Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing known as Giscard or VGE, is a French elder statesman who served as President of the French Republic from 1974 to 1981. As Minister of Finance under Prime Ministers Jacques Chaban-Delmas and Pierre Messmer, he won the presidential election of 1974 with 50.8% of the vote against François Mitterrand of the Socialist Party. His tenure was marked by a more liberal attitude on social issues—such as divorce and abortion—and attempts to modernise the country and the office of the presidency, notably launching such far-reaching infrastructure projects as the TGV and the turn towards reliance on nuclear power as France's main energy source. However, his popularity suffered from the economic downturn that followed the 1973 energy crisis, marking the end of the "thirty glorious years" after World War II. Giscard d'Estaing faced political opposition from both sides of the spectrum: from the newly unified left of François Mitterrand and a rising Jacques Chirac, who resurrected Gaullism on a right-wing opposition line.
In 1981, despite a high approval rating, he missed out on reelection in a runoff against Mitterrand, with 48.2% of the vote. As a former President of France, he is a member of the Constitutional Council, he served as President of the Regional Council of Auvergne from 1986 to 2004. Involved with the European Union, he notably presided over the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted the ill-fated Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. In 2003, he was elected to the Académie française, taking the seat that his friend and former President of Senegal Léopold Sédar Senghor had held. At age 93, Giscard is the longest-lived French President in history. Valéry Marie René Giscard d'Estaing was born on 2 February 1926 in Koblenz, during the French occupation of the Rhineland, he is the elder son of Jean Edmond Lucien Giscard d'Estaing, a high-ranking civil servant, his wife, Marthe Clémence Jacqueline Marie Bardoux. His mother was a daughter of senator and academic Achille Octave Marie Jacques Bardoux, making her a great-granddaughter of minister of state education Agénor Bardoux.
She was through her own mother, a granddaughter of historian Georges Picot, a niece of diplomat François Georges-Picot, a great-great-great-granddaughter of King Louis XV of France by one of his mistresses, Catherine Eléonore Bernard, through her great-grandfather Marthe Camille Bachasson, Count of Montalivet, by whom Giscard d'Estaing was a multiple descendant of Charlemagne. Giscard had Sylvie, he has Olivier, as well as two younger sisters: Isabelle and Marie-Laure. Despite the addition of "d'Estaing" to the family name by his grandfather, Giscard is not descended from the extinct noble family of Vice-Admiral d'Estaing, that name being adopted by his grandfather in 1922 by reason of a distant connection to another branch of that family, from which they were descended with two breaks in the male line from an illegitimate line of the Viscounts d'Estaing, he participated in the Liberation of Paris. He joined the French First Army and served until the end of the war, he was awarded the Croix de guerre for his military service.
In 1948, he spent a year in Montreal, where he worked as a teacher at Collège Stanislas. He studied at Lycée Blaise-Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand, École Gerson and Lycées Janson-de-Sailly and Louis-le-Grand in Paris, he graduated from the École Polytechnique and the École nationale d'administration and chose to enter the prestigious Inspection des finances. He acceded to the Tax and Revenue Service joined the staff of Prime Minister Edgar Faure, he is fluent in German. In 1956, he was elected to Parliament as a deputy for the Puy-de-Dôme département, in the domain of his maternal family, he joined the National Centre of a conservative grouping. After the proclamation of the Fifth Republic, the CNIP leader Antoine Pinay became Minister of Economy and Finance and chose him as Secretary of State for Finances from 1959 to 1962. In 1962, while Giscard had been nominated Minister of Economy and Finance, his party broke with the Gaullists and left the majority coalition; the CNIP reproached President Charles de Gaulle for his euro-scepticism.
But Giscard refused to resign and founded the Independent Republicans, which became the junior partner of the Gaullists in the "presidential majority". However, in 1966, he was dismissed from the cabinet, he transformed the RI into a political party, the National Federation of the Independent Republicans, founded the Perspectives and Realities Clubs. He became more critical. In this, he criticised the "solitary practice of the power" and summarised his position towards De Gaulle's policy by a "yes, but...". As chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Finances, he harassed his successor in the cabinet. For that reason the Gaullists refused to re-elect him to that position after the 1968 legislative election. In 1969, unlike most of FNRI's elected officials, Giscard advocated a "no" vote in the constitutional referendum concerning the regions and the Senate, while De Gaulle had announced his intention to resign if the "no" won; the Gaullists accused him of being responsible for De Gaulle's departure.
During the 1969 presidential campaign he supported the winning candidate Georges Pompidou, after which he returned to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. On the French political scene, he appeared as a young br
Marseille
Marseille is the second-largest city of France. The main city of the historical province of Provence, it nowadays is the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, it is located on French Riviera coast near the mouth of the Rhône. The city covers an area of 241 km2 and had a population of 852,516 in 2012, its metropolitan area, which extends over 3,173 km2 is the third-largest in France after Paris and Lyon, with a population of 1,831,500 as of 2010. Known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Massalia, Marseille was an important European trading centre and remains the main commercial port of the French Republic. Marseille is now France's largest city on the Mediterranean coast and the largest port for commerce and cruise ships; the city was European Capital of Culture in 2013 and European Capital of Sport in 2017. It is home to Aix-Marseille University. Marseille is the second-largest city in France after Paris and the centre of the third-largest metropolitan area in France after Paris and Lyon.
To the east, starting in the small fishing village of Callelongue on the outskirts of Marseille and stretching as far as Cassis, are the Calanques, a rugged coastal area interspersed with small fjord-like inlets. Farther east still are the city of Toulon and the French Riviera. To the north of Marseille, beyond the low Garlaban and Etoile mountain ranges, is the 1,011 m Mont Sainte Victoire. To the west of Marseille is the former artists' colony of l'Estaque; the airport lies to the north west of the city at Marignane on the Étang de Berre. The city's main thoroughfare stretches eastward from the Old Port to the Réformés quarter. Two large forts flank the entrance to the Old Port—Fort Saint-Nicolas on the south side and Fort Saint-Jean on the north. Farther out in the Bay of Marseille is the Frioul archipelago which comprises four islands, one of which, If, is the location of Château d'If, made famous by the Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo; the main commercial centre of the city intersects with the Canebière at Rue St Ferréol and the Centre Bourse.
The centre of Marseille has several pedestrianised zones, most notably Rue St Ferréol, Cours Julien near the Music Conservatory, the Cours Honoré-d'Estienne-d'Orves off the Old Port and the area around the Hôtel de Ville. To the south east of central Marseille in the 6th arrondissement are the Prefecture and the monumental fountain of Place Castellane, an important bus and metro interchange. To the south west are the hills of the 7th and 8th arrondissements, dominated by the basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde. Marseille's main railway station—Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles—is north of the Centre Bourse in the 1st arrondissement; the city has a hot-summer mediterranean climate with mild, humid winters and warm to hot dry summers. December and February are the coldest months, averaging temperatures of around 12 °C during the day and 4 °C at night. July and August are the hottest months, averaging temperatures of around 28–30 °C during the day and 19 °C at night in the Marignane airport but in the city near the sea the average high temperature is 27 °C in July.
Marseille is the sunniest major city in France with over 2,900 hours of sunshine while the average sunshine in country. It is the driest major city with only 512 mm of precipitation annually thanks to the Mistral, a cold, dry wind originating in the Rhône Valley that occurs in winter and spring and which brings clear skies and sunny weather to the region. Less frequent is the Sirocco, a hot, sand-bearing wind, coming from the Sahara Desert. Snowfalls are infrequent; the hottest temperature was 40.6 °C on 26 July 1983 during a great heat wave, the lowest temperature was −14.3 °C on 13 February 1929 during a strong cold wave. Marseille was founded circa 600 BC as the Greek colony of Massalia and populated by settlers from Phocaea, it became the preeminent Greek polis in the Hellenized region of southern Gaul. The city-state sided with the Roman Republic against Carthage during the Second Punic War, retaining its independence and commercial empire throughout the western Mediterranean as Rome expanded into Western Europe and North Africa.
However, the city lost its independence following the Roman Siege of Massilia in 49 BC, during Caesar's Civil War, in which Massalia sided with the exiled faction at war with Julius Caesar. Marseille continued to prosper as a Roman city, becoming an early center of Christianity during the Western Roman Empire; the city maintained its position as a premier maritime trading hub after its capture by the Visigoths in the 5th century AD, although the city went into decline following the sack of 739 AD by the forces of Charles Martel. It became part of the County of Provence during the 10th century, although its renewed prosperity was curtailed by the Black Death of the 14th century and sack of the city by the Crown of Aragon in 1423; the city's fortunes rebounded with the ambitious building projects of René of Anjou, Count of Proven
Geneva
Geneva is the second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situated where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Canton of Geneva; the municipality has a population of 200,548, the canton has 495,249 residents. In 2014, the compact agglomération du Grand Genève had 946,000 inhabitants in 212 communities in both Switzerland and France. Within Swiss territory, the commuter area named "Métropole lémanique" contains a population of 1.26 million. This area is spread east from Geneva towards the Riviera area and north-east towards Yverdon-les-Bains, in the neighbouring canton of Vaud. Geneva is a global city, a financial centre, a worldwide centre for diplomacy due to the presence of numerous international organizations, including the headquarters of many agencies of the United Nations and the Red Cross. Geneva hosts the highest number of international organizations in the world, it is where the Geneva Conventions were signed, which chiefly concern the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war.
In 2017, Geneva was ranked as the world's fifteenth most important financial centre for competitiveness by the Global Financial Centres Index, fifth in Europe behind London, Zürich and Luxembourg. In 2019 Geneva was ranked among the ten most liveable cities in the world by Mercer together with Zürich and Basel; the city has been referred to as the world's most compact metropolis and the "Peace Capital". In 2017, Geneva was ranked as the seventh most expensive city in the world. Geneva was ranked third in purchasing power in a global cities ranking by UBS in 2018; the city was mentioned in Latin texts, by Caesar, with the spelling Genava from the Celtic *genawa- from the stem *genu-, in the sense of a bending river or estuary. The medieval county of Geneva in Middle Latin was known as pagus major Genevensis or Comitatus Genevensis. After 1400 it became the Genevois province of Savoy; the name takes various forms in modern languages, Geneva in English, French: Genève, German: Genf, Italian: Ginevra, Romansh: Genevra.
The city shares the origin of * genawa "estuary", with the Italian port city of Genoa. Geneva was an Allobrogian border town, fortified against the Helvetii tribe, when the Romans took it in 121 BC, it became Christian under the Late Roman Empire, acquired its first bishop in the 5th century, having been connected to the Bishopric of Vienne in the 4th. In the Middle Ages, Geneva was ruled by a count under the Holy Roman Empire until the late 14th century, when it was granted a charter giving it a high degree of self-governance. Around this time, the House of Savoy came to at least nominally dominate the city. In the 15th century, an oligarchic republican government emerged with the creation of the Grand Council. In the first half of the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation reached the city, causing religious strife, during which Savoy rule was thrown off and Geneva allied itself with the Swiss Confederacy. In 1541, with Protestantism on the rise, John Calvin, the Protestant Reformer and proponent of Calvinism, became the spiritual leader of the city and established the Republic of Geneva.
By the 18th century, Geneva had come under the influence of Catholic France, which cultivated the city as its own. France tended to be at odds with the ordinary townsfolk, which inspired the failed Geneva Revolution of 1782, an attempt to win representation in the government for men of modest means. In 1798, revolutionary France under the Directory annexed Geneva. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, on 1 June 1814, Geneva was admitted to the Swiss Confederation. In 1907, the separation of Church and State was adopted. Geneva flourished in the 19th and 20th centuries, becoming the seat of many international organizations. Geneva is located at 46°12' North, 6°09' East, at the south-western end of Lake Geneva, where the Rhône flows out, it is surrounded by three mountain chains, each belonging to the Jura: the Jura main range lies north-westward, the Vuache southward, the Salève south-eastward. The city covers an area of 15.93 km2, while the area of the canton is 282 km2, including the two small exclaves of Céligny in Vaud.
The part of the lake, attached to Geneva has an area of 38 km2 and is sometimes referred to as petit lac. The canton has only a 4.5-kilometre-long border with the rest of Switzerland. Of 107.5 km of border, 103 are shared with France, the Département de l'Ain to the north and west and the Département de la Haute-Savoie to the south and east. Of the land in the city, 0.24 km2, or 1.5%, is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.5 km2, or 3.1%, is forested. The rest of the land, 14.63 km2, or 91.8%, is built up, 0.49 km2, or 3.1%, is either rivers or lakes and 0.02 km2, or 0.1%, is wasteland. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.4%, housing and buildings made up 46.2% and transportation infrastructure 25.8%, while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 15.7%. Of the agricultural land, 0.3% is used for growing crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.2 % is composed of lakes and 2.9 % streams. The altitude of Geneva is 373.6 metres, corresponds to the altitude of
World War II
World War II known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries; the major participants threw their entire economic and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China, it included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, the only use of nuclear weapons in war. Japan, which aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific, was at war with China by 1937, though neither side had declared war on the other. World War II is said to have begun on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom.
From late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Finland and the Baltic states. Following the onset of campaigns in North Africa and East Africa, the fall of France in mid 1940, the war continued between the European Axis powers and the British Empire. War in the Balkans, the aerial Battle of Britain, the Blitz, the long Battle of the Atlantic followed. On 22 June 1941, the European Axis powers launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, opening the largest land theatre of war in history; this Eastern Front trapped most crucially the German Wehrmacht, into a war of attrition. In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States as well as European colonies in the Pacific. Following an immediate U. S. declaration of war against Japan, supported by one from Great Britain, the European Axis powers declared war on the U.
S. in solidarity with their Japanese ally. Rapid Japanese conquests over much of the Western Pacific ensued, perceived by many in Asia as liberation from Western dominance and resulting in the support of several armies from defeated territories; the Axis advance in the Pacific halted in 1942. Key setbacks in 1943, which included a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy, Allied victories in the Pacific, cost the Axis its initiative and forced it into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and turned toward Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in Central China, South China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key Western Pacific islands; the war in Europe concluded with an invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops, the suicide of Adolf Hitler and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945.
Following the Potsdam Declaration by the Allies on 26 July 1945 and the refusal of Japan to surrender under its terms, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August respectively. With an invasion of the Japanese archipelago imminent, the possibility of additional atomic bombings, the Soviet entry into the war against Japan and its invasion of Manchuria, Japan announced its intention to surrender on 15 August 1945, cementing total victory in Asia for the Allies. Tribunals were set up by fiat by the Allies and war crimes trials were conducted in the wake of the war both against the Germans and the Japanese. World War II changed the political social structure of the globe; the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The Soviet Union and United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the nearly half-century long Cold War. In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia.
Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic expansion. Political integration in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities and create a common identity; the start of the war in Europe is held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred and the two wars merged in 1941; this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935; the British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the fo
NRJ
NRJ is a private French radio station created by Jean-Paul Baudecroux and Max Guazzini in June 1981, was popularized thanks to its godmother singer Dalida, who prevented it from closing in 1984. Today radio is the founding station of NRJ International; the main station only focuses on current chart hits throughout the day and electronic dance music throughout some weekend late night hours. Talk programs are based every evening except Saturday. In contrast, its web radios devoted to a vast range of music: rap, RnB, hip-hop, top 40, urban and rock. In June 1981 Jean-Paul Baudecroux created a music radio station for young people, founded NRJ, he established studios in a tiny room in the 20th arrondissement of Paris in a place of high altitude to strategically cover all Paris on 92.0 MHz. The station has since 1988 expanded internationally, has started broadcasting in a number of countries: Russia: In June, 2006, Prof Media, a leading Russian media group, was granted permission to operate the NRJ brand in Russia.
NRJ Russia is intended to target an audience between 18 and 35 years old. Lebanon: On 6 June 2006, NRJ launched its programme on two frequencies in Lebanon; this station is run in English and broadcasts concerts and interviews with international artists from NRJ France. Canada: In July 2009, Astral Media re-branded its Énergie network of stations in Quebec under the NRJ name as part of a licensing agreement with NRJ. Following their acquisition by Bell Media, the license expired, the stations returned to the previous Énergie brand. Finland: In 1995, NRJ started operating in Finland. NRJ was the acronym for Nouvelle Radio Jeune or Nouvelle radio pour les jeunes, was not invented to be an allograph of "energy". In the non-French countries where the station operates, the radio station is called Energy, because NRJ can be pronounced phonetically in French as Energy or NRG; the bold numbers/figures are at number 1. Manu Levy Sébastien Cauet Aymeric Bonnery Domingo Mikl This is the name of France's no.1 dance and hip-hop mixed show, airing every weekend at late night slot.
NRJ didn't contain any programs dedicated to this until 1990, when a program called'Megamix' was launched, presented by Dimitri or Bibi every Sunday nights from 8.00pm to 9.00pm. The program stayed until 1992, for the first time, the'Extravadance' name was used, it ran on Saturday nights from 10.00pm to 12.00am by Mike. The'Megamix' block moved to 12.00 am to 1.00 am each Sunday. Bibi no longer stayed in this block. In 1993, ` Extravadance' block was expanded; the new presenter for this was Cocto. In 1994,'Megamix' was axed, and'Extravadance' aired every Saturday nights from 10.00pm to 1.00am. It was automated. In 1995, ` Extravadance' stayed at the same timeslot, it was anchored by Cyril Monnier. In 1996, the show returned the 1994 format. In 1997, it was expanded, now Saturday nights from 10.00pm to 3.00am. The only presenter was Bibi. In 1998,'Extravadance' updated slot to: Saturday nights from 8.00pm to 11.00pm and Friday nights from 10.00pm to 2.00am. Both editions were presented by Vincent Richard.
In 1999, both editions were expanded, now Fridays from 10.00pm to 3.00am and Saturdays from 9.00pm to 12.00am. In 3/2000, there was, after no music mixed programming appeared on the schedule. In 2003, this type of program went by the name Mastermix, it broadcast every Saturday at the same timeslot as'Extravadance' before being axed. 3 DJs featured including Vincent Richard, DJ Mouss et DJ K. From this year, NRJ no longer contains an overnight announcer. In 2004, DJ Maze and Morgan took control of the show. In 2005,'Mastermix' was expanded on Saturdays, now 8.00pm-2.00am. DJs were added, including DJ Abdel and Placido, Morgan Nagoya, DJ Kost and Matt was the main presenter. In 2007,'Mastermix' was pushed up to an hour early: 7.00pm-1.00am. There was an hour dedicated to the show's replay at 3.00am. In 2008, the show was pared down, at this time only Sunday mornings from 12.00am to 2.00am. All the DJs were dropped, except Morgan Nagoya. In 2009, it was expanded to Saturdays 10.00pm-2.00am. Morgan Nagoya was no longer the standalone DJ, but Junior Caldera or Dim Chris mixed the music for an hour from midnight.
In 2010,'Mastermix' was added an extra Saturday morning edition from 12.00am to 2.00am, presented by Big Ali. Saturday night edition saw the addition of many DJs in the same timeslot, like Tiesto, Martin Solveig, Dim Chris, Bob Sinclar, Junior Caldera, Laurent Wolf. There was, for the first time after 18 years, its preceding program dedicated to the music mix, called'Royal Mix' and ran from 8.00pm to 10.00pm, with DJ Assad, DJ Milouz, Leo Lanvin. In 2011, ` Mastermix' was extended. Friday night/Saturday morning edition now ran from 12.00am to 6.00am and presented by Big Ali till 2.00am DJ DMB. Saturday night edition ran from 8.00 pm excluding 2.00am-4.00 am. The early slot from 4-6 was presented by DJ DMB. There was a Monday overnight edition from 12.00am to 2.00am and mixed by Remady, Junior Caldera, Dim Chris, Junior Caldera. In 2012, th
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