Q: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 191 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873. Established by the ratification of the WMO Convention on 23 March 1950, WMO became the specialised agency of the United Nations for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences a year later. Its current Secretary-General is Petteri Taalas and the President of the World Meteorological Congress, its supreme body, is David Grimes. The Organization is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is the UN system's authoritative voice on the state and behavior of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources.

WMO has a membership of 191 Member States and Territories as of February 2014. The Convention of the World Meteorological Organization was signed 11 October 1947 and established upon ratification on 23 March 1950. WMO became the specialized agency of the United Nations in 1951 for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873.

Answer the following questions:
1. What is meteorology?
2. What does WMO stand for?
3. When was it created?
4. How many members does it have?
5. When was it established by ratification?
6. Is it part of the United Nations?
7. What kind of agency is it, within the United Nations?
8. What does it have the top say about?
9. Is it the authority on the state and behavior of this planet's atmosphere?
10. Interaction with the oceans?
11. Climate and water stores?
A: 1. weather and climate
2. World Meteorological Organization
3. 1873
4. 191 Member States and Territories
5. 23 March 1950,
6. yes
7. specialised agency
8. unknown
9. yes
10. yes
11. yes
Q: Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country. It spans approximately and has a population of 45.7 million (as of 2009). The capital of the province is Kunming, formerly also known as Yunnan. The province borders the Chinese provinces Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, and the Tibet Autonomous Region, and the countries Vietnam, Laos, and Burma.

Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with high elevations in the northwest and low elevations in the southeast. Most of the population lives in the eastern part of the province. In the west, the altitude can vary from the mountain peaks to river valleys as much as . Yunnan is rich in natural resources and has the largest diversity of plant life in China. Of the approximately 30,000 species of higher plants in China, Yunnan has perhaps 17,000 or more. Yunnan's reserves of aluminium, lead, zinc and tin are the largest in China, and there are also major reserves of copper and nickel.

The Han Empire first recorded diplomatic relations with the province at the end of the 2nd century BC. It became the seat of a Sino-Tibetan-speaking kingdom of Nanzhao in the 8th century AD. Nanzhao was multi-ethnic, but the elite most-likely spoke a northern dialect of Yi. The Mongols conquered the region in the 13th century, with local control exercised by warlords until the 1930s. From the Yuan dynasty onward, the area was part of a central-government sponsored population movement towards the Southwestern frontier, with 2 major waves of migrants arriving from Han-majority areas in northern and southeast China. As with other parts of China's southwest, Japanese occupation in the north during World War II forced another migration of majority Han people into the region. These two waves of migration contributed to Yunnan being one of the most ethnically diverse provinces of China, with ethnic minorities accounting for about 34 percent of its total population. Major ethnic groups include Yi, Bai, Hani, Zhuang, Dai and Miao.

Answer the following questions:
1. About how many species of higher plants does Yunnan have?
2. How many total are there in China?
3. What is Yunnan?
4. In what country?
5. What is its capital?
6. What was Kunming known as before?
7. How many people are there?
8. As of which year?
9. Which empire first recorded relations with Yunnan?
10. When was that?
11. What was Nanzhao?
12. What kind of area is Yunnan located in
13. Where do most of the people live?
14. Does it have a lot of natural resources?
15. What are two of its reserves?
16. Which are the largest reserves in China?
17. What other major reserves does it have?
18. When did the Mongols conquer it?
19. With local control by warlords, until when?
20. How many waves of migration were there?
A: 1. 17,000 or more
2. approximately 30,000
3. a province
4. People's Republic of China
5. Kunming
6. Yunnan
7. 45.7 million
8. 2009
9. The Han Empire
10. end of 2nd century BC
11. a kingdom
12. a mountainous area
13. the eastern part
14. Yes
15. aluminium and lead
16. aluminium, lead, zinc and tin
17. copper and nickel
18. the 13th century
19. 1930s
20. Two
Q: Washington (CNN) -- A late evening meeting between President Barack Obama and the leaders of the House and Senate failed to reach agreement Wednesday on a spending plan to avert a government shutdown, but all the participants said progress was made and talks would continue.

If there is no deal by midnight Friday, when the current spending authorization measure expires, parts of the government will close down.

Obama called the 90-minute talks with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, "constructive" and he said they narrowed and clarified the outstanding issues.

"I remain confident that if we're serious about getting something done, we should be able to complete a deal and get it passed and avert a shutdown," Obama said in brief remarks to reporters. "But it's going to require a sufficient sense of urgency from all parties involved" to prevent a shutdown that "could have real effects on everyday Americans."

Both Reid and Boehner told reporters in their own brief comments that the meeting made progress in narrowing their differences, and that their staffs would work through the night to try to reach further consensus.

"I have confidence we can get this done," said Reid, who criticized Boehner and Republicans earlier in the day for intransigence. "We're not there yet."

Boehner, standing next to Reid, said "we do have some honest differences," and he emphasized there was no agreement on either a specific figure for spending cuts for the rest of the current fiscal year or on policy issues that the Republicans want included in the measure, such as specifically prohibiting funding for abortions.

Answer the following questions:
1. When is the deadline?
2. What will be out of time then?
A:
1. by midnight Friday,
2. when the current spending authorization measure expires