1.
Terrorism in Spain
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There is a long history of terrorism in Europe. This has often been linked to nationalist and separatist movements, while other acts have been related to political extremism or religious extremism, European cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism include the European Police Office, an EU agency, and Interpol. TREVI was an example of EU cooperation in this field. The main transnational activity to combat terrorism in recent years has been through Europol, the field is subject to considerable cooperation among national authorities. The countrys Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve revealed 600 French nationals were in Syria at the time or planned to go there, from 2005, the United Kingdom government introduced the CONTEST strategy, which seeks to improve co-operation between security services, and other public and private organisations. This includes four strands, namely Pursue, Prevent, Protect, similar strategies have been adopted by other countries across the European Union, and there have been increases in co-operation between nations and security forces. There is an overlap between terrorism and various forms of conflict and violent action, including civil wars or non-international armed conflicts. Terrorism in Europe around the beginning of the century was often associated with anarchism. Other perpetrators have been linked to far-right and far-left extremism, environmental extremism and anarchism, since 2001, there has been an increase in attacks linked to extremist Islamist groups, particularly in France. The internationally co-ordinated element has seen increasing attempts by governments to seek to weaken extremist ideology and it remains the case that the majority of deaths from terrorism do not occur in the West. However, there have been recent increases in the number of high-fatality attacks, there had been a decrease in the number of overall fatalities from terrorist attacks between 1990 and 2015, compared to those between 1970 and 1990. Prior to 1990, on average 150 people died each year from terrorist attacks, from 1990, an average of a little under 50 people died each year. However, this figure has begun to increase again from 2011, with the attacks by far-right extremist Anders Breivik in Norway, Europol has published an annual trend report on terrorist attacks and terrorist related arrests in the EU since 2006. The reports identify that perpetrators known or suspected affiliations have been disparate in nature, Europol break these down into five categories, jihadist terrorism, ethno-nationalist and separatist terrorism, left-wing and anarchist terrorism, right-wing terrorism, and single-issue terrorism. Europols reports do not provide a breakdown of the proportion of attacks that have completed or the type of damage inflicted. A significant number of attacks are motivated religiously or associated with right-wing groups. However, among those arrested on terror-related crimes most are religiously motivated and form the largest group, in 2015, a total of 211 completed, failed, or foiled terrorist attacks were reported by EU states, resulting in 151 fatalities and over 360 people injured. As in previous years, separatist attacks accounted for the largest proportion, the latter, however, caused the largest number of fatalities and injuries
2.
Islamic terrorism in Europe
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Islamic terrorism or radical Islamic terrorism, is defined as any terrorist act, set of acts or campaign committed by groups or individuals who profess Islamic or Islamist motivations or goals. Islamic terrorists justify their violent tactics through interpreting the Quran and Hadith according to their own goals, the highest numbers of incidents and fatalities caused by Islamic terrorism occur in Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria. In 2015 four Islamic extremist groups were responsible for 74% of all deaths from terrorism, ISIS, Boko Haram, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, according to the Global Terrorism Index 2016. In recent decades, such incidents have occurred on a scale, affecting not only Muslim-majority states in Africa and Asia, but also Europe, Russia, Australia, Canada. Such attacks have targeted Muslims and non-Muslims, the literal use of the phrase Islamic terrorism is disputed. Such use in Western political speech has variously been called counter-productive, highly politicized, intellectually contestable, however, others view the refusal to use the term as an act of self-deception. Some Muslim commentators assert that extremism within Islam goes back to the 7th century to the Kharijites, from their essentially political position, they developed extreme doctrines that set them apart from both mainstream Sunni and Shia Muslims. The Kharijites were particularly noted for adopting an approach of Takfir, whereby they declared other Muslims to be unbelievers. Dame Eliza Manningham Buller, the head of MI5, told the Iraq inquiry. For example, Hezbollah initiated suicide bombings after a complex reworking of the concept of martyrdom, the only way to apply a brake to suicide terrorism, Kramer argues, is to undermine its moral logic, by encouraging Muslims to see its incompatibility with their own values. Maajid Nawaz, in a debate with Mehdi Hasan, countered Scheuers contention, the prerequisite to such a disavowal of one’s country of birth is a recalibration of identity, this is the undeniable role of ideological narratives. Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, in their book, The Age of Sacred Terror and they are seen as a sacrament. Intended to restore to the universe a moral order that had been corrupted by the enemies of Islam and it is neither political or strategic but an act of redemption meant to humiliate and slaughter those who defied the hegemony of God. Two studies of the background of Muslim terrorists in Europe—one of the UK, many lack religious literacy and could actually be regarded as religious novices. Very few have been brought up in strongly religious households, some are involved in drug-taking, drinking alcohol and visiting prostitutes. MI5 says there is evidence that a religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation. They are estranged from their parents and don’t know where to fit in, or they are recent converts, largely from rural areas and many from divorced families. If Islam or social conditions are essentially to blame for breeding terrorism, why does it not attract first- or third-generation French Muslims, or those whose Islamic culture is the deepest
3.
Madrid Atocha railway station
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Madrid Atocha is the largest railway station in Madrid. It is the station serving commuter trains, intercity and regional trains from the south. These train services are run by the Spanish national rail company, from 2014, this station is connected everyday to Marseille in France. The station is in the Atocha neighborhood of the district of Arganzuela, at this site, Madrids first railway station was inaugurated on 9 February 1851 under the name Estación de Mediodía. After the building was destroyed by fire, it was rebuilt. The architect for the replacement, in a wrought iron style was Alberto de Palacio Elissagne. Engineer Henry Saint James also took part in the project, the name Atocha has become attached to the station because of the nearby basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Atocha. The train platforms were covered by a roof in the form of inverted hull with a height of approximately 27 meters. The steel and glass roof spreads between two flanking buildings. This complex of railway tracks expanded through the years, in 1985, a project of complete remodeling began, based on designs by Rafael Moneo. In 1992, the building was taken out of service as a terminal, and converted into a concourse with shops, cafés. Like the Orsay Museum in Paris, the concourse has been given a new function, a modern terminal was also designed by Moneo, and built in adjacent land to serve both the new AVE trains and local commuter lines. The main lines end in the new terminal, commuter train platforms are located underground, the station is served by two Madrid Metro stations, Atocha and Atocha Renfe. The latter was added when the new building was constructed and is directly linked to the railway station. On 11 March 2004, packed arriving commuter trains were bombed in a series of coordinated bombings, killing 191 people, the official investigation by the Spanish Judiciary determined the attacks were directed by a terrorist cell. On 10 June 2004, a somber and minimalist Atocha station memorial was dedicated for the victims of the Attack, the monument includes a virtual shrine. Visitors to the stations can leave a hand silhouette and a message through special-purpose consoles. A second monument to this event, known as 11-M in Spain, is the Bosque del Recuerdo in the Parque del Buen Retiro near Atocha
4.
Madrid
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Madrid is the capital city of the Kingdom of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has a population of almost 3.2 million with an area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union after London and Berlin, the municipality itself covers an area of 604.3 km2. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid, this community is bordered by the communities of Castile and León. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic, the current mayor is Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid. Madrid is home to two football clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. Madrid is the 17th most liveable city in the according to Monocle magazine. Madrid organises fairs such as FITUR, ARCO, SIMO TCI, while Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets. Cibeles Palace and Fountain have become one of the monument symbols of the city, the first documented reference of the city originates in Andalusan times as the Arabic مجريط Majrīṭ, which was retained in Medieval Spanish as Magerit. A wider number of theories have been formulated on possible earlier origins, according to legend, Madrid was founded by Ocno Bianor and was named Metragirta or Mantua Carpetana. The most ancient recorded name of the city Magerit comes from the name of a built on the Manzanares River in the 9th century AD. Nevertheless, it is speculated that the origin of the current name of the city comes from the 2nd century BC. The Roman Empire established a settlement on the banks of the Manzanares river, the name of this first village was Matrice. In the 8th century, the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula saw the changed to Mayrit, from the Arabic term ميرا Mayra. The modern Madrid evolved from the Mozarabic Matrit, which is still in the Madrilenian gentilic, after the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Madrid was integrated in the Taifa of Toledo. With the surrender of Toledo to Alfonso VI of León and Castile, the city was conquered by Christians in 1085, Christians replaced Muslims in the occupation of the centre of the city, while Muslims and Jews settled in the suburbs. The city was thriving and was given the title of Villa, since 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile. In 1202, King Alfonso VIII of Castile gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council, which was expanded in 1222 by Ferdinand III of Castile
5.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
6.
Civilian
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In general, a civilian is a person who is not a member of the military or of a police or firefighting force, as defined by Merriam Websters Dictionary. From the perspective of the U. S, in military and law enforcement slang, the term Civies or Civvies are often used to refer civilian population or civilian clothing. Under the laws of war, a civilian is one not being a member of the services and does not take a direct part of hostilities in times of armed conflict. The term civilian is slightly different from a non-combatant under the laws of war, the privileges that they enjoy under international law depends on whether the conflict is an internal one or an international one. The word civilian goes back to the late 14th century and is from Old French civilien, Civilian is believed to have been used to refer to non-combatants as early as 1829. The term non-combatant now refers to people in general who are not taking part of hostilities, there is no intermediate status, nobody in enemy hands can be outside the law. We feel that this is a satisfactory solution – not only satisfying to the mind, but also, the ICRC has expressed the opinion that If civilians directly engage in hostilities, they are considered unlawful or unprivileged combatants or belligerents. They may be prosecuted under the law of the detaining state for such action. According to Article 50 of the 1977 Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions,1, a civilian is any person who does not belong to one of the categories of persons referred to in Article 4A, and of the Third Convention and in Article 43 of this Protocol. In case of whether a person is a civilian, that person shall be considered to be a civilian. The civilian population comprises all persons who are civilians, the presence within the civilian population of individuals who do not come within the definition of civilians does not deprive the population of its civilian character. The definition is negative and defines civilians as persons who do not belong to definite categories, the categories of persons mentioned in Article 4A, and of the Third Convention and in Article 43 of the Protocol I are combatants. Therefore, the Commentary to the Protocol pointed that, any one who is not a member of the forces is a civilian. Civilians cannot take part in armed conflict, civilians are given protection under the Geneva Conventions and Protocols thereto. Article 51 describes the protection that must be given to the civilian population, chapter III of Protocol I regulates the targeting of civilian objects. The actual position of the civilian in modern war remains problematical, starting in the 1980s, it was often claimed that 90 percent of the victims of modern wars were civilians. The claim was repeated on Wikipedias Did You Know on 14 December 2010 and these claims, though widely believed, are not supported by detailed examination of the evidence, particularly that relating to wars that are central to the claims. It has lost none of its political, legal and moral salience, although it is often assumed that civilians are essentially passive onlookers of war, sometimes they have active roles in conflicts
7.
Backpack bomb
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An improvised explosive device is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional explosives, such as an artillery round. IEDs are commonly used as roadside bombs, IEDs are generally seen in heavy terrorist actions or in unconventional warfare by guerrillas or commando forces in a theater of operations. In the second Iraq War, IEDs were used extensively against US-led invasion forces and they are also used in Afghanistan by insurgent groups, and have caused over 66% of coalition casualties in the 2001–present Afghanistan War. IEDs were also used extensively by cadres of the rebel Tamil Tiger organization against military targets in Sri Lanka, an IED is a bomb fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating destructive, lethal, noxious, pyrotechnic, or incendiary chemicals and designed to destroy or incapacitate personnel or vehicles. In some cases, IEDs are used to distract, disrupt, or delay an opposing force, IEDs may incorporate military or commercially sourced explosives, and often combine both types, or they may otherwise be made with homemade explosives. An IED has five components, a switch, an initiator, container, charge, an IED designed for use against armoured targets such as personnel carriers or tanks will be designed for armour penetration, by using a shaped charge that creates an explosively formed penetrator. IEDs are extremely diverse in design and may contain many types of initiators, detonators, penetrators, antipersonnel IEDs typically also contain fragmentation-generating objects such as nails, ball bearings or even small rocks to cause wounds at greater distances than blast pressure alone could. IEDs are triggered by various methods, including remote control, infrared or magnetic triggers, in some cases, multiple IEDs are wired together in a daisy chain to attack a convoy of vehicles spread out along a roadway. IEDs made by inexperienced designers or with substandard materials may fail to detonate, the sophistication of an IED depends on the training of the designer and the tools and materials available. IEDs may use artillery shells or conventional high-explosive charges as their explosive load as well as homemade explosives, chlorine liquid has been added to IEDs in Iraq, producing clouds of chlorine gas. A vehicle-borne IED, or VBIED, is a term for a car bomb or truck bomb but can be any type of transportation such as a bicycle, motorcycle, donkey. They are typically employed by insurgents, and can carry a large payload. They can also be detonated from a remote location, vBIEDs can create additional shrapnel through the destruction of the vehicle itself and use vehicle fuel as an incendiary weapon. The act of a persons being in this vehicle and detonating it is known as an SVBIED suicide, the fougasse was improvised for centuries, eventually inspiring factory-made land mines. Ernst Jünger mentions in his war memoir the systematic use of IEDs, another early example of coordinated large-scale use of IEDs was the Belarusian Rail War launched by Belarusian guerrillas against the Germans during World War II. Both command-detonated and delayed-fuse IEDs were used to derail thousands of German trains during 1943–1944, starting six months before the invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR on 27 December 1979, the Afghan Mujahideen were supplied with large quantities of military supplies. Among those supplies were many types of anti-tank mines, the insurgents often removed the explosives from several foreign anti-tank mines, and combined the explosives in tin cooking-oil cans for a more powerful blast
8.
Al-Qaeda
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It operates as a network made up of Islamic extremist, Salafist jihadists. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countries, including the 1998 U. S. embassy bombings, the September 11 attacks, the U. S. government responded to the September 11 attacks by launching the War on Terror. Characteristic techniques employed by al-Qaeda include suicide attacks and the bombing of different targets. Al-Qaeda ideologues envision a complete break from all foreign influences in Muslim countries, among the beliefs ascribed to al-Qaeda members is the conviction that a Christian–Jewish alliance is conspiring to destroy Islam. Al-Qaeda also opposes what it regards as man-made laws, and wants to replace them with a form of sharia law. Al-Qaeda has carried out attacks on targets it considers kafir. Al-Qaeda is also responsible for instigating violence among Muslims. Al-Qaeda leaders regard liberal Muslims, Shias, Sufis and other sects as heretics and have attacked their mosques, examples of sectarian attacks include the Yazidi community bombings, the Sadr City bombings, the Ashoura massacre and the April 2007 Baghdad bombings. Since the death of bin Laden in 2011, the group has been led by the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaedas management philosophy has been described as centralization of decision and decentralization of execution. Many terrorism experts do not believe that the global jihadist movement is driven at every level by al-Qaedas leadership, marc Sageman, a psychiatrist and former Central Intelligence Agency officer, said that al-Qaeda is now just a loose label for a movement that seems to target the west. We like to create an entity called in our minds. This view mirrors the account given by Osama bin Laden in his October 2001 interview with Tayseer Allouni and this matter isnt about any specific person and. is not about the al-Qaidah Organization. We are the children of an Islamic Nation, with Prophet Muhammad as its leader, and all the true believers are brothers. So the situation isnt like the West portrays it, that there is an organization with a specific name and that particular name is very old. It was born without any intention from us, created a military base to train the young men to fight against the vicious, arrogant, brutal, terrorizing Soviet empire. So this place was called The Base, as in a base, so this name grew. We arent separated from this nation, and so we discuss the conscience of this nation. Bruce Hoffman, however, sees al-Qaeda as a network that is strongly led from the Pakistani tribal areas
9.
Spanish general election, 2004
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The 2004 Spanish general election was held on Sunday,14 March 2004, to elect the 8th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, for the first time since the Spanish transition to democracy, none of the three main party leaders had previously led a general election campaign. The governing Peoples Party was led into the campaign by Mariano Rajoy, the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers Party was led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, while Gaspar Llamazares stood as United Left candidate. The electoral outcome was influenced by the aftermath of the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings. For the remaining days before the election, the PP government kept claiming evidence that the terrorist organization ETA was responsible for the bombings. However, it became evident that the bombings had not been authored according to ETAs modus operandi. Large demonstrations were held across Spain and protests were organized in front of several PP party headquarters the day previous to the election, in the event, the election result took many by surprise. The PP had been shown to all opinion polls conducted before March 11. The Socialists ended up leading with an unexpected 5-point margin and a record 11 million votes, two minor left-wing parties, Republican Left of Catalonia and IU, immediately announced their intention to support Zapateros government. On April 16,2004, Zapatero got the approval of the majority of the new Congress, with 183 out of 350 members voting for him. The Spanish Cortes Generales were regarded as a bicameral system. Nonetheless, the Senate possessed a few exclusive, yet limited in number functions—such as its role in constitutional amendment—which were not subject to the Congress override. For the Congress of Deputies,348 seats were allocated to 50 multi-member districts—each corresponding to a province—, elected using the DHondt method, ceuta and Melilla elected one member each using plurality voting, for a total of 350 seats. Each district was entitled to a minimum of two seats, with the remaining 248 allocated among the 50 provinces in proportion to their populations. A threshold of 3% of valid votes—which included blank ballots—was applied in each constituency, for the Senate, each of the 47 peninsular constituencies was allocated four seats. Ceuta and Melilla elected two seats each, for a total of 208 directly elected seats, using an open list partial block voting, instead of voting for parties, electors would vote for individual candidates. In districts electing four seats, electors could vote for up to three candidates, in those two or three seats, for up to two candidates, and for one candidate in single-member constituencies. Additionally, autonomous communities could appoint at least one each and were entitled to one additional seat per each million inhabitants
10.
Audiencia Nacional of Spain
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The Audiencia Nacional is a special and exceptional high court in Spain. It has jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory, as well as international crimes which come under the competence of Spanish courts. The Audiencia Nacional was created in 1977 at the time as the Public Order Tribunal. Despite what many think, the two work differently, and both the Spanish Constitutional Court and the European Commission of Human Rights have observed this tribunal to be legal. Its seat is in the city of Madrid, in most cases, the rulings and decisions of these different divisions of the Audiencia Nacional can be appealed before the Supreme Court of Spain. The Audiencia is composed of its President, the Presidents of the Chambers, appeals Chamber, which hears appeals against rulings of the Criminal Chamber
11.
Clandestine cell system
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In a cell structure, each small group of people in the cell know the identities of only the people in their cell. It is also a used by criminal organizations, undercover operatives. Historically, clandestine organizations have avoided electronic communications, as signals intelligence is a strength of conventional militaries, in the context of tradecraft, covert and clandestine are not synonymous. As noted in the definition in an operation the identity of the sponsor is concealed, but in a clandestine operation. At least insofar as someone or something that is known to exist by at least two individuals can be concealed, put differently, clandestine means hidden, and covert means deniable. The adversary is aware that an activity is happening, but theoretically and hypothetically does not know who is doing it. Separating action from sponsorship is a technicality hopefully providing sufficient distance from the action so that the sponsor can claim ignorance in the event the covert plot is discovered. Clandestine activities, however, if successful, are unknown to the adversary. Espionage is espionage regardless of whether or not the intelligence and information provided to the sponsor - friend or foe - is of benefit or use or not, even if the information was intentionally misleading, fake or inaccurate the crime is in passing it to a foreign government. A sleeper cell refers to a cell, or isolated grouping of sleeper agents that lies dormant until it receives orders or decides to act, in World War II, Operation Jedburgh teams parachuted into occupied France to lead unconventional warfare units. They would be composed of two officers, one American or British, and the other French, the latter preferably from the area into which they landed, the third member of the team was a radio operator. Especially through the French member, they would contact trusted individuals in the area of operation, if the mission was sabotage, reconnaissance or espionage, there was no need to meet in large units. If the team was to carry out action, often an unwise mission unless an appreciable number of the locals had military experience. Even then, the hideouts of the leadership were known only to subcell leaders, the legitimacy of the Jedburgh team came from its known affiliation with Allied powers, and it was a structure more appropriate for UW than for truly clandestine operations. Also known as the Viet Cong, this grew from earlier anticolonial groups fighting the French. Its command, control, and communication techniques derived from the experiences of these insurgent groups. The group had support from North Vietnam, and, indirectly. It had parallel political and military structures, often overlapping, see Viet Cong and PAVN strategy and tactics
12.
Controversies about the 2004 Madrid train bombings
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The bombings occurred three days before general elections, in which incumbent José María Aznars PP was defeated. Immediately after the bombing, leaders of the PP claimed evidence indicated that the Basque separatist organization ETA was responsible for the bombings and it is suggested that this analysis was favorable to the PPs chances of being re-elected. The PP government involved Spain in the Iraq War, a very unpopular with many Spaniards. Therefore, if a link between the bombings and the Iraq War involvement were established, it could have reduced the popularity of the PP, nationwide demonstrations and protests followed the attacks. After 21 months of investigation, judge Juan del Olmo ruled Moroccan national Jamal Zougam guilty of carrying out the attack. The September 2007 sentence established no known mastermind nor direct al-Qaeda link, the conservative PP government was accused of falsely blaming Euskadi Ta Askatasuna for the attacks. The day of the attacks, police informed the Government that explosives usually used by ETA were found at the blast sites. This, along with other circumstances, led the PP to suspect ETA involvement. The government sent messages to all Spanish embassies abroad ordering that they uphold the version that ETA was responsible, prime Minister José María Aznar even called a number of newspaper editors and publishers personally to ask for their support for this version. The tense political atmosphere in Spain in the running up to the elections brought the PP to the edge of a political catastrophe. On one hand, José María Aznar was aggressively opposed to any dialogue with ETA, and based most of his campaign on the threat of terrorism. On the other hand, Aznars friendship with U. S. president George W. Bush led him to support the 2003 invasion of Iraq against the views of the majority of the population. The Summary of the Judicial Enquiry concluded that the decision to attack Madrid was taken after, and as a result of, nevertheless, The New Yorker claimed the decision was taken before 9/11 according to an Italian police report. As evidence emerged from the attention on the explosive used switched to a brand of dynamite known as Goma-2. Analysis of samples from the explosion sites carried out by a member of the disposal squad following the bombings did not produce a definitive result. The analyst concerned later testified in the trial of accused of committing the bombings. She stated that the thing she could identify in these tests were generic components of dynamite. He would later retract this statement before the magistrate in charge of the case
13.
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
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The Spanish Socialist Workers Party, is a social-democratic political party in Spain. PSOE formed the government in democratic Spain between 1982 and 1996, and between 2004 and 2011 and it is the currently the oldest political party in Spanish history. The party, under Felipe González, formed a majority government after its victory in the 1982 general election, the party then formed a minority government until 1996. PSOE has had ties with the General Union of Workers. For decades, UGT membership was a requirement for PSOE membership, however, since the 1980s, UGT has frequently criticized the economic policies of PSOE, even calling for a general strike on 14 December 1988. PSOE was last in power between 2004 and 2011 general elections, with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero serving as leader of the government, the PSOE is a member of the Party of European Socialists, Progressive Alliance and the Socialist International. In the European Parliament, PSOEs 14 Members of the European Parliament sit in the Socialists and Democrats European parliamentary group, PSOE was founded with the purpose of representing and defending the interests of the working class formed during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. The ideology of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party has evolved throughout the 20th Century according to relevant historical events and this allowed for the consolidation of the leftist forces in PSOE. Currently, PSOE defines itself as democratic, center-left and progressive. Concerning the territorial model of the realm, PSOE supports asymmetric federalism and it is grouped with other self-styled socialists, social democrats and labour parties in the Party of European Socialists. PSOE was founded on the 2nd of May,1879 in the Casa Labra Pub by the historical Spanish workers leader Pablo Iglesias, the first program of the new political party was passed in an assembly of 40 people, on 20 July of that same year. The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1923 and 1940, PSOE formed part of the Spanish Government during the Second Spanish Republic and as part of the Spanish Popular Front, elected to government in February 1936. The dictator Francisco Franco banned PSOE in 1939, and the party was legalized again in 1977, during Francos rule members of PSOE were persecuted, with many leaders, members and supporters being imprisoned or exiled and even executed. Its 25th Congress was held in Toulouse in August 1972, in 1974 at its 26th Congress in Suresnes, Felipe González was elected Secretary General, replacing Rodolfo Llopis Ferrándiz. González was from the wing of the party, and his victory signaled a defeat for the historic. The direction of the party shifted from the exiles to the people in Spain who hadnt fought the war. Their standing was further boosted in 1978 when the 6 deputies of the Popular Socialist Party agreed to merge with the party, in their 27th congress in May 1979, González resigned because the party would not abandon its Marxist character. In September of that year, the extraordinary 28th congress was called in which González was re-elected when the party agreed to move away from Marxism, European social-democratic parties supported Gonzálezs stand, and the Social Democratic Party of Germany granted them money
14.
People's Party (Spain)
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The Peoples Party is a conservative and Christian democratic political party in Spain. It is one of the four parties of modern Spanish politics. The new party combined the conservative AP with several small Christian democratic, in 2002, Manuel Fraga received the honorary title of Founding Chairman. The PP was until November 2011 the largest opposition party in the Congress of Deputies, with 153 out of 350 deputies, and its youth organization is New Generations of the Peoples Party of Spain. In the elections of November 2011, the PP won a majority, the PP is a member of the center-right European Peoples Party, and in the European Parliament its 16 MEPs sit in the EPP Group. The PP is also a member of the Centrist Democrat International, the PP was also one of the founding organizations of the Budapest-based Robert Schuman Institute for Developing Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe. The party has its roots in the Peoples Alliance founded on 9 October 1976 by former Francoist minister Manuel Fraga, although Fraga was a member of the reformist faction of the Franco regime, he supported an extremely gradual transition to democracy. However, he underestimated the publics distaste for Francoism. Additionally, while he attempted to convey a reformist image, the number of former Francoists in the party led the public to perceive it as both reactionary and authoritarian. In the June 1977 general election, the AP garnered only 8.3 percent of the vote, in the months following the 1977 elections, dissent erupted within the AP over constitutional issues that arose as the draft document was being formulated. Fragas wing won the struggle, prompting most of the disenchanted reactionaries to leave the party, the AP then joined with other moderate conservatives to form the Democratic Coalition. In the March 1979 general election, however, the CD received 6.1 percent of the vote, at the APs Second Party Congress in December 1979, party leaders re-assessed their involvement in the CD. Many felt that the creation of the coalition had merely confused the voters, Fraga resumed control of the party, and the political resolutions adopted by the party congress reaffirmed the conservative orientation of the AP. In the early 1980s, Fraga succeeded in rallying the various components of the right around his leadership and he was aided in his efforts to revive the AP by the increasing disintegration of the UCD. In the general held in October 1982, the AP gained votes both from previous UCD supporters and from the far right. It became the opposition party to the Spanish Socialist Workers Party. Whereas the APs parliamentary representation had dropped to 9 seats in 1979, the increased strength of the AP was further evidenced in the municipal and regional elections held in May 1983, when the party drew 26 percent of the vote. A significant portion of the electorate appeared to support the APs emphasis on law, subsequent political developments belied the partys aspirations to continue increasing its base of support
15.
Spanish legislative election, 2004
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The 2004 Spanish general election was held on Sunday,14 March 2004, to elect the 8th Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, for the first time since the Spanish transition to democracy, none of the three main party leaders had previously led a general election campaign. The governing Peoples Party was led into the campaign by Mariano Rajoy, the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers Party was led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, while Gaspar Llamazares stood as United Left candidate. The electoral outcome was influenced by the aftermath of the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings. For the remaining days before the election, the PP government kept claiming evidence that the terrorist organization ETA was responsible for the bombings. However, it became evident that the bombings had not been authored according to ETAs modus operandi. Large demonstrations were held across Spain and protests were organized in front of several PP party headquarters the day previous to the election, in the event, the election result took many by surprise. The PP had been shown to all opinion polls conducted before March 11. The Socialists ended up leading with an unexpected 5-point margin and a record 11 million votes, two minor left-wing parties, Republican Left of Catalonia and IU, immediately announced their intention to support Zapateros government. On April 16,2004, Zapatero got the approval of the majority of the new Congress, with 183 out of 350 members voting for him. The Spanish Cortes Generales were regarded as a bicameral system. Nonetheless, the Senate possessed a few exclusive, yet limited in number functions—such as its role in constitutional amendment—which were not subject to the Congress override. For the Congress of Deputies,348 seats were allocated to 50 multi-member districts—each corresponding to a province—, elected using the DHondt method, ceuta and Melilla elected one member each using plurality voting, for a total of 350 seats. Each district was entitled to a minimum of two seats, with the remaining 248 allocated among the 50 provinces in proportion to their populations. A threshold of 3% of valid votes—which included blank ballots—was applied in each constituency, for the Senate, each of the 47 peninsular constituencies was allocated four seats. Ceuta and Melilla elected two seats each, for a total of 208 directly elected seats, using an open list partial block voting, instead of voting for parties, electors would vote for individual candidates. In districts electing four seats, electors could vote for up to three candidates, in those two or three seats, for up to two candidates, and for one candidate in single-member constituencies. Additionally, autonomous communities could appoint at least one each and were entitled to one additional seat per each million inhabitants
16.
Iraq War
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The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3–4 years of conflict and it became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition, the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue. The invasion began on 20 March 2003, with the U. S. joined by the United Kingdom and several allies, launching a shock. Iraqi forces were overwhelmed as U. S. forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Baathist government, President Hussein was captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year, the United States responded with a troop surge in 2007. The winding down of U. S. involvement in Iraq accelerated under President Barack Obama, the U. S. formally withdrew all combat troops from Iraq by December 2011. Select U. S. officials accused Saddam of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, while others cited the desire to end a repressive dictatorship, after the invasion, no substantial evidence was found to verify the initial claims about WMDs. The rationale and misrepresentation of pre-war intelligence faced heavy criticism within the U. S. in the aftermath of the invasion, Iraq held multi-party elections in 2005. Nouri al-Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006 and remained in office until 2014, the al-Maliki government enacted policies that were widely seen as having the effect of alienating the countrys Sunni minority and worsening sectarian tensions. The Iraq War caused hundreds of thousands of civilian, and thousands of military casualties, the majority of casualties occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. A1990 Frontline report on The arming of Iraq said, Officially, most Western nations participated in an arms embargo against Iraq during the 1980s. Western companies, primarily in Germany and Great Britain, but also in the United States, sold Iraq the key technology for its chemical, missile, any Western governments seemed remarkably indifferent, if not enthusiastic, about those deals. N Washington, the government consistently followed a policy which allowed and perhaps encouraged the growth of Saddam Husseins arsenal. The Western arming of Iraq took place in the context of the Iran-Iraq War, prior to September 2002, the CIA was the George W. Bush administrations main provider of intelligence on Iraq. The agency was out to disprove linkage between Iraq and terrorism the Pentagon adviser told me, the U. N. had prohibited Iraq from developing or possessing such weapons after the Gulf War and required Iraq to permit inspections confirming compliance. This was confirmed by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, during 2002, Bush repeatedly warned of military action against Iraq unless inspections were allowed to progress unfettered. In accordance with U. N. Security Council Resolution 1441, Iraq agreed to new inspections under United Nations Monitoring, as part of its weapons inspection obligations, Iraq was required to supply a full declaration of its current weapons capabilities and manufacturing
17.
Lockerbie bombing
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Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via London and New York. On 21 December 1988, N739PA, the operating the transatlantic leg of the route, was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew. Large sections of the aircraft crashed onto residential areas of Lockerbie, Scotland, following a three-year joint investigation by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, arrest warrants were issued for two Libyan nationals in November 1991. In 1999, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi handed over the two men for trial at Camp Zeist, Netherlands after protracted negotiations and UN sanctions. In 2001, Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was jailed for life after being found guilty of 270 counts of murder in connection with the bombing, in August 2009, he was released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. He died in May 2012, the person to be convicted for the attack. In 2003, Gaddafi accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid compensation to the families of the victims, during the Libyan Civil War in 2011, a former government official claimed that the Libyan leader had personally ordered the bombing, though this was later denied. The aircraft operating Pan Am Flight 103 was a Boeing 747–121, registered N739PA and named Clipper Maid of the Seas and it was the 15th 747 built and was delivered in February 1970, one month after the first 747 entered service with Pan Am. At the time of its destruction, Clipper Maid of the Seas was 18 years of age and had accumulated over 75,000 flying hours. The Clipper Maid of the Seas operated the transatlantic leg of Flight 103, both Pan Am and TWA routinely changed the type of aircraft operating different legs of a flight. PA103 was bookable as a single Frankfurt-New York itinerary, though a change of aircraft took place in London. At London Heathrow Airport, passengers and their luggage on the flight transferred directly onto the Boeing 747. The aircraft pushed back from the terminal at 18,04 and took off from runway 27R at 18,25, en route for New York JFK Airport and on to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Contrary to many accounts of the disaster, the flight. After the bombing, the number was changed, in accordance with standard practice among airlines after disasters. Within days, the Frankfurt-London-New York-Detroit route was being served by Pan Am Flight 3, at 18,58, the aircraft established two-way radio contact with Shanwick Oceanic Area Control in Prestwick on frequency 123.95 MHz. The Clipper Maid of the Seas approached the corner of the Solway Firth at 19,01, on scope, the aircraft showed transponder code, or squawk,0357 and flight level 310. At this point, the Clipper Maid of the Seas was flying at 31,000 feet on a heading of 316 degrees magnetic, subsequent analysis of the radar returns by RSRE concluded that the aircraft was tracking 321° and travelling at a ground speed of 803 km/h
18.
Improvised explosive device
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An improvised explosive device is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional explosives, such as an artillery round. IEDs are commonly used as roadside bombs, IEDs are generally seen in heavy terrorist actions or in unconventional warfare by guerrillas or commando forces in a theater of operations. In the second Iraq War, IEDs were used extensively against US-led invasion forces and they are also used in Afghanistan by insurgent groups, and have caused over 66% of coalition casualties in the 2001–present Afghanistan War. IEDs were also used extensively by cadres of the rebel Tamil Tiger organization against military targets in Sri Lanka, an IED is a bomb fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating destructive, lethal, noxious, pyrotechnic, or incendiary chemicals and designed to destroy or incapacitate personnel or vehicles. In some cases, IEDs are used to distract, disrupt, or delay an opposing force, IEDs may incorporate military or commercially sourced explosives, and often combine both types, or they may otherwise be made with homemade explosives. An IED has five components, a switch, an initiator, container, charge, an IED designed for use against armoured targets such as personnel carriers or tanks will be designed for armour penetration, by using a shaped charge that creates an explosively formed penetrator. IEDs are extremely diverse in design and may contain many types of initiators, detonators, penetrators, antipersonnel IEDs typically also contain fragmentation-generating objects such as nails, ball bearings or even small rocks to cause wounds at greater distances than blast pressure alone could. IEDs are triggered by various methods, including remote control, infrared or magnetic triggers, in some cases, multiple IEDs are wired together in a daisy chain to attack a convoy of vehicles spread out along a roadway. IEDs made by inexperienced designers or with substandard materials may fail to detonate, the sophistication of an IED depends on the training of the designer and the tools and materials available. IEDs may use artillery shells or conventional high-explosive charges as their explosive load as well as homemade explosives, chlorine liquid has been added to IEDs in Iraq, producing clouds of chlorine gas. A vehicle-borne IED, or VBIED, is a term for a car bomb or truck bomb but can be any type of transportation such as a bicycle, motorcycle, donkey. They are typically employed by insurgents, and can carry a large payload. They can also be detonated from a remote location, vBIEDs can create additional shrapnel through the destruction of the vehicle itself and use vehicle fuel as an incendiary weapon. The act of a persons being in this vehicle and detonating it is known as an SVBIED suicide, the fougasse was improvised for centuries, eventually inspiring factory-made land mines. Ernst Jünger mentions in his war memoir the systematic use of IEDs, another early example of coordinated large-scale use of IEDs was the Belarusian Rail War launched by Belarusian guerrillas against the Germans during World War II. Both command-detonated and delayed-fuse IEDs were used to derail thousands of German trains during 1943–1944, starting six months before the invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR on 27 December 1979, the Afghan Mujahideen were supplied with large quantities of military supplies. Among those supplies were many types of anti-tank mines, the insurgents often removed the explosives from several foreign anti-tank mines, and combined the explosives in tin cooking-oil cans for a more powerful blast
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Bomb disposal
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Bomb disposal is the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. Bomb disposal does not encompass the remediation of soils polluted with explosive materials, the first professional civilian bomb squad was established by Sir Vivian Dering Majendie. In 1875, he framed The Explosives Act, the first modern legislation for explosives control and he also pioneered many bomb disposal techniques, including remote methods for the handling and dismantling of explosives. His advice during the Fenian dynamite campaign of 1881-85 was officially recognised as having contributed to the saving of lives, after Victoria Station was bombed on 26 February 1884 he defused a bomb with a clockwork mechanism which might have gone off at any moment. The New York City Police Department established its first bomb squad in 1903, known as the Italian Squad, its primary mission was to deal with dynamite bombs used by the Mafia to intimidate immigrant Italian merchants and residents. It would later be known as the Anarchist Squad and the Radical Squad, Bomb Disposal became a formalized practice in the First World War. The swift mass production of munitions led to manufacturing defects. These were hazardous to attacker and defender alike, in response, the British dedicated a section of Ordnance Examiners from the Royal Army Ordnance Corps to handle the growing problem. In 1918, the Germans developed delayed-action fuzes that would develop into more sophisticated versions during the 1930s. These tests led to the development of UXBs, pioneered by Herbert Ruehlemann of Rheinmetall, such delayed-action bombs provoked terror in the civilian population because of the uncertainty of time, and also complicated the task of disarming them. The Germans saw that unexploded bombs caused far more chaos and disruption than bombs that exploded immediately and this caused them to increase their usage of delayed-action bombs in World War II. This trend of cat-and-mouse extends even to the present day, modern EOD Technicians across the world can trace their heritage to the Blitz, when the United Kingdoms cities were subjected to extensive bombing raids by Nazi Germany. In addition to air raids, unexploded bombs took their toll on population and morale, paralyzing vital services. Bombs fitted with delayed-action fuzes provoked fear and uncertainty in the civilian population, the first UXBs were encountered in the autumn of 1939 before the Blitz and were for the most part easily dealt with, mostly by Royal Air Force or Air Raid Precautions personnel. In the spring of 1940, when the Phony War ended,25 sections were authorized for the Royal Engineers in May 1940, another 109 in June, and 220 by August. Organization was needed, and as the Blitz began,25 Bomb Disposal Companies were created between August 1940 and January 1941, each company had ten sections, each section having a bomb disposal officer and 14 other ranks to assist. Six companies were deployed in London by January 1941, Bomb fuzes incorporating anti-handling devices were specifically designed to kill bomb disposal personnel. Scientists and technical staff responded by devising methods and equipment to render them safe, the next year, the Office of Civilian Defense and War Department both sponsored a bomb disposal program
20.
Coordinated Universal Time
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Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead
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Romania
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Romania is a sovereign state located in Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and it has an area of 238,391 square kilometres and a temperate-continental climate. With over 19 million inhabitants, the country is the member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth-largest city in the EU, the River Danube, Europes second-longest river, rises in Germany and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km, coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romanias Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest are marked by one of their tallest peaks, Moldoveanu, modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. Romania lost several territories, of which Northern Transylvania was regained after the war, following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition towards democracy and it has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. A strong majority of the population identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are speakers of Romanian. The cultural history of Romania is often referred to when dealing with artists, musicians, inventors. For similar reasons, Romania has been the subject of notable tourist attractions, Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning citizen of Rome. The first known use of the appellation was attested in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, after the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumân gradually fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form român. Tudor Vladimirescu, a leader of the early 19th century. The use of the name Romania to refer to the homeland of all Romanians—its modern-day meaning—was first documented in the early 19th century. The name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861, in English, the name of the country was formerly spelt Rumania or Roumania. Romania became the predominant spelling around 1975, Romania is also the official English-language spelling used by the Romanian government. The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the region of the earliest European civilization. Evidence from this and other sites indicates that the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage
22.
Ecuador
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Ecuador also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometres west of the mainland. What is now Ecuador was home to a variety of Amerindian groups that were incorporated into the Inca Empire during the 15th century. The territory was colonized by Spain during the 16th century, achieving independence in 1820 as part of Gran Colombia, Spanish is the official language and is spoken by a majority of the population, though 13 Amerindian languages are also recognized, including Quichua and Shuar. The capital city is Quito, while the largest city is Guayaquil, in reflection of the countrys rich cultural heritage, the historical center of Quito was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. Cuenca, the third-largest city, was declared a World Heritage Site in 1999 as an outstanding example of a planned. Ecuador has an economy that is highly dependent on commodities, namely petroleum. The country is classified as a medium-income country, Ecuador is a democratic presidential republic. The new constitution of 2008 is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, Ecuador is also known for its rich ecology, hosting many endemic plants and animals, such as those of the Galápagos Islands. It is one of 17 megadiverse countries in the world, various peoples had settled in the area of the future Ecuador before the arrival of the Incas. They developed different languages while emerging as unique ethnic groups, even though their languages were unrelated, these groups developed similar groups of cultures, each based in different environments. Over time these groups began to interact and intermingle with each other so that groups of families in one area became one community or tribe, with a similar language and culture. Many civilizations arose in Ecuador, such as the Valdivia Culture and Machalilla Culture on the coast, the Quitus, each civilization developed its own distinctive architecture, pottery, and religious interests. Eventually, through wars and marriage alliances of their leaders, a group of nations formed confederations, one region consolidated under a confederation called the Shyris, which exercised organized trading and bartering between the different regions. Its political and military came under the rule of the Duchicela blood-line. The native confederations that gave them the most problems were deported to distant areas of Peru, Bolivia, similarly, a number of loyal Inca subjects from Peru and Bolivia were brought to Ecuador to prevent rebellion. Thus, the region of highland Ecuador became part of the Inca Empire in 1463 sharing the same language, in contrast, when the Incas made incursions into coastal Ecuador and the eastern Amazon jungles of Ecuador, they found both the environment and indigenous people more hostile. Moreover, when the Incas tried to subdue them, these indigenous people withdrew to the interior, as a result, Inca expansion into the Amazon basin and the Pacific coast of Ecuador was hampered. The indigenous people of the Amazon jungle and coastal Ecuador remained relatively autonomous until the Spanish soldiers, the Amazonian people and the Cayapas of Coastal Ecuador were the only groups to resist Inca and Spanish domination, maintaining their language and culture well into the 21st century
23.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
24.
Bulgaria
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Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, with a territory of 110,994 square kilometres, Bulgaria is Europes 16th-largest country. Organised prehistoric cultures began developing on current Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period and its ancient history saw the presence of the Thracians, Greeks, Persians, Celts, Romans, Goths, Alans and Huns. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for five centuries. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 led to the formation of the Third Bulgarian State, the following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both world wars. In 1946 it became a one-party socialist state as part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc, in December 1989 the ruling Communist Party allowed multi-party elections, which subsequently led to Bulgarias transition into a democracy and a market-based economy. Bulgarias population of 7.2 million people is predominantly urbanised, most commercial and cultural activities are centred on the capital and largest city, Sofia. The strongest sectors of the economy are industry, power engineering. The countrys current political structure dates to the adoption of a constitution in 1991. Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic with a high degree of political, administrative. Human activity in the lands of modern Bulgaria can be traced back to the Paleolithic, animal bones incised with man-made markings from Kozarnika cave are assumed to be the earliest examples of symbolic behaviour in humans. Organised prehistoric societies in Bulgarian lands include the Neolithic Hamangia culture, Vinča culture, the latter is credited with inventing gold working and exploitation. Some of these first gold smelters produced the coins, weapons and jewellery of the Varna Necropolis treasure and this site also offers insights for understanding the social hierarchy of the earliest European societies. Thracians, one of the three primary groups of modern Bulgarians, began appearing in the region during the Iron Age. In the late 6th century BC, the Persians conquered most of present-day Bulgaria, and kept it until 479 BC. After the division of the Roman Empire in the 5th century the area fell under Byzantine control, by this time, Christianity had already spread in the region. A small Gothic community in Nicopolis ad Istrum produced the first Germanic language book in the 4th century, the first Christian monastery in Europe was established around the same time by Saint Athanasius in central Bulgaria. From the 6th century the easternmost South Slavs gradually settled in the region, in 680 Bulgar tribes under the leadership of Asparukh moved south across the Danube and settled in the area between the lower Danube and the Balkan, establishing their capital at Pliska
25.
Peru
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Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the west by the Pacific Ocean. Peruvian territory was home to ancient cultures spanning from the Norte Chico civilization in Caral, one of the oldest in the world, to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and established a Viceroyalty with its capital in Lima, ideas of political autonomy later spread throughout Spanish America and Peru gained its independence, which was formally proclaimed in 1821. After the battle of Ayacucho, three years after proclamation, Peru ensured its independence, subsequently, the country has undergone changes in government from oligarchic to democratic systems. Peru has gone through periods of political unrest and internal conflict as well as periods of stability, Peru is a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions. It is a country with a high Human Development Index score. Its main economic activities include mining, manufacturing, agriculture and fishing, the Peruvian population, estimated at 31.2 million in 2015, is multiethnic, including Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians. The main spoken language is Spanish, although a significant number of Peruvians speak Quechua or other native languages and this mixture of cultural traditions has resulted in a wide diversity of expressions in fields such as art, cuisine, literature, and music. The name of the country may be derived from Birú, the name of a ruler who lived near the Bay of San Miguel, Panama. When his possessions were visited by Spanish explorers in 1522, they were the southernmost part of the New World yet known to Europeans, thus, when Francisco Pizarro explored the regions farther south, they came to be designated Birú or Perú. An alternative history is provided by the contemporary writer Inca Garcilasco de la Vega, son of an Inca princess, the Spanish Crown gave the name legal status with the 1529 Capitulación de Toledo, which designated the newly encountered Inca Empire as the province of Peru. Under Spanish rule, the country adopted the denomination Viceroyalty of Peru, the earliest evidences of human presence in Peruvian territory have been dated to approximately 9,000 BC. Andean societies were based on agriculture, using such as irrigation and terracing, camelid husbandry. Organization relied on reciprocity and redistribution because these societies had no notion of market or money, the oldest known complex society in Peru, the Norte Chico civilization, flourished along the coast of the Pacific Ocean between 3,000 and 1,800 BC. These early developments were followed by archaeological cultures that developed mostly around the coastal, the Cupisnique culture which flourished from around 1000 to 200 BC along what is now Perus Pacific Coast was an example of early pre-Incan culture. The Chavín culture that developed from 1500 to 300 BC was probably more of a religious than a political phenomenon, on the coast, these included the civilizations of the Paracas, Nazca, Wari, and the more outstanding Chimu and Mochica. Their capital was at Chan Chan outside of modern-day Trujillo, in the 15th century, the Incas emerged as a powerful state which, in the span of a century, formed the largest empire in pre-Columbian America with their capital in Cusco
26.
Dominican Republic
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The Dominican Republic is a sovereign state occupying the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western one-third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, christopher Columbus landed on the Western part of Hispaniola, in what is now Haiti, on December 6,1492. The island became the first seat of the Spanish colonial rule in the New World, the Dominican people declared independence in November 1821 but were forcefully annexed by their more powerful neighbor Haiti in February 1822. After the 1844 victory in the Dominican War of Independence against Haitian rule the country again under Spanish colonial rule until the Dominican War of Restoration of 1865. The Dominican Republic experienced mostly internal strife until 1916, a civil war in 1965, the countrys last, was ended by another U. S. military occupation and was followed by the authoritarian rule of Joaquín Balaguer, 1966–1978. Since then, the Dominican Republic has moved toward representative democracy and has been led by Leonel Fernández for most of the time since 1996. Danilo Medina, the Dominican Republics current president, succeeded Fernandez in 2012, the Dominican Republic has the ninth-largest economy in Latin America and is the largest economy in the Caribbean and Central American region. Though long known for agriculture and mining, the economy is now dominated by services. Over the last two decades, the Dominican Republic have been standing out as one of the economies in the Americas – with an average real GDP growth rate of 5. 4% between 1992 and 2014. GDP growth in 2014 and 2015 reached 7.3 and 7. 0%, respectively, in the first half of 2016 the Dominican economy grew 7. 4% continuing its trend of rapid economic growth. Recent growth has been driven by construction, manufacturing and tourism, private consumption has been strong, as a result of low inflation, job creation, as well as high level of remittances. The Dominican Republic has a market, Bolsa de Valores de la Republica Dominicana. and advanced telecommunication system. Nevertheless, unemployment, government corruption, and inconsistent electric service remain major Dominican problems, the country also has marked income inequality. International migration affects the Dominican Republic greatly, as it receives, mass illegal Haitian immigration and the integration of Dominicans of Haitian descent are major issues. A large Dominican diaspora exists, mostly in the United States, contributes to development, the Dominican Republic is the most visited destination in the Caribbean. The year-round golf courses are major attractions, the island has an average temperature of 26 °C and great climatic and biological diversity. The country is also the site of the first cathedral, castle, monastery, and fortress built in all of the Americas, located in Santo Domingos Colonial Zone, a World Heritage Site. Music and sport are of importance in the Dominican culture, with Merengue and Bachata as the national dance and music
27.
Colombia
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Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a transcontinental country largely situated in the northwest of South America, with territories in Central America. Colombia shares a border to the northwest with Panama, to the east with Venezuela and Brazil and to the south with Ecuador and it shares its maritime limits with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is a unitary, constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments, the territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Muisca, the Quimbaya and the Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization ultimately creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada, independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 the Gran Colombia Federation was dissolved. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada, the new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation, and then the United States of Colombia, before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886. Since the 1960s the country has suffered from an asymmetric low-intensity armed conflict, Colombia is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse countries in the world, and thereby possesses a rich cultural heritage. Cultural diversity has also influenced by Colombias varied geography. The urban centres are located in the highlands of the Andes mountains. Colombian territory also encompasses Amazon rainforest, tropical grassland and both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines, ecologically, it is one of the worlds 17 megadiverse countries, and the most densely biodiverse of these per square kilometer. Colombia is a power and a regional actor with the fourth-largest economy in Latin America, is part of the CIVETS group of six leading emerging markets and is an accessing member to the OECD. Colombia has an economy with macroeconomic stability and favorable growth prospects in the long run. The name Colombia is derived from the last name of Christopher Columbus and it was conceived by the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda as a reference to all the New World, but especially to those portions under Spanish and Portuguese rule. The name was adopted by the Republic of Colombia of 1819. When Venezuela, Ecuador and Cundinamarca came to exist as independent states, New Granada officially changed its name in 1858 to the Granadine Confederation. In 1863 the name was changed, this time to United States of Colombia. To refer to country, the Colombian government uses the terms Colombia. Owing to its location, the present territory of Colombia was a corridor of early human migration from Mesoamerica, the oldest archaeological finds are from the Pubenza and El Totumo sites in the Magdalena Valley 100 km southwest of Bogotá. These sites date from the Paleoindian period, at Puerto Hormiga and other sites, traces from the Archaic Period have been found
28.
Morocco
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Morocco, officially known as the Kingdom of Morocco, is a sovereign country located in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Geographically, Morocco is characterized by a mountainous interior, large tracts of desert. Morocco has a population of over 33.8 million and an area of 446,550 km2 and its capital is Rabat, and the largest city is Casablanca. Other major cities include Marrakesh, Tangier, Tetouan, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, a historically prominent regional power, Morocco has a history of independence not shared by its neighbours. Marinid and Saadi dynasties continued the struggle against foreign domination, the Alaouite dynasty, the current ruling dynasty, seized power in 1666. In 1912 Morocco was divided into French and Spanish protectorates, with a zone in Tangier. Moroccan culture is a blend of Arab, indigenous Berber, Sub-Saharan African, Morocco claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces. Morocco annexed the territory in 1975, leading to a war with indigenous forces until a cease-fire in 1991. Peace processes have thus far failed to break the political deadlock, Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive and legislative powers, especially over the military, foreign policy, the king can issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. He can also dissolve the parliament after consulting the Prime Minister, Moroccos predominant religion is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Tamazight. The Moroccan dialect, referred to as Darija, and French are also widely spoken, Morocco is a member of the Arab League, the Union for the Mediterranean, and the African Union. It has the fifth largest economy of Africa, the full Arabic name al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah translates to Kingdom of the West, although the West in Arabic is الغرب Al-Gharb. The basis of Moroccos English name is Marrakesh, its capital under the Almoravid dynasty, the origin of the name Marrakesh is disputed, but is most likely from the Berber words amur akush or Land of God. The modern Berber name for Marrakesh is Mṛṛakc, in Turkish, Morocco is known as Fas, a name derived from its ancient capital of Fes. The English name Morocco is an anglicisation of the Spanish Marruecos, the area of present-day Morocco has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, sometime between 190,000 and 90,000 BC. During the Upper Paleolithic, the Maghreb was more fertile than it is today, twenty-two thousand years ago, the Aterian was succeeded by the Iberomaurusian culture, which shared similarities with Iberian cultures. Skeletal similarities have been suggested between the Iberomaurusian Mechta-Afalou burials and European Cro-Magnon remains, the Iberomaurusian was succeeded by the Beaker culture in Morocco
29.
Ukraine
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Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014 but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2, making it the largest country entirely within Europe and it has a population of about 42.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in the world. The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC, during the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, two brief periods of independence occurred during the 20th century, once near the end of World War I and another during World War II. Before its independence, Ukraine was typically referred to in English as The Ukraine, following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state. Nonetheless it formed a limited partnership with the Russian Federation and other CIS countries. In the 2000s, the government began leaning towards NATO, and it was later agreed that the question of joining NATO should be answered by a national referendum at some point in the future. Former President Viktor Yanukovych considered the current level of co-operation between Ukraine and NATO sufficient, and was against Ukraine joining NATO and these events formed the background for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the War in Donbass in April 2014. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied the economic part of the Deep, Ukraine has long been a global breadbasket because of its extensive, fertile farmlands and is one of the worlds largest grain exporters. The diversified economy of Ukraine includes a heavy industry sector, particularly in aerospace. Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate powers, legislative, executive. Its capital and largest city is Kiev, taking into account reserves and paramilitary personnel, Ukraine maintains the second-largest military in Europe after that of Russia. Ukrainian is the language and its alphabet is Cyrillic. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy, which has strongly influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature, there are different hypotheses as to the etymology of the name Ukraine. According to the older and most widespread hypothesis, it means borderland, while more recently some studies claim a different meaning, homeland or region. The Ukraine now implies disregard for the sovereignty, according to U. S. ambassador William Taylor. Neanderthal settlement in Ukraine is seen in the Molodova archaeological sites include a mammoth bone dwelling
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Honduras
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Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a republic in Central America. It has at times referred to as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras. Honduras was home to several important Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya, the Spanish introduced Roman Catholicism and the now predominant Spanish language, along with numerous customs that have blended with the indigenous culture. Honduras has the worlds highest murder rate, Honduras spans about 112,492 km2 and has a population exceeding 8 million. Its northern portions are part of the Western Caribbean Zone, as reflected in the areas demographics and culture. Honduras is known for its natural resources, including minerals, coffee, tropical fruit, and sugar cane, as well as for its growing textiles industry. Honduras literally means depths in Spanish, the name could either refer to the bay of Trujillo as an anchorage, fondura in the Leonese dialect of Spanish, or to Columbuss alleged quote that Gracias a Dios que hemos salido de esas Honduras. It was not until the end of the 16th century that Honduras was used for the whole province, prior to 1580, Honduras only referred to the eastern part of the province, and Higueras referred to the western part. Another early name is Guaymuras, revived as the name for the dialogue in 2009 that took place in Honduras as opposed to Costa Rica. In pre-Columbian times, modern Honduras was part of the Mesoamerican cultural area, in the west, the Maya civilization flourished for hundreds of years. The dominant state within Hondurass borders was in Copán, Copán fell with the other Lowland centres during the conflagrations of the Terminal Classic in the 9th century. The Maya of this civilization survive in western Honduras as the Chorti, remains of other Pre-Columbian cultures are found throughout the country. On 30 July 1502 Columbus sent his brother Bartholomew to explore the islands and Bartholomew encountered a Mayan trading vessel from Yucatán, carrying well-dressed Maya and a rich cargo. Bartholomews men stole whatever cargo they wanted and kidnapped the elderly captain to serve as an interpreter in what was the first recorded encounter between the Spanish and the Maya. In March 1524, Gil González Dávila became the first Spaniard to enter Honduras as a conquistador, followed by Hernán Cortés, bringing forces down from Mexico. Much of the conquest was done in the two decades, first by groups loyal to Cristóbal de Olid, and then by those loyal of Francisco Montejo. In addition to Spanish resources, the conquerors relied heavily on armed forces from Mexico—Tlaxcalans, resistance to conquest was led in particular by Lempira, and many regions in the north never fell to the Spanish, notably the Miskito Kingdom. After the Spanish conquest, Honduras became part of Spains vast empire in the New World within the Kingdom of Guatemala, Trujillo and Gracias were the first city-capitals
31.
Senegal
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Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country in West Africa. Senegal is bordered by Mauritania in the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast, and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest. Senegal also borders The Gambia, a country occupying a narrow sliver of land along the banks of the Gambia River, Senegal also shares a maritime border with Cape Verde. Senegals economic and political capital is Dakar and it is the westernmost country in the mainland of the Old World, or Afro-Eurasia, and owes its name to the Senegal River, which borders it to the east and north. The name Senegal comes from the Wolof Sunuu Gaal, which means Our Boat, Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres and has an estimated population of about 15 million. The climate is Sahelian, but there is a rainy season, the territory of modern Senegal has been inhabited by various ethnic groups since prehistory. Organized kingdoms emerged around the century, and parts of the country were ruled by prominent regional empires such as the Jolof Empire. The present state of Senegal has its roots in European colonialism, which began during the mid-15th century, the establishment of coastal trading posts gradually led to control of the mainland, culminating in French rule of the area by the 19th century, albeit amid much local resistance. Senegal peacefully attained independence from France in 1960, and has since been among the politically stable countries in Africa. Senegals economy is centered mostly on commodities and natural resources, major industries are fish processing, phosphate mining, fertilizer production, petroleum refining, construction materials, and ship construction and repair. As in most African nations, agriculture is a sector, with Senegal producing several important cash crops, including peanuts, sugarcane, cotton, green beans, tomatoes, melons. Owing to its stability, tourism and hospitality are also burgeoning sectors. A multiethnic and secular nation, Senegal is predominantly Sunni Muslim with Sufi, French is the official language, although many native languages are spoken and recognized. Since April 2012 Senegals president has been Macky Sall, Senegal has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie since 1970. Senegal is named after the Senegal River, the etymology of which is contested, one popular theory is that it stems from the Wolof phrase sunu gaal, which means our canoe, resulting from a miscommunication between 15th-century Portuguese sailors and Wolof fishermen. The our canoe theory has been embraced in modern Senegal for its charm. It is frequently used in appeals to national solidarity, frequently heard in the media, modern historians believe the name probably refers to the Sanhaja, Berbers who lived on the northern side of the river. A competing theory is that it derives from the town of Sanghana
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Cuba
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Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and it is south of both the U. S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti, and north of Jamaica. Havana is the largest city and capital, other cities include Santiago de Cuba. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of 109,884 square kilometres, prior to Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian tribes. It remained a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, as a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Further unrest and instability led to Batistas ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nuclear war broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America, Cuba is a Marxist–Leninist one-party republic, where the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of human rights abuses. It is one of the worlds last planned economies and its economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee, according to the Human Development Index, Cuba is described as a country with high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America. It also ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including health care, the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language. The exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant, authors who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal. Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Taíno, the Guanajatabey, and the Ciboney people. The ancestors of the Ciboney migrated from the mainland of South America, the Taíno arrived from Hispanola sometime in the 3rd century A. D. When Columbus arrived they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having a population of 150,000. The name Cuba comes from the native Taíno language and it is derived from either coabana meaning great place, or from cubao meaning where fertile land is abundant. The Taíno were farmers, while the Ciboney were farmers as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers, Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain and named it Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias. In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa, other towns soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital
33.
Guinea-Bissau
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Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa. It covers 36,125 square kilometres with a population of 1,704,000. Guinea-Bissau was once part of the kingdom of Gabu, as well as part of the Mali Empire, parts of this kingdom persisted until the 18th century, while a few others were under some rule by the Portuguese Empire since the 16th century. In the 19th century, it was colonized as Portuguese Guinea, upon independence, declared in 1973 and recognised in 1974, the name of its capital, Bissau, was added to the countrys name to prevent confusion with Guinea. Guinea-Bissau has a history of instability since independence, and no elected president has successfully served a full five-year term. Only 14% of the population speaks Portuguese, established as the language in the colonial period. Almost half the population speaks Crioulo, a Portuguese-based creole language, the main religions are African traditional religions and Islam, there is a Christian minority. The countrys per-capita gross domestic product is one of the lowest in the world, Guinea-Bissau was once part of the kingdom of Gabu, part of the Mali Empire, parts of this kingdom persisted until the 18th century. Other parts of the territory in the current country were considered by the Portuguese as part of their empire, Portuguese Guinea was known as the Slave Coast, as it was a major area for the exportation of African slaves by Europeans to the western hemisphere. Early reports of Europeans reaching this area include those of the Venetian Alvise Cadamostos voyage of 1455, the 1479–1480 voyage by Flemish-French trader Eustache de la Fosse, and Diogo Cão. In the 1480s this Portuguese explorer reached the Congo River and the lands of Bakongo, setting up the foundations of modern Angola, some 4200 km down the African coast from Guinea-Bissau. The local African rulers in Guinea, some of whom prospered greatly from the trade, controlled the inland trade. They kept them in the coastal settlements where the trading took place. African communities that fought back against slave traders also distrusted European adventurers, the Portuguese in Guinea were largely restricted to the port of Bissau and Cacheu. A small number of European settlers established isolated farms along Bissaus inland rivers, for a brief period in the 1790s, the British tried to establish a rival foothold on an offshore island, at Bolama. But by the 19th century the Portuguese were sufficiently secure in Bissau to regard the neighbouring coastline as their own special territory, cuba also agreed to supply artillery experts, doctors, and technicians. The PAIGC even managed to acquire a significant anti-aircraft capability in order to defend itself against aerial attack, by 1973, the PAIGC was in control of many parts of Guinea, although the movement suffered a setback in January 1973 when Cabral was assassinated. Independence was unilaterally declared on 24 September 1973, recognition became universal following 25 April 1974 socialist-inspired military coup in Portugal, which overthrew Lisbons Estado Novo regime
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Chile
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Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a South American country occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island in Oceania. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres of Antarctica, the arid Atacama Desert in northern Chile contains great mineral wealth, principally copper. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes, the southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands. Spain conquered and colonized Chile in the century, replacing Inca rule in northern and central Chile. After declaring its independence from Spain in 1818, Chile emerged in the 1830s as a relatively stable authoritarian republic, in the 1960s and 1970s the country experienced severe left-right political polarization and turmoil. The regime, headed by Augusto Pinochet, ended in 1990 after it lost a referendum in 1988 and was succeeded by a coalition which ruled through four presidencies until 2010. Chile is today one of South Americas most stable and prosperous nations and it leads Latin American nations in rankings of human development, competitiveness, income per capita, globalization, state of peace, economic freedom, and low perception of corruption. It also ranks high regionally in sustainability of the state, Chile is a founding member of the United Nations, the Union of South American Nations and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. There are various theories about the origin of the word Chile, another theory points to the similarity of the valley of the Aconcagua with that of the Casma Valley in Peru, where there was a town and valley named Chili. Another origin attributed to chilli is the onomatopoeic cheele-cheele—the Mapuche imitation of the warble of a locally known as trile. The Spanish conquistadors heard about this name from the Incas, ultimately, Almagro is credited with the universalization of the name Chile, after naming the Mapocho valley as such. The older spelling Chili was in use in English until at least 1900 before switching over to Chile, stone tool evidence indicates humans sporadically frequented the Monte Verde valley area as long as 18,500 years ago. About 10,000 years ago, migrating Native Americans settled in fertile valleys, settlement sites from very early human habitation include Monte Verde, Cueva del Milodon and the Pali Aike Craters lava tube. They fought against the Sapa Inca Tupac Yupanqui and his army, the result of the bloody three-day confrontation known as the Battle of the Maule was that the Inca conquest of the territories of Chile ended at the Maule river. The next Europeans to reach Chile were Diego de Almagro and his band of Spanish conquistadors, the Spanish encountered various cultures that supported themselves principally through slash-and-burn agriculture and hunting. The conquest of Chile began in earnest in 1540 and was carried out by Pedro de Valdivia, one of Francisco Pizarros lieutenants, who founded the city of Santiago on 12 February 1541. Although the Spanish did not find the gold and silver they sought, they recognized the agricultural potential of Chiles central valley
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Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
36.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
37.
Philippines
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The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization, in 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman Catholicism becoming the dominant religion, during this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history, during the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated, there are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos
38.
1987 Hipercor bombing
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The 1987 Hipercor bombing was a car bomb attack by the Basque separatist organisation ETA which occurred on 19 June 1987 at the Hipercor shopping centre on Avinguda Meridiana, Barcelona, Spain. The bombing killed 21 people and injured 45, the deadliest attack in ETAs history, controversy surrounded the timing of telephone warnings made before the attack and the authorities response to them. In the two years before the attack, ETA detonated six car bombs in Barcelona that killed three people. The ETA attack which had caused the most fatalities had occurred on 14 July 1986 when a car bomb on República Dominicana Square in Madrid had killed 12 civil guards, the three visited various commercial centres and selected one where a car could be parked. This was then placed in a stolen Ford Sierra, the attack occurred on a Friday afternoon. The car bomb, hidden in the boot of the vehicle, had placed on the first floor of the three-storey subterranean car park below the commercial centre. Several of those unaffected by the flames were asphyxiated by the gases produced causing several fatalities. The damage at the scene was so extensive that several of the corpses could not be located two hours later and some had been burned so severely that identification was impossible. Initially 15 people were killed,10 of them women and 2 children and 3 men, in a subsequent communique ETA claimed that they had given advance warning of the bomb but the police had declined to evacuate the area. The police claimed that the warning had come only a few minutes before the bomb exploded. The Spanish news agency said a man claiming to speak for ETA had told the Barcelona newspaper Avui 30 minutes before the blast at 16,15 that a bomb would go off in the store. A spokesman at the store said police officers and private security guards began searching the store minutes before the blast, however the store management decided not to evacuate the store as it was not the first time that a bomb threat had been received. Ferran Cardenal, the Barcelona Civil Governor, said at a conference that the police had searched the building before the bombing. In total three telephone warnings had been received from a man who claimed to be an ETA spokesman with the first of the calls came 57 minutes before the explosion. Some relatives said they would sue the police and the Hipercor store for failing to clear the building after receiving the warnings. A store spokesman said it was up to the police to clear a building, but the Government spokesman said the decision was up to management. Its difficult to go against the will of the owners, the polices action was appropriate at all times. Then-Prime Minister of Spain, Felipe Gonzalez, cut short a visit to Brazil to return to Spain and he told reporters in Salvador, Brazil, This attack is of a different style than what we have seen to date
39.
Pan Am Flight 103
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Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via London and New York. On 21 December 1988, N739PA, the operating the transatlantic leg of the route, was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew. Large sections of the aircraft crashed onto residential areas of Lockerbie, Scotland, following a three-year joint investigation by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, arrest warrants were issued for two Libyan nationals in November 1991. In 1999, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi handed over the two men for trial at Camp Zeist, Netherlands after protracted negotiations and UN sanctions. In 2001, Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was jailed for life after being found guilty of 270 counts of murder in connection with the bombing, in August 2009, he was released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. He died in May 2012, the person to be convicted for the attack. In 2003, Gaddafi accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid compensation to the families of the victims, during the Libyan Civil War in 2011, a former government official claimed that the Libyan leader had personally ordered the bombing, though this was later denied. The aircraft operating Pan Am Flight 103 was a Boeing 747–121, registered N739PA and named Clipper Maid of the Seas and it was the 15th 747 built and was delivered in February 1970, one month after the first 747 entered service with Pan Am. At the time of its destruction, Clipper Maid of the Seas was 18 years of age and had accumulated over 75,000 flying hours. The Clipper Maid of the Seas operated the transatlantic leg of Flight 103, both Pan Am and TWA routinely changed the type of aircraft operating different legs of a flight. PA103 was bookable as a single Frankfurt-New York itinerary, though a change of aircraft took place in London. At London Heathrow Airport, passengers and their luggage on the flight transferred directly onto the Boeing 747. The aircraft pushed back from the terminal at 18,04 and took off from runway 27R at 18,25, en route for New York JFK Airport and on to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Contrary to many accounts of the disaster, the flight. After the bombing, the number was changed, in accordance with standard practice among airlines after disasters. Within days, the Frankfurt-London-New York-Detroit route was being served by Pan Am Flight 3, at 18,58, the aircraft established two-way radio contact with Shanwick Oceanic Area Control in Prestwick on frequency 123.95 MHz. The Clipper Maid of the Seas approached the corner of the Solway Firth at 19,01, on scope, the aircraft showed transponder code, or squawk,0357 and flight level 310. At this point, the Clipper Maid of the Seas was flying at 31,000 feet on a heading of 316 degrees magnetic, subsequent analysis of the radar returns by RSRE concluded that the aircraft was tracking 321° and travelling at a ground speed of 803 km/h
40.
Lockerbie
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Lockerbie is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, southwestern Scotland. It lies approximately 75 miles from Glasgow, and 20 miles from the English border and it had a population of 4,009 at the 2001 census. The town came to attention on 21 December 1988 when the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 crashed there following a terrorist bomb attack aboard the flight. Lockerbie apparently has existed since at least the days of Viking influence in this part of Scotland in the period around AD900, the name means Lockards Town in Old Norse. The presence of the remains of a Roman camp a mile to the west of the town suggests its origins may be even earlier. Lockerbie first entered recorded history in the 1190s in a charter of Robert de Brus, 2nd Lord of Annandale and it appears as Lokardebi in 1306. About two miles to the west of Lockerbie on 7 December 1593, Clan Johnstone fought Clan Maxwell at the Battle of Dryfe Sands, the Johnstones nearly exterminated the Maxwells involved in the battle, leading to the expression Lockerbie Lick. By 1750 Lockerbie had become a significant town, and from the 1780s it was a staging post on the route from Glasgow to London. Perhaps the most important period of growth was during the 19th century, thomas Telfords Carlisle-to-Glasgow road was built through Lockerbie from 1816. The Caledonian Railway opened the line from Carlisle to Beattock through Lockerbie in 1847, from 1863 until 1966 Lockerbie was also a railway junction, serving a branch line to Dumfries. Known as the Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerbie Railway, it was closed to passengers in 1952, the town is served by Lockerbie railway station. Lockerbie had been home to Scotlands largest lamb market since the 18th century, the railway also produced a lowering in the price of coal, allowing a gas works to be built in the town in 1855. About 1.5 miles south of Lockerbie along the C92 road to Dalton are the remains of Hallmuir prisoner-of-war camp, after the Second World War, this camp housed Ukrainian soldiers from the Galician Division of the Waffen SS. They built a chapel from converted army huts and it was listed in 2003 as a Category B building. The chapel remains in use, currently holding Ukrainian services on the first Sunday of every alternate month, much of Lockerbie is built from red sandstone. There are several imposing buildings near the centre, including the Town Hall, finished in 1880, a little to the north of the centre is the Dryfesdale Parish Church, with its brightly decorated interior. The name Dryfesdale comes from the river, the Dryfe Water. Lockerbie is known internationally as the place where, on 21 December 1988, in the United Kingdom, the event is often referred to as the Lockerbie disaster or the Lockerbie bombing
41.
AVE
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Ave is a Latin word, used by the Romans as a salutation and greeting, meaning hail. It is the imperative form of the verb avēre, which meant to be well. The Classical Latin pronunciation of ave was or, in Church Latin, it is ideally, and in English, it tends to be pronounced /ˈɑːveɪ/. The term was used to greet the Caesar or other authorities. Suetonius recorded that on one occasion, naumachiarii—captives and criminals fated to die fighting during mock naval encounters—addressed Caesar with the words Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant. in an attempt to avoid death. The expression is not recorded as being used in Roman times on any other occasion, the Vulgate version of the Annunciation translates the salute of the angel to Mary, Mother of Jesus as Ave Maria, gratia plena. Ave Maria is a Catholic Marian prayer that also has inspired authors of religious music, within Satanism, the phrase Ave Satana is used, along with its more popular English translation Hail Satan. Fascist regimes during the 20th century also adopted the greeting and it was also distinctly used during the National Socialist Third Reich in the indirect German translation, heil. Roman salute Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant
42.
ABC (newspaper)
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ABC is a Spanish national daily newspaper. It is the third largest general-interest newspaper in Spain, and the oldest newspaper still operating in Madrid, ABC is often referred to as a newspaper of record of Spain, along with El País and El Mundo. ABC was first published in Madrid on 1 January 1903 by Torcuato Luca de Tena y Álvarez-Ossorio, the founding publishing house was Prensa Española, which was led by the founder of the paper, Luca de Tena. The paper started as a newspaper, turning daily in June 1905. In 1928 ABC had two editions, one for Madrid and the other for Sevilla, the latter was named ABC de Sevilla. On 20 July 1936, shortly after the Spanish Civil War began, ABC in Madrid was seized by the republican government, the same year Blanco y Negro, a magazine, became its supplement. A separate ABC printed in Seville supported the Nationalists, in 1939 ABC in Madrid was given back to its original owners, by Francisco Franco. During this period the paper was one of two dailies in the country together with La Vanguardia. In the 1990s the publisher of ABC was Editorial Espanola, the paper later moved from its historic landmark offices in Madrid by Paseo de la Castellana, which are now a shopping mall. The paper is part of Grupo Vocento, which also owns El Correo Español, El Diario Vasco, La Verdad and Las Provincias, in the late 1970s and 1980s ABC had close connections with first Popular Alliance and later Popular Party. ABC publishes in compact-sized stapled sheets, noticeably smaller than the loose tabloid format favoured by most Spanish dailies, including El País and its cover distinctively features a full-size picture. ABC is known for supporting conservative political views and defending the Spanish monarchy. The paper has also a right-wing stance and its director since 1983, Luis María Ansón, left the paper in 1997 to found another daily, La Razón, which initially catered to even more conservative readers. Historically, it was noted in its use of photography. Recently, it has been recognized for its coverage of Spanish culture, in February 1970 ABC had a circulation of 212,536 copies. It was 178,979 copies in February 1975,171,382 copies in 1976,145,162 copies in 1977 and 126,952 copies in 1978, the circulation of the paper was 135,380 copies in February 1980. The 1993 circulation of ABC was 334,317 copies, making it the second best selling newspaper in Spain, in 1994 it was again the second best selling newspaper in the country with a circulation of 321,571 copies. In the period of 1995–1996 the paper had a circulation of 321,573 copies, the circulation of ABC was 292,000 copies in 2001 and 262,874 copies in 2002
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