AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
In an absolute monarchy the monarch is the only source of all laws. The monarch has total power to make any law just by deciding it. Any other institution in the country cannot make laws that affect the monarch, unless the monarch decides to allow it. Sometimes the monarch is also the head of the state religion and makes religious laws also. All land and property in the country can be taken or given away by the monarch at any time for any reason. The army and navy is under the personal control of the monarch and can be used for any purpose at any time. The monarch can also pick who gets to be the next monarch and can change the rules at any time. There is usually no elected government or Parliament, and if there is one, it has no real power. This kind of government is very rare today. The people do not have a lot of power in it.
Countries that are examples of an absolute monarchy are Vatican City, Brunei, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Swaziland.
A constitutional monarchy is a form of government that is usually a democracy and has a constitution, with the monarch as head of state. Either the monarch has to obey the laws like everyone else, or there are special laws that say what the monarch can and cannot do. The monarch usually can not decide their special laws on their own. There may be laws about whom the monarch's children can marry, for example, that are passed by the Parliament. For example, in the Netherlands, if a member of the royal family marries without the permission of Parliament, they cannot become king or queen themselves. The army and navy may swear an oath to the monarch, but the real control is given to the elected government. There are laws about property and the order of succession (who gets to be the next monarch) that can only be changed by the elected government. Usually the monarch must sign laws into effect, but is required to follow the will of the elected government.
A constitutional monarchy usually has separation of powers, and the monarch often has only ceremonial functions, such as representing the country while traveling or acting as a symbol for the whole country (not for a particular political party). Constitutional monarchs usually do not vote, even when it is legal for them to do so. Voting would mean that they picked a side in political arguments and then could not claim to represent everyone in the country. Some constitutional monarchies give the power to veto laws to the monarch, but in most countries where this is the case it is a power that is very rarely used. In countries where the monarch can dismiss or appoint governments, this is usually only done to make sure that the democratic process is respected, without taking sides in politics. Appointments to public office made by constitutional monarchs are generally approved by the democratically elected government beforehand.
Examples of Constitutional monarchies are the United Kingdom, most members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Australia, The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Japan and Spain. Thailand has a monarch who sometimes take part in politics to influence the government unlike in other constitutional monarchies, but he/she still is subject to law.
Today, there are three basic forms how to choose a new monarch, after the death of the old one; or because the old monarch left power:
Of these three, the order of succession is the most common case. Countries, where the monarchs are elected include Malaysia, Samoa, Cambodia, United Arab Emirates, Andorra, and Vatican City.
North Korea (officially called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)), is a country in the northern part of the Korean peninsula. North Korea is next to China, Russia, and South Korea. The capital city of North Korea is Pyŏngyang, which is also the largest city.
The country was founded in 1948 after it had been freed from Japanese occupation, and a socialist state backed by the Soviet Union was established. The Republic of Korea is the southern half of the Korean Peninsula, and was occupied by the United States, and the U.S. set up a democracy in the south. At first there was a war between the armies of the North and South in what is called the Korean War, but while the fighting stopped in 1953, the war never officially ended. North Korea was friendly with China and Russia but never was formally allied with either and became more isolated over time. While South Korea had an unstable, authoritarian government after independence, the North went through steady development, was richer, and had a better standard of living than South until the 1980s, when the South became more democratic. Soon afterwards, the North's main trading partners, the Soviet Union, collapsed. This left North Korea stranded and isolated. Throughout the 1990s, North Korea suffered from famines and natural disasters. As South Korea got richer and life got better there, North Korea got poorer and life became worse there. Afterwards, things stabilized but continued to lag behind the South.
North Korea is generally described as a totalitarian Stalinist dictatorship. The country's leader Kim Il-sung said that the government was following his own ideology of "Juche", which means "self-reliance". Later on, the country's leaders began to remove "communism" from North Korean laws and philosophy. After Kim Il-sung died during the disasters of the 1990s, his son Kim Jong-il took his place and was promoted by the government as the leader who led North Korea out of the disasters. North Korea was the only communist country in history where leadership was directly given to the former leader's son after his death. This is called hereditary rule. Kim Jong-il enacted a new policy of "Songun", or "military-first", which turned the country into a military state. When he died in 2011, his youngest son Kim Jong-un took his place and continues to lead the country today.
Historians believe that the Korean people have lived in the area for thousands of years. Before 1910, Korea was one country. It had a king and people were mostly farmers. The country was peaceful and was not communist. In 1910, that changed. Japan and Russia went to war. Since Japan and Russia were both very close to Korea, Japan took Korea for themselves as part of Japan. Japan then had control.
Between 1910 and the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was considered a part of Japan due to Japan's unethical colonization of Korea. In 1945, the USSR declared war on Japan and the United States bombed it (Nagasaki and Hiroshima); severely weakening its empire and forcing it to surrender. Japan's weak status allowed the Soviets to enter Korea fairly freely and occupy the northern half whilst the United States took the southern half. Each then created governments supporting their own ideologies, Marxist–Leninist Single Party State (North) and Democratic Capitalist State (South).
In 1950, North Korea sent soldiers to South Korea. North Korea wanted to bring together North and South Korea to form a single Korean country, and Korean families that had been split by the division of North and South to be together again. The North Korean leaders wanted South Korea to be communist, like North Korea and the Soviet Union were.
The United Nations sent soldiers to Korea. These soldiers came from many countries. These countries did not like Communism (to learn more, see the article about the Cold War). If South Korea became Communist, then maybe other countries would too. General Douglas MacArthur led the soldiers.
North Korea had taken over much of South Korea by force. With the help of the other countries, South Korea took back their land, and even much of North Korea, up to the Yalu River, which forms the border between North Korea and China. China, which was also communist, helped the North Koreans to get the land back that the South Korean soldiers had taken.
After three years, in 1953, North Korea and South Korea both decided that no one would win the war and both countries signed an armistice, which is an agreement that made both countries stop fighting. North Korea and South Korea were divided by a demilitarized zone, or DMZ, which is a special place that surrounds the border between North and South Korea where both countries can not place lots of soldiers, so that fighting does not start again.
Even though the Korean Demilitarized Zone is meant to stop problems between the two countries, sometimes soldiers on both sides of the border fire their guns at each other. A special town in the zone, Panmunjom, is called the Joint Security Area, or JSA, and sometimes the leaders of both countries meet there to talk about possibly coming back together.
North Korea is one of the few countries in the world that has made nuclear missiles, which can kill many people if they are exploded. North Korea will not say how many nukes it has, but other countries think that the North Korean government probably has built ten missiles so far out of a deadly element called plutonium.
In October 2006, North Korea said that it tested one of its nuclear bombs. Although the North Korean government said that the test was not dangerous, many other countries and the United Nations were nonetheless enraged.
Three years later in 2009, North Korea did another test, which broke a United Nations law called Resolution 1718, which said North Korea could not keep building and testing nuclear bombs.
In 2010, a South Korean warship sank, killing over 40 soldiers. An international investigation concluded that North Korea had sunk a South Korean warship with a torpedo. North Korea strongly said that it did not have anything to do with the sinking. When the United States and South Korea planned to set up defenses in case North Korea tried to attack again, North Korea's National Defense Commission threatened on to start a war with its nuclear weapons.
In April 2012, North Korea launched a rocket called Bright Star 3. The reasons for the launch were science and the 100th anniversary of the birth of the country's founder, Kim Il-Sung.
The government said the rocket carried a weather satellite so the government could find out what the weather would be. However, other countries said that the weather satellite was a story made up by the government so the real purpose of the rocket would not the known—which most countries thought was to test a nuclear missile that could be launched at the United States or South Korea. South Korean leaders said it would shoot the rocket down when it came over South Korea.
Because of this rocket, other countries stopped helping North Korea, even though the government invited other countries to see the rocket launch to make it seem like the North Koreans had nothing to hide from other countries. The rocket was eventually launched, but it did not work and crashed just a minute and thirty seconds after it was launched. In December 2012, the government tried to launch the rocket again. It worked this time and went into orbit circling the Earth, though the United States said that it was very unstable and might fall back to Earth. Experts in Europe noticed the satellite's reflection was fluctuating (getting brighter then dimmer); indicating that the satellite is tumbling in its orbit.
In February 2013, North Korea tested a nuclear bomb for the 3rd time, causing much outrage from other countries. The government also released many videos that depicted possible missile targets in the United States. North Korea however does not posses missiles that could reach US mainland but some say Hawaii is a possibility. It is highly unlikely that North Korea would ever fire against the US, Japan or South Korea. Many missiles depicted in DPRK parades are fakes used to exaggerate North Korea's military strength. Most of its inventory dates from the Soviet years.
People often think that North Korea is a communist country. It is actually a socialist-military dictatorship. In its most recent constitutional change, the word 'communism' was removed. Large pictures of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin were removed from Kim Il-Sung square in 2012. The government has a similar structure to the former Soviet Union (USSR), once a close ally, but it is very different from the USSR. Leaders of the USSR were elected by a group of government officials. In North Korea, the new leader is the current leader's male heir. For this reason, North Korea is often referred to as a hereditary dictatorship.
North Korea's official state ideology is Juche. That is a form of socialism developed by the country's founder, Kim Il-Sung. Juche means self-reliance. It teaches that to achieve true socialism and become self-sufficient, the state must become fully isolated from the rest of society.
The first head of state and Chairman of the Workers Party of North Korea was Kim Tu-bong.
In the late 1950s, the second head of state and party leader was Kim Il-Sung.
In July 1994, Kim died. His son, Kim Jŏng-Il, took over. He became the third supreme leader and party general secretary.
In December 2011, Kim died. His son, Kim Jŏng-Un became the head of the government.
"Songun" is a North Korean idea. It means "army first." The job of every North Korean person is to feed the Army. Kim Jŏng-Un is the "General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea". That is one of many jobs he has. He is like a king, and can do what he wants. The average North Korean citizen makes around $900 a year. Kim Jŏng-Un makes around $800,000 a year. He lives in a palace. He has lots of soldiers who go wherever he goes to protect him.
North Korea is technically a multi-party state since other parties do exist besides the Korean Workers' Party (KWP). However, the KWP also controls the other parties so it can stay in power. The constitution claims that North Korea's citizens have freedom of speech, religion and press. In real life, these citizens do not have these rights. People can be jailed if they criticise the party, government, or leaders. North Koreans are encouraged to report family members to the police if they think they are doing something illegal. In return they get more privileges. If someone is caught doing a crime, their whole family will be sent along with them to a labour camp. Most die there, but a few escape.
North Korean people have very little freedom of speech. They get their news from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The KCNA makes sure all the country's television, radio, and newspaper news makes the government look good. This is called propaganda. The government blocks access to the Internet. Only a few trusted military officials and party members can access the world Internet. It has been reported that almost all North Koreans do not know that men have landed on the moon. The government runs an intranet service that is available on all North Korean computers. It is nothing like the real Internet but is filled with propaganda that makes the government, party, and leaders look good. The government also tries to keep ideas from other countries out of North Korea.
Capital punishment is a common type of punishment in North Korea. Stealing, murder, rape, drug smuggling, attempted murder, spying, slaughtering cattle for food, trying to challenge the laws of North Korea, traveling without permission, looking at media unapproved by North Korea (which includes South Korean dramas, pornography, and Western movies), possessing a USB drive, and practicing religions that are against worshipping Kim Jong-un and his family can all result in the death penalty.
In parts of the country, there is not enough food. Currently, other countries give food to some people in North Korea. This is called "foreign aid". The aid sometimes stops coming if North Korea is thought to be testing nuclear bombs. Very recently, North Korea's food aid stopped after the government launched a satellite in April 2012. Other countries said North Korea had broken their side of an agreement. The North Korean government said that it was the United States that had broken the agreement.
It is hard for people from other countries to visit North Korea. Visitors must be guided by two army members called "minders". The minders try and make sure the people do not find out about anything that might make the government look bad.
North Korea is one of the poorest countries in the world. This is due to the government not wanting to allow North Koreans to earn their own money outside of their government-given jobs, to allow people to work the jobs they want, and to trade with other countries.
Although Pyongyang (which is the one of the few areas foreign travelers are allowed to visit) makes the country look like it is richer and more prosperous than it truly is, life looks extremely different throughout the rest of the country. Only the highest-ranking North Koreans are allowed to live in Pyongyang, and they must have permission from the government to do so. Unlike the rest of the country, people often own cars and bicycles, there is a subway system, and power exists throughout the city. Meanwhile, very few people in he countryside own a car, or even a bicycle, and animal-drawn carts are very common. Electricity in rural areas is rare, if it even exists at all. Proof of this is that when seen from space, there are almost no lights that can be seen outside of Pyongyang. Even in Pyongyang, power cuts are common.
As said earlier, starvation is very common way to die throughout the country. The soil in most of the country is not good enough to grow enough crops to feed people without any kind of fertilizer. As a result, people often steal human poop to fertilize the soil. People also go out into nature to look for anything to eat such as grass, bark, frogs, worms, etc.
Since the government does not provide the average North Korean person enough resources to survive, most North Koreans get what they need from the black market. Even though buying and selling on the black market is illegal, people are able to avoid punishment by bribing officials. They might give things such as money, gifts, or sexual favors. Most people buying and selling at the black market are women. This is because all adult men are required by law to go to work during workhours, even when their workplace cannot or will not pay them for their work.
Since electricity is rare throughout North Korea, tasks such as cooking and washing clothes take much longer and are more tiring. People often wash clothes in a river or creek and must start fires before they can cook.
Although healthcare is free in North Korea, most hospitals and doctor's offices do not have the medicines or supplies needed to correctly treat patients. As a result, many patients die or become crippled for the rest of their lives in the hospital. On one occasion, North Korea hired an eye surgeon from Nepal to because there was not a single eye surgeon in the country.
In order to raise money for the country, the government sometimes sends North Korean citizens to its allies, like China and Russia, to do work there. These jobs include food service in North Korean restaurants and logging. Even outside of North Korea, these North Koreans are often not allowed to interact with the local people outside of work, are forced to live in North Korean communities, and must obey North Korean laws.
Other ways North Korea makes money is through selling illegal drugs to other countries, making fake money of other countries, and stealing money online.
Historically, both South Korea and North Korea have the same set of values. In 1945, the peninsula was divided. Since then, the government of both North and South Korea were different. This has led to different developments in both North and South Korea.
Human Rights Watch says that free religious activities do not exist in North Korea. The culture in Korea has been influenced by that of China. Despite this, Korea has developed a cultural identity that is different from that of Mainland China.
Literature and arts in North Korea are state-controlled. Specialized committees of the KWP are responsible for this. Film is also a significant artistic medium in North Korea and Kim Jong Il's manifesto "The Cinema and Directing" (1987) is the basis for the nation's filmmakers.
Korean culture came under attack during the Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945. Japan enforced a cultural assimilation policy. During the Japanese rule, Koreans were forced to learn and speak Japanese, adopt the Japanese family name system and Shinto religion, and were forbidden to write or speak the Korean language in schools, businesses, or public places. In addition, the Japanese altered or destroyed various Korean monuments including Gyeongbok Palace and documents which portrayed the Japanese in a negative light were revised.
Both Koreas share a Buddhist and Confucian heritage and a recent history of Christian and Cheondoism ("religion of the Heavenly Way") movements. The North Korean constitution states that freedom of religion is permitted. According to the Western standards of religion, the majority of the North Korean population could be characterized as non-religious. However, the cultural influence of such traditional religions as Buddhism and Confucianism still have an effect on North Korean spiritual life.
It seems that Buddhists are accepted more than other religious groups. Christians are said to be severely persecuted by the authorities, often by throwing them in prison or executing them publicly. Buddhists are given limited funding by the government to promote the religion, because Buddhism played an integral role in traditional Korean culture. In May 2014, an American tourist was arrested at Pyongyang Sunan Airport after it was discovered he left a Bible in a nightclub on the DPRK's east coast. He was convicted of attempting to overthrow the government but was eventually released several months later. At the time of his imprisonment, there were two other American citizens held by North Korea awaiting transfer to political prison camps. Both have since been released.
Even though the country only has fewer than 25 million people, the country still has the world's fourth largest standing military at 1.28 million soliders. This is because North Korea has a law that requires all men to join the military for ten years after they graduate high school.
The government says it keeps a large military to protect the country from its enemies, particularly the United States and Japan. However, it is more likely that it exists to keep the government in power.
The land of North Korea is divided into nine areas called provinces and two cities.
The nine provinces are:
The main cities are:
A parliament is a type of legislature.
The most famous parliament is probably the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which is sometimes called the "Mother of all Parliaments". The word "parliament" comes from the French word "parler", which means a talk.
The Althing, the national parliament of Iceland, was founded earlier (930 AD), so it is the oldest legislature in the world still existing. However, the Althing did not function as a legislature for four centuries, and its role as a "primary" legislature is modern.
Other parliaments have copied the UK and work similarly. They have three levels - a lower house which makes the law, an upper house which reviews the law (Decides if they like it or not, and suggest changes to it), and a head of state who is mostly for show and who starts and ends each year of parliament. The Prime Minister is almost always the person whose party has the most seats, but if the lower house does not think he is doing a good job they can call a vote of no confidence and ask him to leave his job as Prime Minister or have an election.
Sometimes people use the word "parliament" to describe a legislature, even if it is not a real parliament. A "parliament" is a type of legislature which has a Prime Minister.
A parliament is a lot like a congress but a congress cannot ask the head of the government to leave his job. Also, a congress runs for a number of years according to the country's constitution, but a parliament can be stopped as long as enough members agree. Elections are held after this happens.
The Turing test is a test to see if a computer can interact with a person. The human should not be able to realise it is interacting with a computer.
Alan Turing thought that if a human could not tell the difference between another human and the computer, then the computer had shown intelligent behaviour.
A person has a telegraph, and is connected to two communication partners. One of the two correspondents is a machine. The person can ask anything with the telegraph. If the person cannot tell which of the two is the machine more than 50% of the time, then the machine is said to be "intelligent".
Later on, people narrowed down the test. A human is unlikely to know everything. Therefore, both the human and the machine would be specialists in some field of knowledge. So would the person asking.
The comic strip Dilbert makes several mentions to the PHB (Pointy Haired Boss) failing the Turing test.
A fuel is a substance that is changed in some way to produce heat, electricity, or other forms of energy. This is usually by being burnt, although there are exceptions, such as nuclear fuel. Fuel can be divided into two main types: fossil fuels and other fuels.
There are several kinds of fossil fuels:
Some people do not want us to use fossil fuels because they may pollute the environment. Because all fossil fuels are made out of carbon, burning them makes carbon dioxide. Some people think that too much carbon dioxide in the air may cause a greenhouse effect. Fossil fuels are also non-renewable, or renew extremely slowly (thousands of years). This means that we will eventually run out of fossil fuels.
Other fuels are not made from fossils. Some of these, like nuclear and hydrogen, do not have carbon in them. Others, like wood or ethanol, do have carbon in them. Some examples of these fuels are:
These fuels are renewable. This means that we can make more of them if we run out. For instance, if we run out of ethanol, we can grow some more corn and make some more ethanol.
List of volcanoes
The list of volcanoes includes some which are active, dormant and extinct:
Estonia (), officially the Republic of Estonia () is a small country in the Baltic Region of Northern Europe. The capital city is Tallinn. Estonia's neighbors are Sweden, Finland, Russia and Latvia. Its population is 1,332,893.
The territory of Estonia has the mainland and 2,222 islands in the Baltic Sea.
People have lived in Estonia since at least 9,000 BC. The oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the Pärnu River.
Estonia became independent from Russia in 1920 after a brief War of Independence at the end of World War I. During World War II (1939–1945), Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union and Germany. It then became the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic and lost its independence.
Estonia had its independence restored in 1991. It became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on 29 March 2004. It joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.
In January 2021, Estonia became the only country in the world led by women by having a female president (Kersti Kaljulaid) and female prime minister (Kaja Kallas).
Estonia is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland with Finland on the other side, to the west by the Baltic Sea with Sweden on the other side, to the south by Latvia (343 km), and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia (338.6 km).
Average elevation reaches only . The country's highest point is the Suur Munamägi in the southeast at .
Estonia has many forests, almost 50% of the land is covered with forests. The most common tree species are pine, spruce and birch. Estonia has over 1,400 lakes and over 2,000 islands. The longest rivers are Võhandu (), Pärnu (), and Põltsamaa ().
Mammals in Estonia include the grey wolf, lynx, brown bear, red fox, badger, wild boar, moose, red deer, roe deer, beaver, otter, grey seal, and ringed seal. The critically endangered European mink has been successfully reintroduced to the island of Hiiumaa. The rare Siberian flying squirrel is present in east Estonia.
Over 300 bird species have been found in Estonia. These include the white-tailed eagle, lesser spotted eagle, golden eagle, western capercaillie, black and white stork, many species of owls, waders, geese and many others. The Barn swallow is the national bird of Estonia.
Protected areas cover 18% of Estonian land and 26% of its sea territory. There are 5 national parks, 159 nature reserves, and many other protection areas.
The Riigikogu is the name of the parliament in Estonia.
Since administrative reform in 2017, there are in total 79 local governments. This includes 15 towns and 64 rural municipalities. All municipalities have equal legal status and form part of a county, which is a state administrative unit.
The counties are:
According to speedtest.net, Estonia has one of the fastest Internet download speeds in the world with an average download speed of 27.12 Mbit/s.
Estonia won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001 with the song "Everybody" performed by Tanel Padar and Dave Benton. In 2002, Estonia hosted the event.
The Estonian National Day is the Independence Day celebrated on 24 February. This is the day the Estonian Declaration of Independence was issued. , there are 12 public holidays and 12 national holidays celebrated each year.
The following are links to international rankings of Estonia.
Republic of Cyprus
The Republic of Cyprus is a island country in the Mediterranean Sea and member state of the European Union. Cyprus is in Asia, but it is often associated with Europe because of the culture and history of the people. It is also closer to Africa than to Europe. The capital is Nicosia. Most of the population speaks Greek and Turkish.
Cyprus is a popular tourist destination in Europe. In 2019, 4 million tourists visited the country. It is estimated, that Cyprus earned 2.7 million euros in that year. Tourism is very important to the country, as tourism made up 23% of its economy in 2020.
Mycenaeans of Ancient Greece were the first inhabitants of the island. Archaeological evidence shows that Greek settlement began in c. 1400 BC. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland Greece with its palatial states, urban organization, works of art, and writing system. Cyprus is the only place outside England where an English royal wedding took place. That was the wedding of Richard I and Berengaria of Navarre on 12 May 1191.
Cyprus gained independence from the British Empire in 1960. The UK, Turkey and Greece became guarantor powers of the island.
In July 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus. Since then the northern part of the island has been under Turkish occupation. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus became de facto independent in 1983 but it is recognised only by Turkey. When entering by aeroplane, a short stop is made at an airport in mainland Turkey.
The present situation with the island split came about because Cyprus, historically Greek, was conquered and became part of the Ottoman Empire from 15701914. The British administered it from 1878 until 1960. Likewise, Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire for several centuries. Negotiations for a unified island have been held several times without success.
In 2004, Cyprus joined the European Union. On 1 January 2008 Cyprus adopted the Euro, the single European currency. Although the official currency of Northern Cyprus is the Turkish Lira, many shops accept Euros and British pounds.
Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia.
There are two mountain ranges, the Troodos Mountains and the smaller Kyrenia Range. The Pedieos River is the longest on the island. The highest point on Cyprus is Mount Olympus at .
The Republic of Cyprus is only on the southern two-thirds of the island (59.74%). The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is the northern third (34.85%) and rest are Akrotiri and Dhekelia owned by the British.
The Republic of Cyprus is a constitutional presidential republic. Each president is elected for a five-year term. The president has a lot of power. Cyprus is the only member of the European Union that is governed by a presidential system of government. It is one of few countries (along with San Marino) to have had a democratically-elected communist government, in office from 2008 until 2013. Since 2013 governing party has been the Democratic Rally.
The European Union issued a warning in February 2019 that Cyprus, an EU member, was selling EU passports to Russian oligarchs. This would allow allow organised crime syndicates to get into the EU. In 2020 leaked documents revealed a range of former and current officials from Afghanistan, China, Dubai, Lebanon, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Vietnam who bought a Cypriot citizenship before a change of the law in July 2019. Cyprus and Turkey have been engaged in a dispute over the extent of their exclusive economic zones. It was apparently caused by the potential for oil and gas exploration in the area.
The Republic of Cyprus is divided into six districts: Nicosia, Famagusta, Kyrenia, Larnaca, Limassol and Paphos. These are not the same as those of Northern Cyprus.
Latvia is a country in Northern Europe. The capital is Riga. It is one of the Baltic States, together with Estonia in the north and Lithuania in the south. Latvia's neighbours to the east are the countries Russia and Belarus. Latvia is split into four parts called Kurzeme, Vidzeme, Zemgale, and Latgale.
People from Latvia are called Latvians. They speak the Latvian language, which is a little like the Lithuanian language, though not close enough to be understood.
Latvia was settled by the Baltic tribes thousands of years ago. They mainly fished, hunted, and traded.
German traders and crusaders came to Latvia at the end of the 12th century. Latvians lost control of their homeland. Over the next 800 years, Germans, Danes, Swedes, Poles, and Russians all invaded Latvia. Latvia finally became independent in 1918.
The Soviet Union invaded Latvia during World War II and killed or took away many of its people to Siberia and other places far away from their homes. The Soviet Union then invaded again and occupied Latvia until 1991, when the Soviet Union fell apart and Latvia became an independent country again.
In Copenhagen on 13 December 2002, Latvia and nine other countries were invited to join the European Union. On 20 September 2003, Latvians held an election to vote on joining. Two thirds of Latvians voted to join, and on 1 May 2004 Latvia became a member of the EU.
Latvia has been a NATO member since 29 March, 2004.
Lithuania is a country in Europe on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The country is a Baltic state. Lithuania is a member of the European Union, NATO, and several other organizations. About 2.7 million people live in the country. The national language is the Lithuanian language, which is spoken by around 3 million people. Vilnius is the capital and largest city.
The colors of the Lithuanian flag are yellow (at the top), for the sun, green (in the middle), for the fields, and red (at the bottom), for the blood of Lithuanians fighting for its independence.
Lithuania began to turn into a country in the 7th–9th centuries from Baltic nations group. The Balts, the ancestors of Lithuanians and Latvians, came to the area between Nemunas, Daugava rivers and the Baltic Sea, from a supposed original homeland of the Proto-Indo-European languages. Many scientists think they came there sometime in the 3rd millennium BC.
The traditional date of the beginning of the country is 1236 when the Lithuanians won the Battle of Šiauliai (Battle of Sun).
Lithuania (at that time - The Grand Duchy of Lithuania) made a Treaty with Poland in 1569. The country was taken over by the Russian Empire in 1795, ending the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It got back its independence on February 16, 1918. It was taken over by the Soviet Union on June 16, 1940, by Nazi Germany from 1941-1944 and again the Soviet Union from 1944-1990. Lithuania re-declared its independence on March 11, 1990. Currently, Lithuania is an independent, semi-presidential, democratic republic.
Lithuania has been a member of NATO and the European Union since 2004.
Lithuania is a semi presidential republic, that restored its independence and democracy in 1990. Since then, very important reforms were made and Lithuania is now declared as a democratic state that grants the human rights.
The Constitution that was adopted in 1992 declares that the leader of the country is the President, who must be elected to take office. The elections are held every 5 years. If the President breaks their oath, they can be forced to resign by the Parliament. The President also represents Lithuania abroad and is the commander-in-chief.
The legislative power of Lithuania is called the Seimas, or Parliament. There are 141 members of Seimas who are elected for 4-year-terms. Seimas passes the laws that must be executed by the government, that is formed in Seimas, and it must be accepted by the President. The Prime Minister is set and fired by the President.
The justice is under the power of the courts. The supreme court in Lithuania is the Constitutional Court.
Lithuania is divided into 10 counties, 60 municipalities and 500 elderates. The counties are:
The county governor rules the county. He or she must be appointed by the central government. Municipalities are governed by the Municipal Councils that are elected for 4 year terms. The head of a municipality is the mayor. The elderates are governed by the elders. The elders are appointed by the municipal councils.
Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe. Its neighbours are Poland in the southwest, Russia (Kaliningrad) in west, Latvia in north and Belarus in the east. Lithuania borders the Baltic Sea and 99 kilometres of its coast belong to Lithuania. The highest hill is Aukštojas (294 metres high), the largest lake is Drūkšiai Lake. 31% of the land is suitable for farms.
Lithuania is divided into 5 cultural regions according to their past and traditions:
Lithuania has a fast growing economy. It grew up to 7% in the first quarter of 2008.
GDP per capita, based on purchasing power parity is estimated to be $19,730 in 2008. The nominal GDP per capita is estimated to be $14,213 at the same year. According to these numbers, Lithuanian per capita GDP reaches only 61% of EU average. However, it is impressive that only in 8 years, since 2000 it grew up from 30% of EU average.
Emigration still creates a problem. According to the official data, emigration in 2006 was 30% lower than the previous year, with 3,483 people leaving in four months.
About 80% of people in Lithuania are Lithuanians. There are large national minorities:
Lithuanian is spoken by 82% of the people and it is the only official language. Polish is used mostly in Vilnius County where Polish politicians are elected to represent the Polish minority. The documents and street names must be in Lithuanian.
The biggest cities are Vilnius, 542,287 people, Kaunas, 358,107 people, and Klaipėda, 185,899 people.
The nursery schools and the kindergartens are the first-level education forms. However, they are not compulsory. The children start attending the primary school at age 7, where educational programs last for 4 years; then they must start attending secondary school (5th to 10th grades). After finishing 8th or 10th grade, the student can continue learning at the high school or choose courses at the vocational college. The students who finish the high school can join colleges and universities. Higher education is free for the students whose annual median of grades is 8 or higher. The others have to pay 500 Litas per semester at least.
The higher education schools are universities and colleges. The main universities are:
Lithuanians can choose from many television and radio stations. The first radio station was started in 1926 in Kaunas. The first television station started in 1957. The main radio stations are:
The most popular TV stations are:
The oldest legal newspaper in Lithuania is the Polish Kurier Wilenski. It was first published in the 18th century and is now only popular with the Polish community. The biggest selling newspapers are:
Internet news portals are very popular in Lithuania. They have the latest information and also let people make comments. The most popular Internet sites with news and information are:
Malta is a country in Europe. It is an island near the center of the Mediterranean Sea, south of Sicily. The capital of Malta is Valletta. Around 400,000 people live in Malta and it is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Malta is 316 sq km, which makes it one of the smallest countries. Its many cities and towns grew close to each other over time.
Maltese is the national language of Malta. Maltese and English are the official languages in line with the constitution of the country. A majority of the people of Malta can speak three languages; Maltese, English and Italian.
Malta had its own currency, called the Maltese Lira until 2008. The Maltese "Lira" was better known as the Maltese "Pound" because of the strong links to the United Kingdom. One Maltese Lira consisted of 100 "cents". In 2008 Malta joined the Euro countries in adopting the Euro as the National Currency.
People have lived in Malta since at least 5200 BC. The island has some key archaeological sites dating from early times.
Malta became well known as the base of the Knights Hospitaller. They moved to Malta after being forced to leave Palestine and then Rhodes, in Greece. In 1565 they survived a great attack by the Ottoman Empire. The history of the knights at Malta continued the strong Roman Catholic beliefs in the country that were started by the Norman and Spanish rulers.
In 1798, Napoleon took control of Malta. The French rule was not popular and in 1800 Maltese rebels invited the British Royal Navy to come to the island. This led to 200 years as a British colony and independent Commonwealth member.
During World War II, Malta was attacked this time by the Axis forces. The entire island was symbolically given the George Cross for heroism.
Malta became independent in 1964 and a republic in 1974. In 2004 Malta joined the European Union and in 2008 Malta joined the Euro.
List of Soviet Union-related topics
Comoving distance
In normal cosmology, 'comoving' distance or 'proper distance' is one of several distances measured by cosmologists to define distances between objects.
To talk about the shape of the Universe, scientists want to forget that the Universe is expanding. So they separate the shape from time and pretend that the Universe is not expanding. They remember that, really, the Universe is expanding, but they write this in a variable called the scale factor. Then, the distances they talk about, while putting the scale factor to the side, are called comoving distances. When they think about the Universe using comoving distance, they think of the Universe as not expanding. This way, some calculations are easier.
When the part of the Universe which we can see today started, it was very small. Everything in this part of the Universe was much closer together than today. It was also very hot and photons (particles of light) were moving in different directions. Light moves very fast, but the light speed is limited and the Universe was expanding very fast.
Think of two ants on the surface of an expanding balloon. One ant starts moving towards another, but the balloon itself is also expanding. After a long time the balloon starts expanding more slowly. Eventually one ant reaches another. That's like photons in our universe. Some of the light from the stars you see at night traveled for billions of years to reach your eye. Surprisingly, it started very close to where you were (or the atoms of which your body consists), but just could not keep up with the universe expansion. Of course, if something else started out very close to where you were, but was not traveling toward you, it would be very far away from you now because of the expansion.
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (Chinese:陕西, also sometimes called Shenshi) is a province in east China. The word "Shaan" (viz Shanzhou) is a place in Henan Province. "Xi" means "west". So "Shaanxi" means "the place to the west of Shaan".
Although in pinyin, "Shaanxi" is spelled exactly the same as "Shanxi", the only difference in how the two words are pronounced is that the first syllable in "Shanxi" is said using the first tone in Mandarin, while the first syllable in "Shaanxi" is said with the third tone. Since tone markers are not usually used to show how to pronounce the two different names, the first word in "Shaanxi" is spelled using the Gwoyeu Romatzyh method instead, which indicates tones by adding extra letters to a syllable.
The river Wei He runs across it. It has a large population of more than 30 million people. The capital of Shaanxi is Xi'an. It abbreviates as Shan (陕) or Qin (秦), also known as SanQin (三秦, meaning "Three Qins").
January 23, 1556 – A massive earthquake, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, strikes Shaanxi, killing over 850,000 people. This is the most devastating earthquake in recorded history.
Shaanxi Province is divided into ten municipalities:
Lisbon is the capital city of Portugal. It is the largest city of Portugal. The city has a population of about half million people. In Lisbon's urban area live around 2.8 million people, being the 10th-most populous urban area in the European Union.
Lisbon is placed on the right bank (western) of the Tagus River, near the outfall. It has a pleasant climate and has about 220 days of sunshine each year. There are many beautiful beaches close to the city. There are also many seafood restaurants, historical sites and monuments. Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world.
Surfing is a water sport done in the ocean or sea. The surfer uses their surfboard to catch a wave and ride in towards the shore.
Surfing was invented by the Polynesians at least 4000 years ago. It has become a popular sport among both men and women of all ages. With lifestyles and regimens freer than those of most sports, surfers comprise a unique culture. Though surfing is practiced in many other Pacific nations, its center remains Hawaii, where many rounds of the international surfing championships (the ASP) are held annually. Surfing is popular in Australia, the US, and Northern Europe.
Lyon (Occitan: "Lion", Francoprovençal: "Liyon", Italian: "Lione") is a city in the southeast of France. It is the third-largest city in the country (behind Paris and Marseille), with about 513,000 people living there in 2015. It is the second largest "metropolis", or metro area, in France (behind only that of Paris), with about 2.3 million people in 2014.
In ancient history, the name of Lyon was "Lugdunum". Someone who lives in Lyon is called a "Lyonnais" (male) or a "Lyonnaise" (female) in French.
Lyon has a humid subtropical climate ("Cfa" in the Koeppen climate classification). It is between the Rhône and the Saône. It is about west of the Italian border.
The central part of Lyon, located on the peninsula between the Rhône and the Saône, was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Famous sports clubs from Lyon are:
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He is a Republican. He has a ranch in Crawford, Texas, which is near Waco. He is the son of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and former U.S. First Lady Barbara Bush. He was Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.
Although he originally planned to focus his presidency on programs like education and stay out of foreign wars, the 9/11 terrorist attacks resulted in him changing his perspective. Since then, Bush created the Department of Homeland Security and sent the military to invade countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. In his opinion, the best way to deal with terrorism was to strike before the terrorists could.
Bush was born at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. Bush grew up in Midland, Texas. He went to a high school called Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1964. He went to school at Yale University from 1964 until he graduated in 1968, with a bachelor's degree in history. He joined the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 (part of the United States National Guard) during the Vietnam War and became a fighter pilot but did not fight in the war. He left the Texas Air National Guard in 1973. In 1975 Bush earned an MBA from Harvard University.