Continental plates have periodically collided and assembled in periods of orogeny (mountain building) to form supercontinents. The cycle of supercontinent formation, breakup, dispersal and reformation by plate tectonics occurs every 450 million years or so.
Islam in Niger
More than 90% of the people in Niger (or 9 out of every 10 people) are Muslims. Most of the rest of Niger's people are Animists.
However, these numbers are not exact. In Niger, many of the people who practice traditional religions have mixed some beliefs from Islam into their religions. Because of this, it is hard to say exactly how many people practice each religion.
Islam in Niger began to spread around a thousand years ago. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Islam became more common than Niger's traditional religions. Since then, Sufi brotherhoods have become the most common and powerful Muslim organisations, like in many West African countries. Because of this, there are many different interpretations (or ways of understanding and practicing) Islam in Niger. These different interpretations exist alongside each other, and alongside less common religions, usually peacefully.
The government of Niger is secular, or separate from any religion. At the same time, the government recognizes that Islam is the most popular religion in the country.
Islam in Nigeria
About 85,000,000 Nigerians are Muslims. That is about half of the people of Nigeria. Most of the rest of the people are Christian. Muslims in Nigeria are predominantly Sunni in the Maliki school, which is also the governing Sharia law. However, there is a significant Shia minority, mostly in Sokoto State (see Shia in Nigeria). A smaller number of people follow the Ahmadiyya Islam, a reformatory sect that started in 19th century India. Pew Forum on religious diversity says that 12% are Shia Muslims while 3% are Ahmadi Muslims.
East India
East India is a region of the Republic of India. It includes the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal. The states of Orissa and West Bengal share some cultural and linguistic characteristics with Bangladesh and with the state of Assam. Together with Bangladesh, West Bengal formed the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal before partition in 1947.
Jack Harris
Jack Harris (born September 18, 1941) is a broadcaster. He is the studio host for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Radio Network and a play-by-play voice for the Tampa Bay Storm and the Outback Bowl. He started doing play-by-play for the South Florida Bulls men's basketball team as well as the Tampa Bay Rowdies. He was sports anchor at WTOG-TV and WFLA-TV where he was host of "Pulse Plus!" on WTVT-TV before WFLA-TV fired Harris.
Frank Herzog
Frank Herzog is a former sportscaster who was the voice of the Washington Redskins. He was also the voice of the Maryland Terrapins football and basketball teams as well as the Washington Bullets. He called college football and basketball games for CBS.
Sind sparrow
The Sind sparrow ("Passer pyrrhonotus"), also known as the Sind jungle sparrow, jungle sparrow, or rufous-backed sparrow, is a passerine bird of the Passeridae sparrow family.
It lives around the Indus valley region of Pakistan and parts of the Republic of India. Within its Indus valley breeding range in Pakistan and western India, the Sind sparrow lives in wetland habitats with thorny scrub and tall grass.
Jasminum officinale
Jasminum officinale is the common Jasmine. It is in the family Oleaceae.
It is famous for its scent. It is also known as Poet's Jasmine or jessamine.
For thousands of years, the Jasmine has been cultivated not only for the beauty of its small, white, star-like flowers, but also for its intoxicating scent.
It is native to the foothills of the Western Himalayas and the Indus Valley plains of the Pakistani Punjab. The plant was cultivated and brought to the rest of the Indian subcontinent, China, the Middle East and other regions of Asia. From there, it spread into France, Italy and the Mediterranean, and eventually it was introduced to the rest of Western Europe and Britain. Today, Jasmine is grown and cultivated all over the world in its many varieties.
Since Jasmine has been cultivated all over the world for its flowers and scent, there are different varieties, and each type of Jasmine is associated with different meanings. In Pakistan, Jasmine is a very common plant and one can find it in any garden. Because of its attractive scent, the white Jasmine symbolizes attachment and represents amiability and modesty; therefore, Jasmine is named as the National flower of Pakistan respectively.
Rodinia
Rodinia, meaning "to give birth", is the name of a supercontinent. It had most or all of Earth's landmass when the Neoproterozoic era began.
Rodinia existed between 1.1 billion and 750 million years ago. It formed from parts of an older and poorly understood supercontinent,
Rodinia broke up in the first period of the Neoproterozoic, the Tonian. Later its continental fragments were re-assembled to form Pangaea 300250 million years ago. In contrast with Pangaea, little is known yet about the exact position and history of Rodinia.
The extreme cooling of the global climate around 700 million years ago (the so called Snowball Earth of the Cryogenian period) and the rapid evolution of primitive life during the following Ediacaran and Cambrian periods may have been triggered by the breaking up of Rodinia.
The break-up of Rodinia is better understood than its formation. Extensive flood basalt flows and volcanic eruptions of Neoproterozoic age are found on most continents. This is evidence for large scale rifting about 750 million years ago. As early as 850 and 800 million years ago, a rift developed, eventually becoming an ocean in the Ediacaran.
In a separate rifting event about 610 million years ago (halfway in the Ediacaran period), the Iapetus Ocean formed. It might be that all continental mass was again joined in one supercontinent between roughly 600 and 550 million years ago. This hypothetical supercontinent is called Pannotia.
Unlike later supercontinents, Rodinia itself was entirely barren. It existed before life colonized dry land. It was before the formation of the ozone layer, so it was too exposed to the ultraviolet radiation in sunlight for organisms to live there and leave fossils. However, its existence probably did affect the marine life of its time.
In the Cryogenian period the Earth experienced large glaciations, and temperatures were at least as cool as today. Substantial areas of Rodinia may have been covered by glaciers or the southern polar ice cap.
The eventual rifting of the continents created new oceans, and seafloor spreading, which produces warmer, less-dense oceanic lithosphere. Due to its lower density, hot oceanic lithosphere does not lie so deep as old, cool oceanic lithosphere. In periods with relatively large areas of new lithosphere, the ocean floors come up, causing the sea level to rise. The result was a greater number of shallower seas.
The increased evaporation from the larger water area of the oceans may have increased rainfall, which, in turn, increased the weathering of exposed rock. This increased rainfall may have reduced greenhouse gas levels. When CO level dropped, the period known as Snowball Earth began. Increased volcanic activity also introduced nutrients into the seas. This may have played an important role in the development of the earliest animals.
Vasile Blaga
Vasile Blaga (b. 26 July 1956, Petrileni) is a Romanian politician. He was a Speaker of the Upper Chamber of the Romanian Parliament, the Senate, a former Minister of Regional Development and Housing and twice former Minister of Administration and Internal Affairs.
On 28 November 2011, Blaga was appointed President of the Senate of Romania. He was removed as President of the Senate on July 3, 2012
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