1.
2006 in Iran
–
The following lists events that happened during 2006 in Iran. Dont you think that continuation of genocide by expelling Jews from Europe was one of their aims in creating a regime of occupiers of Al-Quds Isnt that an important question. January 4 - A leaked intelligence report states that Iran has been successfully scouring Europe for the equipment needed to create a nuclear bomb, as well as parts for a ballistic missile. January 12 - The foreign ministers of Britain, France, and they recommend that Iran be referred to the United Nations Security Council, where the nation may face sanctions. January 15 - The Foreign Ministry of Iran announced it will hold a conference to evaluate the validity of the Holocaust, january 16 - Iran bans CNN from the country after a translator mistranslated a remark by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in which he defended Irans right to nuclear energy. The comment was translated as the right to nuclear weapons. January 19 - Iran warns of an oil crisis if sanctions are imposed over its nuclear program even as the United States. January 20 - Israel says it has proof that Iran financed the bombing of a restaurant in Tel Aviv. January 24 - A bomb in Ahvaz kills six and injures up to 40, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was due to have visited the city today, however the trip was called off at the last minute. Lebanons al-Manar television said the president had called off his trip after a security tip-off, local MP Nezam Molla-Hoveyzeh accused Britain of being behind the attack. Later, US President George Bush warns Iran over threat of retaliation against Israel, moqtada Sadr has vowed to defend Iran. January 26 - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf rejects US objections to a proposed Iran–Pakistan–India pipeline for natural gas saying It is in our economic interest, if somebody wants to stop us they should compensate us. But at the moment we are going ahead, Musharraf also repeats his condemnation of the recent U. S. air strike in northern Pakistan which killed 18 people, including women and children. January 27 - President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia pledges to end his countrys energy crisis by importing Iranian natural gas, starting Monday, Georgia will import 2 million m3 of gas a day at $120/m3, $10 more than for Russian gas. Georgias supply of Russian gas has been interrupted since Sunday due to pipeline explosions, Saakashvili has accused Moscow of sabotage for political gain. January 31 - Irans nuclear program Iran reacts with anger to its referral to the U. N. Security Council, march 31 - In the early morning, a heavy earthquake shakes Borujerd, Silakhor and Dorood areas in the province of Loristan. April 11 - President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirms that Iran had successfully produced a few grams of 3. 5% low-enriched uranium, april 20 - Iran announces a uranium enrichment deal with Russia, involving a joint uranium enrichment firm on Russian soil. Nine days later Iran announced that it would not move all activity to Russia, june 21 - Iran is eliminated from FIFA World Cup after losing 3–1 and 2–0 to Mexico and Portugal, and a 1–1 tie game with Angola in the group stage
2.
2008 in Iran
–
The following lists events that happened during 2008 in the Islamic Republic of Iran. March 14 – Iranian voters go to the polls in legislative election, nearly 90 percent of reformist candidates have been disqualified from the election. March 16 – The Conservative Alliance wins the Iranian legislative election, august 12 - The United States Department of the Treasury imposes sanctions on five Iranian companies for assisting the development of the nuclear program of Iran. August 17 - Iran announces it has launched a satellite launch-capable Safir rocket, january 9 – Mehran Ghassemi,30, Iranian journalist, heart failure. January 13 – Jafar Shahidi,89, Iranian linguist and historian, january 20 – Ghorban Soleimani,87, Iranian vocalist and dotar player. February 2 – Ahmad Bourghani,48, Iranian politician, heart failure, february 6 – Nikol Faridani,72, Iranian aerial photographer, prostate cancer. March 5 – Nader Khalili,72, Iranian architect, heart failure, march 21 – Shusha Guppy,72, Iranian writer and singer. March 23 – Maryam Farman Farmaian,94, Iranian feminist activist, april 12 – Abbas Katouzian,86, Iranian painter. April 15 – Parvin Dowlatabadi,84, Iranian childrens author and poet, april 29 – Hassan Dehqani-Tafti,87, Iranian Anglican Bishop, first ethnic Iranian Christian bishop since the 7th century. July 18 – Khosrow Shakibai,64, Iranian actor, liver cancer, october 9 – Ardeshir Mohassess,70, Iranian illustrator and cartoonist, heart attack. October 10 – Javad Nurbakhsh,81, Iranian spiritual leader, october 25 – Tahereh Saffarzadeh,72, Iranian poet and academic, cancer
3.
2010 in Iran
–
Events in the year 2010 in the Islamic Republic of Iran. January 8 – Mehdi Karroubis car is hit by fire in Qazvin, january 12 – Masoud Alimohammadi, an Iranian nuclear physics professor, is killed in a bomb attack in the capital Tehran, Iran state media accuses Israel and the United States of involvement. January 19 – Iran rejects a deal offered by the International Atomic Energy Agency to exchange low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel, january 23 – A passenger train in Iran derails, killing at least eight people and wounding at least fifteen others. January 24 – Taban Air Flight 6437, A flight operated by Kolavia on behalf of Taban Air crashes on landing at Mashhad International Airport, Iran, january 28 – Iran executes two opposition supporters for their role in the election protests in the country. February 7 – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad orders his countrys atomic agency to begin enriching uranium to a higher level, february 11 – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces that Iran is now a nuclear state, following a successful 20% uranium enrichment. March 19 – Former Iranian Vice-President Hossein Marashi is jailed after being accused of spreading propaganda, march 31 – Shahram Amiri, a scientist involved in Irans nuclear program, defects to the United States and begins talking to the Central Intelligence Agency. April 5 – Iran invites 60 countries to a nuclear disarmament conference in Tehran on April 17–18, entitled Nuclear energy for everyone. China says it will attend the conference which invites the world to disarm, April 20 – Speaking in Tehran, Iranian Islamic cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi blames promiscuous women for causing earthquakes. April 30 – Iran threatens to cut off Israels feet if Israel attacks Syria, may 24 – Irans largest water supply project is inaugurated in Khorramshahr. June 18 – The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran starts designing a newer, July 9 – Iran announces that women convicted of adultery will no longer face stoning to death after international concern. They may, however, still face the death penalty, July 15 – July 2010 Zahedan bombings, More than 20 people are killed and 100 injured in a suicide attack at a mosque in southeastern Iran. July 23 – President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces plans to launch a shuttle into space by 2019. August 21 – Russian engineers start loading fuel into Irans first nuclear reactor at Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, september 10 – More than 50 people are injured in an oil pipeline blast in northeastern Iran. September 15 – 2009–2010 detention of American hikers by Iran, Iran releases United States hiker Sarah Shourd from Evin Prison following payment of bail. September 28 – Iranian-Canadian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, the founder of one of the first Persian-language blogs, is sentenced to 19 years imprisonment in an Iranian court for anti-state activity, october 13 – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits Lebanon amidst concern from Israel and United States. October 26 – Iran starts loading fuel into the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, november 21 – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejects the countrys once effective family planning program as an ungodly Western import and urges girls to marry at age of 16. November 29 – Iranian nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari is killed and his wife injured, Iran says Western governments and Israel may have carried out the killing. January 3 – Ali Safi Golpaygani,96, Iranian Marja, january 12 – Masoud Alimohammadi,50, Iranian nuclear scientist, bomb blast
4.
2011 in Iran
–
Events in the year 2011 in the Islamic Republic of Iran. January 9 – Iran Air Flight 277 crashes with 100 people on board near Orumiyeh in the northeast of the country, january 23 – President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad designed Ali Akbar Salehi, then acting Foreign Minister to the Parliament to succeed Manouchehr Mottaki who was dismissed on December. February 11 – Iran marks the 32nd anniversary of its Revolution, February 11 – Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi is placed under house arrest after calling for demonstrations in support of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. February 13 – Opposition leaders in Iran call for nationwide anti-government rallies on Monday, February 15 – Iranian politicians call for the execution of opposition leaders. February 22 – The Iran Navy sends two ships through the Suez Canal for the first time since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, February 28 – Iran confirms that it is holding two Opposition leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi under house arrest. March 25 – The Government of Iran rejects a United Nations Human Rights Council investigation into alleged human rights abuses, may 6 - Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issues an ultimatum to the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to accept his intervention in a cabinet appointment or resign. May 15 - Sepahan F. C. won their championship in Iran Pro League. June 1 – Irans parliament finds that the President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad acted illegally by appointing himself as Oil Minister, june 12 – The United Nations Security Council reports that Iran is buying foreign banks and money-exchange bureaus to sidestep economic sanctions. June 12 –2011 Iranian protests, Iranian authorities disperse and arrest protesters in the capital Tehran marking the anniversary of the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President. June 28 – Iran tests 14 surface-to-surface missiles on the day of war games. July 18 – Iranian athlete and Irans Strongest Man Rouhollah Dadashi is killed in a fight which started as an argument with another driver, two of them are arrested by police. July 23 – Daryoush Rezaei, an Iranian scientist, is shot dead outside his home in Tehran and it was reported that the scientist had links to the countrys nuclear programme. August 3 – The Iranian parliament confirms four new ministers including Rostam Ghasemi as Minister of Petroleum, august 5 –2011 Syrian uprising, Turkey confirms it has seized an Iranian arms shipment to Syria. August 14 – Iran confirms the arrest of the second-in-command of the Kurdistan Workers Party, Murat Karayılan, august 25 – Former Iranian Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi is hospitalized after a heart attack. September 27 – CEOs of Iranian Melli Bank and Saderat Bank resign from their positions as a result of $2.6 billion bank fraud, january 4 – Ali-Reza Pahlavi,44, royal, son of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, suicide by gunshot. January 29 - Zahra Bahrami,45, dual Dutch-Iranian citizen executed on disputed drug trafficking charges. February 14 - Sane Jaleh,26, student, killed in protests February 15 - Mohammad Mokhtari,21, killed in protests March 8 - Iraj Afshar,85, bibliographer, historian, april 16 - Bijan Pakzad,67, designer of menswear and fragrances
5.
2012 in Iran
–
Events in the year 2012 in the Islamic Republic of Iran. S. Citizen of Iranian descent, to death on espionage charges, March 2 - Iranian parliamentary elections for the 9th Islamic Consultative Assembly were held. March 12 - Ali Daei, Irans football legend and the worlds leading goalscorer, is rushed to hospital following a serious car accident. March 26 - Somali pirates hijack an Iranian-owned cargo ship with 23 crew in waters off the Maldives, april 14 - Iran and world powers, including the United States, Russia, and China, begin talks about Irans nuclear program. April 23 - Irans oil ministry and its National Iranian Oil Company suffers an attack by a computer virus. May 1 - Egypt security services foil an alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador in Cairo, may 5 - Voters in Iran go to the polls for the second round of legislative elections. May 12 - President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls Israel nothing more than a mosquito, may 15 - Majid Jamali Fashi, convicted of killing Iranian quantum field theorist and elementary-particle physicist Masoud Alimohammadi, is executed. June 11 - Ali Larijani is sworn in as Chairman of the Parliament of Iran for another term, june 24 - The United States admits that it infected Iranian computers with Spyware. N. and the European Union diplomats. July 2 - Officials in Kenya say that two Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards arrested with explosives planned to attack Israeli, American, British, july 4 - Two Iranian suspects held by Kenyan police reportedly confess that they planned to detonate a series of 30 bombs simultaneously across Kenya. July 17 - United States President Barack Obama announces additional sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program, August 4 - Iran claims to have successfully test fired a fourth generation Fateh-110 missile. August 11 - Two earthquakes, the strongest a magnitude 6.4, strike near the northwestern Iranian cities of Tabriz and Ahar, killing at least 250 people and injuring up to 1,800 others. August 21 - Iran unveils a new version of a short range ballistic missile, named the Fateh-110 or Conqueror. August 26 - Heads of state meet at the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, Iran, August 30 - Iran and Egypt describe each other as strategic allies at the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Iran. It sees Iran as the worlds most significant threat to global peace, minister of foreign affairs Baird says the Canadian government files Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism under the Canadian Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act. September 23 - Iran blocks use of the Google search engine, October 11 - Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah confirms that the drone aircraft shot down over Israels Negev Desert on 6 October belonged to the organization and was supplied by Iran. November 9 - Two Iranian Revolutionary Guard fighter jets fire on an unmanned American General Atomics MQ-1 Predator drone in international airspace near Kuwait, january 11 - Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, Iranian nuclear scientist. January 13 - Abdollah Mojtabavi, Iranian wrestler, March 8 - Simin Daneshvar, Iranian writer and academic March 18 -Jalal Zolfonun, Iranian setar player and composer May 6 - Iraj Ghaderi, Iranian film director and actor. May 21 - Bahram Alivandi, Iranian artist, may 23 - Sattareh Farmanfarmaian, Iranian writer and princess
6.
20th century
–
The 20th century was a century that began on January 1,1901 and ended on December 31,2000. It was the tenth and final century of the 2nd millennium and it is distinct from the century known as the 1900s, which began on January 1,1900 and ended on December 31,1999. It saw great advances in communication and medical technology that by the late 1980s allowed for near-instantaneous worldwide computer communication, the term short twentieth century was coined to represent the events from 1914 to 1991. It took all of history up to 1804 for the worlds population to reach 1 billion, world population reached 2 billion estimates in 1927, by late 1999. Globally approximately 45% of those who were married and able to have children used contraception, 40% of pregnancies were unplanned, the century had the first global-scale total wars between world powers across continents and oceans in World War I and World War II. The century saw a shift in the way that many people lived, with changes in politics, ideology, economics, society, culture, science, technology. The 20th century may have seen more technological and scientific progress than all the other centuries combined since the dawn of civilization, terms like ideology, world war, genocide, and nuclear war entered common usage. It was a century that started with horses, simple automobiles, and freighters but ended with high-speed rail, cruise ships, global commercial air travel and the space shuttle. Horses, Western societys basic form of transportation for thousands of years, were replaced by automobiles and buses within a few decades. Humans explored space for the first time, taking their first footsteps on the Moon, mass media, telecommunications, and information technology made the worlds knowledge more widely available. Advancements in medical technology also improved the health of many people, rapid technological advancements, however, also allowed warfare to reach unprecedented levels of destruction. World War II alone killed over 60 million people, while nuclear weapons gave humankind the means to annihilate itself in a short time, however, these same wars resulted in the destruction of the Imperial system. For the first time in history, empires and their wars of expansion and colonization ceased to be a factor in international affairs, resulting in a far more globalized. The last time major powers clashed openly was in 1945, and since then, technological advancements during World War I changed the way war was fought, as new inventions such as tanks, chemical weapons, and aircraft modified tactics and strategy. After more than four years of warfare in western Europe, and 20 million dead. The regime of Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown during the conflict, Russia became the first communist state, at the beginning of the period, Britain was the worlds most powerful nation, having acted as the worlds policeman for the past century. Meanwhile, Japan had rapidly transformed itself into an advanced industrial power. Its military expansion into eastern Asia and the Pacific Ocean culminated in an attack on the United States
7.
21st century
–
The 21st century is the current century of the Anno Domini era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It began on January 1,2001 and will end on December 31,2100 and it is the first century of the 3rd millennium. It is distinct from the time known as the 2000s. The long term effects of increased globalization are not known, the Arab Spring of the early 2010s led to mixed outcomes in the Arab world. The Digital Revolution which began around the 1980s also continues into the present, millennials and Generation Z come of age and rise to prominence in this century. The completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 marks the rise of life sciences, making mankinds long-held dreams, such as curing cancer. By the 2010s, gene therapy, first performed somatically in late 1990 and heritably in 1996, showed promise but remains an experimental, by 2013, about 80% of the worlds population used mobile phones. An estimated 33% owned personal computers in 2010, and 46% used the Internet by 2016, the International Energy Agency estimates that 83% of the global population has access to electricity as of 2013 with the percentage projected to increase to 88% by 2030. The world population was about 6.1 billion at the start of the 21st century and it had reached 7.3 billion in 2015, and is estimated to reach about 9.37 billion by the year 2050. There is a debate among experts and the public on how to pronounce specific years of the 21st century in English. A less common variation would have been twenty nought-five, the Vancouver Olympics, which took place in 2010, was being officially referred to by Vancouver 2010 as the twenty-ten Olympics. The latest timeframes for change are usually placed at 2020, kubrick said he did this in the hope that if the film became popular, it would influence the pronunciation of that year. See the timeline of the 21st century, genocide still remains a problem in this century with the concern of the war in Darfur and the growing concern in Sri Lanka. Also controversies from past genocides remain commonplace in the minds of victims, 1998–2002 – The Second Congo War continued into the early 21st century. A1999 ceasefire quickly broke down and a UN peacekeeping mission, Laurent Kabila, president of the DRC, was assassinated in January 2001 and his son, Joseph Kabila, took power. Throughout 2002 steps were made towards peace and Rwanda and Uganda both removed their troops from the country, on December 17,2002, a massive treaty officially ended the war. However, the DRC only holds power in less than half of the country, with most of the eastern and northern portions still controlled by rebel groups, in addition, Rwanda still supports anti-DRC rebels and anti-Rwandan rebels continue to operate from the DRC. The war killed an estimated 3.9 million people, displaced nearly 5.5 million, Severe human rights violations continue to be reported
8.
1970s
–
The 1970s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1,1970, and ended on December 31,1979. In the 21st century, historians have portrayed the 1970s as a pivot of change in world history focusing especially on the economic upheavals. In the Western world, social values that began in the 1960s, such as increasing political awareness and economic liberty of women. In the United Kingdom, the 1979 elections resulted in the victory of its Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher, industrialized countries, except Japan, experienced an economic recession due to an oil crisis caused by oil embargoes by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. Novelist Tom Wolfe coined the term Me decade in his essay The Me Decade, the term describes a general new attitude of Americans towards atomized individualism and away from communitarianism, in clear contrast with the 1960s. Despite facing an oil crisis due to the OPEC embargo, the economy of Japan witnessed a boom in this period. The United States withdrew its forces from their previous involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, which led to a war for ten years. Anwar El Sadat, President of Egypt, was instrumental in the event and consequently became extremely unpopular in the Arab world, Africa saw further decolonization in the decade, with Angola and Mozambique gaining their independence in 1975 from the Portuguese Empire after the restoration of democracy in Portugal. The continent was, however, plagued by military coups, with the long-reigning Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie being removed, civil wars. The economies of much of the world continued to make steady progress in the early 1970s because of the Green Revolution. The following year, Vietnam was officially declared reunited, Soviet war in Afghanistan - Although taking place almost entirely throughout the 1980s, the war officially started on December 27,1979. The Israelis were taken by surprise and suffered losses before they rallied. In the end, they managed to repel the Egyptians and crossed the Suez Canal into Egypt proper, in 1978, Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel at Camp David in the United States, ending outstanding disputes between the two countries. Sadats actions would lead to his assassination in 1981, Indian emergency Lebanese Civil War - A civil war in the Middle East which at times also involved the PLO and Israel during the early 1980s. Western Sahara War - A regional war pinning the rebel Polisario Front against Morocco, Ugandan–Tanzanian War - the war which was fought between Uganda and Tanzania was based on an expansionist agenda to annex territory from Tanzania. The war resulted in the overthrow of Idi Amins regime, the Ogaden War was another African conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia over control of the Ogaden region. In 1976 peaceful student protests in the Soweto township of South Africa lead to the Soweto Uprising when more than 700 black school children were killed by South Africas Security Police, Rise of separatism in the province of Quebec in Canada
9.
1980s
–
The 1980s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1,1980, and ended on December 31,1989. The decade saw great socioeconomic change due to advances in technology, Japan and West Germany saw large economic growth during this decade. The AIDS epidemic became recognized in the 1980s and has killed an estimated 39 million people. Global warming became well known to the scientific and political community in the 1980s, the final decade of the Cold War opened with the US-Soviet confrontation continuing largely without any interruption. Superpower tensions escalated rapidly as President Reagan scrapped the policy of détente and adopted a new, islamism became a powerful political force in the 1980s and many terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda started. The Cold War ended in the early 1990s with the successful Reunification of Germany, the 1980s saw great advances in genetic and digital technology. The 1980s saw the advent of the practice of sex-selective abortion in China. By 1989 the Internet and the networks linked to it were a system with extensive transoceanic satellite links. Based on earlier work from 1980 onwards Tim Berners Lee formalized the concept of the World Wide Web by 1989, television viewing became commonplace in the Third World, with the number of TV sets in China and India increasing by 15 and 10 times respectively. The Rome and Vienna airport attacks took place on December 27,1985, the attack was done by militants loyal to Abu Nidal, backed by the government of Libya. The 1983 Beirut barracks bombing – during the Lebanese Civil War two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing United States and French military forces killing 299 American, the organization Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing. The 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India, committed by Hindu militants against Sikhs in response to the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by a Sikh militant, thousands of people are killed and tens of thousands of Sikhs became displaced persons. Air India Flight 182 was destroyed on June 23,1985 and it was the biggest mass murder involving Canadians in Canadas history. On December 21,1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over the village of Lockerbie, Scotland, the bombing killed all 243 passengers,16 crew members and 11 people on the ground, totaling 270 fatalities who were citizens of 21 nationalities. The bombing was and remains the worst terrorist attack on UK soil, invasion of Grenada – a 1983 U. S. -led invasion of Grenada, triggered by a military coup which ousted a brief revolutionary government. Salvadoran Civil War – part of the war conflicts, reached its peak in the 1980s,70,000 Salvadorans died. Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, sparking the Falklands War and it occurred from 2 April to 14 July 1982 between the United Kingdom and Argentina as British forces fought to recover the islands. Britain emerged victorious and its stance in international affairs and its long decaying reputation as a colonial power received an unexpected boost
10.
1990s
–
The 1990s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1,1990, and ended on December 31,1999. Culturally, the 1990s are characterized by the rise of multiculturalism and alternative media, movements such as grunge, the rave scene and hip hop spread around the world to young people during that decade, aided by then-new technology such as cable television and the World Wide Web. The United States also saw a revival in the use of the death penalty in the 1990s. The dot-com bubble of 1997–2000 brought wealth to some entrepreneurs before its crash between 2000 and 2001, New ethnic conflicts emerged in Africa, the Balkans, and the Caucasus, the former two which led to the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, respectively. Zaire is renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Second Congo War starts in 1998 in central Africa and includes 50 different cultures and 7 different nations. The Gulf War – Iraq was left in debt after the 1980s war with Iran. President Saddam Hussein accused Kuwait of flooding the market with oil, as a result, on 2 August 1990, Iraqi forces invaded and conquered Kuwait. The UN immediately condemned the action, and a force led by the United States was sent to the Persian Gulf. Aerial bombing of Iraq began in January 1991, and a month later, in the aftermath of the war, the Kurds in the north of Iraq and the Shiites in the south rose up in revolt, and Saddam Hussein barely managed to hold onto power. Until the US invasion in 2003, Iraq was cut off much of the world. The Chechen wars break out in the 1990s, The First Chechen War – the conflict was fought between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, during the war Russian forces largely recaptured the separatist region of Chechnya. The campaign largely reversed the outcome of the First Chechen War, the Kargil War – In May 1999, Pakistan sent troops covertly to occupy strategic peaks in Kashmir. A month later the Kargil War with India results in a fiasco for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The incident leads to a coup in October, in which Sharif is ousted by Army Chief Pervez Musharraf. This conflict remains the only war fought between two declared nuclear powers, the Kosovo War, War between Albanian separatists and Yugoslav military and Serb paramilitary forces in Kosovo begin in 1996 and escalates in 1998 with increasing reports of atrocities taking place. After weeks of bombing, Yugoslavia submits to NATOs demands and NATO forces occupy Kosovo, the Yugoslav Wars would become notorious for numerous war crimes and human rights violations such as ethnic cleansing and genocide committed by all sides. Ten-Day War – a brief conflict between Slovenian TO and the Yugoslav Peoples Army following Slovenias declaration of independence. Bosnian War – the war involved several ethnically defined factions within Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats as well as a smaller Bosniak faction led by Fikret Abdić
11.
2000s (decade)
–
The 2000s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1,2000, and ended on December 31,2009. The growth of the Internet contributed to globalization during the decade, in the English-speaking world, a name for the decade was never universally accepted in the same manner as for decades such as the 80s, the 90s, etc. Orthographically, the decade can be written as the 2000s or the 00s, some people read 2000s as two-thousands, and thus simply refer to the decade as the Two-Thousands, the Twenty Hundreds, or the Twenty-ohs. Some read it as the 00s, while others referred to it as the Zeros, on January 1,2000, the BBC listed the noughties, as a potential moniker for the new decade. This has become a name for the decade in the UK and Australia. Others have advocated the term the aughts, a widely used at the beginning of the 20th century for its first decade. The American Dialect Society holds an annual poll for word of the year. For 2009, the winner in the least likely to succeed category was Any name of the decade 2000–2009, such as, Noughties, Aughties, Oughties, etc. When the 20- is dropped, the years within the decade are usually referred to as starting with an oh. The option aught-seven, for reason, has never caught on idiomatically. When the 20- is retained, two options are available in speech, both of which have idiomatic currency, two thousand seven in American English or twenty-oh-seven, during the 2000s decade, it was more common to hear the first pattern than the second. The War on Terror and War in Afghanistan began after the September 11 attacks in 2001, the International Criminal Court was formed in 2002. A United States-led coalition invaded Iraq, and the Iraq War led to the end of Saddam Husseins rule as Iraqi President, Al-Qaeda and affiliated Islamist militant groups performed terrorist acts throughout the decade. These acts included the 2004 Madrid train bombings, 7/7 London bombings in 2005, the European Union expanded its sanctions amid Irans failure to comply with its transparency obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and United Nations resolutions. Additional armed conflict occurred in the Middle East, including between Israel and Hezbollah, then with Israel and Hamas, cooperative international rescue missions by many countries from around the world helped in efforts by the most affected nations to rebuild and recover from the devastation. An enormous loss of life and property came in 2005. The resulting political fallout was severely damaging to the George W. Bush administration because of its failure to act promptly and effectively. In 2008, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, the campaigns were launched by the United States, with support from NATO and other allies, following the September 11,2001 attacks that were carried out by al-Qaeda
12.
2010s
–
The 2010s is the current decade of the Gregorian calendar. It began on 1 January 2010, and will end on 31 December 2019, Two pronunciations are used to mention specific years of the 21st century in English. For example,2010 is either pronounced twenty-ten or two thousand ten, with the exception of ongoing conflicts from prior decades, mostly in Africa and Asia, the 2010s started out with a relatively mild geopolitical climate. However, after the start of the Arab Spring, tensions arose between world powers that gradually worsened in the first few years. In 2014, Russian military intervention in Ukraine triggered a sharp downward trend in Russo-Western relations and that same year, the rise of the jihadist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Iraq and Syria prompted renewed intervention in the region. Other Islamist groups, such as Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Boko Haram, relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which both vie for regional influence and back opposing sides in the Syrian and Yemeni civil wars, deteriorated. The rise of China in international affairs has also gained momentum, starting in 2015, an influx of migrants caused internal strife in the European Union, which, on 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave. Support for Turkeys EU membership, once considerable, has eroded somewhat after a failed 2016 coup attempt triggered a widespread crackdown by the Turkish government, intensifying Islamophobia and Euroscepticism have overall contributed to a spike in nationalism throughout Europe. Events in the United States have been marked by severe political polarization, the LGBT movements in the United States scored several victories, with the historic Obergefell v. Hodges case legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. The prominent wars of the include, Israeli–Palestinian conflict – Since 1948. After Israel occupied the West Bank, it began making settlements there, tensions also remained high as Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has been launching rockets and cross-border raids into Israeli territory, which Israel has responded with force. War on Terror – Since the September 11 attacks, the United States, however, over time the war began to be seen more negatively, with various consequences. However, the Taliban later regrouped and began an insurgency in the country, combat operations were declared over on 28 December 2014, though several thousand troops remain in the country to support Afghanistans military. Iraq War – On the pretext that the government of Saddam Hussein had weapons of destruction, the United States. After the invasion, the U. S. occupied the country, however, the occupation subsequently created an insurgency by jihadist groups opposed to it and sectarian violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in the country. At the end of 2011, U. S. forces officially withdrew from Iraq, military intervention in Libya – In Libya, anti-government protests evolved into an armed rebellion after forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi began military operations against protesters. In response to the crackdown, the United Nations authorized an international intervention in support of anti-Gaddafi militias. International forces, mainly from NATO countries, began airstrikes and enforced a no-fly zone, the intervention came to an end following the death of Gaddafi in Sirte
13.
2006
–
2006 was designated as, International Year of Deserts and Desertification International Aspergers Year January 1 – Russia cuts the shipment of natural gas to Ukraine over a price dispute. January 12 – A stampede during the Stoning of the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, January 15 – NASAs Stardust mission successfully ends, the first to return dust from a comet. January 19 – NASA launches the first space mission to Pluto as a rocket hurls the New Horizons spacecraft on a nine-year journey. February 3 – Egyptian passenger ferry, MS al-Salam Boccaccio 98, sinks in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia, february 10–26 – The 2006 Winter Olympics are held in Turin, Italy. February 17 – A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines killing an estimated 1,126 people, march 9 – NASAs Cassini–Huygens spacecraft discovers geysers of a liquid substance shooting from Saturns moon Enceladus, signaling a possible presence of water. March 10 – NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enters orbit around Mars, march 16 – The United Nations General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to establish the United Nations Human Rights Council. March 28 – A scramjet jet engine, HyShot III, designed to fly at seven times the speed of sound, is tested at Woomera. April 11 The European Space Agencys Venus Express spaceprobe enters Venus orbit, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirms that Iran has successfully produced a few grams of low-grade enriched uranium. May – The Human Genome Project publishes the last chromosome sequence, may 27 – The 6.4 Mw Yogyakarta earthquake shakes central Java with an MSK intensity of IX, leaving more than 5,700 dead and 37,000 injured. June 3 – Montenegro declares independence after a May 21 referendum, the state union of Serbia and Montenegro is dissolved on June 5, leaving Serbia as the successor state. June 9 – July 9 – The 2006 FIFA World Cup begins in Germany, June 28 Israel launches an offensive in the Gaza Strip in response to rocketfire by Hamas into Israeli territory. The United States Armed Forces withdraws its forces in Iceland, thereby disbanding the Iceland Defense Force, July 1 – The Qinghai–Tibet Railway launches a trial operation, making Tibet the last province-level entity of China to have a conventional railway. July 6 – The Nathu La pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years, July 12 – Israeli troops invade Lebanon in response to Hezbollah kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and killing three others. Hezbollah declares open war against Israel two days later, august 22 – Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612 crashes near the Russian border in Ukraine, killing all 171 people on board. August 24 – The International Astronomical Union defines planet at its 26th General Assembly, september 19 – The Royal Thai Army overthrows the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a coup détat. September 29 – Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 collides with a jet over the Amazon rainforest. October 9 – North Korea claims to have conducted its nuclear test. October 13 – South Korean Ban Ki-moon is elected as the new Secretary-General of the United Nations,5,1948 by Jackson Pollock becomes the most expensive painting after it is sold privately for $140 million
14.
2007
–
2007 was designated as International Heliophysical Year. January 1 Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eurozone, adam Air Flight 574 disappeared from Jakartas radar. A week later it was founded that the aircraft has crashed into the Makassar Strait, january 8 – Russian oil supplies to Poland, Germany, and Ukraine are cut as the Russia–Belarus energy dispute escalates, they are restored three days later. February 2 The IPCC publishes its fourth assessment report, having concluded that climate change is very likely to have a predominantly human cause. February 3 – A truck bomb explodes in Baghdad, Iraq, killing at least 135 people, february 26 – The International Court of Justice finds Serbia guilty of failing to prevent genocide in the Srebrenica massacre, but clears it of direct responsibility and complicity in the case. March 1 – The fourth International Polar Year, a $1.73 billion research program to both the North Pole and South Pole, is launched in Paris. March 23 – Naval forces of Irans Revolutionary Guard seize Royal Navy personnel in disputed Iran-Iraq waters, march 27 – Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvītis and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov sign a border treaty between Latvia and Russia, officially demarcating the border between the two. April 3 – French high speed train, the TGV, reaches a top speed of 574.8 km/h. April 18 – A series of attacks take place across Baghdad, Iraq, April 24 – Gliese 581 c, a potentially Earth-like extrasolar planet habitable for life, is discovered in the constellation Libra. April 26-27 – Ethnic Russian riot in Tallinn and other cities in Estonia against the moving of the Bronze Soldier, may 17 – The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Moscow Patriarchate re-unite after 80 years of schism. May 20 – Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai makes the largest single donation in modern history. June 5 – NASAs MESSENGER spacecraft makes its second fly-by of Venus en route to Mercury, july 7 – Live Earth Concerts are held throughout 9 major cities around the world to raise environmental awareness. July 17 – TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns the runway of São Paulo–Congonhas Airport and crashes, killing all 187 and 12 others on the ground. July 24 – Five Bulgarian nurses were released from Libyan prison after eight, august 4 – The Phoenix spacecraft is launched toward Mars to study its north pole. August 14 – Multiple suicide bombings kill 572 people in Qahtaniya, august 15 – An 8.0 earthquake strikes Peru, killing at least 450 people, injuring more than 1,500, and causing tsunami warnings in the Pacific Ocean. September 6 – Israeli Air Force airplanes attack a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in an airstrike, september 14 – The SELENE spacecraft launches, with its objective being to study the Moon. September 20 – The Universal Forum of Cultures opens in Monterrey, october 28 – The Vatican beatifies 498 Spanish victims of religious persecution from before and during the Spanish Civil War. November 6 – A suicide bomber kills at least 50 people in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, november 14 – High Speed 1 from London to the Channel Tunnel is opened to passengers
15.
2008
–
January 14 – At 19,04,39 UTC, the MESSENGER space probe is at its closest approach during its first flyby of the planet Mercury. January 21 – Stock markets around the world plunge amid growing fears of a U. S. recession, january 24 – A peace deal is signed in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, ending the Kivu conflict. February 4 – Iran opens its first space center and launches a rocket into space, february 5 – U. S. stock market indices plunge more than 3% after a report shows signs of economic recession in the service sector. The S&P500 fall 3. 2%, The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 370 points, february 13 – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivers a formal apology to the Stolen Generations. February 17 – Kosovo formally declares independence from Serbia, with a response from the international community. March–April – Rising food and fuel prices trigger riots and unrest in the Third World, march 2 – Venezuela and Ecuador move troops to the Colombian border, following a Colombian raid against FARC guerrillas inside Ecuadorian territory, in which senior commander Raúl Reyes is killed. March 9 – The first European Space Agency Automated Transfer Vehicle, march 24 – Bhutan holds its first-ever general elections following the adoption of a new Constitution which changed the country from an absolute monarchy to a multiparty democracy. March 25 – African Union and Comoros forces invade the island of Anjouan. April 22 – Surgeons at Londons Moorfields Eye Hospital perform the first operations using bionic eyes, may 3 – Cyclone Nargis passes through Myanmar, killing over 100,000 people. May 12 – An earthquake measuring 7.9 Moment magnitude scale strikes Sichuan, China, may 23 The Union of South American Nations, an intergovernmental organization between states in South America, is founded. The International Court of Justice awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca to Singapore, may 25 – NASAs Phoenix spacecraft becomes the first to land on the northern polar region of Mars. May 28 – The Legislature Parliament of Nepal votes overwhelmingly in favor of abolishing the countrys 240-year-old monarchy, may 30 – The Convention on Cluster Munitions is adopted in Dublin. June 11 The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is launched, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologizes, on behalf of the Canadian government, to the countrys First Nations for the Canadian Indian residential school system. June 14 – Expo 2008 opens in Zaragoza, Spain, lasting to September 14, with the topic Water, July 2 – Íngrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages are rescued from FARC rebels by Colombian security forces. July 21 – Radovan Karadžić, the first president of the Republika Srpska, is arrested in Belgrade, Serbia, on allegations of war crimes, august 6 – President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi of Mauritania is deposed in a military coup détat. August 7 – Georgia invades the breakaway state of South Ossetia, august 8–24 – The 2008 Summer Olympics take place in Beijing, China. September 20 – A suicide truck bomb explosion destroys the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least 60, September 28 – SpaceX Falcon 1 becomes the worlds first privately developed space launch vehicle to successfully make orbit. October 21 – The Large Hadron Collider is officially inaugurated and it is a collaboration of over 10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories
16.
2009
–
Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, becomes the American Capital of Culture and Vilnius and Linz become the European Capitals of Culture. Slovakia adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the Slovak koruna. January 21 – Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a war it had with Hamas. However, Intermittent air strikes by both sides continue in the weeks to follow, january 26 The first trial at the International Criminal Court is held. Former Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga is accused of training soldiers to kill, pillage. The Icelandic government and banking system collapse, Prime Minister Geir Haarde immediately resigns, february 1 Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is enthroned as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church following the death of his predecessor, Alexy II in 2008. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is appointed as the new Prime Minister of Iceland, february 26 – Former Serbian president Milan Milutinović is acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding war crimes during the Kosovo War. March 2 – The President of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo Vieira, is assassinated during an attack on his residence in Bissau. March 4 – The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002. March 7 – NASAs Kepler Mission, a space photometer that will search for planets in the Milky Way galaxy, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. March 17 – The President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, is overthrown in a coup détat, april 1 – Albania and Croatia are admitted to NATO, becoming the newest members of the organization. April 6 – A6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near LAquila, Italy, killing nearly 300, april 21 – UNESCO launches The World Digital Library. May 18 – Following more than a quarter-century of fighting, the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. May 25 – North Korea announces that it has conducted a successful nuclear test in North Hamgyong Province. The United Nations Security Council condemns the reported test, june 1 – Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board. June 11 – The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain, commonly referred to as swine flu, is deemed a global pandemic, june 18 – NASA launches the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS probes to the Moon, the first American lunar mission since Lunar Prospector in 1998. June 28 – The Military of Honduras ousts Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in a coup détat, june 30 – Yemenia Flight 626 crashes off the coast of Moroni, Comoros, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew. July 15 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Qazvin, Iran, july 16 – Icelands national parliament, the Althingi, votes to pursue joining the EU
17.
2010
–
The year 2010 is pronounced either two thousand ten, or twenty-ten. 2010 was the first year to have a variation in pronunciation. January 4 – The tallest man-made structure to date, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, january 8 – The Togo national football team is involved in an attack in Cabinda Province, Angola, and as a result withdraws from the Africa Cup of Nations. The attack was perpetrated by the FLEC, their first since the Angolan Civil War, january 12 – A7. 0-magnitude earthquake occurs in Haiti, devastating the nations capital, Port-au-Prince. With a confirmed death toll over 316,000, it is the seventh deadliest on record, january 15 The longest annular solar eclipse of the 3rd millennium occurs. The Chadian Civil War officially ends, january 25 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashes into the Mediterranean shortly after take-off from Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport, killing all 90 people on board. February 3 – The sculpture LHomme qui marche I by Alberto Giacometti sells in London for £65 million, february 12–28 – The 2010 Winter Olympics are held in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada. February 27 – An 8. 8-magnitude earthquake occurs in Chile, triggering a tsunami over the Pacific, the earthquake is one of the largest in recorded history. March 16 – The Kasubi Tombs, Ugandas only cultural World Heritage Site, are destroyed by fire, march 26 – The ROKS Cheonan, a South Korean Navy ship carrying 104 personnel, sinks off the countrys west coast, killing 46. In May, an independent investigation blames North Korea, which denies the allegations, april 7 – Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev flees the country amid fierce anti-government riots in the capital, Bishkek. April 10 – The President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, is among 96 killed when their airplane crashes near Smolensk, Russia. April 14 – Volcanic ash from one of several eruptions beneath Mount Eyjafjallajökull, april 20 – The Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers. May 2 – The eurozone and the International Monetary Fund agree to a €110 billion bailout package for Greece, the package involves sharp Greek austerity measures. May 4 – Nude, Green Leaves and Bust by Pablo Picasso sells in New York for US$106.5 million, setting another new world record for a work of art sold at auction. May 6 – The 2010 Flash Crash, a stock market crash, occurs over 36 minutes. May 7 Chile becomes the 31st member of the OECD, Scientists conducting the Neanderthal genome project announce that they have sequenced enough of the Neanderthal genome to suggest that Neanderthals and humans may have interbred. May 12 – Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crashes at runway at Tripoli International Airport in Libya, may 19 – Protests in Bangkok, Thailand, end with a bloody military crackdown, killing 91 and injuring more than 2,100. May 20 Scientists announced that they have created a synthetic genome
18.
2011
–
January 4 – Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi dies after setting himself on fire a month earlier, sparking anti-government protests in Tunisia and later other Arab nations. These protests become known collectively as the Arab Spring, January 9 –15 – Southern Sudan holds a referendum on independence. The Sudanese electorate votes in favour of independence, paving the way for the creation of the new state in July. January 14 – Arab Spring, The Tunisian government falls after a month of increasingly violent protests, January 24 –37 people are killed and more than 180 others wounded in a bombing at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia. February 22 – March 14 – Uncertainty over Libyan oil output causes crude oil prices to rise 20% over a period following the Arab Spring, causing the 2011 energy crisis. March 11 – A9. 0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the east of Japan, killing 15,840, tsunami warnings are issued in 50 countries and territories. Emergencies are declared at four power plants affected by the quake. March 15 Arab Spring, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain declares a state of emergency as troops from the Gulf Co-operation Council are sent to quell the civil unrest. Arab Spring, The Syrian Civil War begins, april 29 – An estimated two billion people watch the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London. May 1 – U. S. President Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, may 16 – The European Union agrees to a €78 billion rescue deal for Portugal. The bailout loan will be split between the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility, and the International Monetary Fund. May 21 – Grímsvötn, Icelands most active volcano, erupted and caused disruption to air travel in Northwestern Europe, may 26 – Former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladić, wanted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, is arrested in Serbia. June 4 – Chiles Puyehue volcano erupts, causing air traffic cancellations across South America, New Zealand, Australia, june 5 – Arab Spring, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh travels to Saudi Arabia for treatment of an injury sustained during an attack on the presidential palace. Protesters celebrate his transfer of power to his Vice-President Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi, june 12 – Arab Spring, Thousands of Syrians flee to Turkey as Syrian troops lay siege to Jisr ash-Shugur. June 28 – Food and Agriculture Organization announces the eradication of the cattle plague rinderpest from the world, July 7 – The worlds first artificial organ transplant is achieved, using an artificial windpipe coated with stem cells. July 9 – South Sudan secedes from Sudan, per the result of the referendum held in January. July 12 – The planet Neptune completes its first orbit since it was discovered in 1846, July 14 – South Sudan joins the United Nations as the 193rd member. July 20 Goran Hadžić is detained in Serbia, becoming the last of 161 people indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the United Nations declares a famine in southern Somalia, the first in over 30 years
19.
2012
–
February 19 – Iran suspends oil exports to Britain and France, following sanctions put in place by the European Union and the United States in January. February 21 – Greek government-debt crisis, Eurozone finance ministers reach an agreement on a second, march 13 – After 244 years since its first publication, the Encyclopædia Britannica discontinues its print edition. March 22 – The President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, is ousted in a coup détat after mutinous soldiers attack government offices, april 6 – The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad unilaterally declares the independence of Azawad from Mali. April 12 – Mutinous soldiers in Guinea-Bissau stage a coup détat and take control of the capital city and they arrest interim President Raimundo Pereira and leading presidential candidate Carlos Gomes Júnior in the midst of a presidential election campaign. April 13 – Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3, a North Korean Earth observation satellite, the United States and other countries had called the impending launch a violation of United Nations Security Council demands. The launch was planned to mark the centenary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, april 26 – Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is found guilty on 11 counts of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Sierra Leone Civil War. May 2 – A pastel version of The Scream, by the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for US$120 million in a New York City auction, may 12 – August 12 – The 2012 World Expo takes place in Yeosu, South Korea. May 22 – Tokyo Skytree, the tallest self-supporting tower in the world at 634 metres high, is opened to the public, june 5–6 – The centurys second and last solar transit of Venus occurs. The next pair are predicted to occur in 2117 and 2125, june 24 – Lonesome George, the last known individual of the Pinta Island tortoise subspecies, dies in Galápagos National Park, thus making the subspecies extinct. July 4 – CERN announces the discovery of a new particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson after experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, July 27 – August 12 – The 2012 Summer Olympics are held in London, England, United Kingdom. July 30–31 – In the worst power outage in world history, August 6 – Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory missions rover, successfully lands on Mars. The move is met with fierce criticism from other countries. September 11–27 – A series of terrorist attacks are directed against United States diplomatic missions worldwide, as well as missions of Germany, Switzerland. In the US, opinions are divided whether the attacks are a reaction to a YouTube trailer for the film Innocence of Muslims. In Libya, among the dead is US ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, october 16 – Seven paintings worth $25 million are stolen from the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. November 14–21 – Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense against the Palestinian-governed Gaza Strip, in the following week 140 Palestinians and five Israelis are killed in an ensuing cycle of violence. November 25 – December 9 – Typhoon Bopha, known as Pablo in the Philippines, the typhoon causes considerable damage in the island of Mindanao. November 29 – The UN General Assembly approves a motion granting Palestine non-member observer state status, December 8 – In Qatar, the UN Climate Change Conference agrees to extend the Kyoto Protocol until 2020
20.
Supreme Leader of Iran
–
The armed forces, judicial system, state television, and other key governmental organizations are under the control of the Supreme Leader of Iran. Khamenei also makes the decisions on the amount of transparency in elections in Iran. This post was established by the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran in accordance with the concept of the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist. The title Supreme Leader is often used as a sign of respect, however, this terminology is not found in the Constitution, which simply referred to the Leader. The Supreme Leader is more powerful than the President of Iran and appoints the heads of many posts in the military, the civil government. Originally Irans constitution stated that the Supreme Leader must be a Marja-e taqlid, however, in 1989, the constitution was amended to require simply Islamic scholarship of the leader, i. e. the leader could be a lower ranking cleric. In theory, the Supreme Leader is appointed and supervised by the Assembly of Experts, all candidates to the Assembly of Experts, the President and the Majlis, are selected by the Guardian Council, whose members are selected by the Supreme Leader of Iran. As such, the Assembly has never questioned the Supreme Leader, there have been instances when the current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has publicly criticized members of the Assembly of Experts, resulting in their arrest and dismissal. For example, Khamenei publicly called then-member of the Assembly of Experts Ahmad Azari Qomi a traitor, resulting in Ahmad Azari Qomis arrest, there has also been instances where the Guardian Council reversed its ban for particular people after being ordered to do so by Khamenei. The Supreme Leader is the commander-in-chief of the forces and the provisional Head of the three branches of the state. He appoints and oversees the offices, the President and may also together with a two third majority of the Parliament impeach him. The Chief Justice for a term of 8 years, the members of the Expediency Discernment Council for a term of 5 years,6 of the 12 Members of the Guardian Council from among the members of the Council of Experts the other 6 are chosen by the Parliament. In March 1979, shortly after Ruhollah Khomeini’s return from exile and the overthrow of Irans monarchy, although some groups objected to the wording and choice and boycotted the referendum, 98% of those voting voted yes. The new constitution has been called a hybrid of theocratic and democratic elements with much of it based on the ideas Khomeini presented in his work Islamic Government, Governance of the Jurist. In it Khomeini argued that government must be run in accordance with traditional Islamic sharia, and for this to happen a leading Islamic jurist must provide political guardianship over the people. The leading jurist were known as Marja. ” and the importance of the Supreme Leader. ”Article 107 in the constitution mentions Imam Khomeini by name and praises him as the most learned and talented leader for emulation. The responsibilities of the Supreme Leader are vaguely stated in the constitution, as the rest of the clergy governed affairs on a daily basis, the Supreme Leader is capable of mandating a new decision as per the concept of Vilayat-e Faqih. Shortly before Imam Khomeinis death a change was made in the constitution allowing a lower ranking Shia cleric to become Supreme Leader, montazeri was demoted as a marja and Khomeini chose a new successor, a relatively low-ranking member of the clergy, Ali Khamenei
21.
Ali Khamenei
–
Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei is a marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran. Khamenei succeeded the first Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, after Khomeinis death and his political career began after the Iranian Revolution, when the former President of Iran, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, then a confidant of Khomeini, brought Khamenei into Khomeinis inner circle. Khamenei then went to serve as President of Iran from 1981 to 1989 while becoming an ally to Khomeini. Today, as Supreme Leader, Khamenei is the head of state of Iran, for this reason, he is considered the most powerful political authority in the country. For example, in August 2016, Khamenei directly warned the current president Hassan Rouhani that there should be no deviation from Khameneis economic policies, the report said that it found no evidence that Khamenei is tapping Setad to enrich himself. As president, he had a reputation of being interested in the military, budget and administrative details. Comparatively, Khamenei is the second longest head of state in the Middle East as well as the second longest-serving Iranian leader of the last century, after Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Khamenei has either direct or indirect control over the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, as well as the military and media. All candidates to the Assembly of Experts, the President and the Majlis, are vetted by the Guardian Council, there have been also instances when the Guardian Council reversed its ban of particular people after being ordered to do so by Khamenei. Khamenei has also fired and reinstated Presidential cabinet appointments, Irans Chief Justice Sadeq Larijani, a Khamenei appointee, has warned the president of Iran against voicing opposition to Khamenei. There have been several protests during Khameneis reign, including the 1994 Qazvin Protests. Khamenei asked to maximize the amount of transparency in elections in Iran, Khamenei was the victim of an attempted assassination in June 1981 that paralysed his right arm. According to his website, Khamenei was arrested six times before being sent into exile for three years during Mohammad Reza Pahlavis reign. Regarding controversial Nuclear program of Iran, Ali Khamenei had issued a fatwa saying that the production, stockpiling, born to Seyyed Javad Khamenei and Khadijeh Mirdamadi in Mashhad, Khamenei is the second of eight children. Two of his brothers are also clerics and his brother, Hadi Khamenei, is a renowned newspaper editor. His elder sister Fatemeh Hosseini Khamenei died in 2015, at age 89 and his descendancy is of ethnic Azerbaijani background, with one source claiming that his mother was an ethnic Persian-speaker from Yazd. Some of his ancestors are from Tafresh in todays Markazi Province, then, he went to Najaf in 1957, but soon returned back to Mashhad due to his fathers unwillingness to let him stay there. In 1958, he settled in Qom where he attended the classes of Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi, Khamenei married a woman named Khojaste in 1964
22.
President of Iran
–
The President of Iran is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The President is the highest popularly elected official in Iran, although the President answers to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Khamenei also makes the final decisions on the amount of transparency in elections in Iran, and has fired and reinstated Presidential cabinet appointments. The President of Iran is elected for a term by the direct vote of the people. The current President of Iran is Hassan Rouhani, who assumed office on August 3,2013 and he succeeded Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who served 8 years in office from 2005 to 2013. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and referendum to create the Islamic Republic on March 29 and 30, ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, ordered an election for the Assembly of Experts, the body tasked with writing the constitution. The assembly presented the constitution on October 24,1979, and Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, the 1979 Constitution designated the Supreme Leader of Iran as the head of state and the President and Prime Minister as the heads of government. The post of Prime Minister was abolished in 1989, the first Iranian presidential election was held on January 25,1980 and resulted in the election of Abulhassan Banisadr with 76% of the votes. Banisadr was impeached on June 22,1981 by Parliament, until the early election on July 24,1981, the duties of the President were undertaken by the Provisional Presidential Council. Mohammad-Ali Rajai was elected President on July 24,1981 and took office on August 2, Rajai was in office for less than one month because he and his prime minister were both assassinated. Once again a Provisional Presidential Council filled the office until October 13,1981 when Ali Khamenei was elected president, the election on August 3,2005 resulted in a victory for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ali Khamenei, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mohammad Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were each elected president for two terms, the President of Iran is elected for a four-year term in a national election by universal adult suffrage for everyone of at least 18 years of age. Candidates for the presidency must be approved by the Council of Guardians, within these guidelines the Council vetoes candidates who are deemed unacceptable. The approval process is considered to be a check on the presidents power, in the 1997 election, for example, only four out of 238 presidential candidates were approved by the council. Western observers have criticized the approvals process as a way for the Council and Supreme Leader to ensure that only conservative. However, the council rejects the criticism, citing approval of reformists in previous elections, the council rejects most of the candidates stating that they are not a well-known political figure, a requirement by the current law. The President must be elected with a majority of the popular vote. If no candidate receives a majority in the first round, an election is held between the top two candidates. According to the Iranian constitution, when the President dies or is impeached, the President automatically becomes the Head of the Supreme National Security Council and the Head of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution
23.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
–
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an Iranian politician who was the sixth President of Iran from 2005 to 2013. He was also the political leader of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran. An engineer and teacher from a background, Ahmadinejad joined the Office for Strengthening Unity after the Iranian Revolution. Appointed a provincial governor, he was removed after the election of President Mohammad Khatami, tehrans council elected him mayor in 2003. He took a hard line, reversing reforms of previous moderate mayors. His 2005 presidential campaign, supported by the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, garnered 62% of the election votes. During his presidency, Ahmadinejad was viewed as a figure within Iran. He has been criticized domestically for his policies and disregard for human rights. Internationally, he is criticized for his hostility towards some countries, most notably Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States and other Western and Arab nations. In 2007, Ahmadinejad introduced a gas rationing plan to reduce the fuel consumption. His election to a term in 2009 was widely disputed and caused widespread protests domestically. On 14 March 2012, Ahmadinejad became the first president of the Islamic Republic of Iran to be summoned by the Islamic Consultative Assembly to answer questions regarding his presidency, limited to two terms under the current Iranian constitution, Ahmadinejad supported Esfandiar Rahim Mashaeis campaign for president. On 15 June 2013, Hassan Rouhani was elected as Ahmadinejads successor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was born on 28 October 1956 near Garmsar, in the village of Aradan, in Semnan province. His mother, Khanom, was a Sayyida, a title given to those believed to be direct bloodline descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. His father, Ahmad, was a grocer, barber who was a religious Shia who taught the Quran, when Mahmoud was one year old, his family moved to Tehran. Mahmouds father changed their name from Saborjhian or Sabaghian to Ahmadinejad in 1960 to avoid discrimination when the family moved to the city. Sabor is Persian for thread painter, a common occupation within the Semnan carpet industry. Ahmadinejads uncle and his brother Davoud Ahmadinejad have confirmed that the surname was Sabbaghian
24.
Vice President of Iran
–
The Vice President of Iran is defined by article 124 of the Constitution of Iran, as anyone appointed by the President of Iran to lead an organization related to Presidential affairs. As of July 2009, there are 12 Vice Presidents in Iran, the First Vice President is the most important as he or she leads cabinet meetings in the absence of the president. The role of First Vice President was created in the revision of the Constitution in 1989 and it took over some of the responsibilities of Prime Minister. According to Article 124, First Vice President will be chairing the board of ministers and coordinate the other vice presidencies, according to Article 131, First Vice President takes over as acting President in cases where the President in incapacitated, but only if permitted by the Supreme Leader. According to the same Article, First Vice President must make sure that a new president is elected in fifty days, according to Article 132, during the time an Acting President is serving, the Majlis cannot impeach ministers and it cant disapprove newly introduced ministers. Also, referendums and revisions to the Constitution are forbidden, the President may or may not choose vice presidents for specific issues, but their existence is not obligatory
25.
Parviz Davoodi
–
Parviz Davoodi is an Iranian hardline conservative politician. He served as the First Vice President of Iran from 11 September 2005 to 17 July 2009 and he is also an economist at Shahid Beheshti University. Although President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is known to have conservative ideals, Dr. Davoodi teaches liberal economic perspectives in his classrooms at Shahid Beheshti University and it is believed that his economic ideas are highly influenced by modern economic theory. He is for free markets and open economies, Davoodi graduated from Iowa State University in 1981 with a Ph. D. in Economics. He often refers to President Ahmadenijad as the bite size leader against king size Western corruption. Parviz Davoudi was nominated as the director of the center for strategic studies by President Ahmadinejad in 2009. Biography Vice President of Iran an Iowa State graduate, Rashah McChesney, Iowa State Daily,17 June 2009 Works by or about Parviz Davoodi in libraries
26.
Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei
–
Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei is an Iranian politician. A close ally of President Ahmadinejad, Mashaei was viewed by many Iranian clerics as an anti-establishment activist and he has also been called a pragmatic, moderate conservative with liberal views on cultural and social issues. On 11 May 2013, with the support and endorsement of outgoing President Ahmadinejad. However, his application to run was disqualified by the Guardian Council, Ahmadinejad protested the disqualification and referred to the Guardian Councils decision as an act of oppression. Mashaei was born on 16 November 1960 in Katalom, Ramsar and he holds a bachelors degree in electronics engineering from Isfahan University of Technology. Mashei started his career at the Revolutionary Guards intelligence unit where he joined in 1981, in 1984, during the Iran–Iraq War, Mashaei joined the intelligence ministry in Kurdistan province and founded the Guardss intelligence branch in the province. There he met Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then governor of the city of Khoy. The two men developed a friendship and Mashaei is described as the Ahmadinejads comrade during that time. Then Mashei was named member of the security council of the West Azerbaijan province. In 1986, Mashei was appointed director of a department at the intelligence ministry, from 1993 to 1997, he served as head of the social affairs department of the interior ministry under then president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. He left office when Mohammad Khatami was elected president in 1997, next, he joined Tehrans cultural-artistic affairs organization in 1993 when Ahmedinejad was elected mayor of the city. After Ahmadinejad was elected president in 2005, Mashaei became a member of the cabinet. He was appointed on 31 December 2007 to run the newly founded National Center for Research on Globalization and he is a former head of the Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran, and previously served briefly as a deputy interior minister. After resigning from vice presidency in 2009, Mashaei was appointed chief of staff to the Presidential Office, according to The New York Times journalist Thomas Erdbrink, leading ayatollahs and commanders have called Mashaei a Freemason, a foreign spy and a heretic. He and his allies, they say, are part of a deviant current, in another occasion he said, No nation in the world is our enemy, Iran is a friend of the nation in the United States and in Israel, and this is an honor. He received criticisms from clerics and conservative members of the Iranian Parliament, however, his comments received some cautious backing from Ahmedinejad. However, Mashaei has also said that if Israel attacked Iran, Iran could destroy it within a week, in a 20 May 2010 statement his exact words were Zionists will have no longer than a week to live. On 6 August 2010, Mashaei again drew protests from Irans conservative establishment after speaking at a meeting with Iranian expatriates and he said that the ideology of Iran, rather than Irans state religion of Shia Islam, should be promoted to the world
27.
Mohammad Reza Rahimi
–
Mohammad Reza Rahimi is an Iranian politician who was first vice president from 13 September 2009 until 3 August 2013. His previous posts included governor of the Kurdistan province and vice president for parliamentary affairs, on 15 February 2015, Rahimi was convicted of corruption and is currently jailed in Evin Prison. He was allegedly head of the Fatemi Circle, Rahimi was born into a Kurdish Shiite family on 11 January 1949 in a village, Serishabad, in Irans Kurdistan province. He received a law degree from Tehran University, Rahimi also claims to hold a Ph. D. from Oxford University but no record of his name has been found in the university and also this claim has been vastly disputed by many Iranian sources. Rahimi is considered to be the second high-ranking member of Ahmadinejads administration to have lied about receiving a PhD from Oxford University and he has also claimed to have a Ph. D. from Belford University, characterized as just one of hundreds of diploma mills easily accessible online. Alef, an Iranian site that belongs to Ahmad Tavakkoli, published documents purporting to show fraudulent documents created by Rahimi, Rahimi worked as a public prosecutor in Qorveh and Sanandaj. He headed the city council of Sanandaj, too, during this period, he taught law at the school of law at Tehran Azad University and served as head of the school for a short time. Rahimi was elected as member of the Parliament of Iran from his province of birth Kurdistan in Legislative election of 1980 as a member of Islamic Republican Party and he was in Parliament until 1992 when he resigned from his seat. He held many positions when he was a MP such as head of arts commission, Rahimi was not in Khatamis list of governors. During his governorship, he firstly met Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and he was active in Presidential campaign of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during 2005 presidential election. Ahmadinejad named Rahimi as his vice president for legal and parliamentary affairs in 2008 and he was acting president of Iran from 20 April 2011 to 1 May 2011 when president Ahmadinejad boycotted his official duties. He run for the presidency of Iran in the 2013 elections, after the election of Hassan Rouhani as the president, his term ended as first vice president. Based on the claims of at least two members of the Iranian Parliament, Rahimi was the head of a band that became known as Fatemi Circle. This circle had an office in Fatemi street in Tehran, naderan, a member of Majlis who is close to Ahmad Tavakkoli, has criticized the judicial system for not arresting him. Motahari, another member of Majlis, has asked Ahmadinejad to cooperate with judicial system on this issue, in January 2015, Iran’s judiciary announced that Rahimi has been sentenced to 5 years in prison and an equivalent of $1 million fine. On 1 September 2014, Rahimi was sentenced to a prison term, the sentence needs to be finalized by a Court of Appeal for details of the indictment to be revealed. On 21 January 2015, Irans supreme court sentenced Rahimi to five years and 91 days in prison, Rahimi was also ordered to pay a compensation equivalent to 28.5 billion rials. Rahimi stated that the Talmud teaches how to destroy non-Jews so as to protect an embryo in the womb of a Jewish mother and he stated his proof is that there is not one single Zionist who is an addict
28.
Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
–
Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi is an Iranian politician who is currently First Vice-Chairman of the Iranian Assembly of Experts. According to Al-Monitor, he is also an Iraqi citizen and a member of Islamic Dawa Party. In 2010, he declared himself a Marja, Hashemi Shahroudi became the leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which has caused objections to his serving as the Head of Irans Judiciary from 1999 until 2009. He is currently a member of Irans Guardian Council, upon accepting his position as the Head of Iran’s Judiciary, Shahroudi proclaimed, I have inherited an utter ruin from the previous judiciary, referring to Mohammad Yazdis 10 years in office. He appointed Saeed Mortazavi, a well known fundamentalist and controversial figure, in July 2011 Shahroudi was appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to head an arbitration body to resolve an ongoing dispute between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the parliament. He is favorite as one of the successors of Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader of Iran, after khamenehi became leader of Islamique republic, Ayatollah Yazdi has served as the president of the Supreme Court. He remained in the post for years and then replaced by Muhammad Hashemi shahreoudi. In 2001, the judiciary prosecuted several reformist members of parliament for speeches and activities they had carried out in their capacity as MPs. The Iranian constitution grants immunity to members of parliament during their tenure, the incident led to a major conflict between Iranian president Mohammad Khatami and Chief of Judiciary Hashemi Shahroudi. In a letter, Khatami protested the courts prosecution of MPs, the notice prompted Hashemi Shahroudi to respond, calling Khatamis letter a surprise. Shahroudi denounced reformist MPs, stating they weakened parliament by defending westernized journalists, while the Iranian constitution does state in Art. 167 that judges need to adjudicate on the basis of Islamic sources in cases where no codified law exists, Shahroudis commentary must be interpreted as being politically motivated, and is symptomatic of his failure to strengthen the rule of law during his tenure. The decriminalization bill refers to a bill submitted by the Iranian Judiciary to the parliament. It aims at substituting imprisonment and execution by educational workshops and social penalties, the bill is considered one of the most important legal bills prepared by the Iranian judiciary during Shahroudis tenure. According to the bill, for all crimes, whose punishment is less than six months of imprisonment, imprisonment will be substituted with social penalties. This category of crimes include crimes related to traffic, environmental, medical, family, cultural, the bill also demands that criminals undergo an educational or skill training course convened by the judiciary system. The bills also addresses the crimes conducted by minors in the three age categories 7-12, 12-15 and 15–18 years old and it is reminiscent to the Iranian criminal law of 1925. According to the bill, minors can no longer be executed, the bill is based on several years of continuous discussion with religious scholars at the seminaries
29.
Sadeq Larijani
–
Sadeq Ardeshir Larijani, more known as Amoli Larijani, is an Iranian cleric, politician and the current and fifth head of the judicial system of Iran after the 1979 revolution. He was born in 1339 solar in Najaf and his father, the late Ayatollah Mirza Hashem Amoli, was an eminent Mujtahid of his time who worked in Najaf after being exiled by Mohammad Reza Shah. The family moved to Iran after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, larinjani became familiar with both religious sciences and modern sciences as child. He began his school in 1345 solar and finished high school in 1356 solar. Following high school, he began his studies in Qom. He finished his studies in 1368 solar then began to teach in both seminary and university. He became a member of scientific staffs of Qom University and taught courses in theology. Larijani is a brother of Ali Larijani, Mohammad Javad Larijani, Bagher Larijani and he is fluent in Persian, Arabic, and English. Larijani served as one of the 12 members of the Guardian Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran for eight years. According to leading Iranian human rights defense lawyer Mohammad Seifzadeh, the head of the Judicial System of Iran is required to be a Mojtahed with significant experience in the field. Larijani, however, was neither an experienced jurist nor a highly ranked cleric, shortly after his appointment, Larijani appointed Saeed Mortazavi to the post of deputy prosecutor general of Iran. Mortazavi was prosecutor general of Tehran for more than seven years during which he was involved in murdering and torturing a number of Iranian civilians, one of the high-profile deaths attributed to Mortazavi is that of Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi. The police refused to give a receipt of the items, the office was organized by Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi for supporting the victims of torture in Iranian prisons. That same month, the authorities from the Judiciary System began targeting the children of leaders of the opposition groups, the Judiciary released her after twenty-four hours in the South of Tehran in an inappropriate condition. In 2015, he said it is illegal for the Assembly of Experts to supervise Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in 2016, he warned president Hassan Rouhani against voicing opposition to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Sadegh Larijani stated that the government does not derive its legitimacy from the votes of the nation and he is a well-known critic of ex-president Mohammad Khatami and his reforms. In March 1998 an article by him attacking Khatamis call for a civil Islamic society, at the same time he considered as leading figure in the sphere of philosophy of law or fiqh. Larijani condemned protesters and those who expressed doubts in the 2009 presidential election results, calling the protests illegal, on 23 May 2012, Larijani was put into the sanction list of the European Union, which was published in the Official Journal of the Union
30.
Tehran
–
Tehran is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. It is ranked 29th in the world by the population of its metropolitan area, in the Classical era, part of the present-day city of Tehran was occupied by a Median city that in the Avesta occurs as Rhaga. It was destroyed by the Mongols in the early 13th century, the capital has been moved several times throughout the history, and Tehran is the 32nd national capital of Iran. The city was the seat of the Qajars and Pahlavis, the two last imperial dynasties of Iran. It is home to historical collections, such as the royal complexes of Golestan, Sadabad. Large scale demolition and rebuilding began in the 1920s, and Tehran has been a destination for the migrations from all over Iran since the 20th century. Tabiat Bridge, which was completed in 2014, is considered the third symbol of the city. There have been plans to relocate Irans capital from Tehran to another area, due mainly to air pollution, to date, no definitive plans have been approved. A2016 survey of 230 cities by consultant Mercer ranked Tehran 203rd for quality of living, according to the Global Destinations Cities Index in 2016, Tehran is among the top ten fastest growing destinations. The origin of the name Tehran is uncertain, the settlement of Tehran dates back over 7,000 years. The present-day city of Tehran was a suburb of an important Median city that was known as Rhaga in Old Persian, in the Avestas Videvdat, Rhaga is mentioned as the twelfth sacred place created by the Ohrmazd. In Old Persian inscriptions, Rhaga appears as a province and it was a major area for the Iranian tribes of Medes and Achaemenids. From Rhaga, Darius the Great sent reinforcements to his father Hystaspes, in some Middle Persian texts, Rhaga is given as the birthplace of Zoroaster, although modern historians generally place the birth of Zoroaster in Khorasan. Derived into Modern Persian as Rey, it now as a city located towards the southern end of the modern-day city of Tehran. Mount Damavand, the highest peak of Iran, which is located near Tehran, is an important location in Ferdowsis Shahname, the long Iranian epic poem that is based on the ancient epics of Iran. It appears in the epics as the birthplace of Manuchehr, the residence of Keyumars, the place where Freydun binds the dragon fiend Aži Dahāka, during the Sassanid era, in 641, Yazdgerd III issued his last appeal to the nation from Rey, before fleeing to Khorasan. Rey was dominated by the Parthian Mihran family, and Siyavakhsh—the son of Mihran the son of Bahram Chobin—who resisted the Muslim Invasion, because of this resistance, when the Arabs captured Rey, they ordered the town to be destroyed and ordered Farrukhzad to rebuild the town anew. In the 9th century, Tehran was a well known village, but less known than the city of Rey, the medieval writer Najm od Din Razi declared the population of Rey about 500,000 before the Mongol Invasion
31.
2009 Iranian presidential election protests
–
Protests against the 2009 Iranian presidential election results and in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi occurred in major cities nationwide from 2009 into 2010. The protests were titled as Iranian Green Movement by their proponents, reflecting presidential candidate Mousavis campaign color, the protests began the night of 12 June 2009, following the announcement that incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won nearly 60 percent despite several reported irregularities. However, all three candidates claimed that the votes were manipulated and the election was rigged, and candidates Mohsen Rezaee. Mousavi announced that he wont surrender to this manipulation before lodging an appeal against the result to the Guardian Council on 14 June. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered an investigation into the claims of voting fraud, Ahmadinejad called the election completely free and the outcome a great victory for Iran, dismissing the protests as little more than passions after a soccer match. Iranian authorities have closed universities in Tehran, blocked web sites, blocked cell phone transmissions and text messaging, the creation of the Iranian Green Movement was developed during these protests. The events have also been nicknamed the Twitter Revolution because of the reliance on Twitter and other social-networking Internet sites to communicate with each other. Iran has been ruled by an Islamic Republic, since 1980 following the collapse of the Shahs regime in 1979, the government is based on the concept of Vali-ye faqih, which is a system of governance in which a faqih was to serve as the Supreme Leader. The Supreme Leader, in turn appoints the members of the twelve member Guardian Council, the President of Iran is not the commander-in-chief, and the control of the military, police, and the parallel Revolutionary Guards is under the control of the Supreme Leader. The Revolutionary Guards is a constitutionally protected paramilitary force that operates alongside the regular Armed forces, the Revolutionary Guards also have an auxiliary wing called the Basij, who provide support in enforcing religious laws and suppressing dissidents. The Islamic Republic has not escaped popular opposition in the past, following the failed Operation Mersad in 1988, Khomeini ordered all prisons to execute those still in captivity, resulting in an estimated 30,000 dead. Despite reformists gaining a majority in the Majlis in 2000 and Khatami winning the 2001 election as well, in 2005, Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected to the presidency, defeating now reformist Ali-Akbar Rafsanjani, placing the conservatives in charge of the government once more. Ahmadinejad would focus his presidency on confronting Israel and his speeches gained international infamy, which usually called for the destruction of Israel and claimed that the Holocaust was fabricated. The funding of groups went up exponentially, particularly towards Hamas and Hezbollah. However, the economy has failed to keep pace with the number of entering the job market. Estimates by the Los Angeles Times suggest IRGC has ties to one hundred companies and annual revenue in excess of $12 billion. The Ministry of Petroleum awarded IRGC billions of dollars in contracts as well as infrastructure projects. Most government-issued contracts were awarded to companies, and private enterprise in Iran has been struggling heavily against these groups
32.
Satellite
–
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an artificial object which has been intentionally placed into orbit. Such objects are called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as Earths Moon. In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the worlds first artificial satellite, since then, about 6,600 satellites from more than 40 countries have been launched. According to a 2013 estimate,3,600 remained in orbit, of those, about 1,000 were operational, the rest have lived out their useful lives and become space debris. Approximately 500 operational satellites are in orbit,50 are in medium-Earth orbit. A few large satellites have been launched in parts and assembled in orbit. Over a dozen space probes have been placed into orbit around other bodies and become artificial satellites to the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, a few asteroids, Satellites are used for many purposes. Common types include military and civilian Earth observation satellites, communications satellites, navigation satellites, weather satellites, Space stations and human spacecraft in orbit are also satellites. Satellite orbits vary greatly, depending on the purpose of the satellite, well-known classes include low Earth orbit, polar orbit, and geostationary orbit. A launch vehicle is a rocket that throws a satellite into orbit, usually it lifts off from a launch pad on land. Some are launched at sea from a submarine or a mobile maritime platform, Satellites are usually semi-independent computer-controlled systems. Satellite subsystems attend many tasks, such as power generation, thermal control, telemetry, attitude control, the first fictional depiction of a satellite being launched into orbit was a short story by Edward Everett Hale, The Brick Moon. The idea surfaced again in Jules Vernes The Begums Fortune, in 1903, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky published Exploring Space Using Jet Propulsion Devices, which is the first academic treatise on the use of rocketry to launch spacecraft. He calculated the speed required for a minimal orbit. In 1928, Herman Potočnik published his book, The Problem of Space Travel — The Rocket Motor. He described the use of orbiting spacecraft for observation of the ground, in a 1945 Wireless World article, the English science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke described in detail the possible use of communications satellites for mass communications. He suggested that three geostationary satellites would provide coverage over the entire planet, the first artificial satellite was Sputnik 1, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4,1957, and initiating the Soviet Sputnik program, with Sergei Korolev as chief designer. This in turn triggered the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States, Sputnik 1 helped to identify the density of high atmospheric layers through measurement of its orbital change and provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere
33.
Omid
–
After being launched by an Iranian-made carrier rocket, Safir 1, the satellite was placed into a low Earth orbit. The launch, which coincided with the 30th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution and was supervised by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was verified by NASA the following day as a success. Its Satellite Catalog Number or USSPACECOM object number is 33506, Ahmadinejad said the satellite was launched to spread monotheism, peace and justice in the world. The Tehran Times reported that Iran has said it wants to put its own satellites into orbit to monitor natural disasters in the earthquake-prone nation, foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the satellite was launched to meet the needs of the country and is purely for peaceful purposes. Since there was very little encryption on the satellite, data could be collected, Omid had the shape of a 40-centimeter cube with mass of 27 kilograms. Sources in the Iranian Space Agency say the satellites sole payload was a store, the launch of Omid makes Iran the ninth country to develop an indigenous satellite launch capability. A previous Iranian satellite, Sina-1, was built and launched for Iran by Russia in 2005, speaking at the opening of a new space centre on February 4,2008, President Ahmadinejad announced that Omid would be launched in the near future. On August 17,2008, Iranian officials reported that a test of the carrier was performed. According to an American official, The vehicle failed shortly after liftoff, Iranian officials released a statement denouncing the allegations as propaganda and stated the Iran would soon launch the Omid satellite. Omid was reported to have completed its mission without any problems. It completed more than 700 orbits over seven weeks, according to U. S. Strategic Command, the Omid satellite reentered Earths atmosphere on April 25,2009, during an 8-hour window centered on 0342 UT. The most likely location was over the south Atlantic Ocean approximately east of Buenos Aires. The rocket body from the launch, which had entered orbit. Iran launched Rasad 1 on 15 June 2011 which orbited for three weeks, other satellites have been announced as under development. com Real Time OMID Satellite Tracking
34.
Morocco
–
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
35.
Diplomacy
–
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of states. International treaties are negotiated by diplomats prior to endorsement by national politicians. The scholarly discipline of diplomatics, dealing with the study of old documents, derives its name from the same source, but its modern meaning is quite distinct from the activity of diplomacy. Some of the earliest known records are the Amarna letters written between the pharaohs of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt and the Amurru rulers of Canaan during the 14th century BC. Following the Battle of Kadesh in c, Relations with the government of the Ottoman Empire were particularly important to Italian states. The maritime republics of Genoa and Venice depended less and less upon their nautical capabilities, interactions between various merchants, diplomats and clergy men hailing from the Italian and Ottoman empires helped inaugurate and create new forms of diplomacy and statecraft. Eventually the primary purpose of a diplomat, which was originally a negotiator and it became evident that all other sovereigns felt the need to accommodate themselves diplomatically, due to the emergence of the powerful political environment of the Ottoman Empire. One could come to the conclusion that the atmosphere of diplomacy within the modern period revolved around a foundation of conformity to Ottoman culture. One of the earliest realists in international relations theory was the 6th century BC military strategist Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War. However, a deal of diplomacy in establishing allies, bartering land, and signing peace treaties was necessary for each warring state. The treaty was renewed no less than nine times, but did not restrain some Xiongnu tuqi from raiding Han borders. The Koreans and Japanese during the Chinese Tang Dynasty looked to the Chinese capital of Changan as the hub of civilization, the Japanese sent frequent embassies to China in this period, although they halted these trips in 894 when the Tang seemed on the brink of collapse. After the devastating An Shi Rebellion from 755 to 763, the Tang Dynasty was in no position to reconquer Central Asia, after several conflicts with the Tibetan Empire spanning several different decades, the Tang finally made a truce and signed a peace treaty with them in 841. Both diplomats secured the borders of the Song Dynasty through knowledge of cartography. There was also a triad of warfare and diplomacy between these two states and the Tangut Western Xia Dynasty to the northwest of Song China. After warring with the Lý Dynasty of Vietnam from 1075 to 1077, Song, long before the Tang and Song dynasties, the Chinese had sent envoys into Central Asia, India, and Persia, starting with Zhang Qian in the 2nd century BC. Another notable event in Chinese diplomacy was the Chinese embassy mission of Zhou Daguan to the Khmer Empire of Cambodia in the 13th century, Chinese diplomacy was a necessity in the distinctive period of Chinese exploration. Since the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese also became heavily invested in sending diplomatic envoys abroad on missions into the Indian Ocean, to India, Persia, Arabia, East Africa
36.
Iran
–
Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
37.
Somalia
–
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, Somalia has the longest coastline on Africas mainland, and its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Climatically, hot conditions prevail year-round, with monsoon winds. Somalia has an population of around 12.3 million. Around 85% of its residents are ethnic Somalis, who have inhabited the northern part of the country. Ethnic minorities are largely concentrated in the southern regions, the official languages of Somalia are Somali and Arabic, both of which belong to the Afroasiatic family. Most people in the country are Muslim, with the majority being Sunni, in antiquity, Somalia was an important commercial centre. It is among the most probable locations of the fabled ancient Land of Punt, during the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including the Ajuran Empire, the Adal Sultanate, the Warsangali Sultanate, and the Geledi Sultanate. The toponym Somalia was coined by the Italian explorer Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti, Italian occupation lasted until 1941, yielding to British military administration. British Somaliland would remain a protectorate, while Italian Somaliland in 1949 became a United Nations Trusteeship under Italian administration, in 1960, the two regions united to form the independent Somali Republic under a civilian government. The Supreme Revolutionary Council seized power in 1969 and established the Somali Democratic Republic, led by Mohamed Siad Barre, this government later collapsed in 1991 as the Somali Civil War broke out. Various armed factions began competing for influence in the power vacuum, during this period, due to the absence of a central government, Somalia was a failed state, and residents returned to customary and religious law in most regions. A few autonomous regions, including the Somaliland and Puntland administrations emerged in the north, the early 2000s saw the creation of fledgling interim federal administrations. The Transitional National Government was established in 2000, followed by the formation of the Transitional Federal Government in 2004, in 2006, the TFG, assisted by Ethiopian troops, assumed control of most of the nations southern conflict zones from the newly formed Islamic Courts Union. The ICU subsequently splintered into more radical groups such as Al-Shabaab, by mid-2012, the insurgents had lost most of the territory that they had seized. In 2011–2012, a political process providing benchmarks for the establishment of permanent democratic institutions was launched, within this administrative framework a new provisional constitution was passed in August 2012, which reformed Somalia as a federation. Somalia has maintained an informal economy, mainly based on livestock, remittances from Somalis working abroad, Somalia has been inhabited since at least the Paleolithic. During the Stone Age, the Doian and Hargeisan cultures flourished here, the oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to the 4th millennium BCE
38.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia
–
Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a threat to international shipping since the second phase of the Somali Civil War in the early 21st century. Since 2005, many organizations have expressed concern over the rise in acts of piracy. Piracy impeded the delivery of shipments and increased shipping expenses, costing an estimated $6.6 to $6.9 billion a year in trade in 2011 according to Oceans Beyond Piracy. According to the German Institute for Economic Research, an industry of profiteers also arose around the piracy. Insurance companies significantly increased their profits from the attacks, as the firms hiked rate premiums in response. In response, the fishermen began forming armed groups to stop the foreign ships and they eventually turned to hijacking commercial vessels for ransom as an alternate source of income. The pirates also believed that they were protecting their fishing grounds and exacting justice and this is reflected in the names adopted by some of the pirate networks, such as the National Volunteer Coast Guard, which are testimony to the pirates initial motivations. However, as piracy became more lucrative, other reports have speculated that financial gain became the primary motive for the pirates. Combined Task Force 150, a multinational task force, took on the role of fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia by establishing a Maritime Security Patrol Area within the Gulf of Aden. The increasing threat posed by piracy has also caused concern in India since most of its trade routes pass through the Gulf of Aden. The Indian Navy responded to concerns by deploying warships in the region on October 2008. In September 2008, Russia announced that it too would join international efforts to combat piracy. By the end of 2011, pirates had managed to only four ships off the coast of Somalia,22 fewer than the 26 they had captured in each of the two previous years. They also attempted unsuccessful attacks on 52 other vessels,16 fewer than the year prior, as of October 2016, there were no major vessels or hostages remaining in pirate captivity. According to another source, there were 151 attacks on ships in 2011, compared to 127 in 2010 –, pirates had held 10 vessels and 159 hostages in February 2012. In 2011, pirates earned $146m, an average of $4.87 million per ship, an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 pirates operated. By February 20121,000 had been captured and were going through legal processes in 21 countries. About 25 military vessels from EU and NATO countries, China, Russia, India and Japan patrolled approximately 8.3 million km2 of ocean, on 16 July 2012, the EU launched a new operation, EUCAP Nestor
39.
Fishing vessel
–
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing, according to the FAO, there are currently four million commercial fishing vessels. About 1.3 million of these are decked vessels with enclosed areas, nearly all of these decked vessels are mechanised, and 40,000 of them are over 100 tons. At the other extreme, two-thirds of the boats are traditional craft of various types, powered only by sail. These boats are used by artisan fishers and it is difficult to estimate the number of recreational fishing boats. They range in size from small dinghies to large charter cruisers, prior to the 1950s there was little standardisation of fishing boats. Designs could vary between ports and boatyards, traditionally boats were built of wood, but wood is not often used now because it has higher maintenance costs and lower durability. Fibreglass is used increasingly in smaller fishing vessels up to 25 metres, early fishing vessels included rafts, dugout canoes, and boats constructed from a frame covered with hide or tree bark, along the lines of a coracle. The oldest boats found by excavation are dugout canoes dating back to the Neolithic Period around 7. These canoes were often cut from coniferous tree logs, using stone tools. A 7000-year-old seagoing boat made from reeds and tar has been found in Kuwait and these early vessels had limited capability, they could float and move on water, but were not suitable for use any great distance from the shoreline. They were used mainly for fishing and hunting, the development of fishing boats took place in parallel with the development of boats built for trade and war. Early navigators began to use skins or woven fabrics for sails. Affixed to a pole set upright in the boat, these sails gave early boats more range, Egyptians were building long narrow boats powered by many oarsmen. Over the next 1,000 years, they made a series of advances in boat design. They developed cotton-made sails to help their boats go faster with less work, then they built boats large enough to cross the oceans. These boats had sails and oarsmen, and were used for travel, by 3000 BC, the Egyptians knew how to assemble planks of wood into a ship hull. They used woven straps to lash planks together, and reeds or grass stuffed between the planks to seal the seams
40.
Gulf of Aden
–
The Gulf of Aden is a gulf located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait and it shares its name with the port city of Aden in Yemen, which forms the northern shore of the gulf. Historically, the Gulf of Aden was known as The Gulf of Berbera, however, as the city of Aden grew during the colonial era, the name of Gulf of Aden was popularised. The waterway is part of the important Suez Canal shipping route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean with 21,000 ships crossing the gulf annually. The name of the Gulf was inspired by the former British Crown Colony city of Aden, the Somali names are Gacanka Cadmeed or Gacanka Saylac. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Gulf of Aden as follows, on the Northwest – The eastern limit of the Gulf of Tadjoura. On the East – The meridian of Cape Guardafui, the temperature of the Gulf of Aden varies between 15 °C and 28 °C, depending on the season and the appearance of monsoons. The Gulf of Aden is a waterway for shipping, especially for Persian Gulf oil. Approximately 11 percent of the worlds petroleum passes through the Gulf of Aden on its way to the Suez Canal or to regional refineries. The main ports along the gulf are Aden in Yemen, Djibouti City in Djibouti, in earlier history, the city of Crater, located just south of the modern city of Aden, was an important port in regional trade. In the late 2000s, the gulf evolved into a hub of pirate activity, by 2013, attacks in the waters had steadily declined due to active private security and international navy patrols. India receives USD50 billion in imports and sends USD60 billion in exports through this area annually, because of this and for the sake of protecting the trade of other countries, India keeps a warship escort in this area. Also see Piracy in Gulf of Aden, a geologically young body of water, the Gulf of Aden has a unique biodiversity that contains many varieties of fish, coral, seabirds and invertebrates. This rich ecological diversity has benefited from a lack of pollution during the history of human habitation around the gulf. However, environmental groups fear that the lack of an effort to control pollution may jeopardize the gulfs ecosphere. Whales, dolphins, and dugongs were common before being severely reduced by commercial hunts, including by mass illegal hunts by Soviet Union
41.
Iranian Americans
–
Iranian Americans or Persian Americans, are Americans of Iranian ancestry or people possessing Iranian and American dual citizenship. Iranian Americans are among the highest educated people in the United States and they have historically excelled in business, academia, the sciences, arts, and entertainment – but have traditionally shied away from participating in American politics and other civic activities. The Collins English Dictionary uses a variety of similar and overlapping definitions for the terms Persian and Iranian, one of the very first recorded Iranians to visit North America was Martin the Armenian, an Iranian-Armenian tobacco grower who settled in Jamestown, Virginia in 1618. Mirza Mohammad Ali, who is known as Hajj Sayyah is another Iranian who came to North America in the 1800s. He was inspired to travel around the world due to the contradiction between the ideals he read about around the world and how his fellow Iranians were treated by their leaders. He began his travel as a 23-year-old looking for knowledge and to gain perspective on the lives of others to bring back him to help Irans progress. His stay in the United States lasted 10 years, and took him across the country from New York to San Francisco. He also met with a variety of influential American figures including Ulysses S. Grant who was a president during that time, Hajj Sayyah was the first Iranian to become an American Citizen on May 26,1875. He was imprisoned upon his return to Iran for making a stand against the conditions there. He looked to the United States to protect him but to no avail, during the peak period of worldwide emigration to the United States, only 130 Iranian nationals were known to have immigrated. The first wave of Iranian migration to the United States occurred between the late 1940s to 1979, or alternatively 1977, Iranian students, most of whom had learned English as a second language in Iran, were highly desirable as new students in the United States colleges and universities. By the mid-1970s, nearly half of all Iranian students who studied abroad did so in the United States, as the Iranian economy continued to rise steadily in the 70s, it enabled many more Iranians to travel abroad freely. As reported by Bozorgmehr and Sabagh, consequently, the number of Iranian visitors to the United States also increased considerably, during the 1977–78 academic year, of about 100,000 Iranian students abroad,36,220 were enrolled in American institutions of higher learning. It is notable to mention that the pattern of Iranian migration during this phase usually only involved individuals- not whole families. However, Due to the events that followed very soon afterwards in the 1979 Revolution, matters changed. The second phase of Iranian migration began immediately before and after the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the overthrow of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and became significant in the early 1980s. As Prof. Ronald H. Bayor adds, The 1979 Revolution and the 1980–88 war with Iraq transformed Irans class structure, politically, socially, and economically. During and after the revolution, most students did not return to Iran, Many students who graduated abroad after the revolution also did not return, due to ruling clergys repression
42.
Journalism
–
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the news of the day and that informs society to at least some degree. The word applies to the occupation, the methods of gathering information, journalistic media include, print, television, radio, Internet, and, in the past, newsreels. Concepts of the role for journalism varies between countries. In some nations, the media is controlled by a government intervention. In others, the media is independent from the government. In the United States, journalism is protected by the freedom of the clause in the First Amendment. The role and status of journalism, along with that of the media, has undergone changes over the last two decades with the advent of digital technology and publication of news on the Internet. Notably, in the American media landscape, newsrooms have reduced their staff and coverage as traditional media channels, such as television, for instance, between 2007 and 2012, CNN edited its story packages into nearly half of their original time length. This compactness in coverage has been linked to broad audience attrition, in the United States, journalism is produced by media organizations or by individuals. Bloggers are often, but not always, journalists, the Federal Trade Commission requires that bloggers who receive free promotional gifts, then write about products, must disclose that they received the products for free. This is to eliminate conflicts of interest and protect consumers, fake news is news that is not truthful or is produced by unreliable media organizations. Fake news is spread on social media. Readers can determine fake news by evaluating whether the news has been published by a news organization. In the US, a news organization is an incorporated entity, has an editorial board. All of these organizations have codes of ethics that members abide by, many news organizations have their own codes of ethics that guide journalists professional publications. The New York Times code of standards and ethics is considered particularly rigorous, when they write stories, journalists are concerned with issues of objectivity and bias. Some types of stories are intended to represent the authors own opinion, in a physical newspaper, information is organized into sections and it is easy to see which stories are supposed to be opinion and which are supposed to be neutral. Online, many of these distinctions break down, readers should pay careful attention to headings and other design elements to ensure that they understand the journalists intent
43.
Roxana Saberi
–
Roxana Saberi is an American freelance journalist and former Miss North Dakota pageant winner. She was held prisoner in Irans Evin Prison for 101 days under accusations of espionage and she subsequently wrote a book about the experience. On April 8,2009, the Iranian government charged Saberi with espionage and she was subsequently convicted and sentenced to an eight-year prison term. She was released on May 11,2009, Saberi was born in Belleville, New Jersey, the daughter of Reza Saberi, who was born in Iran, and Akiko Saberi, who emigrated from Japan. When she was six months old, her moved to Fargo. Graduating with honors from Fargo North High School in 1994, Saberi played piano and soccer, Saberi was inducted into the schools Hall of Fame in 2007. She graduated in 1997 from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, with degrees in Communication, Saberi also played for the Cobbers soccer team from 1994 to 1996. Chosen as Miss North Dakota in 1997, she was among the top ten finalists in Miss America 1998 and she was working on another masters degree in Iranian Studies at the time of her arrest. Saberi moved to Iran in 2003 and she also made occasional contributions to PBS, NPR, and Fox News. In 2006, the Iranian authorities revoked Saberis press accreditation and closed the FSN bureau in Iran and she maintained a second press accreditation, permitting her to freelance in Iran for the BBC. In late 2006, it was also revoked, following the revocation of her second press accreditation, Saberi cut ties with the BBC but continued to file occasional reports from the country for NPR, IPS and ABC Radio. Saberi was arrested on January 31,2009, on March 3,2009, an Iranian judiciary spokesman confirmed that Roxana Saberi had been arrested on the orders of the Islamic Revolutionary Court. Although Saberi holds both Iranian and American citizenship, Iran does not recognize dual citizenship, on March 10, a number of international news organizations wrote an open letter to the Iranian government, calling on Iran to allow independent access to Saberi. Signatories included President of NPR Vivian Schiller, President of ABC News David Westin, Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Robert Thomson, John Stack of Fox News, and Jon Williams. On March 18, marking 47 days of detention, the Saberi family called on Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the US administration expressed its concern at Saberis detention, dismissing allegations against her as baseless. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanded her release, on April 6, her parents were allowed a 30-minute visit to Saberi in Evin Prison, where she was being held. Saberi’s father, who was in Iran at the time but was not allowed into the courtroom and they told her if she made the statements they would free her, he said. The court sentenced her to eight years in prison, which her lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi promised to appeal, switzerland represents United States interests in Iran, as Iran and the United States do not presently have diplomatic relations
44.
Espionage
–
Espionage is the obtaining of information considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage can be committed by an individual or a spy ring, in the service of a government or a company, the practice is inherently clandestine, as it is by definition unwelcome and in many cases illegal and punishable by law. Espionage is a subset of intelligence gathering, which includes espionage as well as information gathering from public sources, Espionage is often part of an institutional effort by a government or commercial concern. However, the term is associated with state spying on potential or actual enemies primarily for military purposes. Spying involving corporations is known as industrial espionage, one of the most effective ways to gather data and information about the enemy is by infiltrating the enemys ranks. This is the job of the spy, Spies can bring back all sorts of information concerning the size and strength of enemy forces. They can also find dissidents within the forces and influence them to defect. In times of crisis, spies can also be used to steal technology, counterintelligence operatives can feed false information to enemy spies, protecting important domestic secrets, and preventing attempts at subversion. Nearly every country has strict laws concerning espionage, and the penalty for being caught is often severe. However, the benefits that can be gained through espionage are generally great enough that most governments, events involving espionage are well documented throughout history. The Old Testament of the Christian Bible, which is based primarily on the Hebrew Bible, speaks about Joshua and Caleb, the ancient writings of Chinese and Indian military strategists such as Sun-Tzu and Chanakya contain information on deception and subversion. Chanakyas student Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Maurya Empire in India, made use of assassinations, spies and secret agents, the ancient Egyptians had a thoroughly developed system for the acquisition of intelligence, and the Hebrews used spies as well, as in the story of Rahab. Spies were also prevalent in the Greek and Roman empires, during the 13th and 14th centuries, the Mongols relied heavily on espionage in their conquests in Asia and Europe. Feudal Japan often used ninjas to gather intelligence, aztecs used Pochtecas, people in charge of commerce, as spies and diplomats, and had diplomatic immunity. Many modern espionage methods were established by Francis Walsingham in Elizabethan England, in 1585, Mary, Queen of Scots was placed in the custody of Sir Amias Paulet, who was instructed to open and read all of Marys clandestine correspondence. In a successful attempt to expose her, Walsingham arranged a single exception, Mary was misled into thinking these secret letters were secure, while in reality they were deciphered and read by Walsinghams agents. He succeeded in intercepting letters that indicated a conspiracy to displace Elizabeth I with Mary, in foreign intelligence, Walsinghams extensive network of intelligencers, who passed on general news as well as secrets, spanned Europe and the Mediterranean. While foreign intelligence was a part of the principal secretarys activities, Walsingham brought to it flair and ambition
45.
Bus
–
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry many passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers, many types of buses, such as city transit buses and inter-city coaches, charge a fare. Other types, such as elementary or secondary school buses or shuttle buses within a post-secondary education campus do not charge a fare, in many jurisdictions, bus drivers require a special licence above and beyond a regular drivers licence. Horse-drawn buses were used from the 1820s, followed by steam buses in the 1830s, the first internal combustion engine buses, or motor buses, were used in 1895. Recently, interest has been growing in hybrid electric buses, fuel cell buses, as of the 2010s, bus manufacturing is increasingly globalised, with the same designs appearing around the world. Bus is a form of the Latin word omnibus. The first horse-drawn omnibus service was started by a businessman named Stanislas Baudry in the French city of Nantes in 1823, Nantes citizens soon gave the nickname omnibus to the vehicle. The omnibus in Nantes was a success and Baudry moved to Paris, a similar service was introduced in London in 1829. The first mechanically propelled omnibus appeared on the streets of London on 22 April 1833, in parallel to the development of the bus was the invention of the electric trolleybus, typically fed through trolley poles by overhead wires. The Siemens brothers, William in England and Ernst Werner in Germany, sir William first proposed the idea in an article to the Journal of the Society of Arts in 1881 as an. arrangement by which an ordinary omnibus. The first such vehicle, the Electromote, was made by his brother Dr. Ernst Werner von Siemens and presented to the public in 1882 in Halensee, Germany. Although this experimental vehicle fulfilled all the criteria of a typical trolleybus. Max Schiemann opened a trolleybus in 1901 near Dresden, in Germany. Although this system operated only until 1904, Schiemann had developed what is now the standard trolleybus current collection system, in the early days, a few other methods of current collection were used. Leeds and Bradford became the first cities to put trolleybuses into service in Great Britain on 20 June 1911, in Siegerland, Germany, two passenger bus lines ran briefly, but unprofitably, in 1895 using a six-passenger motor carriage developed from the 1893 Benz Viktoria. Another commercial bus line using the same model Benz omnibuses ran for a time in 1898 in the rural area around Llandudno. Daimler also produced one of the earliest motor-bus models in 1898, the vehicle had a maximum speed of 18 kph and accommodated up to 20 passengers, in an enclosed area below and on an open-air platform above. With the success and popularity of bus, Daimler expanded production, selling more buses to companies in London and, in 1899, to Stockholm
.jpg)
