title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On the evening of 19 September 2006, while Thaksin was visiting New York City to attend a UN summit and speak at the Council on Foreign Relations, the army took control of Bangkok. At Government House, some 50 soldiers ordered approximately 220 policemen in the complex to lay down their weapons. Troops also surrounded the Thaicom satellite receiving station and state-run television station Channel 11. By the morning of 20 September, tanks and military vehicles armed with machine guns were stationed at Government House, the Royal Plaza, and Ratchadamnoen Avenue.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Troops participating in the coup were from the 1st and 3rd Army Regions, the Internal Security Operations Command, the Special Warfare Centre, army units from Nakhon Ratchasima and Prachinburi, and navy sailors. According to coup leader Army General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, coup leaders had arrested Deputy Prime Minister Chitchai Wannasathit and Defense Minister Thammarak Isaragura na Ayuthaya.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The military, originally calling itself the Council for Democratic Reform under the Constitutional Monarch (CDRM), issued a statement citing the government's alleged "lèse majesté", corruption, interference with state agencies, and creation of social divisions as reasons for the coup. It declared the King of Thailand the head of state, and said elections would be held soon to return democracy to the country. Thaksin departed New York for Great Britain, where he had family.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Many Thai Rak Thai party members were reported to have resigned from the party in the aftermath of the coup for fear that the party would be dissolved by the junta and its members banned from politics. These included Somsak Thepsuthin and 100 members of the Wang Nam Yen faction. It was not clear whether Suriya Jungrungreangkit, another influential member of the faction, would also resign. Sontaya Kunplome was reported to have led 20 members of the Chonburi faction in resigning from the party.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 2 October 2006 Thaksin and his former deputy Somkid Jatusipitak resigned from the TRT. Chaturon Chaisang took over as party head.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The TRT was dissolved on 30 May 2007 by the Constitutional Tribunal, which banned over 100 of its executives, including Thaksin, from politics for five years, based on charges that two party executives (Defense Minister Thammarak and Pongsak Raktapongpaisarn) bribed a smaller party to stand in the April 2006 election. The Democrat party was cleared on a similar charge.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 31 December 2006 and 1 January 2007, several bombs exploded in Bangkok, killing three and wounding a number of bystanders. Prime Minister General Surayud Chulanont accused "those who lost power as a result of the military takeover" of masterminding the bombings, but did not directly identify Thaksin. Thaksin went on CNN to publicly deny any involvement in the bombings. The government did not make any arrests in the case.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin's diplomatic passport was revoked on 31 December 2006 after the junta accused him of engaging in political activities while in exile. Thai embassies were ordered not to aid him in his travels.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: A junta-appointed Assets Examination Committee (AEC) froze Thaksin's assets and attempted to bring charges against him. The AEC was criticised for being stacked with anti-Thaksin appointees. At one point, AEC Secretary Kaewsan Atibodhi claimed that "evidence and witnesses are useless", when an AEC panel recommended legal action without hearing 300 witnesses or considering 100 additional pieces of evidence. The AEC froze Thaksin's assets.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In January 2007, the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF) complied with an AEC request to file a charge against Thaksin and his wife for their purchase of four 772 million baht plots of land from the FIDF in 2003. The charge was based on an alleged violation of Article 100 of the National Counter Corruption Act, which prohibits government officials and their spouses from entering into or having interests in contracts made with state agencies under their authority.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The AEC also accused Thaksin of issuing an unlawful cabinet resolution approving the spending of state funds to buy rubber saplings.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In March 2007, the Office of the Attorney-General charged Thaksin's wife and brother-in-law with conspiring to evade taxes of 546 million baht (US$15.6 million) in a 1997 transfer of Shin Corporation shares.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The AEC found Thaksin guilty of malfeasance for obstructing competition by imposing an excise tax on telecom operators. Thaksin's Cabinet had approved the relevant executive decree in 2003.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: As prime minister, Thaksin had unsuccessfully sought to buy the English Premier League football clubs Fulham and later Liverpool, in what critics claimed was a publicity stunt in response to his political problems.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 21 June 2007, now out of office, Thaksin bought Premier League club Manchester City for £81.6 million. He became briefly popular with fans (who nicknamed him "Frank"), especially after appointing Sven-Göran Eriksson manager of the club and bringing in prominent players. Eriksson was later critical of Thaksin's running of the club, saying "he [Thaksin] didn't understand football – he hadn't a clue." He sold the club to investors from Abu Dhabi United Group in September 2008 for a reported £200 million.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: After selling Manchester City, Thaksin was nominated as "honorary president" but did not have any administrative responsibilities. However, he was later dismissed as honorary club president after the club took a position against him following his conviction and was "on the run" from Thai authorities.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In May 2007, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said Thaksin was free to return to Thailand, and he would personally guarantee Thaksin's safety. In January 2008 Thaksin's wife Potjaman was arrested on arrival in Bangkok but released on bail after appearing at the Supreme Court, with orders not to leave the country. She was set to be tried for alleged violation of stock-trading and land sale laws.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 28 February 2008, Thaksin arrived in Bangkok after 17 months in exile. Thaksin stated that he would not re-enter politics and wished to focus on his football interests. In March Thaksin pleaded not guilty before the Supreme Court in one of his two criminal corruption cases. He was ordered to report back on 11 April after the court granted a month-long trip to England.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In June the Supreme Court denied Thaksin's request to travel to China and Britain, since his corruption case was set for trial and was ordered to surrender his passport after arraignment. In July the court assumed jurisdiction over the fourth corruption charge against Thaksin concerning soft loans to Burma. The court also agreed to hear allegations that Thaksin, his former cabinet, and three members of the current government broke anti-gambling laws by setting up the new state lottery in 2003.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Potjaman was found guilty on 31 July and sentenced to three years imprisonment, then released on bail. The Bangkok Criminal Court also convicted her adopted brother Bhanapot Damapong and her secretary, who allegedly held assets for Thaksin by proxy, of tax evasion.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 10 August 2008, Thaksin and Potjaman violated their bail terms by attending the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in Beijing. Stating that he wished to return to Thailand but claimed it was not currently safe for him and his family. Thaksin sought political asylum in the United Kingdom, claiming his political enemies were interfering with the judiciary. There is no evidence that he proceeded with his request and his asylum case was neither approved nor declined.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The Thailand Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions issued a second arrest warrant on 16 September 2008 against Thaksin over another of the four pending corruption cases and ordered suspension of the trial. Several more arrest warrants were issued over subsequent no-shows at various corruption trials.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 21 October 2008, the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions ruled that Thaksin, while prime minister, abused his power to help his wife buy public land at auction, and sentenced him to two years in jail.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Soon after, Thaksin told Reuters, "I have been informed of the result. I had long anticipated that it would turn out this way", and added that the case was politically motivated.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Chief prosecutor Seksan Bangsombun called on Britain to extradite him. Thaksin now denied he was seeking political asylum in Britain.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 10 November 2008, a Philippine spokesman said his government would "politely" turn down any request for political refuge from Thaksin due to Manila's "friendly" relations with Bangkok.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The British Government Home Office, meanwhile, revoked Potjaman and Thaksin's visas due to their convictions, while the Bangkok British Embassy e-mailed airlines asking them to disallow either of them to board flights to Britain. In late 2008, "Arabian Business" reported that the UK froze US$4.2 billion of his assets in the UK. The UK government did not confirm or deny this claim.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin had reportedly considered sanctuaries such as China, the Bahamas, Nicaragua, and several other countries in South America and Africa. Reports said the Shinawatras were granted honorary citizenship by the Bahamas and Nicaragua, and were building a £5.5 million home in China. As of late-May 2009, he reportedly remained in Dubai. A spokesman claimed Thaksin was travelling on six passports, none of them Thai. In December 2008 Thaksin obtained a residency permit for Germany which was subsequently withdrawn on 28 May 2009 when the German government became aware of the arrangement. Thaksin then obtained status as a diplomat of Nicaragua. Guido Westerwelle, German foreign minister, lifted the travel restriction banning Thaksin from entering Germany on 15 July 2011 after the election victory of Thaksin's proxy party.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In a November 2009 interview, Thaksin told "The Times" that he was living in Dubai, still had access to about US$100 million of his money outside of Thailand, and was investing in gold mines, diamond polishing, and lottery licenses in various countries.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In mid-April 2009, violent protests of mostly Thaksin supporters calling themselves the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) led to the cancellation of the ASEAN summit in Pattaya and a declaration of a state of emergency in Bangkok. Thaksin had given encouragement at UDD rallies via satellite and phone-in link, at one point calling for a "people's revolution". Following suppression of the protests he claimed to have merely been offering "moral support".


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin supported protests by the UDD against the Abhisit Vejjajiva government, demanding Thaksin be allowed to return free from all the earlier corruption charges. Thaksin denied leading the UDD, claiming he only gave them "moral support".


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In April 2009, Privy Councilor General Pichitr Kullavanijaya reported he had been informed by former US ambassador to Thailand Ralph L. Boyce that Thaksin had laundered 100 billion baht (US$2.8 billion) through Cayman Island bank accounts to organise the anti-government protests. Boyce himself said that he had "...no idea why he was cited as a knowledgeable source about where Thaksin may or may not have made deposits, and that he has no such information."


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 4 November 2009, it was announced that Thaksin had been appointed as special advisor to the Cambodian government and Hun Sen and stated that Cambodia would refuse to extradite Thaksin because it considered him a victim of political persecution. On 5 November 2009, both countries recalled their ambassadors.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva stated this was "the first diplomatic retaliation measure". Stating Cambodia was interfering in Thailand's internal affairs and as a result all bilateral agreements would be reviewed. Sok An, a member of the Council of Ministers and Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia, said Thaksin's appointment is a decision internal to Cambodia and "conforms to international practice". The mutual withdrawal of ambassadors is the most severe diplomatic action to have occurred between the two countries.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 11 November 2009, Sivarak Chutipong was arrested by Cambodian police for passing the confidential flight plans of Thaksin and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to Kamrob Palawatwichai, First Secretary of the Royal Thai Embassy in Cambodia. Sivarak was a Thai engineer working in Cambodia for Cambodia Air Traffic Service, the private firm which managed air traffic control in Cambodia. Sivarak denied that he was a spy, and the Thai government claimed that he was innocent and that the incident was a Thaksin/Cambodian plot to further damage relations between the two countries. The Thai First Secretary was expelled from Cambodia. Sivarak demanded that former First Secretary Kamrob speak out and restore his damaged reputation by confirming he was not involved in a spy ring. Kamrob refused to provide comment to the press throughout the controversy, and Kasit's secretary, Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, insisted that although that there was no misconduct on the part of the First Secretary or Sivarak, there would be no statement from Kamrob.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Sivarak was later sentenced to jail for seven years. Thaksin requested the Cambodian government to pardon Sivarak, and he was soon pardoned by King Norodom Sihamoni and expelled. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban later accused Sivarak of staging his own arrest in order to discredit the Abhisit government. Former Thai spy chief and Foreign Minister Prasong Soonsiri concurred, claiming, "It has been a set-up from the beginning.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On 26 February 2010, the Thai Supreme Court was scheduled to render its verdict on whether to seize Thaksin's Thai assets, worth 76 billion baht frozen by the AEC after the coup. The AEC froze the assets under the authority of Announcement No. 30 of the military junta. Tensions ran high throughout Thailand. Tens of thousands of government security forces were deployed, particularly in routes leading to Bangkok. However, the UDD denied that it would rally on the date of the verdict. The nine Supreme Court judges had to make a judgment on accusations of abnormal wealth through policy corruption. Policy corruption, was defined by the court as the abuse of powers by implementing economic policies that, while in themselves legal and of potential benefit to society and the economy, also aided companies that were owned in part by the policy maker. The prosecution claimed that Thaksin abused his powers five times while premier.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The court first ruled that Thaksin and Potjaman were the real owners of the assets, rather than his children and relatives. The court also ruled that it had the authority to seize assets, based on the announcements of the junta. The court found Thaksin guilty of four out of five policy corruption, and ordered that 46 billion baht be seized. The remaining 30 billion was to remain frozen.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The judges decided to seize 46 billion differences in value of Shin Corp. shares from the date when he came to office and the value when the shares were sold to Singapore's Temasek Holdings in early 2006. Note that, Thaksin had declared around 500 million baht in assets and Pojaman had 8 billion to 9 billion baht while Thaksin served as prime minister. Nevertheless, during that period, Shin shares gained 121%, compared with a 128% gain in the benchmark SET index, while Siam Cement, one of Thailand's premier blue chip companies, gained 717%. The judges did not find that Thaksin was guilty of malfeasance. They also noted that any benefit to the government from Thaksin's policies was irrelevant to the ruling. The government reaped approximately 100 billion baht in increased revenue from changes in the concession agreements alone.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: In an email to his supporters, Thaksin claimed that the court was used as a tool. He also noted how the Thai stock market rose to the benefit of many companies, not just his, and claimed that all charges against him were politically motivated. He thanked his supporters for not protesting while the verdict was being read, and implored them to use non-violent means in the future. Pojaman na Pombejra insisted that tens of billions of baht of her wealth had been given to her children and relatives well before Thaksin took office in 2001 and denied that her children and relatives were nominees of her and her husband. She also denied having any control over Ample Rich and Win Mark, two firms that the AEC had accused of being her nominees. In spite of Pojaman's claim, Thaksin was the authorised signature for Ample Rich through 2005, making him the only individual authorised to withdraw funds from the company's account until he transferred the authority to his children, four years after he took office in 2001.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Some UDD members held a small protest in front of the court, but did not disrupt the ruling as the government had predicted they would. The UDD leaders announced that a large-scale protest was scheduled to be held on 14 March 2010.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: On the evening of 27 February, M67 grenades were thrown from a motorcycle outside three branches of Bangkok Bank. Nobody was hurt or injured in the attacks. The perpetrators were not caught, and no organisation claimed responsibility for the attacks. Thaksin and the UDD were quick to deny any involvement. An arrest warrant was issued based on sketches of a motorcycle driver.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The law does not allow the prime minister to run a side business while holding office. Charges were pressed against Thaksin on wealth concealment while in office.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Prior to the wealth declaration of Thaksin and his family when he took office, there had been an appeal to The National Anti-Corruption Commission that there were some suspicions about the numbers in the report.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Thaksin was charged with illegally concealing billions of baht of his wealth by transferring ownership of Shin Corp. shares to his drivers and maids without their knowledge. Thaksin tearfully told the Constitutional Court that it was an honest mistake before the Court acquitted him on the charges.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: There was also a controversy over whether there was any hidden tax evasion when Thaksin and Potjaman transferred their Shin Corporation shares to their children. Panthongtae and Pinthongta Shinawatra were accused of being nominees of their parents.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: The transfer of shares from Thaksin and Potjaman to Parnthongtae was claimed to have been a sham, since there was no actual transfer of money. Panthongtae said the shares were sold to him at cost. Thaksin stated he had a written agreement proving the transfer to his son. Prior to the transfer, Panthongtae had signed an agreement with his father to settle a 4.5 billion baht debt from buying 300 million shares of the Thai Military Bank (TMB). However, the actual market value of the TMB shares at that time was only 1.5 billion baht. This showed a "fake debt" of 3 billion baht had been created. The Assets Examination Committee (AEC) discovered that the account of Panthongtae's which had received Shin Corporation's dividend had also been used to transfer money to Potjaman's account, to the amount of 1.1 billion baht.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: Pintongtha was also accused of being a nominee for her parents. She said that the money from her mother was a "birthday present". This birthday present was used to buy 367 million shares of Shin Corporation, which left her brother with the same amount. The AEC found the account had been receiving dividends from Shin Corp. There were no transactions between Pintongtha's account and her mother's account. However, the dividend money was used to buy SC Asset shares from WinMark to the amount of 71 million baht and shares from 5 real-estate firms from 2 funds in 2004 worth 485 million baht.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: DSI, AEC, and Securities and Exchange Commission discovered that both WinMark and the two funds are owned by Thaksin and his former wife.


title: Thaksin Shinawatra

text: "The list of national honours received by Thaksin Shinawatra has been arranged as per the Thai honours order of precedence.


title: Voronezh

text: Voronezh () is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects western Russia with the Urals and Siberia, the Caucasus and Ukraine, and the M4 highway (Moscow–Voronezh–Rostov-on-Don–Novorossiysk). In recent years the city has experienced rapid population growth, rising in 2021 to 1,057,681, up from 889,680 recorded in the 2010 Census; making it the fourteenth most populous city in the country.


title: Voronezh

text: Information about the original urban layout of Voronezh is contained in the "Patrol Book" of 1615. At that time, the city fortress was logged and located on the banks of the Voronezh River. In plan, it was an irregular quadrangle with a perimeter of about 130 fathoms (238 m), that is, it was very small: inside it, due to lack of space, there was no housing or siege yards, and even the cathedral church was supposed to be taken out. However, at this small fortress there was a large garrison - 666 households of service people. These courtyards were reliably protected by the second line of fortifications by a standing prison on taras with 25 towers covered with earth; behind the prison was a moat, and beyond the moat there were nadolbs. Voronezh was a typical military settlement, which is clearly evidenced by the decisive predominance of service people in its population (about 70%), mainly "by device". In the city prison there were only settlements of military men: Streletskaya, Kazachya, Belomestnaya atamanskaya, Zatinnaya and Pushkarskaya; The posad population received the territory between the ostrog and the river, where the Monastyrskaya settlements (at the Assumption Monastery) was formed. Subsequently, the Yamnaya Sloboda was added to them, and on the other side of the fort, on the Chizhovka Mountain, the Chizhovskaya Sloboda of archers and Cossacks appeared. As a result, the Voronezh settlements surrounded the fortress in a ring. The location of the parish churches emphasized this ring-like and even distribution of settlements: the Ilyinsky Church of the Streletskaya Sloboda, the Pyatnitskaya Cossack and Pokrovskaya Belomestnaya were brought out to the passage towers of the prison. The Nikolskaya Church of the Streletskaya Sloboda was located near the marketplace (and, accordingly, the front facade of the fortress), and the paired ensemble of the Rozhdestvenskaya and Georgievskaya churches of the Cossack Sloboda marked the main street of the city, going from the Cossack Gate to the fortress tower.


title: Voronezh

text: The first chronicle references to the word "Voronezh" are dated 1177, when the Ryazan prince Yaropolk, having lost the battle, fled "to Voronozh" and there was moving "from town to town" Modern data of archeology and history interpret Voronezh as a geographical region, which included the Voronezh river (tributary of the Don) and a number of settlements. In the lower reaches of the river, a unique Slavic town-planning complex of the 8th – early 11th century was discovered, which covered the territory of the present city of Voronezh and its environs (about 42 km long, about 13 forts and many unfortified villages). By the 12th – 13th centuries, most of the old towns were desolate, but new settlements appeared upstream, closer to Ryazan.


title: Voronezh

text: For many years, the hypothesis of the Soviet historian Vladimir Zagorovsky dominated: he produced the toponym "Voronezh" from the hypothetical Slavic personal name "Voroneg". This man allegedly gave the name of a small town in the Chernigov Principality (now the village of Voronezh in Ukraine). Later, in the 11th or 12th century, the settlers were able to "transfer" this name to the Don region, where they named the second city Voronezh, and the river got its name from the city. However, now many researchers criticize the hypothesis, since in reality neither the name of "Voroneg" nor the second city was revealed, and usually the names of Russian cities repeated the names of the rivers, but not vice versa.


title: Voronezh

text: The linguistic comparative analysis of the name "Voronezh" was carried out by the Khovansky Foundation in 2009. There is an indication of the place names of many countries in Eurasia, which may partly be not only similar in sound, but also united by common Indo-European languages: Varanasi, Varna, Verona, Brno, etc.


title: Voronezh

text: A comprehensive scientific analysis was conducted in 2015–2016 by the historian Pavel Popov. His conclusion: "Voronezh" is a probable Slavic macrotoponym associated with outstanding signs of nature, has a root "voron-" (from the proto-Slavic "vorn") in the meaning of "black, dark" and the suffix "-ezh" "(-azh, -ozh"). It was not “transferred” and in the 8th - 9th centuries it marked a vast territory covered with black forests (oak forests) - from the mouth of the Voronezh river to the Voronozhsky annalistic forests in the middle and upper reaches of the river, and in the west to the Don (many forests were cut down). The historian believes that the main "city" of the early town-planning complex could repeat the name of the region – Voronezh. Now the hillfort is located in the administrative part of the modern city, in the Voronezh upland oak forest. This is one of Europe's largest ancient Slavic hillforts, the area of which – more than 9 hectares – 13 times the area of the main settlement in Kyiv before the baptism of Rus.


title: Voronezh

text: In it is assumed that the word "Voronezh" means bluing - a technique to increase the corrosion resistance of iron products. This explanation fits well with the proximity to the ancient city of Voronezh of a large iron deposit and the city of Stary Oskol.


title: Voronezh

text: Folk etymology claims the name comes from combining the Russian words for raven ("ворон") and hedgehog ("еж") into "Воронеж". According to this explanation two Slavic tribes named after the animals used this combination to name the river which later in turn provided the name for a settlement. There is not believed to be any scientific support for this explanation.


title: Voronezh

text: In the 16th century, the Middle Don basin, including the Voronezh river, was gradually conquered by Muscovy from the Nogai Horde (a successor state of the Golden Horde), and the current city of Voronezh was established in 1585 by Feodor I as a fort protecting the Muravsky Trail trade route against the raids of the Nogai and Crimean Tatars. The city was named after the river.


title: Voronezh

text: Peter the Great built a where the Azov Flotilla was constructed for the Azov campaigns in 1695 and 1696. This fleet, the first ever built in Russia, included the first Russian ship of the line, "Goto Predestinatsia". The Orthodox diocese of Voronezh was instituted in 1682 and its first bishop, Mitrofan of Voronezh, was later proclaimed the town's patron saint.


title: Voronezh

text: Owing to the Voronezh Admiralty Wharf, for a short time, Voronezh became the largest city of South Russia and the economic center of a large and fertile region. In 1711, it was made the seat of the Azov Governorate, which eventually morphed into the Voronezh Governorate.


title: Voronezh

text: In the 19th century, Voronezh was a center of the Central Black Earth Region. Manufacturing industry (mills, tallow-melting, butter-making, soap, leather, and other works) as well as bread, cattle, suet, and the hair trade developed in the town. A railway connected Voronezh with Moscow in 1868 and Rostov-on-Don in 1871.


title: Voronezh

text: During World War II, Voronezh was the scene of fierce fighting between Russian and combined Axis troops. The Germans used it as a staging area for their attack on Stalingrad, and made it a key crossing point on the Don River. In June 1941, two BM-13 (Fighting machine #13 "Katyusha") artillery installations were built at the Voronezh excavator factory. In July, the construction of "Katyushas" was rationalized so that their manufacture became easier and the time of volley repetition was shortened from five minutes to fifteen seconds. More than 300 BM-13 units manufactured in Voronezh were used in a counterattack near Moscow in December 1941. In October 22, 1941, the advance of the German troops prompted the establishment of a defense committee in the city. On November 7, 1941, there was a troop parade, devoted to the anniversary of the October Revolution. Only three such parades were organized that year: in Moscow, Kuybyshev, and Voronezh. In late June 1942, the city was attacked by German and Hungarian forces. In response, Soviet forces formed the Voronezh Front. By July 6, the German army occupied the western river-bank suburbs before being subjected to a fierce Soviet counter-attack. By July 24 the frontline had stabilised along the Voronezh River as the German forces continued southeast into the Great Bend of the Don. The attack on Voronezh represented the first phase of the German Army's 1942 campaign in the Soviet Union, codenamed Case Blue.


title: Voronezh

text: Until January 25, 1943, parts of the Second German Army and the Second Hungarian Army occupied the western part of Voronezh. During Operation Little Saturn, the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive, and the Voronezhsko-Kastornenskoy Offensive, the Voronezh Front exacted heavy casualties on Axis forces. On January 25, 1943, Voronezh was liberated after ten days of combat. During the war the city was almost completely ruined, with 92% of all buildings destroyed.


title: Voronezh

text: By 1950, Voronezh had been rebuilt. Most buildings and historical monuments were repaired. It was also the location of a prestigious Suvorov Military School, a boarding school for young boys who were considered to be prospective military officers, many of whom had been orphaned by war.


title: Voronezh

text: In 1950–1960, new factories were established: a tire factory, a machine-tool factory, a factory of heavy mechanical pressing, and others.


title: Voronezh

text: In 1968, Serial production of the Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic plane was established at the Voronezh Aviation factory. In October 1977, the first Soviet domestic wide-body plane, Ilyushin Il-86, was built there.


title: Voronezh

text: In 1989, TASS published details of an alleged UFO landing in the city's park and purported encounters with extraterrestrial beings reported by a number of children. A Russian scientist that was cited in initial TASS reports later told the Associated Press that he was misquoted, cautioning, "Don't believe all you hear from TASS," and "We never gave them part of what they published", and a TASS correspondent admitted the possibility that some "make-believe" had been added to the TASS story, saying, "I think there is a certain portion of truth, but it is not excluded that there is also fantasizing".


title: Voronezh

text: From 10 to 17 September 2011, Voronezh celebrated its 425th anniversary. The anniversary of the city was given the status of a federal scale celebration that helped attract large investments from the federal and regional budgets for development.


title: Voronezh

text: On December 17, 2012, Voronezh became the fifteenth city in Russia with a population of over one million people.


title: Voronezh

text: Today Voronezh is the economic, industrial, cultural, and scientific center of the Central Black Earth Region. As part of the annual tradition in the Russian city of Voronezh, every winter the main city square is thematically drawn around a classic literature. In 2020, the city was decorated using the motifs from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. In the year of 2021, the architects drew inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen" as well as the animation classic "The Snow Queen" from the Soviet Union. The fairy tale replica city will feature the houses of Kai and Gerda, the palace of the snow queen, an ice rink, and illumination.


title: Voronezh

text: Voronezh is the administrative center of the oblast. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as Voronezh Urban Okrug—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban okrug status.


title: Voronezh

text: At the time of the official 2010 Census, the ethnic makeup of the city's population whose ethnicity was known (877,868) was:


title: Voronezh

text: Note: 1926–1970 and 2016 are population estimates; 1989 is the Soviet Census; 2002 and 2010 are census urban population only.


title: Voronezh

text: The leading sectors of the urban economy in the 20th century were mechanical engineering, metalworking, the electronics industry and the food industry.


title: Voronezh

text: On the territory of the city district government Maslovka Voronezh region with the support of the Investment Fund of Russia, is implementing a project to create an industrial park, "Maslowski", to accommodate more than 100 new businesses, including the transformer factory of Siemens. On September 7, 2011 in Voronezh there opened a Global network operation center of Nokia Siemens Networks, which was the fifth in the world and the first in Russia.


title: Voronezh

text: A cluster of Oil and Gas Equipment, Radio-electronic cluster, Furniture cluster, IT cluster, Cluster aircraft, Cluster Electromechanics, Transport and logistics cluster, Cluster building materials and technologies.


title: Voronezh

text: The city is served by the Voronezh International Airport, which is located north of the city and is home to Polet Airlines. Voronezh is also home to the Pridacha Airport, a part of a major aircraft manufacturing facility VASO ("Voronezhskoye Aktsionernoye Samoletostroitelnoye Obshchestvo", Voronezh aircraft production association) where the Tupolev Tu-144 (known in the West as the "Concordski"), was built and the only operational unit is still stored. Voronezh also hosts the Voronezh Malshevo air force base in the southwest of the city, which, according to a Natural Resources Defense Council report, houses nuclear bombers.


title: Voronezh

text: Since 1868, there is a railway connection between Voronezh and Moscow. Rail services form a part of the South Eastern Railway of the Russian Railways. Destinations served direct from Voronezh include Moscow, Kyiv, Kursk, Novorossiysk, Sochi, and Tambov.


title: Voronezh

text: The main train station is called Voronezh-1 railway station and is located in the center of the city.


title: Voronezh

text: There are three Bus Stations in Voronezh that connect the city with a large number of destinations including Moscow, Belgorod, Lipetsk, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Astrakhan and many more.


title: Voronezh

text: Voronezh experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen: "Dfb") with long, cold winters and short, warm summers.


title: Voronezh

text: The city has seven theaters, twelve museums, a number of movie theaters, a philharmonic hall, and a circus. It is also a major center of higher education in central Russia. The main educational facilities include:


title: Voronezh

text: and a number of other affiliate and private-funded institutes and universities. There are 2000 schools within the city.


title: Voronezh

text: In 1682, the Voronezh diocese was formed to fight the schismatics. Its first head was Bishop Mitrofan (1623-1703) at the age of 58. Under him, the construction began on the new Annunciation Cathedral to replace the old one. In 1832, Mitrofan was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.


title: Voronezh

text: In the 1990s, many Orthodox churches were returned to the diocese. Their restoration was continued. In 2009, instead of the lost one, a new Annunciation Cathedral was built with a monument to St. Mitrofan erected next to it.


title: Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer song)

text: "Kiss Me" is a song by American pop rock band Sixpence None the Richer from their self-titled third album (1997). The ballad was released as a single on August 12, 1998, in the United States and was issued in international territories the following year. Several music critics compared the song to works by English alternative rock band the Sundays, and it was nominated for a Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 42nd Grammy Awards.


title: Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer song)

text: "Kiss Me" is the band's highest-charting single in the US, peaking at 2 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and becoming the country's sixth-best-selling single of 1999. Worldwide, the song reached No. 1 on the Australian and Canadian charts as well as No. 4 on the UK and New Zealand charts, making it the group's highest-charting single worldwide. Three music videos were made for the song, with one paying tribute to French romantic drama film "Jules and Jim" and two others featuring the band in the park, watching a portable television.


title: Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer song)

text: "Kiss Me" originated as a draft of a song written in a Netherlands motel. Lead vocalist Leigh Nash said the band had been in their rooms for about an hour when band member Matt Slocum called to let her know that he had composed a new song. Nash went on to say, "We were on tour over there, and we had a show that night at Flevo Festival. We performed it that night! I went down into his room and learned it. It was an instant hit with fans, but it was still like a year and a half before we recorded it."


title: Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer song)

text: The song has a more lighthearted, "poppier" sound compared to the band's prior work; thus, the band were reluctant to include it on their self-titled third album until their producer persuaded them to reconsider. Nash said early drafts of the song had "slightly edgier lyrics, with 'silver moon sparkling' originally written as 'cigarettes sparkling.'"


title: Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer song)

text: In January 1999, Miramax used "Kiss Me" as the main theme song of its teen romantic comedy film "She's All That". The film's box office success helped "Kiss Me" to gain widespread mainstream attention and chart success. In Italy, the film was retitled "Kiss Me". The song was also included on "Dawson's Creek"s first soundtrack in April 1999.


title: Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer song)

text: Rick Anderson of AllMusic described the song as "an utterly irresistible slice of swoony guitar pop" adding that "is impossible to shake loose from the brain and could well turn out to be this generation's 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand'". Chuck Taylor and Deborah Evans Price of "Billboard" magazine compared the song to those recorded by the Sundays. Taylor called the song "admirably well-written" and "brightly produced", further comparing the track to 10,000 Maniacs. British music columnist James Masterton also compared "Kiss Me" to the works of the Sundays, referring to the song as a cross with a mellow Cranberries song, and called it a "wonderful tapestry of jangling guitars". Jim Kerr of "Radio & Records" magazine wrote that the song is an "amazing piece of alterna-pop" reminiscent of the Sundays. Larry Flick of "Billboard" described "Kiss Me" as a "refreshing summertime tune" with "airy" production and "romantic" imagery. "Daily Record" said it is an "excellent pop song".


title: Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer song)

text: "Kiss Me" debuted on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 90 on the issue of November 28, 1998, but it fell out of the top 100 the following week. On February 13, 1999, it re-entered the listing at number 91, then took another 11 weeks to reach its peak of number two on May 1, where it stayed for a single issue. It stayed in the top 100 for 33 weeks, ending 1999 as the United States' sixth-most-successful song of the year. The single additionally peaked atop the "Billboard" Mainstream Top 40 chart and reached number two on the Adult Contemporary and Adult Top 40 charts. In Canada, "Kiss Me" debuted at number 45 on the "RPM" Top Singles chart on March 22 and rose to number one on May 10, becoming Canada's 11th-best-performing hit of 1999. It topped the "RPM" Adult Contemporary chart as well.


title: Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer song)

text: The track reached number one in Australia, where it stayed for three weeks in June 1999 following a four-week climb up the ARIA Singles Chart. It appeared at number 19 on the Australian year-end chart of 1999. In New Zealand, "Kiss Me" debuted at number 16 in May and rose to its peak of number four on July 18, spending 15 weeks in the top 50 and ending the year at number 44 on the RIANZ year-end chart. The song became a hit in several European countries, reaching the top 10 in Austria, Flanders, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. It peaked within the top 20 in Iceland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Wallonia, attaining a peak of number 15 on the Eurochart Hot 100. In France, it rose to number 32 in September 1999. "Kiss Me" has earned several certifications, earning platinum discs in Australia and the United Kingdom and gold discs in Belgium, New Zealand, and the US (digital and physical).


title: Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer song)

text: The original music video, directed by producer Steve Taylor and filmed in Paris, France, pays tribute to French filmmaker François Truffaut and his film "Jules et Jim", made in black and white and recreating many of the classic scenes from the film. Two alternate versions of the video were also released later, which featured the band sitting on a park bench, performing and watching scenes from either "She's All That" or "Dawson's Creek" on a portable television or projected on an outdoor screen. Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook appeared in the "She's All That" version of the video. The "Dawson's Creek" version of the video became VH1's number-one video for the entire month of May 1999.


title: Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer song)

text: The music video for New Found Glory's cover version revolves around a large group of teenagers who construct a tree house out of mattresses, and throw a raucous garden party involving pillow fights and kissing, while the members of the band, along with the members of Paramore, perform the song around them. While the bands perform, a young man, played by drummer Chase Dodds of the band Classic Addict, sets off on a mission to kiss as many girls as possible during the party, keeping a tally on his inner left forearm in black pen. After narrowly avoiding kissing a man (whom he mistakes for a girl because of his long hair), Chase attempts to kiss Paramore's lead singer, Hayley Williams, only to have her recognize the tally on his arm, and slap him in the face, knocking him to the ground. He is then set upon by all the girls he has kissed at the party, who then proceed to strip him of his shirt and tie him to a nearby tree with duct tape. One of the girls tapes his mouth shut, before writing "kiss me" on his chest in black ink. The girls then rejoin the party, leaving Chase tied to the tree.


title: Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer song)

text: In an interview with "Vogue", Taylor Swift said that "Kiss Me" was the very first song that she learned to play on guitar when she was 12 years old.


title: Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer song)

text: As a solo artist, Nash recorded a cover of the song for her 2018 EP and sings it as part of her live sets. The song has been covered by Avril Lavigne, UK R&B singer Nathan, Lava Lava on their album "Tour Demo", and New Found Glory on their album "From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II". The New Found Glory version has been released as a single with a music video. "Kiss Me" has also been covered by Singaporean Olivia Ong on her album "A Girl Meets Bossa Nova 2". A cover by Debbie Scott appeared in the game "Pump It Up: Exceed". A cover of the song was put in the game "Karaoke Revolution". The song was covered on the eighth series of "The X Factor" by Janet Devlin in Week 7. In 2019, SZA performed a cover version as part of her set at the III Points Festival. In August 2021, Cyn recorded a cover version of the song for the soundtrack to the Netflix film, "He's All That".


title: Et cetera

text: Et Cetera ( or (proscribed) , ), abbreviated to etc., etc, et cet., &c. or &c is a Latin expression that is used in English to mean "and other similar things", or "and so forth". Translated literally from Latin, means 'and', while means 'the rest'; thus the expression translates to 'and the rest (of such things)'.


title: Et cetera

text: Et Cetéra is a calque of the Koine Greek () meaning 'and the other things'. The typical Modern Greek form is (), 'and the remainder'.


title: Et cetera

text: The one-word spelling "etcetera" appears in some dictionaries. The abbreviated form "&c." or "&c" is still occasionally used (the ampersand character, "&", derives from a ligature of ).


title: Et cetera

text: The phrase "et cetera" is often used to denote the logical continuation of some sort of series of descriptions. For example, in the following expression:


title: Et cetera

text: In this case of a use at the end of a list without conjunction, a comma is typically written in front of the phrase (but see: Serial comma). If etc. is used at the end of a sentence, the dot is not doubled. If it occurs at the end of exclamations, questions or a clause, the dot is not suppressed but followed by whatever punctuation marks are required to end or continue the sentence.


title: Et cetera

text: In blackletter (Gothic or Fraktur) typography, the "r rotunda" (ꝛ) is sometimes used for "et" in place of the similar-looking Tironian et (⁊), followed by "c", to yield "ꝛc".


title: Et cetera

text: In the 1956 film "The King and I", Yul Brynner repeatedly used the expression ""...et cetera, et cetera, et cetera..."" in his portrayal of King Mongkut of Siam, to characterize the king as wanting to impress everyone with his breadth of great knowledge and the importance of one with no need to expound. This reflected the usage in the novel, "Anna and the King of Siam", which expressed that king's playful understanding of innumerable things with the phrase, "&c., &c."


title: Et cetera

text: "Et cetera" and derivatives, such as "etceteras", have long been, and still are, used airily, humorously or dismissively, often as a cadigan, for example:


title: Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani

text: Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani) is a Deemed university in Pilani, Jhunjhunu, India. It focuses primarily on higher education and research in engineering and sciences. After expansion to a campus in Dubai, it has become the first international deemed university, spearheading in science, engineering, management and research with five established campuses and 15 academic departments.


text: The institute is backed by the Aditya Birla Group and is one of the first six institutes to be awarded the Institute of Eminence status in 2018. BITS conducts the All-India computerized entrance examination, BITSAT (BITS Admission Test). Admission is purely assessed by the BITSAT examination. The fully residential institute is privately supported.


text: The institute was established in its present form in 1964. During this period, the institute's transformation from a regional engineering college to a national university was backed by G.D. Birla. The university has expanded its campuses from Pilani to Goa, Hyderabad, Dubai and Mumbai. Through its highly successful and widespread alumni network spanning globally across varied fields, BITS Pilani has made a significant impact on corporates, academia, research, entrepreneurship, arts and social activism.


text: The Birla Education Trust was founded in 1929; the intermediate college became a degree college and later offered postgraduate courses. The masters programme in electronics began in 1955.


text: BITS Pilani became a deemed university established under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956 by notification No. F.12-23/63.U-2 of 18 June 1964. In its formative years, the Institute tied up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, USA. It adopted semester system, modular structure of courses, continuous and internal evaluation, letter grading and the likes. It also created linkages with the industries which yielded structured “Practice School” as an integral component of education.


text: In 1964, the Birla Colleges of Humanities, Commerce, Engineering, Pharmacy and Science were merged to form the Birla Institute of Technology & Science. The board provided direction in developing a curriculum, selecting equipment, upgrading the library and recruiting (and training) an Indian faculty. To quicken the pace of reform he convinced C. R. Mitra to be the new director of the institute. Mitra advocated a "practice school" internship program as a requirement for faculty and students. The Practice School Program is still a requirement for students in BITS.


text: Like Berkeley, BITS Pilani has also experienced student activism. BITS Pilani had to be shut down multiple times because of student strikes during 1973, 1980, and 1985.


text: In 1999, enrollment expanded from 2,500 to 4,000 and campuses were founded in Dubai (2000) and Goa (2004). Upon invitation by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, BITS Pilani acquired of land from the Andhra Pradesh government through the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority for a new constituent campus in 2006. The land is located in Jawaharnagar, Shameerpet Mandal in the Rangareddy district. The BITS Pilani Hyderabad campus opened in 2008; the school also has a virtual university and an extension center in Bangalore. BITS School of Management (BITSoM) was established in January 2021 and offers a 2-year full time residential MBA. BITSoM  has its interim campus in Hiranandani Knowledge Park, Powai, Mumbai while the 60-acre permanent campus is being set up in  the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.


text: BITS Pilani has a tradition of long-serving chancellors and vice-chancellors. Its founder, G.D. Birla, was chancellor from the college's inception until his death in 1983. He was followed by his son, Krishna Kumar Birla, who was chancellor until his death in 2008. Currently, Kumar Mangalam Birla is chancellor and Shobhana Bhartia is pro-chancellor.


text: The first academic head of the institution was J. C. Stracliff (Principal) and V. Lakshminarayanan (Vice-Principal) for a period of 3 years during 1946–1949. V. Lakshminarayan became Principal of Birla Engineering College in 1949 (served from 1946 to 1963 in Birla Engineering College), then becoming the first director of BITS-Pilani in 1964 when it was formed and served until 1969. He was succeeded by BITS directors C.R. Mitra (1969–1989) and S. Venkateswaran (1989–2006). "director" denoted the head of a campus.


text: In April 2016, Chancellor Kumar Mangalam Birla announced that Prof. Souvik Bhattacharya of IIT Kharagpur / Jadavpur University was selected to take over as the new Vice chancellor of BITS Pilani. He took over in June 2016 to become the 6th academic head of the institute. Prof. Ranendra N. Saha became Acting Vice Chancellor since June 13, 2021 after the expiration of Prof. Bhattacharya's term.


text: Pilani is located west of Delhi and north of Jaipur; the BITS campus is to the west of Pilani bus stand. The area of the campus is ; its developed area is , of which is used for the BITS building. The campus has of classrooms and of laboratories.


text: BITS has a Sharda Peeth dedicated to the goddess Saraswati, Sharda Peeth, built by G. D. Birla. The white marble temple is built on a -high foundation, with 70 pillars for support. It covers an area of .


text: The Pilani campus has India's first technological museum, the Birla Museum. Built in 1954, it showcases technological achievements.


text: BITS has a auditorium decorated with paintings by students from the department of art and decoration.


text: The institute has fourteen hostels in total. Each hostel is referred as a "Bhawan", the Sanskrit word for hostel. Thirteen of them – Krishna Bhawan, Vishwakarma Bhawan, Rana Pratap Bhawan, Bhagirath Bhawan, Ashok Bhawan, Gandhi Bhawan, Shankar Bhawan, Vyas Bhawan, Budh Bhawan, Ram Bhawan, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Bhawan, CV Raman Bhavan and Srinivasa Ramanujan Bhawan are for male students. There is a single hostel for female students called Meera Bhawan. The institute also has one more hostel for parents and guests The hostels are named after saints, scientists, and historical and religious figures.


text: Every two hostels share a mess hall except Meera Bhawan, Srinivasa Ramanujan Bhawan and Sir C V RAMAN Bhawan which have their own mess halls. All dining areas are student-managed. Students may also eat at a "Redi" (a small canteen near every hostel), Institute Canteen (IC), the All-Night Canteen (ANC) and the Student Activity Centre (SAC) cafeteria (Talk of the town and Mr. Idli), LOOTERS . The ANC is also student-managed. Moreover, there is a small area inside campus called "Connaught" which has many restaurants, cafes, etc. and has shops for general daily needs as well.


text: In 2010 the institute launched a renewal project, "Vision 2020, Mission 2012," to identify and implement measures establishing BITS Pilani as one of India's top three research-led universities by 2015 and among the leading 25 technical universities in Asia by 2020. As a part of this initiative, Kumar Mangalam Birla visited the Pilani campus on 13 November 2011 with pro-chancellor Shobhana Bhartia and other members of the board of governors. At this meeting, Birla announced a Rs. 600 crore fund for renovation and construction of new academic buildings and student hostels on the Pilani campus. The project was planned for completion in 2014.


text: BITS Pilani offers four-year integrated first-degree programs (so called because several courses, involving mathematics and science, are common to each degree) in engineering, technology and pharmacy, and integrated Master of Science programs in science and technology.


text: BITS Pilani is noted for its unique Dual-Degree program, wherein students are allowed to pursue two degrees, namely a Masters in Science (as determined by their BITSAT score or their first-year performance) and a Bachelors in Engineering (as determined by their performance in their first-year) simultaneously for a time duration of five-years, a program that is unique to a top-level university in India. The dual-degree program is part of the first-degree programs and is offered to students taking the BITSAT examination.


text: BITS Pilani offers Ph.D. in engineering, pharmacy, natural sciences, public health and business administration.


text: BITS Pilani offers off-campus program (WILP) in which students receive work experience in industry. Enrollment has increased from 30 in 1979 to over 10,000 in 2005. More than 19,500 students were registered in off-campus Work Integrated Learning Program (WILP) in 2008–09.


text: Before 2005, admissions were based on the candidates' score in the 12th board examination. Earlier many students used to switch to State board schools for their 12th standard, in order to grab more marks easily and gain admission at BITS Pilani. BITS had been moderating marks from various school boards since 1982.


text: Since 2005, admission to BITS has been offered on the basis of the student's performance in the all-India entrance examination, the Birla Institute of Technology and Science Admission Test (BITSAT). For foreign students, BITS has a separate admission scheme called International Student Admissions (ISA) category. To gauge the merit of these ISA students, BITS accepts the SAT and SAT Subject Tests in chemistry, physics, and Math 2C. BITSAT, for which applications are submitted in December, is conducted online in May and June in cities all over India. The exam tests the candidate's knowledge, reasoning and analytical abilities in physics, chemistry, mathematics, English and logical reasoning, and is based on higher secondary curricula in India and abroad. A 2012 news report showed that BITSAT had become more competitive than the IIT-JEE, in terms of the ratio of the number of aspirants to the number of seats available.


text: Admission to Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani – Dubai Campus is based on scores in the 12th standard qualifying exam along with BITSAT. Although the BITS Pilani-Dubai campus was established for the educational requirements of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, admission is open to students of all nationalities.


text: BITS Pilani is a partner in developing the JournalServer open-access digital library, Project IPV6 and the MIT iCampus initiative.


text: Internationally, BITS Pilani was ranked 1001–1200 in the QS World University Rankings for 2020. The same rankings ranked it 175 in Asia in 2020 and 96 among BRICS nations in 2019. It was ranked in 401-500 for Life Sciences and 800-1000 overall in the world by the "Times Higher Education World University Rankings" for 2022, 301–350 in Asia and 351-400 among Emerging Economies in 2020.


text: In India, BITS Pilani was ranked 27 overall in 2020 by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), 15 among universities, 30 in the engineering ranking and 6 in India in the pharmacy ranking. It was ranked 7th among engineering colleges by "India Today" , sixth among engineering colleges by "Outlook India" and seventh among engineering colleges by "The Week" in 2019.


text: The Department of Management was ranked 10 among private management schools in India by "Outlook India" in 2020.


text: Oasis is the annual cultural festival of the BITS, Pilani. It hosts a variety of events in various categories like dance, drama, literature, comedy, fashion and music.


text: BOSM (BITS-Pilani Open Sports Meet) is the annual sports competition at the Pilani campus. BITS-Pilani invites colleges throughout India to participate in events including carrom board, hockey, cricket, basketball, football, volleyball, track and field, badminton, tennis, table tennis, squash and weightlifting. Since its 2010 silver jubilee (25th) anniversary, BOSM has invited a team from Moratuwa University in Sri Lanka.


text: APOGEE (A Professions Oriented Gathering over Educational Experiences) is an international annual technical festival at the Pilani campus. Since its inception in 1983, APOGEE has hosted students and researchers from across the country. The guest lecture series of the fest, Think Again Conclave has received eminent speakers in the past which include A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Richard Stallman, Jimmy Wales, Kailash Satyarthi, Walter Lewin and A. S. Kiran Kumar. Other events include the Paper Presentation Event, which is one of the oldest research paper presentation platforms in the country, and Project Presentation, which exhibits over 550 projects in various fields of science and engineering.


text: BITS Spark programme was launched in 2012. The programme promotes entrepreneurship courses and workshops, offers mentorship, and provides angel funds.


text: The BITS Alumni Association is an international organisation with chapters throughout the world, connecting alumni in networking, social events and fundraising.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: Droupadi Murmu (, born 20 June 1958) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 15th president of India since 25 July 2022. She is the first person belonging to the tribal community and also the second woman after Pratibha Patil to hold the office. She is also the youngest person to occupy the post and the first President born in Independent India. Prior to her presidency she served as the ninth governor of Jharkhand between 2015 and 2021, and held various portfolios in the cabinet of Government of Odisha between 2000 and 2004.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: Before entering politics, she worked as a clerk in the State Irrigation and Power Department from 1979 to 1983, and then as a teacher in Rairangpur until 1997.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: Droupadi Murmu was born to a Santali family on 20 June 1958, in Uparbeda village in the Baidaposi area of Rairangpur, Odisha. Her father Biranchi Narayan Tudu was a farmer. Her father and grandfather were traditional heads (designated Sarpanch) of the village council (Gram Panchayat). Her family named her Puti Tudu. She was renamed by her school teacher to Droupadi, and her name was changed several times to those including Durpadi and Dorpdi in the past.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: Murmu studied elementary education at the local primary school in Uparbeda. At age five, she moved to Bhubaneswar for higher studies. She completed secondary education from Girl's High School Unit-2, and graduated in B.A. from Rama Devi Women's College.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: She married Shyam Charan Murmu, a banker, in 1980 with whom she had two sons and a daughter. Her husband, two sons, mother, and a brother all died in a span of 7 years, from 2009 to 2015. She is a follower of the Brahma Kumaris spiritual movement.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: From 1979 to 1983, Murmu worked as a junior assistant at the irrigation department of the Government of Odisha. From 1994 to 1997, she then worked as a teacher at the school Sri Aurobindo Integral Education and Research Centre in Rairangpur, where she taught Hindi, Odia, Maths and Geography. She never claimed for a full salary at the school.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: In 1997, Droupadi Murmu was elected as the councillor of the Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat as an independent candidate from a reserved seat for women. She then joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: She won the 2000 Odisha Legislative Assembly election from Rairangpur Assembly constituency and served two terms in the Odisha Legislative Assembly between 2000 and 2009. During the BJP and BJD coalition government in Odisha, she was the Minister of State with Independent Charge for Commerce and Transportation from 6 March 2000 to 6 August 2002, and Fisheries and Animal Resources Development from 6 August 2002 to 16 May 2004.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: In 2007, she received the Nilkanth Award for the Best MLA of the Odisha Legislative Assembly. In 2009, she lost the Lok Sabha election from Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency as the BJD and BJP alliance had ended. She was elected to the BJP National Executive (ST Morcha) in 2013, and was the district president until 2015.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: Murmu was sworn in as the Governor of Jharkhand on 18 May 2015, becoming the first woman to hold the position. The BJP was in power in the Jharkhand Government for most of her six-year tenure as a governor and was also in power in the Union Government throughout her tenure. She administered the oath of office to Hemant Soren as Chief Minister of Jharkhand in 2019.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: Ratan Tirkey, a former BJP politician and activist, said that Murmu had not done enough to make sure that the self-governance rights granted to tribal communities were properly implemented. These rights were granted under the Fifth Schedule and the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 or PESA. Tirkey said, "Despite several requests, the then governor never exercised her powers to implement the Fifth Schedule provisions and Pesa in letter and spirit".


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: In 2016–2017, the Raghubar Das ministry was seeking amendments to the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908, and the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, 1949. These two original laws had safeguarded the rights of tribal communities on their land. According to the existing laws, land transactions could only be done between tribal communities. The new amendments gave the tribals the right to allow the government to make commercial use of tribal land and to take tribal land on lease. The proposed bill amending the existing law had been approved by the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly. The bills were sent to Murmu for approval in November 2016.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: The tribal people had strongly objected to the proposed law. During the Pathalgadi movement, protests were held against the proposed amendments to the tenancy acts. In one incident, the protest turned violent and the tribals abducted the security detail of the BJP Member of Parliament Karia Munda. Police responded with a violent crack-down on tribal communities, that caused the death of a tribal man. Criminal cases were filed against more than 200 people including the tribal rights activist Stan Swamy. Murmu was criticized for her soft stand on police aggression against tribal communities during the movement. According to woman tribal rights activist Aloka Kujur she was expected to speak up to the government in support of the tribals but this did not happen, and instead she appealed to the Pathalgarhi agitation leaders to repose faith in the constitution.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: Murmu had received total of 192 memorandums against the amendments in the bill. Then opposition leader Hemant Soren had said that the BJP government wanted to acquire tribal land through the two amendment Bills for the benefit of corporates. Opposition parties Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Indian National Congress, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha and others had put intense pressure against the bill. On 24 May 2017, Murmu relented and refused to give assent to the bills and returned the bill to the state government along with the memorandums she had received. The bill was later withdrawn in August 2017.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: In 2017, she approved the Freedom of Religion Bill, 2017, and the bill to amend the Land Acquisition 2013 Act passed by the Jharkhand Assembly.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: The new religion bill makes it an offence subject to a penalty of three years in prison, to coerce or lure a person to convert their religion. If the person coerced is a member of a Scheduled Caste or tribe, a minor, or female, the prison term increases to four years. Fines can be levied in any case. The bill also made it mandatory for voluntary converts, to inform the Deputy Commissioner about their conversion, and to give full details about the circumstances.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: The amendments in the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, involved changes in the compensation duration and requirements for social impacts assessment. According to the passed law, monetary compensation for government acquisition of tribal land must be paid within six months of acquisition. The requirement for social impact assessments was dropped for some types of infrastructure projects.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: In June 2022, the BJP nominated Murmu as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s candidate for President of India for the 2022 election the following month. Yashwant Sinha, was nominated as the candidate for president by the opposition parties. During her election campaign, Murmu visited various states seeking support for her candidature. Several opposition parties like BJD, YSRCP, JMM, BSP, SS, JD(S) among others had announced support for her candidature prior to polling. On 21 July 2022, Murmu secured a clear majority in the 2022 Presidential election defeating common opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha with 676,803 electoral votes (64.03% of total) in 21 of the 28 states (including in the union territory of Puducherry) to become the 15th President of India.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: On 26 July 2022, Droupadi Murmu took oath as the 15th President of India, oath of which was administered by the 48th Chief Justice of India N. V. Ramana in the presence of former Presidents, Vice President, Prime Minister and other delegates.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: She is the first person from India's designated tribal communities to be elected president. She is the youngest and first individual born after India's independence in 1947 to have been elected president. Murmu is only the second woman after Pratibha Patil to serve as President of India.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: Murmu addressed the nation for the first time as the President of India, on 14 August 2022, Independence day eve. She greeted the citizens of the country on the 75th Independence.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: In September 2022, she launched a government program 'Pradhanmantri TB mukht Bharat' - an initiative to eradicate Tuberculosis from the country. She became the first ever President of India, to inaugurate the 'Mysuru Dasara' a 10 day state festival in Karnataka. In the initial months, Murmu paid vast visits to the north-eastern states of the country including Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim and engaged in ceremonies of various development projects.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: In November 2022, she paid her first visit to her home state Odisha after assuming the office of the President, to participate in the launch of various programmes. During this visit she visited her alma mater school and later interacted with school children along the sideways of the road and walked 2 kilometers to pay obeisance to the deities of Puri Jagannath Temple.


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: She follows the BJP party line on making Hindi the national language of India and their support of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva). She supports BJP's 2020 Indian agriculture acts (commonly known as the farm laws).


title: Droupadi Murmu

text: Murmu has expressed admiration for India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. She has hailed Mahatma Gandhi and also B. R. Ambedkar for his contributions in making the Constitution of India.


title: Lachlan Gillespie

text: Lachlan Gillespie (born 23 October 1985) is an Australian singer, musician, and actor. He is a member of the Wiggles and wears the purple skivvy.


title: Lachlan Gillespie

text: Gillespie began playing the piano at the age of four, and started formal singing training when he was 12. He attended the Fame School of Performing Arts as a teenager, earned a Bachelor of Arts in musical theatre at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), and has performed in musicals in Melbourne and New York. He has been a vocal and drama coach for children between the ages of four and 13.


title: Lachlan Gillespie

text: Gillespie joined the Wiggles in 2009, touring with the "Dorothy the Dinosaur Traveling Show", as Captain Feathersword, and then as a Wiggly Dancer and Wags the Dog during the group's regular tour. In May 2012, it was announced that Gillespie would replace founding member Jeff Fatt as the Purple Wiggle at the beginning of the following year.


title: Lachlan Gillespie

text: Gillespie hosts the short-form television show "Lachy!" which aired on ABC in 2016. It contains episode shorts of him as Lachy Wiggle.


title: Lachlan Gillespie

text: In 2018, Gillespie, along with fellow Wiggles member Anthony Field, Emma Watkins and band members Oliver Brian and David O'Reilly, started a band for adult fans called the Unusual Commoners, which played a mixture of traditional Australian, Irish, Scottish and folk songs. They performed their first international show in St. John’s, Newfoundland in late 2018.


title: Lachlan Gillespie

text: In May 2015, Gillespie and fellow Wiggles performer Emma Watkins announced their engagement. They married on 9 April 2016 at Hopewood House in Bowral, New South Wales. On 3 August 2018, Gillespie and Watkins announced their separation.


title: Lachlan Gillespie

text: On 9 April 2020, ballet dancer Dana Stephensen proposed to Gillespie after meeting on the set of the Wiggles in December 2018. They have since gotten wed in late November 2022.


title: Lachlan Gillespie

text: On 11 September 2020, Gillespie announced the arrival of their newborn twin daughters, Lottie and Lulu.


title: Chris Froome

text: Christopher Clive Froome [kɹɪs fɹuːm], (born 20 May 1985) is a Kenyan/British road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He has won seven Grand Tours: four editions of the Tour de France (in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017), one Giro d'Italia (2018) and the Vuelta a España twice (2011 and 2017). He has also won several other stage races, and the Velo d'Or three times. Froome has also won two Olympic bronze medals in road time trials, in 2012 and 2016, and took bronze in the 2017 World Championships.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome was born in Kenya to British parents and grew up there and in South Africa. Since 2011 he has been a resident of Monaco. At the age of 22, Froome turned professional with Team Konica Minolta. In 2008, he joined the team . The same year he moved to Italy and started to ride under a British licence. In 2010, he moved to and quickly became one of the team's key cyclists. Froome made his breakthrough as a Grand Tour contender during the 2011 Vuelta a España where he finished second overall, later promoted to first, retrospectively becoming the first British cyclist to win a Grand Tour cycling event. At the 2012 Tour de France, riding as a super-domestique for Bradley Wiggins, Froome won stage seven and finished second overall, behind Wiggins.


title: Chris Froome

text: His first recognised multi-stage race win came in 2013, in the Tour of Oman, followed by wins in the Critérium International, the Tour de Romandie, the Critérium du Dauphiné, and the Tour de France. In the 2014 Tour de France, he retired after multiple crashes. In 2015, he won his second Critérium du Dauphiné and his second Tour de France. He won a third Tour de France in 2016 and became the first man since Miguel Induráin in 1995 to successfully defend his title. He won his fourth Tour de France in 2017, followed by successive wins at the 2017 Vuelta a España and the 2018 Giro d'Italia, his first victories in both races. These achievements made him the first cyclist to win the Tour–Vuelta double since the Vuelta was moved to September, the first rider to achieve any Grand Tour double in nearly a decade, and the first to hold all three Grand Tour winners' jerseys at the same time since Bernard Hinault in 1983.


title: Chris Froome

text: Throughout his career Froome has faced a series of allegations that he exploited a loophole in cycling's anti-doping regulations to use a performance-enhancing drug. In 2019 a serious training crash before the Critérium du Dauphiné halted Froome's career, after he broke numerous bones including his pelvis, femur and four ribs. Although he managed to recover following surgery to return to the peloton in 2020, he struggled to regain his former form. He left Ineos Grenadiers at the end of 2020 to join Israel Start-Up Nation but his form struggles continued through the 2021 season, with Froome failing to contend seriously in stage races since his accident. His post-accident struggles drew comparisons with former grand tour contender and three-time podium winner Joseba Beloki who infamously crashed out of the 2003 Tour de France while in contention for the victory, and never recovered his former grand tour form. His most notable Grand Tour accomplishment post-accident was a 3rd place finish on the Alpe d'Huez stage of the 2022 Tour de France. Froome was in the top 30 overall on general classification when forced to pull out by illness.


title: Chris Froome

text: Despite these struggles, Froome remains the most successful general classification rider still active in the peloton as of 2022.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome was born on 20 May 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya, the youngest of three boys to mother Jane and English father Clive, a former field hockey player who represented England at under-19 level. His mother's parents had emigrated from Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England, to Kenya to run a crop farm. Whilst living abroad his parents maintained British customs with Sunday roast dinners and Beatles songs which contributed to his desire to represent Great Britain in cycling. In Kenya he would sell avocados and discarded bike parts. Froome's two older brothers, Jonathan and Jeremy, went to Rugby School in Warwickshire, England. When Froome was 13, his mother took him to his first organised bike race, a charity race that he won despite being knocked from his bike by his mother. There he met professional cyclist David Kinjah, who became Froome's mentor and training partner. Initially Kinjah misjudged Froome's attitude, fearing he lacked the "work ethic to keep pace with more experienced riders of the group" His mother was upset with his cycling, often driving out ahead, attempting to drive him back home.


title: Chris Froome

text: After finishing primary school at the Banda School in Nairobi, Froome moved to South Africa as a 14-year-old to attend St. Andrew's School, a publicly funded school in Bloemfontein and St John's College, a boarding independent school in Johannesburg. Froome attended St John's alongside South African-born Scott Spedding, who went on to a professional rugby union career including playing internationally for France. Whilst in South Africa he was the school's cycling captain and kept in contact with Kinjah. He then studied economics for two years at the University of Johannesburg. In South Africa Froome started to participate in road cycling. On one of his school holidays, his home club gifted him with a second-hand yellow jersey. Being unaware of the Tour de France, he failed to see the significance.


title: Chris Froome

text: It was not until he was 22 that he turned professional. Froome started road racing in South Africa, specialising as a climber. Froome competed for Kenya in the road time trial and the road race at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, where he finished 17th and 25th respectively, catching the attention of future Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford: "The performance he did, on the equipment he was on, that takes some doing ... We always thought he was a bit of a diamond in the rough, who had a huge potential." While representing Kenya at the 2006 Road World Championships in the under-23 category in Salzburg, Austria, Froome crashed into an official just after the start of the time trial, causing both men to fall; although neither was injured, he finished in 36th place. Froome's appearance at the Worlds came about after he impersonated Kenyan cycling federation president Julius Mwangi by using Mwangi's email account to enter himself into the Championships, in order to add some European racing experience to his CV and boost his chances of obtaining a contract with a professional team.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome turned professional in 2007, aged 22, with the South African team, Konica Minolta, withdrawing from university two years into his degree in economics. He competed from April to September in the U23 Nations Cup for the Union Cycliste Internationale's World Cycling Centre (WCC) team based in Aigle, Switzerland. In May he rode his first stage race, the Giro delle Regioni, winning stage five, riding for WCC. In late-May he won stage six of the Tour of Japan, attacking from a breakaway in the fourteen-lap circuit in Shuzenji. In June he competed at the "B" world championships in Cape Town, placing second to China's Haijun Ma in the time trial. In July, he claimed a bronze medal in the road race at the All-Africa Games in Algiers, Algeria. On 26 September, he placed forty-first in the under-23 time trial at the world championships in Stuttgart, three minutes and thirty seconds behind the gold medalist, Lars Boom of the Netherlands. His performances in 2007 attracted the attention of British Cycling coach, Rod Ellingworth, who believed Froome had potential. Froome said: "Although I was riding under the Kenyan flag I made it clear that I had always carried a British passport and felt British. It was then we talked about racing under the Union Flag, and we stayed in touch."


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome was introduced to the British-based, South African-backed, second-tier UCI Professional Continental team, , by South African Robbie Hunter, signing with them for the 2008 season. In March he finished second overall in the Giro del Capo in South Africa, one minute and forty-one seconds behind his teammate, Christian Pfannberger. Over March and April, he rode the Critérium International, Gent-Wevelgem and the Ardennes classics. In May 2008, Froome switched from a Kenyan licence to a British licence, to have a chance of riding in the 2008 Summer Olympics, where Kenya did not qualify. He made his Grand Tour debut when he was named in 's squad for the Tour de France – becoming the first participant born in Kenya, in which he finished 84th overall and 11th among the young rider classification. In October, Froome finished fourth overall in the Herald Sun Tour in Victoria, Australia.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome claimed his next professional win in March 2009, with the second stage of the Giro del Capo in Durbanville, South Africa, attacking a ten-strong breakaway with and finishing four minutes ahead. He then participated in the Giro d'Italia, in which he came 36th overall, and seventh young rider classification. In July he won a minor one day race, Anatomic Jock Race, in Barberton South Africa. In September 2009, it was announced that he was to join British cycling team, , for the 2010 season.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome rode the 2010 Giro d'Italia. On stage nineteen, he was suffering with a knee injury and on the Mortirolo Pass he was seen holding on to a police motorbike. He had been dropped by the "gruppetto", and intended to reach the feed zone and retire from the race. For holding on to the motorbike he was disqualified from the race. During his first season with Sky, his best result was at the Tour du Haut Var, where he finished ninth in the overall standings. He also finished second at the 2010 national time trial championships. In October he represented England at the Commonwealth Games, in Delhi, coming fifth in the time trial, two minutes and twenty seconds behind the winner, Scotland's David Millar.


title: Chris Froome

text: The early highlights of Froome's 2011 season were top fifteen finishes in the Vuelta a Castilla y León and the Tour de Romandie. Froome had a mixed Tour de Suisse, riding with the lead group on some mountain stages yet losing time on others, and finishing ninth in the final time trial, and 47th in the general classification. He continued his season at the Brixia Tour where he finished 45th in the general classification, and the Tour de Pologne, finishing 85th.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome entered the Vuelta a España as a last-minute replacement for Lars Petter Nordhaug and a domestique for Bradley Wiggins. Wiggins gave him credit for his ride in stage nine, where he helped Wiggins gain time on his rivals. The following day in stage ten, however, Froome out-rode Wiggins to finish second in the time-trial behind 's Tony Martin and to take an unexpected lead in the race. During stage eleven he helped his team neutralise some attacks but soon found himself unable to follow the main group. However, he managed to hang on to second place in the general classification.


title: Chris Froome

text: After losing the jersey to Wiggins on stage eleven, Froome continued to ride in support of his leader. On stage fourteen, he helped to drop rivals including rider Vincenzo Nibali and Joaquim Rodríguez () on the final climb. Wiggins credited his lead to Froome, in a stage which also saw Froome rise back up to second in the standings. On the tough stage fifteen which ended on the Alto de l'Angliru, stage winner Juan José Cobo () took the overall lead. Froome finished in fourth place, forty-eight seconds behind Cobo, and retained his second place in the overall strandings.


title: Chris Froome

text: On stage seventeen, Froome attacked Cobo from the summit finish, but Cobo fought back, catching Froome in the final 300 metres, only for Froome to attack again to win the stage and arrive one second in front of Cobo. As a result of time bonuses, Froome reduced Cobo's lead to thirteen seconds. Froome was unable to reduce Cobo's lead any further and initially was placed second overall in the Vuelta. On 17 July 2019, Froome was declared the winner of the race following the disqualification of Cobo for drug offences. The win, retroactively, made him the first British rider to win a Grand Tour.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome was initially close to being dropped by the team at the end of the season, and Sky's team manager Dave Brailsford had been in talks with 's manager Johan Bruyneel offering a trade, but Brunyeel had turned down the offer saying 'I want a cyclist, not a donkey'. However, after watching Froome's strong performance in the Vuelta, team manager Dave Brailsford reportedly flew to Spain to offer him a new contract in the middle of the race. Five days after the race's finish in Madrid, Froome signed a new three-year contract with Sky.


title: Chris Froome

text: Later that year, it was revealed Froome had suffered throughout the year from the parasitic disease schistosomiasis, after having picked up the disease during a visit to Kenya in 2010. Brailsford speculated that the disease had affected Froome's earlier career in a negative way. The discovery and subsequent treatment of the illness has been used to explain Froome's rapid rise in form during 2011. He was part of the Great Britain team that helped Mark Cavendish win the world road race championship. In October, Froome finished third overall in the first edition of the Tour of Beijing, 26 seconds behind overall winner, Tony Martin.


title: Chris Froome

text: The early part of Froome's 2012 season was wrecked by illness. He withdrew from the Volta ao Algarve with a severe chest infection, and blood tests showed the schistosoma parasites were still in his system. In March, while on a training ride, Froome collided with a 72-year-old pedestrian. He returned to racing in May, for the Tour de Romandie, where he helped Wiggins win the race overall, before participating in a training camp on Teide in Tenerife with several of his teammates.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome was selected for the Sky squad for the Tour de France. After placing 11th in the prologue, he suffered a punctured tyre from the end of stage one and lost over a minute to overall leader Fabian Cancellara (). On stage three, Froome was involved in a crash on the hill-top finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer, and was sent flying into safety barriers, but was unharmed and was given the same finishing time as the winner, Peter Sagan of . On stage seven finishing atop the Category 1 climb to La Planche des Belles Filles, he protected his leader Wiggins and was part of a small group that came in sight of the finish line. Cadel Evans () attacked, Froome jumped on his wheel and won the stage with an advantage of two seconds over his leader and Evans. Froome took the lead in the mountains classification. With that operation, he took the polka dot jersey, but lost it to Fredrik Kessiakoff of the very next day. Froome finished second to Wiggins on stage nine, an individual time trial, and moved up to third overall.


title: Chris Froome

text: On stage eleven to La Toussuire, Froome attacked the remaining group on the last climb, before the finish line. He subsequently received the order from his team manager to hold back and wait for yellow jersey Wiggins. He finished third on the stage. For his efforts in assisting Wiggins, Froome was lauded in the media as a super-domestique. On stage seventeen, Froome and Wiggins finished second and third respectively on the final mountain stage to further cement their general classification positions, although Froome repeatedly waited for Wiggins on the final climb, costing him the chance of winning the stage. On stage nineteen, a time trial, Froome finished second to Wiggins, mirroring the overall standings. Wiggins went on to win the tour with Froome second, becoming the first two British riders to make the podium of the Tour de France in its 109-year history.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome, along with Sky teammates Wiggins, Cavendish and Ian Stannard, as well as Millar () were selected for Team GB's road race at the Olympic Games. Froome and Wiggins also contested in the time trial. Froome won bronze in the time trial, with teammate Wiggins taking gold. Froome was selected as Team Sky's leader for the Vuelta a España, where he aimed to go one better than 2011 and win his first Grand Tour. He lay third after the first mountain finish on stage three, and moved up to second on stage four after leader Alejandro Valverde crashed, losing 55 seconds to the chasing group. Froome moved down to third during the stage-eleven time trial sixteen seconds off leader Rodriguez. He lost another twenty-three seconds on stage twelve, putting him 51 seconds down. He struggled through the rest of the second half of the race. He ended up fourth overall, finishing over ten minutes behind the race winner, Alberto Contador ().


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome's 2013 season began at the Tour of Oman, where he took the race lead on stage four, finishing second to Rodríguez on the summit finish of Jebel Akhdar. Froome then won the following stage to extend his lead, out-sprinting Contador and Rodríguez. He finished the race taking the overall classification, his first stage race win of his career, 27 seconds ahead of Contador, with Cadel Evans twelve seconds further back. He also won the points classification.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome then led at the Tirreno–Adriatico in March, where he won the fourth stage after countering an attack by Contador, rider Nibali and 's Mauro Santambrogio on the final climb to Prati di Tivo. Froome lost time on eventual winner Nibali on the penultimate stage, finishing the race in second place.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome returned to action, and to the top step of the rostrum, in the Critérium International. After finishing fourth in the short second-stage time trial, he passed teammate Richie Porte to win the third and final stage. In so doing, he overtook Porte in the general classification.


title: Chris Froome

text: In late April, Froome won the prologue of the Tour de Romandie in Le Châble, Switzerland, taking the leader's jersey, with a six-second gap over Andrew Talansky of . He remained in the yellow leader's jersey throughout the entire race, increasing his advantage over his rivals to almost a minute with a strong performance in the penultimate queen stage. Near the end of that stage, after losing his support riders in the peloton, Froome gave solo chase to breakaway rider Simon Špilak and after catching him, worked with the Slovenian to maintain and extend their lead on the peloton and improve their general classification standings. Špilak won the stage, which catapulted him into second place in the overall, with Froome on his wheel in second. In the final individual time trial stage Froome took third place, increasing his lead and winning his third race of the season.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome's final warm up race before the Tour de France, for which he was favourite, was the Critérium du Dauphiné at the beginning of June. He sat second overall behind 's Rohan Dennis after coming third in the time trial on stage four. Froome won stage five after countering a late attack by Contador, to take the race lead by 52 seconds over teammate Porte. Froome helped Porte solidify his second place on stage seven, and on stage eight the pair rode away from their rivals on the final climb, with only Talansky () able to follow. Froome took second on the stage behind Alessandro De Marchi of , who had attacked earlier, to secure overall victory, with Porte completing a one-two, 58 seconds back. This was Froome's fourth major stage race victory of the season, out of the five he had entered.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome's Tour de France got off to a nervy start as he crashed in the neutral zone of the first stage on the isle of Corsica, but he was unharmed. Also, he avoided going down in the large crash towards the end of the stage. After staying out of trouble for the rest of the first week, Froome won stage eight, the first mountain stage of the race, finishing on Ax 3 Domaines, by launching an attack after teammates Peter Kennaugh and Porte had brought back an earlier attack by 's Nairo Quintana, and distanced most of Froome's rivals. Froome's winning margin on the stage was 51 seconds over Porte, and 85 seconds to Valverde () in third. This gave Froome the overall lead in the Tour for the first time and the lead in the mountains classification. On the following stage, however, Froome was left isolated as no teammates were able to follow repeated attacks early in the stage by , and riders. Despite being without any team support for most of the stage, Froome was able to defend his lead by following several attacks by Quintana and Valverde. Froome then finished second in the individual time trial on the twelfth stage, twelve seconds behind Tony Martin, to put further time into all of his rivals. However, on stage thirteen Saxo-Tinkoff caused a split in the peloton due to strong crosswinds, which Froome missed. 's Contador and Roman Kreuziger, and Laurens ten Dam and Bauke Mollema of all made the selection and took 69 seconds out of Froome's lead, although Valverde lost over ten minutes and slipped out of contention.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome won stage fifteen, which finished on Mont Ventoux. Kennaugh and Porte dropped all of the leading contenders except Contador on the early part of the climb, before Froome surged clear of Contador with remaining and caught Quintana, who had attacked earlier in the climb. The pair worked together to put time into their rivals, before Froome dropped Quintana with remaining and soloed to the finish. This gave Froome a lead of four minutes and fourteen seconds over Mollema in second place, with Contador a further eleven seconds back. Froome also regained the lead in the mountains classification. He won the stage seventeen time trial, finishing the course from Embrun to Chorges in 51 minutes 33 seconds, with Contador coming in nine seconds behind him, in second place. Froome defended his lead during the Alpine stages, extending his overall lead as Mollema and Contador dropped back.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome won the general classification on 21 July with a final time of 83 hours, 56 minutes and 40 seconds; he was 4 minutes and 20 seconds ahead of second-placed Quintana. He was also King of the Mountains for six stages; however, he ultimately finished second to Quintana in that classification. Froome's overall win and stage victories in the Tour win put him at the top of the UCI World Tour ranking, with 587, ahead of Sagan on 409. Partly because the 2013 Tour was the first since Lance Armstrong's admission of doping, such questions were asked of Froome. He insisted that he and his team were clean and stated that the questioning saddened him. Froome was drug tested during the Tour and Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford offered the World Anti-Doping Agency all performance data they had on Froome as evidence.


title: Chris Froome

text: In October Froome was named winner of the prestigious Vélo d'Or award for the best rider of the year.


title: Chris Froome

text: As defending champion for the first time, Froome started his 2014 season by again winning the Tour of Oman. After some minor illnesses and back problems, which meant he missed Tirreno–Adriatico, his next stage race was the Tour de Romandie, again as defending champion, which he won by 28 seconds ahead of Špilak, with the two riders placing first and second in that race for the second consecutive year. He also won the final stage of the race, an individual time trial, finishing a second faster than three-time time trial world champion Martin. To celebrate the Tour de France moving from Britain to France in July, Froome rode a bicycle through the Channel Tunnel, becoming the first solo rider to do so and one of few cyclists ever to have made the journey. The Crossing took under an hour at a top speed of 65 km/h.


title: Chris Froome

text: Froome crashed out on the fifth stage of the Tour de France after falling three times over two days, putting an end to his defence of his Tour de France crown. He came back in time to duel with Alberto Contador on the Vuelta a España. He lost time on the first individual time trial. Before the last stage, a short (10 km) flat time trial, Froome was in second place with a deficit of 97 seconds on the Spaniard. He finally finished second. He was also awarded the overall combativity award.


title: Chris Froome

text: Following his 2013 and 2014 early-season victories in the Tour of Oman, Froome decided to begin his 2015 racing season in February at the Ruta del Sol in Spain. He was joined there by Contador, both riders competing in this race for the first time.