There was a county of Werdenberg. It included the city itself, the villages of Grabs, Buchs, Sevelen and the right to judge in Wartau. The first count of Werdenberg died in 1182. In 1402, his successors let the county to the Count of Montfort-Tettnang. In 1485, it was sold to the City of Lucerne. In 1517, it was sold to the Canton of Glarus. During Napoleon's reign in Switzerland (called the Helvetic Republic, 1798-1803), Werdenberg was made part of the "Canton of Linth" (which also included the modern-day Canton of Glarus, and parts of the Canton of Schwyz). After the end of the reign, Werdenberg was made part of the canton of St. Gallen.
Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet (pronounced "edwaʁ manɛ" in French), 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883, was a French Impressionist painter. He was one of the first painters of the 19th century to paint subjects of everyday life in the modern world. This made him very important for modern painting, especially for the change from Realism to Impressionism.
Some of his paintings were very controversial. The paintings "Lunch on the Grass" and "Olympia" were a starting-point for a group of young painters to develop what would later be called "Impressionism".
Édouard Manet was born in Paris on 23 January 1832, to a wealthy family. As he grew up, his uncle encouraged him to paint and draw, but his father wanted him to join the navy. Eventually he was allowed to be trained as a painter. Manet worked from 1850 to 1856 in the studio of the academic painter Thomas Couture a painter of large historical paintings. In his spare time he copied the old masters in the Louvre.
While he was a student he visited Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, looking at the paintings of Renaissance and Baroque masters such as Frans Hals, and Spanish painters such as Diego Velázquez and Goya.
In 1856, Manet opened his own studio. One of the best known French painters of that time was Gustave Courbet who painted in a style known as Realism. Courbet, in his pictures, tried to show the life of the poor working people of the farms and villages. Manet began to paint beggars, singers and people in cafes. His style was not like Courbet's because he used large brushstrokes without much detail. Courbet's paintings were dark and somber because he painted all his canvases brown before he put the figures in. Manet's paintings were brighter and lighter, with lots of white paint and often small parts painted in bright blue and red
In 1863 Manet married Suzanne Leenhoff, who had been employed by his father to teach piano to Manet and his younger brother Eugene. Suzanne had an eleven year old son, Leon Koella Leenhoff who often posed as a model for Manet's paintings.
Every year the academy in Paris would hold a big exhibition (art show) called the "Salon de Paris". In 1863 Manet put a picture into the show called "Lunch on the Grass" ("Le déjeuner sur l'herbe"). The judges at the Salon refused to hang this work in the gallery because it showed a naked woman sitting on the grass with two men wearing clothes. If the painting had been about Ancient Greek mythology, this would not be a problem but these men were wearing ordinary suits, and the woman's dress and hat were lying on the grass. Perhaps she was a prostitute. The judges said that the painting was indecent (very rude).
At this time there were a group of young artists who mainly painted landscapes. They were Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Frédéric Bazille, Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, and Armand Guillaumin. Monet and his friends also had their paintings turned away. They were angry and they met with Manet to discuss this. The Emperor Napoleon III gave permission for another exhibition called the "Salon des Refuses" which showed all the pictures that had been "refused". Many people went to see this exhibition and soon discovered that there was a new "movement" in art, quite different from the style that they were used to.
In 1874 thirty Impressionist artists held their first exhibition. The main artists who are called "Impressionists" include Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Edgar Degas and Berthe Morisot. Manet became friendly with Berthe Morisot, who later married his brother Eugene Manet. Manet encouraged Morisot with her painting. Morisot, in turn, encouraged Manet to paint outdoors, in the way that Monet and the other Impressionist painters did. Monet painted some landscapes, seascapes and city scenes in the Impressionist style. However, most of his paintings are "figurative" (they are pictures of people).
Manet's paintings usually show people going about their ordinary lives. They show people at home and at work, or out and enjoying themselves. One painting is very different. It is a terrible scene showing the execution of the Emperor Maximillian of Mexico by a firing squad.
Manet died of syphilis in Paris at the age of 51. He is buried in the Passy Cemetery in the city.
Khat
Khat is a flowering plant native to tropical East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is also known as qat, qaat, quat, gat, jaad, chat, chad, chaad and miraa. The plant is grown commercially in Kenya, Oman, Yemen and Ethiopia.
Khat is a shrub. When grown commercially, the shrubs grow to a size of about 5m, in the wild they can reach about 20m.
Khat is used as a stimulant in Yemen, Ethiopia and Somalia, the effects are comparable to those of drinking tea or coffee.
There are some problems with Khat. People can become psychologically addicted to the drug. Many anti-drug organisations, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration target this drug.
It is illegal to use in many countries.
Many farmers in Yemen now produce Khat, instead of other crops, because they get more money for it.
Khat is very popular in Yemen. Much of the country's farming resources go towards it. It is estimated that 40% of the country's water supply goes towards irrigating it. Its production is said to increase by about 10% to 15% every year. Water use in producing khat is so high that groundwater levels in the Sana'a basin are getting lower. For this reason, government officials have proposed to move large portions of the population of Sana'a to the coast of the Red Sea.
Khat is a major cash crop in Yemen and the price brings in a high income for farmers. Some studies done in 2001 estimated that the income from growing khat was about 2.5 million Yemeni rials per hectare, while it was only 0.57 million rials per hectare if fruits were grown. This is a strong reason farmers prefer to grow khat over coffee and fruits. It is estimated that between 1970 and 2000, the area on which khat was cultivated grew from 8,000 hectares to 103,000 hectares.
Matsui Keishirō
Matsui Keishirō (, 28 March 1868 - 4 June 1946) was a Japanese diplomat during the Showa period and later Minister of Foreign Affairs. He graduated from the Law School of Tokyo Imperial University in 1889, and entered the Foreign Ministry the same year. In 1890, he was given a post in the Japanese embassy in Seoul in 1890, and in 1895 was sent to the United States. In April 1889, he served in London. In 1902, he was re-assigned to Beijing. He returned to Japan in 1913.
During World War I, Matsui served as Japanese Ambassador to France from November, 1915. When he finished this mission, he was awarded with the title of baron ("danshaku") under the "kazoku" peerage system. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 7 January to 11 June 1924 under the government of Kiyoura Keigo.
Country code
Country codes are in mostly times created by few letters or numbers that represent geographical codes (geocodes) of countries that use certain country code, it is in use in data processing and communications. There are few different systems created for this. The most known is ISO 3166-1. The term "country code" in many times refers to international dialing codes, the E.164 country calling codes.
National Capital Region (Canada)