1.
Kuala Lumpur
–
Kuala Lumpur, officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, or more commonly called KL is the national capital of Malaysia as well as its largest city. Being rated as an Alpha world city, Kuala Lumpur is the global city in Malaysia which covers an area of 243 km2 and has an estimated population of 1.73 million as of 2016. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an agglomeration of 7.25 million people as of 2017. It is among the fastest growing regions in South-East Asia, in terms of population. Kuala Lumpur is the seat of the Parliament of Malaysia, the city was once home to the executive and judicial branches of the federal government, but they were moved to Putrajaya in early 1999. Some sections of the judiciary still remain in the city of Kuala Lumpur. The official residence of the Malaysian King, the Istana Negara, is situated in Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur is the cultural, financial and economic centre of Malaysia due to its position as the capital as well as being a key city. Kuala Lumpur is one of three Federal Territories of Malaysia, enclaved within the state of Selangor, on the central west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Since the 1990s, the city has played host to international sporting, political and cultural events including the 1998 Commonwealth Games. Kuala Lumpur has undergone rapid development in recent decades and it is home to the tallest twin buildings in the world, the Petronas Twin Towers, which have become an iconic symbol of Malaysias futuristic development. Kuala Lumpur means muddy confluence, kuala is the point where two rivers join together or an estuary, and lumpur means mud. One suggestion is that it was named after Sungai Lumpur, it was recorded in 1824 that Sungei Lumpoor was the most important tin-producing settlement up the Klang River. It has also proposed that Kuala Lumpur was originally named Pengkalan Lumpur in the same way that Klang was once called Pengkalan Batu. Another suggestion is that it was initially a Cantonese word lam-pa meaning flooded jungle or decayed jungle, there is however no firm contemporary evidence for these suggestions other than anecdotes. It is also possible that the name is a form of an earlier. It is unknown who founded or named the settlement called Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur was originally a small hamlet of just a few houses and shops at the confluence of Sungai Gombak and Sungai Klang before it grew into a town. The miners landed at Kuala Lumpur and continued their journey on foot to Ampang where the first mine was opened
2.
Malaysia
–
Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy located in Southeast Asia. Peninsular Malaysia shares a land and maritime border with Thailand and maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, East Malaysia shares land and maritime borders with Brunei and Indonesia and a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government, with a population of over 30 million, Malaysia is the 44th most populous country. The southernmost point of continental Eurasia, Tanjung Piai, is in Malaysia, located in the tropics, Malaysia is one of 17 megadiverse countries on earth, with large numbers of endemic species. Malaysia has its origins in the Malay kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, the first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946, Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963 to become Malaysia, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a role in politics. About half the population is ethnically Malay, with minorities of Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Indians. The constitution declares Islam the state religion while allowing freedom of religion for non-Muslims, the government system is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and the legal system is based on common law. The head of state is the king, known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and he is an elected monarch chosen from the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay states every five years. The head of government is the prime minister, since its independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with its GDP growing at an average of 6. 5% per annum for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce. Today, Malaysia has a newly industrialised market economy, ranked third largest in Southeast Asia, the name Malaysia is a combination of the word Malay and the Latin-Greek suffix -sia/-σία. The word melayu in Malay may derive from the Tamil words malai and ur meaning mountain and city, land, malayadvipa was the word used by ancient Indian traders when referring to the Malay Peninsula. Whether or not it originated from these roots, the word melayu or mlayu may have used in early Malay/Javanese to mean to steadily accelerate or run. This term was applied to describe the current of the river Melayu in Sumatra. The name was adopted by the Melayu Kingdom that existed in the seventh century on Sumatra
3.
2022 Winter Olympics
–
It will be the third consecutive Olympic Games held in East Asia, after Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020. Having previously hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing will become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics and it will also become the largest city ever to host the Winter Olympics, a distinction currently held by Vancouver, which hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. The 2022 Winter Olympics will be the first Winter Olympic Games ever to be held in China, the estimated budget for the games is $3.9 billion, less than one-tenth of the $43 billion spent on the 2008 Summer Olympics. Beijing will also be the city in East Asia to host the Winter Games, after Sapporo, Japan, Nagano, Japan. The bidding calendar was announced by the IOC in October 2012, the IOC Executive Board reviewed the bids from all applicant cities on 7 July 2014, and selected Oslo, Almaty and Beijing as the final candidate cities. Oslo withdrew its bid on 1 October 2014, leaving Almaty, Beijing was selected as host city of the 2022 Winter Olympics after beating Almaty by 4 votes, on 31 July 2015, at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The ski resort has earned over 1.54 billion yuan in tourism from the 2015–2016 snow season for a 31.6 percent growth over the previous season. In 2016 it was announced that Chongli has received 2.185 million tourists for an increase of 30 percent during the first snow season after the winning the Olympic bid. The snow season lasted for five months from November, during which Chongli has hosted 36 competitions and activities, such as Far East Cup, a total of 23 skiing camps have also been set up, attracting the participation of 3,800 youths. All venue construction will start in November 2016 and will be finished by the end of 2020 to enable the city to hold test events and it will be built for speeds up to 350 km/h, and travel from Beijing to Zhangjiakou is estimated to take 50 minutes. The Beijing Subway is expected to continue expanding and projected to have at least 24 lines by 2022, expressway and highway networks are also expected to be upgraded. A new second airport for Beijing and the region, tentatively known as Beijing Daxing International Airport, is expected to open by 2019, the Zhangjiakou Cluster is about 160 km from Beijing and is located in a different province, Hebei. The Yanqing Cluster is about 85 km from Beijing Fifteen sports are scheduled in the 2022 Winter Olympics program, bobsleigh events will be contested in both bobsleigh and skeleton disciplines. The remaining four sports are biathlon, curling, ice hockey, a delegation from the Chinese Olympic Committee visited the 2017 Bandy World Championship and held talks with FIB President Boris Skrynnik about the possibility of including bandy in 2022. The matches could then be hosted at Olympic Sports Centre, a 36,000 capacity stadium, broadcast rights to the 2022 Winter Olympics in some countries were already sold as part of long-term broadcast rights deals. The decision to bid for the Olympics was controversial in China because Beijing itself, concerns have been raised that snow may need to be transported to the venues at great cost and with uncertain environmental consequences. The environmental impact of hosting the games near Beijing has been questioned, the Chinese government responded to these concerns by expanding the adjacent Beijing Songshan National Nature Reserve by 31% of its original size
4.
Lima
–
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the coastal part of the country. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms an urban area known as the Lima Metropolitan Area. With a population of almost 10 million, Lima is the most populous area of Peru. Lima was founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro on January 18,1535 and it became the capital and most important city in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. Following the Peruvian War of Independence, it became the capital of the Republic of Peru, around one-third of the national population lives in the metropolitan area. Lima is home to one of the oldest higher-learning institutions in the New World, the National University of San Marcos, founded on May 12,1551 during the Spanish colonial regime, is the oldest continuously functioning university in the Americas. In October 2013 Lima was chosen to host the 2019 Pan American Games and it also hosted the December 2014 United Nations Climate Change Conference and the Miss Universe 1982 pageant. In October 2015 Lima hosted the 2015 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group, according to early Spanish articles the Lima area was once called Itchyma, after its original inhabitants. However, even before the Inca occupation of the area in the 15th century and this oracle was eventually destroyed by the Spanish and replaced with a church, but the name persisted, the chronicles show Límac replacing Ychma as the common name for the area. Modern scholars speculate that the word Lima originated as the Spanish pronunciation of the native name Limaq, linguistic evidence seems to support this theory as spoken Spanish consistently rejects stop consonants in word-final position. Non-Peruvian Spanish speakers may mistakenly define the city name as the direct Spanish translation of lime, the city was founded in 1535 under the name City of the Kings because its foundation was decided on January 6, date of the feast of the Epiphany. This name quickly fell into disuse and Lima became the name of choice, on the oldest Spanish maps of Peru. The river that feeds Lima is called Rímac and many people assume that this is because its original Inca name is Talking River. However, the inhabitants of the valley were not Incas. This name is an innovation arising from an effort by the Cuzco nobility in colonial times to standardize the toponym so that it would conform to the phonology of Cuzco Quechua, later, as the original inhabitants died out and the local Quechua became extinct, the Cuzco pronunciation prevailed. Nowadays, Spanish-speaking locals do not see the connection between the name of their city and the name of the river runs through it. They often assume that the valley is named after the river, however, historically, the Flag of Lima has been known as the «Banner of Perus Kings City»
5.
Peru
–
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the west by the Pacific Ocean. Peruvian territory was home to ancient cultures spanning from the Norte Chico civilization in Caral, one of the oldest in the world, to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and established a Viceroyalty with its capital in Lima, ideas of political autonomy later spread throughout Spanish America and Peru gained its independence, which was formally proclaimed in 1821. After the battle of Ayacucho, three years after proclamation, Peru ensured its independence, subsequently, the country has undergone changes in government from oligarchic to democratic systems. Peru has gone through periods of political unrest and internal conflict as well as periods of stability, Peru is a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions. It is a country with a high Human Development Index score. Its main economic activities include mining, manufacturing, agriculture and fishing, the Peruvian population, estimated at 31.2 million in 2015, is multiethnic, including Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians. The main spoken language is Spanish, although a significant number of Peruvians speak Quechua or other native languages and this mixture of cultural traditions has resulted in a wide diversity of expressions in fields such as art, cuisine, literature, and music. The name of the country may be derived from Birú, the name of a ruler who lived near the Bay of San Miguel, Panama. When his possessions were visited by Spanish explorers in 1522, they were the southernmost part of the New World yet known to Europeans, thus, when Francisco Pizarro explored the regions farther south, they came to be designated Birú or Perú. An alternative history is provided by the contemporary writer Inca Garcilasco de la Vega, son of an Inca princess, the Spanish Crown gave the name legal status with the 1529 Capitulación de Toledo, which designated the newly encountered Inca Empire as the province of Peru. Under Spanish rule, the country adopted the denomination Viceroyalty of Peru, the earliest evidences of human presence in Peruvian territory have been dated to approximately 9,000 BC. Andean societies were based on agriculture, using such as irrigation and terracing, camelid husbandry. Organization relied on reciprocity and redistribution because these societies had no notion of market or money, the oldest known complex society in Peru, the Norte Chico civilization, flourished along the coast of the Pacific Ocean between 3,000 and 1,800 BC. These early developments were followed by archaeological cultures that developed mostly around the coastal, the Cupisnique culture which flourished from around 1000 to 200 BC along what is now Perus Pacific Coast was an example of early pre-Incan culture. The Chavín culture that developed from 1500 to 300 BC was probably more of a religious than a political phenomenon, on the coast, these included the civilizations of the Paracas, Nazca, Wari, and the more outstanding Chimu and Mochica. Their capital was at Chan Chan outside of modern-day Trujillo, in the 15th century, the Incas emerged as a powerful state which, in the span of a century, formed the largest empire in pre-Columbian America with their capital in Cusco
6.
125th IOC Session
–
The 125th IOC Session took place at the Buenos Aires Hilton in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 7 September to 10 September 2013. The International Olympic Committee elected Tokyo as the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games on 7 September, Wrestling was restored to the Olympic program for 2020 and 2024, and Thomas Bach was elected to an eight-year term as IOC President. The IOC received two bids from cities to host the 125th Session, Buenos Aires and Kuala Lumpur made bids, the Argentine capital Buenos Aires was elected at the 122nd IOC Session in Vancouver which took place prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics. The members of the IOC elected the host city of the 2020 Olympic Games on 7 September 2013, the candidates were Tokyo, Istanbul, and Madrid. Before the vote the contest was considered to be close between the three cities, Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics. The results of the ballot were as follows, Following Madrids elimination. The announcement was met with jubilation from the Tokyo delegation and across Japan, japanese fencer Yuki Ota alluded to the 2011 earthquake in a statement to reporters, After the earthquake everyone in Japan was depressed but now we have to make a dream come true. Abes role in the stages of the bid, including his reassurances to the IOC that Fukushima radiation would not affect Tokyo, was considered to be a major asset. Tokyos bid had also received support from Princess Hisako and Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, on 10 September 2013, Thomas Bach of Germany was elected to succeed Jacques Rogge as IOC President, winning in two rounds of voting, over five other candidates. The IOC considered adding wrestling, squash and baseball/softball to the program for the 2020 Summer Olympics, the results of the vote on 8 September 2013 were, Baseball was first played at the Summer Olympics as a demonstration sport at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis. It was then played as a Demonstration sport at the Summer Olympics in 1912,1936,1956,1964,1984 and 1988, at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Baseball made its debut as an official medal sport. It was then present at each Summer Olympic Game until the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing where it was last played at the Olympic Games, Softball was played at the Summer Olympics from 1996 to 2008. The governing bodies for Baseball and Softball ultimately merged to form the World Baseball Softball Confederation in 2013, both Baseball and Softball were able to have a singular bid for joining the Olympic program. Squash has been played at international sporting events. It is played in more than 185 countries and by millions worldwide and it has been played at the Pan American Games since 1995 and the All-Africa Games since 2003. It has also played at both the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games since 1998. The sport is governed by the World Squash Federation, Wrestling is practiced all around the world - officially in 177 countries, some of which participate in the Olympic program just in this sport. It was initially dropped from the program for the 2020 games, however, Wrestling will still be part of the program at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro
7.
Buenos Aires
–
Buenos Aires is the capital and most populous city of Argentina. The city is located on the shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata. The city of Buenos Aires is neither part of Buenos Aires Province nor the Provinces capital, rather, in 1880, after decades of political infighting, Buenos Aires was federalized and removed from Buenos Aires Province. The city limits were enlarged to include the towns of Belgrano and Flores, the 1994 constitutional amendment granted the city autonomy, hence its formal name, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Its citizens first elected a chief of government in 1996, previously, Buenos Aires is considered an alpha city by the study GaWC5. Buenos Aires quality of life was ranked 81st in the world and one of the best in Latin America in 2012 and it is the most visited city in South America, and the second-most visited city of Latin America. Buenos Aires is a top tourist destination, and is known for its preserved Spanish/European-style architecture, Buenos Aires held the 1st Pan American Games in 1951 as well as hosting two venues in the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Buenos Aires will host the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics and the 2018 G20 summit, Buenos Aires is a multicultural city, being home to multiple ethnic and religious groups. Several languages are spoken in the city in addition to Spanish, contributing to its culture, the hill was known to them as Buen Ayre, as it was free of the foul smell prevalent in the old city, which is adjacent to swampland. During the siege of Cagliari, the Aragonese built a sanctuary to the Virgin Mary on top of the hill, in 1335, King Alfonso the Gentle donated the church to the Mercedarians, who built an abbey that stands to this day. In the years after that, a story circulated, claiming that a statue of the Virgin Mary was retrieved from the sea after it miraculously helped to calm a storm in the Mediterranean Sea, the statue was placed in the abbey. Spanish sailors, especially Andalusians, venerated this image and frequently invoked the Fair Winds to aid them in their navigation, a sanctuary to the Virgin of Buen Ayre would be later erected in Seville. Pedro de Mendoza called the city Holy Mary of the Fair Winds, mendoza’s settlement soon came under attack by indigenous people, and was abandoned in 1541. For many years, the name was attributed to a Sancho del Campo, a second settlement was established in 1580 by Juan de Garay, who sailed down the Paraná River from Asunción. Garay preserved the name chosen by Mendoza, calling the city Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de Santa María del Buen Aire. The short form Buenos Aires became the common usage during the 17th century, the usual abbreviation for Buenos Aires in Spanish is Bs. As. It is common as well to refer to it as B. A. or BA /ˌbiːˈeɪ/ bee-AY), while BA is used more by expats residing in the city, the locals more often use the abbreviation Baires, in one word. Seaman Juan Díaz de Solís, navigating in the name of Spain, was the first European to reach the Río de la Plata in 1516 and his expedition was cut short when he was killed during an attack by the native Charrúa tribe in what is now Uruguay
8.
Bids for the 2022 Winter Olympics
–
There were a total of six bids which were initially submitted for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Beijing was then elected as the host city at the 128th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur, on 7 July 2014, the IOC announced the three remaining applicant cities would move on to the candidate phase. On 1 October 2014, Oslo withdrew its application after one of the governing political parties Høyre decided not to support the application. Oslo last hosted the 1952 Winter Olympics, and Norway last hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, on 1 October 2014 the Conservative Party decided that they would not support a bid for the games citing costs and lack of public support. A vast number of polls were conducted, and since April 2014 support had varied between 24% and 37%, the days leading up to the deliberation in the Conservative Party had consisted of a series of negative developments for the bid. If the bid had been successful, it would have been the first time either Poland or Slovakia hosted the Olympics, zakopane previously bid to host the 2006 Winter Olympics but failed to become a candidate. Krakóws bid was submitted to a referendum held on 25 May 2014. After that Kraków discontinued the application on 26 May 2014, Lviv, Ukraine The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine officially submitted a bid for Lviv to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games on 5 November 2013. On 30 June 2014, however, the IOC announced that Lviv would turn its attention to an Olympic bid for 2026, the decision comes as a result of the 2013–15 Ukrainian crisis which seriously influences Lviv and the country. Stockholm, Sweden On 11 November 2013, the Swedish Olympic Committee announced that it had submitted a bid, Åre, about 610 km from Stockholm, was scheduled to host the alpine skiing events. Stockholm previously hosted the 1912 Summer Olympics and hosted events of the 1956 Summer Olympics. Also, it would have been the first city to host both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics, but that went to Beijing. Note that the candidate cities have slightly changed venues plan in the final proposal to the IOC. Almaty moved technical alpine skiing events from Shymbulak to Tau, Beijing dropped both Taiwu and Wanlong ski resorts, and proposed hosting snowboarding and freestyle skiing events in the two venues in Genting Snow Park. All data come from applicant cities bid books, candidate cities public support data has been updated. Each cell of the table provides a minimum and a figure obtained by the applicant city on the specific criteria. These figures are to be compared to a benchmark which has set at 6. The capital of Tyrol, Innsbruck, has already hosted Olympic Winter Games twice, however, the common legislative assembly of Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino rejected the proposal during its session on 30 March 2011
,_Kuala_Lumpur.jpg)
China
Kazakhstan
Switzerland
Romania