The political demonstrations in autumn-winter 2004 after the Presidential elections gathered millions of people all over the country. On November 26, 2004, Victor Yuschenko lost the Ukrainian presidential election (Viktor Yanukovych was declared winner). However, Yuschenko and his followers argued that the election had been corrupted. They argued that the election results had been falsified by the Ukrainian government, in support of the opposing candidate Victor Yanukovych. They organized political demonstrations in autumn-winter 2004 that gathered millions of people all over the country. They called the demonstrations "The Orange Revolution" (). Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was an important ally of Victor Yuschenko during the demonstrations. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine ordered a second round of elections, which Yuschenko won.
Big pro-European Union protests called Euromaidan () began in November 2013 and made the President go away in February.
In March 2014, Russia occupied Crimea, made a pseudo-referendum which proclaimed the Crimea independence and annexed it. Most countries did not recognize the referendum. The EU, OSCE, USA and Ukraine demanded that Crimea be returned. Several countries sought to use economic sanctions to punish Russia's leaders for this.
In April, 2014 Ukraine military attack against people in Donbass in eastern Ukraine, which has many Russian-speaking people. This began a war to control Donbass.
In 2016, the New Safe Confinement was built to cover the remains of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and prevent radiation from escaping.
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein is a country in Western Europe. It is the sixth smallest country in the world and, with Uzbekistan, one of only two doubly landlocked countries. This means that it is landlocked by a landlocked country. Liechtenstein is between Austria and Switzerland.
Liechtenstein was linked with Austria until the end of World War I, after which it became linked with Switzerland in a customs union.
The official language in Liechtenstein is German.
The capital of Liechtenstein is Vaduz, a very small town of 5,000 people. Liechtenstein is famous for its many private banks.
Portugal
Portugal is a country in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe and part of the Mediterranean. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east. It has been a member of the European Union since 1986. It was under a dictatorship between 1926 and 1974. It has since prospered but was hit hard by the 2007-2008 recession.
It has a football team and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 meaning it hosts the event for the first time ever in 2018.
It once had an empire and was a powerful maritime nation from 1500s–1800s, the 10th-largest empire with a maximum land area of 10.4 million km² which included Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, East Timoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and even Macau in China (until 2002).
Three groups of islands in the Atlantic Ocean are also part of Portugal: the Azores ("Açores"), Madeira and the Savage Isles ("Ilhas Selvagens"). The Savage Isles are a small group of uninhabited islands, administered by Madeira.
Portugal claims that Olivença is also part of its territory, but it is controlled by Spain.
It's a popular holiday destination but, is sometimes overlooked in favour of larger countries like France, Spain and Italy. The Algarve region in the south and capital Lisbon are the most popular.
Portugal became its own kingdom in 1139 but was not officially recognized until 1143. Portugal has had links with England since the 1100s via a treaty. The border with Spain has been almost the same since the 13th century. Fishing and trade with other countries are important here.
Portugal was important in world exploration for two reasons. Henry the Navigator, a prince from Portugal, was very interested in exploration. Inventions in navigation led to a bigger knowledge of geography.
This world exploration began the Portuguese Empire. Portugal was a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries. It tried to colonize Canada in the 16th century. However, it lost a lot of money soon after this. Portugal and Spain were in the Iberian Union from 1580 to 1640. The city of Lisbon was destroyed in an earthquake in 1755. The country was occupied during the Napoleonic Wars. It lost its largest colony, Brazil, in 1822.
In 1910, Portugal became a Republic, and in 1926, a military group took control of the country from the Portuguese 1st Republic. This began a time of rule by authoritarian governments. During World War II they were neutral but friendly to Britain. In 1974 a peaceful left-wing army coup, called the "Carnation Revolution", happened. The coup changed how the country was run.
The next year, Portugal allowed its colonies in Africa to be on their own: Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe.
East Timor in Asia declared itself independent from Portugal on 28 November 1975, and was invaded and occupied by Indonesian forces nine days later.
Portugal went into the European Union in 1986. Another Asian colony, Macau, became part of China
The main language of Portugal is Portuguese.
Some famous Portuguese people are D. Afonso Henriques, Henry the Navigator, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Ferdinand Magellan, Luís de Camões, Fernando Pessoa, Amália Rodrigues, Álvaro Siza Vieira, Eduardo Souto de Moura.
Luís de Camões wrote the national poem of Portugal. It is called "Os Lusíadas" and was written in 1572.
Slovakia
Slovakia (Slovak: "Slovensko") (Official name The Slovak Republic, "Slovenská republika") is a country with no access to the ocean in Central Europe. It is bordered by Austria in the southwest, Hungary in the south, Ukraine in the east, Poland in the north and Czech Republic in the northwest. Its capital city is Bratislava, the only capital of the world that borders with other two countries. Other main cities are Košice, Prešov, Žilina, Banská Bystrica, Trenčín, Nitra and Trnava. Slovakia has been a member of the European Union since 2004 and its official currency is the Euro.
The Celts started to settle since 450 BC. The coins named "Biatec" represent the first use of writing in Slovakia. At the turn of millenniums, many different Germanic tribes like Quadi and Marcomanni started to overtake the area. The Roman Empire established many outposts along the Danube river. They even fought Germanic tribes, with the most northern presence being in Trenčín ("Laugaritio"), during the Marcomannic Wars.
Great Moravia was at first in constant quarrels with the Eastern Francia, and at the beginning of the 10th century, with the Magyars who arrived from Asia. The Magyars conquered Great Moravia in 906, and established the Hungarian Principality, resulting later in the creation of the Kingdom of Hungary in year 1000. Slovaks continued to live in the north, while most Hungarians were in the south.
A huge population loss resulted from the Mongol invasions in 1241. The Hungarian kings started to invite other settlers, for example Germans in the 13th century, and many others started to arrive in the kingdom, Vlachs from Romania in the 14th century and Jews.
In the 16th century the Ottoman Empire occupied the southern part of the kingdom including the two most important towns, Buda (capital) and Székesfehérvár (coronation capital). Many Hungarian nobles moved to Slovakia and the king moved to Bratislava ("Pressburg", "Pozsony" at that time). The wars against the Ottomans and an uprising against the Habsburgs caused much destruction. After the Ottomans started to retreat back from Hungary, Bratislava continued to be capital until 1848, when it was moved back to Budapest.