Spain

Santa María la Real de La Almudena is a Catholic cathedral in Madrid. When the capital of Spain was transferred from Toledo to Madrid in 1561,... the seat of the Church in Spain remained in Toledo; so the new capital – unusually for a Catholic country – had no cathedral. Plans were discussed as early as the 16th century to build a cathedral in Madrid dedicated to the Virgin of Almudena, but construction did not begin until 1879. Francisco de Cubas, the Marquis of Cubas, designed and directed the construction in a Gothic revival style. Construction ceased completely during the Spanish Civil War, and the project was abandoned until 1950, when Fernando Chueca Goitia adapted the plans of de Cubas to a baroque exterior to match the grey and white façade of the Palacio Real, which stands directly opposite. The cathedral was not completed until 1993, when it was consecrated by Pope John Paul II. On May 22, 2004, the marriage of Felipe, Prince of Asturias to Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano took place at the cathedral.
more

The Plaza Mayor was built during the Habsburg period and is a central plaza in the city of Madrid, Spain. It is located only a few blocks away from... another famous plaza, the Puerta del Sol. The Plaza Mayor is rectangular in shape, measuring 129 by 94 meters, and is surrounded by three-story residential buildings having 237 balconies facing the Plaza. It has a total of nine entranceways. The Casa de la Panadería, serving municipal and cultural functions, dominates the Plaza Mayor. The origins of the Plaza go back to 1589 when Philip II of Spain asked Juan de Herrera, a renowned Renaissance architect, to discuss a plan to remodel the busy and chaotic area of the old Plaza del Arrabal. Juan de Herrera was the architect who designed the first project in 1581 to remodel the old Plaza del Arrabal but construction didn't start until 1617, during Philip III's reign. The king asked Juan Gomez de Mora to continue with the project, and he finished the porticoes in 1619. Nevertheless, the Plaza Mayor as we know it today is the work of the architect Juan de Villanueva who was entrusted with its reconstruction in 1790 after a spate of big fires.
more

The Battle of Košare was fought during the Kosovo war between the Yugoslav Army on one side and the Kosovo Liberation Army and NATO. The... battle was fought around Rasa Koshares on the border between FR Yugoslavia and Albania from 9 April until 10 June during the NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia. The point of the attack from the Albanian side was a land invasion of Kosovo and the cutting off of the communications of the Yugoslav Army between the forces in Prizren and Djakovica. Another goal was the taking of the Metohija area. After days of heavy fighting, the Yugoslav Army managed to defeat the Kosovo Liberation Army and stopped their entry into Kosovo. Members of the KLA managed to take the Košare outpost because of a massive artillery barrage by the Albanian Army and NATO bombardardment of strategic sites held by the Yugoslavs. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, the Yugoslavs managed to defeat the KLA. On Orthodox Great Friday, 9. April 1999, at 03:00 a massive artillery strike from the Albanian side began in direction of Košare outpost.
more

The Battle of Annual was a battle fought in Spanish Morocco between the Spanish Army of Africa and combatants of the Rif region. It was a major... military defeat suffered by the Spanish army on July 22, 1921 at Annual in northeastern Morocco during the Rif War. The defeat, almost always referred to by the Spanish as the Disaster of Annual, led to major political crises and a redefinition of Spanish colonial policy toward the Rif. In early 1921 the Spanish army commenced an offensive into north-eastern Morocco from the coastal regions previously held. The advance took place without the extended lines of communication being adequately established or the complete subjugation of the areas occupied.
more

The Agadir Crisis, also called the Second Moroccan Crisis, or the Panther Sprung, was the international tension sparked by the deployment of the... German gunboat Panther, to the Moroccan port of Agadir on July 1, 1911. Anglo–German tensions were high at this time partly due to an arms race between Germany and Great Britain which included an attempt by Germany to surpass Britain's naval supremacy. Germany's move was aimed at testing the relationship between Britain and France and possibly intimidate Britain into an alliance with her, as well as enforcing claims for compensation for acceptance of effective French control of the North African kingdom, where France's pre-eminence had been upheld by the 1906 Algeciras Conference following the Tangier Crisis a year earlier. The move was encouraged by the German press. In 1911 a rebellion broke out in Morocco against the Sultan, Abdelhafid. By early April 1911 the Sultan was besieged in his palace in Fez and the French prepared to send troops to help put down the rebellion under the pretext of protecting European lives and property. The French dispatched a flying column at the end of April 1911.
more

The First Moroccan Crisis was the international crisis over the international status of Morocco between March 1905 and May 1906. German Chancellor... Bülow was worried about the recently signed Entente Cordiale between Britain and France. He decided to test the new friendship between Britain and France, who had until recently been involved in imperial rivalries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. His calculation was that such a crisis would reveal the weakness of ties between the two powers and that Britain would not be prepared to offer a strong support to France in a situation where war would be in sight. The French government was at the time trying to establish a protectorate over Morocco, and had managed to sign two bilateral secret agreements with Britain 1904 and Spain 1904, which guaranteed the support of the powers in question in this endeavour. A previous agreement with Italy had yet been signed 1900. The First Moroccan crisis grew out of the imperial rivalries of the great powers, in this case, between Germany on one side and France, with British support, on the other.
more

The Western European Union is an international organisation tasked with implementing the Treaty of Brussels , a defence agreement among Western... European nations during the Cold War. Since the end of the Cold War, the European Union has been taking on a greater defence role and WEU tasks and institutions have been transferred to the EU. In 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon took over the WEU's mutual defense clause and as a result, as of 31 March 2010, the treaty was terminated and the WEU's activities are due to cease by July 2011. The Western European Union had 10 member countries, 6 associate member countries, 5 observer countries and 7 associate partner countries. On 14 June 2001, then-WEU President Solana stated that there was no foreseeable reason to change the status of the non member countries in the organisation. The Treaty of Brussels was signed by the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands on 17 March 1948. It was a mutual intergovernmental self defence treaty which also promoted economic, cultural and social collaboration.
more

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. 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. A draft accord was submitted to top African officials, then to African Ministers, before being cosigned by twenty-three African governments on August 4, 1963, in the form of an agreement establishing the African Development Bank. The agreement came into force on 10 September 1964.
more

The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established in 1966 to promote economic and social development in Asian and Pacific... countries through loans and technical assistance. It is a multilateral development financial institution owned by 67 members , 48 from the region and 19 from other parts of the globe. ADB's vision is a region free of poverty. Its mission is to help its developing member countries reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their citizens. The work of the Asian Development Bank is aimed at improving the welfare of the people in Asia and the Pacific, particularly the 1.9 billion who live on less than $2 a day. Despite many success stories, Asia and the Pacific remains home to two thirds of the world's poor. The bank was conceived with the vision of creating a financial institution that would be "Asian in character" to foster growth and cooperation in a region that back then was one of the world's poorest. ADB raises funds through bond issues on the world's capital markets, while also utilizing its members' contributions and earnings from lending.
more

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.
more

Manuel López-Quiroga Miquel better known as Maestro Quiroga, was a pianist, composer and author of couplets and coplas, one of the authors... Quintero, León and Quiroga. He was born in Seville, Spain. In 1934 he began dedicating himself completely to the world of music, giving classes to other new artists and composing. He was a prolific author, with more than 5,000 musical compositions to his name, many of them becoming very popular in 1940s and 1950s Spain. As he did not lyrics, he always surrounded himself with extraordinary lyricists like Salvador Valverde, Antonio Quintero and Rafael de León. Some of his songs are Tatuaje, Rocio, La Paralla, María de la O, Ojos verdes, Te Lo Juro Yo and La Zarzamora. Manuel Quiroga died from a pulmonary edema at Virgen del Mar de Madrid clinic on December 13, 1988.
more

Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués was a Spanish violinist and composer of the Romantic period. Pablo Sarasate was born in... Pamplona, Spain, the son of an artillery bandmaster. He began studying the violin with his father at the age of five and later took lessons from a local teacher but his musical talent became evident early on and he appeared in his first public concert in La Coruña at the age of eight. His performance was well-received, and caught the attention of a wealthy patron who provided the funding for Sarasate to study under Manuel Rodríguez Saez in Madrid where he gained the favor of Queen Isabel II. Later, as his abilities developed, he was sent to study under Jean-Delphin Alard at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of twelve. There, at seventeen, Sarasate entered a competition for the Premier Prix and won his first prize, the Conservatoire's highest honour. Sarasate, who had been playing in public since childhood, made his Paris debut as a concert violinist in 1860, and played in London the following year.
more

Lorena Bernal is a model and actress of Spanish nationality. When she was one year old her family moved to San Sebastián, Spain. In 1999, at... the age of 21, she became Miss Spain. Bernal appeared in one episode of the television show Chuck as an international arms dealer. Bernal appeared in CSI Miami as a nanny named Mia in the episode "My Nanny." She is married to Spanish footballer, Mikel Arteta who is currently playing for the FA Premier League football club, Everton. The couple had their first child, Gabriel, in June 2009.
more

Thadeus A. Thomas was born in the parish of Saint Mary Jamaica West Indies; He garnered the public's attention with a stellar performance when he... made his professional acting debut in" Last Days" after being discovered by prolific director Gus Van Sant who said during an interview. "The Yellow Pages advertising space salesman actually interrupted one of our fittings with Ann Roth renowned costume designer, where Mike was trying on one of the dresses or something. He just walked in and thought it was a store. And he started picking up the glasses, those yellow glasses, and was looking at them, because we were on the main street of Garrison New York, which is where all the flea markets are, inside these big barns. In our case, it was an office. He thought it was a store. I tried to tell him because he was near me, and Ann hadn't seen him yet. And I said, 'this isn't a store. This is a fitting for a movie.' And he just thought I was a guy in the store trying to get rid of him. And so he wasn't paying attention to me. And Ann turned around and said, 'this is my fitting! Who are you?' And he said, 'Hi, Thadeus Thomas, Yellow Pages.' And the way he said that, I just thought, 'Oh my God -- he's still going!' And he seemed to want to figure out who was the owner of the store because he was going to sell ad space. And I said, 'this guy's got to be in It". Thadeus is member of the Screen Actors Guild and has worked extensively in the corporate world as district manager for ADP, senior account manager of Yellow Book USA, advertising executive with Gannett, home of USA Today. While in the United States Marine Corps and NATO he has lived in Spain, Italy and France .He is also a Real Estate Broker.
more

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of nearly 39 million and an area of... 710,850 km², including the disputed Western Sahara which is mainly under Moroccan administration. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Spain to the north , Algeria to the east, and Mauritania to the south. Morocco is a de jure constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive powers, including dissolving parliament. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors.
more

Portugal /ˈpɔɹtʃʉɡəl/ , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the... Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are also part of Portugal. The land within the borders of today's Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times. In 29 B.C. the territory was occupied by the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians when it was integrated in the Roman Empire as the provinces of Lusitania and part of Gallaecia. Roman settlers strongly influenced Portuguese culture, particularly the Portuguese language, mostly derived from Latin. In the 5th century, after the fall of the Roman empire, it was occupied by several Germanic peoples, mainly the Suevi and the Visigoths. In the early 8th century Muslim Moors conquered those Christian kingdoms, occupying most of the Iberian Peninsula.
more

Andorra /ænˈdɒrə/ , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small... country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of 468 km and an estimated population of 83,888 in 2009. Its capital, Andorra la Vella, is one of the highest capital cities in Europe, being at an elevation of 1023 metres. The official language is Catalan, although Spanish, French, and Portuguese are also commonly spoken. The Principality was formed in 1278. The role of monarch is exercised jointly by the two co-princes, the President of the French Republic and the Bishop of Urgell, Catalonia, Spain. This peculiarity makes the President of France, in his capacity as Prince of Andorra, the only reigning monarch actually elected in regular intervals by vote. Andorra is a prosperous country mainly because of its tourism industry, which services an estimated 10.2 million visitors annually, and also because of its status as a tax haven.
more

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean, overlooking the... Strait of Gibraltar. The territory itself is a peninsula of 6.843 square kilometres whose isthmus connects to the north with Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the area and gives its name to the densely populated town, home to almost 30,000 Gibraltarians. An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The territory was subsequently ceded to Britain by Spain under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. It became an important base for the British Royal Navy, which drove the local economy and provided employment for a large portion of the local population. Nowadays, the economy is largely based on tourism, financial services and shipping. The sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory and seeks its return. Gibraltarians resoundingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in referendums held in 1967 and 2002.
more