1.
Member states of the United Nations
–
The United Nations member states are the 193 sovereign states that are members of the United Nations and have equal representation in the UN General Assembly. The UN is the worlds largest intergovernmental organization, ahead of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. A recommendation for admission from the Security Council requires affirmative votes from at least nine of the fifteen members. The Security Councils recommendation must then be approved in the General Assembly by a majority vote. In principle, only states can become UN members. Although five members were not sovereign when they joined the UN and this is because the UN does not consider them to possess sovereignty, mainly due to the lack of international recognition or due to opposition from one of the permanent members. Observers are generally intergovernmental organizations and international organizations and entities whose statehood or sovereignty is not precisely defined, the other two original members, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, had been dissolved and their memberships in the UN not continued from 1992 by any one successor state. India was under British colonial rule, until gaining independence in 1947. The Philippines was a commonwealth with the United States, until gaining independence in 1946. New Zealand, while de facto sovereign at that time, only gained full capacity to enter into relations with states in 1947 when it passed the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act. This occurred 16 years after the British Parliament passed the Statute of Westminster Act in 1931 that recognised New Zealands autonomy, if judged by the Montevideo Convention criteria, New Zealand did not achieve full de jure statehood until 1947. The current members and their dates of admission are listed below with their official designations used by the United Nations, the member states can be sorted by their official designations and dates of admission by clicking on the buttons in the header of the columns. See related sections on former members by clicking on the links in the column See also, original members are listed with blue background. Both sides rejected compromise proposals to both states to participate in the UN, based on the One-China policy. By the 1970s, a shift had occurred in diplomatic circles. This effectively transferred the seat of China in the UN, including its permanent seat on the Security Council, from the ROC to the PRC, from the United Nations perspective the Republic of China is not a former member. No UN member was expelled in 1971, rather, the credentials of one Chinese delegation were rejected and the credentials of another Chinese delegation were accepted. In addition to losing its seat in the UN, the UN Secretary-General concluded from the resolution that the General Assembly considered Taiwan to be a province of China
2.
Mahatma Gandhi
–
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights, the honorific Mahatma —applied to him first in 1914 in South Africa—is now used worldwide. In India, he is also called Bapu and Gandhiji and he is unofficially called the Father of the Nation. After his return to India in 1915, he set about organising peasants, farmers, Gandhi famously led Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa and India. Gandhi attempted to practise nonviolence and truth in all situations, and he lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn hand-spun on a charkha. He ate simple food, and also undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and social protest. Eventually, in August 1947, Britain granted independence, but the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two dominions, a Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. As many displaced Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out, especially in the Punjab, eschewing the official celebration of independence in Delhi, Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to provide solace. In the months following, he undertook several fasts unto death to promote religious harmony, the last of these, undertaken on 12 January 1948 when he was 78, also had the indirect goal of pressuring India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan. Some Indians thought Gandhi was too accommodating, among them was Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, who assassinated Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by firing three bullets into his chest. Mahatma Gandhis birthday,2 October, is commemorated in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday and his father, Karamchand Uttamchand Gandhi, served as the diwan of Porbandar state. The Gandhi family originated from the village of Kutiana in what was then Junagadh State, in the late 17th or early 18th century, one Lalji Gandhi moved to Porbandar and entered the service of its ruler, the Rana. In 1831, Rana Khimojiraji died suddenly and was succeeded by his 12-year-old only son, as a result, Rana Khimojirajjis widow, Rani Rupaliba, became regent for her son. She soon fell out with Uttamchand and forced him to return to his village in Junagadh. While in Junagadh, Uttamchand appeared before its Nawab and saluted him with his hand instead of his right. In 1841, Vikmatji assumed the throne and reinstated Uttamchand as his diwan, in 1847, Rana Vikmatji appointed Uttamchands son, Karamchand, as diwan after disagreeing with Uttamchand over the states maintenance of a British garrison. Although he only had an education and had previously been a clerk in the state administration
3.
India
–
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
4.
Shirin Ebadi
–
Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer, a former judge and human rights activist and founder of Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. On 10 October 2003, Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially womens, childrens, and refugee rights. She was the first ever Iranian to receive the prize, in 2009, Ebadis award was allegedly confiscated by Iranian authorities, though this was later denied by the Iranian government. If true, she would be the first person in the history of the Nobel Prize whose award has been seized by state authorities. Ebadi lived in Tehran, but she has been in exile in the UK since June 2009 due to the increase in persecution of Iranian citizens who are critical of the current regime. In 2004, she was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world and she is also included in a published list of the 100 most influential women of all time. Ebadi was born in Hamadan, Iran and her father, Mohammad Ali Ebadi, was the citys chief notary public and a professor of commercial law. Her family moved to Tehran in 1948 and she was admitted to the law department of the University of Tehran in 1965 and in 1969, upon graduation, passed the qualification exams to become a judge. After a six-month internship period, she became a judge in March 1969. She continued her studies in University of Tehran in the meantime to pursue a degree in law in 1971. In 1975, she became the first woman president of the Tehran city court and she and other female judges protested and were assigned to the slightly higher position of law expert. She eventually requested early retirement as the situation remained unchanged, as her applications were repeatedly rejected, Ebadi was not able to practice as a lawyer until 1993, while she already had a law office permit. She used this time to write books and many articles in Iranian periodicals. Ebadi lectured law at the University of Tehran and she is a campaigner for strengthening the legal status of children and women, the latter of which played a key role in the May 1997 landslide presidential election of the reformist Mohammad Khatami. As a lawyer, she is known for taking up pro bono cases of dissident figures who have fallen foul of the judiciary and she has represented the family of Dariush Forouhar, a dissident intellectual and politician who was found stabbed to death at his home. His wife, Parvaneh Eskandari, was killed at the same time. The couple were among several dissidents who died in a spate of murders that terrorized Irans intellectual community. Suspicion fell on extremist hard-liners determined to put a stop to the liberal climate fostered by President Khatami
5.
Nonviolence
–
Nonviolence is the personal practice of being harmless to self and others under every condition. Mahavira, the twenty-fourth tirthankara of the Jain religion, was the torch-bearer of ahimsa and introduced the word to the world and he taught that to attain nirvana, one must abstain from violence. Nonviolence also has active or activist elements, in that believers accept the need for nonviolence as a means to political and social change. In modern times, nonviolent methods of action have been a tool for social protest. There are many examples of their use, fuller surveys may be found in the entries on civil resistance, nonviolent resistance and nonviolent revolution. The 1989 Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the Communist government is considered one of the most important of the largely nonviolent Revolutions of 1989. Most recently the nonviolent campaigns of Leymah Gbowee and the women of Liberia were able to achieve peace after a 14-year civil war and this story is captured in a 2008 documentary film Pray the Devil Back to Hell. In an essay, To Abolish War, evolutionary biologist Judith Hand advocated the use of nonviolent direct action to dismantle the global war machine. The term nonviolence is often linked with or used as a synonym for peace, and despite being frequently equated with passivity and pacifism, this is rejected by nonviolent advocates and activists. Nonviolence refers specifically to the absence of violence and is always the choice to do no harm or the least harm, sometimes nonviolence is passive, and other times it isnt. For example, if a house is burning down with mice or insects in it, there is at times confusion and contradiction written about nonviolence, harmlessness and passivity. A confused person may advocate nonviolence in a specific context while advocating violence in other contexts, for example, someone who passionately opposes abortion or meat eating may concurrently advocate violence to kill an abortionist or attack a slaughterhouse, which makes that person a violent person. On a national level, the strategy of nonviolent action seeks to undermine the power of rulers by encouraging people to withdraw their consent, the forms of nonviolence draw inspiration from both religious or ethical beliefs and political analysis. Commonly, both of these dimensions may be present within the thinking of particular movements or individuals, nicolas Walter noted the idea that nonviolence might work runs under the surface of Western political thought without ever quite disappearing. Walter noted Étienne de La Boéties Discourse on Voluntary Servitude and P. B, shelleys The Masque of Anarchy contain arguments for resisting tyranny without using violence. In 1838, William Lloyd Garrison helped found the New England Non-Resistance Society, in modern industrial democracies, nonviolent action has been used extensively by political sectors without mainstream political power such as labor, peace, environment and womens movements. Lesser known is the role that nonviolent action has played and continues to play in undermining the power of political regimes in the developing world. Also of primary significance is the notion that just means are the most likely to lead to just ends
6.
World Social Forum
–
The World Social Forum is explicit about not being a representative of all of those who attend and thus does not publish any formal statements on behalf of participants. It tends to meet in January at the time as its great capitalist rival. This date is consciously picked to promote their alternative answers to world problems in opposition to the World Economic Forum. 2) The World Social Forum at Porto Alegre was an event localized in time, 3) The World Social Forum is a world process. All the meetings that are held as part of this process have an international dimension and they are designed to ensure that globalization in solidarity will prevail as a new stage in world history. 6) The meetings of the World Social Forum do not deliberate on behalf of the World Social Forum as a body. No one, therefore, will be authorized, on behalf of any of the editions of the Forum, neither party representations nor military organizations shall participate in the Forum. Government leaders and members of legislatures who accept the commitments of this Charter may be invited to participate in a personal capacity. 10) The World Social Forum is opposed to all totalitarian and reductionist views of economy, development and history and to the use of violence as a means of social control by the State. The World Social Forum first met in 2001, but it had its roots in Latin American activism, namely the encuentro, a meeting which emphasizes dialogue and exchange of ideas among activists. One of the originators of the World Social Forum, Oded Grajew, of the Ethos Institute for Business and Social Responsibility, said in an interview with InMotion Magazine in 2004, Then I had the idea. Why not create the World Social Forum, as we have the World Economic Forum, why not have the World Social Forum -- the social is more important than the economic -- to have a space to show that we can have an alternative. This is not the way you can see the world. We have another way to see it, and, at the same time, force people to look, to make a choice. What is your vision of the world, the assertion that another world is possible is now an absolute necessity. The WSF was sponsored, in part, by the Porto Alegre government, the town was experimenting with an innovative model for local government which combined the traditional representative institutions with the participation of open assemblies of the people. 12,000 people attended from around the world, at the time, Brazil was also in a moment of transformation that later would lead to the electoral victory of the PT candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The second WSF, also held in Porto Alegre from 31 January to 5 February 2002, had over 12,000 official delegates representing people from 123 countries,60,000 attendees,652 workshops, and 27 talks
7.
Indian National Congress
–
The Indian National Congress is one of two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. Congress was founded in 1885 during the British Raj, its founders include Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, there have been seven Congress Prime Ministers, the first being Jawaharlal Nehru, and the most recent Manmohan Singh. The partys social liberal platform is considered to be on the centre-left of Indian politics. From 2004 to 2014, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, a coalition of regional parties. As of March 2017, the party is in power in five states, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya, in Bihar, it is a part of the ruling coalition. The Congress has previously directly ruled Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, in the 2014 general election, the Congress had its poorest post-independence general election performance, winning only 44 seats of the 543-member house. The party primarily endorses social liberalism—seeking to balance individual liberty and social justice, the Congress was founded in 1885 by Indian and British members of the Theosophical Society movement, including Scotsman Allan Octavian Hume. It has been suggested that the idea was conceived in a meeting of 17 men after a Theosophical Convention held in Madras in December 1884. Hume took the initiative, and in March 1885 the first notice convening the first Indian National Union to meet in Poona the following December was issued. Its objective was to obtain a share in government for educated Indians and to create a platform for civic. The first meeting was scheduled to be held in Poona, Hume organised the first meeting in Bombay with the approval of the Viceroy Lord Dufferin. Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee was the first president of the Congress, the first session was held from 28–31 December 1885, representing each province of India, the Partys delegates comprised 54 Hindus and 2 Muslims, the rest were of Parsi and Jain backgrounds. It also included Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Mohammed Ali Jinnah—later leader of the Muslim League and instrumental in the creation of Pakistan. The Congress was transformed into a movement by Surendranath Banerjea and Sir Henry Cotton during the partition of Bengal in 1905. Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915, in 1923 following the deaths of policemen at Chauri Chaura, Gandhi suspended the agitation. In protest, a number of leaders, Chittaranjan Das, Annie Besant, the Khilafat movement collapsed and the Congress was split. Although its members were predominantly Hindu, it had members from other religions, economic classes, at the Congress 1929 Lahore session under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, Purna Swaraj was declared as the partys goal, declaring 26 January 1930 as Purna Swaraj Diwas, Independence Day. The same year, Srinivas Iyenger was expelled from the party for demanding full independence, the British government allowed provincial elections in India in the winter of 1936–37 under the Government of India Act 1935
8.
Ahimsa
–
Ahimsa means not to injure and compassion and refers to a key virtue in Indian religions. The word is derived from the Sanskrit root hiṃs – to strike, hiṃsā is injury or harm, a-hiṃsā is the opposite of this, i. e. cause no injury, do no harm. Ahimsa is also referred to as nonviolence, and it applies to all living beings—including all animals—in ancient Indian religions, Ahimsa is one of the cardinal virtues and an important tenet of Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Ahimsa is a concept, inspired by the premise that all living beings have the spark of the divine spiritual energy, therefore. Ahimsa has also related to the notion that any violence has karmic consequences. While ancient scholars of Hinduism pioneered and over time perfected the principles of Ahimsa, most popularly, Mahatma Gandhi strongly believed in the principle of ahimsa. Ahimsas precept of cause no injury includes ones deeds, words, classical literature of Hinduism such as Mahabharata and Ramayana, as well as modern scholars debate principles of Ahimsa when one is faced with war and situations requiring self-defence. The historic literature from India and modern discussions have contributed to theories of Just War, and theories of appropriate self-defence. The word Ahimsa—sometimes spelled as Ahinsa—is derived from the Sanskrit root hiṃs – to strike, hiṃsā is injury or harm, a-hiṃsā is the opposite of this, There is a debate on the origins of the word Ahimsa, and how its meaning evolved. Mayrhofer as well as Dumot suggest the word may be han which means kill. Schmidt as well as Bodewitz explain the root word is hiṃs and the Sanskrit verb hinasti. Wackernagel-Debrunner concur with the latter explanation, ancient texts use ahimsa to mean non-injury, a broader concept than non-violence. Non-injury implies not killing others, as well as not hurting others mentally or verbally, in classical Sanskrit literature of Hinduism, another word Adrohi is sometimes used instead of Ahimsa, as one of the cardinal virtues necessary for moral life. One example is in Baudhayana Dharmasutra 2.6.23, Ahimsa as an ethical concept evolved in Vedic texts. The oldest scripts, along with discussing ritual animal sacrifices, indirectly mention Ahimsa, the term Ahimsa appears in the text Taittiriya Shakha of the Yajurveda, where it refers to non-injury to the sacrificer himself. It occurs several times in the Shatapatha Brahmana in the sense of non-injury, the Ahimsa doctrine is a late Vedic era development in Brahmanical culture. Bowker states the word appears but is uncommon in the principal Upanishads, Kaneda gives examples of the word Ahimsa in these Upanishads. Other scholars suggest Ahimsa as a concept that started evolving in the Vedas
9.
United Progressive Alliance
–
The United Progressive Alliance is a coalition of centre-left political parties in India formed after the 2004 general election. One of the members of UPA is Indian National Congress, whose National President Sonia Gandhi is also the chairperson of the UPA, the UPA was formed soon after the 2004 general elections when it had become clear that no party had won an absolute majority. The hitherto ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance had won 169 seats in the 543-member 14th Lok Sabha, as opposed the UPAs tally of 222 seats. The Left Front with 59 MPs, the Samajwadi Party with 39 MPs, V. Narasimha Rao, and earlier governments of V. P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar. An informal alliance had existed prior to the elections as several of the current constituent parties had developed seat-sharing agreements in many states, however, it was only after the election that the results of negotiations between parties were announced. Hence, government policies were generally perceived as centre-left, reflecting the centrist policies of the INC, during the tenure of Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, the constituents of the UPA were, by mutual consent, supporting his government. On 22 July 2008, the UPA narrowly survived a vote of confidence in the parliament brought on by the Left Front withdrawing their support in protest at the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement. The Congress party and its leaders along with then SP leader Amar Singh were accused for cash for vote scam in which they were accused for buying votes in Lok Sabha to save the government, the enquiry is still going on for the same. In the Indian General Election in 2009, the UPA won 262 seats, initially, UPA was given external support from the Left Front which totalled 59 MPs. Nevertheless, these parties were not a part of the government, the UPA thus had at least 335 MPs out of 543 supporting it at the time of its formation. The Left parties, despite ideological differences with the Congress, supported the UPA to ensure a secular government, chandrashekar Rao, who resigned his Lok Sabha seat. On 21 June 2008, the Bahujan Samaj Party, or the BSP, with 18 seats and their leader Mayawati said that she wouldnt enter an electoral alliance with either the Congress or the BJP. She also accused both parties of misusing the Central Bureau of Investigation or the CBI and attempting to implicate her in the Taj Corridor Case and she also accused Congress of making false promises to help the people of Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal regions as they were suffering from drought. On 26 March 2009, PMK declared that it would join the AIADMK led front and withdrew from the UPA, addressing a news conference, Owaisi said his party was compelled to take the decision due to the communal behaviour of Kiran Kumar Reddys government in Andhra Pradesh. The MIMs decision came after the government allegedly allowed construction of a canopy over a temple abutting the historic Charminar in alleged violation of orders to maintain status quo. Owaisi criticised the chief minister for ignoring the court order to maintain status quo. On 1 October 2012 the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, led by Babulal Marandi, the JVM was part of the UPA. Though this did not impact the stability of the government, the JVMs withdrawal of support came two weeks after a major UPA ally, the Trinamool Congress, pulled out of the alliance
10.
Sonia Gandhi
–
Sonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Indian politician, who has served as President of the Indian National Congress party since 1998. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi who belonged to the Nehru–Gandhi family and she finally agreed to join politics in 1997, in 1998, she was elected President of the Congress party. She has served as the Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha since 2004, in September 2010, on being re-elected for the fourth time, she became the longest serving president in the 125-year history of the Congress party. Her foreign birth has been a subject of debate and controversy. Also controversial was her friendship with Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi. Although Sonia is the fifth person to be leader of the Congress Party. She spent her adolescence in Orbassano, a town near Turin, being raised in a traditional Roman Catholic family and her father, Stefano Maino, was a building mason, who owned a small construction business in Orbassano. Stefano fought against the Soviet military alongside Hitlers Wehrmacht on the front in World War II, he called himself a loyal supporter of Benito Mussolini. Her mother and two still live around Orbassano. In 1964, she went to study English at the Bell Educational Trusts language school in the city of Cambridge, in 1965 at a Greek restaurant she met Rajiv Gandhi, who was enrolled in Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. Sonia and Rajiv Gandhi married in 1968, in a Hindu ceremony following which she moved into the house of her mother-in-law and then Prime Minister, the couple had two children, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra. Despite belonging to the influential Nehru family, Sonia and Rajiv avoided all involvement in politics, Rajiv worked as an airline pilot while Sonia took care of her family. When Indira Gandhi was ousted from office in 1977 in the aftermath of the Indian Emergency, Sonia Gandhis involvement with Indian public life began after the assassination of her mother-in-law and her husbands election as prime minister. As the prime ministers wife she acted as his official hostess, in 1984, she actively campaigned against her husbands sister-in-law Maneka Gandhi who was running against Rajiv in Amethi. At the end of Rajiv Gandhis five years in office, the Bofors scandal broke out, Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian business man believed to be involved, was said to be a friend of Sonia Gandhi, having access to the Prime Ministers official residence. The BJP has alleged that she appeared on the voters list in New Delhi prior to obtaining Indian citizenship in April 1983, former senior Congress leader and current President of India Pranab Mukherjee said that she surrendered her Italian passport to the Italian Embassy on 27 April 1983. Italian nationality law did not permit dual nationality until 1992, so, by acquiring Indian citizenship in 1983, she would automatically have lost Italian citizenship. After Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991 and Sonia Gandhi refused to become Prime Minister, over the next few years, however, the Congress fortunes continued to dwindle and it lost the 1996 elections
11.
Desmond Tutu
–
Desmond Mpilo Tutu, CH is a South African social rights activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. He was the first black Archbishop of Cape Town and bishop of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa. Tutus admirers see him as a man who, since the demise of apartheid, has been active in the defence of human rights. He has campaigned to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia and he has also compiled several books of his speeches and sayings. Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born in Klerksdorp, Transvaal, the second of four children of Zacheriah Zililo Tutu and his wife, Aletta Tutu, Tutus family moved to Johannesburg when he was twelve. His father was a teacher and his mother was a cleaner, here he met Trevor Huddleston, who was a parish priest in the black slum of Sophiatown. One day, said Tutu, I was standing in the street with my mother when a man in a priests clothing walked past. As he passed us he took off his hat to my mother, I couldnt believe my eyes—a white man who greeted a black working class woman. Although Tutu wanted to become a doctor, his family could not afford the training, Tutu studied at the Pretoria Bantu Normal College from 1951 to 1953, and went on to teach at Johannesburg Bantu High School and at Munsienville High School in Mogale City. However, he resigned following the passage of the Bantu Education Act, Tutu then attended Kings College London, where he received his bachelors and masters degrees in theology. During this time he worked as a curate, first at St Albans Church, Golders Green. He later returned to South Africa and became chaplain at the University of Fort Hare in 1967, from 1970 to 1972, Tutu lectured at the National University of Lesotho. In 1972, Tutu returned to the UK, where he was appointed vice-director of the Theological Education Fund of the World Council of Churches and he returned to South Africa in 1975 and was appointed Dean of St Marys Cathedral in Johannesburg. On 2 July 1955, Tutu married Nomalizo Leah Shenxane, a teacher whom he had met while at college and they had four children, Trevor Thamsanqa, Theresa Thandeka, Naomi Nontombi and Mpho Andrea, all of whom attended the Waterford Kamhlaba School in Swaziland. In 1975 he moved into what is now known as Tutu House on Sowetos well known Vilakazi Street which is also the location of a house in which the late Nelson Mandela once lived and he and his family were still living there in 2005. It is said to be one of the few streets in the world where two Nobel Prize winners have lived, in 1997, Tutu was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent successful treatment in the US. He subsequently became patron of the South African Prostate Cancer Foundation, beginning on his 79th birthday, Tutu entered a phased retirement from public life, starting with only one day per week in his office through February 2011. On 23 May 2011 in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, Tutu gave what was said to be his last major public speech outside of South Africa, Tutu honoured his commitments through May 2011 and added no more commitments
12.
Sweden
–
Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
13.
United Nations General Assembly
–
The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation. The General Assembly is the deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. It has also established a number of subsidiary organs. It can also reconvene for special and emergency special sessions and its composition, functions, powers, voting, and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter. The first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London, other questions are decided by a straightforward majority. Each member country has one vote, apart from approval of budgetary matters, including adoption of a scale of assessment, Assembly resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace, the one state, one vote power structure potentially allows states comprising just five percent of the world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote. During the 1980s, the Assembly became a forum for the North-South dialogue and these issues came to the fore because of the phenomenal growth and changing makeup of the UN membership. In 1945, the UN had 51 members and it now has 193, of which more than two-thirds are developing countries. Because of their numbers, developing countries are able to determine the agenda of the Assembly, the character of its debates. For many developing countries, the UN is the source of much of their diplomatic influence, the Assembly can consider the matter immediately with a view to making recommendations to Members for collective measures to maintain or restore international peace and security. The first session of the UN General Assembly was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London, the next few annual sessions were held in different cities, the second session in New York, and the third session was in Paris. It moved to the permanent United Nations Headquarters in New York at the start of its seventh regular annual session, on 14 October 1952. In December 1988, in order to hear Yasser Arafat, the General Assembly organised its 29th session in the Palace of Nations, all 193 members states of the United Nations are members of the General Assembly. The agenda for each session is planned up to seven months in advance and this is refined into a provisional agenda 60 days before the opening of the session. Items on the agenda are numbered, the General Assembly votes on many resolutions brought forth by sponsoring states. These are generally statements symbolizing the sense of the community about an array of world issues. Most General Assembly resolutions are not enforceable as a legal or practical matter, the General Assembly has authority to make final decisions in some areas such as the United Nations budget
14.
United Nations Postal Administration
–
The United Nations Postal Administration is the postal agency of the United Nations. Postage rates charged are identical to those of the host nation, only United Nations stamps in the appropriate currency may be used at a given United Nations office. In practice, however, most UN agencies use meters, since the stamps may not be used outside the UN offices, they may be purchased in bulk on the secondary market as discount postage at well below face value. On September 4,2007, the UNPA posted on its Web page new rules limiting the mailings it will accept, express mail and Priority Mail are no longer available to the public, and mailings from the public are limited to 100 pieces. The UNPA stated that the reason for this is that it was not established to provide all services. The idea for the UN to issue stamps originated in 1947 with José Arce the ambassador from Argentina and president of the United Nations General Assembly, who was himself a philatelist. The UNPA came into existence by agreement with the U. S. in 1951, prior to that, the UN used the facilities of the United States Post Office Department. Ordinarily, mail must be taken to the UN offices and franked with the appropriate UN stamps, from time to time, though, by agreement with the United States Postal Service, the UNPA maintains a temporary office elsewhere, usually at stamp shows or special events. The UNPA issued its first stamps for the New York offices in 1951, there was intense collector interest in the early issues, and a million stamps or more were sold of many of the early commemoratives. The scarcest item from this period, although still quite affordable, is the UN 10th anniversary souvenir sheet, Scott #38, a precancel of the first 1½-cent stamp that was used on a number of mass mailings has been extensively forged. By 1957, the UNPAs commemoratives regularly sold out, though they take several months to do so. Faced with this success, officials increased print runs from the usual million stamps to as many as five million, surprisingly, sales increased tremendously, and sales of each commemorative stamp remained in the 1.5 to 3 million range through the 1970s. In 1967, the UNPA issued five stamps in Canadian dollar denominations for use at the United Nations pavilion at Expo 1967 in Montreal and they became invalid when Expo closed. In 1968, the UNPA made an agreement with Swiss postal authorities, a 1979 agreement with Austria led to similar stamps for Vienna. A similar issue, in 1979, for the International Year of the Child sold out on the day of issue, the story made the front page of the New York Times. In 1980, the first of a series depicting members national flags sold nearly 3.5 million of each individual stamp. In 1981, interest began to diminish after controversy erupted concerning the UNPAs issuance of stamps for the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the proposal for issuance, and the issuance itself, was extensively and critically covered by the New York Times and by Linns Stamp News. The fifteen cent denomination became the first UNPA stamp since 1954 to sell fewer than a million copies more than a million were printed
15.
United Nations
–
The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict, at its founding, the UN had 51 member states, there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, the UNs mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in actions in Korea and the Congo. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military, the UN has six principal organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Trusteeship Council. UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, the UNs most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UNs work, the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UNs effectiveness have been mixed, some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but left no role for France, four Policemen was coined to refer to four major Allied countries, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China, which emerged in the Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto, the foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. During the war, the United Nations became the term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis, at the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, the General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN Secretary-General
16.
Algeria
–
Algeria, officially the Peoples Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a sovereign state in North Africa on the Mediterranean coast. Its capital and most populous city is Algiers, located in the far north. With an area of 2,381,741 square kilometres, Algeria is the tenth-largest country in the world, the country is a semi-presidential republic consisting of 48 provinces and 1,541 communes. Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been President since 1999, Berbers are the indigenous inhabitants of Algeria. Algeria is a regional and middle power, the North African country supplies large amounts of natural gas to Europe, and energy exports are the backbone of the economy. According to OPEC Algeria has the 16th largest oil reserves in the world, Sonatrach, the national oil company, is the largest company in Africa. Algeria has one of the largest militaries in Africa and the largest defence budget on the continent, most of Algerias weapons are imported from Russia, with whom they are a close ally. Algeria is a member of the African Union, the Arab League, OPEC, the countrys name derives from the city of Algiers. The citys name in turn derives from the Arabic al-Jazāir, a form of the older Jazāir Banī Mazghanna. In the region of Ain Hanech, early remnants of hominid occupation in North Africa were found, neanderthal tool makers produced hand axes in the Levalloisian and Mousterian styles similar to those in the Levant. Algeria was the site of the highest state of development of Middle Paleolithic Flake tool techniques, tools of this era, starting about 30,000 BC, are called Aterian. The earliest blade industries in North Africa are called Iberomaurusian and this industry appears to have spread throughout the coastal regions of the Maghreb between 15,000 and 10,000 BC. Neolithic civilization developed in the Saharan and Mediterranean Maghreb perhaps as early as 11,000 BC or as late as between 6000 and 2000 BC and this life, richly depicted in the Tassili nAjjer paintings, predominated in Algeria until the classical period. The amalgam of peoples of North Africa coalesced eventually into a native population that came to be called Berbers. These settlements served as market towns as well as anchorages, as Carthaginian power grew, its impact on the indigenous population increased dramatically. Berber civilization was already at a stage in which agriculture, manufacturing, trade, by the early 4th century BC, Berbers formed the single largest element of the Carthaginian army. In the Revolt of the Mercenaries, Berber soldiers rebelled from 241 to 238 BC after being unpaid following the defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War. They succeeded in obtaining control of much of Carthages North African territory, the Carthaginian state declined because of successive defeats by the Romans in the Punic Wars
17.
New Year's Day
–
New Years Day, also called simply New Years or New Year, is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar. In pre-Christian Rome under the Julian calendar, the day was dedicated to Janus, god of gateways and beginnings, other global New Years Day traditions include making New Years resolutions and calling ones friends and family. Mesopotamia instituted the concept of celebrating the new year in 2000 BC, celebrated new year around the time of the vernal equinox, the early Roman calendar designated March 1 as the new year. The calendar had just ten months, beginning with March and that the new year once began with the month of March is still reflected in some of the names of the months. September through December, our ninth through twelfth months, were positioned as the seventh through tenth months. Roman legend usually credited their second king Numa with the establishment of the months of January and February and these were first placed at the end of the year, but at some point came to be considered the first two months instead. The January Kalends came to be celebrated as the new year at some point after it became the day for the new consuls in 153 BC. Romans had long dated their years by these consulships, rather than sequentially, still, private and religious celebrations around the March new year continued for some time and there is no consensus on the question of the timing for January 1s new status. Once it became the new year, however, it became a time for family gatherings, in AD567, the Council of Tours formally abolished January 1 as the beginning of the year. These days were also astronomically and astrologically significant since, at the time of the Julian reform, March 25 had been understood as the spring equinox and December 25 as the winter solstice. Medieval calendars nonetheless often continued to display the months running from January to December, among the 7th century pagans of Flanders and the Netherlands, it was the custom to exchange gifts on the first day of the new year. This custom was deplored by Saint Eligius, who warned the Flemish and Dutch, make vetulas, little deer or iotticos or set tables at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks. Because of the leap year error in the Julian calendar, the date of Easter had drifted backward since the First Council of Nicaea decided the computation of the date of Easter in 325, by the sixteenth century, the drift from the observed equinox had become unacceptable. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII declared the Gregorian calendar widely used today, the Gregorian calendar reform also restored January 1 as New Years Day. Although most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar almost immediately, it was gradually adopted among Protestant countries. The British, for example, did not adopt the reformed calendar until 1752, until then, the British Empire – and its American colonies – still celebrated the new year on 25 March. Most nations of Western Europe officially adopted 1 January as New Years Day somewhat before they adopted the Gregorian Calendar, in Tudor England, New Years Day, along with Christmas Day and Twelfth Night, was celebrated as one of three main festivities among the twelve days of Christmastide. There, until the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752, Pope Gregory acknowledged 1 January as the beginning of the new year according to his reform of the Catholic Liturgical Calendar
18.
Valentine's Day
–
Valentines Day, also called Saint Valentines Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is an annual holiday celebrated on February 14. According to legend, during his imprisonment, Saint Valentine healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius, the day first became associated with romantic love within the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery. In Europe, Saint Valentines Keys are given to lovers as a romantic symbol, Valentines Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards, Saint Valentines Day is an official feast day in the Anglican Communion, as well as in the Lutheran Church. Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine, the Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred in 269 and was added to the calendar of saints by Pope Galesius in 496 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. The flower-crowned skull of Saint Valentine is exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, other relics are found at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland. Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian in 273 and he is buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location from Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni, oruch states that abstracts of the acts of the two saints were in nearly every church and monastery of Europe. The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, Saint Valentines head was preserved in the abbey of New Minster, Winchester, and venerated. February 14 is celebrated as St. Valentines Day in various Christian denominations, it has, for example, in addition, the feast day of Saint Valentine is also given in the calendar of saints of the Lutheran Church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, St. J. C. Cooper, in The Dictionary of Christianity, contemporary records of Saint Valentine were most probably destroyed during this Diocletianic Persecution in the early 4th century. The same events are found in Bedes Martyrology, which was compiled in the 8th century. It states that Saint Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person, Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead, because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing Julia, the jailers daughter and his forty-six member household came to believe in Jesus and were baptized
19.
International Women's Day
–
International Womens Day is celebrated on March 8 every year. It commemorates the movement for womens rights, the earliest Womens Day observance was held on February 28,1909 in New York and organized by the Socialist Party of America. On March 8,1917, in the capital of the Russian Empire, Petrograd and this was the beginning of the Russian Revolution. Seven days later, the Emperor of Russia Nicholas II abdicated, March 8 was declared a national holiday in Soviet Russia in 1917. The day was celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations. The earliest Womens Day observance was held on February 28,1909 in New York and it was called National womans day. It has been claimed that the event was commemorating a strike, the story that the day originated in a protest by women garment workers in New York on March 8,1857, has been described as a myth. In August 1910, an International Womens Conference was organized to precede the general meeting of the Socialist Second International in Copenhagen, delegates agreed with the idea as a strategy to promote equal rights including suffrage for women. The following year on March 19,1911 IWD was marked for the first time, by over a people in Austria, Denmark, Germany. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire alone, there were 300 demonstrations, in Vienna, women paraded on the Ringstrasse and carried banners honouring the martyrs of the Paris Commune. Women demanded that they be given the right to vote and to public office. They also protested against employment sex discrimination, americans continued to celebrate National Womens Day on the last Sunday in February. In 1913 Russian women observed their first International Womens Day on the last Saturday in February, although there were some women-led strikes, marches, and other protests in the years leading up to 1914, none of them happened on March 8. In 1914 International Womens Day was held on March 8, possibly because that day was a Sunday, the 1914 observance of the Day in Germany was dedicated to womens right to vote, which German women did not win until 1918. In London there was a march from Bow to Trafalgar Square in support of womens suffrage on March 8,1914, sylvia Pankhurst was arrested in front of Charing Cross station on her way to speak in Trafalgar Square. In 1917 demonstrations marking International Womens Day in Petrograd, Russia, Women in Saint Petersburg went on strike that day for Bread and Peace – demanding the end of World War I, an end to Russian food shortages, and the end of czarism. Leon Trotsky wrote,23 February was International Womans Day and meetings, but we did not imagine that this Womens Day would inaugurate the revolution. Revolutionary actions were foreseen but without date, but in morning, despite the orders to the contrary, textile workers left their work in several factories and sent delegates to ask for support of the strike… which led to mass strike
20.
World Water Day
–
World Water Day is an annual event celebrated on 22 March. The day focuses attention on the importance of access to clean water, sanitation. The day also focuses on advocating for the management of freshwater resources. World Water Day is supported by stakeholders across the globe, many organizations promote clean water for people and sustainable aquatic habitats. Events such as theatrical and musical celebrations, educational events, and campaigns to raise money for access to clean, UN-Water selects a theme for each year. Previous themes included, Why waste water, in 2017, Water and Jobs in 2016, and Water and Sustainable Development in 2015. The first International World Water Day, designated by the United Nations, was commemorated in 1993, World Water Day is an international observance day. It is meant to people around the world to learn more about water-related issues, tell others about these issues and take action to make a difference. One of these issues is the water crisis. The global water crisis includes challenges such as water scarcity, water pollution, inadequate water supply, the day brings to light the inequality of access to WASH services and the need to assure the human right to water and sanitation. UN-Water coordinates plans and programmes for the day in consultation with UN member organisations who share interest in that years theme, for example, in 2016 when the theme was Water and Jobs, UN-Water collaborated with the International Labour Organization. Activities have included the production and dissemination of publications or films, each year on World Water Day, the UN World Water Development Report, also relating to the chosen annual theme, is released. For example Michigan State University held a contest for best World Water Day poster in 2017, primary school children in the Phillipines participated in a My School Toilet contest in 2010. In addition to school-based educational events, a variety of events, such as seminars. This day was first formally proposed in Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the United Nations designated 22 March as International World Water Day in 1992 at the same conference. In 1993, the first World Water Day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly, in 2017, the theme is Why Waste Water. Which is about reducing and reusing wastewater, the theme is a play on words as it relates to both, the aspect of wasting water and issues around wastewater, namely treatment and reuse. Wastewater is a resource to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal Number 6
21.
World Blood Donor Day
–
Every year on 14 June, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day. The event, established in 2004, serves to raise awareness of the need for blood and blood products. Transfusion of blood and blood products helps save millions of lives every year and it can help patients suffering from life-threatening conditions live longer and with higher quality of life, and supports complex medical and surgical procedures. It also has an essential, life-saving role in maternal and perinatal care, access to safe and sufficient blood and blood products can help reduce rates of death and disability due to severe bleeding during delivery and after childbirth. In many countries, there is not a supply of safe blood. An adequate supply can only be assured through regular donations by voluntary unpaid blood donors, the WHO’s goal is for all countries to obtain all their blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donors by 2020. In 2014,60 countries have their blood supplies based on 99-100% voluntary unpaid blood donations, with 73 countries still largely dependent on family. World Blood Donor Day is celebrated every year by the people in countries around the world on 14 June. World Blood Donor Day is celebrated every year on the day of birthday anniversary of Karl Landsteiner on 14 June 1868 and this year campaign pays attention to stories from people whose lives have been saved through blood donation. The host country for World Blood Donor Day 2015 is China through its center in Shanghai, Shanghai Blood Centre. The focus of the WBDD2014 campaign was “Safe blood for saving mothers”, according to the World Health Organization,800 women die every day from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. Severe bleeding is the cause of 34% of maternal deaths in Africa, 31% in Asia and 21% in Latin America, the global host for the WBDD2014 event was Sri Lanka. Through its national blood service, Sri Lanka promotes voluntary unpaid donation to increase access to safe. The focus for the WBDD2013 campaign – which marked the 10th anniversary of World Blood Donor Day – was blood donation as a gift that saves lives, the host country for World Blood Donor Day 2013 was France. Through its national service, the Etablissement Français du Sang. The 2012 campaign focused on the idea that any person can become a hero by giving blood, Blood cannot yet be manufactured artificially, so voluntary blood donation remains vital for healthcare worldwide. Many anonymous blood donors save lives every day through their blood donations, list of blood donation agencies Transfusion medicine World Blood Donor Day 2013 World Blood Donor Day 2014
22.
April Fools' Day
–
April Fools Day is celebrated every year on April 1 by playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes. The jokes and their victims are called April fools, people playing April Fool jokes expose their prank by shouting April Fool. Some newspapers, magazines, and other published media report fake stories, although popular since the 19th century, the day is not a public holiday in any country. Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales contains the first recorded association between April 1 and foolishness, the custom of setting aside a day for the playing of harmless pranks upon ones neighbor is recognized widely throughout the world. Some precursors of April Fools Day include the Roman festival of Hilaria, in Chaucers Canterbury Tales, the Nuns Priests Tale is set Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two. Modern scholars believe there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts. Thus the passage originally meant 32 days after March, i. e.2 May, the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, readers apparently misunderstood this line to mean 32 March, i. e. April 1. In Chaucers tale, the vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox, in 1508, French poet Eloy dAmerval referred to a poisson d’avril, a possible reference to the holiday. In 1539, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote of a nobleman who sent his servants on foolish errands on April 1, in 1686, John Aubrey referred to the holiday as Fooles holy day, the first British reference. On April 1,1698, several people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to see the Lions washed, in the Middle Ages, New Years Day was celebrated on March 25 in most European towns. In some areas of France, New Years was a week-long holiday ending on April 1, some writers suggest that April Fools originated because those who celebrated on January 1 made fun of those who celebrated on other dates. The use of January 1 as New Years Day was common in France by the century. In the Netherlands, the origin of April Fools Day is often attributed to the Dutch victory at Brielle in 1572, op 1 april verloor Alva zijn bril. is a Dutch proverb, which can be translated to, On the first of April, Alva lost his glasses. In this case, the serve as a metaphor for Brielle. This theory, however, provides no explanation for the celebration of April Fools Day. Although no Biblical scholar or historian are known to have mentioned a relationship, in a 1908 edition of the Harpers Weekly cartoonist newspaper, Bertha R. McDonald wrote, authorities gravely back with it to the time of Noah, in the UK, an April Fool joke is revealed by shouting April fool. At the recipient, who becomes the April fool, a study in the 1950s, by folklorists Iona and Peter Opie, found that in the UK, and in countries whose traditions derived from the UK, the joking ceased at midday
23.
Abdelhamid Ben Badis
–
Abdelhamid Ben Badis was an emblematic figure of the Islamic Reform movement in Algeria. The Association would have later an influence on Algerian Muslim politics up to the Algerian War of Independence. In the same period, it set up many institutions where thousands of Algerian children of Muslim parents were educated, the Association also published a monthly journal, the Al-Chihab and Ben Badis contributed regularly to it between 1925 and his death in 1940. The journal informed its readers about the Associations ideas and thoughts on reform and spoke on other religious. Abdelhamid Ben Badis was of an old town middle-class family, which claimed descent from the Zirids, Ben Badis grew up in a scholarly and religious household and as a result memorized the Quran at the age of thirteen. He was still young when he was placed under the tutorship of Hamdan Lounissi. Lounissi had a significant influence on the youth of Ben Badis, Ben Badis never forgot Lounissis counsel. Lounissi remarked to him learn knowledge for the sake of knowledge, Lounissi was a stalwart defender of the rights of the Muslim inhabitants of Constantine. Lounissi extracted from young Ben Badis a promise to never enter into the service of France, in 1908, Ben Badis, decided to begin his first trip in order to advance his learning. He traveled to Tunis and enrolled at the Zeitouna University, which was, at the time, at the Zeitouna University, Ben Badis horizons widened. He learned a great deal of the Islamic Sciences and Arabic Language and he met many scholars who left an indelible mark on his personality and his knowledge of Islam. The teachings of Sheik Mohammed Al-Nakhli convinced him on the need to purge Muslim communities of deviant or incorrect religious practices such as the cult of saints, Sheik Muhammed Al-Taher Ben Achour influenced Ben Badis in finding his appreciation of the splendor of the Arabic language. In 1912, he was awarded a degree and he spent another year at the Zeituna University as a teacher. Ben Badis then embarked on a pilgrimage or Hajj to Mecca and spent three months in Medina and started giving lessons to pilgrims and residents in the Prophets mosque, in Madinah, Ben Badis met Muslim reformist Sheik Bachir Al Ibrahimi. They met regularly to formulate a plan for Islamic reform in Algeria. This was the start of a friendship which spurred the Islamic Reform movement In Algeria into a position of prominence and influence. Another Reformist, Sheik Husain Ahmed Al-Hindi also residing in Madinah was impressed by Ben Badis competence, after leaving Madinah, Ben Badis visited Syria and Egypt. At the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, he met with renowned scholars of literature, in 1913, Ben Badis returned to Algeria and settled in Constantine
24.
Earth Day
–
Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22. Worldwide, various events are held to support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day events in more than 193 countries are now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, on Earth Day 2016, the landmark Paris Agreement was signed by the United States, China, and some 120 other countries. This day of natures equipoise was later sanctioned in a written by McConnell. A month later a separate Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22,1970, Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in recognition of his work. Numerous communities celebrate Earth Week, a week of activities focused on the environmental issues that the world faces. In 2017, the March for Science occurs on Earth day and is followed by the Peoples Climate Mobilization, the first Earth Day celebrations took place in two thousand colleges and universities, roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States. More importantly, it brought 20 million Americans out into the sunshine for peaceful demonstrations in favor of environmental reform. Environmental groups have sought to make Earth Day into a day of action to change human behavior, in the winter of 1969–1970, a group of students met at Columbia University to hear Denis Hayes talk about his plans for Earth Day. Among the group were Fred Kent, Pete Grannis, and Kristin and this group agreed to head up the New York City activities within the national movement. Fred Kent took the lead in renting an office and recruiting volunteers, the big break came when Mayor Lindsay agreed to shut down Fifth Avenue for the event. A giant cheer went up in the office on that day, from that time on we used Mayor Lindsays offices and even his staff. I was Speaker Coordinator but had help from Lindsay staffer Judith Crichton. In addition to shutting down Fifth Avenue, Mayor John Lindsay made Central Park available for Earth Day. In Union Square, New York Times estimated crowds of up to 20,000 people at any time and, perhaps. Since Manhattan was also the home of NBC, CBS, ABC, The New York Times, Time, Senator Edmund Muskie was the keynote speaker on Earth Day in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. Unlike the first Earth Day in 1970, this 20th Anniversary was waged with stronger marketing tools, greater access to television and radio, and multimillion-dollar budgets. Two separate groups formed to sponsor Earth Day events in 1990, The Earth Day 20 Foundation, assembled by Edward Furia, Senator Gaylord Nelson, the original founder of Earth Day, was honorary chairman for both groups
25.
Election day
–
Election day refers to the day when general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are held on a Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate. However, some countries, or regions within a country, always make an election day a public holiday. Many countries permit absentee ballots or early ballots to be cast by mail prior to the election, an election day usually culminates in an election night when the results of the election are tallied and winners are announced. Netherlands South Africa, elections have been held on a Wednesday in either April or June every 5 years since 1994 South Korea, making the election day as a holiday. There are some exceptions, as Wednesday was not covered by the available dates, the Netherlands holds elections on Thursday, while Denmark holds elections on Sunday
26.
International Workers' Day
–
Being a traditional European spring celebration, May Day is a national public holiday in several European countries. The date is currently celebrated specifically as Labour Day or International Workers Day in the majority of countries, some countries celebrate a Labour Day on other dates significant to them, such as the United States, which celebrates Labor Day on the first Monday of September. Beginning in the late 19th century, as the union and labour movements grew. In the United States and Canada, a September holiday, called Labor or Labour Day, was first proposed in the 1880s. In 1882, Matthew Maguire, a machinist, first proposed a Labor Day holiday on the first Monday of September while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union of New York. Others argue that it was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor in May 1882, after witnessing the annual festival held in Toronto. In 1887, Oregon was the first state of the United States to make it a public holiday. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894. Thus by 1887 in North America, Labor Day was an established, official holiday but in September,1 May was chosen to be International Workers Day to commemorate the 4 May 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago. The police were trying to disperse an assembly during a general strike for the eight-hour workday. The police responded by firing on the workers, killing four demonstrators, the following day on 5 May in Milwaukee Wisconsin, the state militia fired on a crowd of strikers killing seven, including a schoolboy and a man feeding chickens in his yard. May Day was formally recognised as an event at the Internationals second congress in 1891. Subsequently, the May Day riots of 1894 occurred, the congress made it mandatory upon the proletarian organisations of all countries to stop work on 1 May, wherever it is possible without injury to the workers. May Day has long been a point for demonstrations by various socialist, communist and anarchist groups. May Day is one of the most important holidays in countries such as the Peoples Republic of China, North Korea, Cuba. May Day celebrations in these countries typically feature elaborate workforce parades, in 1955, the Catholic Church dedicated 1 May to Saint Joseph the Worker. Saint Joseph is the saint of workers and craftsmen, among others. It became an symbol of that period
27.
Mother's Day
–
Mothers Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on days in many parts of the world. It complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Fathers Day, Siblings Day, in the United States, celebration of Mothers Day began in the early 20th century. However, in countries, Mothers Day has become synonymous with these older traditions. The modern holiday of Mothers Day was first celebrated in 1908, St Andrews Methodist Church now holds the International Mothers Day Shrine. Her campaign to make Mothers Day a recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, Ann Jarvis had been a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War, and created Mothers Day Work Clubs to address public health issues. In 1908, the US Congress rejected a proposal to make Mothers Day an official holiday, in 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating Mothers Day, held on the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers. Although Jarvis was successful in founding Mothers Day, she became resentful of the commercialization of the holiday, by the early 1920s, Hallmark Cards and other companies had started selling Mothers Day cards. Jarvis believed that the companies had misinterpreted and exploited the idea of Mothers Day, as a result, she organized boycotts of Mothers Day, and threatened to issue lawsuits against the companies involved. Jarvis argued that people should appreciate and honor their mothers through handwritten letters expressing their love and gratitude, instead of buying gifts, Jarvis protested at a candy makers convention in Philadelphia in 1923, and at a meeting of American War Mothers in 1925. By this time, carnations had become associated with Mothers Day, and the selling of carnations by the American War Mothers to raise money angered Jarvis, in 1912 Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases second Sunday in May and Mothers Day, and created the Mothers Day International Association. She specifically noted that Mothers should be a singular possessive, for family to honor its own mother. Both the secular and religious Mother Day are present in Greece, Mothering Sunday is often referred to as Mothers Day even though it is an unrelated celebration. In some countries, the date adopted is one significant to the majority religion, other countries selected a date with historical significance. For example, Bolivias Mothers Day is the date of a battle in which women participated, see the International history and tradition section for the complete list. Ex-communist countries usually celebrated International Womens Day instead of Mothers Day, some ex-communist countries, such as Russia, still follow this custom or simply celebrate both holidays, which is the custom in Ukraine. Kyrgyzstan has recently introduced Mothers Day, but year on year is increasing in status. Mothers Day is celebrated in more than 46 countries throughout the world, on this day, many people pray in churches in honor of mothers, while some gift them presents on this day to express their love
28.
Children's Day
–
Childrens Day is recognized on various days in many places around the world. Dr. Leonard named the day Rose Day, though it was later named Flower Sunday, Childrens Day was first officially declared a national holiday by the Republic of Turkey in 1929 with the set date of 23 April. Childrens Day has been celebrated nationally since 1923 with the government, the International Day for Protection of Children is observed in many countries as Childrens Day on 1 June since 1950. It was established by the Womens International Democratic Federation on its congress in Moscow, major global variants include a Universal Childrens Holiday on 20 November, by United Nations recommendation. Universal Childrens Day takes place annually on 20 November and that is observed to promote the objectives outlined in the Charter and for the welfare of children. On 20 November 1959 the United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20 November 1989 and can be found on the Council of Europe website. In 2000, the Millennium Development Goals outlined by world leaders in order to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015, albeit this applies to all people, the main objective is with regard to children. UNICEF is dedicated to meeting the six of eight goals that apply to the needs of children so that they are all entitled to basic rights written in the 1989 international human rights treaty. UNICEF delivers vaccines, works with policymakers for good care and education and works exclusively to help children. In September 2012, the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations led the initiative for the education of children and he firstly wants every child to be able to attend school, a goal by 2015. Secondly, to improve the skillset acquired in these schools, finally, implementing policies regarding education to promote peace, respect and environmental concern. Children are used as labourers in some countries, immersed in armed conflict, living on the streets, suffering by differences be it religion, minority issues, Children feeling the effects of war can be displaced because of the armed conflict and/or suffer physical and psychological trauma. Currently there are about 153 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 who are forced into child labour, the International Labour Organization in 1999 adopted the Prohibition and Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour including slavery, child prostitution and child pornography. A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child can be found on the UNICEF website, canada co-chaired the World Summit for children in 1990 and in 2002 the United Nations reaffirmed the commitment to complete the agenda of the 1990 World Summit. This added to the UN Secretary-Generals report We the Children, End-of Decade review of the follow-up to the World Summit for Children, the United Nations childrens agency released a study referencing the population increase of children will make up 90 per cent of the next billion people. The officially recognized date of Childrens Day varies from country to country and this section lists some significant examples, in order of date of observance. In Albania, Childrens Day is celebrated on 1 June, in Argentina, Childrens Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of August. In Armenia, Childrens Day is celebrated on June 1, Childrens Week is an annual event celebrated in Australia during the fourth week in October, from the Saturday before Universal Childrens Day to the following Sunday
29.
Father's Day
–
Fathers Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic Europe, it has been celebrated on March 19 since the Middle Ages and this celebration was brought to the Americans by the Spanish and Portuguese, and in Latin America, Fathers Day is still celebrated on 19 March. In the Coptic Church, the celebration of fatherhood is also observed on St Josephs Day and this Coptic celebration may date back to the fifth century. Fathers Day was not celebrated in the US, outside Catholic traditions, as a civic celebration in the US, it was inaugurated in the early 20th century to complement Mothers Day by celebrating fathers and male parenting. Clayton suggested that her pastor Robert Thomas Webb honor all those fathers, the local church and council were overwhelmed and they did not even think of promoting the event, and it was not celebrated again for many years. The original sermon was not reproduced by the press and it was lost, finally, Clayton was a quiet person, who never promoted the event and never talked to other persons about it. In 1911, Jane Addams proposed that a citywide Fathers Day celebration be held in Chicago, in 1912, there was a Fathers Day celebration in Vancouver, Washington, suggested by Methodist pastor J. J. Berringer of the Irvington Methodist Church. They mistakenly believed that they had been the first to celebrate such a day and they followed a 1911 suggestion by the Portland Oregonian. Meek, a member of Lions Clubs International, claimed that he had first come up with the idea for Fathers Day in 1915, meek said that the third Sunday in June was chosen because it was his birthday. The Lions Club has named him the Originator of Fathers Day, meek made many efforts to promote Fathers Day and make it an official holiday. On June 19,1910, a Fathers Day celebration was held at the YMCA in Spokane and her father, the civil war veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who raised his six children there. She was also a member of Old Centenary Presbyterian Church, where she first proposed the idea, after hearing a sermon about Jarvis Mothers Day in 1909 at Central Methodist Episcopal Church, she told her pastor that fathers should have a similar holiday to honor them. Although she initially suggested June 5, her fathers birthday, the pastors did not have time to prepare their sermons. Several local clergymen accepted the idea, and on June 19,1910, however, in the 1920s, Dodd stopped promoting the celebration because she was studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, and it faded into relative obscurity, even in Spokane. In the 1930s, Dodd returned to Spokane and started promoting the celebration again and she had the help of those trade groups that would benefit most from the holiday, for example the manufacturers of ties, tobacco pipes, and any traditional present for fathers. By 1938, she had the help of the Fathers Day Council, founded by the New York Associated Mens Wear Retailers to consolidate, however, the said merchants remained resilient and even incorporated these attacks into their advertisements. By the mid-1980s, the Fathers Day Council wrote, has become a Second Christmas for all the mens gift-oriented industries, a bill to accord national recognition of the holiday was introduced in Congress in 1913. US President Calvin Coolidge recommended in 1924 that the day be observed throughout the entire nation, two earlier attempts to formally recognize the holiday had been defeated by Congress
30.
Independence Day (Algeria)
–
Independence Day, observed annually on 3 July every year, is a National Holiday in Algeria commemorating Algerias independence from France on 3 July 1962. Although often fratricidal, it ultimately united Algerians and seared the value of independence, abusive tactics of the French Army remains a controversial subject in France to this day. In the early morning hours of November 1,1954, the National Liberation Front launched attacks throughout Algeria in the opening salvo of a war of independence, an important watershed in this war was the massacre of civilians by the FLN near the town of Philippeville in August 1955. The government claimed it killed 1,273 guerrillas in retaliation, according to the FLN,12,000 Muslims perished in an orgy of bloodletting by the forces and police. After Philippeville, all-out war began in Algeria, the FLN fought largely using guerrilla and terrorist tactics whilst the French counter-insurgency tactics often included severe reprisals and repression. Eventually, protracted negotiations led to a signed by France. The Evian accords guaranteed the religious and property rights of French settlers, much of the countryside and agriculture was devastated, along with the modern economy, which had been dominated by urban European settlers. French sources estimated that at least 70,000 Muslim civilians were killed or abducted and presumed killed, along with them fled most Algerians of Jewish descent and those Muslim Algerians who had supported a French Algeria. 30-150,000 pro-French Muslims were also killed in Algeria by FLN in post-war reprisals, public holidays in Algeria The Colonial System and Algerian Nationalism
31.
International Day of Peace
–
The International Day of Peace, sometimes unofficially known as World Peace Day, is observed annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to peace, and specifically the absence of war and violence. The day was first celebrated in 1982, and is kept by many nations, political groups, military groups, and people. In 2013, for the first time, the Day was dedicated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to peace education, to inaugurate the day, the United Nations Peace Bell is rung at UN Headquarters. The date initially chosen was the opening day of the annual sessions of the General Assembly. Tuesday 21 September 1982 was the first occurrence of the International Day of Peace, the theme of the first International Day of Peace was the Right to peace of people. It was accepted that it would be impractical for one state to ask for a particular slot at a general UN ceremony. However, events have held at the United Nations in New York, with the support of Kofi Annan. That year the day was changed from the third Tuesday to specifically the twenty-first day of September, a poster by 15-year-old Taiwanese school student Yang Chih-Yuan was announced as one of the winners, but the announcement was withdrawn. The government of Taiwan later issued a stamp containing the image, in 2005, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for the worldwide observance of a 22-hour cease-fire and day of nonviolence to mark the Day. In 2006, then Secretary-General Kofi Annan rang the Peace Bell for the last time during his Term in office, the United Kingdom held the primary public and official observation of the United Nations International Day of Peace and Non-Violence in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. This was organized by Peace Parade UK, vincent Coyle of Derry, Northern Ireland gave his full support. In 2011 the UN Peace Days theme was Peace and Democracy, many organizations held Peace Day events worldwide in 2011. There were school activities, music concerts, global comedy clubs, peace doves, prayer vigils, peace conferences, organizations like Peace One Day, Wiser and Culture of Peace have been active participants in Peace Day activities for years. Particular focus in this included a cessation of hostilities on the day. The Peace One Day Celebration concert on Peace Day in 2012 was held at Wembley Arena to celebrate Global Truce 2012. The Global Truce campaign will continue and be named with each year it leads up to, involving more partners and coalitions for mass participation, wexford, Ireland, has been chosen to be School of Peace for 2013. Peace One Day launched a new theme for Global Truce 2013, to bring awareness to Peace Day, thinkPEACE promoted a Peace Day Comedy program, Stand-Up For International Peace, held in over 50 global comedy clubs in 2013
32.
Halloween
–
It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints, martyrs, and all the faithful departed. Some academics, however, support the view that Halloween began independently as a solely Christian holiday. Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows Eve, a reflected in the eating of certain foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes. The word Halloween or Halloween dates to about 1745 and is of Christian origin, the word Halloween means hallowed evening or holy evening. It comes from a Scottish term for All Hallows Eve, in Scots, the word eve is even, and this is contracted to een or een. Over time, Hallow Een evolved into Halloween, although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English All Hallows Eve is itself not seen until 1556. Todays Halloween customs are thought to have influenced by folk customs and beliefs from the Celtic-speaking countries. Samhain was the first and most important of the four days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and was celebrated on 31 October–1 November in Ireland, Scotland. A kindred festival was held at the time of year by the Brittonic Celts, called Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Kalan Gwav in Cornwall and Kalan Goañv in Brittany. For the Celts, the day ended and began at sunset, Samhain and Calan Gaeaf are mentioned in some of the earliest Irish and Welsh literature. The names have been used by historians to refer to Celtic Halloween customs up until the 19th century, samhain/Calan Gaeaf marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the darker half of the year. Like Beltane/Calan Mai, it was seen as a liminal time and this meant the Aos Sí, the spirits or fairies, could more easily come into our world and were particularly active. Most scholars see the Aos Sí as degraded versions of ancient gods whose power remained active in the minds even after they had been officially replaced by later religious beliefs. The Aos Sí were both respected and feared, with individuals often invoking the protection of God when approaching their dwellings, at Samhain, it was believed that the Aos Sí needed to be propitiated to ensure that the people and their livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the crops, were left outside for the Aos Sí, the souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Places were set at the table and by the fire to welcome them. The belief that the souls of the return home on one night of the year. In 19th century Ireland, candles would be lit and prayers offered for the souls of the dead
33.
Algerian War
–
An important decolonization war, it was a complex conflict characterized by guerrilla warfare, maquis fighting, and the use of torture by both sides. The conflict also became a war between loyalist Algerians supporting a French Algeria and their Algerian nationalist counterparts. A referendum took place on 8 April 1962 and the French electorate approved the Évian Accords, the planned French withdrawal led to a state crisis, to various assassination attempts on de Gaulle, and to some attempts at military coups. Upon independence, in 1962,900,000 European-Algerians fled to France, in fear of the FLNs revenge, the French government was totally unprepared for the vast number of refugees, which caused turmoil in France. On the pretext of a slight to their consul, the French invaded Algiers in 1830, in 1834, Algeria became a French military colony and was subsequently declared by the constitution of 1848 to be an integral part of France and divided into three departments. Many French and other Europeans later settled in Algeria, under the Second Empire, the Code de lindigénat was implemented by the Sénatus-consulte of July 14,1865. Its first article stipulated, The indigenous Muslim is French, however and he may be admitted to serve in the army and the navy. He may be called to functions and civil employment in Algeria and he may, on his demand, be admitted to enjoy the rights of a French citizen, in this case, he is subjected to the political and civil laws of France. However, prior to 1870, fewer than 200 demands were registered by Muslims and 152 by Jewish Algerians, the 1865 decree was then modified by the 1870 Crémieux decrees, which granted French nationality to Jews living in one of the three Algerian departments. In 1881, the Code de lIndigénat made the official by creating specific penalties for indigènes. The Law of September 20,1947, granted French citizenship to all Algerian subjects, Algeria was unique to France because, unlike all other overseas possessions acquired by France during the 19th century, only Algeria was considered and legally classified an integral part of France. Both Muslim and European Algerians took part in World War I, Algerian Muslims served as tirailleurs and spahis, and French settlers as Zouaves or Chasseurs dAfrique. Within this context, a grandson of Abd el-Kadir spearheaded the resistance against the French in the first half of the 20th century and he was a member of the directing committee of the French Communist Party. The North African Star broke from the PCF in 1928, before being dissolved in 1929 at Pariss demand, the pieds-noirs violently demonstrated against it and the North African Party opposed it, leading to the projects abandonment. This new party was dissolved in 1939, under Vichy, the French state attempted to abrogate the Crémieux decree in order to suppress the Jews French citizenship, but the measure was never implemented. On the other hand, nationalist leader Ferhat Abbas founded the Algerian Popular Union in 1938, in 1943 Abbas wrote the Algerian Peoples Manifesto. In the early morning hours of November 1,1954, FLN maquisards attacked military and he declared in the National Assembly, One does not compromise when it comes to defending the internal peace of the nation, the unity and integrity of the Republic. The Algerian departments are part of the French Republic and they have been French for a long time, and they are irrevocably French
34.
Christmas Eve
–
Christmas Eve is the day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation of Christmas Day, together, both days are considered one of the most culturally significant celebrations in Christendom and Western society. Many churches still ring their bells and hold prayers in the evening, for example. Since tradition holds that Jesus was born at night, Midnight Mass is celebrated on Christmas Eve, traditionally at midnight, roman Catholics and high church Anglicans traditionally celebrate Midnight Mass, which begins either at or sometime before midnight on Christmas Eve. This ceremony, which is held in churches throughout the world, celebrates the birth of Christ, Midnight Mass is popular in Poland. In recent years churches have scheduled their Midnight Mass as early as 7 pm. In Spanish-speaking areas, the Midnight Mass is sometimes referred to as Misa de Gallo, in the Philippines, the custom has expanded into the nine-day Simbang Gabi, when Filipinos attend dawn Masses from 16 December, continuing daily until Christmas Eve. In 2009 Vatican officials scheduled the Midnight Mass to start at 10 pm so that the 82-year-old Pope Benedict XVI would not have too late a night. Whilst it does not include any kind of Mass, the Church of Scotland has a service beginning just before midnight, the Church of Scotland no longer holds Hogmanay services on New Years Eve, however. The Christmas Eve Services are still very popular, on Christmas Eve, the Christ Candle in the center of the Advent wreath is traditionally lit in many church services. In candlelight services, while singing Silent Night, each member of the congregation receives a candle, lutherans traditionally practice Christmas Eve Eucharistic traditions typical of Germany and Scandinavia. Krippenspiele, special music for organ, vocal and brass choirs. A nativity scene may be erected indoors or outdoors, and is composed of figurines depicting the infant Jesus resting in a manger, Mary, other figures in the scene may include angels, shepherds, and various animals. The figures may be made of any material, and arranged in a stable or grotto, the Magi may also appear, and are sometimes not placed in the scene until the week following Christmas to account for their travel time to Bethlehem. While most home nativity scenes are packed away at Christmas or shortly thereafter, Christmas Vespers are popular in the early evening, and midnight services are also widespread in regions which are predominantly Lutheran. The old Lutheran tradition of a Christmas Vigil in the morning hours of Christmas Day can still be found in some regions. Methodists celebrate the evening in different ways, some, in the early evening, come to their church to celebrate Holy Communion with their families. The mood is very solemn, and the visible light is the Advent Wreath
35.
Christmas
–
In several countries, celebrating Christmas Eve on December 24 has the main focus rather than December 25, with gift-giving and sharing a traditional meal with the family. Although the month and date of Jesus birth are unknown, by the fourth century the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December 25. Today, most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar and this is not a disagreement over the date of Christmas as such, but rather a preference of which calendar should be used to determine the day that is December 25. Although it is not known why December 25 became a date of celebration, December 25 was the date the Romans marked as the winter solstice, the shortest, and therefore darkest day of the year. Jesus was identified with the Sun based on an Old Testament verse, the date is exactly nine months following Annunciation, when the conception of Jesus is celebrated. Finally, the Romans had a series of pagan festivals near the end of the year, so Christmas may have been scheduled at this time to appropriate, or compete with, one or more of these festivals. The celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, the economic impact of Christmas has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world. Christmas is a form of Christs mass. It is derived from the Middle English Cristemasse, which is from Old English Crīstesmæsse, crīst is from Greek Khrīstos, a translation of Hebrew Māšîaḥ, Messiah, meaning anointed, and mæsse is from Latin missa, the celebration of the Eucharist. The form Christenmas was also used, but is now considered archaic and dialectal, it derives from Middle English Cristenmasse. In addition to Christmas, the holiday has been known by other names throughout its history. The Anglo-Saxons referred to the feast as midwinter, or, more rarely, Nativity, meaning birth, is from Latin nātīvitās. In Old English, Gēola referred to the corresponding to December and January. Noel entered English in the late 14th century and is from the Old French noël or naël, itself ultimately from the Latin nātālis, the canonical gospels of Luke and Matthew both describe Jesus as being born in Bethlehem in Judea, to a virgin mother. In the Gospel of Luke account, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census and it says that angels proclaimed him a savior for all people, and shepherds came to adore him. In the Matthew account, magi follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, King Herod orders the massacre of all the boys less than two years old in Bethlehem, but the family flees to Egypt and later settles in Nazareth. The Nativity stories of Matthew and Luke are prominent in the gospels, the first recorded Christmas celebration was in Rome in 336. Christmas played a role in the Arian controversy of the fourth century, the feast regained prominence after 800, when Charlemagne was crowned emperor on Christmas Day
36.
New Year's Eve
–
In the Gregorian calendar, New Years Eve, the last day of the year, is on December 31 which is the seventh day of the Christmas season. In many countries, New Years Eve is celebrated at evening gatherings, where many people dance, eat, drink alcoholic beverages. Some Christians attend a watchnight service, the celebrations generally go on past midnight into January 1. Samoa, Tonga and Kiritimati, part of Kiribati, are the first places to welcome the New Year while American Samoa, New Year traditions and celebrations in Canada vary regionally. New Years Eve is generally a social holiday, in some areas, such as in rural Quebec, people ice fish in the old days. Since 2000, the highlight of New Years Eve celebrations is in Montreals old port, which comes alive with concerts that take place and fireworks at midnight. From 1956 to 1976, Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians serenaded Canada on the CBC, via a feed from CBS, after Lombardos death in 1977, the Royal Canadians continued on CBC and CBS until 1978. Following the finale of the series, the original cast continued to participate in New Years Eve specials in the years following. Similarly, the CBCs French language network Ici Radio-Canada Télé airs its own yearly New Years Eve comedy special, Bye Bye. Unlike Year of the Farce, Bye Bye has been presented by comedians, originally running from 1968 to 1998. Mexicans celebrate New Years Eve, by eating a grape with each of the chimes of a clocks bell during the midnight countdown. Mexican sweet bread is baked with a coin or charm hidden in the dough, when the bread is served, the recipient of the slice with the coin or charm is said to be blessed with good luck in the New Year. At the same time, they are expressed for all the good things during the year that is ending so that they continue in the new year. Mexicans celebrate with a dinner with their families, the traditional meal being turkey or pork loin. Afterwards many people attend parties outside the home, for example, in Mexico City there is a street festival on New Years Eve centered on the Zocalo, the citys main square. Celebrations include firecrackers, fireworks and sparklers and shouts of ¡Feliz Año Nuevo, in Puerto Rico, New Years Eve is celebrated with friends and family. The Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan is the attraction for Puerto Ricans during the celebration. It has Latin music and fireworks at midnight along with the signature song Auld Lang Syne in Spanish, in the United States, New Years Eve is celebrated with formal parties, family-oriented activities, and other large public events
37.
Christmas and holiday season
–
It incorporates a period of shopping which comprises a peak season for the retail sector, and a period of sales at the end of the season. Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies when trees decorated with ornaments, the term Advent calendar survives in secular Western parlance as a term referring to a countdown to Christmas Day from the beginning of December. Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival in honor of the deity Saturn, held on December 17 of the Julian calendar, the poet Catullus called it the best of days. The tradition of celebrating the birth of Christ on December 25 appears to date from the 4th century when Christianity was adopted as the religion of the Roman Empire. In the Christian tradition the Christmas season is a beginning on Christmas Day. In some churches the season continues until the day before the Epiphany, If the Epiphany is kept on January 6, the Church of Englands use of the term Christmas season corresponds to the Twelve Days of Christmas, and ends on Twelfth Night. This short Christmas season is preceded by Advent, which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, the Anglican Communion and some Protestant churches follow the Christmas season with an Epiphany season which lasts until Shrove Tuesday which is also known as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday. Other European cultures have their own carnival festivities between new year and Lent, according to Yanovski et al. in the United States the holiday season is generally considered to begin with the day after Thanksgiving and end after New Years Day. According to Axelrad, the season in the United States encompasses at least Christmas and New Years Day, fire Administration defines the Winter Holiday Season as the period from December 1 to January 7. According to Chen et al. in China the Christmas and holiday season is considered to begin with the winter solstice. Some stores and shopping malls advertise their Christmas merchandise beginning after Halloween or even in late October, the precise definition of feasts and festival days that are encompassed by the Christmas and holiday season has become controversial in the United States over recent decades. The exchange of gifts is central to the Christmas and holiday season, and this comprises a peak time for the retail sector at the start of the holiday season and a period of sales at the end of the season, the January sales. Although once dedicated mostly to white sales and clearance sales, the January sales now comprise both winter close-out sales and sales comprising the redemption of gift cards given as presents. Young-Bean Song, director of analytics at the Atlas Institute in Seattle, states that it is a myth that the shopping season starts with Thanksgiving. January is a key part of the holiday season, stating that for the U. S. e-commerce sector January sales volumes matched December sales volumes in the 2004/2005 Christmas and holiday season. Many people find this time particularly stressful, as a remedy, and as a return to what they perceive as the root of Christmas, some practice alternative giving. During the 2014 holiday shopping season, retail sales in the United States are forecast to increase to a total of over $616 billion, the average US holiday shopper is expected to spend over $800, of which close to 73 percent will be in gifts. In 2015, retail sales in the United States increased to a total of over $630 billion, the average US holiday shopper spent on average $805
