The Battle of Monte Cassino was a costly series of four assaults by the Allies against the Winter Line in Italy held by Axis forces during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The intention was a breakthrough to Rome. At the beginning of 1944, the western half of the Winter Line was being anchored by Germans holding the Rapido-Gari and Garigliano valleys and some of the surrounding peaks and ridges. Together, these features formed the Gustav Line. Monte Cassino, a historic hilltop abbey founded in AD 529 by Benedict of Nursia, dominated the nearby town of Cassino and the entrances to the Liri and Rapido valleys. Lying in a protected historic zone, it had been left unoccupied by the Germans, although they manned some positions set into the steep slopes below the abbey's walls. Repeated pinpoint artillery attacks on Allied assault troops caused their leaders to conclude the abbey was being used by the Germans as an observation post, at the least. Fears escalated along with casualties and in spite of a lack of clear evidence, it was marked for destruction.

On 15 February American bombers dropped 1,400 tons of high explosives. The raid failed to achieve its objective, as German paratroopers occupied the rubble and established excellent defensive positions amid the ruins. Between 17 January and 18 May, Monte Cassino and the Gustav defences were assaulted four times by Allied troops. On 16 May, soldiers from the Polish II Corps launched one of the final assaults on the German defensive position as part of a twenty-division assault along a twenty-mile front. On 18 May, a Polish flag followed by the British Union Jack were raised over the ruins. Following this Allied victory, the German Senger Line collapsed on 25 May; the German defenders were driven from their positions, but at a high cost. The capture of Monte Cassino resulted in 55,000 Allied casualties, with German losses being far fewer, estimated at around 20,000 killed and wounded; the Allied landings in Italy in September 1943 by two Allied armies, following shortly after the Allied landings in Sicily in July, commanded by General Sir Harold Alexander, the Commander-in-Chief of the 15th Army Group, were followed by an advance northward on two fronts, one on each side of the central mountain range forming the "spine" of Italy.

On the western front, the American Fifth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark, which had suffered heavy casualties during the main landing at Salerno in September, moved from the main base of Naples up the Italian "boot" and on the eastern front the British Eighth Army, commanded by General Sir Bernard Montgomery, advanced up the Adriatic coast. Clark's Fifth Army made slow progress in the face of difficult terrain, wet weather and skillful German defences; the Germans were fighting from a series of prepared positions in a manner designed to inflict maximum damage pulling back while buying time for the construction of the Winter Line defensive positions south of the Italian capital of Rome. The original estimates that Rome would fall by October 1943 proved far too optimistic. Although in the east the German defensive line had been breached on the Adriatic front and Ortona was captured by the 1st Canadian Division, the advance had ground to a halt with the onset of winter blizzards at the end of December, making close air support and movement in the jagged terrain impossible.

The route to Rome from the east using Route 5 was thus excluded as a viable option leaving the routes from Naples to Rome, highways 6 and 7, as the only possibilities. Highway 6 ran through the Liri valley, dominated at its south entrance by the rugged mass of Monte Cassino above the town of Cassino. Excellent observation from the peaks of several hills allowed the German defenders to detect Allied movement and direct accurate artillery fire, preventing any northward advance. Running across the Allied line was the fast flowing Rapido River, which rose in the central Apennine Mountains, flowed through Cassino and across the entrance to the Liri valley. There the Liri river joined the Gari to form the Garigliano River. With its fortified mountain defences, difficult river crossings, valley head flooded by the Germans, Cassino formed a linchpin of the Gustav Line, the most formidable line of the defensive positions making up the Winter Line. In spite of its potential excellence as an observation post, because of the fourteen-century-old Benedictine abbey's historical significance, the German commander in Italy, Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, ordered German units not to include it in their defensive positions and informed the Vatican and the Allies accordingly in December 1943.

Some Allied reconnaissance aircraft maintained they observed German troops inside the monastery. While this remains unconfirmed, it is clear that once the monastery was destroyed it was occupied by the Germans and proved better cover for their emplacements and troops than an intact structure would have offered; the plan of the Fifth Army commander, Lieutenant General Clark, was for the British X Corps, under Lieutenant General Richard McCreery, on the left of a thirty-kilometer front, to attack on 17 January 1944, across the Garigliano near the coast. The British 46th Infantry Division was to attack on the night of 19 January across the Garigliano below its junction with the Liri in support of the main attack by U. S. II Co

The Oeldorf Group was a musicians' collective active in Germany in the 1970s. Based in the village of Oeldorf, near Cologne, their performances emphasized live-electronic music; the Oeldorf Group was founded in 1972 or 1973 and remained active until about 1978 or 1979. Live-electronic music was a particular emphasis, though they performed all kinds of new and avant-garde music, as well as traditional repertory. In fact, contrast of old and new music was an essential feature of the Oeldorf Group’s concerts; the group took its name from the village of Oeldorf, where they lived and worked in a rented farmhouse. They had their own studio for electronic music and studio productions, in the barn adjacent to the house they were able to present concerts for audiences up to about 300 people, although they performed in various other places, they published their own music. The core members were Peter Eötvös who performed electronics and keyboards, the violinist/violist and composer Joachim Krist, electronics specialist and composer Mesías Maiguashca, who played keyboards, Maiguashca's wife, the cellist Gaby Schumacher.

They were associated with the Cologne-based Feedback Studio, consisting of David C. Johnson, Johannes Fritsch, Rolf Gehlhaar. Through their long-standing contact with the Westdeutscher Rundfunk, the Oeldorf Group was able to receive commissions for compositions, invitations to perform in the Musik der Zeit concert series, as well as having many of their summer concerts recorded for the late-night broadcasts of WDR3. One example was Oeldorf 8 by Mesías Maiguashca, a two-year retrospective portrait of the Oeldorf Group commissioned by the WDR, it consists of a series of eight short pieces for four instrumentalists and tape, which may be played either or continuously without a break. The score is dedicated to Maiguashca's three Oeldorf colleagues who, together with the composer, premiered the composition at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse in 1974; the Oeldorf Summer-night Concerts began as no more than private country musical soirees for a small circle of composers, but grew to become a byword in the Cologne music scene.

The 1973 summer season consisted of three concerts, the last of which took place on 23 June and consisted of premieres of new compositions: David C. Johnson's Progranca—ein Oeldœuvre, Ulrich Stranz's Déja-vue, Silvio Fortić's Drei Lieder aus dem unvollendeten und unvollendbaren Zyklus'la merde de siècle', Emmanuel Nunes's The Blending Season. In 1978 the group joined with the British Hydra Ensemble to inaugurate the newly built hall of the London Goethe Institute in a week of concerts and seminars organised by Rolf Gehlhaar. Live electronics were an important aspect of the Oeldorf performances, as illustrated by the Portuguese composer Emanuel Nunes's 73-Oeldorf-75, for two electric organs and electronics, written for the group. According to Maiguashca, Stockhausen's group was different from both ours and Feedback because it was professional, his group was based at Westdeutsche Rundfunk and had the advantage of having "state of the art" professional equipment and setups. No expense was spared.

A Stockhausen concert involved sometimes truck loads of WDR equipment, a brace of technicians. We were much more modest. Our equipment was semi-professional: we carried our own loudspeakers and did all the setups ourselves. In addition to the core members, guest artists frequently appeared. In the 1973 summer series, Australian dancer Philippa Cullen performed with a Theremin connected to a synthesizer, the Slovenian violinist Miha Pogačnik played Bach’s partitas for solo violin. Clarinetists Walter Seyfarth, David Smeyers, Suzanne Stephens, Beate Zelinsky appeared at various times, Stockhausen performed in his own composition Herbstmusik, written for the group in 1974. In 1976, the Hungarian violinist János Négyesy performed the violin sonatas by Charles Ives. Becker-Carsten, Wolfgang. 1973. "Moderne Sommernachtsmusik auf dem Heuboden". Melos 40, no. 5: 307–308. Becker, Wolfgang. 1976. "Da Colonia", translated by Oddo Piero Bertini. Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana 10, no. 1:116–18. Custodis, Michael.

2004. Die soziale Isolation der neuen Musik: Zum Kölner Musikleben nach 1945. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3-515-08375-1. Griffiths, Paul. 1974. "Festivals: La Rochelle". Musical Times 115, No. 1579: 777–78. Jones, Stephen. 2004. "Philippa Cullen: Dancing the Music". Leonardo Music Journal 14: 64–73. Jungheinrich, Hans-Klaus. 2005. "Eötvös und Stockhausen". In Identitäten: Der Komponist und Dirigent Peter Eötvös: Symposion, 19. September 2004, Alte Oper Frankfurt am Main, edited by Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich, 48–56. Edition Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. Mainz: Schott Musik International. ISBN 978-3-7957-0534-3. Kapko-Foretić, Zdenka. 1980. "Kölnska škola avangarde". Zvuk: Jugoslavenska muzička revija, 1980 no. 2:50–55. Kurtz, Michael. 1992. Stockhausen: A Biography, translated by Richard Toop. London and Boston: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-14323-7 ISBN 0-571-17146-X. Maiguashca, Mesías. N.d. "Werke: 09/1972–74: Öldorf 8, fur Violine, Klarine

The 2011–12 season was FC Sheriff Tiraspol's 15th season, their 14th in the Divizia Naţională, the top-flight of Moldovan football. As of match played 23 May 2012 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality; as of Match played 23 May 2012 Note 1: Željezničar played their home match at Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium, Sarajevo as it has a greater capacity than their own Stadion Grbavica. Note 2: Sheriff Tiraspol played their home match at Malaya Sportivnaya Arena, Tiraspol as it is located in the same complex as Sheriff Stadium, the club's main stadium. Official website

The Complete Christmas Collection 1958–2010 is a three-disc box set by American pop singer Johnny Mathis, released in 2015 by Real Gone Music under license from Columbia Records. The set includes Mathis's five holiday albums from the period in their entirety: Merry Christmas, Sounds of Christmas, Give Me Your Love for Christmas, Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis, The Christmas Album, it compiles all of Mathis's holiday songs that were only released as singles, as well as thematically-appropriate tracks from his non-holiday albums: "When a Child Is Born" from I Only Have Eyes for You, the holiday version of "What a Wonderful World" from Let It Be Me, his two recordings of "Ave Maria" from Good Night, Dear Lord, which bookend the set. Marc Myers of The Wall Street Journal offered high praise. "It’s hard to imagine any pop singer who has recorded more definitive versions of holiday songs than Johnny Mathis," He described the collection as "71 tracks of ecstatic vocals". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic wrote, "Throughout it all, Mathis adheres to his effortless elegance," and that "Mathis's holiday albums are warm and inviting, the ideal soundtrack to snowy evenings or an afternoon of wrapping presents and trimming the tree, so it's nice to have all of them in one handy place."

"Ave Maria" – 2:59 from his 1958 album Good Night, Dear Lord "Winter Wonderland" – 3:14 "The Christmas Song" – 4:18 "Sleigh Ride" – 2:57 "Blue Christmas" – 3:02 "I'll Be Home for Christmas" – 4:04 "White Christmas" – 3:28 "O Holy Night" – 4:35 "What Child Is This?" – 3:58 "The First Noel" – 3:49 "Silver Bells" – 3:32 "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" – 3:08 "Silent Night" – 3:49 tracks 2–13 from his 1958 album Merry Christmas "Ol' Kris Kringle" – 2:24 "Give Me Your Love for Christmas" – 2:55 above two 1961 recordings first released on his 2014 compilation The Classic Christmas Album "Christmas Eve" – 2:56 "My Kind of Christmas" – 3:02 above two released as a single on 11/17/61 "The Sounds of Christmas" – 2:35 "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" from Meet Me in St. Louis – 3:34 "A Marshmallow World" – 2:37 "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" – 3:19 "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" – 4:12 tracks 18–22 from his 1963 album Sounds of Christmas Personneltracks 1–17 performed with Percy Faith & His Orchestra Mitch Miller – producer Al Ham – producer.

– 2:52 "Do You Hear What I Hear?" – 3:21 "Calypso Noel" – 2:13 "The Little Drummer Boy" – 2:28 "Christmas Day" from Promises, Promises – 3:24 "The Lord's Prayer" – 2:40 tracks 8–18 from his 1969 album Give Me Your Love for Christmas "Sign of the Dove" – 2:49 "Christmas Is..." – 3:06 above two released as a single on 11/23/70 "When a Child Is Born" – 3:41 from his 1976 album I Only Have Eyes for You "The Very First Christmas Day" – 3:07 "Christmas in the City of the Angels" – 2:50 above two released as a single on 11/8/79 "The Lord's Prayer" – 3:26 "When a Child Is Born" – 3:52 above two released as a single on 11/18/80 Personneltracks 24–25 performed with Gladys Knight & the Pips Don Costa – producer Jack Gold – producer Glenn Osser – arranger Ernie Freeman – arranger, conductor Gene Page – arranger, conductor Jack Feierman – conductor no arranger is indicated for track 20Recording datesJuly 12, 1963 – track 3 July 16, 1963 – tracks 2, 6 July 17, 1963 – tracks 4, 5, 7 July 25, 1

Live at the Pearl known as Mariah Carey: Live in Las Vegas was a four-evening promotional concert residency by American singer-songwriter, Mariah Carey. The concerts were showcased at the Pearl Concert Theater in Las Vegas, it was rumored in early July 2009 that Carey would perform a mini-residency at The Palms Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Carey announced the end of July on her official website that she was going to do four concerts at The Palms Resort & Casino in Las Vegas in the 2,500-seat Pearl Concert Theatre. For the September shows, Carey performed her debut single "Obsessed" from her current album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel as well as the second single "I Want to Know What Love Is". Carey debuted two other songs from Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, which were "Angels Cry" and "Up Out My Face". Carey and back-in singer–friend Trey Lorenz sang Michael Jackson's song "Rock with You" as a tribute to him. For the October shows, Carey changed the set list slightly; the first five songs stayed remained unchanged and an a capella snippet of the Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel song "The Impossible" was sung.

The rest of the songs after stayed the same, apart from "H. A. T. E. U." Which was sung after "Up Out My Face." On the second night of the October shows, Carey made a further two changes to the set list. This time she switched "Fly Like a Bird" for "I Want to Know What Love Is" and sung an a capella snippet of a Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel song, "It's A Wrap", after "Touch My Body". On the second night Carey brought two fans on stage, for the first gay proposal during a concert, causing worldwide coverage. "Butterfly Overture / Daydream Interlude" "Shake It Off" "Touch My Body" "Fly Like a Bird" "Make It Happen" "Angels Cry" "Always Be My Baby" "It's Like That" "Subtle Invitation" "Rock With You" "Honey" "Heartbreaker" "Close My Eyes" "My All" "Obsessed" "Up Out My Face" "I Want to Know What Love Is" "We Belong Together" "Hero" "Hero Reprise" Notes: "Hero" was not performed at the opening night. A snippet of "The Impossible" was performed on the third and fourth night. "I Want to Know What Love Is" was replaced by "H.

A. T. E. U." On the third and fourth night. A snippet of "It's a Wrap" was performed on the fourth night. "Fly Like a Bird" was replaced by "I Want to Know What Love Is" on the fourth night. The September 11 and 12 concerts were filmed and broadcast worldwide in over 200 countries and on 235 devices. A news report read: "Mariah Carey, one of the best selling recording and performing artists of our time will make history, Oct. 10, when her performance “Mariah Carey Live In Las Vegas” becomes the first concert to be simulcast to mobile and other digital devices worldwide". The digital version included 10 songs from the concert, lasts 45 minutes and was priced at $9.99. Steve Bartels, President/COO, Island Def Jam Music Group said of the event: "Fans from all over the world can now share the excitement of a live concert, whenever, on whatever digital device they chose". For promotional use, one-minute clips of "Obsessed" and "I Want To Know What Love Is" were recorded at the September shows. A trailer was created for promotional purposes for her Japanese fans.

Ten of the songs from the show were released on a digital album in 2015, available on iTunes, called At the Pearl Palms Concert Theatre

The Bosnia and Herzegovina men's national under-16 and under-17 basketball team is the representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina in international basketball competitions, it is formed and run by the Basketball Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnia and Herzegovina men's national under-16 basketball team represents Bosnia and Herzegovina at the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship and the Bosnia and Herzegovina men's national under-17 basketball team at the FIBA Under-17 World Championship. On 27 July 2007, in the first game of the Division B of the FIBA Europe Championship and Herzegovina beat Armenia by 236–27, becoming this game as one of the highest margin wins in any international game. Bosnia and Herzegovina won two gold medals in 2015, winning both 2015 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival as well as 2015 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship. Winning the European Under-16 Championship caused massive celebrations throughout the streets of Bosnia. On August 17, 2015 in Sarajevo, close to 50,000 Bosnia and Herzegovina national team supporters welcomed the under-16 European champions home.

2018 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship 2016 FIBA Under-17 World Championship Bosnia and Herzegovina national basketball team Bosnia and Herzegovina men's national under-20 and under-21 basketball team Bosnia and Herzegovina men's national under-18 and under-19 basketball team Bosnia and Herzegovina women's national basketball team Bosnia and Herzegovina women's national under-20 and under-21 basketball team Bosnia and Herzegovina women's national under-18 and under-19 basketball team Basketball Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina