Euboea or Evia is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait. In general outline it is a narrow island, its geographic orientation is from northwest to southeast, it is traversed throughout its length by a mountain range, which forms part of the chain that bounds Thessaly on the east, is continued south of Euboea in the lofty islands of Andros and Mykonos. It forms most of the regional unit of Euboea, which includes Skyros and a small area of the Greek mainland. Like most of the Greek islands, Euboea was known under other names in Antiquity, such as Macris and Doliche from its elongated shape, or Ellopia and Abantis from the tribes inhabiting it, its ancient and current name, Εὔβοια, derives from the words εὖ "good", βοῦς "ox", meaning " the well oxen". In the Middle Ages, the island was referred to by Byzantine authors by the name of its capital, Chalcis or Euripos, although the ancient name Euboea remained in use by classicizing authors until the 15th century.

The phrase στὸν Εὔριπον'to Evripos', rebracketed as στὸ Νεὔριπον'to Nevripos', became Negroponte in Italian by folk etymology, the ponte'bridge' being interpreted as the bridge of Chalcis. This name was most relevant; that name entered common use in the West in the 13th century, with other variants being Egripons and Negropont. Under Ottoman rule, the island and its capital were known as Eğriboz or Ağriboz, again after the Euripos strait. Euboea was believed to have formed part of the mainland, to have been separated from it by an earthquake; this is probable, because it lies in the neighbourhood of a fault line, both Thucydides and Strabo write that the northern part of the island had been shaken at different periods. In the neighbourhood of Chalcis, both to the north and the south, the bays are so confined as to make plausible the story of Agamemnon's fleet having been detained there by contrary winds. At Chalcis itself, where the strait is narrowest at only 40 m, it is called the Euripus Strait.

The extraordinary changes of tide that take place in this passage have been a subject of note since classical times, it was so feared by sailors that the principal line of traffic from the north of the Aegean to Athens used to pass by Chalcis and the Euboic Sea. At one moment the current runs like a river in one direction, shortly afterwards with equal velocity in the other. A bridge was first constructed here in the twenty-first year of the Peloponnesian War. Geography and nature divide the island itself into three distinct parts: the fertile and forested north; the main mountains include Pyxaria in the northeast and Ochi. The neighboring gulfs are the Pagasetic Gulf in the north, Malian Gulf, North Euboean Gulf in the west, the Euboic Sea and the Petalion Gulf. At the 2001 census the island had a population of 198,130, a total land area of 3,684 square kilometres; the history of the island of Euboea is that of its two principal cities and Eretria, both mentioned in the Catalogue of Ships. Both cities were settled by Ionian Greeks from Attica, would settle numerous colonies in Magna Graecia and Sicily, such as Cumae and Rhegium, on the coast of Macedonia.

This opened new trade routes to the Greeks, extended the reach of Western Civilization. The commercial influence of these city-states is evident in the fact that the Euboic scale of weights and measures was used among the Ionic cities and in Athens until the end of the 7th century BC, during the time of Solon; the classicist Barry B. Powell has proposed that Euboea may have been where the Greek alphabet was first employed, c. 775-750 BC, that Homer may have spent part of his life on the island. Chalcis and Eretria were rival cities, appear to have been powerful for a while. One of the earliest major military conflicts in Greek history took place between them, known as the Lelantine War, in which many other Greek city-states took part. In 490 BC, Eretria was utterly ruined and its inhabitants were transported to Persia. Though it was restored nearby its original site after the Battle of Marathon, the city never regained its former eminence. Following the infamous battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium, Persian forces captured and sacked Athens, took Euboea and Attica, allowing them to overrun all of Greece.

Both cities lost influence to Athens, which saw Euboea as a strategic territory. Euboea was an important source of grain and cattle, controlling the island meant Athens could prevent invasion and better protect its trade routes from piracy. Athens settled 4,000 Attic Greeks on their lands. After this conflict, the whole of the island was reduced to an Athenian dependency. Another struggle between Euboea and Athens broke out in 446. Led by Pericles, the Athenians subdued the revolt, captured Histiaea in the north of the island for their own settlement. By 410 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, the island succeeded in regaining its independence. Euboea participated in Greek affairs until falling under the control of P

Vitalij Aab is a German ice hockey player, playing for Höchstadter EC in the German Oberliga. Vitalij Aab's professional debut was at the age of 17 for EC Wilhelmshaven. In his second season, he scored 28 points. In 1999, he was promoted into the second division with Wilhelmshaven. Two years he transferred to the Nürnberg Ice Tigers, where he played for three years. During this time he played so well that the German national coach called him up to play for the German national ice hockey team. Aab had the worst season of his career in 2004–05 with the Adler Mannheim, he switched to the Iserlohn Roosters. After struggling at first, Aab's performance improved dramatically. At the end of the season, he was the highest scorer in Germany. Before the 2006–07 season, he signed with the Hamburg Freezers. Aab returned to the Ice Tigers, now known as the Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers, in 2010. Vitalij Aab career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database Vitalij Aab career statistics at EliteProspects.com

Pootkee Balihari Area is one of the 12 operational areas of BCCL located in Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district in the state of Jharkhand, India. The Pootkee Balihari Area office is located at 23.7544°N 86.3628°E / 23.7544. The Pootkee Balihari Area is located about 10 km to the south-east of Dhanbad Junction railway station. National Highway 18 / runs just north of the Area; the map placed below shows some of the collieries in the Area. However, as the collieries do not have individual pages, there are no links in the full screen map. In the map placed further down, all places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map; the producing mines are: P. B. Project Colliery, KB. 10/12 Pits/ Colliery, Bhagaband Colliery and Gopalichak Colliery. The non-producing mines are: KB. 5/6 Pits Colliery, Kenduadih Colliery and Pootkee Colliery. Other units are: B. C. Colliery, Ekra Workshop, Kenduadih Auto Workshop and 132 kv substation; the Pootkee Balihari has a target of producing 3 million tonnes per annum.

Producing mines: The new 1&2 sections of PB section and SB 5/7 pit section was amalgamated in 2005 to form PB Project Colliery. It is located in the central part of the Jharia Coalfield on the Bhaga Putkee Road and has a mineable reserve of 571.03 million tonnes. KB 10/12 Pits colliery operates in XVI seam with hydraulic sand stowing, it was earlier worked by Sethia Brothers. It has a mineable reserve of 3.501 million tonnes. Bhagaband Colliery, located 4 km east of Putkee was started by Bird & Heigers Co. in 1932. The 17 bottom incline was closed in 2005. Now there is one depillaring panel with stowing in XV seam, it has a mineable reserve of 3.401 million tonnes. Gopalichak Colliery was formed by amalgamation of several old mines. Depillaring with stowing is being carried out in X seam, it has a mineable reserve of 146.14 million tonnes. Non-producing mines:Kenduadih Colliery is an old mine, started in 1892, it was earlier worked by East India Coal Company. Working was stopped in 1992, it has a mineable reserve of 144.63 million tonnes.

Putkee Colliery stopped working, except pumping, in 2006 for shifting the existing pit landing from XII seam to X seam. It has a mineable reserve of 83.05 million tonnes. An overview of the proposed mining activity plan in Cluster XI, a group of 7 mines in PB Area plus Moonidih Mine, as of 2012, is as follows:1. Gopalichak colliery is an operating open cast colliery. With a normative annual production capacity of 0.50 million tonnes per year and peak annual production capacity of 0.65 million tonnes per year, it had an expected life of more than 25 years. 2. Kachi Balihari 10/12 pit is an operating underground colliery. With a normative annual production capacity of 0.09 million tonnes per year and peak annual production capacity of 0.117 million tonnes per year, it had an expected life of 9 years. 3. PB Project is an operating underground colliery. With a normative annual production capacity of 0.8 million tonnes per year and peak annual production capacity of 1.04 million tonnes per year, it had an expected life of more than 30 years.

4. Bhagabandh colliery is an operating underground colliery. With a normative annual production capacity of 0.08 million tonnes per year and peak annual production capacity of 0.104 million tonnes per year, it had an expected life of 5 years. 5. Kenduadih colliery is an operating open cast colliery. With a normative annual production capacity of 0.20 million tonnes per year and peak annual production capacity of 0.26 million tonnes per year, it had an expected life of more than 25 years. 6. Pootkee colliery is a non-producing underground colliery. 7. Kachi Balihari 5/6 pit colliery is a non-producing underground colliery. Jharia is famous for a coal field fire; the first fire was detected in 1916. According to records, it was the Khas Jharia mines of Seth Khora Ramji, a pioneer of Indian coalmines, whose mines were one of the firsts to collapse in underground fire in 1930. Two of his collieries, Khas Jharia and Golden Jharia, which worked on maximum 260-foot-deep shafts, collapsed due to now infamous underground fires, in which their house and bungalow collapsed on 8 November 1930, causing 18 feet subsidence and widespread destruction.

The fire never stopped despite sincere efforts by mines department and railway authorities and in 1933 flaming crevasses lead to exodus of many residents. The 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake led to further spread of fire and by 1938 the authorities had declared that there is raging fire beneath the town with 42 collieries out of 133 on fire. In 1972, more than 70 mine fires were reported in this region; as of 2007, more than 400,000 people who reside in Jharia are living on land in danger of subsidence due to the fires, according to Satya Pratap Singh, "Jharia township is on the brink of an ecological and human disaster". The government has been criticized for a perceived lackadaisical attitude towards the safety of the people of Jharia. Heavy fumes emitted by the fires lead to severe health problems such as breathing disorders and skin diseases among the local population. There are 6 fire-affected sites in Pootkee Balihari Area. Of these two have been sealed and the fire in the remaining four are under control but requires action.

In a study conducted for the identification of subsidence prone areas it has been found that there are 75 inhabited areas sitting on coal-bearing areas in the Pootkee Balihari Area. Out of these only one site is on wholly stable ground, 65 sites are wholly on subsidence prone area and the rest are on stable and subsidence prone area