Service Date Late Release December 23, 2009: Fill & Download for Free

We would give a collective sigh and move on. The media would give it little coverage I imagine because if the covered every incident they would have been exhausted.“If Barack Obama becomes the next president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.”-Ted NugentDoes the flaming cheeto even know what a figure of speech is?So here's some actual and said threats to the Obama’s. Ted Nugent was the only right wing celebrities I could think of because there are just not that many rightwingers in the entertainment industry. Rob Schneider and Adam Corolla are the only right wing comedians I can think of off the top of my head. They both suck, but they may be funnier than Kathy Griffin which doesn't say much. So let's move on to business owners, members of the military, talking heads etc. and we’ll focus on 2008 because I don't have a lot of time to copy and paste them all.“North Carolina Waffle House threats”Jerry Blanchard, an accountant from Charlotte, North Carolina, was indicted for threatening to kill Obama during a July 15, 2008, breakfast at a Charlotte Waffle House.[5][12] Two customers said Blanchard told them, "Obama and his wife are never going to make it to the White House. He needs to be taken out and I can do it in a heartbeat."[5] The customers contacted the Secret Service, who questioned Blanchard. He denied making the threats, but allegedly told the Secret Service agents he believed Obama was the Antichrist prophesied in the Bible.[5][12] The Secret Service later got a second call from an employee of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Charlotte,[13] where Blanchard was overheard in the lobby restroom saying into his cell phone, "I'll get a sniper rifle and take care of it myself. Somebody's got to do it ... We both know Obama is the anti-Christ."[5] Blanchard had claimed he would buy a sniper rifle and pistol from the Hyatt Gun Shop in Charlotte. The gun shop owner said Blanchard has visited the store but did not buy any weapons.[5] Blanchard was placed into custody on felony charges of making threats against a major candidate for president, and a psychiatric evaluation was ordered. It was questioned how much evidence existed that he planned to actually go through with an assassination attempt;[5][12] later, according to a federal affidavit, there was no proof of any furtherance of his crime.[14] In June 2009, Blanchard was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for making the threats. He was also fined $3,000 and ordered to be under supervised release for three years following his prison term.[14]“Miami bail-bondsman training threatsRaymond H. Geisel was charged with making threatening statements against Obama during a bail-bonds training class on July 31, 2008, in Miami, Florida.[12] During the course, Geisel referred to Obama with a racial epithet and said, "If he gets elected, I'll assassinate him myself."[2] Geisel also threatened to put a bullet in the head of then-President Bush, although Geisel later claimed he was joking. In his hotel room, authorities found ammunition, body armor, a combat-style hatchet, tear gas, a loaded 9 mm handgun and four loaded magazines. Geisel said he collected firearms, and was only using the gun for his bail-bonds course. Geisel remained in custody for a month.[2][12] He later plead "not guilty" on August 20, 2008.[15] With trial date set for January 2009, in December 2008 there was discussion of a plea agreement for Geisel who faced up to thirty years in prison if convicted on all four counts brought against him.[16] In December 2009, Geisel was convicted on weapons charges and served three years' supervised probation stemming from that conviction. The threat charges were dropped as part of his plea agreement.[17]Assassination plot in DenverMain article: Barack Obama assassination plot in DenverThree men allegedly discussed shooting Barack Obama, then the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nominee, during his acceptance speech on the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. Cousins Tharin Gartrell and Shawn Adolf, and their friend Nathan Johnson, allegedly came to Denver specifically to kill Obama, and discussed in their hotel room how they could assassinate him.[9][18][19][20] On August 24, 2008, Gartrell was arrested when police found his truck filled with weapons and narcotics.[21][22][23] Johnson and Adolf were arrested shortly thereafter and, during a televised interview, Johnson later indicated Adolf was the one who planned the alleged threat.[19][24] Authorities later downplayed the threats and indicated the trio had little chance of successfully killing Obama.[4][19] The three men were charged with drug and weapons charges and sentenced, but did not face federal charges of threatening a presidential candidate.Assassination plot in TennesseeMain article: Barack Obama assassination plot in TennesseeWikinews has related news: Two men arrested in Tennessee for plot to kill Obama and school childrenPaul Schlesselman and Daniel Cowart, two men with strong white supremacist beliefs, allegedly planned a murder spree of 88 African Americans (14 of which they were planning to behead)[25] in Tennessee, many of whom were to be young students at an unidentified, predominantly African-American school. They allegedly planned to end the spree by driving their vehicle toward Barack Obama as fast as they could and shooting at him from the windows.[26][27] The two men were arrested on October 22, 2008, after they bragged to their friends about firing shots at a church in Brownsville, Tennessee.[26][28] Schlesselman and Cowart were in possession of several guns during their arrest, and they allegedly told police they intended to rob a firearms dealer and other stores to secure more weapons for the attack.[29] Both plotters pleaded guilty to various federal charges; Judge J. Daniel Breen of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee sentenced Schlesselman to 10 years imprisonment on April 15, 2010, and Cowart to 14 years in prison on October 22, 2010.Scranton "Kill him" threatIn October 2008, it was widely reported that someone yelled "Kill him!" at a Scranton, Pennsylvania, Sarah Palin rally when Obama's name was mentioned. The Secret Service denied this claim, but a Scranton Times-Tribune editor said, "We stand by the story. The facts reported are true and that’s really all there is."[30] Also, MSNBC clips of McCain rallies, while unclear, appear to show two similar incidents.[31]Maine "dirty bomb" threatOn December 9, 2008, 29 year old James G Cummings, a wealthy white supremacist, was shot dead by his wife, 31 year old Amber Cummings in their Belfast, Maine home. When police arrived at the scene, they discovered components and instructions for making a dirty bomb, and notified the FBI, who sealed off the scene. The FBI discovered four 1-gallon containers of 35 percent hydrogen peroxide, uranium, thorium, lithium metal, thermite, aluminum powder, beryllium, boron, black iron oxide and magnesium ribbon as well as literature on how to build “dirty bombs” and information about cesium-137, strontium-90 and cobalt-60, radioactive materials. Child pornography was also found on his computer. Cummings had connections to various white Supremacist groups, including the US National Socialist Party. According to tradesmen who worked at the home, Cummings idolized Adolf Hitler and openly kept nazi memorabilia including flags displayed around the home. According to his wife, James Cummings was not happy that Obama was elected president, and planned to set the bomb off at his inauguration. Amber Cummings also claimed that her husband was frequently physically, mentally, and sexually abusive towards her and their daughter, citing this as her reason for the murder. Amber Cummings plead guilty to his murder, but was given a suspended sentence by Justice Jeffrey Hjelm, who ruled she would not face prison time due to "extenuating circumstances".[32][33]Assassination threats against Barack Obama - WikipediaSo to name a few. Did fox cover any of these? Also, there has been an extremely critical reaction from the left over Kathy Griffin, and I'm currently seeing it all over the “left media”. Personally though, I could care less. Kathy Griffin could be juggling flaming heads of every state while riding a tricycle and I still wouldn't care about what she is doing. Actually I may stop and look because that would be impressive. The hypocrisy seen lately coming from the right is almost unbearable.

It’s impossible to spend much time in the cryptocurrency and blockchain world without hearing about Ethereum, or ETH for short. In this article, you’ll learn what Ethereum is, what makes it different and why it’s better than Bitcoin, at least for certain purposes.Guess the price directionBitcoin/TetherBTCUSDT33,743.81−2.71337493372733743.81UpDownWhat is the Ethereum cryptocurrency?Strictly speaking, Ethereum refers to an open-source software platform that is based on blockchain technology, enabling developers to create decentralised applications, or dApps. However, Ethereum is also used to refer to the Ether coin (ETH), a cryptocurrency built on the Ethereum platform. When someone talks about buying, trading or paying with Ethereum, they mean the Ether currency.Ethereum’s historyEthereum’s story starts with Vitalik Buterin, who became involved with Bitcoin as a 17-year-old programmer in 2011. Buterin became aware of Bitcoin’s shortcomings and created Ethereum as superior blockchain technology.I thought [people in the Bitcoin community] weren’t approaching the problem in the right way. I thought they were going after individual applications; they were trying to kind of explicitly support each [use case] in a sort of Swiss Army knife protocol.— Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder.A timeline of Ethereum’s early history:2013: Buterin released a white paper describing the basis for Ethereum.2014: Buterin and the other co-founders crowdfunded Ethereum through an ICO that raised more than $18 million.2015: The first live release of Ethereum, known as Frontier, was launched.What is Ethereum’s purpose?Ethereum is a blockchain technology platform designed to enable a large variety of functions. A popular comparison is if Bitcoin is e-mail, then Ethereum is the whole Internet.Ethereum is used for computer services that are based on dApps and smart contracts, which saves time and money by eliminating intermediaries, third-party brokers and inefficient monopolies like big companies or even government authorities.In essence, it follows the decentralised philosophy of Bitcoin but is applied to much more than just money.What is Ethereum written in?Given that the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) functions as a ‘world computer’ with many nodes, it uses multiple programming languages, including C++, Python, Ruby, Go and Java. A specialised language called Solidity is used to write smart contracts in the Ethereum Virtual Machine.ETH’s hard forkIn 2016, $50 million worth of Ether was stolen by a hacker, an act that raised concerns about the platform’s security. The resulting controversy split the community, and Ethereum forked into two blockchains: Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC).ETH tokensEthereum has both the Ether (ETH) crypto coin and Ether tokens. The latter can function as a currency within the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). ETH tokens are transferred within the EVM to execute smart contracts.What is a smart contract in Ethereum?A smart contract is a computer program that functions as a contract, i.e., it binds individuals and/or businesses to meet obligations.The smart contract’s code automatically executes the terms when tokens are deposited. The benefits include:Digital format: There’s no need to print or post paper, and it’s easily shareable.Autonomous operation: It cuts out intermediaries, there’s no back-and-forth.Trust: Information on a smart contract is encrypted and backed up on a shared ledger.Security: Encryption makes contract information incredibly difficult to steal.Speed: Automatic execution makes smart contracts faster.Cost: It saves on paper costs, lawyer fees, etc.Smart contracts act as multi-signature accounts, only executing if the specified percentage of parties agree.Smart contracts can be encoded on any blockchain, but developers working on Ethereum can programme smart contracts with a much broader range of instructions than what’s possible on Bitcoin. It allows Ethereum smart contracts to be more complex and versatile. They can serve as the base for a decentralised application or other autonomous functions on the blockchain.Why is Ethereum better than Bitcoin?ETH has several advantages over Bitcoin. It isn’t limited in the same way that BTC is. Ethereum uses the Ethash method for its mining algorithm. As a result, the block processing speed is faster.What is the difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum?BTCETHCoin Limit21 MillionNoneAlgorithmSHA-256EthashAvg block time10 minutes12 secondsHowever, Ethereum’s main advantage over Bitcoin is its functionality. Bitcoin can only record transactions. Ethereum powers apps that can be used for almost anything a programmer desires.What is an ETH wallet?An Ethereum wallet is where the private keys to access the cryptocurrency are stored. The StormGain crypto trading platform comes with a built-in ETH wallet, in which you can earn up to 10% annual interest on your currency.Cryptocurrency tradingEthereum is the crypto coin with the second-largest market share after Bitcoin. Ethereum also has the second-highest trading volume among cryptocurrencies. By using StormGain, traders can earn significant bonuses and rewards for trading Ethereum.The price history of ETH, in USD and BitcoinEthereum miningEthereum is currently mined via a proof-of-work algorithm. Much like Bitcoin, Ethereum miners dedicate their computing hardware to solving tasks that support the blockchain and receive ETH in return.What is a good hashrate for Ethereum mining?The frequency with which the ETH mining hardware can process hashes determines how likely it is to earn a reward.A hashrate of around 45.0 MH/s is considered suitable for a consumer GPU. However, the whole mining system may soon become irrelevant for Ethereum.What is Ethereum’s future?Ethereum will upgrade soon to version 2.0, a move planned for 2020. The main feature is a change from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake validation.Ethereum 1.0 is a couple of people’s scrappy attempt to build the world computer; Ethereum 2.0 [with PoS] will actually be the world computer — Vitalik ButerinThe current system is notoriously wasteful of energy. A proof-of-stake protocol will mean that users stake their ETH as collateral to verify a transaction (and claim the reward).On 18 August 2008, the domain name bitcoin.org was registered.[11] Later that year, on 31 October, a link to a paper authored by Satoshi Nakamoto titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System[12] was posted to a cryptography mailing list.[13] This paper detailed methods of using a peer-to-peer network to generate what was described as "a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust".[14][15][16] On 3 January 2009, the bitcoin network came into existence with Satoshi Nakamoto mining the genesis block of bitcoin (block number 0), which had a reward of 50 bitcoins.[14][17] Embedded in the coinbase of this block was the text:The Times Jan/03/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.[18]The text refers to a headline in The Times published on 3 January 2009.[19] This note has been interpreted as both a timestamp of the genesis date and a derisive comment on the instability caused by fractional-reserve banking.[20]:18The first open source bitcoin client was released on 9 January 2009, hosted at SourceForge.[21][22]One of the first supporters, adopters, contributors to bitcoin and receiver of the first bitcoin transaction was programmer Hal Finney. Finney downloaded the bitcoin software the day it was released, and received 10 bitcoins from Nakamoto in the world's first bitcoin transaction on 12 January 2009 (bloc 170).[23][24] Other early supporters were Wei Dai, creator of bitcoin predecessor b-money, and Nick Szabo, creator of bitcoin predecessor bit gold.[14]In the early days, Nakamoto is estimated to have mined 1 million bitcoins.[25] Before disappearing from any involvement in bitcoin, Nakamoto in a sense handed over the reins to developer Gavin Andresen, who then became the bitcoin lead developer at the Bitcoin Foundation, the 'anarchic' bitcoin community's closest thing to an official public face.[26]The value of the first bitcoin transactions were negotiated by individuals on the bitcoin forum with one notable transaction of 10,000 BTC used to indirectly purchase two pizzas delivered by Papa John's.[14]On 6 August 2010, a major vulnerability in the bitcoin protocol was spotted. Transactions weren't properly verified before they were included in the transaction log or blockchain, which let users bypass bitcoin's economic restrictions and create an indefinite number of bitcoins.[27][28] On 15 August, the vulnerability was exploited; over 184 billion bitcoins were generated in a transaction, and sent to two addresses on the network. Within hours, the transaction was spotted and erased from the transaction log after the bug was fixed and the network forked to an updated version of the bitcoin protocol.[29] This was the only major security flaw found and exploited in bitcoin's history.[27][28][30]Satoshi Nakamoto[edit]Main article: Satoshi Nakamoto"Satoshi Nakamoto" is presumed to be a pseudonym for the person or people who designed the original bitcoin protocol in 2008 and launched the network in 2009. Nakamoto was responsible for creating the majority of the official bitcoin software and was active in making modifications and posting technical information on the bitcoin forum.[14] There has been much speculation as to the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto with suspects including Dai, Szabo, and Finney – and accompanying denials.[31][32] The possibility that Satoshi Nakamoto was a computer collective in the European financial sector has also been discussed.[33]Investigations into the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto were attempted by The New Yorker and Fast Company. The New Yorker's investigation brought up at least two possible candidates: Michael Clear and Vili Lehdonvirta. Fast Company's investigation brought up circumstantial evidence linking an encryption patent application filed by Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry on 15 August 2008, and the bitcoin.org domain name which was registered 72 hours later. The patent application (#20100042841) contained networking and encryption technologies similar to bitcoin's, and textual analysis revealed that the phrase "... computationally impractical to reverse" appeared in both the patent application and bitcoin's whitepaper.[12] All three inventors explicitly denied being Satoshi Nakamoto.[34][35]In May 2013, Ted Nelson speculated that Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki is Satoshi Nakamoto.[36] Later in 2013 the Israeli researchers Dorit Ron and Adi Shamir pointed to Silk Road-linked Ross William Ulbricht as the possible person behind the cover. The two researchers based their suspicion on an analysis of the network of bitcoin transactions.[37] These allegations were contested[38] and Ron and Shamir later retracted their claim.[39]Nakamoto's involvement with bitcoin does not appear to extend past mid-2010.[14] In April 2011, Nakamoto communicated with a bitcoin contributor, saying that he had "moved on to other things".[18]Stefan Thomas, a Swiss coder and active community member, graphed the time stamps for each of Nakamoto's 500-plus bitcoin forum posts; the resulting chart showed a steep decline to almost no posts between the hours of 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time. Because this pattern held true even on Saturdays and Sundays, it suggested that Nakamoto was asleep at this time, and the hours of 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. GMT are midnight to 6 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (North American Eastern Standard Time). Other clues suggested that Nakamoto was British: A newspaper headline he had encoded in the genesis block came from the UK-published newspaper The Times, and both his forum posts and his comments in the bitcoin source code used British English spellings, such as "optimise" and "colour".[14]An Internet search by an anonymous blogger of texts similar in writing to the bitcoin whitepaper suggests Nick Szabo's "bit gold" articles as having a similar author.[31] Nick denied being Satoshi, and stated his official opinion on Satoshi and bitcoin in a May 2011 article.[40]In a March 2014 article in Newsweek, journalist Leah McGrath Goodman doxed Dorian S. Nakamoto of Temple City, California, saying that Satoshi Nakamoto is the man's birth name. Her methods and conclusion drew widespread criticism.[41][42]In June 2016, the London Review of Books published a piece by Andrew O'Hagan about Nakamoto.[43] The real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto still remains a matter of dispute.Growth[edit]2011[edit]Based on bitcoin's open-source code, other cryptocurrencies started to emerge.[44]The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit group, started accepting bitcoins in January 2011,[45] then stopped accepting them in June 2011, citing concerns about a lack of legal precedent about new currency systems.[46] The EFF's decision was reversed on 17 May 2013 when they resumed accepting bitcoin.[47]In June 2011, WikiLeaks[48] and other organizations began to accept bitcoins for donations.2012[edit]In January 2012, bitcoin was featured as the main subject within a fictionalized trial on the CBS legal drama The Good Wife in the third-season episode "Bitcoin for Dummies". The host of CNBC's Mad Money, Jim Cramer, played himself in a courtroom scene where he testifies that he doesn't consider bitcoin a true currency, saying, "There's no central bank to regulate it; it's digital and functions completely peer to peer".[49]In September 2012, the Bitcoin Foundation was launched to "accelerate the global growth of bitcoin through standardization, protection, and promotion of the open source protocol". The founders were Gavin Andresen, Jon Matonis, Patrick Murck, Charlie Shrem, and Peter Vessenes.[50]In October 2012, BitPay reported having over 1,000 merchants accepting bitcoin under its payment processing service.[51] In November 2012, WordPress started accepting bitcoins.[52]2013[edit]In February 2013, the bitcoin-based payment processor Coinbase reported selling US$1 million worth of bitcoins in a single month at over $22 per bitcoin.[53] The Internet Archive announced that it was ready to accept donations as bitcoins and that it intends to give employees the option to receive portions of their salaries in bitcoin currency.[54]In March, the bitcoin transaction log, called the blockchain, temporarily split into two independent chains with differing rules on how transactions were accepted. For six hours two bitcoin networks operated at the same time, each with its own version of the transaction history. The core developers called for a temporary halt to transactions, sparking a sharp sell-off.[55] Normal operation was restored when the majority of the network downgraded to version 0.7 of the bitcoin software.[55] The Mt. Gox exchange briefly halted bitcoin deposits and the exchange rate briefly dipped by 23% to $37 as the event occurred[56][57] before recovering to previous level of approximately $48 in the following hours.[58] In the US, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) established regulatory guidelines for "decentralized virtual currencies" such as bitcoin, classifying American bitcoin miners who sell their generated bitcoins as Money Service Businesses (or MSBs), that may be subject to registration and other legal obligations.[59][60][61]In April, payment processors BitInstant and Mt. Gox experienced processing delays due to insufficient capacity[62] resulting in the bitcoin exchange rate dropping from $266 to $76 before returning to $160 within six hours.[63] Bitcoin gained greater recognition when services such as OkCupid and Foodler began accepting it for payment.[64]On 15 May 2013, the US authorities seized accounts associated with Mt. Gox after discovering that it had not registered as a money transmitter with FinCEN in the US.[65][66]On 17 May 2013, it was reported that BitInstant processed approximately 30 percent of the money going into and out of bitcoin, and in April alone facilitated 30,000 transactions,[67]On 23 June 2013, it was reported that the US Drug Enforcement Administration listed 11.02 bitcoins as a seized asset in a United States Department of Justice seizure notice pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 881.[68] This marked the first time a government agency claimed to have seized bitcoin.[69][70]In July 2013, a project began in Kenya linking bitcoin with M-Pesa, a popular mobile payments system, in an experiment designed to spur innovative payments in Africa.[71] During the same month the Foreign Exchange Administration and Policy Department in Thailand stated that bitcoin lacks any legal framework and would therefore be illegal, which effectively banned trading on bitcoin exchanges in the country.[72][73]On 6 August 2013, Federal Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas of the Fifth Circuit ruled that bitcoins are "a currency or a form of money" (specifically securities as defined by Federal Securities Laws), and as such were subject to the court's jurisdiction,[74][75] and Germany's Finance Ministry subsumed bitcoins under the term "unit of account" – a financial instrument – though not as e-money or a functional currency, a classification nonetheless having legal and tax implications.[76]In October 2013, the FBI seized roughly 26,000 BTC from website Silk Road during the arrest of alleged owner Ross William Ulbricht.[77][78][79] Two companies, Robocoin and Bitcoiniacs launched the world's first bitcoin ATM on 29 October 2013 in Vancouver, BC, Canada, allowing clients to sell or purchase bitcoin currency at a downtown coffee shop.[80][81][82] Chinese internet giant Baidu had allowed clients of website security services to pay with bitcoins.[83]In November 2013, the University of Nicosia announced that it would be accepting bitcoin as payment for tuition fees, with the university's chief financial officer calling it the "gold of tomorrow".[84] During November 2013, the China-based bitcoin exchange BTC China overtook the Japan-based Mt. Gox and the Europe-based Bitstamp to become the largest bitcoin trading exchange by trade volume.[85]In December 2013, Overstock.com[86] announced plans to accept bitcoin in the second half of 2014. On 5 December 2013, the People's Bank of China prohibited Chinese financial institutions from using bitcoins.[87] After the announcement, the value of bitcoins dropped,[88] and Baidu no longer accepted bitcoins for certain services.[89] Buying real-world goods with any virtual currency had been illegal in China since at least 2009.[90]2014[edit]In January 2014, Zynga[91] announced it was testing bitcoin for purchasing in-game assets in seven of its games. That same month, The D Las Vegas Casino Hotel and Golden Gate Hotel & Casino properties in downtown Las Vegas announced they would also begin accepting bitcoin, according to an article by USA Today. The article also stated the currency would be accepted in five locations, including the front desk and certain restaurants.[92] The network rate exceeded 10 petahash/sec. TigerDirect[93] and Overstock.com[94] started accepting bitcoin.In early February 2014, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges, Mt. Gox,[95] suspended withdrawals citing technical issues.[96] By the end of the month, Mt. Gox had filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan amid reports that 744,000 bitcoins had been stolen.[97] Months before the filing, the popularity of Mt. Gox had waned as users experienced difficulties withdrawing funds.[98]In June 2014 the network exceeded 100 petahash/sec.[citation needed] On 18 June 2014, it was announced that bitcoin payment service provider BitPay would become the new sponsor of St. Petersburg Bowl under a two-year deal, renamed the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl. Bitcoin was to be accepted for ticket and concession sales at the game as part of the sponsorship, and the sponsorship itself was also paid for using bitcoin.[99]In July 2014 Newegg and Dell[100] started accepting bitcoin.In September 2014 TeraExchange, LLC, received approval from the U.S.Commodity Futures Trading Commission "CFTC" to begin listing an over-the-counter swap product based on the price of a bitcoin. The CFTC swap product approval marks the first time a U.S. regulatory agency approved a bitcoin financial product.[101]In December 2014 Microsoft began to accept bitcoin to buy Xbox games and Windows software.[102]In 2014, several light-hearted songs celebrating bitcoin such as the "Ode to Satoshi"[103] have been released.[104]A documentary film, The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin, was released in 2014, featuring interviews with bitcoin users, such as a computer programmer and a drug dealer.[105]2015[edit]In January 2015 Coinbase raised US$75 million as part of a Series C funding round, smashing the previous record for a bitcoin company. Less than one year after the collapse of Mt. Gox, United Kingdom-based exchange Bitstamp announced that their exchange would be taken offline while they investigate a hack which resulted in about 19,000 bitcoins (equivalent to roughly US$5 million at that time) being stolen from their hot wallet.[106] The exchange remained offline for several days amid speculation that customers had lost their funds. Bitstamp resumed trading on 9 January after increasing security measures and assuring customers that their account balances would not be impacted.[107]In February 2015, the number of merchants accepting bitcoin exceeded 100,000.[108]In October 2015, a proposal was submitted to the Unicode Consortium to add a code point for the bitcoin symbol.[109]2016[edit]In January 2016, the network rate exceeded 1 exahash/sec.[citation needed]In March 2016, the Cabinet of Japan recognized virtual currencies like bitcoin as having a function similar to real money.[110] Bidorbuy, the largest South African online marketplace, launched bitcoin payments for both buyers and sellers.[111]In July 2016, researchers published a paper showing that by November 2013 bitcoin commerce was no longer driven by "sin" activities but instead by legitimate enterprises.[112]In August 2016, a major bitcoin exchange, Bitfinex, was hacked and nearly 120,000 BTC (around $60m) was stolen.[113]In November 2016, the Swiss Railway operator SBB (CFF) upgraded all their automated ticket machines so that bitcoin could be bought from them using the scanner on the ticket machine to scan the bitcoin address on a phone app.[114]Bitcoin generates more academic interest year after year; the number of Google Scholar articles published mentioning bitcoin grew from 83 in 2009, to 424 in 2012, and 3580 in 2016. Also, the academic journal Ledger published its first issue. It is edited by Peter Rizun.2017[edit]The number of businesses accepting bitcoin continued to increase. In January 2017, NHK reported the number of online stores accepting bitcoin in Japan had increased 4.6 times over the past year.[115] BitPay CEO Stephen Pair declared the company's transaction rate grew 3× from January 2016 to February 2017, and explained usage of bitcoin is growing in B2B supply chain payments.[116]Bitcoin gains more legitimacy among lawmakers and legacy financial companies. For example, Japan passed a law to accept bitcoin as a legal payment method,[117] and Russia has announced that it will legalize the use of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.[118]Exchange trading volumes continue to increase. For the 6-month period ending March 2017, Mexican exchange Bitso saw trading volume increase 1500%.[citation needed] Between January and May 2017 Poloniex saw an increase of more than 600% active traders online and regularly processed 640% more transactions.[119]In June 2017, the bitcoin symbol was encoded in Unicode version 10.0 at position U+20BF (₿) in the Currency Symbols block.[120]Up until July 2017, bitcoin users maintained a common set of rules for the cryptocurrency.[121] On 1 August 2017 bitcoin split into two derivative digital currencies, the bitcoin (BTC) chain with 1 MB blocksize limit and the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) chain with 8 MB blocksize limit. The split has been called the Bitcoin Cash hard fork.[122]On 6 December 2017 the software marketplace Steam announced that it would no longer accept bitcoin as payment for its products, citing slow transactions speeds, price volatility, and high fees for transactions.[123]2018[edit]See also: Cryptocurrency bubble § 2018 crashOn 22 January 2018, South Korea brought in a regulation that requires all the bitcoin traders to reveal their identity, thus putting a ban on anonymous trading of bitcoins.[124]On 24 January 2018, the online payment firm Stripe announced that it would phase out its support for bitcoin payments by late April 2018, citing declining demand, rising fees and longer transaction times as the reasons.[125]2019[edit]As of September 2019, there were 5,457 bitcoin ATMs worldwide. In August of that year, the countries with highest number of bitcoin ATMs were the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Austria, and Spain.[citation needed]2020[edit]On 2 July 2020, the Indian company 21Shares started to quote a set of bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETP) on the Xetra trading system of the Deutsche Boerse.[126]On 1 September 2020, the Wiener Börse listed its first 21 titles denominated in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, including the services of real-time quotation and securities settlement.[127]On 3 September 2020, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange admitted in its Regulated Market the quotation of the first bitcoin exchange-traded note (ETN), centrally cleared via Eurex Clearing.[128][129]In October 2020, PayPal announced that it would allow its users to buy and sell bitcoin on its platform, although not to deposit or withdraw bitcoins

Short answer:GUERRILLAS TO LETHAL FORCE :LTTE was a Sri Lankan Tamil politico-military organization which fought a secessionist war with the Sri Lankan Armed Forces from 1976 to 2009.Long answer:LTTE fought for a separate nation for Sri Lankan Tamils who dominates North and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.LTTE was the only separatist movement which was frequently invited by International communities for peace talks.LTTE was the only militant group which lost 30,000+ fighters in its lifetime.LTTE was the only group which had Army, navy and Air-Force.Along with fighting Government forces LTTE simultaneously ran a de-facto state in the areas which were controlled by them. It is/was known as Tamil Eelam.CONTENTS :Tamil Eelam (de-facto state)LTTE Military divisionsOrigin of LTTE(1970–1983)Civil War (1983–2009)Rise of LTTE/ Eelam War III (1996–2002)Fall of LTTE/Eelam War IV (2006–2009)TAMIL EELAM (1990s to 2009):Prime Minister and President : Velupillai PrabhakaranHeadquarter/capital: KilinochchiUntil 1995 Jaffna was the headquarter of LTTE. But they lost Jaffna in 1995. When they captured Kilinochchi in 1998 it becomes LTTE's new headquarter and capital.Image: LTTE’s home-made turbine at the Iranamadu Power Station, Kilinochchi.At their peak time:They controlled approximately 67% of coast of Sri Lanka.They had annual budget of US $200 Million to $300 million. Their main source of income was from expatriate Sri Lankan Tamils.They had their own Military, Navy and Air-Force.They had their own Police, Courts, Public Bus services, Customs offices, Banks, etc.Tamil Eelam National flag:Tamil Eelam symbols:National Anthem:Eruthu paar kodi, Tamil: ஏறுது பாரு கொடி (look the flag is rising) written by Puthuvai Rathinathurai.National flower:Gloriosa SuperbaNational Animal:Sri Lankan Leopard.National Bird:Greater CougalNational Tree:Albizia Lebbeck.Political division chief:Image: S.P.Tamilchelvan, chief of LTTE's political division.S.P.Tamilchelvan was LTTE’s political chief until 2007. He was also the face of LTTE’s International negotiating team.After his death in late 2007 Nadesan who was also the chief of Tamil Eelam Police Force(TEPF) was made political chief. Nadesan was the second and also the last political chief until LTTE’s demise in May 2009.Image: Sri Lanka IGP(Inspector General of Police) Fernando shaking hands with Tamil Eelam Police Force chief Nadesan(R) in 2006.Tamil Eelam Police Force (TEPF):Punishments were very severe under the LTTE law. So virtually there was no crimes in Tamil Eelam. Only minor crimes were prevalent. Rapist were punished with death sentence.LTTE Prison:Image: Small cells of one of the LTTE Prisons.Tamil Eelam court:As the president of Tamil Eelam only Prabhakaran had the power to overturn a death sentence.Image: Court proceedings against 3 Sri Lankan Policemen(right) who entered LTTE territory without permission.Tamil Eelam Law College:Image: LTTE senior leader Tamilchelvan at a law college convocation.LTTE Home-guards:Image: LTTE home-guards patrolling on the streets of Kilinochchi.Tamil Eelam Transport Board(TTB):Image: Buses belongs to LTTE’s Tamil Eelam Transport Board.Senchcholai Illam(Orphanage home for female children):LTTE had opened several orphanage homes known as Senchcholai illam for orphaned female children who lost their parents due to civil war.Image: Prabhakaran inaugurating one of the Senchcholai Illam.Bank of Tamil Eelam:Thuyilum Illam(Resting place):Image: One of the LTTE cemeteries with oil lamps during one of the Heroes Day.2) LTTE MILITARY DIVISIONS:Image: Prabhakaran explaining an attack plan to his top commanders.Leopard Commandos (Siruththai Padaai):Image: Unlike other LTTE units(including black Tigers) which had uniforms with Tigers stripes, Leopard commandos had special uniforms with leopard stripes.Leopard commandos were elite commandos of LTTE equivalent to special commandos of any state military. They were highly trained to launch precise operations.LTTE Engineering Corps:Image: Col.Raju(1961–2002) leader of LTTE'S Engineering Corps.Image: Underdeveloped LTTE metal tunnel at a War memorialImage: Armored LTTE truck made for transportation of LTTE VIPs.Image: This deadly suicide boat was also the brain-child Col.Raju.LTTE had produced several home-made weapons. Most of them were made of materials available locally.Charles Anthony Brigade:Image: Fighters of Charles Anthony Brigade at a military exercise.Charles Anthony Brigade was the special force of LTTE. It was named after Prabhakaran’s best friend Charles Anthony who died in 1983. Charles Anthony brigade was the first Non-state regiment to win a conventional battle when they won the Second Battle of Elephant Pass in 2000.Kittu Artillery Unit:Prabhakaran asked Col.Bhanu to form a special artillery and armor unit. Bhanu formed an artillery unit with the help of artillery pieces captured from army. Later they started to buy artillery guns from black market and assembled them in Sri Lanka.Jeyanthan Brigade:Image: LTTE fighters of Jeyanthan Brigade.Jeyanthan brigade was exclusively made of cadres from Eastern province. Even when eastern LTTE chief Karuna revolted against Prabhakaran in 2004 these eastern fighters remained loyal to Prabhakaran (mainstream LTTE).Jeyanthan Brigade remained one of the elite regiments of LTTE. This Brigade had played vital roles in LTTE’s victories in several battles.Imaran-Pandian Regiment (Bodyguards of Prabhakaran):Image: Prabhakaran with his bodyguard Gaddafi. Until 2005 Gaddafi was special commander of Imran-Pandian unit which was specially created to protect Prabhakaran.Image: One of the bodyguards of Prabhakaran.Female Tamil Tigers:Females were recruited regularly by LTTE. It had two exclusive female brigades: Malathy brigade and Sothiya brigade.Image: Female Tigers of Lt.Malathi Regiment.Victor Anti-Tank Regiment(RPG Unit):Kutty Sri Mortar Unit:Anbarasi Regiment (Anti-aircraft Unit):Image : LTTE fighter aiming a MANPAD (surface to air missile launcher)Image: Female Tiger with Anti-Aircraft gun.Deep Penetration Unit:Image: One of the early LTTE deep penetration units passing information after returning from behind enemy line. The white arm band helped to avoid friendly fire while returning back to LTTE held areas.LTTE NAVY (Sea Tigers) :Tamil Sea Tigers was one of the most effective non-state navies ever formed, inflicting significant damage and heavy casualties on government forces during the Sri Lankan Civil War. Using fast attack craft, human torpedoes and frogmen combined with innovative and bold tactics, the Sea Tigers sank about 30 navy patrol boats as part of the Tamil rebellion to create an independent state.Image: Sea Tiger chief Col. Soosai.Image: Female sea tigers.AIR-FORCE (Air-tigers):LTTE was the first and only militant group to field an Air-Force of its own.Image: LTTE’s Iranamadu Air-strip which is now renovated by the Sri Lankan Government and currently used by Air-Force.Image: Air Tigers on their maiden flight in 2007BLACK TIGERS (Suicide Squads):Black Tigers were most disciplined elite force of LTTE. They had assassinated two top leaders of World: ex-Indian PM Mr.Rajiv Gandhi and President of Sri Lanka Mr.Premadasa.As suicide attracts empathy Prabhakaran had coined a new Tamil term “thaat kodaai” means self-gift or gifting self. It was also believed that Prabhakaran was inspired by Chevars of Tamil Chera Kingdom who became suicide attacker and defeated the mighty Chola king.Image: 21 Black Tigers team which was involved in the Anuradhapuram raid in 2007.Image: Prabhakaran paying homage to the 10 slain Black tigers who raided Government forces’ Vanni SF HQ in 2008.Infantry :Image: Infantry Black Tigers widely uses by LTTE commanders to break enemy's front line formations.Sea Black Tigers:Image: Sri Lankan Navy supply ship attacked by sea black tigers in 1991.Image: Sea Black Tiger on explosive laden suicide boat. These suicide boats were too fast and too low that were almost impossible to detect or shoot them.Air Black Tigers:Image: Air Black Tigers Col.Rooban and Lt.Col. Siriththiran who launched kamikaze style suicide attacks on Colombo on 20th February 2009.TOSIS (Intelligence Unit):Image: Bottu Amman TOSIS chief 1988–2009.TOSIS (Tiger Organization Security Intelligence Servic) was LTTE's intelligence wing and it had very efficient intelligence network. He effectively adopted the techniques of Israel’s MOSSAD and Pakistan’s ISI. They had infiltrated their agents into Sri Lankan Army, Police, important Government offices, etc.3) ORIGIN OF LTTE :Sri Lankan Tamils tolerated discrimination for about 30+ years since Independence. But 1970s saw a new generation of Tamil youths who were angry and were in no mood of tolerating discrimination. These youths lost faith in the peaceful agitations by their elders. Suddenly one after another several Tamil groups were emerged.1954:November 26, Prabhakaran was born.People who knew him personally said that he was a born leader with charismatic personality. Even as a kid Velupillai Prabhakaran never minded mingling with lower caste children.As he grew he started to show too much interest in Tamil politics.Image: Ancestral home of Prabhakaran where he spent his childhood. Now its one of the main tourist attractions in VVT.1969:Entry into Armed struggle at 15 : Prabhakaran joined the group of famous duo Kuttimani - Thangathurai. Both were elder to Prabhakaran and were from his own village of VVT(Valvettithurai).1972:TNT (Tamil New Tigers) was founded: Prabhakaran founded TNT group at the age of just 17 with few of close partners.1973:TYF (Tamil Youth Front) a political organization was formed by Amirthalingam. It had 40+ youth members. But proactively Sri Lankan police started to arrest all its members. TYF was betrayed by their own member. Due to severe torture by police one of the arrested members gave the full list of the TYF members and it's activities. Police started to hunt all its member. Prabhakaran’s address was also compromised.Young Prabhakaran narrowly escaped through the back door of his house when police knocked at his front door. From then onwards he started to remain in different hideouts like friends’ and relative’s houses. Later Prabhakaran escaped to India.1974:Tamil Conference Incident took place when Government forces attacked thousands of Tamil civilians who were assembled there to attend the conference . Policemen shot in the air which broke an electric wire and it fell on the people. 7 civilians died of electrocution. At the end 9 Tamil civilians were killed and 50+ were injured. Instead of punishing those policemen Government promoted them. This incident was one of the important events which led to the rise of Tamil militancy.Image: Memorial at the site of the Tamil Conference Incident.This incident increased the anger of Tamil youth. They blamed then Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah for this tragic incident.July 5: Suicide of Sivakumaran, a young Tamil Militant. He was involved in a failed Bank robbery and was rounded up by the Sri Lankan Police. To avoid arrest he swallowed cyanide capsule and committed suicide. (He was already once arrested by the Police and gone through a severe torture by them. So after release he started to wear a cyanide capsule around his neck to avoid arrest). He become the first Tamil militant to die for the Tamil Eelam cause. Later Prabhakaran told that it was Shivakumaran’s death which inspired him to make cyanide capsule mandatory for all LTTE cadres.Same year Prabhakaran returned to Sri Lanka.1975: Prabhakaran assassinated Jaffna Mayor:Image: Jaffna mayor Alfred Duraiappah.Prabhakaran shot dead Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah at a Hindu temple. Later Prabhakaran claimed that it was his first murder. It was also the first high profile murder of eventual Sri Lankan Civil War. The reaction among tamil people was mixed. Duraiappah was people friendly but he always supported the Government. So after his death most people were happy especially youths.1976:May 5,LTTE was founded: Prabhakaran renamed TNT as LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). Uma Maheswaran was made its chief and Prabhakaran become its military commander.1976–1980:LTTE secretly conducted training in the forest.Prabhakaran(c) with other Tamil Tigers during the early days of LTTE.1980:Prabhakaran’s growing domination on LTTE annoyed its members. When Uma Maheswaran was expelled from LTTE he founded his own group PLOTE( People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam). Most of the members left LTTE and joined Uma’s PLOTE. Only his loyal friends remained in LTTE. Prabhakaran become angry and disappointed. He too left LTTE but rejoined shortly.1981:Two prominent future leaders joined LTTE:Soosai: (1981–2009)Soosai was LTTE’s sea Tigers' chief. He had made LTTE one of the best non-state Navies in the World.Bottu Amman: (1981–2009)Young Bottu Amman (L) with Vaiko and Prabhakaran in 1980s.Bottu Amman was made LTTE’s intelligence wing TOSIS' chief in 1988. From 1988 to its demise in 2009 he remained chief of both TOSIS and Black Tigers.June 1, Burning of Jaffna Public Library: On the night of the incident several policemen and paramilitary personnel set fire to the prestigious Jaffna public library. It was seen as the direct attempt of Government to destroy the evidence of Tamil ethnicity from Sri Lanka. Before destruction it had 97,000 books and several irreplaceable manuscripts.Image: Burnt libraryImage: Jaffna public Library after restoration.October 15, First attack on Sri Lankan Army: For the first time Sri Lankan Army came under attack by the Tamil militants. LTTE attacked an army Truck and killed 2 soldiers.1982: (Indirect involvement of India)May 19, Shootout in Madras: LTTE chief Prabhakaran and PLOTE chief Uma Maheswaran were involved in a shootout in Pondy Bazaar in Madras (Chennai). Both were arrested. Due to the interference of TN political leaders they were later granted conditional bail. Uma was asked to stay in Madras while Prabhakaran was sent to Madurai(south TN).It was the first time that Tamil Nadu(Indian) politicians involved in an Tamil militant issue. Till then Tamil militants were free to roam in Madras or any other part of Tamil Nadu.November 27, Lt.Shankar become the first LTTE cadre to die in a combat.Image: Lt.ShankarShankar was staying at a LTTE supporter’s house. He went there to pass an information. Suddenly he found himself surrounded by the military. He was able to break the military cordon but not before a bullet hit his stomach. Injured Shankar ran 3 km and reached the nearest LTTE base. There he handed over his pistol to his comrades and fell unconscious because of heavy bleeding. It was LTTE’s code of conduct to avoid arrest and securing the weapon.At that time LTTE had only 30 cadres and didn’t even had a boat or walkie-talkie. Later Anton (LTTE cadre) was able to transport Shankar to Tamil Nadu in a boat. After leaving him at a safe house with a doctor Anton went to Madurai. There he informed Prabhakaran about Shankar’s condition. Prabhakaran reached the spot and Shankar breathed his last on his leader’s lap.It was one of those very rare moments when Prabhakaran cried in public.1983:July 15, Charles Anthony died:Image: Prabhakaran’s best friend Charles Lucas Anthony aka SeelanPrabhakaran's best friend Charles Anthony had been injured in a bank robbery and police station attack. On a tip off Police got his location and injured Charles tried to run as much possible. But finally he gave up and asked his partner to shoot him. He was shot dead by his partner before police could catch him alive.Prabhakaran named LTTE’s elite regiment as Charles Anthony Brigade. He even named his elder son as Charles Anthony.July 23, Ambush:To avenge his best friend and comrades' death Prabhakaran came out with an ambush plan.Image: Prabhakaran(left) with Sellakili who planned the ambush along with Kittu.On the night of 23rd July LTTE successfully ambushed an Army Patrol vehicle and killed 13 soldiers. It was the most successful attack carried out by any Tamil militant group at that time. Unfortunately the mastermind of the plan Sellakili got killed in the action.July 24–30, Anti-Tamil Pogrom : Death of those 13 soldiers triggered the anti-tamil pogrom across Sri Lanka. More than 3000 Tamil Civilians were killed , more than 25000 were injured and properties worth several lakhs were destoyed by angry Sinhala mobs. Mob did all these with the help of the Government. As a result hundreds of angry Tamil youths joined different tamil militant groups especially LTTE.4) SRI LANKAN CIVIL WAR BEGINS :Eelam War I (August 1983- July 1987):Different Tamil militant groups launched attacks on Government forces.1984:Training in India: The bloody anti-Tamil pogrom, pressure from Tamil Nadu congress leaders and Sri Lanka’s new obsession with other countries forced then Prime Minister of India Mrs. Indira Gandhi to order RAW to train Tamil Militants. Along with LTTE several other groups were also got trained in India.Clever Prabhakaran:To protect the identity of LTTE cadres Prabhakaran asked RAW to train LTTE in separate camps.He asked LTTE cadres not to disclose their real names to RAW. He asked them to register their nom de Guerre with the RAW.While getting training in India he established a separate International network to buy weapons. He knew India was using Tamil Militants so he wanted to get out of India's shadow as soon as possible.He himself established his own training camps in Tamil Nadu.Image: Prabhakaran (3rd from left) at a LTTE training camp in Sirumalai, Tamil Nadu, India.October 1, Prabhakaran marriage: He got married to Mathivathani at Tirupur, Tamil Nadu. She was a student of Jaffna University. Along with other Tamil girls she was staging a fast-protest. When the conditions of those girls deteriorated LTTE abducted those girls and brought then to Tamil Nadu. There Prabhakaran fell in love with Mathivathani.Image: Prabhakaran and Mathivathani marriage at a temple.Mid 1980s:Prabhakaran established good relationship with Tamil Nadu politicians especially then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran.Image: Prabhakaran(c) and Col. Shankar having a conversation with M.G.R.1985:April, LTTE joined ENLF (Eelam National Liberation Front): ENLF was formed in 1984 to unite all Tamil militant groups to fight together against Sri Lankan Army. After staying away from the ENLF for nearly 1 year at last Prabhakaran (LTTE) decided to join it in 12 the April 1985.Image: From left Sabaratnam(TELO), Pathmanaba (EPRLF), Prabhakaran (LTTE)and Balakumar(EROS).April/May, Ceasefire: India intervened and proposed a ceasefire. Eelam War I was halted temporarily.July/Aug , Thimpu Talks: India mediated peace talks held at Thimphu ( Bhutan). Delegations from Sri Lankan Government and various Tamil militant groups attended the talks. But this peace talks failed as both sides refused to accept other party’s suggestions.Aug 24, Balasingham deported: After Thimpu Talks failed India deported Anton Balasingham, chief spokesperson of LTTE. Along with him two other prominent Eelam leaders Chelvanayagam and Satyendra were also deported. Tension grew in Tamil Nadu as many people protest Central Government’s decision to deport these people.1986:October, TN Police crack down: Police were ordered to seize weapons and communication equipment from all Militant groups present in the Madras city. Along with other groups LTTE also lost all their weapons and equipments.Desperate Prabhakaran declared fast unto death. As a result various pro-LTTE parties forced M.G.R. to give back all weapons and equipments. LTTE was more than happy as along with their own weapons they also got weapons of other militant groups.1987:June 5, Operation Poomalai: Indian Air Force air-dropped several tonnes of food parcels and medicines to Jaffna when the city was under siege by Sri Lankan Forces.July 5, First Black Tiger attack:Image: Captain Miller, first Black TigerCapt.Miller rammed a small truck full of explosives on a Army base and killed scores of soldiers. He became LTTE’s first black tiger/suicide bomber.Later every year LTTE observed 5th July as Black tiger day.Image: Prabhakaran observing Black Tigers day in 2006.July 29, Indo-Sri Lankan Accord: Indian Prime Minister and Sri Lankan President signed Indo-Sri Lankan Accord. Strangely Tamil militant leaders were not considered. India directly ordered all militant groups to surrender their weapons. Prabhakaran got furious. He directly said “we need India’s support but we never allow India to force their decision on Eelam people.” 29Image: Signing of Indo-Sri Lankan AccordPrabhakaran started to sense a threat to his life in India/TN. He knew that Indian Government or Sri Lankan Government could assassinate him to end the Civil War forever. By rejecting India’s biased suggestions he had already angered Indian Government. So he escaped to Sri Lanka. He had done so second time under the watchful eyes of Indian police.July, IPKF arrived :From the last July Indian Army started to reach Sri Lanka.August ,Suthumalai LTTE conference:Image: LTTE’s Kumarappa addressing the crowd with Prabhakaran and other LTTE leaders present on stage.Image: Thousands of people gathered to listen Prabhakaran and other LTTE leader’s speeches.Addressing those thousands of people Prabhakaran declared that trusting India’s promise of protecting Eelam Tamils and LTTE fighters he ( read LTTE) decided to surrender their weapons . But he warned that if Tamil people's were harassed he would never mind pickings up guns again.August, LTTE surrendered weapons:Image: LTTE cadre surrendering his weapon on 15th August 1987 at Jaffna.Dirty game : Though India, LTTE and SriLanka agreed to follow the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord but they cheated each other on their back.LTTE : Prabhakaran was secretly eliminating leaders of his rival groups.India: IPKF was secretly arming LTTE’s rival groups to defeat LTTE if Prabhakaran refused to obey India.Sri Lanka: Secretly helped sinhalese families in settling down in Tamil areas to unbalance Tamil dominance.September 26, Theelipan: A Tamil activist on 15th september started a hunger strike to protect the rights of Tamil people. Indian Army commanders not only ignored him but also refused to meet him. After refusing food and water for 12 days he died on 26th September. He died right in front of hundreds of people who had gathered to support him. This incident turns the anger of Tamil people against Indian Army. They felt betrayedImage: Prabhakaran talking with Thileepan who was observing hunger strike at that time.October 5, Mass suicide by LTTE fighters: 17 LTTE fighters were arrested by Sri Lankan Navy. Prabhakaran asked Indian Army to get his cadres released. But his request was ignored. Later when Sri Lankan Army tried to take them to Colombo all 17 tigers attempted suicide by swallowing cyanide capsules. 12 (out of 17) cadres died including top LTTE commander Kumarappa and Pulendiran. Prabhakaran felt betrayed now because Indian Army promised to protect LTTE fighters.Image: Pulendiran(left) and Kumarappa along with other 10(bottom) LTTE cadres who committed suicide. Image published by a pro- LTTE website.October, LTTE attacked IPKF: Prabhakaran was furious because of the death of Thileepan and 12 tigers. He ordered his commanders to attack Indian Army. After 20 days of bloody battle LTTE was chased out o the Jaffna. In this process 319 Indian soldiers and 1100 LTTE fighters died at the end of October.October 11–12, Jaffna Helidrop:Image: Football ground where Indian soldiers were surrounded by LTTE cadres and their sharpshooters. The mission turn out to be the most disastrous mission in the history of Indian Army.Clueless India: India was clueless about its mission in India. Mr.Dixit was sent to Colombo to convince Sri Lankan President to implement all the promises made in the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord. IPKF was asked to keep fighting LTTE. RAW was asked to keep helping LTTE and convince Prabhakaran to come to negotiation table. All these three things were done simultaneously.When the mission was failed each side blamed the other two sides.After losing Jaffna Prabhakaran and his troops escaped to Wanni jungles1988:When IPKF felt that they were about to destroy LTTE they were betrayed by the newly elected Sri Lankan President Premadasa. He ordered Indian Army to leave Sri Lanka. He even ordered Sri Lankan Army to supply arms and cash to LTTE to fight Indian Soldiers.1989:After showing huge resistance to Indian Army Prabhakaran and his commanders successfully remained 2 steps ahead of IPKF in the Wanni jungles.Image: Prabhakaran with Gadaffi at an undisclosed location in the forest.People's Front of Liberation Tigers (PFLT): A political party was launched by LTTE. Mahattaya was made its president while Yogi become its first secretary.Image: From left Mahattaya , Prabhakaran and Yogi.November, 27: 1st Maveerar Naal:Image: Prabhakaran giving his first Maveerar Naal speechPrabhakaran was highly impressed by his LTTE commanders and cadres. They had survived 2 years of onslaught by World’s third largest army. So he decided to observe first maveerar naal or Heroes Day to commemorate the fallen Tamil Tigers.27th November the date on which LTTE lost its first fighter Lt. Shankar was chosen as Heroes Day. Till then LTTE had lost 1307 cadres. Hundreds of LTTE fighters gathered at a secret location in the forest to observe first Heroes Day.Till then Lt.Shankar’s death(1982) was not made public by LTTE. Prabhakaran did this to prevent exposing Shankar’s family and other LTTE sympathisers to Government forces.Famous speech: Prabhakaran gave his first Maveerar Day speech and said whoever betrays Tamil Eelam must be killed. He went on saying that in future if he betrays or surrender to enemies his comrades must shoot him at his back.EELAM WAR 2 (1990–1995)1990:IPKF left:Once Indian soldiers left Sri Lanka LTTE got control of huge areas in the North and eaImage: IPKF soldiers leaving Sri Lanka in 1990.Jaffna: Young Tamil Tigers on a patrolling vehicle. LTTE recaptured large areas once IPKF left the island.October 15–30, Expulsion of Muslims: Tensions grew between LTTE and Muslims in the east. Muslim cadres left LTTE and became Government informants. They refused to follow LTTE rules. Sri Lankan Government used this issue in their favour and deployed Muslim homeguards who massacred Tamil civilians.Col.Karikalan, the eastern LTTE commander persuaded Prabhakaran to expel Muslims from LTTE controlled areas. So LTTE expelled around 70,000 to 75,000 Muslims from the Northern districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi,Mannar, Mullaitivu, etc.Image: One of the abandoned Mosques after the expulsion of Muslims.Image: Abandoned moor streets of Jaffna.1991:Assassinated Rajiv Gandhi: Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assasinated by a suicide bomber.Image: Rajiv Gandhi minutes before his death.Except the confessions of the accused/convicts no evidence was found which can connect LTTE with the assassination. Till end LTTE never accepted it directly.July-Aug, First Battle of Elephant Pass:LTTE launched a deadly attack on the Elephant Pass base. It was the main point linking Jaffna Peninsula with the mainland. LTTE used several armored vehicles with guns on top and plenty of ammunitions inside.Image: LTTE Bulldozer at the war memorial used during first battle of Elephant pass.During the battle LTTE was able to surround the base for several days. But they had to retreat because heavy reinforcements reached the base after 18 days.LTTE commanders Balraj and Soosai guarding a portion of Elephant Pass base temporarily captured by them.1993:January 16, Kittu suicide:Image: Kittu former LTTE commander.Image: Prabhakaran consoling Kittu's mother.Kittu and nine other LTTE cadres committed suicide when Indian Navy forced them to surrender. They were travelling on a LTTE ship on international waters miles away from Indian maritime border.Kittu was Prabhakaran’s childhood friend. He was the overall military commander of LTTE during the First Eelam War. When Prabhakaran was busy in peace talks in India Kittu served as LTTE chief until 1987.May 1, Sri Lankan President assassinated:LTTE suicide bomber assassinated then President of Sri Lanka Mr.Premadasa on May day function.Image: Funeral procession of President Premadasa in 1993.Nov, Operation Frog/ Battle of Pooneryn: LTTE ran over a Sri Lankan naval base at Pooneryn.Mahattaya arrested: Deputy LTTE chief Mahattaya was taken into custody by LTTE. He was leaking information to India's RAW.Image: Prabhakaran (c) and Mahattaya (2nd from right) with Tamil Nadu politicians.1994:Image: LTTE rebels patrolling the outskirts of Jaffna.December, Mahattaya executed: After Mahattaya confessed his crime he was executed. Along with him nearly 250 LTTE cadres who were loyal to him were also executed.1995:Female Tigers guarding a house at Jaffna.November-December,Battle of Jaffna: LTTE lost Jaffna, Army expelled LTTE from Jaffna. Col.Theepan was the last LTTE commander to leave Jaffna. He and his troops escaped with the help of Sea tigers.Sri Lanka claimed that LTTE had been eliminated completely. But LTTE spent this time in jungle to regroup, train and increase their ammunition stocks.RISE OF LTTE:EELAM WAR 3 (1996–2001):LTTE had grown in size and were became deadly force. They had 3 operations codenamed Unceasing Waves to capture important Army bases.Operation Unceasing Waves I : To capture MullaitivuOperation Unceasing Waves II : To capture KilinochchiOperation Unceasing Waves III : To capture Elephant Pass.1996:Operation Unceasing Waves I/ Battle of Mullaitivu : LTTE launched a deadly attack on Mullaitivu base. Sea Tigers used its full strength and soon huge fights began both on land and sea.It was the last base of Army in the Mullaitivu region. So when Army abandoned the base LTTE took control of the whole Mullaitivu district.Image: Tamil Tigers removing one of the artillery guns from the Army base. LTTE got away with several artillery pieces and huge stocks of ammunition.1998:September , Operation Unceasing Waves II/ Battle of Kilinochchi:Image: Brig.Balraj preparing his fighters for the Battle of Kilinochchi.Image: LTTE cadres entering Kilinochchi on 29th September 1998.LTTE successfully expelled Sri Lankan Army from the town of Kilinocchi. Later the town of Kilinochchi become LTTE’s headquarter.2000:Operation Unceasing Waves III/Second Battle of Elephant Pass:The victory at the Elephant Pass was the most famous in the history of LTTE’s history. They had achieved an impossible mission.LTTE surrounded the largest Military Garrison and cut off it from outside supplies.Image: Brig.Balraj preparing his troops for Operation Unceasing Waves 3.Image: Balraj travels through sea and landed behind enemy lines.Image: Brigadier Balraj on his way to the A9 highway through the lagoon.For next 30+ days he fought behind enemy lines.Sea Tigers secretly transported LTTE commander Balraj with 1200 cadres through sea behind enemy lines.At that time LTTE troops were surrounded by 40,000 Sri Lankan Soldiers, Air Force, etc. He fought 30+ days without any outside help and blocked the A9 Highway until the fall of Iyakachchi( front base) and then Elephant Pass(main base). This came as a surprise to many experts as US military experts had predicted that Elephant Pass was impregnable.Few thousand Tamil Tigers defeated 17,500 Soldiers and forced them to abandon their largest garrison.After this victory LTTE were highly motivated and very ambitious about recapturing Jaffna(last main base of Army) and free whole Tamil Eelam from Government forces.2001:July, Black Tigers raided Bandaranaike International Airport and created a loss of $350 Million to the Government. They destroyed several military and civil air crafts.One of the destroyed Aircrafts at the Bandaranaike Airport.This attack was perfectly planned with high level training. They successfully raided the Airport and made sure no passenger or foreign national hurt.September 26, Assassination of Col.Shankar:Col. Shankar was one of the few original members of LTTE. He was with Prabhakaran from the early days of Eelam struggle.He was also the founder of important wings of LTTE :Sea TigersAir-TigersAnti-Aircraft UnitFrogmen of Sea TigersImage: Prabhakaran and Shankar (2nd from right ) inspecting powered gliders with LTTE test pilots at Iranamadu air-strip in early 1990s.2002:PEACE PROCESS:The evergrowing military power of LTTE and their victories over Government forces brought Sri Lankan Government to the negotiation table. In 2002 LTTE signed the ceasefire and finally peace returned to Sri Lanka after a long time.Image: Prabhakaran signing the historical ceasefire.Image: LTTE leaders (from right) Prabhakaran, Balasingham, Tamilseivan and Gaddafi at a rare press meet at Kilinochchi.August 25, Death of Col.Raju: He was in charge of LTTE'S Engineering Corps. He also helped LTTE develop its artilley and armored unit.His important contributions:Artilley and armored Units formationEngineering CorpsLeopard Commandos(LTTE's special Commandos)Col.Raju, LTTE's chief engineer and commander of leopard Commandos.2004:March 3 - April 11, split: Eastern LTTE chief Karuna Amman announced split with Prabhakaran. He decided to run a separate militant group in eastern Sri Lanka. But mainstream LTTE brutally neutralized Karuna forces.Without any choice Karuna joined hands with Government. His betrayal came as a shock to LTTE. His announcement made LTTE lose 4000–5000(approx.) well trained fighters.Image: Cadres(ex-LTTE) of the breakaway KARUNA faction.Within few days Prabhakaran forces neutralized Karuna forces. Just like he betrayed Prabhakaran he was betrayed by his own commander Col.Ramanan.Image: Col.Ramanan one of the few LTTE commanders who remained loyal to Prabhakaran when most of the eastern commanders betrayed LTTE and joined Karuna.Ramanan not only helped Prabhakaran defeat Karuna forces but also helped LTTE track down eastern LTTE cadres who returned to normal life after the split. Many such cadres were identified and were brought back to LTTE .December 26, Tsunami:Image: Damaged vehicles(above) and Train left by Tsunami waves.2005:Image: LTTE doctor treating a civilian at one of the medical camps conducted by LTTE at Vavuniya in June 2005.2006:Tensions grew between LTTE and Sri Lankan Government with both sides often violating ceasefire agreement.Tensions grew around important FDLs:Image:LTTE's Col.Veeramani patrolling Tirunelveli FDL.Image: Local Tamil civilians taking food items for the LTTE cadres who were deployed in the Tirunelveli FDL in June 2006.EELAM WAR 4 (2006–2009):Fights resumes:Image: LTTE cadres taking oath before leaving to FDL at Muhamalai.Image: Tamil Tigers leaving for forward defence lines(FDL) at Muhamalai 2006.May , EU blacklisted LTTE: Main reasons for banning LTTE:LTTE intentionally avoided attending several peace talks meetings.Assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar, minister of foreign affairs of Sri Lanka in 2005 by alleged LTTE sniper. But LTTE denied their involvement. No evidence was found against LTTE.Suicide attack on top military commander Sarath Fonseka in 2006. He survived the attack.July, Closing of sluice gate at Mavil aru:Image: LTTE closed the sluice gates of Mavil Aru which was supplying water to a region inside Government controlled area.August 14, Senchcholai Bombing:Image: Sri Lankan Air-Force dropped 16 bombs on a Senchcholai Orphanage home and killed 61 people including 55 school girls and injured 129 others.December 14, Anton Balasingham passed away.The only man who could speak against Prabhakaran was gone. He was a true and loyal friend to Prabhakaran. Now Prabhakaran was left with some headless people who misled him about the changes in International politics.2007:October 22, Anuradhapuram Air-Force base attack: Sri Lankan Air-Force frequently bombed Tamil civilian areas. As the civilian casualties increased Prabhakaran warned Sri Lankan Government to stop it or face consequences. But Air-Force ignored it. As a result Prabhakaran ordered his black tiger squad and air tiger to simultaneously launch attack on the Anuradhapuram Air Base.Image: 21 team black-tigers team before leaving for the mission.Image: Air-Tigers on their maiden public raid to support on ground Black Tigers team.One of the destroyed choppers during the LTTE raid.Image: Hundreds of Civilians gathered to pay homage to the 21 Black tigers of Anuradhapuram Raid 2007 in Kilinochchi.2008:Proved to be one of the most tragic years for LTTE because it lost two of their key commanders.5th January: Col. Charles was killed. He was the chief of LTTE’s military intelligence wing.His vehicle hit claymore mine placed by Deep penetration Unit . He was the main person behind Black Tigers' success.During 1990s he was sent to South to create secret LTTE base to carry out attacks in the government controlled areas. He was personally involved in many suicide attacks and high profile assassinations. He was one of the few LTTE commanders who were able to stay in Colombo frequently without any suspicions. Later when his presence was known to the Government he changed his base from South to East and launched attacks on Government controlled areas.Image: Col.Charles.He played a vital role in infiltrating LTTE agents in Sri Lankan Army and Police. After his death Black Tigers became just a shadow of their glorious past. They lost the accuracy and failed in many of their last attacks.Image: Tamil Tigers guarding Forward Defence Line at Mannar, May 2008.21st May:Brigadier Balraj died of heart attack.Brigadier Balraj was deputy chief of LTTE’s infantry. He was also the most successful LTTE commander.He was involved in many successful military operations of LTTE. He was the main person behind LTTE’s famous victory in Battle of Elephant Pass 2000. He was well known for his psychological warfare. After his death LTTE failed to win any significant battle and eventually vanished exactly one year after his death.Even Army commanders considered Balraj's death as one of the main reasons for the military defeat of LTTE.Image: Balraj's funeral procession.July 5, Last Black Tigers Day:Image: Prabhakaran lighting the oil lamp during the Black Tigers Day 2008 which turns out to be the last such event.Fights intensifies towards the end of 2008 :Image: LTTE team at a front defensive line at Vannerikulam in September 2008.Image: August 2008 New front defensive line.Image: LTTE cadres giving stiff resistance to the advancing Army at Akkarayan FDL, October 2008.NOVEMBER 27, LAST HEROES DAY:Prabhakaran lighting the “Lamp of sacrifice” for the last time. It become the last Heroes Day of LTTE. They had lost 22,390 cadres till then.2009:January, Battle of Kilinochchi: LTTE lost Kilinochchi their headquarter/ capital to the army.March-April: Last major battle of the Civil War Battle of Ananthapuram took place. Army destroyed most of the military units of LTTE .Tamil Tigers lost most of their top commanders. Some of them:Brigadier Theepan:After the death of Brigadier Balraj Col.Theepan became the de-facto deputy chief of LTTE’s military. During the final days of the Civil war he was made the overall military commander of LTTE’s Northern frontier.He refused to leave his troops behind and killed in the final days of Battle of Ananthapuram. His death was a huge blow to LTTE.Brigadier Gaddafi aka Aathavan:Gaddafi was one of the senior commanders of LTTE. He was Prabhakaran’s bodyguard from 1980s to 2005. When Imran Pandian Regiment was formed in 1992 he became its special commander until 2005.He was one of the 10 LTTE cadres who were trained by India(RAW) to use Anti-aircraft missiles. He became a specialist in using SAM7 missiles and shot down several Sri Lankan Air-Force planes. He was also killed in the battle.Image: Prabhakaran’s bodyguard Gaddafi (extreme left) during LTTE chief’s famous speech at Suthumalai in 1987.May 2009, Final battle:LTTE fighters along with thousands of civilians were trapped in a small area. Surrendering LTTE commanders and cadres were shot and killed mercilessly.Nobody(except Army) know how Prabhakaran died and what happened to his wife and daughter. As per the UN study, 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the last month alone by Army shelling and air-bombardment.Daring Col.Ram:Even after the defeat of LTTE in May 2009, Col.Ram, LTTE's Amaparai district commander was able to hold his ground in Eastern province. With around 50+ Eastern LTTE cadres he launched minor guerilla attacks on Army for several weeks. Later he too surrendered to the Army. At the time of surrender, he was the highest-ranked LTTE commander alive.Demise of LTTE and end of the Civil War 2009:New de-facto LTTE chief K.P.(Kumara Pathmanathan) announced that LTTE had decided to silence their guns. Thus brought the 3-decade long civil war to an end.Image: KP (c) with Prabhakaran, Balasingham and Shankar.MAVEERAR NAAL or REMEMBERANCE DAY:Prabhakaran and Tamil Tigers had long gone but they had left a legacy behind them.Every year from 1989 to 2008 on 27th November LTTE used to observe Heroes Day.Image: Prabhakaran paying homage to Lt. Shankar and other fallen LTTE fighters during a Heroes Day.Image: A woman looking at the photo of her daughter who was a member of Black Tiger squad of LTTE.Image: Family members of fallen Tamil Tigers gathered at one of the LTTE cemetries to observe the Heroes Day.Image: This year( 2016) also hundreds of Eelam Tamils gathered to observe Maveerar Naal at LondonEvery year on 27th November Maveerar Naal or Remembrance Day is observed by thousands of Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in Sri Lanka, USA, Canada, India , Australia and several European countries.Image source: Google images.