Pau Gasol
Pau Gasol Sáez is a Spanish professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association. He is a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. Gasol has won two NBA championships, both with the Los Angeles Lakers, he was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2002 with the Memphis Grizzlies, is one of only three non-American NBA players to have won that award. He is the older brother of fellow NBA player Marc Gasol. Gasol was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the third overall pick in the first round of the 2001 NBA draft, but his rights were traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, he holds the Grizzlies' franchise record for free throws made and attempted. Following more than six seasons with Memphis, Gasol played for the Los Angeles Lakers, the Chicago Bulls, the San Antonio Spurs. Internationally, Gasol has won two Olympic silver medals, an Olympic bronze medal, a FIBA World Cup title, three EuroBasket titles with the Spanish national basketball team.
Pau Gasol was born in Barcelona. His parents both played basketball in organized leagues, his father, stood 6 feet 3 inches, his mother, was 6 feet 1 inch. Gasol began playing basketball as a center with his school team, he signed with Cornellà; when he was sixteen, he began playing for Barcelona's junior team. He won both the 1998 Albert Schweitzer Tournament and the 1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. After moving to the senior team of Barcelona, Gasol played just 25 total minutes in the Spanish ACB League's 1998–99 season, averaged 13.7 minutes per game in the ACB the next year. However, in his final season in the ACB, Gasol averaged 12.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in 24.7 minutes per game. Barcelona was victorious in the Spanish National Cup finals championship game in 2001, Gasol was named Most Valuable Player. After entering the NBA draft, Gasol was selected third overall in the first round in the 2001 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks, who traded his draft rights to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Shareef Abdur-Rahim.
In his first season with the Grizzlies, Gasol became the first foreign player to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. He averaged 17.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, was the only team member to play in all 82 games that season. Gasol led the team in scoring in his second year with the Grizzlies, for the second year in a row, played in all 82 games. Gasol missed the first game of his career, during his third year, with a foot injury on April 5, 2004, which snapped his string of 240 consecutive games played, he grabbed the 1,500th rebound of his career on November 12, 2003, against the Orlando Magic and scored his 3,000th career point on October 31, 2003, against the Boston Celtics. Despite having 22 points in Game 4 against the San Antonio Spurs, the highest by a Memphis players in the playoffs, his team was eliminated in the first round, not winning a single game against San Antonio; this was both the Gasol's first trip to the NBA Playoffs. He scored 31 points and blocked four shots on January 11, 2005, against the Indiana Pacers to earn 5,000 points and 500 blocks in his career, becoming the 10th fastest player to reach 5,000 points/500 blocks since 1973–74.
He helped his team make it to the playoffs for the second time in his career, but they were eliminated in the first round and did not win a single game against the Phoenix Suns. In his fifth year with the Grizzlies, he became the franchise's all-time leading rebounder on March 24 against the New York Knicks when he grabbed his 3,072nd rebound in a Grizzlies uniform, he made 29 consecutive free throw attempts from January 24 to 28, tying the second best mark in Grizzlies history, including two straight games going 12–12 from the line, tying the best single-game mark in franchise history. Gasol and the Grizzlies returned to the playoffs for the third time in his team's history. Once again, they were eliminated in the first round and did not win a single game against the Dallas Mavericks. On February 9, 2006, making his first appearance, Gasol was selected to play in the 2006 NBA All-Star Game in Houston, Texas as a reserve center for the Western Conference. At the time, he was one of four players ranked among Western Conference forwards in the top ten in points, rebounds and blocked shots.
He was the first Spanish basketball player as well as the first Grizzlies player to make it to the All-Star Game. Gasol missed the first 23 games of the 2006–07 NBA season due to a broken foot suffered near the end of Spain's semifinal win over Argentina in the 2006 FIBA World Championship, he would go on to be named Most Valuable Player of the tournament. He had a season-high 34 points, eight rebounds and tied a career-high and franchise record with eight blocks on January 29 against the Sacramento Kings, surpassed Shareef Abdur-Rahim as the franchise's all-time leader in free throw attempts on January 31 against the Dallas Mavericks, he became the all-time franchise leader in field goals made on February 6 against the Houston Rockets, became the all-time franchise leader in minutes played on February 7 at Dallas. He surpassed Shareef Abdur-Rahim as the Grizzlies' all-time leading scorer on March 7, 2007, against the Toronto Raptors. On January 24, 2007, Gasol recorded his second career triple-double against the hosting Utah Jazz, garnering 17 points, 13 rebounds, 12 assists.
He registered 2 blocks and one
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama Super Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama City, Japan. Its spectator capacity is 37,000 at maximum settings, making it the third largest indoor arena in the world; this main arena capacity is between 19,000 and 22,500 when events such as basketball, tennis, ice hockey, boxing, mixed martial arts, professional wrestling take place there. It is the only Japanese arena equipped for American football; the arena features a gigantic moveable section of seating which can reduce capacity for smaller events and create a more intimate setting. It housed the John Lennon Museum, which displayed John Lennon memorabilia and closed in 2010, it gained worldwide recognition as a sports venue when it hosted the final round of the official 2006 Basketball World Championship. Today, it is one of two home arenas to Japan Professional Basketball League team the Saitama Broncos, it is a favorite venue for puroresu and mixed martial arts, has hosted many of the biggest fights in MMA history.
Immediate to JR East Keihin-Tōhoku|Utsunomiya|Takasaki Line Saitama-Shintoshin Station 7 minutes' walk from JR East Saikyō Line Kita-Yono Station The Saitama Super Arena was preliminary open on May 5, 2000, open on September 1 of the same year. The architecture firm Nikken Sekkei won the international design competition. In 2000, the arena hosted two NHL ice hockey games between the Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins. In 2003, NBA basketball teams Seattle SuperSonics and the Los Angeles Clippers, played two games. On February 7, 2005 the arena hosted WWE Raw for United States cable television network Spike TV; the main event of the Raw hour was Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels, the main event of the Raw Zone hour featured Triple H against Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship. In 2006, the arena hosted the Final Round of the Basketball World Championship 2006. On December 31, 2007, the arena hosted Yarennoka, an MMA promotion organized by the former staff members of Pride Fighting Championship.
On November 29, 2009, the arena hosted one of the biggest fights in Japan's history as WBC Flyweight Champion Daisuke Naito defends his title against Koki Kameda. On December 31, 2009, the arena hosted "FieLDS Dynamite!! The Power of Courage 2009", hosted by MMA promotions Dream and Sengoku along with kickboxing promotion K–1. On December 31, 2010, the arena hosted "FieLDS Dynamite!! ~ Power of Courage 2010", hosted by fight promotions DREAM and K–1. The arena hosted the Japanese return of the Ultimate Fighting Championship on February 26, 2012 for UFC 144. Followed by UFC on Fuel TV: Silva vs. Stann on March 3, 2013 and UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Nelson on September 20, 2014 as well as UFC Fight Night: Barnett vs. Nelson on September 26, 2015, it will host. The venue hosts a major martial arts on New Year's Eve since 2001, it was sanctioned by Pride Fighting Championships from 2003 to 2006, by K-1 from 2008 to 2011. Since 2015 the event is the final round of the Rizin Fighting Federation; the 2014 and 2019 World Figure Skating Championships were held at the venue.
Besides sport and martial arts competition, there were held many music events, like Music Station, Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ, Animelo Summer Live, or humanitary Dream Power concerts organized by Yoko Ono. Many notable Japanese music acts performed at the arena, alphabetically: AKB48, Namie Amuro, B'z, Babymetal, BUMP OF CHICKEN, Minori Chihara, Masaharu Fukuyama, Glay, Ayumi Hamasaki, Tomoyasu Hotei, The Gazette, Janne Da Arc, Kamen Joshi, Berryz Kobo, Mai Kuraki, L'Arc-en-Ciel, Luna Sea, Nana Mizuki, Man with a Mission, Momoiro Clover Z, Morning Musume, Mr. Children, Nogizaka46, Kana Nishino, One Ok Rock, Radwimps, Sakamoto Maaya, SCANDAL, Shiina Ringo, Siam Shade, Spyair, Sound Horizon, Hikaru Utada and fripSide; some Japanese anime projects like Uta no Prince-sama, Love Live!, K-On!, The Idolmaster, Touken Ranbu saw live musical realization in the arena. International artists performed there, like Madonna, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Guns N' Roses, Beyoncé, Linkin Park, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Avril Lavigne, Backstreet Boys, DragonForce, Radiohead, AC/DC, Jeff Mills, Taylor Swift, U2, Iron Maiden, One Direction, Katy Perry, K-Pop acts BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, SS501, Girls' Generation, Big Bang, 2PM, F.
T. Island, 2NE1, SHINee, CNBLUE, SEVENTEEN, Kim Jaejoong, EXO, TWICE and NCT 127. Queen + Paul Rodgers performed there and the concerts were depicted in the concert DVD Super Live in Japan. Green Day taped the show for their new live album titled Awesome as Fuck; the Coverdale's band Whitesnake during the Loud Park Festival recorded their performance for a live album Made in Japan. The Festival has had other internationally renowned rock and metal bands like Scorpions, Nightwish and Slayer. Due to his particular brand of Electronic Metal, Venezuelan DJ Zardonic played a guest set at the Big Rock Stage, making it the first time in history that an Electronic Producer performs at the festival. U Arena, a venue near Paris similar in concept to the Super Arena Saitama Super Arena
Yugoslavia national basketball team
The SFR Yugoslavian national basketball team represented Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 until 1992 in international basketball matches and was controlled by the Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia. After the World War II, the team improved their rankings and came to be one of dominant forces of the world basketball in the 1970s and the 1980s, along with the United States and Soviet Union, capturing 5 Olympic medals and 8 World Cups, 13 medals in total, along with another 13 on continental level. After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, national teams of the successor countries Serbia and Montenegro/Serbia, continued the strong performance in international competitions. Ten FIBA Hall of Fame members emerged from the Yugoslavian national team: Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Dalipagić, Ivo Daneu, Mirza Delibašić, Vlade Divac, Dragan Kićanović, Radivoj Korać, Toni Kukoč, Dražen Petrović and Zoran Slavnić. At the Summer Olympic Games, Yugoslavia captured one gold medal, took the silver medal on three occasions and captured the bronze medal once.
At the FIBA World Cup, Yugoslavia captured three gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals. At the EuroBasket, Yugoslavia captured the gold medal five times, were silver medalists on five occasions, captured the bronze medal four times. FIBA World Cup MVP Ivo Daneu – 1967 Ljubodrag Simonović – 1971 Dragan Kićanović – 1974 Dražen Dalipagić – 1978 Dražen Petrović – 1986 Toni Kukoč – 1990 FIBA EuroBasket MVP Radivoj Korać – 1961 Krešimir Ćosić – 1971, 1975 Dražen Dalipagić – 1977 Dražen Petrović – 1989 Toni Kukoč – 1991 FIBA World Cup All-Tournament Team Radivoj Korać – 1967 Ivo Daneu – 1967 Krešimir Ćosić – 1970, 1978 Vinko Jelovac – 1974 Dražen Dalipagić – 1978 Dragan Kićanović – 1978, 1982 Dražen Petrović – 1986 Vlade Divac – 1990 Toni Kukoč – 1990 FIBA EuroBasket All-Tournament Team Krešimir Ćosić – 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1979 Ivo Daneu – 1969 Dražen Dalipagić – 1975, 1977, 1981 Dragan Kićanović – 1979, 1981 Dražen Petrović – 1985, 1989 Žarko Paspalj – 1989 Dino Rađa – 1989 Vlade Divac – 1991 Toni Kukoč – 1991 Yugoslavia made its European championship debut in EuroBasket 1947, the fifth edition of the tournament.
The team placed 13th out of 14 teams in the competition, losing to the Soviet Union and Hungary in the preliminary round, beating the Netherlands but losing to Italy in the semifinal round, defeating Albania in the 13th/14th classification match. Yugoslavia's second appearance was at EuroBasket 1953 in Moscow, they dropped an early 27–25 decision against Bulgaria but finished at 3–1 in their preliminary group. In the three-way tie-breaker with Bulgaria and Israel, Yugoslavia ended up in second place to advance to the final round. There, they lost 4 to take 6th place overall in the 17-team tournament. Yugoslavia again advanced to the final round at EuroBasket 1955 in Budapest, this time in sole second place with a 3–1 record in the preliminary round pool, their final round performance was riddled with 6 losses in 7 games, but did include the high point of a 52–49 victory over eventual silver medallist Czechoslovakia on Yugoslavia's way to an 8th-place finish of the 18 entrants. Yugoslavia's appearance at the EuroBasket 1957 tournament in Sofia resulted in a 2–1 record for the preliminary round and advancement to the final round robin.
There, they proved capable of two wins, defeating Poland and France to finish at 2–5 for 6th place in the tournament. The Yugoslav national team of the late 1980s and early 1990s featured what was the greatest generation in the history of Yugoslav basketball. A common quip about basketball is: "The Americans invented it, the Yugoslavs perfected it." With such players as Dražen Petrović, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Predrag Danilović, Žarko Paspalj and Jure Zdovc the country was responsible for a wave of international NBA players in the 1990s. Many of the former Yugoslav players of this era were a part of the under-21 national team that won the FIBA World Junior Championships in 1987, defeating the U. S. both in the final. The 1991 team is regarded by Antonello Riva as the best team in European history. For 1992 onwards, as Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: see Serbia and Montenegro national basketball team 1947–1950 – Stevica Čolović 1950–1953 – Nebojša Popović 1954–1965 – Aleksandar Nikolić 1965–1972 – Ranko Žeravica 1973–1976 – Mirko Novosel 1977–1978 – Aleksandar Nikolić 1979 – Petar Skansi 1980 – Ranko Žeravica 1981 – Bogdan Tanjević 1982 – Ranko Žeravica 1983 – Josip Gjergja 1984 – Mirko Novosel 1985–1987 – Krešimir Ćosić 1988–1991 – Dušan Ivković After the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia in 1991, five new countries were created: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, FR Yugoslavia and Slovenia.
In 2006, Montenegro became an independent nation and Serbia became the legal successor of Serbia and Montenegro. In 2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia and became a FIBA member in 2015. Here is a list of men's national teams on the SFR Yugoslavia area: Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia North Macedonia Serbia and Montenegro Montenegro Serbia Kosovo Slovenia None of these teams is an inheritor of the results the SFR Yugoslavia national basketball team had accomplished. After the breakup of Yugoslavia in
2006 Montenegrin independence referendum
An independence referendum was held in Montenegro on 21 May 2006. It was approved by 55.5 % of voters. By 23 May, preliminary referendum results were recognized by all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, suggesting widespread international recognition if Montenegro were to become formally independent. On 31 May, the referendum commission confirmed the results of the referendum, verifying that 55.5% of the population of Montenegrin voters had voted in favor of independence. Because voters met the controversial threshold requirement of 55% approval set by the European Union, the referendum was incorporated into a declaration of independence during a special parliamentary session on 31 May; the Assembly of the Republic of Montenegro made a formal Declaration of Independence on Saturday 3 June. In response to the announcement, the government of Serbia declared itself the legal and political successor of Serbia and Montenegro, that the government and parliament of Serbia itself would soon adopt a new constitution.
The European Union, the United States, the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation all expressed their intentions to respect the referendum results. The process of secession was regulated by the Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro adopted on 4 February 2003 by both Councils of the Federal Assembly of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in accordance to the 2002 Belgrade Agreement between the governments of the two constitutive republics of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia. Article 60 of the constitution required that a minimum of three years pass after its ratification before one of the member states could declare independence; the same article specified the referendum as necessary for this move. However, this constitution allowed member states to define their own referendum laws, it is specified that the member state which secedes forfeits any rights to political and legal continuity of the federation. This means that the seceding state had to apply for membership to all major international institutions, such as the United Nations and be recognized by the international community, that the Republic of Serbia became the full successor to the state union.
No state objected to recognizing a newly formed state prior to the referendum. If Serbia had declared independence instead of Montenegro, Montenegro would have been the legal successor state. According to the Montenegrin Constitution, state status could not be changed without a referendum proposed by the President to the Parliament. President Filip Vujanović accordingly submitted such a bill, it was unanimously passed by the Montenegrin Parliament on 2 March 2006; the Referendum Bill obliged the Parliament. It had to declare the official results within 15 days following the voting day, act upon them within 60 days; the dissolution of Parliament was required upon the passage of any bill proposing constitutional changes to the status of the state, a new Parliament was required to convene within ninety days. For such changes to be enacted, the new Parliament was required to support the bill with a two-thirds majority; the newly independent country of Serbia, the successor state to the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, while favouring a loose federation, has stated publicly that it would respect the outcome of the referendum, not interfere with Montenegrin sovereignty.
There needed result threshold for independence. The Montenegrin government, which supported the independence advocated a simple majority, but the opposition insisted on a certain threshold below which the referendum, if a "yes" option won, would have been moot. European Union envoy Miroslav Lajčák proposed independence if a 55% supermajority of votes are cast in favor with a minimum turnout of 50%, a determination that prompted some protests from the pro-independence forces; the Council of the European Union unanimously agreed to Lajčák's proposal, the Đukanović government backed down in its opposition. Milo Đukanović, Prime Minister of Montenegro, promised that he would declare independence if the votes passed 50%, regardless of whether the census was passed or not. On the other hand, he announced that if less than 50% voted for the independence option, he would resign from all political positions; the original pursuit of Milo Đukanović and the DPS-SDP was that 40% voting in favour of statehood be a sufficient percentage to declare independence, but this caused severe international outrage before the Independentists proposed 50%.
Another controversial issue was the referendum law, based on the constitution of Serbia and Montenegro, which stated that Montenegrins living within Serbia registered to vote within Serbia should be prohibited from voting in the referendum because that would give them two votes in the union and make them superior to other citizens. The agreement threshold between the two blocs for 55%, was somewhat criticized as overriding the traditional practice of requiring a two-third supermajority, as practiced in all ex Yugoslav countries before. On 24 March 2006, a nine-minute video clip was aired that shows two local Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro activists from Zeta region, Ranko Vučinić and Ivan Ivanović, along with a former member of secret police, Vasilije Mijović, attempting to bribe a citizen, Mašan Bušković, into casting a pro-independence vote at the upcoming referendum. In the video clip they are seen and heard persuading Bušković to vote for the independence, they promise to pay off his electric bill of €1,500 in re
2002 FIBA World Championship
The 2002 FIBA World Championship was the 14th FIBA World Championship, the international world championship for men's basketball teams. The tournament held by the International Basketball Federation in Indianapolis, United States from August 29 to September 8, 2002. At the start of tournament, all 16 participating countries had 12 players on their roster; the following nations' teams competed: The top three teams in each group advance to the second round, into either Group E or F. The fourth place team in each group moves onto the 13th–16th classification. August 29, 2002 August 30, 2002 August 31, 2002 August 29, 2002 August 30, 2002 August 31, 2002 August 29, 2002 August 30, 2002 August 31, 2002 August 29, 2002 August 30, 2002 August 31, 2002 In this stage, the results in the preliminary rounds are combined and the teams who met do not play each other a second time; the teams that advanced from Group A and Group B are combined into Group E and teams that advanced from Group C and Group D are combined into Group F.
The top four from each group advance to the knockout stages. September 2, 2002 September 3, 2002 September 4, 2002 September 2, 2002 September 3, 2002 September 4, 2002 Dirk Nowitzki - 24.0 Victor Díaz - 22.0 Yao Ming - 21.0 Marcelo Machado - 20.8 Paul Pierce - 19.7 Pau Gasol - 19.1 Larry Ayuso - 18.7 Peja Stojaković - 18.7 Phill Jones - 18.2 Fadi El Khatib - 17.6 FIBA official website EuroBasket.com FIBA Basketball World Cup Page
Sapporo
Sapporo is the fifth largest city of Japan by population, the largest city on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is the capital city of Ishikari Subprefecture, it is an ordinance-designated city. Sapporo hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics, its annual Sapporo Snow Festival draws more than 2 million tourists from abroad. Before its establishment, the area occupied by Sapporo was home to a number of indigenous Ainu settlements. In 1866, at the end of the Edo period, construction began on a canal through the area, encouraging a number of early settlers to establish Sapporo village; the settlement's name was taken from the Ainu language sat poro pet, can be translated as "dry, great river", which denotes Toyohira River. In 1868, the recognized year celebrated as the "birth" of Sapporo, the new Meiji government concluded that the existing administrative center of Hokkaido, which at the time was the port of Hakodate, was in an unsuitable location for defense and further development of the island.
As a result, it was determined. The plain itself provided an unusually large expanse of flat, well drained land, uncommon in the otherwise mountainous geography of Hokkaido. During 1870–1871, Kuroda Kiyotaka, vice-chairman of the Hokkaido Development Commission, approached the American government for assistance in developing the land; as a result, Horace Capron, Secretary of Agriculture under President Ulysses S. Grant, became an oyatoi gaikokujin and was appointed as a special advisor to the commission. Construction began around Odori Park, which still remains as a green ribbon of recreational land bisecting the central area of the city; the city followed a grid plan with streets at right-angles to form city blocks. The continuing expansion of the Japanese into Hokkaido continued due to migration from the main island of Honshu to the south, the prosperity of Hokkaido and its capital grew to the point that the Development Commission was deemed unnecessary and was abolished in 1882. Edwin Dun came to Sapporo to establish sheep and cattle ranches in 1876.
He demonstrated pig raising and the making of butter, cheese and sausage. He was married twice, to Japanese women, he once returned to Japan as a secretary of government. William S. Clark, the president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, came to be the founding vice-president of the Sapporo Agricultural College for only eight months from 1876 to 1877, he taught academic subjects in science and lectured on the Bible as an "ethics" course, introducing Christian principles to the first entering class of the College. In 1880, the entire area of Sapporo was renamed as "Sapporo-ku", a railroad between Sapporo and Temiya, Otaru was laid; that year the Hōheikan, a hotel and reception facility for visiting officials and dignitaries, was erected adjacent to the Odori Park. It was moved to Nakajima Park where it remains today. Two years with the abolition of the Kaitaku-shi, Hokkaidō was divided into three prefectures: Hakodate and Nemuro; the name of the urban district in Sapporo remained Sapporo-ku, while the rest of the area in Sapporo-ku was changed to Sapporo-gun.
The office building of Sapporo-ku was located in the urban district. Sapporo and Nemuro Prefectures were abolished in 1886, Hokkaidō government office building, an American-neo-baroque-style structure with red bricks, constructed in 1888; the last squad of the Tondenhei, the soldiers pioneering Hokkaido, settled in the place where the area of Tonden in Kita-ku, Sapporo is located. Sapporo-ku administered surrounding Sapporo-gun until 1899, when the new district system was announced. After that year, Sapporo-ku was away from the control of Sapporo-gun; the "ku" enforced from 1899 was an autonomy, a little bigger than towns, smaller than cities. In Hokkaido at that time, Hakodate-ku and Otaru-ku existed. In 1907, the Tohoku Imperial University was established in Sendai Miyagi Prefecture, Sapporo Agricultural College was controlled by the University. Parts of neighbouring villages including Sapporo Village, Naebo Village, Kami Shiroishi Village, districts where the Tonden-hei had settled, were integrated into Sapporo-ku in 1910.
The Sapporo Streetcar was opened in 1918, Hokkaido Imperial University was established in Sapporo-ku, as the fifth Imperial University in Japan. Another railroad operated in Sapporo, the Jōzankei Railroad, abolished in 1969. In 1922, the new city system was announced by the Tokyo government, Sapporo-ku was changed to Sapporo City; the Sapporo Municipal Bus System was started in 1930. In 1937, Sapporo was chosen as the site of the 1940 Winter Olympics, but due to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, this was cancelled the next year. Maruyama Town was integrated as a part of Chūō-ku in 1940, the Okadama Airport was constructed in 1942; the first Sapporo Snow Festival was held in 1950. In the same year, adjacent Shiroishi Village was integrated into Sapporo City, rendered as a part of Shiroishi-ku, Atsubetsu-ku. In 1955, Kotoni Town, the entire Sapporo Village, Shinoro Village were merged into Sapporo, becoming a part of the current Chūō-ku, Kita-ku, Higashi-ku, Nishi-ku, Teine-ku; the expansion of Sapporo continued, with the merger of Toyohira Town in 1961, Teine Town in 1967, each becoming a part of Toyohira-ku, Kiyota-ku, Teine-ku.
The ceremony commemorating the 100th anniversary of the foundation o
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1992 - 2003, was a country in Southeast Europe, created from the two remaining federal republics of Yugoslavia after its breakup in 1992. The republics of Serbia and Montenegro together established a federation in 1992 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. For the first several years of its existence, the state aspired to be recognized as the sole legal successor to Yugoslavia, but those claims were opposed by other former constituent republics; the United Nations denied its request to take up Yugoslavia's membership. After the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević from power as president of the federation in 2000, the country rescinded those aspirations and accepted the opinion of the Badinter Arbitration Committee about shared succession, it re-applied for UN membership on 27 October and was admitted on 1 November 2000. The FRY was dominated by Slobodan Milošević as President of Serbia and President of Yugoslavia.
Milošević forced the removal of several federal presidents and prime ministers. However, the Montenegrin government enthusiastic supporters of Milošević, started distancing themselves from his policies; that culminated in regime change in 1996, when his former ally Milo Đukanović reversed his policies, became leader of Montenegro's ruling party and subsequently dismissed former Montenegrin leader Momir Bulatović, who remained loyal to the Milošević government. As Bulatović was given central positions in Belgrade from that time, Đukanović continued to govern Montenegro and further isolated it from Serbia, thus from 1996 to 2006 Montenegro and Serbia were only nominally one country—governance at every feasible level was conducted locally, in Belgrade for Serbia and in Podgorica for Montenegro. As a loose union or confederacy and Montenegro were united only in certain realms, such as defence; the two constituent republics functioned separately throughout the period of the Federal Republic, continued to operate under separate economic policies, as well as using separate currencies.
On 21 May 2006, the Montenegrin independence referendum was held, 55.5% of voters voted in favour of independence. The last remnants of the former Yugoslavia, after 88 years since its creation, came to an end upon Montenegro's formal declaration of independence on 3 June 2006, Serbia's formal declaration of independence on 5 June. After the dissolution, Serbia became the legal successor of the union, while the newly independent Montenegro re-applied for membership in international organizations; the country was known as the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" from 1992 to 2003. The name Yugoslavia, an Anglicised transcription of Jugoslavija, is a composite word made up of jug and slavija; the Slavic word jug means'south', while slavija denotes a'land of the Slavs'. Thus, a translation of "Jugoslavija" would be'South-Slavia' or'Land of the South Slavs'; when Serbia and Montenegro was known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or Yugoslavia for short, some nations, such as the United States, had referred to it as Serbia and Montenegro as their governments viewed its claim to Yugoslavia's successorship as illegitimate.
With the collapse of Yugoslavia during the 1990s, only the republics of Serbia and Montenegro agreed to maintain the Yugoslav state, established a new constitution for a new Yugoslavia in 1992. With the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe, the new state followed the wave of free market change, it abandoned communist symbolism: the red star was removed from the national flag, the communist coat of arms was replaced by a white double-headed eagle with the arms of both Serbia and Montenegro within it. The new state established the office of the president, held by a single person appointed with the consent of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro until 1997 after which the president was democratically elected. With the collapse of Yugoslavia and its institutions from 1991 to 1992, the issue of unity of the two republics remaining in the collapsing federation, Montenegro, as well as Serb-majority territories in Croatia and Bosnia that wished to remain united, became an issue. In 1991 diplomatic talks chaired by Lord Carrington with the leaders of the six republics of the collapsing federation, resulted in all the republics except for Serbia agreeing that Yugoslavia had collapsed and that each republic should become an independent state.
The Serbian government was surprised and outraged by Montenegro's decision in favour of terminating Yugoslavia, as the Bulatovic government had been allied with Milosevic's government in Serbia. Yugoslavia's collapse began in 1991 when Slovenia and the Republic of Macedonia declared independence. On 26 December 1991, Serbia and the Serb rebel-held territories in Croatia agreed that they would form a new "third Yugoslavia". Efforts were made in 1991 to include SR Bosnia and Herzegovina within the federation, with negotiations between Miloševic, Bosnia's Serbian Democratic Party, the Bosniak proponent of union – Bosnia's Vice-President Adil Zulfikarpašić taking place on this matter. Zulfikarpašić believed that Bosnia could benefit from a union
Spain (1st title)
Greece
United States
Argentina
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France
Nigeria
Serbia and Montenegro
Lebanon
Venezuela
Germany
Angola
New Zealand
Japan
Panama
Turkey
Lithuania
Australia
Brazil
Qatar
Italy
Slovenia
Puerto Rico
Senegal
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