Belgium

The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was NATO's military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The strikes lasted... from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999. The NATO bombing marked the second major combat operation in its history, following the 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The bombings led to the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo, establishment of UNMIK, a UN mission in Kosovo and put an end to the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. The bombing campaign was criticized, especially for the number of civilian casualties that resulted from the bombing. NATO's objectives in the Kosovo conflict were stated at the North Atlantic Council meeting held at NATO headquarters in Brussels on April 12, 1999: Michel Chossudovsky has argued that the real objective was economic colonialization of Serbia. Operation Allied Force predominantly used a large-scale air campaign to destroy Yugoslav military infrastructure from high altitudes.
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Shaba II was an invasion of the Shaba separatist movement FNLC into the Zairian province of Shaba on 11 May 1978. The FNLC had its bases in eastern... Angola and probably had the support of the Angolan government. Mobutu of Zaire appealed for foreign assistance and French and Belgian military intervention beat back the invasion just as in 1977. The Congolese National Liberation Front captured Kolwezi. The U.S. and Cuba coaxed Angola and Zaire into negotiations leading to a non-aggression pact. This ended support for insurgencies in each others' respective countries. Zaire temporarily cutoff support to FLEC, the FNLA, and UNITA and Angola forbade further activity by the Shaba separatists. The U.S. worked with France in repelling the invaders, the first military cooperation between the two nations since the Vietnam War. U.S. Air Force elements involved included a Combat Control Team of the 435th Tactical Airlift Wing, the 445th Military Airlift Wing, and other airlift wings.
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The Korean War was a war between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea . The Korean War was primarily the result of... the political division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II. The Korean peninsula was ruled by the Empire of Japan from 1910 until the end of World War II. Following the surrender of the Empire of Japan in September 1945, American administrators divided the peninsula along the 38th parallel, with U.S. military forces occupying the southern half and Soviet military forces occupying the northern half. The failure to hold free elections throughout the Korean Peninsula in 1948 deepened the division between the two sides; the North established a communist government, while the South established a capitalist one.
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World War II, or the Second World War , was a global war that was under way by 1939 and ended in 1945. It involved a vast majority of the... world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million people serving in military units. In a state of "total war", the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by significant events involving the mass death of civilians, including the Holocaust and the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare, it resulted in 50 million to over 70 million fatalities. These deaths make the war the deadliest conflict in human history. Although Japan was already at war with China in 1937, the world war is generally said to have begun on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany, and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and most of the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth.
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The Western European Union was an international organisation tasked with implementing the Modified Treaty of Brussels , an amended version of the... original 1948 Treaty of Brussels. The WEU was established by seven Western European nations during the Cold War. Since the end of the Cold War, WEU tasks and institutions have been transferred to the Common Security and Defence Policy which is being framed for the geographically larger and more comprehensive European Union. This process was completed in 2009, when a solidarity clause between the member states of the European Union which was similar to the WEU's mutual defense clause, entered into force with the Treaty of Lisbon. The states party to the Modified Treaty of Brussels consequently decided to terminate that treaty on 31 March 2010, with all the remaining WEU's activities to be ceased within 15 months. On 30 June 2011 the WEU was officially declared defunct. The WEU was headquartered in Brussels, with a staff of 65 and an annual budget of €13.4 million.
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The African Development Bank Group is a development bank established in 1964 with the intention of promoting economic and social development in... Africa. The Group comprises the African Development Bank , the African Development Fund , and the Nigeria Trust Fund . AfDB provides loans and grants to African governments and private companies investing in the regional member countries in Africa. It is owned and funded by member governments, and has a public-interest mandate to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development. Its headquarters is in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Following the end of colonial period in Africa, growing desire for more unity within the continent led to the establishment of two draft charters, one for the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity , and for a regional development bank.
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The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 22 August 1966 to facilitate economic development of countries in Asia. The... bank admits the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and non-regional developed countries. From 31 members at its establishment, ADB now has 67 members - of which 48 are from within Asia and the Pacific and 19 outside. ADB was modeled closely on the World Bank, and has a similar weighted voting system where votes are distributed in proportion with member's capital subscriptions. At present, both the United States and Japan hold 552,210 shares, the largest proportion of shares at 12.756% each. China holds 228,000 shares , India holds 224,010 shares , the 2nd and 3rd largest proportion of shares respectively. The highest policy-making body of the bank is the Board of Governors composed of one representative from each member state. The Board of Governors, in turn, elect among themselves the 12 members of the Board of Directors and their deputy.
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The Zangger Committee, also known as the Nuclear Exporters Committee, sprang from Article III.2 of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear... Weapons which entered into force on March 5, 1970. Under the terms of Article III.2 International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards must be applied to nuclear exports. Between 1971 and 1974, a group of 15 nuclear supplier states held a series of informal meetings in Vienna chaired by Professor Claude Zangger of Switzerland. The group's objective was to reach a common understanding on: the definition of "equipment or material especially designed or prepared for the processing, use or production of special fissionable material;" and the conditions and procedures that would govern exports of such equipment or material in order to meet the obligations of Article III.2 on the basis of fair commercial competition. The group, which became known as the Zangger Committee, decided that it would be informal and that its decisions would not be legally binding upon its members.
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Wim Opbrouck is a Flemish actor and singer. He is especially known for his work on stage. Opbrouck comes from Bavikhove, part of Harelbeke and... studied at the Herman Teirlinck Studio. As an actor, he joined the Blue Monday Company. In 1997 he performed in a 12-hour theater marathon production of Ten oorlog by Tom Lanoye. Following the merger of this company with KNS , he became an actor at the Drama House. He took on large roles in Aars!, Leenane Trilogy, L. King of Pain, and Macbeth. In 2005 he transferred to the new NTGent. He gained fame through his appearance in the travel documentary De bende van Wim, a collaboration with composer and producer Jean Blaute and photographer Michiel Hendryckx, in which he travels through Europe on a motorcycle. He's also well known for appearing in the television shows Windkracht 10 and In De Gloria. He played in the films like Manneken Pis, Meisje and Everybody's Famous! In addition, he also plays the occasional group The Dolfijntjes. He sings and plays accordion. In 2008 it was reported that in 2010 he would succeed John Simons as artistic director of NTGent.
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Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters ; born 8 June 1983 is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 May 2012, Clijsters is ranked no. 40 in singles.... Clijsters is a former world no. 1 in both singles and doubles. Clijsters has won 41 WTA singles titles and 11 WTA doubles titles. She has won four Grand Slam singles titles: three at the US Open, in 2005, 2009, and 2010 and one at the Australian Open in 2011. She has also been runner-up in four Grand Slam singles tournaments, and won the WTA Tour Championships singles title in 2002, 2003, and 2010. In doubles, she won the French Open and Wimbledon titles in 2003. Clijsters announced her retirement with immediate effect on 6 May 2007, but almost two years later, on 26 March 2009, she publicly declared her intent to return to the WTA tour for the 2009 summer hard court season. In only her third tournament back, she won her second US Open title, becoming the first unseeded player and wildcard to win the tournament, and the first mother to win a major since Evonne Goolagong in 1980. In June 2011, TIME magazine named her one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future".
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Jean-Baptiste Loeillet of London , was a Flemish baroque composer as well as a performer on the recorder, flute, oboe, and harpsichord. He is called... the London Loeillet to distinguish him from another famous composer, his first cousin Jean Baptiste Loeillet of Ghent, and he was the elder brother of Jacques Loeillet, also a composer. Loeillet was born at Ghent, then in the Spanish Netherlands. In 1705, after his studies in Ghent and Paris, he moved to London and became known as John. In London, his last name was sometimes rendered as 'Lully' or 'Lullie': he was unrelated to Jean-Baptiste Lully, the French composer. His works were published by Walsh in London under the name of John Loeillet. He was successful as a player and teacher of the harpsichord. He played woodwind in the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket and held musical gatherings every week at his home. His performances were well received in London; and he was responsible for introducing Arcangelo Corelli's 12 concerti grossi to Londoners. According to the New Penguin Dictionary of Music, he helped to popularise the transverse flute in England.
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René Jacobs is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor but in recent years has become renowned as a conductor of Baroque and... early Classical opera. Jacobs began his musical career as a boy chorister at the Cathedral of Ghent. Later he studied classical philology at the University of Ghent while continuing to sing in Brussels and in The Hague. The Kuijken brothers, Gustav Leonhardt and Alfred Deller all encouraged him to pursue a career as a countertenor, and he quickly became known as one of the best of his time. He recorded a large amount of less-known Baroque music by such composers as Antonio Cesti, d'India, Ferrari, Marenzio, Lambert, Guédron, William Lawes and others. He also sang in much-acclaimed recordings of the major works of Bach . More recently, as a conductor, Jacobs has recorded numerous operas and sacred and secular works of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
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Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has... two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south. Luxembourg has a population of over half a million people in an area of approximately 2,586 square kilometres . A representative democracy with a constitutional monarch, it is ruled by a grand duke. It is now the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy. The country has a highly developed economy, with the world's highest GDP per capita according to the IMF. Its historic and strategic importance dates back to its founding as a Roman era fortress site and Frankish count's castle site in the Early Middle Ages. It was an important bastion along the Spanish Road when Spain was the principal European power influencing the whole western hemisphere and beyond in the 16th–17th centuries.
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Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the... capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields. A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire.
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The Netherlands lɑnt] or [ˈneɪ̯dəlɑnt] ; West Frisian: Nederlân; Papiamento: Hulanda is a constituent country... of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with some islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is a parliamentary democracy organised as a unitary state. The country capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague. The Netherlands in its entirety is often referred to as Holland, although North and South Holland are actually only two of its twelve provinces . The Netherlands is a geographically low-lying country, with about 25% of its area and 21% of its population located below sea level, and 50% of its land lying less than one metre above sea level. This distinct feature contributes to the country's name: in Dutch , English, and in many other European languages (e.g.
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