Bistrița is the capital city of Bistrița-Năsăud County, in northern Transylvania, Romania. It is situated on the River Bistrița; the city has a population of 70,000 inhabitants, it administers six villages: Ghinda, Sărata, Sigmir, Slătinița, Unirea and Viișoara. The town was named after the Bistrița River, whose name comes from the Slavic word bystrica meaning'fast-moving water'; the earliest sign of settlement in the area of Bistrița is in Neolithic remains. The Turkic Pechenegs settled the area in 12th century following attacks of the Cumans. Transylvanian Saxons settled the area in 1206 and called the region "Nösnerland". A large part of settlers were fugitives and poor people looking for lands and opportunities; the destruction of Markt Nosa under the Mongols of central Europe is described in a document from 1241. Situated on several trade routes, Bistrița became a flourishing medieval trading post. Bistrița became a free royal town in 1330. In 1353, King Louis I of Hungary granted the town the right to organize an annual 15-day fair on Saint Bartholomew day, as well as a seal containing the coat of arms of an ostrich with a horseshoe in its beak.

The town is given the right to be surrounded by defensive walls in 1409. In 1465, the city's fortifications had 18 defensive towers and bastions defended by the local guilds, it was defended by a Kirchenburg, or fortified church. The town was badly damaged by fire five times between 1836 and 1850; the church suffered from fire in 1857, when the bells were destroyed. The roof was rebuilt after several years. Fires in the nineteenth century destroyed much of the city's medieval citadel. A Jewish community developed in Bistrița after the prohibition on Jewish settlement there was lifted in 1848, organizing itself in the 1860s; the synagogue, consecrated in 1893, is among Transylvania's most impressive. The community was Orthodox with a strong Hasidic section, but there were Jews who adopted German and Hungarian culture. A Zionist youth organization, was founded in Bistrița in 1901 by Nissan Kahan, who corresponded with Theodor Herzl and there was significant support for the Zionist movement in the town between the two world wars.

A large yeshivah flourished under the direction of the rabbi of Bistrița, Solomon Zalman Ullmann, between 1924 and 1942. In World War I, 138 Bistrița Jews were conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army; the city was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918. On December 1 that year, Transylvania united with Romania, Romanian Army troops entered Bistrița on December 5; the city reverted to Hungarian control between 1940 and 1944 and was reintegrated, with all of Northern Transylvania, into Romania after World War II. During World War II, the Hungarian authorities deported several dozen Jewish families in 1941 from Bistrița to Kamenets-Podolski in the Ukraine, where they were killed by Hungarian soldiers; the Jews of Bistrița, as elsewhere in Hungary, were subjected to restrictions, Jewish men of military age were drafted for forced labor service. In May 1944, the Jewish population was forced into the Bistrița ghetto, set up at Stamboli Farm, about two miles from the city; the ghetto consisted of a number of pigsties.

At its peak, the ghetto held close to 6,000 Jews, including those brought in from the neighboring communities in Beszterce-Naszód County. Among these were the Jews of Borgóbeszterce, Borgóprund, Kisilva, Marosborgó, Nagysajó, Naszód, Óradna, Romoly; the ghetto was liquidated with the deportation of its inhabitants to Auschwitz in two transports on June 2 and 6, 1944. Bistrița, capital of Bistrița-Năsăud județ, northern Romania. Settled in the 12th century by immigrant Germans, it acquired free-city status in 1353. Holding an annual fair, it developed extensive markets throughout Moldavia, its craftsmen travelled extensively. In 1713 the Romanian population was expelled by the Saxon magistrates, but they returned and Bistrița was joined to Romania in 1918, along with all of Transylvania, it was part of Hungary from 1940 to 1944. Foodstuffs and building materials are important in the economy; the area around the town is noted for its timber and wines. Năsăud, a few miles northwest, is famous for its timber and fruit and for the fine embroidery on traditional peasant costumes.

Pop. 83,039. On June 11, 2008, the tower and roof of the church caught fire when three children who went to steal copper set it on fire while playing; the main part of the church suffered just a little damage and is not in much danger, the interior being intact. It is speculated. According to the last census, from 2011, there were 75,076 people living within the city of Bistrița, making it the 30th largest city in Romania; the ethnic makeup was as follows: Romanians: 64,214 Hungarians: 4,109 Roma: 1,644 Germans: 304 Others: 0.16%Prior to World War II there was a sizable Jewish community living in the town. In 1891, 718 of the 9,100 inhabitants were Jews. In 1941 there are 2,358. In 1947 1,300 Jews resettled in Bistrița, including survivors from the extermination camps, former residents of neighboring villages, others liberated from the Nazi concentration camps. Given continuing discrimination and unfavorable political conditions, the Jewish population decl

Chang Ming-huang is a Taiwanese discus thrower and shot putter. He has been focusing on shot put only since 2006, he trained in National College of Physical Education during his university study in Taiwan. He has trained in China for a period, he has trained with Werner Goldmann in Berlin from June 2007 until 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He has been training with Donald Babbitt in Athens, GA, USA, since Feb 2010, his personal best shot-put throw is 20.58 metres, achieved in Aug 2011 in Athens, Georgia, USA. This is the national record in Taiwan; this performance qualified him for the 2012 London Olympic Games. On 3 August 2012, Ming-Huang threw 20.25 meters in the qualification round of the Men's Shot-Put at the London Olympic Games and became the 2nd Asian athlete to get into the final in the history of the event. In the evening, he threw 19.99 meters and was ranked 12th in the final. Ming-Huang is sponsored by Chinese Taipei Athletics Association & Taiwan Sport Administration of Ministry of Education and Adidas.

CTAA represents Ming-Huang Chang for all foreign affairs. Ming-Huang is employed by National Taiwan University of Physical Education and Sport as a throwing coach. Chang Ming-huang at World Athletics

Sir Emmanuel Neville Cenac, GCSL, GCMG is the Governor-General of Saint Lucia. He was appointed to that post in January 2018, he was best known as a Saint Lucian politician, serving as the country's foreign minister from 1987 to 1992. On 18 January 2018, Cenac was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 2018 Special Honours. In 2018, Cenac was appointed Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Lucia, in his capacity as Chancellor of the Order. Cenac was the brother of the late Winston Cenac, who served as prime minister of Saint Lucia for eight months from 1981 to 1982. Cenac was the leader of the opposition Saint Lucia Labour Party in December 1982, during a constitutional dispute over the status of Governor-General Boswell Williams. John Compton, the serving prime minister and a member of the governing United Workers Party, had taken steps to have Williams unseated. In response, Cenac wrote a letter to Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the monarch of Saint Lucia, asking her to disregard Compton's actions.

The dispute ended when Williams resigned on 13 December 1982. Cenac was returned as a Labour Party member of the Saint Lucian parliament during the country's two successive elections in April 1987; the website of the Saint Lucia Labour Party indicates that Cenac was elected for the Laborie constituency in two elections as well as representing the party at the municipal level in Castries. Cenac changed his political affiliation on 2 June 1987, joining the United Workers Party group in parliament and becoming the country's foreign minister; when asked why he changed sides, Cenac responded, "broken promises." The change increased the Workers Party's legislative majority from one vote to three votes. Cenac spoke before the United Nations General Assembly in October 1987, saying that Saint Lucia was considering political union with other small Caribbean nations, he argued that quality of life issues could be improved if the region no longer had to support "seven governors-general, seven prime ministers, 60 ministers for a total population for about 500,000."

Cenac accused Guatemala of threatening the sovereignty of Belize. In August 1989, Cenac and other Caribbean foreign ministers met with Haitian head of state General Prosper Avril on the subject of future elections in the country. Cenac served as foreign minister until 1992, he was president of the Senate of Saint Lucia from October 1993 to June 1997

On 8 May 2015, a Mil Mi-17 transport helicopter of the Pakistan Army Aviation Corps crashed in Naltar, in the Gilgit District of the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan, killing eight people. Among the victims were the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines to Pakistan, as well as the spouses of the Indonesian and Malaysian ambassadors to Pakistan, three crew. Government officials and international dignitaries were travelling to the Naltar Valley where the Prime Minister was hosting lunch for the members of the diplomatic corps. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was scheduled to travel by fixed-wing aircraft, while 32 foreign diplomats and their spouses as well as 25 other Pakistanis were flown in from Islamabad to Gilgit Airport hours earlier, from where a flight of four helicopters was scheduled to transport them to nearby Naltar. Two of the helicopters had landed at the time of the incident; the helicopter crashed while landing. The Pakistani dignitaries and international diplomats from 37 countries along with their families were on a three-day visit to Gilgit-Baltistan as part of the efforts of the Government to showcase the beauty and culture of Northern Areas.

The programme included Lunch by the Prime Minister at Naltar, visits to Hunza, Altit Fort, Baltit Fort, Atabad Lake and Phunder Lake including cultural/sports activities. The delegation had been flown in from Nur Khan Air Force base in Islamabad to Gilgit Airport via Pakistan Air Force's C-130 transport aircraft, arriving earlier in the morning. From Gilgit Airport, the delegation was scheduled to be ferried via a convoy of three Pakistan Army's Mil Mi-17 helicopters to Naltar Valley, located 45 km from Gilgit. Naltar is part of the Karakoram mountain range and is the oldest ski resort in the country, located at 10,000 feet. At the time of the incident, the two other helicopters carrying delegation members had landed; the helicopter crash landed into the roof of an Army Public School building in Naltar while it was preparing to land at the helipad nearby. A local farmer who lived about 100 metres away from the school told Reuters that the school was closed at the time of the crash. According to eyewitnesses, while the helicopter was landing, it lost control, began swinging and stalled mid-air, dropped crashing onto the school building roof.

The crash was followed by an explosion and the helicopter caught fire, followed by the school building. Police and emergency medics rushed to the site, breaking the helicopter windows and dragged people out for evacuation. An explosion occurred a few minutes injured some medics; the injured were air lifted to the local Combined Military Hospital. The Police cordoned off the area, following up on security arrangements, made three days earlier ahead of the Prime Minister's visit. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on a plane and en route to Gilgit upon hearing of the incident, cancelled his trip and returned to Islamabad; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tasked the Crisis Management Cell with inquiries on the crash. The incident was the worst aviation accident in the country since the Bhoja Air's Flight 213 crash in 2012, which resulted in 127 deaths, it was the most serious aviation accident involving the deaths of dignitaries since the 1988 Pakistan One C-130 crash, which killed President Zia-ul-Haq, American ambassador Arnold Raphel and other key American officials.

There have been four Mi-17 helicopter crashes in Pakistan, including three minor ones in 2004, 2007 and 2012, a major one in 2009. The helicopter was carrying a total of three crew. Of the passengers, 11 were foreigners and six were Pakistanis. Eight people died in the crash: the two pilots, a crew member, three ambassadors – Leif Larsen of Norway, Domingo Lucenario of the Philippines, Burhan Muhammad of Indonesia, as well as the spouses of the high commissioner of Malaysia and ambassador of Indonesia, Habibah Mahmud, Heri Listyawati Burhan Muhammad; the ambassadors of Poland, the Netherlands, Romania and the high commissioners of Malaysia and South Africa were among the wounded, suffering minor to critical injuries. The casualties' names were released by the Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations, Major-General Asim Bajwa; the helicopter crash was attributed to technical and mechanical fault, indicated by the air force inquiries. Initial military reports suggested engine failure.

Developing reports revealed a failure in the helicopter's tail rotor while it was landing, which caused it to lose control and crash. The black box was recovered. According to Foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmad, "It was purely an accident, accidents do happen." Ahmad added that the helicopter was serviced with the last service taking place 11 hours before the crash. The Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Air Staff constituted a military board of inquiry, the results of which would be made available to the public. One air force official explained how due to mountain ranges the region was an difficult terrain for helicopter flights, adding "It was close to landing when it started to spin. So, most it is a tail rotor malfunction." Testaments by the Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Suhail Aman stated that the behavior of the helicopter was normal before landing and the pilots had contact with the base commander. The helicopter lost control due to mechanical failure moments before it was about to land.

Air Chief Marshal Aman added that the pilots were "pro

Zhelaizhai is a village on the edge of the Gobi desert in Gansu province, China. The area was renamed after Liqian, an ancient county, is located in Jiaojiazhuang township, Yongchang County; some of the modern-day residents of Zhelaizhai, now known as Liqian village, have been suspected to be descendants of a group Roman soldiers that were never accounted for after being captured in the Battle of Carrhae. Although this story has been seized upon by enthusiastic area residents and non-specialist Westerners, at least two eminent Chinese authorities have shown that the notion has serious shortcomings. Zhelaizhai received much attention from international media and researchers due to a hypothesis which states that its inhabitants may have descended from the Romans; the area of the former Liqian County is known for the distinctive physical appearance of its inhabitants. The population has higher frequencies of traits prevalent in Europe, such as aquiline noses, blonde or light-colored hair, blue or green eyes, fair skin tones.

In the 1940s, Homer H. Dubs, a professor of Chinese history at the University of Oxford, suggested that the people of Liqian were descended from Roman legionaries taken prisoner at the Battle of Carrhae. Several investigations of Dubs' theory have been conducted. To date, no artifacts which might confirm a Roman presence, such as coins or weaponry, have been discovered in Zhelaizhai. Rob Gifford, commenting on the theory, described it as one of many "rural myths"; the history records of the town indicate that it was founded by captured combatants of the Battle of Zhizhi during 36 BC. A geography book of the eastern Han Dynasty records that "Local people call the ancestors of the Roman prisoners-of-war Lijian", a Chinese term for being of Greco-Roman origin. People with normatively Caucasoid traits and/or who spoke Indo-European languages lived in areas that are now part of Gansu and Xinjiang centuries before the Romans, including the Yuezhi, Basmyls and some prehistoric Siberian populations.

One or more of these peoples may have been responsible for the Caucasoid Tarim mummies of Xinjiang. Genetic testing in 2005 revealed that 56% of the DNA of some Zhelaizhai residents could be classified as Caucasoid but did not determine their origins. A subsequent DNA study in 2007 found that "paternal genetic variation" did not support "a Roman mercenary origin" and that the modern population of Liqian was consistent genetically with it being a "subgroup of the Chinese majority Han." Zhelaizhai lies in the Hexi Corridor in the northern region of China, on the eastern edge of the Gobi Desert. It is rural, with the nearest city being 300 kilometres distant. Sino-Roman relations

Around 650 AD, Jamaica was colonized by the people of the Ostionoid culture, who came from South America. Alligator Pond in Manchester Parish and Little River in St. Ann Parish are among the earliest known sites of this Ostionoid culture known as the Redware culture; these people lived near the coast and extensively hunted turtles and fish. Around 950 AD, the people of the Meillacan culture settled on both the coast and the interior of Jamaica, either absorbing the Redware culture or co-inhabiting the island with them; the Taíno culture developed on Jamaica around 1200 AD. They brought from South America a system of raising yuca known as "conuco." To add nutrients to the soil, the Taíno burned local bushes and trees and heaped the ash into large mounds, into which they planted yuca cuttings. Taíno society was divided into two classes: mitaínos; these were governed by chiefs known as caciques, who were advised by priests/healers known as bohiques. Caciques enjoyed the privilege of wearing golden pendants called guanín and sitting on wooden stools to be above the guests they received.

Bohiques were extolled for their healing powers and ability to speak with gods. The Taíno had a matrilineal system of kinship and inheritance; when a male heir was not present, the inheritance or succession would go to the oldest male child of the deceased's sister. The Taíno had avunculocal post-marital residence, meaning a newly married couple lived in the household of the maternal uncle, he was more important in the lives of his niece's children than their biological father. Most Taíno lived in large circular buildings, constructed with wooden poles, woven straw, palm leaves; these houses, built surrounding the central plaza, could hold 10-15 families each. The cacique and his family lived in rectangular buildings of similar construction, with wooden porches. Taíno home furnishings included cotton hammocks and sitting mats made of palms, wooden chairs with woven seats and cradles for children; the Taíno played. Opposing teams used a solid rubber ball; the teams were composed of men, but women played the game as well.

The games were played on courts in the village's center plaza and are believed to have been used for conflict resolution between communities. The most elaborate ball courts are found at chiefdoms' boundaries. Chiefs made wagers on the possible outcome of a game. Taino did not have writing; some of the words used by them, such as barbacoa, kanoa, yuca and juracán, have been incorporated into Spanish and English