Problem: Damascus is the capital and likely the largest city of Syria, following the decline in population of Aleppo due to the battle for the city. It is commonly known in Syria as "ash-Sham" and nicknamed as the "City of Jasmine". In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major cultural centre of the Levant and the Arab world. The city has an estimated population of 1,711,000 .

Located in south-western Syria, Damascus is the centre of a large metropolitan area of 2.6 million people (2004). Geographically embedded on the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau above sea level, Damascus experiences a semi-arid climate because of the rain shadow effect. The Barada River flows through Damascus.

First settled in the second millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. After the victory of the Abbasid dynasty, the seat of Islamic power was moved to Baghdad. Damascus saw a political decline throughout the Abbasid era, only to regain significant importance in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. Today, it is the seat of the central government and all of the government ministries.
1. What city is this article talking about?
2. Located where?
3. Why did the population of Aleppo go down?
4. What is the city's nickname?
5. and the population?
6. Is it the oldest city?
7. Its a major cultural center of wht?
8. What river flows through it?
9. and why is there a semi arid climate ther?
10. When was it first settled?
Answer: 1. Damascus
2. Syria
3. no
4. the city of Jasmine
5. 1,711,000 .
6. one of them
7. the Levant
8. The Barada River
9. because of the rain shadow effect.
10. in the second millennium BC

Problem: Moscow (CNN) -- There is no basic human right to barge into a church to make a political statement, jump around near the altar, and shout obscenities. But there is most certainly the right not to lose your liberty for doing so, even if the act is offensive.

But that is exactly what happened Friday. A court in Moscow sentenced the three members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot to two years in prison.

In my two decades monitoring human rights in Russia I've never seen anything like the Pussy Riot case -- the media attention, the outpouring of public support, the celebrity statements for the detained and criminally charged punk band members.

The image of three young women facing down an inexorable system of unfair justice and an oppressive state has crystallized for many in the West what is wrong with human rights in Russia. To be sure, it is deeply troubling.

For me, even more shocking were the images of Stanislav Markelov, a human rights lawyer, lying on the sidewalk with the back of his head blown off in 2009, or the body of tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in prison in 2009 after he blew the whistle on a massive government extortion scheme.

The Pussy Riot case shines a much needed, if highly disturbing, spotlight on the issue of freedom of expression in post-Soviet Russia

On February 21, four members of the group performed what they call a "punk prayer" in Moscow's Russian Orthodox Christ the Savior Cathedral. They danced around and shouted some words to their song, "Virgin Mary, Get Putin Out." The stunt lasted less than a minute before the women were forcibly removed.
1. Was there any human rights?
2. Who are the Pussy Riot?
3. Where they will end up?
4. For how many years?
5. Who ordered the verdict?
6. When?
7. When they did the so called punk prayer?
8. Where?
9. Who they were protesting against?
10. How long they could perform their act at the church?
11. How many of them were there?
12. What happened to them next?
13. Who was Markelov?
14. What happened to him?
15. Who was Magnitsky?
16. What he did?
17. What happened to him at the end?
18. When?
19. How long the author of the article monitoring Russia?
20. Does she think this case is exceptional?
Answer: 1. No
2. A feminist punk band
3. Prison
4. Two
5. A court in Moscow
6. Friday
7. On February 21
8. The Savior Cathedral
9. The issue of freedom of expression
10. Less than a minute
11. Four
12. They were forcibly removed.
13. A human rights lawyer
14. For me, even more shocking were the images of Stanislav Markelov, a human rights lawyer, lying on the sidewalk with the back of his head blown off in 2009
15. A tax lawyer
16. Blew the whistle on a massive government extortion scheme
17. He died in prison
18. 2009
19. Two decades
20. Yes

Problem: Encyclopedia Americana is one of the largest general encyclopedias in the English language. Following the acquisition of Grolier in 2000, the encyclopedia has been produced by Scholastic.

The encyclopedia has more than 45,000 articles, most of them more than 500 words and many running to considerable length (the "United States" article is over 300,000 words). The work's coverage of American and Canadian geography and history has been a traditional strength. Written by 6,500 contributors, the "Encyclopedia Americana" includes over 9,000 bibliographies, 150,000 cross-references, 1,000+ tables, 1,200 maps, and almost 4,500 black-and-white line art and color images. It also has 680 factboxes. Most articles are signed by their contributors.

Long available as a 30-volume print set, the "Encyclopedia Americana" is now marketed as an online encyclopedia requiring a subscription. In March 2008, Scholastic said that print sales remained good but that the company was still deciding on the future of the print edition. The company did not produce an edition in 2007, a change from its previous approach of releasing a revised print edition each year. The most recent print edition of the "Encyclopedia Americana" was published in 2006.

The online version of the "Encyclopedia Americana", first introduced in 1997, continues to be updated and sold. This work, like the print set from which it is derived, is designed for high school and first-year college students along with public library users. It is available to libraries as one of the options in the Grolier Online reference service, which also includes the "Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia", intended for middle and high school students, and "The New Book of Knowledge", an encyclopedia for elementary and middle school students. Grolier Online is not available to individual subscribers.
1. When was the online version of the encyclopedia put out?
2. Is it still updated?
3. What kind of students is it designed for?
4. And who else?
5. What is made for middle and high school kids?
6. What is designed for elementary students?
7. Is the online service available to individuals?
8. What is the biggest encyclopedia in the English language?
9. Who has produced it after the year 2000?
10. After they acquired what?
11. How many articles are in the books?
12. How many words are most?
13. How long is the United States article?
14. Is geography a strength for the encyclopedias?
15. What else is a strong point?
16. How many bibliographies are there?
17. In what year was a print edition published?
18. How many cross-references were there?
19. How many factboxes are there?
20. How many books were in a typical print edition?
Answer:
1. 1997
2. Yes.
3. high school and first-year college
4. public library users
5. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia
6. The New Book of Knowledge
7. No.
8. Encyclopedia Americana
9. Scholastic
10. Grolier
11. 45,000
12. more than 500
13. over 300,000 words
14. YEs
15. history
16. over 9,000
17. 2006
18. 150,000
19. 680
20. 30