Spain

The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família , commonly known as the Sagrada Família, is a large Roman Catholic church in... Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí . Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in November 2010 was consecrated and proclaimed a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XVI. Though construction of Sagrada Família had commenced in 1882, Gaudí became involved in 1883, taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style—combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted his last years to the project and at the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete. Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War—only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s.
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Casa Milà , better known as La Pedrera , is a building designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built during the years... 1905–1910, being considered officially completed in 1912. It is located at 92, Passeig de Gràcia in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was a controversial design at the time for the bold forms of the undulating stone facade and wrought iron decoration of the balconies and windows, designed largely by Josep Maria Jujol, who also created some of the plaster ceilings. Architecturally it is considered an innovative work for its steel structure and curtain walls – the façade is self-supporting. Other innovative elements were the construction of underground car parking and separate lifts and stairs for the owners and their servants. In 1984, it was declared World Heritage by UNESCO. The building is made open to the public by the CatalunyaCaixa Foundation, which manages the various exhibitions and activities and visits to the interior and roof. It was built for the married couple, Roser Segimon and Pere Milà.
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The Palacio Real de Madrid is the official residence of the King of Spain in the city of Madrid, but it is only used for state ceremonies. King Juan... Carlos and the Royal Family do not reside in the palace, choosing instead the more modest Palacio de la Zarzuela on the outskirts of Madrid. The palace is owned by the Spanish State and administered by the Patrimonio Nacional, a public agency of the Ministry of the Presidency. The palace is located on Calle de Bailén , in the Western part of downtown Madrid, East of the Manzanares River, and is accessible from the Ópera metro station. The palace is partially open to public, except when it is being used for official business. In Spanish it is sometimes incorrectly called "Palacio de Oriente" by confusion with the "Plaza de Oriente", the square which is on the East side of the palace. The palace is on the site of a 9th-century fortress, called mayrit, constructed as an outpost by Muhammad I of Córdoba and inherited after 1036 by the independent Moorish Taifa of Toledo. After Madrid fell to Alfonso VI of Castile in 1085, the edifice was only rarely used by the kings of Castile.
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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. The cathedral seems to have been built on the site of a medieval mosque that was destroyed in 1083 when Alfonso VI reconquered Madrid. 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.
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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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The Battle of Košare was fought during the Kosovo war between the military forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on one side and the KLA... on the other. 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 region of Metohija. After days of heavy fighting, the Yugoslav Army kept the Kosovo Liberation Army from advancing into Kosovo. KLA insurgents managed to take the Košare outpost following a massive artillery barrage by the Albanian Army and NATO bombardardment of strategic sites held by the Yugoslavs, but they failed to complete any of their strategic objectives and failed to drive the Yugoslav forces out of the area.
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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.
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The Agadir Crisis, also called the Second Moroccan Crisis, or the Panthersprung, 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 of 1905-1906. 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.
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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. 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.
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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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The University of Barcelona is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, LERU,... European University Association, Mediterranean Universities Union, International Research Universities Network and Vives Network. Established in 3 November 1450, it is the fifth oldest university in Spain and one of the oldest universities in the world. With 75 undergraduate programs, 353 graduate programs and 96 doctorate programs to over 63,700 students, UB is considered to be the best University in Spain by the 2011 QS World University Rankings, which ranked the university 148th overall in the world. Its subject rankings were: 89th in Arts & Humanities, 175th in Engineering & IT, 74th in Life Sciences & Biomedicine, 87th in Natural Sciences, and 143rd in Social Sciences. On the other hand, the ranking published by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo ranks the university 8th in Spain. In 2010, according to University Ranking by Academic Performance , it is the best university in Spain and 83rd university in the world.
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The Complutense University of Madrid is a university in Madrid, and one of the oldest universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus... that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of Pozuelo de Alarcón. According to the annual university rankings conducted by El Mundo, the Complutense University ranks as the top public university in Spain, with its Schools of Philosophy, Spanish Literature, History, Pharmacy, Optometry, Journalism, Psychology, and Sociology holding the top national rankings. The University is also an affiliate of the Spanish Royal Societies of Physics and Mathematics. The Complutense University's origins lie in the Middle Ages, when King Sancho IV of Castile created the Studium Generale on 20 May 1293.
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The Universidad de Sevilla or University of Seville, in English, is a top-ranked European university in Seville, Spain. Founded under the name of... Colegio Santa María de Jesús in 1505, the University of Seville, with a student body of over 50,000, is one of the top-ranked universities in the country. It is located in the 2,000-year-old artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, in Andalusia. The building itself dates back to the 15th century when the Catholic Monarchs recovered the area from the Moors, a history reflected in its architecture. It is located centrally in the city next to the prestigious Hotel Alfonso XIII which hosts Europe's royalty and international celebrities. The University of Seville is steeped in history and is one of the most important cultural centers in Spain, dating back to the 15th century when the Catholic Monarchs recovered the area from the Moors. It was originally the Colegio de Santa Mari­a de Jesus which had been created by Arcediano Maese Rodrigo Fernandez de Santaella and was confirmed as a practising university in 1555 by the papal bull of Pope Julius II.
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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 write 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.
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Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués was a Navarrese Spanish violinist and composer of the Romantic period. Pablo Sarasate... was born in Pamplona, Navarre, 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.
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Paz Campos Trigo , better known as Paz Vega, is a Spanish actress. Vega was born in Seville, Andalusia, Spain to a homemaker mother and a retired... bullfighter father. Vega's younger sister has performed as a flamenco dancer. Vega has described her family as "traditional" and Catholic. She took her stage name from her grandmother. After attending a performance of Federico García Lorca's La casa de Bernarda Alba at the age of 15 she was convinced that she wanted to become an actress. After completing compulsory education at 16, she was accepted at the prestigious Centro Andaluz de Teatro stage school. After two years at the stage school and two more years studying journalism, Vega moved to Madrid. Vega made her television debut in the Spanish TV series, Menudo es mi padre, which starred rumba singer El Fary. After appearing in two other series in 1997 - Mas que amigos and teen drama Compañeros - she went on to grace the silver screen in 1999 in Zapping. The same year she also had a minor role in the David Menkes movie I Will Survive alongside Emma Suárez, Juan Diego Botto and a cameo from Boy George. Vega found success in 1999's 7 Vidas.
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Lorena Bernal Pascual is an actress and model with Argentine and Spanish nationality. Lorena Bernal was born on May 12, 1977. 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, Arsenal. The couple had their first child, Gabriel, in 8 June 2009, in Spain. Lorena said "I return to work when Mikel finish his career in football" The family will move to Los Angeles in USA.
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Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco ; Berber: ⵜⴰⴳⵍⴷⵉⵜ ⵏ... ⵍⵎⴰⵖⵔⵉⴱ Tagldit n Lmaɣrib, is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 35 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara. It is part of the Maghreb region, in addition to Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Libya, with which it shares cultural, historical and linguistic ties. Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive powers, including the possibility of dissolving the parliament. Executive power is exercised by the government but more importantly by the king himself. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors. The king can also issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law.
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Portugal /ˈpɔrtʃʉɡəl/ , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated 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 part of Portugal. The country is named after its second largest city, Porto, whose Latin name was Portus Cale. The land within the borders of today's Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times: occupied by Celts like the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians, integrated into the Roman Republic and later settled by Germanic peoples such as the Suebi, Swabians, Vandals and the Visigoths. In the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, which were later expelled by the Knights Templar under the Order of Christ. During the Christian Reconquista, Portugal established itself as an independent kingdom from León in 1139, claiming to be the oldest European nation-state.
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Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked 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 84,082 in 2009. Its capital, Andorra la Vella, is the highest capital city in Europe, being at an elevation of 1023 metres. The official language is Catalan, although Spanish, Portuguese, and French are also commonly spoken. The Principality was formed in 1278. The role of monarch is exercised jointly by the two co-princes, the Bishop of Urgell and the current President of France. 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. It is not a member of the European Union, but the euro is the de facto currency.
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Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. It has an area... of 2.6 square kilometres and a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region. At its foot is the densely populated city area, home to almost 30,000 Gibraltarians and other nationalities. An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The territory was subsequently ceded to Britain "in perpetuity" under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. It was an important base for the Royal Navy; today its economy is based largely 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. Gibraltarians rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum and again in 2002. Under Gibraltar constitution of 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the UK Government.
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