QUES: The Chronicle reports that Askold and Dir continued to Constantinople with a navy to attack the city in 863–66, catching the Byzantines by surprise and ravaging the surrounding area, though other accounts date the attack in 860. Patriarch Photius vividly describes the "universal" devastation of the suburbs and nearby islands, and another account further details the destruction and slaughter of the invasion. The Rus' turned back before attacking the city itself, due either to a storm dispersing their boats, the return of the Emperor, or in a later account, due to a miracle after a ceremonial appeal by the Patriarch and the Emperor to the Virgin. The attack was the first encounter between the Rus' and Byzantines and led the Patriarch to send missionaries north to engage and attempt to convert the Rus' and the Slavs.
What was was the purpose of the Patriarch when they were sent south?

ANS: unanswerable

QUES: Dawa Norbu argues that modern Chinese Communist historians tend to be in favor of the view that the Ming simply reappointed old Yuan dynasty officials in Tibet and perpetuated their rule of Tibet in this manner. Norbu writes that, although this would have been true for the eastern Tibetan regions of Amdo and Kham's "tribute-cum-trade" relations with the Ming, it was untrue if applied to the western Tibetan regions of Ü-Tsang and Ngari. After the Phagmodrupa Changchub Gyaltsen, these were ruled by "three successive nationalistic regimes," which Norbu writes "Communist historians prefer to ignore."
Who believed the Ming reappointed old Yuan dynasty officials in Tibet?

ANS: Dawa Norbu

QUES: Buses now provide the majority of local public transport. The main bus operators are First Southampton and Bluestar. Other operators include Brijan Tours, Stagecoach and Xelabus. The other large service provider is the Uni-link bus service (running from early in the morning to midnight), which was commissioned by the University of Southampton to provide transport from the university to the town. Previously run by Enterprise, it is now run by Bluestar. Free buses are provided by City-link'. The City-link runs from the Red Funnel ferry terminal at Town Quay to Central station via WestQuay and is operated by Bluestar. There is also a door-to-door minibus service called Southampton Dial a Ride, for residents who cannot access public transport. This is funded by the council and operated by SCA Support Services.
Along with First Southampton, what is the other main bus operator in Southampton?

ANS: Bluestar

QUES: The oldest known fossil among the Eutheria ("true beasts") is the small shrewlike Juramaia sinensis, or "Jurassic mother from China", dated to 160 million years ago in the Late Jurassic. A later eutherian, Eomaia, dated to 125 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous, possessed some features in common with the marsupials but not with the placentals, evidence that these features were present in the last common ancestor of the two groups but were later lost in the placental lineage. In particular:
What lineage shows some early eutherian features were lost?

ANS:
unanswerable