali asked the Afghan government, the United Nations and the international community to ensure the perpetrators were punished in Afghanistan. While visiting one of the affected villages, Hamid Karzai pointed to one of the villagers and said: "In his family, in four rooms people were killed – children and women were killed – and then they were all brought together in one room and then set on fire. That, one man cannot do." However, the team later said they could not confirm that multiple soldiers took part in the killings.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: On 25 March 2012 at the office of the governor of Kandahar province, the United States gave the equivalent of US$860,000 to the victims' families, allocated as $50,000 for each person killed and $10,000 for each person injured. The official who disbursed payments to the families said the money was not compensation, but rather the U.S. government's offering to help the victims and their families. A member of the Kandahar provincial council described the payments as assistance, but not as the kind of legal compensation that would absolve the accused.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: The Army concluded that Robert Bales, a 38-year-old U.S. Army staff sergeant stationed at Camp Belambay, was the only person responsible for the shootings. According to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, immediately after being captured, Bales acknowledged the killings and "told individuals what happened". He then asked for an attorney and refused to speak with investigators about his motivations.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: According to officials, Bales may have been having marital problems, and the investigation of the shootings is looking into the possibility that an e-mail about marriage problems might have provoked Bales. His wife wrote on her blog about her disappointment after he was passed over for a promotion to Sergeant First Class (E-7). The family was also struggling with finances, and three days before the shootings Bales' wife put their home up for sale, as they had fallen behind with mortgage payments.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: On 23 March 2012, the U.S. government charged Bales with 17 counts of murder, six counts of attempted murder, and six counts of assault. On 24 March 2012, American investigators said they believe Bales split the killings in the villages of Balandi and Alkozai into two attacks, returning to Camp Belamby after the first attack before slipping out again an hour later. No other U.S. military personnel were disciplined for having any role in the incident.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: On 22 August 2013, Bales pleaded guilty at his General Court-martial, apologized for his killing spree, and described the massacre as an "act of cowardice." The plea spared Bales from the death penalty. On 23 August 2013, Bales was sentenced to life in prison without parole by the court. He was also demoted to Private (E-1), the lowest possible rank, dishonorably discharged, and ordered to forfeit all pay and allowances. A commanding general overseeing the court-martial has the option of reducing the sentence to life with the possibility of parole. Afghan villagers and the families of Bales' victims were upset by the decision, saying he deserved death.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: After several months of interviews while in prison in 2015, Bales revealed in depth his recollection of his actions step by step the night of the murders and why he believed he acted the way he did to reporter Brendan Vaughan in an article published in GQ magazine on 21 October 2015.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: A woman who lost four family members in the incident said, "We don't know why this foreign soldier came and killed our innocent family members. Either he was drunk or he enjoyed killing civilians." Abdul Samad, a 60-year-old farmer who lost eleven family members, eight of whom were children, spoke about the incident: "I don't know why they killed them. Our government told us to come back to the village, and then they let the Americans kill us." One grieving mother, holding a dead baby in her arms, said, "They killed a child, was this child the Taliban? Believe me, I haven't seen a two-year-old member of the Taliban yet."


title: Kandahar massacre

text: "I don't want any compensation. I don't want money, I don't want a trip to Mecca, I don't want a house. I want nothing. But what I absolutely want is the punishment of the Americans. This is my demand, my demand, my demand and my demand," said one villager, whose brother was killed.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: More than 300 Panjwai locals gathered around the military base to protest the killings. Some brought burned blankets to represent those killed. In one house, an elderly woman screamed: "May God kill the only son of Karzai, so he feels what we feel." On 13 March, hundreds of university students protested in Afghanistan's eastern city of Jalalabad, shouting "Death to America – Death to Obama" and burning effigies of the U.S. president and a Christian cross. On 15 March about 2,000 people took part in another protest, in the southern province of Zabul. After the U.S. withdrawal in 2021, some Afghans said this and other massacres increased support for the Taliban. Haji Muhammad Wazir, whose family was massacred by Bales, said he gave the Taliban financial and other support as a result.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: The President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, called the incident "intentional murder" and stated "this [was] an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians and cannot be forgiven." He said the United States must now pull back its troops from village areas and allow Afghan security forces to take the lead in an effort to reduce civilian deaths. On 16 March Karzai said the U.S. was not fully co-operating with a probe into the killings. He also said the problem of civilian casualties at the hands of NATO forces "has been going on for too long ... It is by all means the end of the rope here". A spokesperson for the Afghan Interior Ministry condemned the act "in the strongest possible terms."


title: Kandahar massacre

text: Afghan politicians wanted Bales to face an Afghan court. The National Assembly of Afghanistan insisted that the U.S. soldier be put on public trial in Afghanistan: "We seriously demand and expect that the government of the United States punish the culprits and try them in a public trial before the people of Afghanistan." It also condemned the killings as "brutal and inhuman" and declared that "people are running out of patience over the ignorance of foreign forces." Abdul Rahim Ayobi, a member of parliament from Kandahar, said the shooting "gives us the message that now the American soldiers are out of the control of their generals." Kamal Safai, a member from Kunduz, said that while it was the act of a single man, "the public reaction will blame the government of America, not the soldier."


title: Kandahar massacre

text: American and ISAF forces apologized and promised a full investigation, with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta stating that the soldier "will be brought to justice and be held accountable" and that the death penalty "could be a consideration." U.S. president Barack Obama called the incident "absolutely tragic and heartbreaking" but noted that he was "proud generally" of what U.S. troops have accomplished in Afghanistan. Obama said the incident did not represent the "exceptional character" of the American military and the respect that the United States had for the people of Afghanistan. On 13 March, he said, "the United States takes this as seriously as if it were our own citizens and our own children who were murdered. We're heartbroken over the loss of innocent life. The killing of innocent civilians is outrageous and it's unacceptable." In response to a reporter asking whether the killings could be likened to the 1968 My Lai massacre of civilians by U.S. forces in South Vietnam, Obama replied, "It's not comparable. It appeared you had a lone gunman who acted on his own."


title: Kandahar massacre

text: General John R. Allen, commander of the ISAF, issued an apology as well. Adrian Bradshaw, the deputy commander of the NATO forces in Afghanistan, apologized "I wish to convey my profound regrets and dismay... I cannot explain the motivation behind such callous acts, but they were in no way part of authorised ISAF military activity." A "rapid and thorough" inquiry was promised. U.S. officials said the killings would not affect their strategies in the area.


title: Kandahar massacre

text: The Taliban said in a statement on its website that "sick-minded American savages committed the blood-soaked and inhumane crime." The insurgent group promised the families of the victims that it would take revenge "for every single martyr". The Taliban also accused Afghan security officials of being complicit in the attack. The insurgent group called off peace talks in the wake of the deadly rampage. On 13 March, the Taliban launched an attack on an Afghan government delegation which was visiting the site of the killings, killing one government soldier and injuring three.


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: Ashta Lakshmi (Sanskrit: अष्टलक्ष्मी, IAST: Aṣṭalakṣmī; lit. "Octet of Lakshmi") or Ashtalakshmi, is a group of the eight manifestations of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of prosperity. She presides over eight sources of wealth: spirituality, material wealth, agriculture, royalty, knowledge, courage, progeny, and victory.


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: Adi Lakshmi is the manifestation who supports a seeker to reach their source, or Atman. She is believed to proffer dhyana, a state of absolute silence, bliss, and peace. This aspect of the goddess is responsible for the furtherance in the quest for spiritual wealth.


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: She is depicted as four-armed, carrying a lotus and a red flag, and other two arms expressing the abhaya mudra (fearlessness pose) and the varada mudra (blessing pose).


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: Dhana Lakshmi is depicted with six hands, in red garments, carries the Sudarshana Chakra, shankha, kalasha (a water pitcher with mango leaves and a coconut on it) or the Amrita Kalasha (a pitcher containing Amrita – the elixir of life), a bow and arrow, a lotus, and an arm performing the abhaya mudra, with gold coins falling from it.


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: Dhanya Lakshmi (Grain Lakshmi) is the form of Lakshmi who represents the wealth of agriculture. Dhanya Lakshmi is also the aspect of Lakshmi who provides resources to adherents for their sustenance and well-being.


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: She is depicted as eight-armed, dressed in green garments, carrying two lotuses, a gada (mace), paddy crop, sugarcane, and bananas. Her hands express the "abhaya mudra" and the "varada mudra".


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: Gaja Lakshmi (Elephant Lakshmi) is the giver of animal wealth (such as cattle), or the being who offers royal splendour, according to the Narayana Pancharatra.


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: According to Hinduism, Gaja Lakshmi restored the potent lost by Indra (King of the devas) during the Samudra Manthana. Vasudha Narayanan has interpreted this name as the, "one who is worshipped by elephants".


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: She is depicted as four-armed, donning red garments, carrying two lotuses, two arms expressing the "abhaya mudra" and the "varada mudra", surrounded by two elephants bathing her with water pots.


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: She is depicted as six-armed, carrying two "kalashas" (water pitcher with mango leaves and a coconut on it), a sword, a shield, a child on her lap, a hand in "abhaya mudra," and the other holding a child. The child holds a lotus.


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: Dhairya Lakshmi (Courage Lakshmi), or Veera Lakshmi (Valourous Lakshmi), is a form of Lakshmi inspired by Durga. She is the form of the goddess who bestows valour during battles and courage plus strength for overcoming difficulties in life.


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: She is depicted as eight-armed, seated on a lion, in red garments, carrying a chakra, shankha, bow, arrow, trishula (or a sword), a bundle of palm leaf scriptures, other two hands in the "abhaya mudra" and the "varada mudra".


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: Vijaya Lakshmi or Jaya Lakshmi (Victorious Lakshmi) is also a manifestation drawn from Durga. She is form of the goddess who bestows victory, not only in battles, but also for conquering hurdles in order to achieve success.


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: She is depicted as eight-armed, dressed in blue garments, carrying the chakra, shankha, sword, shield, lotus, pasha, and other two hands expressing the "abhaya mudra" and the "varada mudra".


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: Vidya Lakshmi (Knowledge Lakshmi) is the goddess and the bestower of knowledge of arts and the sciences.


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: She is dressed in a white saree and has a resemblance to the goddess Saraswati. She holds a book of the Vedas, a peacock feather as a pen, the "varada mudra" and the "abhaya mudra".


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: The prayer "Shri Ashta Lakshmi Stotram" lists all of the Ashta Lakshmi, in which the goddess is depicted as seated on a lotus. The rise in popularity of the "Ashta Lakshmi" can be linked with the rising popularity of the Ashta Lakshmi Stotram.


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: Around the 1970s, a leading Sri Vaishnava theologian, UV Srinivasa Varadachariar, published a hymn called "Ashta Lakshmi Stotram" dedicated to the eight forms of Lakshmi. Narayanan comments:


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: Ashta Lakshmi is now widely worshipped both by Sri Vaishnava and other Hindu communities in South India. Occasionally, Ashta Lakshmi is depicted together in shrines or in "framing pictures" within an overall design and are worshipped by votaries of Lakshmi who worship her in her various manifestations. In addition to emergence of Ashta Lakshmi temples since the 1970s, traditional silver articles used in home worship as well as decorative jars (kumbha) now appear with the Ashta Lakshmi group molded on their sides.


title: Ashta Lakshmi

text: Books, popular prayers manuals, pamphlets sold outside temples in South India, ritual worship, and "a burgeoning audiocassette market" also presently popularise the octet of Lakshmi.


title: Aglaea

text: According to Hesiod, Aglaea is the youngest of the Charites, the three daughters of Zeus and the Oceanid Eurynome. The mythographer Apollodorus, in constrast, calls them the children of Zeus by Eunomia, the goddess of good order and lawful conduct.


title: Aglaea

text: Aglaea's two sisters are Euphrosyne, the goddess of joy or mirth, and Thalia, the goddess of festivity and rich banquets. Together they are known as the Charites in Greek mythology or the Gratiae (Graces) in Roman mythology, and they were responsible for overseeing all feasts and dances. They were part of the retinue of Aphrodite with Aglaea sometimes acting as her messenger.


title: Aglaea

text: Aglaea was married to Hephaestus, typically seen as after his divorce from Aphrodite, and by him she became mother of Eucleia ("Good Repute"), Eupheme ("Acclaim"), Euthenia ("Prosperity"), and Philophrosyne ("Welcome").


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: "Dinner Party" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series "The Office"—the show's sixty-sixth episode overall. Written by the writing team of Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Paul Feig, the episode originally aired on NBC on April 10, 2008. Guest stars in the episode include Beth Grant, Steve Seagren, and Gary Weeks.


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: In the episode, Michael Scott and his girlfriend Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin), the former Vice-President of Regional Sales at the Dunder Mifflin corporate office in New York City, throw a dinner party and invite Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer), and Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) and Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey), as well as an uninvited Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson). The party ends with Michael and Jan having a loud argument; Michael leaves with Dwight on the advice of two police officers who respond to a domestic disturbance call after the fight.


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: The episode was the first original episode of "The Office" to be broadcast since the episode "The Deposition" on November 15, 2007, due to the effects of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. As such, the atmosphere on the set was one of a more laid-back nature, and the cast broke into laughter due to the jokes many times. "Dinner Party" received acclaim from critics, with many hailing it as one of the series' best entries. The episode received 4.8 Nielsen rating and was watched by 9.2 million viewers.


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: The office workers are stuck working overtime on a major assignment. After asking Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) to confirm that he has not made any plans for the evening in anticipation of the overtime assignment, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) calls corporate and declares that he is releasing the workers from overtime. Michael then proceeds to invite Jim and his girlfriend Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) to join him and his girlfriend Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) for dinner at his condominium after Jim had previously turned him down nine times. When Jim begins to formulate an excuse, Michael reminds him that he just said he had not made any plans. Jim begins to suspect that Michael fabricated the overtime assignment and the call to corporate just to maneuver him and Pam into coming to dinner. Michael also invites Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) and Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey), but excludes Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) due to it being a couples' dinner and Michael owning only six wine glasses, much to Dwight's dismay. On a tour of the condominium, Jan shows the workspace from which she runs her candle-making home business. Jan's dominance in the relationship is apparent from the living arrangements; Michael sleeps on a small bench due to Jan's "space issues", and his sole comfort is a very small "plasma TV", which he bought for $200. It is also later revealed that Michael underwent three vasectomies in the course of trying to please Jan’s inconsistent decisions about having a child. Throughout the evening, Jan plays a song by her former assistant, Hunter. Titled "That One Night", the lyrics of the song strongly suggest an intimate encounter once occurred between Jan and Hunter.


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: In the kitchen, Jan quietly confronts Pam with a false assumption that Michael and Pam had once dated, while Michael attempts to get Jim and Andy to invest in Jan's candle-making business for "only $10,000". Jim's attempt to escape the party with Pam by pretending his apartment has flooded is unsuccessful. Dwight arrives, uninvited, with his own food, wine glasses and his former babysitter (Beth Grant) as his date. (Dwight describes the relationship as "purely carnal".) The feud between Michael and Jan escalates, culminating in Jan's destruction of the $200 television using one of Michael's beloved Dundie Awards. The police arrive, responding to a call about a disturbance; despite Jan becoming remorseful, Michael agrees to spend the night with Dwight under the advice of the officers. Jim and Pam share a warm moment together eating take-out food in their car, repeatedly calling each other "babe" in a mockery of Michael and Jan; Jim also puts on Hunter's CD, which he stole from the condo. In Andy's car, Andy attempts to flirt with Angela by leaning in and tasting her ice cream cone; she responds coldly by smashing the ice cream on the outside of the door. Jan is then seen trying to fix the broken Dundie Award.


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: The episode was the first original episode of "The Office" to be broadcast since the episode "The Deposition" on November 15, 2007, due to the effects of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike at 12:01am Eastern Standard Time on November 5, 2007. Filming of "The Office" immediately halted on that date, as Steve Carell, who is a member of the WGA, refused to cross WGA picket lines. Members of Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West voted to end the 100-day strike on February 12, 2008. Writers were allowed to return to work on the same day. The WGA allowed for show runners to return to work on February 11, in preparation for the conclusion of the strike. The show runner for "The Office", executive producer Greg Daniels, returned on February 11, while the show's writers returned to work on February 13. If not for the writers' strike, this episode would have completed filming successfully during the week of November 5, 2007.


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: "Dinner Party" was written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. Other writers for the series also added various background gags to the episode, such as Andy wearing two sweaters and holding a coat, all of the photos in the condo being of Jan with other men, and Michael's garage having both a Soloflex and a Bowflex back to back because "Michael is completely taken by late-night infomercials".


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: The episode was directed by Paul Feig, making it his sixth directorial credit for the series. Eisenberg and Stupnitsky later noted that, because the episode was the first to be filmed following the strike, there was "a great, loose vibe on set", and as such, many of the actors would break character and laugh at the jokes. The majority of the episode took place at Michael's condo. This was the same location used in the second season entry "Office Olympics". Eisenberg and Stupnitsky explained that "the production design team did an amazing job to transform the condo from Michael's design aesthetic to Jan's."


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: Contrary to most episodes of the series, in which the scenes and dialogue are scripted, many scenes from "Dinner Party" were improvised by the actors, such as Jan dancing while holding Jim's hand, Michael saying "snip-snap" when describing his multiple vasectomies, and Jan – along with Michael's reaction to – placing "finger horns" on her head while saying "I'm the devil".


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: The song featured in the episode supposedly performed by Jan's former assistant, Hunter, was written by the episode writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and Todd Fancey of The New Pornographers; Eisenberg and Stupnitsky wrote the lyrics, and Fancey wrote the music. The song was sung by Fancey. Eisenberg and Stupnitsky later explained that, despite the suggestive lyrics, the song is "left to interpretation". In April 2018, Fancey shared the alternate version of "That One Night". After sending an acoustic version, Fancey was asked by a production assistant to record a "smoother, more polished" version of the song. The fully arranged version was later scrapped in favor of Fancey's original version.


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: The episode guest starred Beth Grant, Steve Seagren, and Gary Weeks. Grant would later reprise her character in the ninth season episode "Junior Salesman". Grant was asked to appear in the episode after Daniels saw her performance in the 2007 film "No Country for Old Men". Grant praised Carell's improvisational skills—noting that "he just keeps going off script [and that he] is channeling something"—as well as Wilson's humorous antics while acting. She concluded that "if they had wanted a crazy, wild feature film using all the comedy that I saw in just those few days, you could absolutely have had one" with their acting.


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: The group plays Celebrity, a game wherein teams play against each other to guess as many celebrity names as possible before time runs out. Michael tries to get his team to guess Arnold Schwarzenegger by saying, "Rhymes with Parnold Schwarzenegger". Michael also tries to get his team to guess Tom Cruise, to which Jim answers Katie Holmes and "Dawson's Creek" to purposely throw Michael off. Thematically, several crew members and critics have compared the episode to the 1962 play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" by Edward Albee, which examines the breakdown of the marriage of a middle-aged couple.


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: "Dinner Party" brought in an average of 9.2 million American viewers, which was the highest total audience since the fourth season premiere episode "Fun Run". This episode achieved a 4.8/12 percent rating in the key 18–49 demographic, meaning that 4.8 percent of 18- to 49-year-olds were tuned in at any given moment and twelve percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time were tuned in. The episode ranked in eighth place, in the 18–49 demographic, among all programs on television, which aired during the week of this episodes original broadcast.


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: The episode has been met with critical acclaim since it has aired and is considered one of the best episodes of "The Office" by many critics. Travis Fickett of IGN wrote that "this is one of those great episodes of "The Office" that is hysterical and difficult to watch at the same time." He noted that this was largely due to the fact that "it's not because of something Michael is doing that makes you wince. It's because of what's happening to him." He ultimately gave the episode an 8.9/10, denoting a "great" episode. Jay Black of AOL's "TV Squad" said that "[he] was happy "The Office" was back" but "the only thing [he] worried about was whether it'd still be good" after the writers strike. However, he noted that his fears were put to rest and that "Dinner Party" was "a Barry Bonds's-style chemically enhanced mega-home-run." M. Giant of Television Without Pity graded this episode with an "A." Aubry D'Arminio of "Entertainment Weekly" said that her favorite moment of the episode "was when Jan popped on that song by her former assistant, Hunter."


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: Jack Rodgers of "TV Guide" wrote that it is "a hilarious, brutally awkward look at the relationship (and apartment) from hell, a train wreck that you just can’t keep from staring at." He also noted that it is "a study of four couples: one hideously dysfunctional (Michael and Jan), one loving (Jim and Pam), one mismatched (Angela and Andy), and one, ahem, "purely carnal" (Dwight and babysitter)." "The A.V. Club" reviewer Nathan Rabin praised the episode for its "sheer squirm-inducing awkwardness". He ultimately gave the episode an "A". Former United States Republican presidential nominee John McCain, a fan of the series, told writer B. J. Novak that his favorite scene from the show is in this episode when Michael is giving his guests a tour of his condo, and a tripod can be seen set up by his bed.


title: Dinner Party (The Office)

text: Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky's writing for this episode was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2008. Paul Feig won the 2008 Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for this episode.


title: Hugh the Great

text: Hugh was the son of King Robert I of France and Béatrice of Vermandois. He was born in Paris, Île-de-France, France. His eldest son was Hugh Capet who became King of France in 987. His family is known as the Robertians.


title: Hugh the Great

text: In 922 the barons of Western Francia, after revolting against the Carolingian King Charles the Simple (who fled his kingdom under their onslaught), elected Robert I, Hugh's father, as king of Western Francia. At the death of Robert I, in battle at Soissons in 923, Hugh refused the crown and it went to his brother-in-law Rudolph. Charles sought help in regaining his crown from Hugh's cousin Count Herbert II of Vermandois, who instead of helping the king imprisoned him. Herbert then used his prisoner as an advantage in pressing his own ambitions, using the threat of releasing the king up until Charles' death in 929. From then on Herbert II of Vermandois struggled with King Rudolph and Duke Hugh. Finally Rudolph and Herbert II came to an agreement in 935.


title: Hugh the Great

text: At the death of Rudolph in 936, Hugh was in possession of nearly all of the region between the Loire and the Seine, corresponding to the ancient Neustria, with the exceptions of Anjou and of the territory ceded to the Normans in 911. He took a very active part in bringing King Louis IV ("d'Outremer") from the Kingdom of England in 936. In 937 Hugh married Hedwige of Saxony, a daughter of King Henry the Fowler of Germany and Matilda, and soon quarrelled with Louis.


title: Hugh the Great

text: In 938 King Louis IV began attacking fortresses and lands formerly held by members of his family, some held by Herbert II of Vermandois. In 939 king Louis attacked Hugh the Great and Duke William Longsword of Normandy, after which a truce was concluded, lasting until June. That same year Hugh, along with Count Herbert II of Vermandois, Count Arnulf I of Flanders and Duke William Longsword paid homage to the Emperor Otto the Great, and supported him in his struggle against Louis.


title: Hugh the Great

text: When Louis fell into the hands of the Normans in 945, he was handed over to Hugh in exchange for their young duke Richard. Hugh released Louis IV in 946 on condition that he should surrender the fortress of Laon. In 948 at a church council at Ingelheim the bishops, all but two being from Germany, condemned and excommunicated Hugh "in absentia", and returned Archbishop Artauld to his See at Reims. Hugh's response was to attack Soissons and Reims while the excommunication was repeated by a council at Trier. In 953 Hugh finally relented and made peace with Louis IV, the church and his brother-in-law Otto the Great.


title: Hugh the Great

text: On the death of Louis IV, Hugh was one of the first to recognize Lothair as his successor, and, at the intervention of Lothair's mother, Gerberga of Saxony, was instrumental in having him crowned. In recognition of this service Hugh was invested by the new king with the duchies of Burgundy and Aquitaine. In the same year, however, Duke Gilbert of Burgundy acknowledged himself his vassal and betrothed his daughter to Hugh's son Otto-Henry. At Giselbert's death (8 April 956) Hugh became effective master of the duchy, but on 16 June Hugh died in Dourdan.


title: Hugh the Great

text: Hugh married first, in 922, Judith, daughter of Roger, Count of Maine, and his wife Rothilde, a daughter of Emperor Charles the Bald. She died childless in 925.


title: Hugh the Great

text: Hugh's second wife was Eadhild, daughter of Edward the Elder, king of the Anglo-Saxons, and half-sister of King Æthelstan. They married in 926 and she died in 938, childless.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: The 2002 NBA playoffs were the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2001–02 season. This was the final postseason that held a best-of-5 first-round series; the 2003 NBA playoffs saw those series expand to a best-of-7 format. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeating the Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Nets 4 games to 0. Shaquille O'Neal was named NBA Finals MVP for the third straight year.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: The 2002 playoffs are best remembered for that year's Western Conference Finals between the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings, which served as the de facto NBA championship, as the Eastern Conference champions, the Nets, were clearly inferior to both teams, and were eventually swept by the Lakers. The matchup between the Lakers and Kings is regarded as one of the most controversial playoff series in NBA history. At the time, there was widespread criticism of the officiating as favoring the Lakers, especially in Game 6. Several years later, disgraced referee Tim Donaghy accused the Game 6 officiating crew of fixing the game, at the behest of the NBA's front office.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: This year marked the return of playoff success for the Boston Celtics, who had last made the playoffs in 1995, won their last playoff series in 1992 and made their last Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 1988. Though they eventually lost to the Nets 4–2 (preventing a Celtics–Lakers NBA Finals), they did create the biggest 4th quarter playoff comeback in Game 3, winning 94–90 after trailing by as much as 21 prior to the fourth quarter. (This record was later broken by the Los Angeles Clippers, who came back from 24 in the fourth quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies in 2012).


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: The Detroit Pistons won their first playoff series since 1991. They would lose in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the Celtics in five games.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: The playoffs also marked the last appearance of the Charlotte Hornets in the playoffs until 2010. The Hornets moved the next year to New Orleans, while an expansion team, formerly the Bobcats, was formed in 2004. The Hornets were renamed the Pelicans in 2013, after which the Bobcats reclaimed the Hornets name in 2014. The Hornets also reclaimed the history and records of the 1988–2002 Charlotte teams. The Charlotte Coliseum played host to its final playoff game on May 12.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: The playoffs marked the last time NBC and TBS aired NBA games as regular TV partners of the league. The last TBS-aired game under its various contracts was Game 5 of the Lakers-Spurs series, while Game 4 of the NBA Finals marked the last telecast on NBC. TBS and NBC were replaced with ESPN and ABC the following season, since both channels are owned by the Walt Disney Company. TBS has aired some NBA basketball in the ensuing years due to conflicts on sister network TNT.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: The New York Knicks missed the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, and Miami Heat coach Pat Riley missed the playoffs for the first time in his coaching career.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: The Sacramento Kings clinched the best record in the NBA, and earned home court advantage throughout the entire playoffs.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: Although the Nets won the series in 5, it would be most remarkable for more playoff heroics by Reggie Miller; Miller banked in a 40-footer at the buzzer to force OT, and then fly in for a dunk over 3 Net defenders with 3.1 seconds left in the extra session to force the 2nd overtime.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: This was the first NBA playoff meeting between the Pacers and the Nets. As members of the ABA, both teams met in the 1972 ABA Finals, where the Pacers won 4–2.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: This series involved two teams that had exceeded expectations during the season. It was also the first time that professional sports teams from Detroit and Toronto met in a postseason series since the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs met in the 1993 Norris Division Semifinals, but no two teams from the two cities have met in a postseason series since. The Detroit Pistons were coming off a year where they had lost 50 games. The Raptors had lost their star forward, Vince Carter, for the remainder of the season. As a result, the Raptors lost 13 straight games without him. Although they looked down and out of playoff contention, the Raptors went on a surge, winning 12 of their last 14 games, locking up the 7th seed. The home team won each game of the series, with the Pistons winning the decisive Game 5 by 3 points. Raptors' Guard, Chris Childs, attempted to draw a foul on a three-point shot, instead of passing it to an open Dell Curry. In the post game interview, Childs stated that he thought the team was down by four points, not three. Detroit advanced to face the Boston Celtics in the second round. Meanwhile, Toronto, with a 39 year old Hakeem Olajuwon playing his final game, was on the couch.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: This series marked the return of the Celtics to the playoffs for the first time in seven years, and they faced the reigning Eastern Conference champion in the first round. The first two games were played in Boston, where the Celtics won both games resoundingly. The 76ers fought back, however, and with Allen Iverson scoring 42 points the 76ers won Game 3 and stayed alive. In Game 4, Iverson was slowed down, scoring 26 points on just 9-of-26 shooting, and Antoine Walker stepped up for the Celtics, scoring 25. But Iverson's play at the end making a layup, scoring off an Eric Snow steal, and hitting some free throws after Walker drilled a three sealed the victory for the 76ers. This set the stage for a Game 5 in Boston to decide the series. The Celtics had control on this game throughout, but the 76ers kept within striking distance into the 4th quarter. But Boston went on an amazing streak of three-pointers, hitting an NBA playoff record nine of them in the 4th quarter and 19 in the game. Paul Pierce led the way with 46, on 8-10 shooting from downtown, and Boston won in a huge blowout, sending them to the conference semifinals to face second-seed Detroit.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: This was the 19th playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Celtics winning 10 of the first 18 meetings.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Jazz winning the first meeting.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Spurs winning the first meeting.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: The Lakers sweep the Blazers thanks to a series-winning 3 by Robert Horry with 2.1 seconds left in Game 3.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: This was the 11th playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Lakers winning eight of the first ten meetings.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: Dirk Nowitzki was virtually unstoppable in this series, averaging 33 points and 16 rebounds per game.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: This was the seventh playoff meeting between these two teams, with each team winning three series apiece.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: The Spurs led going into the fourth quarter of four out of the five games, yet were able to win only one. Bryant would pace Los Angeles to 2 crucial victories in the Alamodome with 31 points in Game 3 and a game-winning bucket in Game 4, and would offset the steady production of Tim Duncan (who had a double double in every game including 34 points and 25 rebounds in Game 5) with his fourth quarter heroics. It would be San Antonio's final 2 home games in the Alamodome, as they would move into the SBC Center (now the AT&T Center) the following year.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: This was the eighth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Lakers winning five of the first seven meetings.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: The Nets won game one, but Boston came back to steal game two in New Jersey to send the series back to Boston tied 1-1. In Game 3, the Celtics were down by as much as 26 points (21 coming into the 4th quarter), but they accomplished the biggest comeback in NBA Playoff history as the Celtics outscored the Nets 41-16 in the fourth quarter. The Celtics almost completed another comeback in game four, but the Nets held on for the victory to tie the series at two games apiece. The Nets won games five and six to advance to the team's first of two consecutive NBA Finals.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: The 2002 Western Conference finals is widely regarded as one of the best series in NBA playoff history, with the last four games coming down to the final seconds. Two games were decided on game winning shots and Game 7 was decided in overtime. However, the series was marred by controversy and allegations of corruption. On June 10, 2008, convicted NBA referee Tim Donaghy's attorney filed a court document alleging that Game 6 was fixed by two referees. The letter states that Donaghy "learned from Referee A that Referees A and F wanted to extend the series to seven games. Tim knew Referees A and F to be 'company men', always acting in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA's interest to add another game to the series." The Lakers won Game 6 106-102, attempting 18 more free throws than the Kings in the fourth quarter, and went on to win the series, and eventually the NBA championship. The document claimed that Donaghy told federal agents that in order to increase television ratings and ticket sales, "top executives of the NBA sought to manipulate games using referees". It also said that NBA officials would tell referees to not call technical fouls on certain players, and states that a referee was privately reprimanded by the league for ejecting a star player in the first quarter of a January 2000 game. Stern denied the accusations, calling Donaghy a "singing, cooperating witness".


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: The Lakers and Kings split the first two games in Sacramento. Los Angeles raced out to a 36-point first quarter in Game 1 behind 67% shooting and never trailed, paced by Kobe Bryant's 30 point effort and 26 points from Shaquille O'Neal. Chris Webber had 28 points and 14 rebounds, but the other Kings combined shot under 40 percent. Sacramento rebounded to win Game 2, paced behind Webber (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Mike Bibby (20 points). O'Neal had 35 points and 13 rebounds, but struggled with foul trouble; Bryant shot 9-for-21 from the field and was suffering from food poisoning which he contracted from a meal at the team hotel, and some felt it was done deliberately by the hotel staff. The loss snapped the NBA record 12-game playoff road winning streak for the Lakers.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: The Kings went to Staples Center and dominated Game 3 to regain home-court advantage, leading by as many as 27 and never trailing. They were again paced by Webber and Bibby, who combined for 50 points, and got solid contributions from Doug Christie (17 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals) and Vlade Divac (11 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks). Other than a brief 3-point barrage in the 4th quarter by the Lakers to cut the lead to 12, there was not much help provided for O'Neal, who had 20 points and 19 rebounds.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: In Game 4, Sacramento again got out to a fast start with a 40-point first quarter and built a 24-point first half lead. However, the Lakers cut the lead to 14 at halftime with a Samaki Walker 3-pointer at the buzzer that should not have counted (replay was not used at the time), and to 7 after three quarters. They whittled it down to 2 on the final possession with a chance to tie or win it, but Bryant missed a running layup and Shaq missed a put-back attempt. Divac knocked the ball away from the hoop in an attempt to run out the clock, but instead it wound up going to a wide open Robert Horry behind the 3 point line, who hit the 3 over Webber at the buzzer to give the Lakers an improbable victory, which tied the series going back to Sacramento. Horry scored 11 of his 18 points in the 4th quarter, including two more crucial 3-pointers. O'Neal finished with 27 points and 18 rebounds, Bryant had 25. Divac, Webber and Bibby all finished with 20+ points for the Kings.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: As the series shifted back to Sacramento for Game 5, the Kings trailed almost the entire fourth quarter, but a jump shot by Bibby off a screen with 8.2 seconds left gave them the lead and was the game-winner in a 92–91 win. Bibby scored 23 in all, and Webber had 29 points and 13 rebounds in support. Bryant led Los Angeles with 30 points, but missed a potential game winner at the buzzer. O'Neal had 28 points, but did not take a shot in the 4th quarter and fouled out.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: Game 6 is considered to be one of the most controversial games in not just NBA history, but arguably all of North American professional sports history, as numerous questionable calls went against the Kings in the fourth quarter. The Lakers, led by O'Neal's 41 points and 17 rebounds, won 106-102, setting the stage for Game 7 in Sacramento. There are allegations that the game was affected by the referees in relationship to the Tim Donaghy scandal. The Lakers shot 40 free throws overall, 27 in the fourth quarter alone, and the Kings' big men were plagued with foul trouble (Divac, Webber, Scot Pollard, and Lawrence Funderburke were called for 20 fouls, with Divac and Pollard both fouling out). Webber nearly had a triple double (26 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists), Bibby scored 23, and Divac had 12 points and 12 rebounds. "The Washington Post" sports columnist Michael Wilbon responded to the calls in Game 6: "I wrote down in my notebook six calls that were stunningly incorrect, all against Sacramento, all in the fourth quarter when the Lakers made five baskets and 21 foul shots to hold on to their championship." For example, Wilbon pointed out that Kobe Bryant did not get a foul called on him after elbowing Mike Bibby in front of an official.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: Game 7 was tense, featuring 16 ties and 19 lead changes. In the final ten seconds with Los Angeles up 99–98, Peja Stojaković air-balled a wide open 3, and O'Neal was fouled on the rebound. After O'Neal hit 1 of 2 free throws, Bibby was fouled by Bryant and made both free throws to force overtime. The Kings' offense stalled in the extra period, and the Lakers prevailed 112–106. Sacramento was undone by poor free throw shooting (16–30 from the line), a horrid 2–20 from behind the arc, and a seeming unwillingness for anyone other than Bibby to take crucial shots down the stretch. O'Neal scored 35 and Bryant added 30 in the victory, as all five Lakers starters finished in double figures. Bibby finished with 29 points, and Webber finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. Divac added 15 points and 10 rebounds.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: Announcers: for NBC, Mike Breen announced Game 1, Marv Albert Games 3-7; Bill Walton & Steve Jones joined them as the analysts. TNT had Kevin Harlan, Danny Ainge, & John Thompson on hand for Game 2.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: This was the tenth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Lakers winning eight of the first nine meetings.


title: 2002 NBA playoffs

text: In Game 1, the Nets stayed within striking distance, but Shaquille O'Neal's 36 points and 16 rebounds led the Lakers to victory. In Game 2, the Nets were blown out by 23, with O'Neal leading the way again, putting up 40 points and 12 rebounds and coming within 2 assists of a triple double. This brought the series to New Jersey with the Lakers up 2-0. Game 3 was a close matchup with Jason Kidd, Kenyon Martin, O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant all scoring 26 or more points. Bryant and O'Neal's combined 71 points was too much for the Nets to handle though, and the Lakers took a 3-0 series lead. In Game 4, O'Neal put up 34 points and the Lakers won the game and the championship, accomplishing the NBA's second three-peat in seven years. Game 4 is Mitch Richmond's final NBA game.


title: Legend of Anle

text: Legend of Anle (Chinese: 安乐传), also known as An Le Zhuan, is an upcoming Chinese historical streaming television series co-produced by Youku, and Shanghai Films & Media Corporation and directed by Cheng Zhi Chao, Ma Hua Gan, and Su Fei. It was adapted from the novel "The Emperor's Book" (帝皇书) by Xing Ling and stars Dilraba Dilmurat and Gong Jun. The series is set to premiere on Youku with 40 episodes.


title: Legend of Anle

text: This is a sad and touching love story between Di Zi Yuan (played by Dilraba Dilmurat) and Crown Prince Han Ye (played by Gong Jun). Ten years ago, her family was wiped out, and Di Zi Yuan was the sole survivor. For the peace of the nation and to uncover the truth of how had the current imperial family ascended to the throne, she enters the imperial court under the name of Ren Anle. Di Zi Yuan becomes acquainted with Crown Prince Han Ye. The two of them began to investigate a case of foreign aggression against the nation. Though love starts to blossom between the two, the enmity between their families over the Di family massacre puts a tension on the relationship between.


title: Legend of Anle

text: In July 2021, the main leads, along with the producers and the production companies were announced. The opening ceremony was held on the same day. The series was set to film in Hengdian World Studios from July 20. On August 14, the series revealed the first poster of the main leads Dilraba Dilmurat and Gong Jun to celebrate Qixi Festival. On September 19, they officially released drama stills of the cast to celebrate Mid Autumn Festival. The series wrapped up filming on November 13, along with a set of posters from the cast.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: West Bengal is the primary business and financial hub of Eastern India. The state primarily dependent on agriculture and medium-sized industry. West Bengal have Jute industry, Tea industry. West Bengal is rich in minerals like coal.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: Since the independence of India, The Green Revolution bypassed the state. However, there has been a significant spurt in food production since the 1980s.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: Agriculture accounts for the largest share of the labour force. It contributed around 18.7% to the gross state domestic product (GSDP) in 2009–10. A plurality of the state's population are peasant farmers.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: Rice and potato are considered to be the principal food crops. The state is the largest source of the important food crop of rice, a staple diet across India, with an annual output of around 16.1 million tonnes in FY 2015–16, and the second-largest producer of potatoes in India with an average annual output of 11 million tonnes in FY 15. West Bengal is also the second-largest fish producing state.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: Apart from these, jute, sugarcane and wheat are the top crops of the state. Other major food crops include maize, pulses, oil seeds, wheat, barley, and vegetables. Tea is another important cash crop. Darjeeling is globally recognised for tea plantation of the acclaimed Darjeeling tea variety.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: Given below is a table of 2015 national output share of select agricultural crops and allied segments in West Bengal based on 2011 prices


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: It is also the second largest tea-producing state in India, producing 329.3 million kg of tea in 2014–15, accounting for 27.8 percent of the country's total tea production. In 2015–16, West Bengal produced approximately 2.38 mt of sugarcane and 3.1 mt of fruits. The state is the largest vegetables producing state in India with 25466.8 thousand MT of production in 2012–13.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: West Bengal accounts for nearly 10% of the country's edible oil production. The state produced a total of 1.63 million tonnes of fish in 2015-16 compared to a production of 1.61 million tonnes during 2014–15, retaining second spot after Andhra Pradesh in fish production. West Bengal produced around 4961 thousand tonnes of milk in FY14-15.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: The state is the third largest meat producing state in the country (including poultry) after Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, producing 0.648 million tonnes of meat in 2012-13 and it is the largest producer of goat meat.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: State industries are mostly localised in the Kolkata region, the mineral-rich western highlands, and Haldia port region. There are up to 10,000 registered factories in the state and the West Bengal state government has opened "Shilpa Sathi", a single window agency in order to provide investors with all kinds of assistance in establishing and running industrial units. Kolkata is noted as one of the major centres for industries including the jute industry. There are numerous steel plants in the state apart from the alloy steel plant at Durgapur. The centre has established a number of industries in the areas of tea, sugar, chemicals and fertilisers. Natural resources like tea and jute in and nearby parts have made West Bengal a major centre for the jute and tea industries. West Bengal is at the forefronts of leather processing and leather goods manufacturing and has around 666 units producing leather and leather related goods. Currently, 22-25 percent of India's tanning activity is undertaken in Kolkata and its suburbs. Kharagpur has also numerous industries of various types such as iron works, cement, chemicals, etc.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: The state's share of total industrial output in India was 9.8% in 1980–81, declining to 5% by 1997–98. However, the service sector has grown at a rate higher than the national rate.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: As of end of May 2016, according to data released by Central Electricity Authority on its site cea.nic.in, the installed power capacity of the state is 9984.4 MW, compared to 303.083 GW of the country. Of the total installed power capacity, 8523.83 MW was contributed by thermal power, 1,328.3 MW was contributed by hydro power and renewable power together.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: West Bengal government's ministry of power, in its report, enumerates individual power generating stations in West Bengal along with their respective locations and generating capacities while mentioning the total installed capacity as 13826 MW . As of end of April 2016, 37449 out of 37463 villages, i.e. 99.96℅ of inhabited villages in West Bengal were cumulatively electrified.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: , West Bengal has a total road length of , with a road density of 1.04 km per km. Of this, national highways constitute and state highways . , the central government mulled augmenting the state's national highways' length by another couple of thousand kilometres in a bid to supplement to India's plan of seamless BBIN connectivity through Nepal, Bhutan, India, and Bangladesh, subject to availability of land, by investing in the tunes of US$4–5 billion.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: The Eastern railways zone, southeastern railways zone and N.F railway zone of Indian Railways run operations in West Bengal. At the end of 2014–15, the route length in West Bengal was 4070 km of which around 4000 km has been converted to broad gauge and around 2500 km has been electrified, the running track length was 7122 km and the total track length was 10,466 km, with the number of stations exceeding 800. Kolkata Metro railway is the newest zone of the IR with a single operational link of 27 km route length, 17 km of which runs underground. , various other metro links of approximately 120 km route length are underway in different phases of construction in Kolkata.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: Kolkata is a major river-port in eastern India. The Kolkata Port Trust manages both the Kolkata docks and the Haldia docks. There is passenger service to Port Blair on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and cargo ship service to ports in India and abroad, operated by the Shipping Corporation of India. Kolkata Port handled 50.195 million tonnes (mt) of traffic in 2015–16, around 8.43% higher vis-a-vis that handled during previous fiscal. Kolkata Dock System, the first major dock formally commissioned in 1870, handled cargo traffic of 16.688 mt in 2015–16, registering a significant growth of 9.2% over the previous year. Haldia Dock Complex, the 1st green port of the country in 2015, handled 33.507 mt in 2015–16, recording growth of 8.05% over the last year. In container traffic also, KoPT recorded 6,62,891 TEUs in 2015–16, clocking upwards of 5% growth over last year, and retained its 3 rd rank amongst major container handling Ports in the country. KDS also achieved the highest ever container throughput of 5,77,749 TEUs in 2015–16, a significant growth of 9.39% over the last year. Kolkata Dock System handled a traffic of 12.540 million tonnes in 2010–2011 as against 13.045 million tonnes in 2009–2010. At Haldia Dock Complex, 35.005 million tonnes of traffic was handled in 2010–2011 as against 33.378 million tonnes in 2009–2010 implying an increase of 4.87%.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: The 560 km long Haldia- Farakka stretch in West Bengal is part of the stretch of Ganges between Haldia and Prayagraj declared as the National Waterway (NW1). Also a 91 km long stretch of the NW5 is within West Bengal. West Bengal government has sought to build infrastructure to begin sustained fuel efficient cost efficient and eco-friendly shipping operations for cargo transportation and tourism, passenger traffic as well along 12 rivers in West Bengal which can reduce congestion on roads. These rivers that has been identified for national waterways services, are the Prayagraj-Haldia stretch of the Ganga Bhagirathi Hooghly river, Ajoy river (96 km), Bakreswar Mayurakshi river (110 km), Damodar river (135 km), DVC canal (130 km), Dwarekeswar river (113 km), Icchamoti river (634 km), Jalangi river (131 km), Rupnarayan river (72 km), Subarnarekha river (314 km) and Sunderban Waterways (201 km).


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: As of end of April 2016, as per statistics published in press release of TRAI, there were 74.58 million wire-less (mobile phone) subscriptions (including 25.04 million with 90.43℅ VLR or active connections in Kolkata service area and 49.54 million with 93.69% VLR or active connections in rest of west Bengal service area) compared to over 1034.25 million wire-less connections in the whole country with VLR or active connections of 90.31% and 1.275 million wire-line subscriptions (including 0.909million in Kolkata and 0.365 million in rest of West Bengal) in West Bengal (with a total state-level tele-density of -----% ) compared to over 25.036 million wire-line connections in the whole country (with nationwide total tele-density of 83.32%) while as of April 2016 the number of broadband subscriptions in the state were arbitrarily estimated to be around 11 million compared to that of whole of India with over 151.09 million broadband connections.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: VSNL has its international gateway and earth station in Kolkata. International connectivity is provided through VSNL and five STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) earth stations in Kolkata, Durgapur, Kharagpur, Haldia and siliguri. Digha has been selected as the cable landing station for the submarine cable laying project connecting India and South East Asia.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: BSNL has an optical fiber network of 15000 km route in West Bengal. Reliance group's Jio Infocomm has laid 4500 km of optical fiber network in the state for its 4G network. Under National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) mission, optical fibre cable will be laid in 341 blocks covering most of the gram panchayats in West Bengal.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: Spread over 2640 acres at Dumdum in Kolkata, the largest in eastern India, the newly modernised Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport is the fifth busiest international airport in India in respect of aircraft movement (after Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai). It has two asphalt runways, the primary one extended by 700 meters (3627×50m) and upgraded to CATIIIB, and the secondary one (2790×46m) upgraded to CATII ILS standards. Its terminal is a new and sprawling L-shaped six-level integrated terminal of over 2,510,000 sq ft inaugurated in 2013, able to handle 25 million passengers per annum. It includes check-in counters that use CUTE (Common User Terminal Equipment) technology, 78 immigration counters, 12 customs counters, passenger lounges provided by Air India and Jet Airways, 18 aerobridges, 57 remote parking bays, 2 underground two-leveled carparks and car parking facilities in landscaped area capable of handling 5000 cars. The airport has a Centre for Perishable Commodities (CPC), two luxury hotels and a shopping mall.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: In the fiscal year April 2015 to March 2016, the airport handled 76722 aircraft movements including 14564 international aircraft movements, 12.42 million passengers (including 2.22 million international passengers and 10.2 million domestic passengers), 105390 tonnes of freight (including 37623 tonnes international freight). Between the 1940s and 1960s, major airlines such as Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Philippine Airlines, KLM, Pan Am, Lufthansa, Swissair and SAS operated from the airport.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: With the advent of longer haul aircraft and the socio-economio-political degeneration of the state during the 1960s, several airlines gradually discontinued operations there. The withdrawal of Lufthansa's service to Frankfurt in 2012 left Kolkata with no direct flights beyond Asia. Kolkata airport is to undergo the execution of Phase 2 of the expansion plan which primarily involves the construction of an 86-meter ATC Tower. Additionally, the current Kolkata Metro expansion plans include two new lines to the airport for better connectivity.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: Bagdogra airport near Siliguri is another significant airport in the state. Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport, country's first private greenfield aerotropolis project spread over 650 acres, under Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited (BAPL) co-owned by Singapore-based Changi group, conceived in 2006–07 to be a domestic/international airport with handling capacity of 1 million per annum that can be expanded to 2.5 million per annum in future, officially commenced operations in 2015 at Andal, 185 km away from the state capital Kolkata. , the fledgling project is still suffering from birth pangs as it strives to attract airliners, grappling with dire paucity of adequate number of fliers necessary to sustain flying operations from here, in the investment starved ambience prevailing in its immediate hinterland.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: , the state has 22 formally approved special economic zones (SEZ). Of these, 17 are related to information technology (IT) or IT, enabled services (ITES).


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: As per the state budget presented in the state legislative assembly on 24 June 2016, West Bengal's nominal GSDP at current prices has risen to INR 9.20083 trillion or US$140.68 billion in the year 2015–16, the average INR to US$ exchange rate in that year being INR 65.4. West Bengal's average population in that year being 95.5 million, per capita nominal GSDP at current prices for the economic year 2015-16 can be calculated as US$1473. In terms of nominal net state domestic product (NSDP) at factor cost at current prices (base year 2004–2005), West Bengal was the sixth largest economy in India, with an NSDP of INR 7289.74billion or US$120.93 billion in 2014-15 and in terms of nominal gross state domestic product (GSDP) at current prices, the state had GSDP of US$132.86 billion in the economic year 2014-15 as mentioned by India Brand Equity Foundation. India's Purchasing power parity conversion factor and US$ to INR exchange rate in 2014-15 being 16.98 and INR61.11 respectively, west Bengal's GSDP (PPP) at market prices in 2014-15 can be calculated as international $478.16 billion for 2014–15. In the period 2004–2005 to 2009–2010, the average gross state domestic product (GSDP) growth rate was 13.9% (calculated in Indian rupee term), lower than 15.5%, the average for all states of the country. The state's nominal per capita NSDP at factor cost at current prices (base year 2004–05) was INR78903 or US$1291 in 2014–15, average dollar exchange rate being INR61.11 that economic year, improved from US$553.7 in 2004–05, but lower than the national nominal per capita NDP at current prices (base year 2012–13) of INR102839.47 or US$1683(INR to US$ exchange rate in 2014-15 being INR61.11), in 2014–15. West Bengal's nominal per capita GSDP at current prices in 2014-15 was US$1412, the state's estimated average population over 2014-15 being around 94.3millions. In 2009–10, the tertiary sector of the economy (service industries) was the largest contributor to the gross domestic product of the state, contributing 57.8% of the state domestic product compared to 24% from primary sector (agriculture, forestry, mining) and 18.2% from secondary sector (industrial and manufacturing). At a compound annual growth rate of 15.2%, the tertiary sector has been the fastest growing among the three sectors from 2004–05 to 2009–10. The growth has been driven by trade, hotels, real estate, finance, insurance, transport, communications and other services. The state's total financial debt that stood at swelled to at the end of 2015-16 and is estimated to further grow to at the end of 2016–17.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: The following is a list of basic economic data for the districts of West Bengal -2014, the latest year for which data is available:


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: Under the overall guidance and policies of the government of India, the West Bengal government welcomes foreign technology and investments as may be appropriate for the needs of the state and is mutually advantageous. Foreign direct investment has mostly come in the manufacturing and telecommunication sectors. According to the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Government of India, the cumulative FDI inflow in Kolkata Reserve Bank region (comprising West Bengal, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands) from April 2000 to September 2016 amounted to US$ 3967 million. Kolkata Reserve Bank region was seventh among the reserve bank regions of the country in terms of amount of cumulative FDI, behind Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Hyderabad regions.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: West Bengal is one of the country's leading exporters of finished leather goods. In 2009–10, the state accounted for around 13.5% of the country's exports of leather and leather products. The state accounted for around 70% of India's dried flower exports in 2008–09. The state is also a leading exporter of shrimps and tea.


title: Economy of West Bengal

text: However, the rapid industrialisation process has given rise to debate over land acquisition for industry in this agrarian state. NASSCOM–Gartner ranks West Bengal power infrastructure the best in the country.


title: Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II

text: The Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre was a major theatre of operations during the Second World War. The vast size of the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre saw interconnected naval, land, and air campaigns fought for control of the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East and Southern Europe. The fighting in this theatre lasted from 10 June 1940, when Italy entered the war on the side of Germany, until 2 May 1945 when all Axis forces in Italy surrendered. However, fighting would continue in Greece – where British troops had been dispatched to aid the Greek government – during the early stages of the Greek Civil War.


text: The British referred to this theatre as the Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre (so called due to the location of the fighting and the name of Middle East Command), the Americans called it the Mediterranean Theater of War and the German informal official history of the fighting is The Mediterranean, South-East Europe, and North Africa 1939–1941 (1995). Regardless of the size of the theatre, the various campaigns were not seen as neatly separated areas of operations but part of a vast theatre of war.


text: Fascist Italy aimed to carve out a new Roman Empire, while British forces aimed initially to retain the status quo. Italy invaded Greece, and not until the introduction of German forces were Greece and Yugoslavia overrun. Allied and Axis forces engaged in back and forth fighting across North Africa, with Axis interference in the Middle East causing fighting to spread there. With confidence high from early gains, German forces planned elaborate attacks to be launched to capture the Middle East and then to possibly attack the southern border of the Soviet Union. In three years of fighting, Axis forces were defeated in North Africa and their interference in the Middle East was halted. The anti-Axis coalition then commenced the Allied invasion of Italy, resulting in the Italians deposing Mussolini and joining the Allies. A prolonged battle for Italy took place between Allied and Axis forces. As the strategic situation changed in south-east Europe, British troops returned to Greece.


text: The theatre of war had the longest duration of the Second World War, resulted in the destruction of the Italian Empire and severely undermined the strategic position of Germany, resulting in German divisions being deployed to Africa and Italy and total German losses (including those captured upon final surrender) being over two million. Italian losses amounted to around 177,000 men with a further several hundred thousand captured during the process of the various campaigns. British losses amount to over 300,000 men killed, wounded, or captured, and total American losses in the region amounted to 130,000.


text: During the late 1920s, Benito Mussolini claimed that Italy needed an outlet for its "surplus population" and that it would be in other countries' best interests to aid in this expansion. The regime wanted "hegemony in the Mediterranean–Danubian–Balkan region" and the gaining of world power by the conquest "of an empire stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Strait of Hormuz". The Fascists had designs on Albania, Dalmatia, large parts of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Greece and harked back to the Roman empire. The regime also sought to establish protectorates with Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Covert motives were for Italy to become the dominant power in the Mediterranean, capable of challenging France or Britain and gaining access to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.


text: On 30 November 1938, Mussolini addressed the Fascist Grand Council on the goal of capturing Albania, Tunisia, Corsica, the Ticino canton of Switzerland and "French territory east of the River Var (to include Nice, but not Savoy)". Mussolini alleged that Italy required uncontested access to the oceans and shipping lanes to ensure its national sovereignty. Italy was a "prisoner in the Mediterranean" and had to break the chains of British and French control. Corsica, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Malta, Suez and Tunisia would need to be taken and Egypt, France, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom had to be challenged. Through armed conquest, the north and east African colonies would be linked and this 'prison' destroyed. Italy would be able to march "either to the Indian Ocean through the Sudan and Abyssinia, or to the Atlantic by way of French North Africa". On 2 October 1935, the Second Italo–Ethiopian War began when Italian forces invaded Abyssinia.


text: Mussolini lauded the conquest as a new source of raw materials and location for emigration and speculated that a native army could be raised there to "help conquer the Sudan. "Almost as soon as the Abyssinian campaign ended, Italian intervention in the Spanish Civil War" began. On 7 April 1939, Mussolini began the Italian invasion of Albania and within two days had occupied the country. In May 1939, Italy formally allied to Nazi Germany in the Pact of Steel.


text: Italian foreign policy went through two stages during the Fascist regime. Until 1934–35, Mussolini followed a "modest ... and responsible" course and following that date there was "ceaseless activity and aggression". "Prior to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, Mussolini had made military agreements with the French and formed a coalition with the British and French to prevent German aggression in Europe." The Ethiopian War "exposed vulnerabilities and created opportunities that Mussolini seized to realise his imperial vision"


text: At the Nyon Conference of 1937, Italy and the United Kingdom "disclaimed any desire to modify or see modified the national sovereignty of any country in the Mediterranean area, and agreed to discourage any activities liable to impair mutual relations." Italian diplomatic and military moves did not reflect this agreement. In the aftermath of the Italian invasion of Abyssinia, British and Italian forces in North Africa were reinforced. Due to various Italian moves, in July 1937, the British decided "that Italy could not now be regarded as a reliable friend" and preparations began to bring "the defences of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea ports up-to-date". In 1938, a weak armoured division was established in Egypt and further army and air force reinforcements were dispatched from Britain.


text: With rising tension in Europe, in June 1939, the United Kingdom established Middle East Command (MEC) in Cairo to provide centralised command for British army units in the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre. All three branches of the British military were made equally responsible for the defence of the area. The authority of MEC included Aden, British Somaliland, Cyprus, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Greece, Libya, Palestine, Iraq, Sudan, Tanganyika, Transjordan, Uganda and the shores of the Persian Gulf. If necessary, command would be exerted as far away as the Caucasus and the Indian Ocean. The purpose of the command was to be "the western bastion of defence of India", keep British supply lines open to India and the Far East, and keep the Middle Eastern oilfields out of Axis hands.


text: Upon the establishment of MEC, it was ordered to co-ordinate with the French military in the Middle East and Africa as well as liaise with the Turkish General Staff and possibly the Greek General Staff. On 19 October 1939, the "Treaty of Mutual Assistance" was signed between the United Kingdom, France and Turkey and British military forces were authorised to begin discussions with the Turkish general staff; a further conference was held during March 1940. Within a week of the Italian occupation of Albania, France and the United Kingdom "announced they had promised to give all the help in their power if Greek and Romanian independence were threatened and if the Greek Government or Romanian Government considered it vital to resist."


text: British forces in the Middle East were ordered to avoid provocation. Following the defeat of Poland, the threat of an Axis attack from the Balkans against British positions in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean region increased. In late 1939, with the assumption that Britain would soon be at war with Italy, planning began for attacks to capture Bardia and Jaghbub (Giarabub) in Libya and arrangements began in Egypt, to accommodate a much larger force. Preparations to reinforce the Iraqi army were made and Palestinian security forces were to be reduced to the minimum. British forces in East Africa were to study operations to destroy the Italian forces and support local risings, all in support of the main Allied offensive, which was planned to be launched from French Somaliland. Troops in Sudan were also asked to consider launching operations against Kufra in southern Libya.