WNBC
WNBC, virtual channel 4, is the flagship station of the NBC television network, licensed to New York City and serving the New York metropolitan area. It is owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations subsidiary of NBCUniversal and operates as part of a television duopoly with WNJU. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC's corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan and its transmitter is located at One World Trade Center. WNBC holds the distinction as the oldest continuously operating commercial television station in the United States. In the few areas of the eastern United States where an NBC station is not receivable over-the-air, WNBC is available on satellite via DirecTV, it is carried on Dish Network and certain cable providers in markets where an NBC affiliate is unavailable. The station is carried via WKAQ-DT3 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. DirecTV allows subscribers in Greater Los Angeles to receive WNBC for an additional monthly fee. What is now WNBC traces its history to experimental station W2XBS, founded by the Radio Corporation of America, in 1928, just two years after NBC was founded as the first nationwide radio network.
A test bed for the experimental RCA Photophone theater television system, W2XBS used the low-definition mechanical television scanning system, was used for reception and interference tests. The call letters W2XBS meant W2XB-south, with W2XB being the call letters of the first experimental station, started a few months earlier at General Electric's main factory in Schenectady, New York, which evolved into today's WRGB. GE was the parent company of both RCA and NBC, technical research was done at the Schenectady plant; the station broadcast on the frequencies of 2.0 to 2.1 megahertz. In 1929, W2XBS upgraded its transmitter and broadcast facilities to handle transmissions of sixty vertical lines at twenty frames per second, on the frequencies of 2.75 to 2.85 megahertz. In 1928, Felix the Cat was one of the first images broadcast by television when RCA chose a papier-mâché Felix doll for an experimental broadcast on W2XBS; the doll was chosen for its tonal contrast and its ability to withstand the intense lights needed in early television and was placed on a rotating phonograph turntable and televised for about two hours each day.
The doll remained on the turntable for nearly a decade as RCA fine-tuned the picture's definition, converted to electronic television. The station left the air sometime in 1933 as RCA turned its attention to all-electronic cathode ray tube television research at its Camden, New Jersey facility, under the leadership of Dr. Vladimir K. Zworykin. In 1935, the all-electronic CRT system was authorized as a "field test" project and NBC converted a radio studio in the RCA Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center for television use. In mid-1936, small-scale, irregularly scheduled programming began to air to an audience of some 75 receivers in the homes of high-level RCA staff, a dozen or so sets in a closed circuit viewing room in 52nd-floor offices of the RCA Building; the viewing room hosted visiting organizations or corporate guests, who saw a live program produced in the studios many floors below. Viewership of early NBC broadcasts was restricted to those authorized by the company, whose installed set base reached about 200.
Technical standards for television broadcasting were in flux as well. Between the time experimental transmissions began in 1935 and the beginning of commercial television service in 1941, picture definition increased from 343 to 441 lines, to the 525-line standard used for analog television from the start of full commercial service until the end of analog broadcasts in mid-2009; the sound signal was changed from AM to FM, the spacing of sound and vision carriers was changed several times. Shortly after NBC began a semi-regular television transmission schedule in 1938, DuMont Laboratories announced TV sets for sale to the public, a move that RCA was saving for the opening of the World's Fair on April 30, 1939, the day that scheduled television programming was to begin in New York on NBC with much fanfare. In response, NBC ceased all TV broadcasting for several weeks until RCA sets went on sale and regular NBC telecasts commenced the day the fair opened; as W2XBS broadcasting on "Channel 1", the station scored numerous "firsts", including the first televised Broadway drama, live news event covered by mobile unit, live telecast of a Presidential speech, the first live telecasts of college and Major League Baseball, the first telecast of a National Football League game, the first telecast of a National Hockey League game, the first network telecast of a political convention seen on W3XE Philadelphia and W2XB Schenectady, NY, the broadcast of the feature film The Crooked Circle on June 18, 1940.
But in August 1940, W2XBS transmissions were temporarily put on hold, as "Channel 1" was reassigned by the FCC to 50-56 MHz and technical adjustments needed to be made for the conversion. The station returned to the air in October, just in time to broadcast Franklin D. Roosevelt's second and final appearance on live television, when his speech at Madison Square Garden on October 28, 1940 was telecast over W2XBS. On June 24, 1941, W2XBS received a commercial license under the calls WNBT, thus becoming one
Military brat (U.S. subculture)
"Military brat" and various "brat" derivatives describe the child of a parent or parents serving full-time in the United States Armed Forces and can refer to the subculture and lifestyle of such families. The term refers to both former children of such families; the military brat lifestyle involves moving to new states or countries many times while growing up, as the child's military family is customarily transferred to new non-combat assignments. War-related family stresses are a occurring part of military brat life. There are other aspects of military brat life that are different in comparison to the civilian American population including living in foreign countries and or diverse regions within the U. S. exposure to foreign languages and cultures, immersion in military culture. The military brats subculture has emerged over the last 200 years; the age of the phenomenon has meant military brats have been described by a number of researchers as one of America's oldest and yet least well-known and invisible subcultures.
They have been described as a "modern nomadic subculture"."Military brat" is known in U. S. military culture as a term of endearment and respect. The term may connote a military brat's experience of mobile upbringing, may reference a sense of worldliness. Research has shown former military brats like the term. Studies show. A major influence is the fact of frequent moves, as the family follows the military member-parent, transferred from military base to military base, each move being hundreds or thousands of miles in distance. Other shaping forces include a culture of resilience and adaptivity, constant loss of friendship ties, a facility or knack for making new friends, never having a hometown, extensive exposure to foreign cultures and languages while living overseas or to a wide range of regional cultural differences due to living in a variety of different American regions. Additional influences include living in a series of military bases serving as community centers, the pervasive military culture on those bases, the absence of a parent due to deployments, the threat of parental loss in war, stresses associated with the psychological aftermath of war and the militarization of the family unit.
Military brats receive Tricare until they reach the age of 23 or age 25. While some non-military families may share some of these same attributes and experiences, military culture has a much higher incidence and concentration of these issues and experiences in military families as compared to civilian populations, by tightly-knit military communities that perceive these experiences as normal. Studies show that growing up immersed in military culture can have long-lasting effects on children, both in positive and some negative ways. Military bases are small cities with 10,000 or more people, are self-contained worlds where military culture is primary and civilian culture is secondary. Military families do not always live on base, but do. Military towns, the areas surrounding a base, are often influenced by military culture. While the general public uses the term "base" to refer any military installation, within the US military the term "base" applies to Air Force or Navy installations while Army installations are called "posts."
Military brats grow up moving from base to base as they follow their parent or parents to new assignments. Sometimes living on base, sometimes off, the base in both cases is the center of military brat life, where shopping, recreation and the military community form a string of temporary towns for military brats as they grow up. Studies show that the culture on military bases is perceived by most current and former military brats as different from civilian culture, it is experienced as being pervaded by military cultural norms and expectations, as well as the presence of military police or their other military security forces equivalents, armed guards, high security zones and some degree of surveillance. Some bases contain unique features, such as air bases with numerous aircraft and attendant noise, or seaports with large numbers of naval vessels. Balancing this are extensive areas which are more relaxed in character, for on-base housing, dining, recreation and entertainment, as well as base chapels which host diverse religious services.
However, military regulations and social codes of conduct are in force throughout the base, which can be different from local, state or national laws and customs. Military language has differences from standard American English and is peppered with military slang and military acronyms. There are many words and phrases that are unique to the military world and which make up a part of everyday conversation on bases. For example, time is measured in 24-hour rather than 12-hour segments as in the civilian world, distances on stateside Army bases or on many U. S. bases of all services overseas described in meters and kilometers (or "Clicks" in m
New York City Marathon
The New York City Marathon is an annual marathon that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 52,812 finishers in 2018 and 98,247 applicants for the 2017 race. Along with the Boston Marathon and Chicago Marathon, it is among the pre-eminent long-distance annual running events in the United States and is one of the World Marathon Majors; the race is organized by New York Road Runners and has been run every year since 1970, with the exception of 2012, when it was cancelled due to the landfall of Hurricane Sandy. In past years, it has been sponsored by the financial group ING. In 2014, Tata Consultancy Services, a multinational information technology service and business solutions company headquartered in India, began an eight-year term as the title sponsor; the race is held on the first Sunday of November and attracts professional competitors and amateurs from all over the world. Because of the popularity of the race, participation is chosen by a lottery system.
Guaranteed entry to the marathon can be gained by satisfying the requirements of the 9+1 program or the 9+$1K program, having completed 15 or more previous NYC Marathons, or meeting time qualification standards. In addition, runners can gain an entry by joining a team to raise funds for one of a number of charities; the race was founded by Fred Lebow. Ted Corbitt helped plan the course of the New York City Marathon; the initial course of 1970 consisted of repeated racing around Central Park. From 1976, the course covers all five boroughs of New York City, it begins on Staten Island, in Fort Wadsworth, near the approach to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. The bridge, which carries only vehicular traffic, is closed for the event. Runners use both sides of the westbound side of the lower level. In the opening minutes of the race, the bridge is filled with runners, creating a dramatic spectacle, associated with the event. After descending the bridge, the course winds through Brooklyn along Fourth Avenue and Bedford Avenue, for the next 11 miles.
Runners pass through a variety of neighborhoods, including: Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, Park Slope, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Greenpoint. At 13.1 miles, runners cross the Pulaski Bridge, marking the halfway point of the race and the entrance into Long Island City, Queens. After about 2.5 miles in Queens, runners cross the East River via the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan. It is at this point in the race when many runners begin to tire, as the climb up the bridge is considered one of the most difficult points in the marathon. Reaching Manhattan after about 16 miles, the race proceeds north on First Avenue crosses into The Bronx via the Willis Avenue Bridge for one mile before returning to Manhattan via the Madison Avenue Bridge, it proceeds south through Harlem down Fifth Avenue and into Central Park. At the southern end of the park, the race proceeds along 59th Street/Central Park South, where thousands of spectators cheer runners on during the last mile. At Columbus Circle, the race finishes beside Tavern on the Green.
The time limit for this course is 8½ hours from the 10:10 a.m. start. In 2008, the race initiated a corral system. Professional women runners were given a separate, earlier start and the balance of the runners began in three staggered starts; the official times are those recorded by a computer chip attached to the back of the runner's bib number, which calculates when a runner crosses the start and when she crosses the finish, known as "net time". Runners pass timing mats at 5 km intervals along the course, e-mail notifications can be received by people following runners during the race to track their progress. Whereas the distance is the same, there are different courses taken through Bay Ridge and up Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn until the course reaches Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn at Mile 8. Although the marathon publicity material uses miles, the timing mats are at 5 km intervals to accommodate the publishing of splits and enabling potential world records for 20 km, 30 km and other sub-marathon distances to be recorded.
The first New York City Marathon was held 49 years ago on September 13, 1970, organized by New York Road Runners presidents Fred Lebow and Vincent Chiappetta, with 127 competitors running several loops around the Park Drive of Central Park. Only about 100 spectators watched Gary Muhrcke win the race in 2:31:38. In fact, a total of only 55 runners crossed the finish line. Over the years, the marathon grew larger. To celebrate the U. S. bicentennial in 1976, city auditor George Spitz proposed that the race traverse all five boroughs. With the support of Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton, the men convinced Mayor Beame and race director Fred Lebow; the race was a huge success, what was intended as a one-time celebration, became the annual course. Dick Traum became the first person to complete a marathon with a prosthetic leg when he finished the 1976 New York City Marathon; the marathon grew in popularity two years when Norwegian Grete Waitz broke the women's world record, finishing in 2:32:30.
She went on to win the race an unprecedented nine times. An official wheelchair and handcycle division was introduced in 2000, starting in 2002, the elite women are given a 35-minute head start before the elite men and rest of the field. During the 1970s, the race was run in September. In the 1980s, r
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, or Emmy, is an American award that recognizes excellence in the television industry, is the equivalent of an Academy Award, the Tony Award, the Grammy Award. Because Emmys are given in various sectors of the American television industry, they are presented in different annual ceremonies held throughout the year; the two events that receive the most media coverage are the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Daytime Emmy Awards, which recognize outstanding work in American primetime and daytime entertainment programming, respectively. Other notable Emmy Award ceremonies are those honoring national sports programming, national news and documentary shows, national business and financial reporting, technological and engineering achievements in television, including the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards. Regional Emmy Awards are presented throughout the country at various times through the year, recognizing excellence in local and statewide television. In addition, International Emmys are awarded for excellence in TV programming produced and aired outside the United States.
Three related but separate organizations present the Emmy Awards: the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Each is responsible for administering a particular set of Emmy ceremonies; the Los Angeles–based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences established the Emmy Award as part of an image-building and public relations opportunity. The first Emmy Awards ceremony took place on January 25, 1949, at the Hollywood Athletic Club, but to honor shows produced and aired locally in the Los Angeles area. Shirley Dinsdale has the distinction of receiving the first Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality, during that first awards ceremony; the term "Emmy" is a French alteration of the television crew slang term "Immy", the nickname for an "image orthicon", a camera tube used in TV production. In the 1950s, the ATAS expanded the Emmys into a national event, presenting the awards to shows aired nationwide on broadcast television.
In 1955, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences was formed in New York City as a sister organization to serve members on the East Coast, help to supervise the Emmys. The NATAS established regional chapters throughout the United States, with each one developing their own local Emmy awards show for local programming; the ATAS still however maintained its separate regional ceremony honoring local programming in the Los Angeles Area. There was only one Emmy Awards ceremony held per year to honor shows nationally broadcast in the United States. In 1974, the first Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony was held to honor achievement in national daytime programming. Other area-specific Emmy Awards ceremonies soon followed; the International Emmy Awards, honoring television programs produced and aired outside the U. S. was established in the early 1970s. Meanwhile, all Emmys awarded prior to the emergence of these separate, area-specific ceremonies are listed along with the Primetime Emmy Awards in the ATAS's official records.
In 1977, due to various conflicts, the ATAS and the NATAS agreed to split ties. However, they agreed to share ownership of the Emmy statue and trademark, with each responsible for administering a specific set of award ceremonies. There was an exception regarding the Engineering Awards: the NATAS continues to administer the Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards, while the ATAS holds the separate Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards. With the rise of cable television in the 1980s, cable programs first became eligible for the Primetime Emmys in 1988 and the Daytime Emmys in 1989. In 2011, the ABC Television Network cancelled the soap operas All My Children and One Life to Live and sold the two shows' licensing rights to the production company Prospect Park so they could be continued on web television; the ATAS began accepting original online-only web television programs in 2013. The Emmy statuette, depicting a winged woman holding an atom, was designed by television engineer Louis McManus, who used his wife as the model.
The TV Academy rejected forty-seven proposals before settling on McManus's design in 1948. The statuette "has since become the symbol of the TV Academy's goal of supporting and uplifting the art and science of television: The wings represent the muse of art. However, "Ike" was the popular nickname of World War II hero and future U. S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Academy members wanted something unique. Television engineer and the third academy president Harry Lubcke suggested the name "Immy", a term used for the image orthicon tube used in the early cameras. After "Immy" was chosen, it was feminized to Emmy to match their female statuette; each Primetime Emmy statuette weighs six pounds, twelve-and-a-half ounces, is made of copper, nickel and gold. The statue stands 15.5 inches tall with weight of 88 oz. The Regional Emmy Award statuette is 11.5 inches tall with a base diameter of 5.5 inches and weight of 48 oz. Each takes five and a half hours to
MSNBC
MSNBC is an American pay television network that provides news coverage and political commentary from NBC News on current events. MSNBC is owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of the NBCUniversal Television Group division of NBCUniversal. MSNBC and its website were founded in 1996 under a partnership between Microsoft and General Electric's NBC unit, hence the network's naming. Although they had the same name, msnbc.com and MSNBC maintained separate corporate structures and news operations. Msnbc.com was headquartered on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington while MSNBC operated out of NBC's headquarters in New York City. Microsoft divested its stakes in the MSNBC channel in 2005 and in msnbc.com in July 2012. The general news site was rebranded as NBCNews.com, a new msnbc.com was created as the online home of the cable channel. In the late summer of 2015, MSNBC revamped its programming. MSNBC sought to sharpen its news image by entering into a dual editorial relationship with its organizational parent NBC News.
MSNBC Live, the network's flagship daytime news platform, was expanded to cover over eight hours of the day. Phil Griffin is the president and director of day-to-day operations at MSNBC. Pat Burkey, Janelle Rodriguez, Jonathan Wald oversee programming and news operations, with Brian Williams serving as the channel's chief anchor of breaking news coverage; as of February 2015 94,531,000 households in the United States were receiving MSNBC. Commentators have described MSNBC as having a bias towards left-leaning politics and the Democratic Party. In November 2007, a New York Times article stated that MSNBC's prime-time lineup is tilting more to the left. Fox News media analyst Howard Kurtz, while in the same role at The Washington Post, stated that the channel's evening lineup "has gravitated to the left in recent years and seems to regard itself as the antithesis of Fox News". MSNBC was established under a strategic partnership between Microsoft. NBC executive Tom Rogers was instrumental in developing this partnership.
James Kinsella, a Microsoft executive, served as president of the online component, MSNBC.com, represented the tech company in the joint venture. Microsoft invested $221 million for a 50 percent share of the cable channel. MSNBC and Microsoft shared the cost of a $200 million newsroom in Secaucus, New Jersey, for msnbc.com. The network took over the channel space of NBC's 2-year-old America's Talking network, although in most cases cable carriage had to be negotiated with providers who had never carried AT. MSNBC was launched on July 15, 1996; the first show was anchored by Jodi Applegate and included news and commentary. During the day, rolling news coverage continued with The Contributors, a show that featured Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham, as well as interactive programming coordinated by Applegate, John Gibson, John Seigenthaler. Stories were longer and more detailed than the stories CNN was running. NBC highlighted their broadcast connections by airing stories directly from NBC's network affiliates, along with breaking news coverage from the same sources.
MSNBC increased its emphasis on politics. After completing its seven-year survey of cable channels, the Project for Excellence in Journalism said in 2007 that, "MSNBC is moving to make politics a brand, with a large dose of opinion and personality."In January 2001, Mike Barnicle's MSNBC show started, but it was canceled in June 2001 because of high production costs. In June, Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer said that he would not have started MSNBC had he foreseen the difficulty of attracting viewers. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, NBC used MSNBC as an outlet for the up-to-the-minute coverage being provided by NBC News as a supplement to the longer stories on broadcast NBC. With little financial news to cover, CNBC and CNBC Europe ran MSNBC for many hours each day following the attacks; the year boosted the profile of Ashleigh Banfield, present during the collapse of Building 7 while covering the World Trade Center on September 11. Her Region In Conflict program capitalized on her newfound celebrity and showcased exclusive interviews from Afghanistan.
In the aftermath of September 11, MSNBC began calling itself "America’s NewsChannel" and hired opinionated hosts like Alan Keyes, Phil Donahue, Pat Buchanan, Tucker Carlson. On December 23, 2005, NBC Universal announced its acquisition of an additional 32 percent share of MSNBC from Microsoft, which solidified its control over television operations and allowed NBC to further consolidate MSNBC's backroom operations with NBC News and its other cable properties. NBC exercised its option to purchase Microsoft's remaining 18 percent interest in MSNBC. In late 2005, MSNBC began attracting liberal and progressive viewers as Keith Olbermann began critiquing and satirizing conservative media commentators during his Countdown With Keith Olbermann program, he focused his attention on the Fox News Channel and Bill O'Reilly, its principal primetime commentator. On June 7, 2006, Rick Kaplan resigned as president of MSNBC after holding the post for two years. Five days Dan Abrams, a nine-year veteran of MSNBC and NBC News, was named general manager of MSNBC with immediate effect.
NBC News senior vice president Phil Griffin would oversee MSNBC, while continuing to oversee NBC News’ Today program, with Abrams reporting to Griffin. On June 29, 2006, Abrams annou
Iraq War
The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first three to four years of conflict. In 2009, official US troops were withdrawn, but American soldiers continued to remain on the ground fighting in Iraq, hired by defence contractors and private military companies; the U. S. became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition. The invasion occurred as part of a declared war against international terrorism and its sponsors under the administration of U. S. President George W. Bush following the unrelated September 11 terrorist attacks. In October 2002, President Bush obtained congressional approval from a Democrat-led Senate and Republican-led House authorizing war-making powers.
The Iraq war began on 19 March 2003, when the U. S. joined by the U. K. and several coalition allies, launched a "awe" bombing campaign. Iraqi forces were overwhelmed as U. S. forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Ba'athist government. However, the power vacuum following Saddam's demise and the mismanagement of the occupation led to widespread sectarian violence between Shias and Sunnis, as well as a lengthy insurgency against U. S. and coalition forces. Many violent insurgent groups were supported by al-Qaeda in Iraq; the United States responded with a troop surge in 2007, a build up of 170,000 troops. The surge in troops gave greater security to Iraq’s government and military, was a success; the winding down of U. S. involvement in Iraq accelerated under President Barack Obama. The U. S. formally withdrew all combat troops from Iraq by December 2011. However, with no stay-behind agreement or advisers left in Iraq, a new power vacuum was created and led to the rise of ISIS.
Nine months after President Trump was elected, U. S.-backed forces captured Raqqa. The Bush administration based its rationale for the war principally on the assertion that Iraq, viewed by the U. S. as a rogue state since the 1990–1991 Gulf War, possessed weapons of mass destruction and that there was concern about an active WMD program, that the Iraqi government posed a threat to the United States and its coalition allies. Select U. S. officials accused Saddam of harbouring and supporting al-Qaeda, while others cited the desire to end a repressive dictatorship and bring democracy to the people of Iraq. Hundreds of chemical weapons were found in Iraq, which were determined to be produced before the 1991 Gulf War, intelligence officials determined they were "so old they couldn't be used as designed." From 2004 to 2011, US troops and American-trained Iraqi troops encountered, on six reported occasions were wounded by, chemical weapons from years earlier in Saddam Hussein's rule. 5,000 chemical warheads, shells or aviation bombs were discovered.
The rationale of U. S. pre-war intelligence faced heavy criticism both domestically and internationally. From 2009 to 2011, the UK conducted a broad inquiry into its decision to go to war chaired by Sir John Chilcot; the Chilcot Report, published in 2016, concluded military action may have been necessary but was not the last resort at the time and that the consequences of invasion were underestimated. In the aftermath of the invasion, Iraq held multi-party elections in 2005. Nouri al-Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006 and remained in office until 2014; the al-Maliki government enacted policies that were seen as having the effect of alienating the country's Sunni minority and worsening sectarian tensions. In the summer of 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant launched a military offensive in Northern Iraq and declared a worldwide Islamic caliphate, eliciting another military response from the United States and its allies; the Iraq War caused over a hundred thousand civilian deaths and tens of thousands of military deaths.
The majority of deaths occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. Strong international opposition to the Saddam Hussein regime began after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990; the international community condemned the invasion, in 1991 a military coalition led by the United States launched the Gulf War to expel Iraq from Kuwait. Following the Gulf War, the US and its allies tried to keep Saddam in check with a policy of containment; this policy involved numerous economic sanctions by the UN Security Council. The inspections were carried out by the United Nations Special Commission. UNSCOM, in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, worked to ensure that Iraq destroyed its chemical and nuclear weapons and facilities. In the decade following the Gulf War, the United Nations passed 16 Security Council resolutions calling for the complete elimination of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Member states communicated their frustration over the years that Iraq was impeding the work of the special commission and failing to take its disarmament obligations.
Iraqi officials harass
Spain
Spain the Kingdom of Spain, is a country located in Europe. Its continental European territory is situated on the Iberian Peninsula, its territory includes two archipelagoes: the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The African enclaves of Ceuta, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera make Spain the only European country to have a physical border with an African country. Several small islands in the Alboran Sea are part of Spanish territory; the country's mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar. With an area of 505,990 km2, Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe, the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union, the fourth largest country in the European continent. By population, Spain is the fifth in the European Union. Spain's capital and largest city is Madrid. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago. Iberian cultures along with ancient Phoenician, Greek and Carthaginian settlements developed on the peninsula until it came under Roman rule around 200 BCE, after which the region was named Hispania, based on the earlier Phoenician name Spn or Spania.
At the end of the Western Roman Empire the Germanic tribal confederations migrated from Central Europe, invaded the Iberian peninsula and established independent realms in its western provinces, including the Suebi and Vandals. The Visigoths would forcibly integrate all remaining independent territories in the peninsula, including Byzantine provinces, into the Kingdom of Toledo, which more or less unified politically and all the former Roman provinces or successor kingdoms of what was documented as Hispania. In the early eighth century the Visigothic Kingdom fell to the Moors of the Umayyad Islamic Caliphate, who arrived to rule most of the peninsula in the year 726, leaving only a handful of small Christian realms in the north and lasting up to seven centuries in the Kingdom of Granada; this led to many wars during a long reconquering period across the Iberian Peninsula, which led to the creation of the Kingdom of Leon, Kingdom of Castile, Kingdom of Aragon and Kingdom of Navarre as the main Christian kingdoms to face the invasion.
Following the Moorish conquest, Europeans began a gradual process of retaking the region known as the Reconquista, which by the late 15th century culminated in the emergence of Spain as a unified country under the Catholic Monarchs. Until Aragon had been an independent kingdom, which had expanded toward the eastern Mediterranean, incorporating Sicily and Naples, had competed with Genoa and Venice. In the early modern period, Spain became the world's first global empire and the most powerful country in the world, leaving a large cultural and linguistic legacy that includes more than 570 million Hispanophones, making Spanish the world's second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese. During the Golden Age there were many advancements in the arts, with world-famous painters such as Diego Velázquez; the most famous Spanish literary work, Don Quixote, was published during the Golden Age. Spain hosts the world's third-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Spain is a secular parliamentary democracy and a parliamentary monarchy, with King Felipe VI as head of state.
It is a major developed country and a high income country, with the world's fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP and sixteenth largest by purchasing power parity. It is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, the Eurozone, the Council of Europe, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the Union for the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Schengen Area, the World Trade Organization and many other international organisations. While not an official member, Spain has a "Permanent Invitation" to the G20 summits, participating in every summit, which makes Spain a de facto member of the group; the origins of the Roman name Hispania, from which the modern name España was derived, are uncertain due to inadequate evidence, although it is documented that the Phoenicians and Carthaginians referred to the region as Spania, therefore the most accepted etymology is a Semitic-Phoenician one.
Down the centuries there have been a number of accounts and hypotheses: The Renaissance scholar Antonio de Nebrija proposed that the word Hispania evolved from the Iberian word Hispalis, meaning "city of the western world". Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the term span is the Phoenician word spy, meaning "to forge metals". Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean "the land where metals are forged", it may be a derivation of the Phoenician I-Shpania, meaning "island of rabbits", "land of rabbits" or "edge", a reference to Spain's location at the end of the Mediterranean. The word in question means "Hyrax" due to Phoenicians confusing the two animals. Hispania may derive from the poetic use of the term Hesperia, reflecting the Greek perception of Italy as a "western land" or "land of the setting sun" (Hesperia
