Albania

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programs. The World Bank's official... goal is the reduction of poverty. According to the World Bank's Articles of Agreement all of its decisions must be guided by a commitment to promote foreign investment, international trade and facilitate capital investment. The World Bank differs from the World Bank Group, in that the World Bank comprises only two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association , whereas the former incorporates these two in addition to three more: International Finance Corporation , Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency , and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes . The World Bank is one of five institutions created at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. The International Monetary Fund, a related institution, is the second. Delegates from many countries attended the Bretton Woods Conference.
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The League of Nations , was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It... was the first permanent international organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. Its primary goals, as stated in its Covenant, included preventing wars through collective security and disarmament, and settling international disputes through negotiation and arbitration. Other issues in this and related treaties included labour conditions, just treatment of native inhabitants, human and drug trafficking, arms trade, global health, prisoners of war, and protection of minorities in Europe. At its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a fundamental shift from the preceding hundred years. The League lacked its own armed force and depended on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions, keep to its economic sanctions, or provide an army when needed. However, the Great Powers were often reluctant to do so.
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The Council of Europe is an international organization promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human... rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation. It was founded in 1949, has 47 member states with some 800 million citizens, and is an entirely separate body from the European Union , which has only 27 member states. Unlike the EU, the Council of Europe cannot make binding laws. The two do however share certain symbols such as the flag of Europe. The Council of Europe has nothing to do with either the Council of the European Union or the European Council, which are both EU bodies. The best known bodies of the Council of Europe are the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights, and the European Pharmacopoeia Commission, which sets the quality standards for pharmaceutical products in Europe. The Council of Europe's work has resulted in standards, charters and conventions to facilitate cooperation between European countries.
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The United Nations , is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security,... economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue. It contains multiple subsidiary organizations to carry out its missions. There are 193 member states, including every internationally recognised sovereign state in the world but Vatican City. From its offices around the world, the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular meetings held throughout the year.
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Pirro Çako is an Albanian singer and composer. In 1988 he won the Albanian national festival as a composer with the song E duam lumturinë .... The song was interpreted by Parashqevi Simaku. He has so far issued two albums: Herët a vonë in June 2004 and including 15 songs, and more recently, a second album, Mos më krahaso , a set of 12 songs.In a collaboration with composer Ardit Gjebrea, Çako wrote the song It's All About You , interpreted by Juliana Pasha for the Albanian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. Çako was born in 1964 in Tirana, Albania, to tenor Gaqo Çako and soprano Luiza Çako. Çako graduated from the Academy of Music and Arts of Albania and later obtained a degree in the École Normale de Musique de Paris for film music composing. In 1988 E duam lumturinë , a song written by Çako, won the Albanian national festival. The song was interpreted by Parashqevi Simaku and has now transformed into an anthem of the children.
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Mariza Ikonomi is an Albanian composer and singer admired for her versatility in composing various genres and for her sweet soprano voice. "Piano e... Vjetër", "Zjarrin do ta gjej", "Mbi urë" and "ku eshte dashuria" are some of her most appreciable works.
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Inva Mula is an Albanian opera lyric soprano and actress. She began her soprano career at a very early age. Her father and mother were also opera... singers. Inva was born in Tirana, Albania. In 1987 she won the Cantante d'Albania competition in Tirana and in 1988 the George Enescu Competition in Bucharest. In 1992 she won the Butterfly Competition in Barcelona. She received an award at Plácido Domingo's first Operalia International Opera Competition contest in Paris, 1993. A CD of the event was released. She later performed in various concerts with the famous tenor at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, and in Brussels for Europalia Mexico, in Munich, and in Oslo. In 1996 she performed Luigi Cherubini's opera Médée at Compiègne in France. She then returned for Georges Bizet's opera La Jolie fille de Perth in 1998. After this she recorded Puccini's La Rondine with Angela Gheorghiu for EMI and for 2005's stage production she took Gheorghiu's place in the leading role of Magda during performances in Toulouse and Paris.
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Elsa Lila is an Albanian singer. Elsa Lila was born in Tirana, Albania. Her father was a singer of the former Albanian state choir, while her mother... was a violinist, so both parents raised her on theatre, and music, giving her a great love for the arts. Elsa had shown her singing and acting talents ever since childhood in Albanian state television shows and had won the Albanian national song contest 2 years in a row while in her teens. In 1996, at age 15, Elsa won the Albanian national song contest, and won the Albanian public award through televoting. In 1997 she repeated herself, and won the Albanian national song contest, and public award. In 1998, she was noticed by all of Europe when she won Albania the Varna international song contest in Bulgaria, where 14 other countries participated. In the same year she represented her country in Lisboa Expo 98, holding a concert. In 1999, at only 18 years old, Lila was elected "Albanian singer of the century" by the national poll of the Albanian state radio television. In 2001, she was awarded "Ambassador of the Albanian Music in the World" by president Rexhep Mejdani of the republic of Albania.
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Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the... successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991. It became a member of the United Nations in 1993 but, as a result of a dispute with Greece over its name, it was admitted under the provisional reference of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, sometimes abbreviated as FYROM. A landlocked country, the Republic of Macedonia is bordered by Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south and Albania to the west. It constitutes approximately the northwestern half of the larger geographical region of Macedonia, which also comprises parts of Greece and Bulgaria. The country's capital is Skopje, with 506,926 inhabitants according to a 2002 census. Other cities include Bitola, Kumanovo, Prilep, Tetovo, Ohrid, Veles, Štip, Kočani, Gostivar and Strumica.
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Greece /ˈɡriːs/ historically in Katharevousa and Ancient Greek: Ἑλλάς, Hellas, IPA: [eˈlas] and... [helːás] respectively, officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in Southern Europe, politically considered part of Western Europe. Athens is the capital and the largest city in the country . The population of the country is around 11 million. Greece has land borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland Greece, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands , including Crete, the Dodecanese, the Cyclades, and the Ionian Islands among others. Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains, of which Mount Olympus is the highest at 2,917 m .
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Serbia /ˈsɜrbiə/, officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast... Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans. Serbia borders Hungary to the north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east; the Republic of Macedonia to the south; and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to the west; additionally, it borders Albania through Kosovo, whose status as part of Serbia is disputed. Serbia covers an area of 88,361 km and has a population of just over 7.1 million, while the capital and largest city is Belgrade. The arrival of the Serbs to the Balkans in the 7th century, established several states, eventually forming the Serbian Empire in the 14th century. By the 16th century, Serbia was conquered and occupied by the Ottoman Empire, at times interrupted by the Habsburgs. In the early 19th century the Serbian revolution re-established the country as the region's first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory and pioneered the abolition of feudalism in the Balkans.
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