Despite the Portuguese proclaiming themselves as hostile to the Spanish crown, the VOC nevertheless took the opportunity to prise away the string of coastal fortresses that comprised the Portuguese Empire: Malacca finally succumbed in 1641. Important battles also took place in the South China sea, initially with combined fleets of Dutch and English vessels, and subsequently exclusively Dutch ships assaulting Macau. Dutch attempts to capture Macau, to force China to replace the Portuguese or to settle the Pescadores failed, in part because of the long-standing diplomacy between the Portuguese and the Ming, but the Dutch were ultimately successful in acquiring the monopoly of trade with Japan. while the Dutch were unable in four attempts to capture Macau from where Portugal monopolised the lucrative China-Japan trade. The Dutch established a colony at Tayouan in 1624, present-day Anping in the south of Taiwan, known to the Portuguese as Formosa and in 1642 the Dutch took northern Formosa from the Spanish by force. The Dutch intervened in the Sinhalese-Portuguese War on Ceylon from 1638 onwards, initially as allies of the Kingdom of Kandy against Portugal. The Dutch conquered Batticaloa in 1639 and Galle in 1640 before the alliance broke down. After a period of triangular warfare between the Dutch, Portuguese and Kandyans, the alliance was remade in 1649. After exploiting and then double-crossing their Kandyan allies, the Dutch were able to capture Colombo in 1656 and drove the last Portuguese from Ceylon in 1658. Sporadic warfare with Kandy continued for over a century.

How many years after conquering Batticaloa did it take the Dutch to conquer Galle?
A: 1

The population of Western Asia was estimated at 272 million as of 2008, projected to reach 370 million by 2030 by Maddison . This corresponds to an annual growth rate of 1.4% , well above the world average of 0.9% .The population of Western Asia is estimated at about 4% of world population, up from about 39 million at the beginning of the 20th century, or about 2% of world population at the time. The most populous countries in the region are Turkey and Iran and, each with around 79 million people, followed by Iraq and Saudi Arabia with around 33 million people each. Numerically, Western Asia is predominantly Arab, Persian, Turkish, and the dominating languages are correspondingly Arabic, Persian and Turkish, each with of the order of 70 million speakers, followed by smaller communities of Kurdish, Azerbaijani, Hebrew, Armenian and Eastern Aramaic. The dominance of Arabic and Turkish is the result of the medieval Arab and Turkic invasions beginning with the Islamic conquests of the 7th century AD, which displaced the formerly dominant Aramaic and Hebrew in the Levant, and Greek in Anatolia, although Hebrew is once again the dominant language in Israel, and Aramaic and Greek both remain present in their respective territories as minority languages. Other significant native minorities include Assyrians, Druze, Jews, Mandeans, Maronites, Shabaks, Syriac Arameans, Lurs and Yezidis.

By how many more millions is the population expected to grow in Western Asia between 2008 and 2030?
A: 98

The Steelers traveled to Chicago to take on the Bears. In the first quarter, the Bears scored first when Jordan Howard ran for a 3-yard touchdown to take a 7-0 lead for the only score of the quarter. In the second quarter, the Steelers managed to tie it up at 7-7 when Ben Roethlisberger found Antonio Brown on a 7-yard pass. The Bears moved ahead by double digits later on when Mike Glennon found Adam Shaheen on a 2-yard pass to make it 14-7. This would be followed up by Connor Barth's 24-yard field goal to make it 17-7 at halftime. After the break, the Steelers got back to work and came within 3 as Le'Veon Bell ran for a 1-yard touchdown to make it 17-14. They would tie the game up in the fourth quarter when Chris Boswell nailed a 32-yard field goal. The Steelers then tried their hand at coming back for the win later on in the quarter, but Roethlisberger was sacked in Bears territory, sending the game into overtime. In overtime, the Bears got the ball. They would win it by way of Howard's 19-yard run for a touchdown and the final score 23-17. With the loss and 9-game regular season winning streak snapped, the Steelers dropped to 2-1 and with the Ravens' loss to the Jaguars moved into a tie on top of the AFC North. The loss was the Steelers' third straight against the Bears, and dropped the Steelers to a record of 1-12 all-time against the Bears in Chicago.

How many points had the Steelers scored by halftime?
A:
7