The Mongol Empire sent armies to Tibet in 1240, and took control over the country over the next nine years. The Mongols left the running of the country to leaders from the Sakya school of Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism spread to Mongolia, and today most people in Mongolia are Buddhists as a result. In the mid-1300s, Tibet became independent again, but the Mongols still had some power and influence. In 1577, the Mongol leader Altan Khan gave the leader of the Gelug school the title Dalai Lama. The fifth Dalai Lama was able to gain control of all of Tibet, and the Dalai Lama became not just the leader of the Gelug school but the leader of Tibet as well. During the 1700s, the Qing Empire, based in China, sent armies to Tibet and took official control of Tibet, but the Qing emperors mostly let the Dalai Lama run the country. The Qing emperor Qianlong gave his support to Tibetan Buddhism, allowing new translations of Buddhist books to be made and building new temples. In the late 1800s, the British Empire and Russian Empire began to be interested in having control of Tibet, as it was in the middle of Russian colonies in Central Asia and British colonies in India. Britain sent armies to Tibet in 1903-4. They forced Tibet to agree not to be friendly with Russia. A revolution ended the Qing Empire in 1911, and Tibet became independent again, and was independent for the next thirty-six years.
In 1949, Mao Zedong became the leader of China. Mao and the Chinese leaders thought that China should regain control of Tibet, and in 1950, Chinese troops entered the east of Tibet. Mao Zedong was a communist, and thought that many things about the way Tibetans lived their lives should be different. The Chinese communists did not like how much power the Dalai Lama, the Gelug school, and Buddhist groups in general had over Tibetan society, and they wished to reform how land was owned in Tibet. The changes the Chinese Communist Party made in Tibet were enforced with violence, and Tibetans began to rebel against the Chinese government. The Chinese responded by sending many troops in 1959, forcing the Dalai Lama and thousands of other Tibetans to flee to other countries. The Dalai Lama started a government in exile in India. Between 1959 and 1961, most of Tibet's monasteries were destroyed, and the Chinese Communist Party gained control over Tibetans' lives. China created an administrative division from part of Tibet called the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965, although ethnic Tibetans have not had much say in the running of this region. The Chinese government has encouraged large numbers of Han Chinese people to settle in Tibet. Groups outside of China such as the Human Rights Watch argue that the Chinese government is oppressing Tibetans and causing them to lose their culture.
Tibet is divided into 2 municipalities (地级市) and five autonomous prefectures (自治州).
Tibetan culture also influences other regions nearby, such as Nepal, Bhutan, parts of eastern Kashmir and some regions in northern most Republic of India, most notably Sikkim, Uttaranchal and Tawang. China claims part of the Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet.
There has been some protests in Tibet since China took control in the 1950s. Most of them have been because of social or economic problems. Some of them have been because there are people who believe Tibet should not be a part of China. To show their resistance, many Tibetans set themselves on fire to put the Chinese government under pressure to become independent again. In 2011, 19 people killed themselves. A railway line, the Qingzang railway, has been built, linking China to Lhasa. Also, rising prices of food, and difficult access to higher education have angered many people. The railway line also raised fears about more migration. This situation has led to some violence against people from outside Tibet. Some of this violence occurs outside Tibet. When it comes to assigning government posts in Tibet, more other nationalities of Chinese seem to be assigned, rather than Tibetans. The Chinese Government claims that if Tibet became independent again, its economy would suffer.
Air gun
An air gun is a gun which uses gas to fire a projectile instead of burning gunpowder that an ordinary gun uses.
The oldest air guns used a bellows to compress (squeeze) air in a tube. When the gun was fired the air was released. The only way for the air to go was by pushing the pellet out.
A later invention was the spring piston, these can only fire one shot before the spring has to be reset. Newer guns use air or another gas in a small cartridge, these guns can fire many more shots before the cartridge needs to be changed or refilled.
The projectile for an air gun is usually a pellet. Some guns of this sort fire small round pellets call "bb"s. Some people think this means ball bearing, but it does not. The letters bb stood for a size of shot that was used to make shotgun cartridges, This was used in the first bb guns.
The most popular calibres (pellet sizes) for air weapons are mm (also called .177 to .22). In many countries there are strict rules that limit the sales of air guns so not everyone can have one.
They are not as powerful as other guns but they can still hurt or even kill people.
Many people enjoy air rifle and pistol shooting either for fun or hunting. In the Olympics and target games, air pistols are used in some of the shooting events.
Carcass
A carcass or corpse is another word for a dead body. The dead body may be of an animal or a person.
Unit circle
In mathematics, a unit circle is a circle with a radius of 1. The equation of the unit circle is formula_1. The unit circle is centered at the Origin, or coordinates (0,0). It is often used in Trigonometry.
In a unit circle, where formula_2 is the angle desired, formula_3 and formula_4 can be defined as formula_5 and formula_6. Using the function of the unit circle, formula_1, another equation for the unit circle is found, formula_8. When working with trigonometric functions, it is mainly useful to use angles with measures between 0 and formula_9 radians, or 0 through 90 degrees. It is possible to have higher angles than that, however. Using the unit circle, two identities can be found: formula_10 and formula_11 for any integer formula_12.
El Al
El Al (; ) is the national airline of Israel. It is the country's flag carrier airline. It also flies to Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. El Al serves 48 destinations. It has only one hub: Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv.
In 1948, after a conference in Geneva, the first President of Israel had to return to Israel with a government aircraft. However, this was not possible. So a C-54 was converted into a civil aircraft and repainted with the "El Al" logo in order to bring back the President to Israel.
El Al became the official Israeli airline in 1948. The first international flight took place in 1949. It flew from Tel Aviv to Paris.
Middle East Airlines
Middle East Airlines () is an airline based in Lebanon. It flies between the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
Middle East Airlines opened for business on May 31, 1945. It was opened by Saeb Salam, with support from BOAC. MEA's work started on January 1, 1946 with flights between Beirut and Nicosia. Then its airplanes started to fly to Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Cyprus. The company bought two Douglas DC-3 planes in mid-1946.
On September 7, 2006, Israel ended its 8-week long air blockade on Lebanon. A Middle East Airlines plane from Paris flew to the Rafik Hariri International Airport at 6:06 p.m. Lebanese time (3:03 p.m. GMT). MEA resumed its normal flight timetable on September 11, 2006.
Middle East Airlines flies its planes to these countries and their cities (since June 2006):
Blackmail
Blackmail means threatening to say something bad about someone unless that person pays some money.