tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37022721235360649962024-02-20T18:23:39.572-08:00The Countries-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-53933549029746331532008-03-22T08:47:00.000-07:002008-03-22T08:49:45.043-07:00Krabi the ParadiseKrabi the Paradise <p> » <a href="http://www.thailandsite.net/"><strong>Thailand Travel<strong></strong></strong></a><strong><strong> Adventures A sea lovers paradise on the Andaman coast, this province boasts unpolluted natural wonders, both land and under sea. White sandy beaches stretching in sharp contrast with the blue sea, Krabi offers a wide range of challenging activies from scuba diving, kayaking to hiking it never stops luring tourist to this special coastal province. Many of the world's most nicest sea destinations and islands are nearby such as Kho Rok, Kho Lanta, Maya Bay and not to forget Phi Phi Island. krabi is one of the most beautiful and famous destinations in Thailand and known for its breathtaking seaside and beaches, but also for ecotourims and trekking makes Krabi a beautiful place.<br /><br /><strong>Getting There by Bus</strong><br />If your planning to travel by bus there are VIP, first class, second class and standard buses available from Monchit Bangkok's Southern bus terminal. Approximately » <a href="http://www.seo-watch.info/Travel_Vacations/"><strong>travel</strong></a> time is about 13 - 14 hours depends which bus you take.<br /><br /><strong>Getting There by Train</strong><br />There is no direct train from Bangkok to Krabi. Travelers may take a train from Bangkok's Hua Lamphong train station that can be easily reached by taxi. The train will lead you to Surathani and from there you can reach Krabi by bus or taxi.<br /><br /><strong>Getting There by Air</strong><br />Traveling by airplane is the most fastest and convenient way to travel when your holiday. There are direct flights available from Bangkok to Krabi hourly, flight takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Tickets are cheap and cost around 100 Euro check with your travel agency as there are maybe cheaper flights available depends on the season.<br /><br />Permission to reprint this article is granted if the article is reproduced in its entirety, without modification, including all information and hyperlinks. » <a href="http://www.thailand-hotel.us/"><strong>Thailand Hotel</strong></a></strong></strong></p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-51572389692158985432008-03-11T10:12:00.001-07:002008-03-11T10:12:38.569-07:00Lost 4.sezon altyazıları<h1 style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);" class="title"><a title="Permanent Link to Lost 4.sezon altyazıları" href="http://www.yasarcan.com/dizi-film/lost-4sezon-altyazilari.html" rel="bookmark">Lost 4.sezon altyazıları</a></h1>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-82539678438673364472008-02-25T11:32:00.003-08:002008-02-25T11:32:40.255-08:00Zimbabwe<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0108169">Zimbabwe</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Zimbabwe" id="A0203025" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/zimbabwe.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p> <b><br /></b> </p> <p class="president"><b>President:</b> Robert Mugabe (1980)</p> <p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/zimbabwe.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p> <p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 149,293 sq mi (386,669 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 150,804 sq mi (390,580 sq km)</p> <p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 12,311,143 (growth rate: 0.6%); birth rate: 27.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 51.1/1000; life expectancy: 39.8; density per sq mi: 82</p> <p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Harare, 2,331,400 (metro. area), 1,919,700 (city proper)</p> <p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large cities:</b> Bulawayo, 965,000; Chitungwiza, 411,700</p> <p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Zimbabwean dollar</p> <p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> English (official), Shona, Ndebele (Sindebele), numerous minor tribal dialects</p> <p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> African 98% (Shona 82%, Ndebele 14%, other 2%), mixed and Asian 1%, white less than 1%</p> <p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> syncretic (part Christian, part indigenous beliefs) 50%, Christian 25%, indigenous beliefs 24%, Muslim and other 1%</p> <p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 91% (2003 est.)</p> <p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2006 est.): $25.36 billion; per capita $ $2,100. <b>Real growth rate:</b> –4%. <b>Inflation: </b>976.4% official data; private sector estimates are much higher (yearend 2006 est.). <b>Unemployment: </b>80%. <b>Arable land: </b>8%. <b>Agriculture:</b> corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, sugarcane, peanuts; sheep, goats, pigs. <b>Labor force: </b>3.96 million; agriculture 66%, services 24%, industry 10% (1996). <b>Industries: </b>mining (coal, gold, platinum, copper, nickel, tin, clay, numerous metallic and nonmetallic ores), steel; wood products, cement, chemicals, fertilizer, clothing and footwear, foodstuffs, beverages. <b>Natural resources: </b>coal, chromium ore, asbestos, gold, nickel, copper, iron ore, vanadium, lithium, tin, platinum group metals. <b>Exports: </b>$1.766 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): cotton, tobacco, gold, ferroalloys, textiles/clothing. <b>Imports:</b> $2.055 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): machinery and transport equipment, other manufactures, chemicals, fuels. <b>Major trading partners: </b>South Africa, Switzerland, UK, China, Germany, Botswana (2004).</p> <p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones: </b>main lines in use: 331,700 (2006); mobile cellular: 832,500 (2006). <b>Radio broadcast stations: </b>AM 7, FM 20 (plus 17 repeater stations), shortwave 1 (1998). <b>Radios: </b>1.14 million (1997). <b>Television broadcast stations: </b>16 (1997). <b>Televisions: </b>370,000 (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs): </b>6 (2000). <b>Internet users:</b> 1 million (2005).</p> <p class="transsumm"><b> Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 3,077 km (2002). <b>Highways:</b> total: 97,440 km ; paved: 18,514 km ; unpaved: 78,926 km (2002 est.). <b>Waterways: </b>the Mazoe and Zambezi rivers are used for transporting chrome ore from Harare to Mozambique. <b>Ports and harbors: </b>Binga, Kariba. <b>Airports: </b>430 (2002) .</p> <p class="conflicts"><i> <b>International disputes:</b> </i>dormant dispute remains where Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe boundaries converge.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="graphseg centered" border="0" width="250"> <tbody><tr> <td id="A0202930"><br /></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108170">Geography</h1> <p>Zimbabwe, a landlocked country in south-central Africa, is slightly smaller than California. It is bordered by Botswana on the west, Zambia on the north, Mozambique on the east, and South Africa on the south.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108171">Government</h1> <p>Parliamentary democracy.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108172">History</h1> <p>The remains of early humans, dating back 500,000 years, have been discovered in present-day Zimbabwe. The land's earliest settlers, the Khoisan, date back to 200 <span class="small">B.C.</span> After a period of Bantu domination, the Shona people ruled, followed by the Nguni and Zulu peoples. By the mid-19th century the descendants of the Nguni and Zulu, the Ndebele, had established a powerful warrior kingdom.</p> <p>The first British explorers, colonists, and missionaries arrived in the 1850s, and the massive influx of foreigners led to the establishment of the territory Rhodesia, named after Cecil Rhodes of the British South Africa Company. In 1923, European settlers voted to become the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia. After a brief federation with Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Nyasaland (now Malawi) in the post–World War II period, Southern Rhodesia (also known as Rhodesia) chose to remain a colony when its two partners voted for independence in 1963.</p> <p>On Nov. 11, 1965, the conservative white-minority government of Rhodesia declared its independence from Britain. The country resisted the demands of black Africans, and Prime Minister Ian Smith withstood British pressure, economic sanctions, and guerrilla attacks in his effort to uphold white supremacy. On March 1, 1970, Rhodesia formally proclaimed itself a republic. Heightened guerrilla war and a withdrawal of South African military aid in 1976 marked the beginning of the collapse of Smith's 11 years of resistance.</p> <p>Black nationalist movements were led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa of the African National Congress and Ndabaningi Sithole, who were moderates, and guerrilla leaders Robert Mugabe of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Joshua Nkomo of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), who advocated revolution.</p> <p>On March 3, 1978, Smith, Muzorewa, Sithole, and Chief Jeremiah Chirau signed an agreement to transfer power to the black majority by Dec. 31, 1978. They formed an executive council, with chairmanship rotating but with Smith retaining the title of prime minister. Blacks were named to each cabinet ministry, serving as coministers with the whites already holding these posts. African nations and rebel leaders immediately denounced the action, but Western governments were more reserved, although none granted recognition to the new regime.</p> <p>The white minority finally consented to hold multiracial elections in 1980, and Robert Mugabe won a landslide victory. The country achieved independence on April 17, 1980, under the name Zimbabwe. Mugabe eventually established a one-party socialist state, but by 1990 he had instituted multiparty elections and in 1991 deleted all references to Marxism-Leninism and scientific socialism from the constitution. Parliamentary elections in April 1995 gave Mugabe's party a stunning victory with 63 of the 65 contested seats, and in 1996 Mugabe won another six-year term as president.</p> <p>In 2000, veterans of Zimbabwe's war for independence in the 1970s began squatting on land owned by white farmers in an effort to reclaim land taken under British colonization—one-third of Zimbabwe's arable land was owned by 4,000 whites. In Aug. 2002, Mugabe ordered all white commercial farmers to leave their land without compensation. Mugabe's support for the squatters and his repressive rule has led to foreign sanctions against Zimbabwe. Once heralded as a champion of the anticolonial movement, Mugabe is now viewed by much of the international community as an authoritarian ruler responsible for egregious human rights abuses and for running the economy of his country into the ground.</p> <p>In March 2002, Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations. That month Mugabe was reelected president for another six years in a blatantly rigged election whose results were enforced by the president's militia. In 2003, inflation hit 300%, the country faced severe food shortages, and the farming system had been destroyed. In 2004, the IMF estimated that the country had grown one-third poorer in the last five years.</p> <p>Parliamentary elections in March 2005 were judged by international monitors to be egregiously flawed. In April, Zimbabwe was reelected to the UN Commission on Human Rights, outraging numerous countries and human rights groups. In mid-2005, Zimbabwe demolished its urban slums and shantytowns, leaving 700,000 people homeless in an operation called “Drive Out Trash.” In 2006, the government launched “Operation Roundup,” which drove 10,000 homeless people out of the capital.</p> <p>Since 2000, Zimbabwe has experienced precipitous hyperinflation. By 2007, inflation had reached nearly 7,000%, by far the world's highest. Unemployment ranges from 70% to 80%. According to the World Health Organization, Zimbabwe has the world's lowest life expectancy. The opposition, clearly emboldened by the economic collapse and the lack of available necessities in Zimbabwe, attempted to hold an antigovernment rally in March 2007. Police arrested and beat dozens of activists, including Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change. Mugabe banned political meetings and forbid political opponents from leaving the country.</p><p>Representatives from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and the governing ZANU-PF party met in South Africa in September 2007 and agreed to constitutional changes that will allow presidential and parliamentary elections to be held simultaneously in 2008. The opposition, however, said the changes did little to dilute Mugabe's hold on power.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-76833002231373235162008-02-25T11:32:00.001-08:002008-02-25T11:32:13.313-08:00Wales<h1 id="A0777807" class="level3">Wales</h1><!--BodyText--><table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td><p class="status"><b>Status:</b> Part of United Kingdom</p><p class="other-leader"><b>First Secretary:</b> Rhodri Morgan (2000)</p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 8,019 sq mi (20,768 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (1993 est.):</b> 2,906,500</p><p class="capital"><b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> Cardiff, 676,400 (metro. area), 280,800 (city proper)</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> British pound sterling (£)</p><p class="language"><b>Languages:</b> English, Welsh</p><p class="religion"><b>Religions:</b> Calvinistic Methodist, Church of Wales (disestablished—Anglican), Roman Catholic</p><p><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" target="_blank" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');">Major sources and definitions</a></p></td></tr></tbody></table><h1 id="A0777808" class="level3">Geography</h1><p> Wales lies west of England and is separated from England by the Cambrian Mountains. It is bordered on the northwest, west, and south by the Irish Sea and on the northeast and east by England. Wales is generally hilly; the Snowdon range in the northern part culminates in Mount Snowdon (3,560 ft, 1,085 m), Wales's highest peak. </p><h1 id="A0777809" class="level3">Government</h1><p> Until 1999, Wales was ruled solely by the UK government and a secretary of state. In the referendum of Sept. 18, 1997, Welsh citizens voted to establish a national assembly. Wales will remain part of the UK, and the secretary of state for Wales and members of parliament from Welsh constituencies will continue to have seats in parliament. Unlike Scotland, which in 1999 voted to have its own parliament, the national assembly will not be able to legislate and raise taxes. Wales will, however, control most of its local affairs. The Welsh national assembly officially opened on July 1, 1999.</p><h1 id="A0777810" class="level3">History</h1><p> The prehistoric peoples of Wales left behind megaliths and other impressive monuments. They were followed by settlements of Celts in the region. The Romans occupied the region from the 1st to the 5th century <span class="small">A.D.</span> Thereafter Angles, Saxons, and Jutes invaded the British island, but they left Wales virtually untouched. Beginning in the 8th century, the various Welsh tribes fought with their Anglo-Saxon neighbors to the east, but the Welsh were able to thwart attempted invasions. After William the Conqueror subdued England in 1066, however, his Norman armies marched into Wales in 1093 and occupied portions of it. By 1282, the English conquest of Wales was complete, and in 1284, the Statute of Rhuddlan formalized England's sovereignty over Wales. In 1301, King Edward I gave his son, who later became Edward II, the title Prince of Wales, a gesture meant to indicate the unity and relationship between the two lands. With the exception of Edward II, all subsequent British monarchs have given this title to their eldest son. </p><p> In 1400, the Welsh prince Owen Glendower led a revolt against the English, expelling them from much of Wales in just four years. By 1410, however, his rebellion was crushed. In 1485, Henry VII became king of England. A Welshman and the first in the Tudor line, Henry's reign, and those of subsequent Tudors, made English rule more palatable to the Welsh. His son, King Henry VIII, joined England and Wales under the Act of Union in 1536.</p><p> The Industrial Revolution transformed Wales and threatened the traditional livelihood of farmers and shepherds. In the 20th century, the economy of Wales was based primarily on coal production. After World War I, coal prices dropped; this, coupled with the Great Depression, fueled high unemployment rates and economic uncertainty.</p><p> In recent years, a resurgence of the Welsh language and culture has demonstrated a stronger national identity among the Welsh, and politically the country moved toward greater self-government (devolution). In 1999, with the strong support of Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, Wales opened the Welsh national assembly, the first real self-government Wales has had in more than 600 years.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-61771086822149816272008-02-25T11:30:00.002-08:002008-02-25T11:31:11.828-08:00Yemen<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0108153">Yemen</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Yemen" id="A0748507" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/yemen.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p> <b><br /></b> </p> <p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Al-Jumhuriyah al-Yamaniyah</p> <p class="president"><b>President:</b> Ali Abdullah Saleh (1990)</p> <p class="prime-mininster"><b>Prime Minister:</b> Ali Muhammad Mujawar (2007)</p> <p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/yemen.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p> <p class="area"><b>Total area:</b> 203,849 sq mi (527,969 sq km)</p> <p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 22,211,743 (growth rate: 3.5%); birth rate: 42.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 58.3/1000; life expectancy: 62.5; density per sq mi: 109</p> <p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Sanaá, 1,778,900</p> <p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large cities:</b> Aden, 568,700; Hodiedah, 426,100; Tiaz, 317,600</p> <p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Rial</p> <p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Language:</b> </a> Arabic</p> <p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> predominantly Arab; but also Afro-Arab, South Asians, Europeans</p> <p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Islam (including Sunni and Shiite), small numbers of Jewish, Christian, and Hindu</p> <p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 50% (2003 est.)</p> <p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2006 est.): $20.63 billion; per capita $1000. <b>Real growth rate: </b>2.6%. <b>Inflation: </b>14.8%. <b>Unemployment: </b>35% (2003 est.). <b>Arable land: </b>3%. <b>Agriculture: </b>grain, fruits, vegetables, pulses, qat, coffee, cotton; dairy products, livestock (sheep, goats, cattle, camels), poultry; fish. <b>Labor force:</b> 5.759 million; most people are employed in agriculture and herding; services, construction, industry, and commerce account for less than one-fourth of the labor force. <b>Industries:</b> crude oil production and petroleum refining; small-scale production of cotton textiles and leather goods; food processing; handicrafts; small aluminum products factory; cement; commercial ship repair. <b>Natural resources: </b>petroleum, fish, rock salt, marble, small deposits of coal, gold, lead, nickel, copper, fertile soil in west. <b>Exports:</b> $8.214 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): crude oil, coffee, dried and salted fish. <b>Imports: </b>$5.042 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): food and live animals, machinery and equipment, chemicals. <b>Major trading partners: </b>Thailand, China, Singapore, UAE, Saudi Arabia, France, India, U.S., Kuwait (2004).</p> <p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones: </b>main lines in use: 968,400 (2006); mobile cellular: 2.075 million. <b>Radio broadcast stations: </b>AM 6, FM 1, shortwave 2 (1998). <b>Radios:</b> 1.05 million (1997). <b>Television broadcast stations: </b>7 (plus several low-power repeaters) (1997). <b>Televisions:</b> 470,000 (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs): </b>171 (2006). <b>Internet users:</b> 220,000 (2005).</p> <p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> 0 km. <b>Highways:</b> total: 71,300 km ; paved: 6,200 km; unpaved: 65,100 km (2005 est.). <b>Ports and harbors: </b>Aden, Al Hudaydah, Al Mukalla, As Salif, Ras Issa, Mocha, Nishtun. <b>Airports:</b> 44 (2002).</p> <p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes:</b> Eritrea protests Yemeni fishing around the Hanish islands awarded to Eritrea by the ICJ in 1999; nomadic groups in border region with Saudi Arabia resist demarcation of boundary.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="graphseg centered" border="0" width="250"> <tbody><tr> <td id="A0748506"> <br /> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108154">Geography</h1> <p>Formerly divided into two nations, the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen and the Yemen Arab Republic, the Republic of Yemen occupies the southwest tip of the Arabian Peninsula on the Red Sea opposite Ethiopia and extends along the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula on the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Saudi Arabia is to the north and Oman is to the east. The country is about the size of France. A 700-mile (1,130-km) narrow coastal plain in the south gives way to a mountainous region and then a plateau area.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108155">Government</h1> <p>Parliamentary republic.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108156">History</h1> <p>The history of Yemen dates back to the Minaean (1200–650 <span class="small">B.C.</span>) and Sabaean (750–115 <span class="small">B.C.</span>) kingdoms. Ancient Yemen (centered around the port of Aden) engaged in the lucrative myrrh and frankincense trade. It was invaded by the Romans (1st century <span class="small">A.D.</span>) as well as the Ethiopians and Persians (6th century <span class="small">A.D.</span>). In <span class="small">A.D.</span> 628 it converted to Islam and in the 10th century came under the control of the Rassite dynasty of the Zaidi sect, which remained involved in North Yemeni politics until 1962. The Ottoman Turks nominally occupied the area from 1538 to the decline of their empire in 1918.</p> <p>The northern portion of Yemen was ruled by imams until a pro-Egyptian military coup took place in 1962. The junta proclaimed the Yemen Arab Republic, and after a civil war in which Egypt's Nasser and the USSR supported the revolutionaries and King Saud of Saudi Arabia and King Hussein of Jordan supported the royalists, the royalists were finally defeated in mid-1969.</p> <p>The southern port of Aden, strategically located at the opening of the Red Sea, was colonized by Britain in 1839, and by 1937, with an expansion of its territory, it was known as the Aden Protectorate. In the 1960s the Nationalist Liberation Front (NLF) fought against British rule, which led to the establishment of the People's Republic of Southern Yemen on Nov. 30, 1967. In 1979, under strong Soviet influence, the country became the only Marxist state in the Arab world.</p> <p>The Republic of Yemen was established on May 22, 1990, when pro-Western Yemen and the Marxist Yemen Arab Republic merged after 300 years of separation to form the new nation. The poverty and decline in Soviet economic support in the south was an important incentive for the merger. The new president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was elected by the parliaments of both countries.</p> <p>Differences over power sharing and the pace of integration between the north and the south came to a head in 1994, resulting in a civil war. The north's superior forces quickly overwhelmed the south in May and early June despite the south's brief declaration of succession. The victorious north presented a reconciliation plan providing for a general amnesty and pledges to protect political democracy.</p> <p>The president's party, the General People's Congress, won an enormous victory in the April 1997 parliamentary elections, the first since the civil war. In 1998–1999, a militant Islamic group, the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army, kidnapped several groups of Western tourists, which led to the deaths of several during a poorly orchestrated rescue attempt. The group's leader, Zein al-Abidine al-Mihdar, threatened to continue attacks on tourists and government officials. The goal of the militants is to overthrow the government and turn Yemen into an Islamic state.</p> <p>On Oct. 12, 2000, 17 Americans died and 37 were wounded when suicide bombers attacked the U.S. Navy destroyer <i>Cole,</i> which was refueling in Aden, Yemen. The U.S. had numerous clashes with Yemeni authorities during the investigation of the terrorist act. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., however, Yemen increased its cooperation with the U.S. and assisted in antiterrorism measures. In Oct. 2002, a French tanker, the <i>Limburg, </i>was also the victim of a terrorist attack off the coast of Yemen. Ten suspects of the <i>Cole </i>bombing escaped from prison in April 2003; seven, including the two suspected masterminds of the attack, were recaptured in 2004. Fifteen militants were convicted in Aug. 2004 on a variety of charges, including the attack on the <i>Limburg.</i> In September, two key al-Qaeda operatives involved in the <i>Cole</i> bombing were sentenced to death.</p> <p>In presidential elections in Sept. 2006, incumbent Ali Abdullah Saleh was reelected with 77% of the vote. In March 2007, President Saleh appointed Ali Muhammad Mujawar prime minister and asked him to form a cabinet.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-13603902802022141702008-02-25T11:30:00.001-08:002008-02-25T11:30:40.717-08:00Vietnam<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0108144">Vietnam</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Vietnam" id="A0203024" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/vietnam.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Công Hòa Xa Hôi Chú Nghia Viêt Nam</p><p class="president"><b>President:</b> Nguyen Minh Triet (2006)</p><p class="other-leader"><b>Prime Minister:</b> Nguyen Tan Dung (2006)</p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/vietnam.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 125,622 sq mi (325,361 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 127,244 sq mi (329,560 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 85,262,356 (growth rate: 1.0%); birth rate: 16.6/1000; infant mortality rate: 24.4/1000; life expectancy: 71.1; density per sq mi: 679</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital (2003 est.):</b> </a> Hanoi, 2,543,700 (metro. area), 1,396,500 (city proper)</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Largest cities:</b> Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), 5,894,100 (metro. area), 3,415,300 (city proper); Haiphong, 581,600; Da Nang, 452,700; Hué 271,900; Nha Trang, 270,100; Qui Nho'n, 199,700</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Dong</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> Vietnamese (official); English (increasingly favored as a second language); some French, Chinese, Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> Kinh (Viet) 86.2%, Tay 1.9%, Thai 1.7%, Muong 1.5%, Khome 1.4%, Hoa 1.1%, Nun 1.1%, Hmong 1%, others 4.1% (1999)</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Buddhist 9%, Catholic 7%, Hoa Hao 2%, Cao Dai 1%, Protestant, Islam, none 81%</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 94% (2003 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2006 est.): $262.8 billion; per capita $3,100. <b>Real growth rate:</b> 8.2%. <b>Inflation:</b> 7.5%. <b>Unemployment: </b>2%. <b>Arable land:</b> 20%. <b>Agriculture:</b> paddy rice, coffee, rubber, cotton, tea, pepper, soybeans, cashews, sugar cane, peanuts, bananas; poultry; fish, seafood. <b>Labor force:</b> 44.58 million; agriculture 20.1%, industry 41.8%, services 38.1% (July 2006). <b>Industries: </b>food processing, garments, shoes, machine-building; mining, coal, steel; cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires, oil, paper. <b>Natural resources:</b> phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and gas deposits, forests, hydropower. <b>Exports:</b> $39.92 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): crude oil, marine products, rice, coffee, rubber, tea, garments, shoes. <b>Imports:</b> $39.16 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): machinery and equipment, petroleum products, fertilizer, steel products, raw cotton, grain, cement, motorcycles. <b>Major trading partners:</b> U.S., Japan, China, Australia, Germany, Singapore, UK, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong (2004). </p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 15.845 million (2005); mobile cellular: 9.593 million (2005). <b>Radio broadcast stations: </b>AM 65, FM 7, shortwave 29 (1999). <b>Radios: </b>8.2 million (1997). <b>Television broadcast stations: </b>at least 7 (plus 13 repeaters) (1998). <b>Televisions:</b> 3.57 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs):</b> 12,114 (2006). <b>Internet users:</b> 13.1 million (2006).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways: </b>total: 2,600 km (2006). <b>Highways: </b>total: 222,179 km km; paved: 42,167 km; unpaved: 180,012 km (2004 est.). <b>Waterways: </b>17,702 km navigable; more than 5,149 km navigable at all times by vessels up to 1.8 m draft. <b>Ports and harbors:</b> Cam Ranh, Da Nang, Haiphong, Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Long, Quy Nhon, Nha Trang, Vinh, Vung Tau. <b>Airports:</b> 32 (2006).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes: </b>demarcation of the land boundary with China continues, but maritime boundary and joint fishing zone agreement remains unratified; Cambodia and Laos protest Vietnamese squatters and armed encroachments along border; China occupies Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; involved in a complex dispute over Spratly Islands with China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and possibly Brunei; claimants in November 2002 signed the “Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea,” a mechanism to ease tension but which fell short of a legally binding “code of conduct.”</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="graphseg centered" border="0" width="250"> <tbody><tr> <td id="A0202929"> <br /> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108146">Geography</h1> <p>Vietnam occupies the eastern and southern part of the Indochinese peninsula in Southeast Asia, with the South China Sea along its entire coast. China is to the north and Laos and Cambodia are to the west. Long and narrow on a north-south axis, Vietnam is about twice the size of Arizona. The Mekong River delta lies in the south.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108147">Government</h1> <p>Communist state.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108148">History</h1> <p>The Vietnamese are descendants of nomadic Mongols from China and migrants from Indonesia. According to mythology, the first ruler of Vietnam was Hung Vuong, who founded the nation in 2879 <span class="small">B.C.</span> China ruled the nation then known as Nam Viet as a vassal state from 111 <span class="small">B.C.</span> until the 15th century, an era of nationalistic expansion, when Cambodians were pushed out of the southern area of what is now Vietnam.</p> <p>A century later, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to enter the area. France established its influence early in the 19th century, and within 80 years it conquered the three regions into which the country was then divided—Cochin-China in the south, Annam in the central region, and Tonkin in the north.</p> <p>France first unified Vietnam in 1887, when a single governor-generalship was created, followed by the first physical links between north and south—a rail and road system. Even at the beginning of World War II, however, there were internal differences among the three regions. Japan took over military bases in Vietnam in 1940, and a pro-Vichy French administration remained until 1945. Veteran Communist leader Ho Chi Minh organized an independence movement known as the Vietminh to exploit the confusion surrounding France's weakened influence in the region. At the end of the war, Ho's followers seized Hanoi and declared a short-lived republic, which ended with the arrival of French forces in 1946.</p> <p>Paris proposed a unified government within the French Union under the former Annamite emperor, Bao Dai. Cochin-China and Annam accepted the proposal, and Bao Dai was proclaimed emperor of all Vietnam in 1949. Ho and the Vietminh withheld support, and the revolution in China gave them the outside help needed for a war of resistance against French and Vietnamese troops armed largely by a United States worried about cold war Communist expansion.</p> <p>A bitter defeat at Dien Bien Phu in northwest Vietnam on May 5, 1954, broke the French military campaign and resulted in the division of Vietnam. In the new South, Ngo Dinh Diem, prime minister under Bao Dai, deposed the monarch in 1955 and made himself president. Diem used strong U.S. backing to create an authoritarian regime that suppressed all opposition but could not eradicate the Northern-supplied Communist Viet Cong.</p> <p>Skirmishing grew into a full-scale war, with escalating U.S. involvement. A military coup, U.S.-inspired in the view of many, ousted Diem on Nov. 1, 1963, and a kaleidoscope of military governments followed. The most savage fighting of the war occurred in early 1968 during the Vietnamese New Year, known as Tet. Although the so-called Tet Offensive ended in a military defeat for the North, its psychological impact changed the course of the war.</p> <p>U.S. bombing and an invasion of Cambodia in the summer of 1970—an effort to destroy Viet Cong bases in the neighboring state—marked the end of major U.S. participation in the fighting. Most American ground troops were withdrawn from combat by mid-1971 when the U.S. conducted heavy bombing raids on the Ho Chi Minh Trail—a crucial North Vietnamese supply line. In 1972, secret peace negotiations led by Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger took place, and a peace settlement was signed in Paris on Jan. 27, 1973.</p> <p>By April 9, 1975, Hanoi's troops marched within 40 miles of Saigon, the South's capital. South Vietnam's president Thieu resigned on April 21 and fled. Gen. Duong Van Minh, the new president, surrendered Saigon on April 30, ending a war that claimed the lives of 1.3 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans.</p> <p>In 1977, border clashes between Vietnam and Cambodia intensified, as well as accusations by its former ally Beijing that Chinese residents of Vietnam were being subjected to persecution. Beijing cut off all aid and withdrew 800 technicians.</p> <p>Hanoi was also preoccupied with a continuing war in Cambodia, where 60,000 Vietnamese troops had invaded and overthrown the country's Communist leader Pol Pot and his pro-Chinese regime. In early 1979, Vietnam was conducting a two-front war: defending its northern border against a Chinese invasion and supporting its army in Cambodia, which was still fighting Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge guerrillas. Hanoi's Marxist policies combined with the destruction of the country's infrastructure during the decades of fighting devastated Vietnam's economy. However, it started to pick up in 1986 under <i>doi moi</i> (economic renovation), an effort at limited privatization. Vietnamese troops began limited withdrawals from Laos and Cambodia in 1988, and Vietnam supported the Cambodian peace agreement signed in Oct. 1991.</p> <p>The U.S. lifted a Vietnamese trade embargo in Feb. 1994 that had been in place since U.S. involvement in the war. Full diplomatic relations were announced between the two countries in July 1995. In April 1997, a pact was signed with the U.S. concerning repayment of the $146 million wartime debt incurred by the South Vietnamese government, and the following year the nation began a drive to eliminate inefficient bureaucrats and streamline the approval process for direct foreign investment. Efforts of reform-minded officials toward political and economic change have been thwarted by Vietnam's ruling Communist Party. In April 2001, however, the progressive Nong Duc Manh was appointed general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, succeeding Le Kha Phieu. Even with a reformer at the helm of the party, change has been slow and cautious.</p> <p>In Nov. 2001, Vietnam's national assembly approved a trade agreement that opened U.S. markets to Vietnam's goods and services. Tariffs on Vietnam's products dropped to about 4% from rates as high as 40%. Vietnam in return opened its state markets to foreign competition.</p> <p>The government highlighted its efforts to crack down on corruption and crime with the June 2003 conviction of notorious criminal syndicate boss Truong Van Cam, known as Nam Cam. He was sentenced to death, along with 155 other defendants, and executed in June 2004.</p> <p>Prime Minister Phan Van Khai visited the United States in June 2005, becoming the first Vietnamese leader to do so since the Vietnam War ended. He met with President Bush and several business leaders, including Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. The U.S. is Vietnam's largest trading partner, buying about $7 billion in Vietnamese goods each year.</p> <p>A corruption scandal rocked Vietnam in April 2006. Transport minister Dao Dinh Binh resigned amid allegations that members of his staff embezzled millions from the country and used the funds to bet on soccer games. His deputy Nguyen Viet Tien was arrested for his role in the scandal.</p> <p>President Tran Duc Luong and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai resigned in June 2006, making way for two younger leaders, President Nguyen Minh Triet and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. Luong and Khai had led Vietnam since 1997 and were instrumental in Vietnam's two-decades-long transition to a market economy, called <i>doi moi,</i> or renovation.</p> <p>Vietnam became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization in January 2007, after waiting 12 years to join the group. </p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-56353325831407953592008-02-25T11:29:00.000-08:002008-02-25T11:30:14.545-08:00Venezuela<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0108140">Venezuela</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Venezuela" id="A0203023" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/venezuel.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> República Bolivariana de Venezuela</p><p class="president"><b>President:</b> Hugo Chavez (1999) </p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/venezuela.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 340,560 sq mi (882,050 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 352,144 sq mi (912,050 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 26,084,662 (growth rate: 1.4%); birth rate: 18.5/1000; infant mortality rate: 20.9/1000; life expectancy: 74.8; density per sq mile: 77</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital (2003 est.):</b> </a> Caracas, 3,517,300 (metro. area), 1,741,400 (city proper)</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Largest cities:</b> Maracaibo, 1,889,000 (metro. area), 1,854,300 (city proper); Valencia, 1,515,400; Barquisimeto, 948,900</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Bolivar</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arab, German, African, indigenous people</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Roman Catholic 96%, Protestant 2%</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 93% (2003 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2006 est.): $186.3 billion; per capita $7,200. <b>Real growth rate:</b> 10.3%. <b>Inflation:</b> 15.8%. <b>Unemployment: </b>8.9%. <b>Arable land:</b> 3%. <b>Agriculture:</b> corn, sorghum, sugarcane, rice, bananas, vegetables, coffee; beef, pork, milk, eggs; fish. <b>Labor force:</b> 12.5 million; services 64%, industry 23%, agriculture 13% (1997 est.). <b>Industries:</b> petroleum, construction materials, food processing, textiles; iron ore mining, steel, aluminum; motor vehicle assembly. <b>Natural resources:</b> petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, bauxite, other minerals, hydropower, diamonds.<b> Exports: </b>$69.23 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): petroleum, bauxite and aluminum, steel, chemicals, agricultural products, basic manufactures. <b>Imports: </b>$28.81 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): raw materials, machinery and equipment, transport equipment, construction materials. <b>Major trading partners: </b>U.S., Netherlands Antilles, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico (2004). </p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 4.216 million (2006); mobile cellular: 12.496 million (2005). <b>Radio broadcast stations:</b> AM 201, FM n.a. (20 in Caracas), shortwave 11 (1998). <b>Radios:</b> 10.75 million (1997).<b> Television broadcast stations: </b>66 (plus 45 repeaters) (1997). <b>Televisions:</b> 4.1 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs):</b> 51,968 (2006). <b>Internet users:</b> 3.04 million (2005).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 682 km (2002). <b>Highways:</b> total: 96,155 km; paved: 32,308 km; unpaved: 63,847 km (1999 est.). <b>Waterways:</b> 7,100 km; Rio Orinoco and Lago de Maracaibo accept oceangoing vessels.<b> Ports and harbors: </b>Amuay, Bajo Grande, El Tablazo, La Guaira, La Salina, Maracaibo, Matanzas, Palua, Puerto Cabello, Puerto la Cruz, Puerto Ordaz, Puerto Sucre, Punta Cardon. <b>Airports:</b> 375 (2006).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes:</b> claims all of Guyana west of the Essequibo River; maritime boundary dispute with Colombia in the Gulf of Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea; US, France and the Netherlands recognize Venezuela's claim to give full effect to Aves Island, which creates a Venezuelan EEZ/continental shelf extending over a large portion of the Caribbean Sea; Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines protest the claim and other states' recognition of it.</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="graphseg centered" border="0" width="250"> <tbody><tr> <td id="A0202928"><br /></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108141">Geography</h1> <p>Venezuela, a third larger than Texas, occupies most of the northern coast of South America on the Caribbean Sea. It is bordered by Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south. Mountain systems break Venezuela into four distinct areas: (1) the Maracaibo lowlands; (2) the mountainous region in the north and northwest; (3) the Orinoco basin, with the llanos (vast grass-covered plains) on its northern border and great forest areas in the south and southeast; and (4) the Guiana Highlands, south of the Orinoco, accounting for nearly half the national territory.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108142">Government</h1> <p>Federal republic.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108143">History</h1> <p>When Columbus explored Venezuela on his third voyage in 1498, the area was inhabited by Arawak, Carib, and Chibcha Indians. A subsequent Spanish explorer gave the country its name, meaning “Little Venice.” Caracas was founded in 1567. Simón Bolívar, who led the liberation from Spain of much of the continent, was born in Caracas in 1783. With Bolívar taking part, Venezuela was one of the first South American colonies to revolt in 1810, winning independence in 1821. Federated at first with Colombia and Ecuador as the Republic of Greater Colombia, Venezuela became a republic in 1830. A period of unstable dictatorships followed. Antonio Guzman Blanco governed from 1870 to 1888, developing an infrastructure, expanding agriculture, and welcoming foreign investment.</p> <p>Gen. Juan Vicente Gómez was dictator from 1908 to 1935, when Venezuela became a major oil exporter. A military junta ruled after his death. Leftist Dr. Rómulo Betancourt and the Democratic Action Party won a majority of seats in a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution in 1946. A well-known writer, Rómulo Gallegos, candidate of Betancourt's party, became Venezuela's first democratically elected president in 1947. Within eight months, Gallegos was overthrown by a military-backed coup led by Marcos Peréz Jiménez, who was ousted himself in 1958. Since 1959, Venezuela has been one of the most stable democracies in Latin America. Betancourt served from 1959–1964, while Rafael Caldera Rodríguez, president from 1969 to 1974, legalized the Communist Party and established diplomatic relations with Moscow.</p> <p>Venezuela benefited from the oil boom of the early 1970s. In 1974, President Carlos Andrés Pérez took office, and in 1976 Venezuela nationalized foreign-owned oil and steel companies, offering compensation. Luis Herrera Campíns became president in 1978. Declining world oil prices sent Venezuela's economy into a tailspin, increasing the country's foreign debt. Pérez was reelected to a nonconsecutive term in 1988 and launched an unpopular austerity program. Military officers staged two unsuccessful coup attempts in 1992, while the following year Congress impeached Pérez on corruption charges. President Rafael Caldera Rodríguez was elected in Dec. 1993 to face the 1994 collapse of half of the country's banking sector, falling oil prices, foreign debt repayment, and inflation. In 1997, the government announced an expansion of gold and diamond mining to reduce reliance on oil.</p> <p>Leftist president Hugo Chavez took office in 1999, pledging political and economic reforms to give the poor a greater share of the country's oil wealth. A constituent assembly was formed to rewrite the constitution in July 1999, followed by the creation of a constitutional assembly made up of Chavez's allies that replaced the democratically elected Congress. Chavez's assumption of greater power prompted charges that he is establishing a left-wing dictatorship.</p> <p>Chavez was reelected to a six-year term in July 2000. Troops were called in to quell serious protests over the election in several cities. In 2000 Chavez visited other OPEC countries, becoming the first foreign head of state to visit Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War. He is close to President Fidel Castro of Cuba, which receives Venezuelan oil at reduced prices.</p> <p>In Dec. 2001, business and labor organizations held a work stoppage to protest Chavez's increasingly authoritarian government. In April 2002, tensions reached a boiling point as workers reduced oil production to protest Chavez's policies. Following a massive anti-Chavez demonstration during which 12 people were killed, a coalition of business and military leaders forced Chavez from power. But international criticism of the coup, especially in Latin America, and an outpouring of support from the president's followers returned Chavez to power just two days later. After the coup, Chavez remained highly popular among the poor, despite the desperate state of the economy. Venezuelan labor unions, business organizations, the media, and a good part of the military remained substantially less enchanted.</p> <p>Beginning in early Dec. 2002, a general strike was called by business and labor leaders. By Jan. 2003 it had virtually brought the economy, including the oil industry, to a halt. Strike leaders pledged to continue until Chavez resigned or agreed to early elections. But in Feb. 2003, after nine weeks, the strikers conceded defeat. In Aug. 2003, a petition with 3.2 million signatures was delivered to the country's election commission, demanding a recall referendum on Chavez. The Chavez government challenged the referendum process rigorously, and petitions submitted in Sept. 2003 and Feb. 2004 were rejected as invalid. The electoral board finally accepted a petition in June 2004 and scheduled the referendum for August 15. Chavez, who had been shoring up his standing with the Venezuelan poor during the delays, won the referendum with an overwhelming 58% of the vote. The opposition alleged fraud, but international observers confirmed that there had been no irregularities. Chavez's hand was clearly strengthened, and by the spring of 2005, his popularity rating reached 70%, due in large part to his social spending programs. In Dec. 2005 parliamentary elections, Chávez's Fifth Republic Movement won 114 of 167 seats, and the remaining seats were won by his allies. The opposition boycotted the election, maintaining they could not trust the pro-Chavez National Electoral Council. President Chávez won reelection in Dec. 2006 with 63% of the vote.</p> <p>In early 2007, Chávez took significant steps to further consolidate his power and move Venezuela closer to becoming a socialist state. In January, he announced the nationalization of major energy and telecommunications companies. Days later, the National Assembly voted to allow Chávez to rule by decree for 18 months. In May, Chávez shut down the main opposition television station, RCTV, which has been critical of the government. The National Assembly voted in August to abolish presidential term limits.</p><p>In November 2007, the Colombian army captured FARC rebels who were carrying videos, photographs, and letters of about 15 hostages, some who have been held in jungle camps by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, for nearly ten years. The Marxist-inspired FARC—the largest rebel group in Latin America—has been waging guerilla wars against the Colombian government for 40 years. Hostages included three American military contractors and Ingrid Betancourt, former Colombian presidential candidate. Also in November, Uribe withdrew his support of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez’s attempts to negotiate with the FARC, escalating tension between the two countries. Chávez subsequently withdrew the Venezuelan ambassador to Colombia. </p><p>On December 3, 2007, a referendum that was widely expected to pass was rejected by voters, 51% to 49%, following weeks of uncharacteristic public protests and campaigning against the package put forward by Chávez. The proposed 69 amendments to the constitution included abolishment of presidential term limits, removal of the Central Bank's autonomy, which would have given Chávez new power to build a socialist economy, and a few that enjoyed wide support, including reducing the work day to six hours and offering pensions to street vendors and housewives. </p><p>“I will not withdraw even one comma of this proposal, this proposal is still alive," Chávez said. "For me, this is not a defeat." </p><p>Chavez instituted a time change on December 9, 2007, which put Venezuela a half-hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time. The government claimed it was a health measure to improve the lives of Venezuelans by exposing them to more sunlight. </p><p>Months of negotiations between Chavez and FARC rebels over the release of three hostages came to an end on December 31, 2007, when the FARC refused to hand them over, saying the promised security conditions had not been met. The failed mission is Chavez's second defeat in the last month after the loss of his referendum. On January 10, 2008, however, FARC rebels freed two hostages, Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonz�lez de Perdomo, in Guaviare, in southern Colombia. Rojas, a Colombian politician captured in 2002, and Perdomo, a Colombian law-maker captured in 2001, were escorted out of the jungle by several guerillas. The release of the hostages was a triumph for Chavez, who coordinated the operation. </p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-41332338409388966292008-02-25T11:28:00.000-08:002008-02-25T11:29:39.998-08:00Vatican City<h1 id="A0108136" class="level3 tophead">Vatican City (Holy See)</h1><!--BodyText--><table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td><img id="A0748505" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/vatican.gif" alt="Flag of Vatican City" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b><br /></b></p><p class="other-leader"><b>Ruler:</b> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/SPOT-POPEBENEDICT">Benedict XVI</a> (2005) </p><p class="other-leader"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/holy-see-%28vatican-city.html"><b>Current government officials</b></a></p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 0.17 sq mi (0.44 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (July 2003 est.):</b> 911; density per sq mi: 5,362</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Euro</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"><b>Languages:</b></a> Italian, Latin, French, various other languages</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"><b>Ethnicity/race:</b></a> Italian, Swiss, other</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"><b>Religion:</b></a> Roman Catholic.</p><p class="population"><b>Labor force:</b> dignitaries, priests, nuns, guards, and 3,000 lay workers who live outside the Vatican.</p><p class="econsum"><b>Budget (2001):</b> Revenues: $173.5 million; expenditures: $176.6 million, including capital expenditures.</p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: </b><b>Telephones:</b> main lines in use: n.a.; mobile cellular: n.a. <b>Radio broadcast stations:</b> AM 3, FM 4, shortwave 2 (1998). <b>Radios: </b>n.a. <b>Television broadcast stations: </b>1 (1996). <b>Televisions: </b>n.a.</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 0.86 km; note: connects to Italy's network at Rome's Saint Peter's station (2001). <b>Highways:</b> none; all city streets. <b>Ports and harbors:</b> none. <b>Airports:</b> none. <b>Heliports:</b> 1 (2002).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes: </b>none.</p><p><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" target="_blank" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');">Major sources and definitions</a></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="graphseg centered" border="0" width="250"><tbody><tr><td id="A0748504"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><h1 id="A0108137" class="level3">Geography</h1> <p> The Vatican City State is situated on the Vatican hill, on the right bank of the Tiber River, within the city of Rome.</p><h1 id="A0108138" class="level3">Government</h1> <p> The pope has full legal, executive, and judicial powers. Executive power over the area is in the hands of a commission of cardinals appointed by the pope. The College of Cardinals is the pope's chief advisory body, and upon his death the cardinals elect his successor for life.</p><h1 id="A0108139" class="level3">History</h1> <p> The Vatican City State, sovereign and independent, is the survivor of the papal states that in 1859 comprised an area of some 17,000 sq mi (44,030 sq km). During the struggle for Italian unification, from 1860 to 1870, most of this area became part of Italy. By an Italian law of May 13, 1871, the temporal power of the pope was abrogated, and the territory of the papacy was confined to the Vatican and Lateran palaces and the villa of Castel Gandolfo. The popes consistently refused to recognize this arrangement. The Lateran Treaty of Feb. 11, 1929, between the Vatican and the kingdom of Italy, established the autonomy of the Holy See.</p><p> The first session of Ecumenical Council Vatican II was opened by John XXIII on Oct. 11, 1962, to plan and set policies for the modernization of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Paul VI continued the council, presiding over the last three sessions. Vatican II, as it is called, revolutionized some of the church's practices. Power was decentralized, giving bishops a larger role, the liturgy was vernacularized, and laymen were given a larger part in church affairs.</p><p> On Aug. 26, 1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani was chosen by the College of Cardinals to succeed Paul VI, who had died of a heart attack on Aug. 6. The new pope took the name John Paul I. Only 34 days after his election, John Paul I died of a heart attack, ending the shortest reign in 373 years. On Oct. 16, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, 58, was chosen pope and took the name John Paul II. <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0826455">Pope John Paul II</a> became the first Polish pope and the first non-Italian pope since the 16th century. </p><p> On May 13, 1981, a Turkish terrorist shot the pope in St. Peter's Square, the first assassination attempt against the pontiff in modern times. The pope later met and forgave him. On June 3, 1985, the Vatican and Italy ratified a new church-state treaty, known as a concordat, replacing the Lateran Treaty of 1929. The new accord affirmed the independence of Vatican City but ended a number of privileges that the Catholic Church had in Italy, including its status as the state religion. </p><p> On April 2, 2005, John Paul died. He was the third-longest reigning pope (26 years). A champion of the poor, he is credited by many with hastening the fall of Communism in Poland and other eastern bloc countries. His vitality and charisma energized the world's 1 billion Catholics. His rule was characterized by conservatism regarding church doctrine, particularly on issues such as birth control, women's roles in the church, and homosexuality. The pope also remained circumspect about the U.S. church's sexual abuse scandals in 2002. He was the Vatican's greatest ambassador, traveling to 129 countries. John Paul canonized 482 saints and beatified 1,338 people, which was believed to be more than all his predecessors combined.</p><p> On April 19, German cardinal <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/SPOT-POPEBENEDICT">Joseph Ratzinger</a> was named the new pope. Pope Benedict XVI is known as an accomplished scholar of theology and is considered an archconservative in his religious views. He served as Pope John Paul II's closest associate and is expected to continue the policy of a “strong Rome.” In Sept. 2006, Pope Benedict XVI apologized after angering Muslims around the world by quoting medieval passages that referred to Islam as “evil and inhuman.” </p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-72828301854304124492008-02-25T11:25:00.001-08:002008-02-25T11:25:58.811-08:00United States of America<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0108121">United States</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of United States" id="A0203021" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/usa.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="president"><b>President:</b> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0809584">George W. Bush</a> (2001)</p><p class="other-leader"><b>Vice President:</b> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0907136">Richard B. Cheney</a> (2001)</p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 3,539,225 sq mi (9,166,601 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 3,718,691 sq mi (9,631,420 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 301,139,947 (growth rate: 0.9%); birth rate: 14.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 6.4/1000; life expectancy: 78.0; density per sq mi: 85</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital (2003 est.):</b> </a> Washington, DC, 570,898</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Largest cities (2003 est.):</b> New York, 18,498,000 (metro area), 8,085,742 (city proper); Los Angeles, 12,146,000 (metro area), 3,819,951 (city proper); Chicago, 8,711,000 (metro area), 2,869,121 (city proper); Houston, 2,009,960; Philadelphia, 1,479,339; Phoenix, 1,388,416; San Diego, 1,226,753; San Antonio, 1,214,725; Dallas, 1,208,318; Detroit, 911,402</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> dollar</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> English 82%, Spanish 11% (2000)</p><p class="ethnic"><b>Ethnicity/race:</b> White: 211,460,626 (75.1%); Black: 34,658,190 (12.3%); Asian: 10,242,998 (3.6%); American Indian and Alaska Native: 2,475,956 (0.9%); Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander: 398,835 (0.1%); other race: 15,359,073 (5.5%); Hispanic origin:<sup class="fnr">1</sup> 35,305,818 (12.5%)</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Mormon 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, none 10% (2002)</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 97% (1979 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $12.41 trillion; per capita $42,000. <b>Real growth rate: </b>3.5%. <b>Inflation: </b>3.2%. <b>Unemployment: </b>5.1%.<b> Arable land:</b> 18%. <b>Agriculture: </b>wheat, corn, other grains, fruits, vegetables, cotton; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish; forest products. <b>Labor force:</b> 149.3 million (includes unemployed); farming, forestry, and fishing 0.7%, manufacturing, extraction, transportation, and crafts 22.9%, managerial, professional, and technical 34.7%, sales and office 25.4%, other services 16.3%; note: figures exclude the unemployed (2005). <b>Industries:</b> leading industrial power in the world, highly diversified and technologically advanced; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining. <b>Natural resources:</b> coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber. <b>Exports:</b> $927.5 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): agricultural products 9.2% (soybeans, fruit, corn), industrial supplies 26.8% (organic chemicals), capital goods 49.0% (transistors, aircraft, motor vehicle parts, computers, telecommunications equipment), consumer goods 15.0% (automobiles, medicines) (2003). <b>Imports:</b> $1.727 trillion f.o.b. (2005 est.): agricultural products 4.9%, industrial supplies 32.9% (crude oil 8.2%), capital goods 30.4% (computers, telecommunications equipment, motor vehicle parts, office machines, electric power machinery), consumer goods 31.8% (automobiles, clothing, medicines, furniture, toys) (2003). <b>Major trading partners: </b>Canada, Mexico, Japan, UK, China, Germany (2004).</p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones: </b>main lines in use: 194 million (1997); mobile cellular: 69.209 million (1998). <b>Radio broadcast stations:</b> AM about 5,000, FM about 5,000, shortwave 18 (1998). <b>Radios:</b> 575 million (1997). <b>Television broadcast stations:</b> more than 1,500 (including nearly 1,000 stations affiliated with the five major networks—NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and PBS; in addition, there are about 9,000 cable TV systems) (1997). <b>Televisions: </b>219 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs): </b>7,000 (2002 est.). <b>Internet users:</b> 165.75 million (2002).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 194,731 km mainline routes (2000). <b>Highways: </b>total: 6,334,859 km; paved: 3,737,567 km (including 89,426 km of expressways); unpaved: 2,597,292 km (2000). <b>Waterways: </b>41,009 km of navigable inland channels, exclusive of the Great Lakes. <b>Ports and harbors:</b> Anchorage, Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, Chicago, Duluth, Hampton Roads, Honolulu, Houston, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Port Canaveral, Portland (Oregon), Prudhoe Bay, San Francisco, Savannah, Seattle, Tampa, Toledo. <b>Airports: </b>14,801 (2002).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes: </b>prolonged drought in the Mexico border region has strained water-sharing arrangements; 1990 Maritime Boundary Agreement in the Bering Sea awaits Russian Duma ratification; maritime boundary disputes with Canada at Dixon Entrance, Beaufort Sea, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and around the disputed Machias Seal Island and North Rock; The Bahamas have not been able to agree on a maritime boundary; US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is leased from Cuba and only mutual agreement or US abandonment of the area can terminate the lease; Haiti claims Navassa Island; US has made no territorial claim in Antarctica (but has reserved the right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of any other state; Marshall Islands claims Wake Island.</p><div class="fnt" id="A0108122">1. Persons of Hispanic origin can be of any race.</div><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p><p class="tocentry"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108295.html">U.S. Territories and Outlying Areas</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="graphseg centered" border="0" width="250"> <tbody><tr> <td id="A0202926"> <br /> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108123">Government</h1> <p>Federal republic.</p> <p>The president is elected for a four-year term and may be reelected only once. The bicameral Congress consists of the 100-member Senate, elected to a six-year term with one-third of the seats becoming vacant every two years, and the 435-member House of Representatives, elected every two years. The minimum voting age is 18.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-60870732547536973202008-02-25T11:23:00.000-08:002008-02-25T11:28:17.984-08:00TURKEY<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0108054">Turkey</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><table class="graphseg centered" border="0"> <tbody><tr> <td id="A0748992"> <div class="center"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/country/turkey.html"> </a><br /><br /><img style="width: 333px; height: 206px;" alt="Flag of Turkey" id="A0203017" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/turkey.gif" /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/country/turkey.html"><img alt="Map of Turkey" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/mturkey.t.gif" height="77" width="120" /> </a> <div class="caption noindex"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/country/turkey.html">Map of Turkey</a> </div> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table>Republic of Turkey<p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Türkiye Cumhuriyeti</p><p class="president"><b>President:</b> Abdullah Gul (2007)</p><p class="prime-mininster"><b>Prime Minister:</b> Recep Tayyip Erdogan (2003) </p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/turkey.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 297,591 sq mi (770,761 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 301,382 sq mi (780,580 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 71,158,647 (growth rate: 1.0%); birth rate: 16.4/1000; infant mortality rate: 38.3/1000; life expectancy: 72.9; density per sq mi: 239</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital (2003 est.):</b> </a> Ankara, 3,582,000 (metro. area), 3,456,100 (city proper)</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Largest cities:</b> Istanbul, 9,760,000 (metro. area), 8,831,805 (city proper); Izmir, 2,398,200; Bursa, 1,288,900; Adana, 1,219,900; Gaziantep, 979,500</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Turkish lira (YTL)</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> Turkish (official), Kurdish, Dimli, Azeri, Kabardian</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> Turkish 80%, Kurdish 20% (estimated)</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Islam (mostly Sunni) 99.8%, other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews)</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 87% (2003 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $552.7 billion; per capita $7,900. <b>Real growth rate: </b>5.1%. <b>Inflation: </b>7.7%. <b>Unemployment: </b> 10% (plus underemployment of 4.0%). <b>Arable land:</b> 30%. <b>Agriculture:</b> tobacco, cotton, grain, olives, sugar beets, pulse, citrus; livestock.<b> Labor force:</b> 24.7 million; note: about 1.2 million Turks work abroad; agriculture 35.9%, industry 22.8%, services 41.2% (3rd quarter, 2004). <b>Industries:</b> textiles, food processing, autos, electronics, mining (coal, chromite, copper, boron), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper. <b>Natural resources:</b> antimony, coal, chromium, mercury, copper, borate, sulfur, iron ore, arable land, hydropower. <b>Exports: </b>$72.49 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): apparel, foodstuffs, textiles, metal manufactures, transport equipment. <b>Imports:</b> $101.2 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery, chemicals, semifinished goods, fuels, transport equipment. <b>Major trading partners:</b> Germany, UK, U.S., Italy, France, Spain, Russia, China (2004). </p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 19.5 million (1999); mobile cellular: 17.1 million (2001). <b>Radio broadcast stations: </b>AM 16, FM 107, shortwave 6 (2001). <b>Radios:</b> 11.3 million (1997). <b>Television broadcast stations: </b>635 (plus 2,934 repeaters) (1995). <b>Televisions:</b> 20.9 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs):</b> 50 (2001). <b>Internet users:</b> 2.5 million (2002).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 8,607 km (2002). <b>Highways:</b> total: 385,960 km; paved: 131,226 km (including 1,749 km of expressways); unpaved: 254,734 km (1999). <b>Waterways: </b>about 1,200 km. <b>Ports and harbors: </b>Gemlik, Hopa, Iskenderun, Istanbul, Izmir, Kocaeli (Izmit), Icel (Mersin), Samsun, Trabzon. <b>Airports:</b> 120 (2002). </p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes:</b> complex maritime, air, and territorial disputes with Greece in the Aegean Sea; Cyprus question remains with Greece; Syria and Iraq protest Turkish hydrological projects to control upper Euphrates waters; Turkey is quick to rebuff any perceived Syrian claim to Hatay province; border with Armenia remains closed over Nagorno-Karabakh.</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="graphseg centered" border="0" width="250"> <tbody><tr> <td id="A0202922"> <br /> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108055"><br /></h1><h1 class="level3" id="A0108055">Geography</h1> <p>Turkey is at the northeast end of the Mediterranean Sea in southeast Europe and southwest Asia. To the north is the Black Sea and to the west is the Aegean Sea. Its neighbors are Greece and Bulgaria to the west, Russia, Ukraine, and Romania to the north and northwest (through the Black Sea), Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east, and Syria and Iraq to the south. The Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus divide the country. Turkey in Europe comprises an area about equal to the state of Massachusetts. Turkey in Asia is about the size of Texas. Its center is a treeless plateau rimmed by mountains.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108056">Government</h1> <p>Republican parliamentary democracy.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108057">History</h1> <p>Anatolia (Turkey in Asia) was occupied in about 1900 <span class="small">B.C.</span> by the Indo-European Hittites and, after the Hittite empire's collapse in 1200 <span class="small">B.C.</span>, by Phrygians and Lydians. The Persian Empire occupied the area in the 6th century <span class="small">B.C.</span>, giving way to the Roman Empire, then later the Byzantine Empire. The Ottoman Turks first appeared in the early 13th century, subjugating Turkish and Mongol bands pressing against the eastern borders of Byzantium and making the Christian Balkan states their vassals. They gradually spread through the Near East and Balkans, capturing Constantinople in 1453 and storming the gates of Vienna two centuries later. At its height, the Ottoman Empire stretched from the Persian Gulf to western Algeria. Lasting for 600 years, the Ottoman Empire was not only one of the most powerful empires in the history of the Mediterranean region, but it generated a great cultural outpouring of Islamic art, architecture, and literature.</p> <p>After the reign of Sultan Süleyman I the Magnificent (1494–1566), the Ottoman Empire began to decline politically, administratively, and economically. By the 18th century, Russia was seeking to establish itself as the protector of Christians in Turkey's Balkan territories. Russian ambitions were checked by Britain and France in the Crimean War (1854–1856), but the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) gave Bulgaria virtual independence and Romania and Serbia liberation from their nominal allegiance to the sultan. Turkish weakness stimulated a revolt of young liberals known as the Young Turks in 1909. They forced Sultan Abdul Hamid to grant a constitution and install a liberal government. However, reforms were no barrier to further defeats in a war with Italy (1911–1912) and the Balkan Wars (1912–1913). Turkey sided with Germany in World War I, and, as a result, lost territory at the conclusion of the war.</p> <p>Turkey's current boundaries were drawn in 1923 at the Conference of Lausanne, and Turkey became a republic with Kemal Atatürk as the first president. The Ottoman sultanate and caliphate were abolished, and modernization, reform, and industrialization began under Atatürk's direction. He secularized Turkish society, reducing Islam's dominant role and replacing Arabic with the Latin alphabet for writing the Turkish language. After Atatürk's death in 1938, parliamentary government and a multiparty system gradually took root in Turkey, despite periods of instability and brief intervals of military rule. Neutral during most of World War II, Turkey, on Feb. 23, 1945, declared war on Germany and Japan, but it took no active part in the conflict. Turkey became a full member of NATO in 1952, was a signatory in the Balkan Entente (1953), joined the Baghdad Pact (1955; later CENTO), joined the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) and the Council of Europe, and became an associate member of the European Common Market in 1963.</p> <p>Turkey invaded Cyprus by sea and air on July 20, 1974, following the failure of diplomatic efforts to resolve conflicts between Turkish and Greek Cypriots. Turkey unilaterally announced a cease-fire on Aug. 16, after having gained control of 40% of the island. Turkish Cypriots established their own state in the north on Feb. 13, 1975. In July 1975, after a 30-day warning, Turkey took control of all the U.S. installations except the joint defense base at Incirlik, which it reserved for “NATO tasks alone.”</p> <p>The establishment of military government in Sept. 1980 stopped the slide toward anarchy and brought some improvement in the economy. A constituent assembly, consisting of the six-member national security council and members appointed by them, drafted a new constitution that was approved by an overwhelming (91.5%) majority of the voters in a Nov. 6, 1982, referendum. Martial law was gradually lifted. The military, however, effectively continues to control the country.</p> <p>About 12 million Kurds, roughly 20% of Turkey's population, live in the southeast region of Turkey. Turkey, however, does not officially recognize Kurds as a minority group and is therefore exempted from protecting their rights. Oppression of Kurds and Kurdish culture led to the emergence in 1984 of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a militant Kurdish terrorist campaign under the leadership of Abdullah Ocalan. Although the guerrilla movement sought independence at first, by the late 1980s the rebel Kurds were willing to accept an autonomous state or a federation with Turkey. About 35,000 have died in clashes between the military and the PKK during the 1980s and 1990s. On Feb. 16, 1999, Ocalan was captured. He was tried and convicted of treason and separatism on June 2, 1999, and sentenced to death.</p> <p>On Aug. 17, 1999, western Turkey was devastated by an earthquake (magnitude 7.4) that left more than 17,000 dead and 200,000 homeless. Another huge earthquake struck in November.</p> <p>Construction on a $3-billion, 1,000-mile oil pipeline running from Baku, Azerbaijan, to the Mediterranean port city of Ceyhan began in Sept. 2002. The pipeline opened in July 2006.</p> <p>In Nov. 2002 elections, the recently formed Justice and Development Party (AK) won. Its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was barred from becoming prime minister, however, because of a conviction for “inciting religious hatred” by reciting an Islamic poem at a rally in 1998. Another popular AK leader, Abdullah Gul, served as prime minister until Turkish law was amended to permit Erdogan to run for a seat in parliament again, which he easily won. Gul resigned as prime minister, making way for Erdogan.</p> <p>In March 2003, U.S.-Turkish relations were severely strained when Turkey's parliament narrowly failed to pass a resolution permitting the U.S. to use Turkish bases as a launching pad for the pending war against Iraq. Turkish opinion polls reported that an overwhelming 90% of Turks were against war in Iraq, but the U.S. had promised the country much-needed economic aid.</p> <p>In Nov. 2003, two terrorist attacks rocked Istanbul. On Nov. 17, truck bombs exploded near two synagogues; on Nov. 22, the British Consulate and a British bank were targeted. More than 50 were killed and hundreds were wounded in the attacks; al-Qaeda is believed to be responsible.</p> <p>In an effort to make itself more attractive for potential EU membership, Turkey has begun revamping some of its repressive laws and policies. In 2003, its parliament passed a law reducing the military's role in political life and offered partial amnesty to PKK members, many of whom have sought refuge in northern Iraq. In 2004, Turkish state television broadcast the first Kurdish language program and the government freed four Kurdish activists from prison. Turkey also abolished the death penalty in all but exceptional cases.</p> <p>In April 2007, Prime Minister Erdogan nominated Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, an Islamist, as the ruling party's candidate for president over the objections of the military, which has historically been protective of a secular state. Gul, however, failed to win the necessary two-thirds majority in parliament, and a constitutional court later nullified the vote, citing a lack of a quorum. Many secularists in parliament, who accused Gul of harboring an Islamist agenda, boycotted the vote. Gul withdrew from the race in May. Gul was victorious in the third round of elections in August.</p> <p>Turkey recalled its ambassador to the United States and threatened to withdraw its support of the war in Iraq in October after the U.S. House Foreign Relations Committee passed a resolution labeling as genocide Turkey's murder of some 1.5 million Armenians during World War I. President George Bush strongly urged members of the committee to vote against the resolution.</p> <p>Tension between Turkey and Iraq peaked in October, as Kurdish separatists in Iraq, members of the Kurdistan Workers Party, escalated their attacks into Turkey. In response, Turkey's Parliament voted, 507 to 19, to allow the deployment of troops into northern Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi officials feared a war on another front in Iraq would further destabilize the already fragile country. In December, Turkish fighter jets, with the help of the U.S. military, bombed areas in Dohuk Province in northern Iraq, targeting the Kurdistan Workers' Party. At least one civilian was reported to have died in the attack.</p> <p>In January 2008, police arrested 13 ultranationalists, including three former military officers, who were accused of organizing and carrying out political murders. One of the officers, Veli Kucuk, is suspected of running a secret unit within the police force that orchestrated political violence against religious and ethnic minority groups.</p> <p>In February 2008, Parliament voted in favor of a measure put forth by Prime Minister Erdogan that would lift the ban on women wearing headscarves in universities. Secular lawmakers voted overwhelmingly against the laws, concerned that their secularism faced attack by the conservative government.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-28673034443978706832008-02-25T11:22:00.002-08:002008-02-25T11:23:00.494-08:00Switzerland<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0108012">Switzerland</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Switzerland" id="A0203011" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/switzerl.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera/Svizra</p><p class="president"><b>President:</b> Pascal Couchepin (2008)</p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/switzerland.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 15,355 sq mi (39,769 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 15,942 sq mi (41,290 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 7,554,661 (growth rate: 0.4%); birth rate: 9.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 4.3/1000; life expectancy: 80.6; density per sq mi: 492</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital (2003 est.):</b> </a> Bern, 122,700</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Largest cities:</b> Zurich, 971,800 (metro. area), 348,100 (city proper); Geneva, 178,900; Basel, 162,800; Lausanne, 117,400</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Swiss franc</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> German 64%, French 20%, Italian 7% (all official); Romansch 0.5% (national)</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> German 65%, French 18%, Italian 10%, Romansch 1%, other 6%</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Roman Catholic 42%, Protestant 35%, Orthodox 2%, Muslim 4%, none 11% (2000)</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 99% (1980 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $264.1 billion; per capita $35,300. <b>Real growth rate:</b> 1.8%. <b>Inflation: </b>1.2%. <b>Unemployment: </b>3.8%. <b>Arable land: </b>10%. <b>Agriculture:</b> grains, fruits, vegetables; meat, eggs. <b>Labor force: </b>3.8 million; services 69%, industry 26%, agriculture 5% (1998). <b>Industries: </b>machinery, chemicals, watches, textiles, precision instruments. <b>Natural resources:</b> hydropower potential, timber, salt. <b>Exports:</b> $148.6 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery, chemicals, metals, watches, agricultural products. <b>Imports:</b> $135 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery, chemicals, vehicles, metals; agricultural products, textiles. <b>Major trading partners: </b>Germany, U.S., France, Italy, UK, Spain, Netherlands, Austria (2004). </p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones: </b>main lines in use: 4.82 million (1998); mobile cellular: 1.967 million (1999). <b>Radio broadcast stations:</b> AM 4, FM 113 (plus many low power stations), shortwave 2 (1998). <b>Radios: </b>7.1 million (1997). <b>Television broadcast stations:</b> 115 (plus 1,919 repeaters) (1995). <b>Televisions: </b>3.31 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs):</b> 44 (Switzerland and Liechtenstein) (2000). <b>Internet users:</b> 3.85 million (2002).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 4,511 km (2002). <b>Highways:</b> total: 71,011 km; paved: 71,011 km (including 1,638 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km (2000). <b>Waterways:</b> 65 km; Rhine (Basel to Rheinfelden, Schaffhausen to Bodensee); 12 navigable lakes. <b>Ports and harbors:</b> Basel. <b>Airports:</b> 66 (2002).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes:</b> none.</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table><br /><h1 class="level3" id="A0108013">Geography</h1> <p>Switzerland, in central Europe, is the land of the Alps. Its tallest peak is the Dufourspitze at 15,203 ft (4,634 m) on the Swiss side of the Italian border, one of 10 summits of the Monte Rosa massif. The tallest peak in all of the Alps, Mont Blanc (15,771 ft; 4,807 m), is actually in France. Most of Switzerland is composed of a mountainous plateau bordered by the great bulk of the Alps on the south and by the Jura Mountains on the northwest. The country's largest lakes—Geneva, Constance (Bodensee), and Maggiore—straddle the French, German-Austrian, and Italian borders, respectively. The Rhine, navigable from Basel to the North Sea, is the principal inland waterway.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108014">Government</h1> <p>Federal republic.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0108015">History</h1> <p>Called Helvetia in ancient times, Switzerland in 1291 was a league of cantons in the Holy Roman Empire. Fashioned around the nucleus of three German forest districts of Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden, the Swiss Confederation slowly added new cantons. In 1648 the Treaty of Westphalia gave Switzerland its independence from the Holy Roman Empire.</p> <p>French revolutionary troops occupied the country in 1798 and named it the Helvetic Republic, but Napoléon in 1803 restored its federal government. By 1815, the French- and Italian-speaking peoples of Switzerland had been granted political equality.</p> <p>In 1815, the Congress of Vienna guaranteed the neutrality and recognized the independence of Switzerland. In the revolutionary period of 1847, the Catholic cantons seceded and organized a separate union called the <i>Sonderbund</i>, but they were defeated and rejoined the federation.</p> <p>In 1848, the new Swiss constitution established a union modeled on that of the U.S. The federal constitution of 1874 established a strong central government while giving large powers of control to each canton. National unity and political conservatism grew as the country prospered from its neutrality. Its banking system became the world's leading repository for international accounts.</p> <p>Strict neutrality was its policy in both world wars. Geneva was the seat of the League of Nations (later the European headquarters of the United Nations) and of a number of international organizations.</p> <p>Allegations in the 1990s concerning secret assets of Jewish Holocaust victims deposited in Swiss banks led to international criticism and the establishment of a fund to reimburse the victims and their families.</p> <p>Surprisingly, women were not given the right to vote or to hold office until 1971. Switzerland's first woman president—as well as the first Jew to assume the position—was Ruth Dreifuss in 1999.</p> <p>In Sept. 2000, the Swiss voted against a plan to cut the number of foreigners in the country to 18% of the population (in 2000 foreigners made up 19.3%). Since 1970, four similar anti-immigration plans have failed.</p> <p>On Sept 10, 2002, the Swiss abandoned their long-held neutrality to become the 190th member of the UN.</p> <p>In Oct. 2003, Switzerland took a turn to the right when the far-right Swiss People's Party (SVP) had the strongest showing in parliamentary elections, garnering 28% of the vote. Its virulently anti-immigration, anti-EU leader, Christopher Blocher, was given a cabinet position. The SVP fared well again in October 2007 elections, winning 29% of the vote and gaining seven seats in Parliament. The party took the most votes in general election history. Immigration dominated the election, and the SVP was accused of running a racist campaign. In December, the coalition that has run Switzerland since 1959 fell apart when the SVP withdrew from the government to protest Parliament's ouster of Blocher as justice minister. The move shifted the government to the center-left. Also in December, Parliament elected Pascal Couchepin as president.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-22013839977449846932008-02-25T11:22:00.001-08:002008-02-25T11:22:27.640-08:00Spain<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0107987">Spain</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Spain" id="A0203008" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/spain.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Reino de España</p><p class="other-leader"><b>Ruler:</b> King Juan Carlos I (1975)</p><p class="prime-mininster"><b>Prime Minister:</b> José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2004)</p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/spain.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 192,819 sq mi (499,401 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 194,896 sq mi (504,782 sq km)<sup class="fnr">1</sup></p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 40,448,191 (growth rate: 0.1%); birth rate: 10.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 4.3/1000; life expectancy: 79.8; density per sq mi: 210</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Madrid, 5,130,000 (metro. area), 3,169,400 (city proper)</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large cities:</b> Barcelona, 1,528,800; Valencia, 741,100; Seville, 679,100</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Euro (formerly peseta)</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> Castilian Spanish 74% (official nationwide); Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2% (each official regionally)</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> composite of Mediterranean and Nordic types</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Roman Catholic 94%, other 6%</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 98% (2003 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $1.017 trillion; per capita $25,200. <b>Real growth rate:</b> 3.4%. <b>Inflation: </b>3.4%. <b>Unemployment: </b>10.1%. <b>Arable land: </b>27%. <b>Agriculture:</b> grain, vegetables, olives, wine grapes, sugar beets, citrus; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish. <b>Labor force:</b> 20.67 million; agriculture 5.3%, manufacturing, mining, and construction 30.1%, services 64.6% (2004 est.). <b>Industries: </b>textiles and apparel (including footwear), food and beverages, metals and metal manufactures, chemicals, shipbuilding, automobiles, machine tools, tourism, clay and refractory products, footwear, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment.<b> Natural resources: </b>coal, lignite, iron ore, uranium, mercury, pyrites, fluorspar, gypsum, zinc, lead, tungsten, copper, kaolin, potash, hydropower, arable land. <b>Exports:</b> $194.3 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery, motor vehicles; foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medicines, other consumer goods.<b> Imports: </b>$271.8 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, fuels, chemicals, semifinished goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, measuring and medical control instruments. <b>Major trading partners: </b>France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, UK, Netherlands (2004). </p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 17.336 million (1999); mobile cellular: 8.394 million (1999). <b>Radio broadcast stations: </b>AM 208, FM 715, shortwave 1 (1998). <b>Radios:</b> 13.1 million (1997). <b>Television broadcast stations:</b> 224 (plus 2,105 repeaters); note: these figures include 11 television broadcast stations and 88 repeaters in the Canary Islands (1995). <b>Televisions:</b> 16.2 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs):</b> 56 (2000). <b>Internet users:</b> 7.89 million (2002).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 14,189 km (2002). <b>Highways:</b> total: 663,795 km; paved: 657,157 km (including 10,317 km of expressways); unpaved: 6,638 km (1999). <b>Waterways:</b> 1,045 km. <b>Ports and harbors: </b>Aviles, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cadiz, Cartagena, Castellon de la Plana, Ceuta, Huelva, La Coruna, Las Palmas (Canary Islands), Malaga, Melilla, Pasajes, Gijon, Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands), Santander, Tarragona, Valencia, Vigo. <b>Airports: </b>152 (2002). </p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes: </b>Gibraltar residents vote overwhelmingly in referendum against “total shared sovereignty” arrangement worked out between Spain and UK to change 300-year rule over colony; Morocco protests Spain's control over the coastal enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera, the islands of Penon de Alhucemas and Islas Chafarinas, and surrounding waters; Morocco also rejected Spain's unilateral designation of a median line from the Canary Islands in 2002 to set limits to undersea resource exploration and refugee interdiction; Morocco allowed Spanish fishermen to fish temporarily off the coast of Western Sahara after an oil spill soiled Spanish fishing grounds; Portugal has periodically reasserted claims to territories around the town of Olivenza, Spain.</p><div class="fnt" id="A0107988">1. Including the Balearic and Canary Islands.</div><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="graphseg centered" border="0" width="250"> <tbody><tr> <td id="A0202912"> <br /> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107989">Geography</h1> <p>Spain occupies 85% of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with Portugal, in southwest Europe. Africa is less than 10 mi (16 km) south at the Strait of Gibraltar. A broad central plateau slopes to the south and east, crossed by a series of mountain ranges and river valleys. Principal rivers are the Ebro in the northeast, the Tajo in the central region, and the Guadalquivir in the south. Off Spain's east coast in the Mediterranean are the Balearic Islands (1,936 sq mi; 5,014 sq km), the largest of which is Majorca. Sixty mi (97 km) west of Africa are the Canary Islands (2,808 sq mi; 7,273 sq km).</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107990">Government</h1> <p>Parliamentary monarchy.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107991">History</h1> <p>Spain, originally inhabited by Celts, Iberians, and Basques, became a part of the Roman Empire in 206 <span class="small">B.C.</span>, when it was conquered by Scipio Africanus. In <span class="small">A.D.</span> 412, the barbarian Visigothic leader Ataulf crossed the Pyrenees and ruled Spain, first in the name of the Roman emperor and then independently. In 711, the Muslims under Tariq entered Spain from Africa and within a few years completed the subjugation of the country. In 732, the Franks, led by Charles Martel, defeated the Muslims near Poitiers, thus preventing the further expansion of Islam in southern Europe. Internal dissension of Spanish Islam invited a steady Christian conquest from the north.</p> <p>Aragon and Castile were the most important Spanish states from the 12th to the 15th century, consolidated by the marriage of Ferdinand II and Isabella I in 1469. In 1478, they established the Inquisition, to root out heresy and uncover Jews and Muslims who had not sincerely converted to Christianity. Torquemada, the most notorious of the grand inquisitors, epitomized the Inquisition's harshness and cruelty. The last Muslim stronghold, Granada, was captured in 1492. Roman Catholicism was established as the official state religion and most Jews (1492) and Muslims (1502) were expelled. In the era of exploration, discovery, and colonization, Spain amassed tremendous wealth and a vast colonial empire through the conquest of Mexico by Cortés (1519–1521) and Peru by Pizarro (1532–1533). The Spanish Hapsburg monarchy became for a time the most powerful in the world. In 1588, Philip II sent his invincible Armada to invade England, but its destruction cost Spain its supremacy on the seas and paved the way for England's colonization of America. Spain then sank rapidly to the status of a second-rate power under the rule of weak Hapsburg kings, and it never again played a major role in European politics. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) resulted in Spain's loss of Belgium, Luxembourg, Milan, Sardinia, and Naples. Its colonial empire in the Americas and the Philippines vanished in wars and revolutions during the 18th and 19th centuries.</p> <p>In World War I, Spain maintained a position of neutrality. In 1923, Gen. Miguel Primo de Rivera became dictator. In 1930, King Alfonso XIII revoked the dictatorship, but a strong antimonarchist and republican movement led to his leaving Spain in 1931. The new constitution declared Spain a workers' republic, broke up the large estates, separated church and state, and secularized the schools. The elections held in 1936 returned a strong Popular Front majority, with Manuel Azaña as president.</p> <p>On July 18, 1936, a conservative army officer in Morocco, Francisco Franco Bahamonde, led a mutiny against the government. The civil war that followed lasted three years and cost the lives of nearly a million people. Franco was aided by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, while Soviet Russia helped the Loyalist side. Several hundred leftist Americans served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade on the side of the republic. The war ended when Franco took Madrid on March 28, 1939. Franco became head of the state, national chief of the Falange Party (the governing party), and prime minister and caudillo (leader).</p> <p>In a referendum in 1947, the Spanish people approved a Franco-drafted succession law declaring Spain a monarchy again. Franco, however, continued as chief of state. In 1969, Franco and the <i>Cortes</i> (“states”) designated Prince Juan Carlos Alfonso Victor María de Borbón (who married Princess Sophia of Greece in 1962) to become king of Spain when the provisional government headed by Franco came to an end. Franco died on Nov. 20, 1975, and Juan Carlos was proclaimed king on Nov. 22.</p> <p>Under pressure from Catalonian and Basque nationalists, Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez granted home rule to these regions in 1979. Basque separatists committed hundreds of terrorist bombings and kidnappings. With the overwhelming election of Prime Minister Felipe González Márquez and his Spanish Socialist Workers Party in the Oct. 20, 1982, parliamentary elections, the Franco past was finally buried.</p> <p>Spain entered NATO in 1982. Spain, along with Portugal, joined the European Economic Community, now the European Union, in 1986. General elections in March 1996 produced a victory for the conservative Popular Party, and its leader, José María Aznar, became prime minister. He and his party easily won reelection in 2000.</p> <p>In Aug. 2002, Batasuna, the political wing of the Basque terrorist organization ETA, was banned. The wisdom of driving the party underground instead of permitting it a legitimate political outlet has been questioned.</p> <p>Aznar's backing of the U.S. war in Iraq was highly unpopular—90% of Spaniards opposed the war. (Spain sent no troops to Iraq during the war but contributed 1,300 peacekeeping forces during the reconstruction period.) Yet Aznar's Popular Party did extremely well in municipal elections in May 2003. The country's relative prosperity and the prime minister's tough stance against the ETA were thought to be responsible for the strong showing.</p> <p>On March 11, 2004, Spain suffered its most horrific terrorist attack: 191 people were killed and 1,400 were injured in bombings at Madrid's railway station. The government at first blamed ETA, but soon evidence emerged that al-Qaeda was responsible. When record numbers of voters went to the polls days later, Aznar's Popular Party experienced a stinging defeat, and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of the Socialist Party became the new prime minister. Many Spaniards blamed Aznar's staunch support of the U.S. and the war in Iraq for making Spain an al-Qaeda target. Others were angered by what they saw as the government's politically motivated position that ETA was to blame for the attacks at the same time that links to al-Qaeda were emerging. By April, a dozen suspects, most of them Moroccan, were arrested for the bombings. On April 4, several suspects blew themselves up during a police raid to avoid capture. In May, the new prime minister made good on his campaign promise, recalling Spain's 1,300 soldiers from Iraq, much to the displeasure of the United States, which said Spain was appeasing terrorists.</p> <p>In June 2005, despite strong opposition from the Catholic Church, Spain legalized gay marriage. (Three other countries permit same-sex marriage: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Canada.)</p> <p>After four decades of violence, the militant Basque separatist group ETA, responsible for more than 800 deaths and for terrorizing Spanish society with its bombings and other attacks, announced a permanent cease-fire on March 24, 2006. In June 2007, however, ETA renounced the cease-fire and vowed to begin a new offensive.</p> In a June 2006 referendum, the region of Catalonia voted for greater autonomy from Spain. <p>The government dissolved Parliament in January 2008 and called for new elections, which are scheduled to be held in March 2008.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-32837450443380040962008-02-25T11:21:00.002-08:002008-02-25T11:22:00.467-08:00Scotland<h1 class="level3" id="A0777806">Scotland</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td> <p class="status"><b>Status:</b> Part of United Kingdom</p> <p class="other-leader"><b>First Minister:</b> Jack McConnell (2001)</p> <p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 30,414 sq mi (78,772 sq km)</p> <p class="population"><b>Population (1996 est.):</b> 5,128,000; density per sq mi: 168.6</p> <p class="capital"><b>Capital (2003 est.):</b> Edinburgh, 663,700 (metro. area), 460,000 (city proper)</p> <p class="largest-cities"><b>Largest city:</b> Glasgow, 1,361,000 (metro. area), 1,099,400 (city proper)</p> <p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> British pound sterling (£)</p> <p class="language"><b>Languages:</b> English, Scots Gaelic</p> <p class="religion"><b>Religions:</b> Church of Scotland (established church—Presbyterian), Roman Catholic, Scottish Episcopal Church, Baptist, Methodist</p> <p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <h1 class="level3" id="A0777811">Geography</h1> <p>Scotland occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It is bounded by England in the south and on the other three sides by water: by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and north and by the North Sea on the east. Scotland is divided into three physical regions—the Highlands; the Central Lowlands, containing two-thirds of the population; and the Southern Uplands. The western Highland coast is intersected throughout by long, narrow sea lochs, or fjords. Scotland also includes the Outer and Inner Hebrides and other islands off the west coast and the Orkney and Shetland Islands off the north coast.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0777812">Government</h1> <p>England and Scotland have shared a monarch since 1603 and a parliament since 1707, but in May 1999, Scotland elected its own parliament for the first time in three centuries. The new Scottish legislature was in part the result of British prime minister Tony Blair's campaign promise to permit devolution, the transfer of local powers from London to Edinburgh. In a Sept. 1997 referendum, 74% of Scotland voted in favor of their own parliament, which controls most domestic affairs, including health, education, and transportation, and has powers to legislate and raise taxes. Queen Elizabeth opened the new parliament on July 2, 1999.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0777813">History</h1> <p>The first inhabitants of Scotland were the Picts, a Celtic tribe. Between <span class="small">A.D.</span> 82 and <span class="small">A.D.</span> 208, the Romans invaded Scotland, naming it Caledonia. Roman influence over the land, however, was minimal.</p> <p>The Scots, a Celtic tribe from Ireland, migrated to the west coast of Scotland in about 500. Kenneth McAlpin, king of the Scots, ascended the throne of the Pictish kingdom in about 843, thereby uniting the various Scots and Pictish tribes under one kingdom called Dal Riada. By the 11th century, the monarchy had extended its borders to include much of what is Scotland today.</p> <p>English influence in the region expanded when Malcolm III, king of Scotland from 1057–1093, married an English princess. England's appetite for Scottish land began to grow over the 12th and 13th centuries, and in 1296 King Edward I of England successfully invaded Scotland. The following year Robert the Bruce led a revolt for independence, was crowned king of Scotland (Robert I) in 1306, and after years of war defeated the English in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn. In 1328 the English finally recognized Scottish independence.</p> <p>In the 16th century John Knox introduced the Scottish reformation, and the Presbyterian Church replaced Catholicism as the official religion. In 1567, Mary, queen of Scots, a Catholic, was forced to abdicate the Scottish throne and was later executed by Elizabeth I of England. Mary's son, James VI, was raised as a Protestant, and in 1603 he succeeded Elizabeth on the English throne as King James I of England. James thus became ruler of both Scotland and England, though the countries remained separate. In 1707, after a century of turmoil, Scotland and England passed the Act of Union, which united Scotland, England, and Wales under one rule as the Kingdom of Great Britain. The House of Hanover replaced the Stuart lineage on the throne in 1714, which caused a rebellion among Scots who still supported the Stuarts. The Jacobites, as the rebels were called, led two uprisings, in 1715 and again in 1745.</p> <p>With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, Scotland, whose chief product had been textiles, began developing the industries of shipbuilding, coal mining, iron, and steel. In the late 20th century, Scotland concentrated on electronics and high-tech industries. The North Sea has also become an important source of oil and gas.</p> <p>In May 1999, Scotland elected its first separate parliament in three centuries. Labour won the largest number of seats, defeating the Scottish National Party (SNP), which supports Scotland's independence from Britain. The SNP dealt Labour a stunning blow in parliamentary elections in May 2007, taking 47 out of 129 seats. The Labour Party won 46 seats. Prior to the election, the SNP held 25 seats. </p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-9658773816738546092008-02-25T11:21:00.001-08:002008-02-25T11:21:39.040-08:00Saudi Arabia<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0107947">Saudi Arabia</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Saudi Arabia" id="A0203003" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/saudiara.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Al-Mamlaka al-'Arabiya as-Sa'udiya</p><p class="other-leader"><b>Sovereign:</b> King Abdullah (2005)</p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/saudi-arabia.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 829,995 sq mi (2,149,690 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 27,601,038 (growth rate: 2.1%); birth rate: 29.1/1000; infant mortality rate: 12.4/1000; life expectancy: 75.9; density per sq mi: 33</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Riyadh, 3,724,100</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large cities:</b> Jeddah, 2,745,000; Makkah (Mecca), 1,614,800</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Riyal</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Language:</b> </a> Arabic</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> Arab 90%, Afro-Asian 10%</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religion:</b> </a> Islam 100%</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 79% (2003 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $340.6 billion; per capita $12,900. <b>Real growth rate: </b>6.5%. <b>Inflation:</b> 0.4%. <b>Unemployment: </b>13% male only (local bank estimate; some estimates range as high as 25%) (2004 est.). <b>Arable land:</b> 2%. <b>Agriculture:</b> wheat, barley, tomatoes, melons, dates, citrus; mutton, chickens, eggs, milk. <b>Labor force: </b>6.76 million; note: more than 35% of the population in the 15–64 age group is non-national; agriculture 12%, industry 25%, services 63% (1999 est.). <b>Industries: </b>crude oil production, petroleum refining, basic petrochemicals; ammonia, industrial gases, sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), cement, fertilizer, plastics; metals, commercial ship repair, commercial aircraft repair, construction. <b>Natural resources:</b> petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, copper. <b>Exports: </b>$165 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): petroleum and petroleum products 90%. <b>Imports: </b>$44.93 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, motor vehicles, textiles.<b> Major trading partners:</b> U.S., Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Germany, UK (2004). </p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 3.9 million (2002 est.); mobile cellular: 2.9 million (2002 est.). <b>Radio broadcast stations:</b> AM 43, FM 31, shortwave 2 (1998). <b>Radios:</b> 6.25 million (1997).<b> Television broadcast stations:</b> 117 (1997). <b>Televisions:</b> 5.1 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs):</b> 22 (2003). <b>Internet users:</b> 1.453 million (2002).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 1,392 km (2002). <b>Highways:</b> total: 151,470 km; paved: 45,592 km; unpaved: 105,878 km (1999). <b>Ports and harbors:</b> Ad Dammam, Al Jubayl, Duba, Jiddah, Jizan, Rabigh, Ra's al Khafji, Mishab, Ras Tanura, Yanbu' al Bahr, Madinat Yanbu' al Sinaiyah. <b>Airports:</b> 209 (2002).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes:</b> nomadic groups on border region with Yemen resist demarcation of boundary; Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have been negotiating a long-contested maritime boundary with Iran; because the treaties have not been made public, the exact alignment of the boundary with the UAE is still unknown and labeled approximate.</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table><br /><h1 class="level3" id="A0107948">Geography</h1> <p>Saudi Arabia occupies most of the Arabian Peninsula, with the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba to the west and the Persian Gulf to the east. Neighboring countries are Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman, Yemen, and Bahrain, connected to the Saudi mainland by a causeway. Saudi Arabia contains the world's largest continuous sand desert, the Rub Al-Khali, or Empty Quarter. Its oil region lies primarily in the eastern province along the Persian Gulf.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107949">Government</h1> <p>Saudi Arabia was an absolute monarchy until 1992, at which time the Saud royal family introduced the country's first constitution. The legal system is based on the sharia (Islamic law).</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107950">History</h1> <p>Saudi Arabia is not only the homeland of the Arab peoples—it is thought that the first Arabs originated on the Arabian Peninsula—but also the homeland of Islam, the world's second-largest religion. Muhammad founded Islam there, and it is the location of the two holy pilgrimage cities of Mecca and Medina. The Islamic calendar begins in 622, the year of the hegira, or Muhammad's flight from Mecca. A succession of invaders attempted to control the peninsula, but by 1517 the Ottoman Empire dominated, and in the middle of the 18th century, it was divided into separate principalities. In 1745 Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab began calling for the purification and reform of Islam, and the Wahhabi movement swept across Arabia. By 1811, Wahhabi leaders had waged a jihad—a holy war—against other forms of Islam on the peninsula and succeeded in uniting much of it. By 1818, however, the Wahhabis had been driven out of power again by the Ottomans and their Egyptian allies.</p> <p>The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is almost entirely the creation of King Ibn Saud (1882–1953). A descendant of Wahhabi leaders, he seized Riyadh in 1901 and set himself up as leader of the Arab nationalist movement. By 1906 he had established Wahhabi dominance in Nejd and conquered Hejaz in 1924–1925. The Hejaz and Nejd regions were merged to form the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, which was an absolute monarchy ruled by sharia. A year later the region of Asir was incorporated into the kingdom.</p> <p>Oil was discovered in 1936, and commercial production began during World War II. This oil-derived wealth allowed the country to provide free health care and education while not collecting any taxes from its people. Saudi Arabia was neutral until nearly the end of the war, but it was permitted to be a charter member of the United Nations. The country joined the Arab League in 1945 and took part in the 1948–1949 war against Israel. Saudi Arabia still does not recognize the state of Israel. On Ibn Saud's death in 1953, his eldest son, Saud, began an 11-year reign marked by an increasing hostility toward the radical Arabism of Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser. In 1964, the ailing Saud was deposed and replaced by the prime minister, Crown Prince Faisal, who gave vocal support but no military help to Egypt in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.</p> <p>Faisal's assassination by a deranged kinsman in 1975 shook the Middle East, but it failed to alter his kingdom's course. His successor was his brother, Prince Khalid. Khalid gave influential support to Egypt during negotiations on Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Desert. King Khalid died of a heart attack in 1982, and he was succeeded by his half-brother, Prince Fahd bin 'Abdulaziz, who had exercised the real power throughout Khalid's reign. King Fahd chose his half-brother Abdullah as crown prince.</p> <p>Saudi Arabia and the smaller oil-rich Arab states on the Persian Gulf, fearful that they might become Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's next targets if Iran conquered Iraq, made large financial contributions to the Iraqi war effort during the 1980s. At the same time, cheating by other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), competition from nonmember oil producers, and conservation efforts by consuming nations combined to drive down the world price of oil. At the time Saudi Arabia had one-third of all known oil reserves, but falling demand and rising production outside OPEC combined to reduce its oil revenues from $120 billion in 1980 to less than $25 billion in 1985, threatening the country with domestic unrest and undermining its influence in the Gulf area.</p> <p>At the start of 1996, King Fahd passed authority to Crown Prince Abdullah, after suffering an incapacitating stroke. In 1998 the country's oil income fell by 40% because of a worldwide decline in prices, and it entered its first recession in six years.</p> <p>In 2000, Saudi Arabia, along with other OPEC nations experiencing a recession, decided to reduce production to raise oil prices. In 2001, OPEC cut oil production three additional times.</p> <p>Saudi Arabia's relations with the U.S. were strained after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks—15 of the 19 suicide bombers involved were Saudis. Despite the monarchy's close ties to the West, much of the extremely influential religious establishment has supported anti-Americanism and Islamic militancy. In Aug. 2003, following the U.S.-led war on Iraq in March and April 2003, the United States withdrew its troops stationed in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. had maintained troops in the country for the past decade, a source of great controversy in the strongly conservative Islamic country. One of the major reasons given for the Sept. 11 attacks by Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden was the presence of U.S. troops in the home of Islam's holiest sites, Medina and Mecca. On May 12, 2003, suicide bombers killed 34, including 8 Americans, at housing compounds for Westerners in Riyadh. Al-Qaeda was suspected. Saudi Arabia's commitment to antiterrorist measures was again called into question by the U.S. and other countries. In July, the U.S. Congress bitterly criticized Saudi Arabia's alleged financing of terrorist organizations. While the Saudi government arrested a sizable number of suspected terrorists, little was done to quell Islamic militancy in the kingdom. Several attacks against Westerners took place in 2003 and 2004.</p> <p>In Feb. 2005, Saudi Arabia held its first elections ever: municipal council elections to choose half of the new council members in Riyadh. The other half continued to be appointed, in keeping with the previous Saudi system. Women were not eligible to vote, and less than a third of eligible voters registered.</p> <p>In Aug. 2005, King Fahd bin 'Abdulaziz died. His half-brother Abdullah, who had been the de facto ruler of the country for the past decade, assumed the throne.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-30264634119045420622008-02-25T11:20:00.002-08:002008-02-25T11:21:02.670-08:00Russia<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0107909">Russia</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Russia" id="A0203002" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/russia.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Rossiyskaya Federatsiya</p><p class="president"><b>President:</b> Vladimir Putin (2000)</p><p class="prime-mininster"><b>Prime Minister:</b> Viktor Zubkov (2007)</p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/russia.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 6,592,812 sq mi (17,075,400 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 6,592,735 sq mi (17,075,200 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 141,377,752 (growth rate: –0.5%); birth rate: 10.9/1000; infant mortality rate: 11.1/1000; life expectancy: 65.9; density per sq mi: 21</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Moscow, 10,672,000 (metro. area), 10,101,500 (city proper)</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large cities:</b> St. Petersburg, 4,582,300; Novosibirsk, 1,395,500; Nizhny Novgorod, 1,340,900; Yekaterinburg, 1,256,600; Samara, 1,146,800; Kazan, 1,113,600; Ufa, 1,096,600; Chelyabinsk, 1,080,000; Perm, 998,800; Volgograd, 984,200</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Ruble</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> Russian, others</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> Russian 79.8%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1.2%, Chuvash 1.1%, other or unspecified 12.1% (2002)</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Russian Orthodox 15%–20%, other Christian 2%, Islam 10%–15% (2006 est.; includes practicing worshippers only)</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 100% (2003 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP </b>(2005 est.): $1.539 trillion; per capita $10,700. <b>Real growth rate:</b> 5.9%. <b>Inflation:</b> 11%. <b>Unemployment:</b> 7.6%, plus considerable underemployment. <b>Arable land: </b>7%. <b>Agriculture:</b> grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk. <b>Labor force:</b> 74.22 million; agriculture 10.3%, industry 21.4%, services 68.3% (2004 est.). <b>Industries:</b> complete range of mining and extractive industries producing coal, oil, gas, chemicals, and metals; all forms of machine building from rolling mills to high-performance aircraft and space vehicles; defense industries including radar, missile production, and advanced electronic components, shipbuilding; road and rail transportation equipment; communications equipment; agricultural machinery, tractors, and construction equipment; electric power generating and transmitting equipment; medical and scientific instruments; consumer durables, textiles, foodstuffs, handicrafts. <b>Natural resources: </b>wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber; note: formidable obstacles of climate, terrain, and distance hinder exploitation of natural resources. <b>Exports: </b>$245 billion (2005 est.): petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures. <b>Imports: </b>$125 billion (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, consumer goods, medicines, meat, sugar, semifinished metal products. <b>Major trading partners: </b>Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, Italy, China, U.S., Switzerland, Turkey, Japan, Kazakhstan, France (2004). </p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 30 million (1998); mobile cellular: 19 million (January 2003). <b>Radio broadcast stations: </b>AM 420, FM 447, shortwave 56 (1998). <b>Radios: </b>61.5 million (1997). <b>Television broadcast stations:</b> 7,306 (1998). <b>Televisions:</b> 60.5 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs):</b> 300 (June 2000). <b>Internet users:</b> 18 million (2002).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 87,157 km (2002). <b>Highways:</b> total: 532,393 km; paved: 358,833 km; unpaved: 173,560 km (2000). <b>Waterways:</b> 95,900 km (total routes in general use) (Jan. 1994). <b>Ports and harbors:</b> Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky, Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', De-Kastri, Indigirskiy, Kaliningrad, Kandalaksha, Kazan', Khabarovsk, Kholmsk, Krasnoyarsk, Lazarev, Mago, Mezen', Moscow, Murmansk, Nakhodka, Nevel'sk, Novorossiysk, Onega, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Rostov, Shakhtersk, Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Taganrog, Tuapse, Uglegorsk, Vanino, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Vostochnyy, Vyborg. <b>Airports:</b> 2,743 (2002).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes:</b> China continues to seek a mutually acceptable solution to the disputed alluvial islands at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers and a small island on the Argun River as part of the 2001 Treaty of Good Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation; the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan, and the Habomai group identified by the Russians as the “Southern Kurils” and by Japan as the “Northern Territories” occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia, claimed by Japan; boundary with Georgia has been largely delimited but not demarcated with several small, strategic segments remaining in dispute and OSCE observers monitoring volatile areas such as the Pankisi Gorge in the Akhmeti region and the Argun Gorge in Abkhazia; equidistant seabed treaties have been signed with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan in the Caspian Sea but no resolution on dividing the water column among any of the littoral states; Russia and Norway dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea and Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone; Russia continues to reject signing and ratifying the joint 1996 technical border agreement with Estonia; the Russian Parliament refuses to consider ratification of the boundary treaties with Estonia and Latvia, but in May 2003, ratified land and maritime boundary treaty with Lithuania, which ratified the 1997 treaty in 1999, legalizing limits of former Soviet republic borders; discussions are still ongoing among Russia, Lithuania and the EU concerning a simplified transit document for residents of the Kaliningrad coastal exclave to transit through Lithuania to Russia; land delimitation with Ukraine is ratified, but maritime regime of the Sea of Azov and Kerch Strait is unresolved; delimitation with Kazakhstan is scheduled for completion in 2003; Russian Duma has not yet ratified 1990 Maritime Boundary Agreement with the US in the Bering Sea.</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p><p class="tocentry"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107915.html">Rulers of Russia Since 1533</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table><br /><h1 class="level3" id="A0107910">Geography</h1> <p>The Russian Federation is the largest of the 21 republics that make up the Commonwealth of Independent States. It occupies most of eastern Europe and north Asia, stretching from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caucasus in the south. It is bordered by Norway and Finland in the northwest; Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania in the west; Georgia and Azerbaijan in the southwest; and Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, and North Korea along the southern border.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107911">Government</h1> <p>Constitutional federation.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107912">History</h1> <p>Tradition says the Viking Rurik came to Russia in 862 and founded the first Russian dynasty in Novgorod. The various tribes were united by the spread of Christianity in the 10th and 11th centuries; Vladimir “the Saint” was converted in 988. During the 11th century, the grand dukes of Kiev held such centralizing power as existed. In 1240, Kiev was destroyed by the Mongols, and the Russian territory was split into numerous smaller dukedoms. Early dukes of Moscow extended their dominion over other Russian cities through their office of tribute collector for the Mongols and because of Moscow's role as an administrative and trade center.</p> <p>In the late 15th century, Duke Ivan III acquired Novgorod and Tver and threw off the Mongol yoke. Ivan IV—the Terrible (1533–1584), first Muscovite czar—is considered to have founded the Russian state. He crushed the power of rival princes and boyars (great landowners), but Russia remained largely medieval until the reign of Peter the Great (1689–1725), grandson of the first Romanov czar, Michael (1613–1645). Peter made extensive reforms aimed at westernization and, through his defeat of Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava in 1709, he extended Russia's boundaries to the west. Catherine the Great (1762–1796) continued Peter's westernization program and also expanded Russian territory, acquiring the Crimea, Ukraine, and part of Poland. During the reign of Alexander I (1801–1825), Napoléon's attempt to subdue Russia was defeated (1812–1813), and new territory was gained, including Finland (1809) and Bessarabia (1812). Alexander originated the Holy Alliance, which for a time crushed Europe's rising liberal movement.</p> <p>Alexander II (1855–1881) pushed Russia's borders to the Pacific and into central Asia. Serfdom was abolished in 1861, but heavy restrictions were imposed on the emancipated class. Revolutionary strikes, following Russia's defeat in the war with Japan, forced Nicholas II (1894–1917) to grant a representative national body (Duma), elected by narrowly limited suffrage. It met for the first time in 1906 but had little influence on Nicholas.</p> <p>World War I demonstrated czarist corruption and inefficiency, and only patriotism held the poorly equipped army together for a time. Disorders broke out in Petrograd (renamed Leningrad and now St. Petersburg) in March 1917, and defection of the Petrograd garrison launched the revolution. Nicholas II was forced to abdicate on March 15, 1917, and he and his family were killed by revolutionaries on July 16, 1918. A provisional government under the successive prime ministerships of Prince Lvov and a moderate, Alexander Kerensky, lost ground to the radical, or Bolshevik, wing of the Socialist Democratic Labor Party. On Nov. 7, 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution, engineered by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, overthrew the Kerensky government, and authority was vested in a Council of People's Commissars, with Lenin as prime minister.</p> <p>The humiliating Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 3, 1918) concluded the war with Germany, but civil war and foreign intervention delayed Communist control of all Russia until 1920. A brief war with Poland in 1920 resulted in Russian defeat.</p> <p class="subtitle">Emergence of the USSR</p> <p>The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established as a federation on Dec. 30, 1922. The death of Lenin on Jan. 21, 1924, precipitated an intraparty struggle between Joseph Stalin, general secretary of the party, and Trotsky, who favored swifter socialization at home and fomentation of revolution abroad. Trotsky was dismissed as commissar of war in 1925 and banished from the Soviet Union in 1929. He was murdered in Mexico City on Aug. 21, 1940, by a political agent. Stalin further consolidated his power by a series of purges in the late 1930s, liquidating prominent party leaders and military officers. Stalin assumed the prime ministership on May 6, 1941.</p> <p>The term <i>Stalinism</i> has become defined as an inhumane, draconian socialism. Stalin sent millions of Soviets who did not conform to the Stalinist ideal to forced-labor camps, and he persecuted his country's vast number of ethnic groups—reserving particular vitriol for Jews and Ukrainians. Soviet historian Roy Medvedev estimated that about 20 million died from starvation, executions, forced collectivization, and life in the labor camps under Stalin's rule.</p> <p>Soviet foreign policy, at first friendly toward Germany and antagonistic toward Britain and France and then, after Hitler's rise to power in 1933, becoming anti-Fascist and pro–League of Nations, took an abrupt turn on Aug. 24, 1939, with the signing of a nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany. The next month, Moscow joined in the German attack on Poland, seizing territory later incorporated into the Ukrainian and Belorussian SSRs. The Russo-Finnish War (1939–1940) added territory to the Karelian SSR set up on March 31, 1940; the annexation of Bessarabia and Bukovina from Romania became part of the new Moldavian SSR on Aug. 2, 1940; and the annexation of the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in June 1940 created the 14th, 15th, and 16th Soviet republics. The Soviet-German collaboration ended abruptly with a lightning attack by Hitler on June 22, 1941, which seized 500,000 sq mi of Russian territory before Soviet defenses, aided by U.S. and British arms, could halt it. The Soviet resurgence at Stalingrad from Nov. 1942 to Feb. 1943 marked the turning point in a long battle, ending in the final offensive of Jan. 1945. Then, after denouncing a 1941 nonaggression pact with Japan in April 1945, when Allied forces were nearing victory in the Pacific, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan on Aug. 8, 1945, and quickly occupied Manchuria, Karafuto, and the Kuril Islands.</p> <p>After the war, the Soviet Union, United States, Great Britain, and France divided Berlin and Germany into four zones of occupation, which led to immediate antagonism between the Soviet and Western powers, culminating in the Berlin blockade in 1948. The USSR's tightening control over a cordon of Communist states, running from Poland in the north to Albania in the south, was dubbed the “iron curtain” by Churchill and would later lead to the Warsaw Pact. It marked the beginning of the cold war, the simmering hostility that pitted the world's two superpowers, the U.S. and the USSR—and their competing political ideologies—against each other for the next 45 years. Stalin died on March 6, 1953.</p> <p>The new power emerging in the Kremlin was Nikita S. Khrushchev (1958–1964), first secretary of the party. Khrushchev formalized the eastern European system into a Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) and a Warsaw Pact Treaty Organization as a counterweight to NATO. The Soviet Union exploded a hydrogen bomb in 1953, developed an intercontinental ballistic missile by 1957, sent the first satellite into space (Sputnik I) in 1957, and put Yuri Gagarin in the first orbital flight around Earth in 1961. Khrushchev's downfall stemmed from his decision to place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba and then, when challenged by the U.S., backing down and removing the weapons. He was also blamed for the ideological break with China after 1963. Khrushchev was forced into retirement on Oct. 15, 1964, and was replaced by Leonid I. Brezhnev as first secretary of the party and Aleksei N. Kosygin as premier.</p> <p>U.S. president Jimmy Carter and Brezhnev signed the SALT II treaty in Vienna on June 18, 1979, setting ceilings on each nation's arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The U.S. Senate refused to ratify the treaty because of the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet troops on Dec. 27, 1979. On Nov. 10, 1982, Leonid Brezhnev died. Yuri V. Andropov, who had formerly headed the KGB, became his successor but died less than two years later, in Feb. 1984. Konstantin U. Chernenko, a 72-year-old party stalwart who had been close to Brezhnev, succeeded him. After 13 months in office, Chernenko died on March 10, 1985. Chosen to succeed him as Soviet leader was Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who led the Soviet Union in its long-awaited shift to a new generation of leadership. Unlike his immediate predecessors, Gorbachev did not also assume the title of president but wielded power from the post of party general secretary.</p> <p>Gorbachev introduced sweeping political and economic reforms, bringing <i>glasnost</i> and <i>perestroika,</i> “openness” and “restructuring,” to the Soviet system. He established much warmer relations with the West, ended the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, and announced that the Warsaw Pact countries were free to pursue their own political agendas. Gorbachev's revolutionary steps ushered in the end of the cold war, and in 1990 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to ending the 45-year conflict between East and West.</p> <p>The Soviet Union took much criticism in early 1986 over the April 24 meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear plant and its reluctance to give out any information on the accident.</p> <p><strong>Dissolution of the USSR </strong> Gorbachev's promised reforms began to falter, and he soon had a formidable political opponent agitating for even more radical restructuring. Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian SSR, began challenging the authority of the federal government and resigned from the Communist Party along with other dissenters in 1990. On Aug. 29, 1991, an attempted coup d'état against Gorbachev was orchestrated by a group of hard-liners. Yeltsin's defiant actions during the coup—he barricaded himself in the Russian parliament and called for national strikes—resulted in Gorbachev's reinstatement. But from then on, power had effectively shifted from Gorbachev to Yeltsin and away from centralized power to greater power for the individual Soviet republics. In his last months as the head of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev dissolved the Communist Party and proposed the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which, when implemented, gave most of the Soviet Socialist Republics their independence, binding them together in a loose, primarily economic federation. Russia and ten other former Soviet republics joined the CIS on Dec. 21, 1991. Gorbachev resigned on Dec. 25, and Yeltsin, who had been the driving force behind the Soviet dissolution, became president of the newly established Russian Republic.</p> <p>At the start of 1992, Russia embarked on a series of dramatic economic reforms, including the freeing of prices on most goods, which led to an immediate downturn. A national referendum on confidence in Yeltsin and his economic program took place in April 1993. To the surprise of many, the president and his shock-therapy program won by a resounding margin. In September, Yeltsin dissolved the legislative bodies left over from the Soviet era.</p> <p>The president of the southern republic of Chechnya accelerated his region's drive for independence in 1994. In December, Russian troops closed the borders and sought to squelch the independence drive. The Russian military forces met firm and costly resistance. In May 1997, the two-year war formally ended with the signing of a peace treaty that adroitly avoided the issue of Chechen independence.</p> <p>In March 1998 Yeltsin dismissed his entire government and replaced Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin with fuel and energy minister Sergei Kiriyenko. On Aug. 28, 1998, amid the Russian stock market's free fall, the Russian government halted trading of the ruble on international currency markets. This financial crisis led to a long-term economic downturn and political upheaval. Yeltsin then sacked Kiriyenko and reappointed Chernomyrdin. The Duma rejected Chernomyrdin and on Sept. 11 elected foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov as prime minister. The repercussions of Russia's financial emergency were felt throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States.</p> <p>Impatient with Yeltsin's increasingly erratic behavior, the Duma attempted to impeach him in May 1999. But the impeachment motion was quickly quashed and soon Yeltsin was on the ascendancy again. In keeping with his capricious style, Yeltsin dismissed Primakov and substituted Interior Minister Sergei Stepashin. Just three months later, however, Yeltsin ousted Stepashin and replaced him with Vladimir Putin on Aug. 9, 1999, announcing that in addition to serving as prime minister, the former KGB agent was his choice as a successor in the 2000 presidential election.</p> <p>In 1999, the former Russian satellites of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic joined NATO, raising Russia's hackles. The desire of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, all of which were once part of the Soviet Union, to join the organization in the future further antagonized Russia.</p> <p>Just three years after the bloody 1994–1996 Chechen-Russian war ended in devastation and stalemate, the fighting started again in 1999, with Russia launching air strikes and following up with ground troops. By the end of November, Russian troops had surrounded Chechnya's capital, Grozny, and about 215,000 Chechen refugees had fled to neighboring Ingushetia. Russia maintained that a political solution was impossible until Islamic militants in Chechnya had been vanquished.</p> <p>In a decision that took Russia and the world by surprise, Boris Yeltsin resigned on Dec. 31, 1999, and Vladimir Putin became the acting president.</p> <p>In Feb. 2000, after almost five months of fighting, Russian troops captured Grozny. It was a political as well as a military victory for Putin, whose hard-line stance against Chechnya greatly contributed to his political popularity.</p> <p>On March 26, 2000, Putin won the presidential election with about 53% of the vote. Putin moved to centralize power in Moscow and attempted to limit the power and influence of both the regional governors and wealthy business leaders. Although Russia remained economically stagnant, Putin brought his nation a measure of political stability it never had under the mercurial and erratic Yeltsin.</p> <p>In Aug. 2000 the Russian government was severely criticized for its handling of the <i>Kursk</i> disaster, a nuclear submarine accident that left 118 sailors dead.</p> <p>Russia was initially alarmed in 2001 when the U.S. announced its rejection of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972, which for 30 years had been viewed as a crucial force in keeping the nuclear arms race under control. But Putin was eventually placated by President George W. Bush's reassurances, and in May 2002, the U.S. and Russian leaders announced a landmark pact to cut both countries' nuclear arsenals by up to two-thirds over the next ten years.</p> <p>On Oct. 23, 2002, Chechen rebels seized a crowded Moscow theater and detained 763 people, including 3 Americans. Armed and wired with explosives, the rebels demanded that the Russian government end the war in Chechnya. Government forces stormed the theater the next day, after releasing a gas into the theater that killed not only all the rebels but more than 100 hostages.</p> <p>In March 2003, Chechens voted in a referendum that approved a new regional constitution making Chechnya a separatist republic within Russia. Agreeing to the constitution meant abandoning claims for complete independence, and the new powers accorded the republic were little more than cosmetic. During 2003, there were 11 bomb attacks against Russia that were believed to have been orchestrated by Chechen rebels.</p> <p>In April 2003 reformist politician Sergei Yushenkov became the third outspoken critic of the Kremlin to be assassinated in five years. Just hours before he was gunned down, Yushenkov had officially registered his new political party, Liberal Russia. In Nov. 2003, billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, president of the Yukos oil company, was arrested on charges of fraud and tax evasion. Khodorkovsky supported liberal opposition parties, which led many to suspect that President Putin may have engineered his arrest. On May 31, 2005, Khodorkovsky was sentenced to nine years in prison.</p> <p>Putin was reelected president in March 2004, with 70% of the vote. International election observers considered the process less than democratic.</p> <p>On Sept. 1–3, dozens of heavily armed guerrillas seized a school in Beslan, near Chechnya, and held about 1,100 young schoolchildren, teachers, and parents hostage. Hundreds of hostages were killed, including about 156 children. Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility. In the aftermath of the horrific attack, Putin announced that he would radically restructure the government to fight terrorism more effectively. The world community expressed deep concern that Putin's plans would consolidate his power and roll back democracy in Russia.</p> <p>In Sept. 2004, Russia endorsed the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. It was the final endorsement needed to put the protocol into effect worldwide.</p> <p>Former Chechen president and rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was killed by Russian special forces on March 8, 2005. Putin hailed it as a victory in his fight against terrorism. An even greater victory occurred in July 2006, when Russia announced the killing of Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, responsible for the horrific Beslan terrorist attack. In Feb. 2007, Putin dismissed the president of Chechnya, Alu Alkhanov, and appointed Ramzan Kadyrov, a security official and the son of former Chechen president Akhmad, who was killed by rebels in 2004. Ramzan Kadyrov and forces loyal to him have been linked to human-rights abuses in the troubled region.</p> <p>Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent who has been critical of the Kremlin, died from poisoning by a radioactive substance in November 2006. On his deathbed in a London hospital, he accused Putin of masterminding his murder. In July 2007, Moscow refused the British government's request to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, another former KGB agent who British authorities have accused in Litvinenko's murder.</p> <p>Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin died in April 2007.</p> <p>The International Olympic Committee announced in July 2007 that Sochi, Russia, a Black Sea resort, will host the Winter Games in 2014. It will be the first time Russia or the former Soviet Union hosts the Winter Games.</p> <p>In July 2007, President Putin announced that Russia will suspend the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which limits conventional weapons in Europe. Several U.S. officials speculated that Putin was acting in response to U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Europe―a move stongly opposed by Russia. The move provided further evidence of deteriorating relations between the United States and Russia.</p> <p>In September, Putin nominated Viktor Zubkov, a close ally, as prime minister. The Duma, the lower house of Parliament, confirmed the nomination.</p> <p>Putin announced in October that he would head the list of candidates on the United Russia ticket, the country's leading political party. Such a move would pave the way for Putin to become prime minister, and thus allow him to retain power. In December parliamentary elections, United Russia won in a landslide, taking 64.1% of the vote, far ahead of the Communist Party of Russia, which took 11.6%. Opposition parties complained that the election was rigged, and European monitors said the vote wasn't fair. Putin used his sway over the media to stifle the opposition and campaign for United Russia, making the election a referendum on his popularity. Opposition leader and former chess champion Garry Kasparov said the election was "the most unfair and dirtiest in the whole history of modern Russia."</p> <p>In December, Putin endorsed Dmitri Medvedev in March 2008's presidential election. A Putin loyalist who is said to be moderate and pro-Western, Medvedev is a first deputy prime minister and the chairman of Gazprom, the country's oil monopoly. He has never worked in intelligence or security agencies, unlike Putin and many members of his administration. Medvedev said that if elected, he would appoint Putin as prime minister.</p> <p>In January 2008, Russia's Central Election Commission rejected the presidential candidacy of former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, saying about 13% of the signatures on his nomination papers were invalid. The move outraged Kasynov's supporters and sparked wide criticism of Putin's continued moves to suppress democracy.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-40459447214783985182008-02-25T11:20:00.001-08:002008-02-25T11:20:31.653-08:00Portugal<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0107895">Portugal</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Portugal" id="A0203000" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/portugal.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> República Portuguesa</p><p class="president"><b>President:</b> Aníbal Cavaco Silva (2006)</p><p class="prime-mininster"><b>Prime Minister:</b> José Sócrates (2005)</p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/portugal.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 35,382 sq mi (91,639 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 35,672 sq mi (92,391 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 10,642,836 (growth rate: 0.3%); birth rate: 10.6/1000; infant mortality rate: 4.9/1000; life expectancy: 77.9; density per sq mi: 301</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Lisbon, 2,618,100 (metro. area), 559,400</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large city:</b> Oporto, 264,200</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Euro (formerly escudo)</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> Portuguese (official), Mirandese (official, but locally used)</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> homogeneous Mediterranean stock; less than 100,000 citizens of black African descent who immigrated to mainland during decolonization; East Europeans have entered since 1990</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Roman Catholic 94%, Protestant (1995)</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 93% (2003 est.).</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $196.3 billion; per capita $18,600. <b>Real growth rate: </b>0.8%. <b>Inflation:</b> 2.4%. <b>Unemployment: </b>7.3%. <b>Arable land:</b> 17%. <b>Agriculture:</b> grain, potatoes, tomatoes, olives, grapes; sheep, cattle, goats, swine, poultry, dairy products; fish. <b>Labor force:</b> 5.52 million; services 60%, industry 30%, agriculture 10% (1999 est.). <b>Industries:</b> textiles and footwear; wood pulp, paper, and cork; metals and metalworking; oil refining; chemicals; fish canning; rubber and plastic products; ceramics; electronics and communications equipment; rail transportation equipment; aerospace equipment; ship construction and refurbishment; wine; tourism. <b>Natural resources:</b> fish, forests (cork), tungsten, iron ore, uranium ore, marble, arable land, hydropower. <b>Exports: </b>$38.8 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): clothing and footwear, machinery, chemicals, cork and paper products, hides. <b>Imports: </b>$60.35 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, petroleum, textiles, agricultural products. <b>Major trading partners: </b>Spain, France, Germany, UK, U.S., Italy, Netherlands (2004). </p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 5.3 million (yearend 1998); mobile cellular: 3,074,194 (1999). <b>Radio broadcast stations:</b> AM 47, FM 172 (many are repeaters), shortwave 2 (1998). <b>Radios:</b> 3.02 million (1997). <b>Television broadcast stations:</b> 62 (plus 166 repeaters). <b>Televisions:</b> 3.31 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs):</b> 16 (2000). <b>Internet users:</b> 4.4 million (2002).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 2,850 km (2002). <b>Highways:</b> total: 68,732 km; paved: 59,110 km (including 797 km of expressways); unpaved: 9,622 km (2000). <b>Waterways:</b> 820 km navigable; relatively unimportant to national economy, used by shallow-draft craft limited to 300 metric-ton or less cargo capacity. <b>Ports and harbors: </b>Aveiro, Funchal (Madeira Islands), Horta (Azores), Leixoes, Lisbon, Porto, Ponta Delgada (Azores), Praia da Vitoria (Azores), Setubal, Viana do Castelo. <b>Airports:</b> 66 (2002). </p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes: </b>Portugal has periodically reasserted claims to territories around the town of Olivenza, Spain.</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="graphseg centered" border="0" width="250"> <tbody><tr> <td id="A0202903"> <br /> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107896">Geography</h1> <p>Portugal occupies the western part of the Iberian Peninsula and is slightly smaller than Indiana. The country is crossed by three large rivers that rise in Spain, flow into the Atlantic, and divide the country into three geographic areas. The Minho River, part of the northern boundary, cuts through a mountainous area that extends south to the vicinity of the Douro River. South of the Douro, the mountains slope to the plains around the Tejo River. The remaining division is the southern one of Alentejo. The Azores stretch over 340 mi (547 km) in the Atlantic and consist of nine islands with a total area of 902 sq mi (2,335 sq km). Madeira, consisting of two inhabited islands, Madeira and Porto Santo, and two groups of uninhabited islands, lie in the Atlantic about 535 mi (861 km) southwest of Lisbon.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107897">Government</h1> <p>Parliamentary democracy.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107898">History</h1> <p>An early Celtic tribe, the Lusitanians, are believed to have been the first inhabitants of Portugal. The Roman Empire conquered the region in about 140 <span class="small">B.C.</span> Toward the end of the Roman Empire, the Visigoths had invaded the entire Iberian Peninsula.</p> <p>Portugal won its independence from Moorish Spain in 1143. King John I (1385–1433) unified his country at the expense of the Castilians and the Moors of Morocco. The expansion of Portugal was brilliantly coordinated by John's son, Prince Henry the Navigator. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias reached the Cape of Good Hope, proving that Asia was accessible by sea. In 1498, Vasco da Gama reached the west coast of India. By the middle of the 16th century, the Portuguese empire extended to West and East Africa, Brazil, Persia, Indochina, and the Malayan peninsula.</p> <p>In 1581, Philip II of Spain invaded Portugal and held it for 60 years, precipitating a catastrophic decline in Portuguese commerce. Courageous and shrewd explorers, the Portuguese proved to be inefficient and corrupt colonizers. By the time the Portuguese monarchy was restored in 1640, Dutch, English, and French competitors had begun to seize the lion's share of the world's colonies and commerce. Portugal retained Angola and Mozambique in Africa, and Brazil (until 1822).</p> <p>The corrupt King Carlos, who ascended the throne in 1889, made João Franco the prime minister with dictatorial power in 1906. In 1908, Carlos and his heir were shot dead on the streets of Lisbon. The new king, Manoel II, was driven from the throne in the revolution of 1910, and Portugal became a French-style republic. Traditionally friendly to Britain, Portugal fought in World War I on the Allied side in Africa as well as on the Western Front. Weak postwar governments and a revolution in 1926 brought Antonio de Oliveira Salazar to power. As minister of finance (1928–1940) and prime minister (1932–1968), Salazar ruled Portugal as a virtual dictator. He kept Portugal neutral in World War II but gave the Allies naval and air bases after 1943. Portugal joined NATO as a founding member in 1949 but did not gain admission to the United Nations until 1955.</p> <p>Portugal's foreign and colonial policies met with increasing difficulty both at home and abroad beginning in the 1950s. In fact, the bloodiest and most protracted wars against colonialism in Africa were fought against the Portuguese. Portugal lost the tiny remnants of its Indian empire—Goa, Daman, and Diu—to Indian military occupation in 1961, the year an insurrection broke out in Angola. For the next 13 years, Salazar, who died in 1970, and his successor, Marcello Caetano, fought independence movements amid growing world criticism. Leftists in the armed forces, weary of a losing battle, launched a successful revolution on April 25, 1974. After the 1974 revolution, the new military junta gave up its territories, beginning with Portuguese Guinea in Sept. 1974, which became the Republic of Guinea-Bissau. The decolonization of the Cape Verde Islands and Mozambique was effected in July 1975. Angola achieved independence later that same year, thus ending a colonial involvement on that continent that had begun in 1415. Full-scale international civil war, however, followed Portugal's departure from Angola, and Indonesia forcibly annexed independent East Timor. Also in 1975, the government nationalized banking, transportation, heavy industries, and the media. Portugal continued to experience social, economic, and political upheavals for the next decade.</p> <p>Portugal was admitted to the European Economic Community (now European Union) on Jan. 1, 1986, and on Feb. 16, Mario Soares became the country's first civilian president in 60 years. Aníbal Cavaço Silva, an advocate of free-market economics and the Social Democratic candidate, had been elected as prime minister in 1985, signaling a more politically stable era. General elections in Oct. 1995 went to the Socialist Party, which fell just short of an absolute majority in the assembly. Lisbon mayor Jorge Sampaio, a Socialist, won the race for president in Jan. 1996. Portugal's Socialist government continued to take advantage of rosy economic conditions in 1997, and in 1999, Portugal became a founding member of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).</p> <p>Portugal gave up its last colony, <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0107900">Macao</a>, on Dec. 20, 1999, turning the small Asian seaport over to China.</p> <p>In 2002, center-right Social Democrat leader José Manuel Durão Barroso became prime minister, after the Socialist Party suffered defeats. In the summer of 2003, more than a thousand people died during an unprecedented heat wave that caused fires to ravage Portugal's forests. Prime Minister Barroso resigned in July 2004 to become president of the European Commission. Pedro Santana Lopes, the new leader of the Social Democrats, succeeded him as prime minister. In Feb. 2005 elections, the Socialist Party won 45% of the vote, and José Sócrates became prime minister.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-72869292736865332382008-02-25T11:19:00.003-08:002008-02-25T11:19:50.126-08:00Poland<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0107891">Poland</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Poland" id="A0202999" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/poland.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Rzeczpospolita Polska</p><p class="president"><b>President:</b> Lech Kaczynski (2005)</p><p class="other-leader"><b>Prime Minister:</b> Jaroslaw Kaczynski (2006)</p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/poland.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 117,571 sq mi (304,509 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 120,728 sq mi (312,685 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 38,518,241 (growth rate: 0.0%); birth rate: 9.9/1000; infant mortality rate: 7.1/1000; life expectancy: 75.2; density per sq mi: 328</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Warsaw, 2,201,900 (metro. area), 1,607,600 (city proper)</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large cities:</b> Lodz, 778,200; Krakow, 733,100; Wroclaw, 632,200; Poznan, 581,200; Gdansk, 456,700; Szczecin, 415,700</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Zloty</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Language:</b> </a> Polish 98% (2002)</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> Polish 96.7%, German 0.4%, Belorussian 0.1% Ukrainian 0.1%, other 2.7% (2002)</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Roman Catholic 90% (about 75% practicing), Eastern Orthodox 1%, Protestant and other (2002)</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 100% (2003 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $489.8 billion; per capita $12,700. <b>Real growth rate: </b>3.5%. <b>Inflation:</b> 2.1%. <b>Unemployment:</b> 18.3%. <b>Arable land:</b> 40%.<b> Agriculture: </b>potatoes, fruits, vegetables, wheat; poultry, eggs, pork, dairy. <b>Labor force: </b>17.1 million; agriculture 16.1%, industry 29%, services 54.9% (2002). <b>Industries:</b> machine building, iron and steel, coal mining, chemicals, shipbuilding, food processing, glass, beverages, textiles. <b>Natural resources:</b> coal, sulfur, copper, natural gas, silver, lead, salt, amber, arable land. <b>Exports: </b>$92.72 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and transport equipment 37.8%, intermediate manufactured goods 23.7%, miscellaneous manufactured goods 17.1%, food and live animals 7.6% (2003). <b>Imports:</b> $95.67 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and transport equipment 38%, intermediate manufactured goods 21%, chemicals 14.8%, minerals, fuels, lubricants, and related materials 9.1% (2003). <b>Major trading partners: </b>Germany, Italy, France, UK, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Russia, China (2004). </p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 8.07 million (1998); mobile cellular: 13 million (2002). <b>Radio broadcast stations:</b> AM 14, FM 777, shortwave 1 (1998). <b>Radios:</b> 20.2 million (1997). <b>Television broadcast stations: </b>179 (plus 256 repeaters) (Sept. 1995). <b>Televisions:</b> 13.05 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs):</b> 19 (2000). <b>Internet users:</b> 6.4 million (2001).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 23,420 km (2002). <b>Highways: </b> total: 364,656 km; paved: 249,060 km (including 358 km of expressways); unpaved: 115,596 km (2000). <b>Waterways: </b>3,812 km navigable rivers and canals (1996). <b>Ports and harbors: </b>Gdansk, Gdynia, Gliwice, Kolobrzeg, Szczecin, Swinoujscie, Ustka, Warsaw, Wroclaw. <b>Airports:</b> 150 (2002).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes:</b> small boundary changes made with Slovakia in 2003.</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table><br /><h1 class="level3" id="A0107892">Geography</h1> <p>Poland, a country the size of New Mexico, is in north-central Europe. Most of the country is a plain with no natural boundaries except the Carpathian Mountains in the south and the Oder and Neisse rivers in the west. Other major rivers, which are important to commerce, are the Vistula, Warta, and Bug.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107893">Government</h1> <p>Democratic republic.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107894">History</h1> <p>Great (north) Poland was founded in 966 by Mieszko I, who belonged to the Piast dynasty. The tribes of southern Poland then formed Little Poland. In 1047, both Great Poland and Little Poland united under the rule of Casimir I the Restorer. Poland merged with Lithuania by royal marriage in 1386. The Polish-Lithuanian state reached the peak of its power between the 14th and 16th centuries, scoring military successes against the (Germanic) Knights of the Teutonic Order, the Russians, and the Ottoman Turks.</p> <p>Lack of a strong monarchy enabled Russia, Prussia, and Austria to carry out a first partition of the country in 1772, a second in 1792, and a third in 1795. For more than a century thereafter, there was no Polish state, just Austrian, Prussian, and Russian sectors, but the Poles never ceased their efforts to regain their independence. The Polish people revolted against foreign dominance throughout the 19th century. Poland was formally reconstituted in Nov. 1918, with Marshal Josef Pilsudski as chief of state. In 1919, Ignace Paderewski, the famous pianist and patriot, became the first prime minister. In 1926, Pilsudski seized complete power in a coup and ruled dictatorially until his death on May 12, 1935.</p> <p>Despite a ten-year nonaggression pact signed in 1934, Hitler attacked Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. Soviet troops invaded from the east on Sept. 17, and on Sept. 28, a German-Soviet agreement divided Poland between the USSR and Germany. Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz formed a government-in-exile in France, which moved to London after France's defeat in 1940. All of Poland was occupied by Germany after the Nazi attack on the USSR in June 1941. Nazi Germany's occupation policy in Poland was designed to eradicate Polish culture through mass executions and to exterminate the country's large Jewish minority.</p> <p>The Polish government-in-exile was replaced with the Communist-dominated Polish Committee of National Liberation by the Soviet Union in 1944. Moving to Lublin after that city's liberation, it proclaimed itself the Provisional Government of Poland. Some former members of the Polish government in London joined with the Lublin government to form the Polish Government of National Unity, which Britain and the U.S. recognized. On Aug. 2, 1945, in Berlin, President Harry S. Truman, Joseph Stalin, and Prime Minister Clement Attlee of Britain established a new de facto western frontier for Poland along the Oder and Neisse rivers. (The border was finally agreed to by West Germany in a nonaggression pact signed on Dec. 7, 1970.) On Aug. 16, 1945, the USSR and Poland signed a treaty delimiting the Soviet-Polish frontier. Under these agreements, Poland was shifted westward. In the east, it lost 69,860 sq mi (180,934 sq km); in the west, it gained (subject to final peace-conference approval) 38,986 sq mi (100,973 sq km).</p> <p>A new constitution in 1952 made Poland a “people's democracy” of the Soviet type. In 1955, Poland became a member of the Warsaw Treaty Organization and its foreign policy identical to that of the USSR. The government undertook persecution of the Roman Catholic Church as a remaining source of opposition. Wladyslaw Gomulka was elected leader of the United Workers (Communist) Party in 1956. He denounced the Stalinist terror, ousted many Stalinists, and improved relations with the church. Most collective farms were dissolved, and the press became freer. A strike that began in shipyards and spread to other industries in Aug. 1980 produced a stunning victory for workers when the economically hard-pressed government accepted for the first time in a Marxist state the right of workers to organize in independent unions.</p> <p>Led by Solidarity, an independent union founded by an electrician, Lech Walesa, workers launched a drive for liberty and improved conditions. A national strike for a five-day workweek in Jan. 1981 led to the dismissal of Prime Minister Pinkowski and the naming of the fourth prime minister in less than a year, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski. Martial law was declared on Dec. 13, when Walesa and other Solidarity leaders were arrested, and Solidarity was outlawed. Martial law formally ended in 1984 but the government retained emergency powers. Increasing opposition to the government because of the failing economy led to a new wave of strikes in 1988. Unable to quell the dissent entirely, the government relegalized Solidarity and allowed it to compete in elections.</p> <p>Solidarity members won a stunning victory in 1989, taking almost all the seats in the Senate and all of the 169 seats they were allowed to contest in the Sejm. This gave them substantial influence in the new government. Tadeusz Mazowiecki was appointed prime minister. Lech Walesa won the presidential election of 1990 with 74% of the vote. In 1991, the first fully free parliamentary election since World War II resulted in representation for 29 political parties. Efforts to turn Poland into a market economy, however, led to economic difficulties and widespread discontent. In the second democratic parliamentary election of Sept. 1993, voters returned power to ex-Communists and their allies. Solidarity's popularity and influence continued to wane. In 1995, Aleksander Kwasniewski, leader of the successor to the Communist Party, the Democratic Left, won the presidency over Walesa in a landslide.</p> <p>In 1999, Poland became part of NATO, along with the Czech Republic and Hungary.</p> <p>In Sept. 2001 parliamentary elections, former Communists, reconstituted as the center-left Democratic Left Alliance, won 41% of the vote. The election seemed to mark the demise of Solidarity, which did not win a single seat.</p> <p>Poland was a staunch supporter of the United States and Britain during the Iraq war and sent 200 troops to Iraq (60 were combat soldiers). In Sept. 2003, Poland became the leader of a 9,000-strong multinational stabilizing force in Iraq. It contributed 2,000 of its own soldiers. In April 2005, Poland announced it would withdraw all troops from Iraq at the end of the year.</p> <p>On May 1, 2004, Poland joined the EU. Prime Minister Leszek Miller resigned on May 2, 2004. His popularity had plummeted to 10% because of the country's continued economic troubles and a number of corruption scandals. Former finance minister Marek Belka succeeded him.</p> <p>In 2005, conservative Lech Kaczynski became the new president, replacing former Communist Aleksander Kwasniewski, and Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz was appointed prime minister. In July 2006 the immensely popular and well-respected prime minister resigned abruptly, a move many believe was the result of his difficulties in working with President Kaczynski. The president then appointed his twin brother—Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the Law and Justice Party—as prime minister.</p> <p>Prime Minister Kaczynski formed a fragile majority coalition with two small parties, the Self-Defence Party and the League of Polish Families. After months of political turmoil, the coalition fell apart in August 2007, as Kaczynski sacked four ministers from the partner parties. In September, Kaczynski called for early elections and Parliament voted to dissolve itself. In October's parliamentary elections, Kaczynski 's Law and Justice Party was trounced by the pro-business, pro-Europe Civic Platform party. Donald Tusk was expected to become prime minister. President Kaczynski will remain in office, but his influence will be severely diminished.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-77122720651115724522008-02-25T11:19:00.001-08:002008-02-25T11:19:21.618-08:00Norway<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0107851">Norway</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Norway" id="A0202991" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/norway.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Kongeriket Norge</p><p class="other-leader"><b>Sovereign:</b> King Harald V (1991)</p><p class="prime-mininster"><b>Prime Minister:</b> Jens Stoltenberg (2005)</p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/norway.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 118,865 sq mi (307,860 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 125,181 sq mi (324,220 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 4,627,926 (growth rate: 0.4%); birth rate: 11.3/1000; infant mortality rate: 3.6/1000; life expectancy: 79.7; density per sq mi: 39</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Oslo, 791,500</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large cities:</b> Bergen, 211,200; Stavanger, 168,600; Trondheim, 144,000</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Norwegian krone</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> Bokmål Norwegian, Nynorsk Norwegian (both official); small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities (Sami is official in six municipalities)</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> Norwegian, Sami 20,000</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Evangelical Lutheran 86% (state church), Pentecostal 1%, Roman Catholic 1%, other Christian 2% (2004)</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 100% (2003 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $194.7 billion; per capita $42,400. <b>Real growth rate: </b>3.7%. <b>Inflation: </b>2.1%. <b>Unemployment:</b> 4.2%. <b>Arable land: </b>3%. <b>Agriculture:</b> barley, wheat, potatoes; pork, beef, veal, milk; fish. <b>Labor force:</b> 2.4 million; services 74%, industry 22%, agriculture, forestry, and fishing 4% (1995). <b>Industries:</b> petroleum and gas, food processing, shipbuilding, pulp and paper products, metals, chemicals, timber, mining, textiles, fishing. <b>Natural resources:</b> petroleum, copper, natural gas, pyrites, nickel, iron ore, zinc, lead, fish, timber, hydropower. <b>Exports:</b> $111.2 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): petroleum and petroleum products, machinery and equipment, metals, chemicals, ships, fish. <b>Imports:</b> $58.12 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, chemicals, metals, foodstuffs. <b>Major trading partners:</b> UK, Germany, Netherlands, France, U.S., Sweden, Denmark, China, Finland (2004).</p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 2.735 million (1998); mobile cellular: 2,080,408 (1998). <b>Radio broadcast stations: </b>AM 5, FM at least 650, shortwave 1 (1998). <b>Radios: </b>4.03 million (1997). <b>Television broadcast stations:</b> 360 (plus 2,729 repeaters) (1995). <b>Televisions:</b> 2.03 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs): </b>13 (2000). <b>Internet users:</b> 2.68 million (2002).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 4,178 km (2002). <b>Highways:</b> total: 91,454 km; paved: 69,505 km (including 143 km of expressways); unpaved: 21,949 km (2000). <b>Waterways:</b> 1,577 km along west coast; navigable by 2.4 m draft vessels maximum. <b>Ports and harbors: </b>Bergen, Drammen, Floro, Hammerfest, Harstad, Haugesund, Kristiansand, Larvik, Narvik, Oslo, Porsgrunn, Stavanger, Tromso, Trondheim. <b>Airports: </b>102 (2002).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes</b>: Norway asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (Queen Maud Land and its continental shelf); despite recent discussions, Russia and Norway continue to dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea and Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone.</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p><p class="tocentry"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107855.html">Dependencies of Norway</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table><br /><h1 class="level3" id="A0107852">Geography</h1> <p>Norway is situated in the western part of the Scandinavian peninsula. It extends about 1,100 mi (1,770 km) from the North Sea along the Norwegian Sea to more than 300 mi (483 km) above the Arctic Circle, the farthest north of any European country. It is slightly larger than New Mexico. Nearly 70% of Norway is uninhabitable and covered by mountains, glaciers, moors, and rivers. The hundreds of deep fjords that cut into the coastline give Norway an overall oceanfront of more than 12,000 mi (19,312 km). Galdhø Peak, at 8,100 ft (2,469 m), is Norway's highest point and the Glåma (Glomma) is the principal river, at 372 mi (598 km) long.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107853">Government</h1> <p>Constitutional monarchy.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107854">History</h1> <p>Norwegians, like the Danes and Swedes, are of Teutonic origin. The Norsemen, also known as Vikings, ravaged the coasts of northwest Europe from the 8th to the 11th century and were ruled by local chieftains. Olaf II Haraldsson became the first effective king of all Norway in 1015 and began converting the Norwegians to Christianity. After 1442, Norway was ruled by Danish kings until 1814, when it was united with Sweden—although retaining a degree of independence and receiving a new constitution—in an uneasy partnership. In 1905, the Norwegian parliament arranged a peaceful separation and invited a Danish prince to the Norwegian throne—King Haakon VII. A treaty with Sweden provided that all disputes be settled by arbitration and that no fortifications be erected on the common frontier.</p> <p>When World War I broke out, Norway joined with Sweden and Denmark in a decision to remain neutral and to cooperate in the joint interest of the three countries. In World War II, Norway was invaded by the Germans on April 9, 1940. It resisted for two months before the Nazis took complete control. King Haakon and his government fled to London, where they established a government-in-exile. Maj. Vidkun Quisling, who served as Norway's prime minister during the war, was the most notorious of the Nazi collaborators. The word for traitor, <i>quisling,</i> bears his name. He was executed by the Norwegians on Oct. 24, 1945. Despite severe losses in the war, Norway recovered quickly as its economy expanded. It joined NATO in 1949.</p> <p>In the late 20th century, the Labor Party and the Conservative Party seesawed for control, each sometimes having to lead minority governments. An important debate was over Norway's membership in the European Union. In an advisory referendum held in Nov. 1994, voters rejected seeking membership for their nation in the EU. The country became the second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia in 1995. Norway continued to experience rapid economic growth into the new millennium.</p> <p>In March 2000, Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik resigned after parliament voted to build the country's first gas-fired power stations. Bondevik had objected to the project, asserting that the plants would emit too much carbon dioxide. Labor Party leader Jens Stoltenberg succeeded Bondevik. Stoltenberg and the Labor Party were defeated in Sept. 2001 elections, and no party emerged with a clear majority. After a month of talks, the Conservatives, the Christian People's Party, and the Liberals formed a coalition with Bondevik as prime minister. The governing coalition was backed by the far-right Progress Party. But in Sept. 2005 elections, the center-left Red-Green coalition gained a majority of seats, and Jens Stoltenberg of the Labor Party once again became prime minister.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-70247578784375533092008-02-25T11:18:00.003-08:002008-02-25T11:18:53.774-08:00Nigeria<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0107847">Nigeria</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Nigeria" id="A0202990" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/nigeria.gif" height="154" width="250" /> <p class="other-leader"><b>President:</b> Umaru Yar’Adua (2007)</p> <p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/nigeria.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p> <p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 351,649 sq mi (910,771 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 356,667 sq mi (923,768 sq km)</p> <p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 135,031,164 (growth rate: 2.4%); birth rate: 40.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 95.5/1000; life expectancy: 47.4; density per sq mi: 384</p> <p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital (2003 est.):</b> </a> Abuja, 590,400 (metro. area), 165,700 (city proper)</p> <p class="largest-cities"><b>Largest cities:</b> Lagos (2003 est.), 11,135,000 (metro. area), 5,686,000 (city proper); Kano, 3,329,900; Ibadan, 3,139,500; Kaduna, 1,510,300</p> <p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Naira</p> <p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo, Fulani, and more than 200 others</p> <p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> More than 250 ethnic groups, including Hausa and Fulani 29%, Yoruba 21%, Ibo 18%, Ijaw 10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5%, Tiv 2.5%</p> <p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Islam 50%, Christian 40%, indigenous beliefs 10%</p> <p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 68% (2003 est.)</p> <p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $132.9 billion; per capita $1,000. <b>Real growth rate:</b> 5.6%. <b>Inflation: </b>15.6%. <b>Unemployment: </b>2.9%. <b>Arable land:</b> 33%. <b>Agriculture:</b> cocoa, peanuts, palm oil, corn, rice, sorghum, millet, cassava (tapioca), yams, rubber; cattle, sheep, goats, pigs; timber; fish.<b> Labor force:</b> 57.21 million; agriculture 70%, industry 10%, services 20% (1999 est.). <b>Industries:</b> crude oil, coal, tin, columbite; palm oil, peanuts, cotton, rubber, wood; hides and skins, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer, printing, ceramics, steel, small commercial ship construction and repair. <b>Natural resources: </b>natural gas, petroleum, tin, columbite, iron ore, coal, limestone, lead, zinc, arable land. <b>Exports:</b> $52.16 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): petroleum and petroleum products 95%, cocoa, rubber. <b>Imports: </b>$25.95 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery, chemicals, transport equipment, manufactured goods, food and live animals.<b> Major trading partners: </b>U.S., Brazil, Spain, China, UK, Netherlands, France, Germany (2004).</p> <p class="commnations"> <b>Member of Commonwealth of Nations</b> </p> <p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 500,000 (2000); mobile cellular: 200,000 (2001). <b>Radio broadcast stations: </b>AM 83, FM 36, shortwave 11 (2001). <b>Radios:</b> 23.5 million (1997). <b>Television broadcast stations:</b> 3 (the government controls 2 broadcasting stations and 15 repeater stations) (2002). <b>Televisions:</b> 6.9 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs):</b> 11 (2000). <b>Internet users:</b> 100,000 (2000).</p> <p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 3,557 km (2002). <b>Highways: </b> total: 194,394 km; paved: 60,068 km (including 1,194 km of expressways); unpaved: 134,326 km (1999 est.). <b>Waterways:</b> 8,575 km consisting of the Niger and Benue rivers and smaller rivers and creeks. <b>Ports and harbors:</b> Calabar, Lagos, Onne, Port Harcourt, Sapele, Warri. <b>Airports:</b> 70 (2002).</p> <p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes: </b>ICJ ruled in 2002 on the Cameroon-Nigeria land and maritime boundary by awarding the potentially petroleum-rich Bakassi Peninsula and offshore region to Cameroon; Nigeria rejected the cession of the peninsula but the parties formed a Joint Border Commission to peaceably resolve the dispute and commence with demarcation in other less-contested sections of the boundary; several villages along the Okpara River are in dispute with Benin; Lake Chad Commission continues to urge signatories Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria to ratify delimitation treaty over lake region, which remains the site of armed clashes among local populations and militias; Nigeria agreed to ratify the treaty and relinquish sovereignty of disputed lands to Cameroon by December 2003.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table><br /><h1 class="level3" id="A0107848">Geography</h1> <p>Nigeria, one-third larger than Texas and the most populous country in Africa, is situated on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa. Its neighbors are Benin, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad. The lower course of the Niger River flows south through the western part of the country into the Gulf of Guinea. Swamps and mangrove forests border the southern coast; inland are hardwood forests.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107849">Government</h1> <p>Multiparty government transitioning from military to civilian rule.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107850">History</h1> <p>The first inhabitants of what is now Nigeria were thought to have been the Nok people (500 <span class="small">B.C.</span>–c. <span class="small">A.D.</span> 200). The Kanuri, Hausa, and Fulani peoples subsequently migrated there. Islam was introduced in the 13th century, and the empire of Kanem controlled the area from the end of the 11th century to the 14th.</p> <p>The Fulani empire ruled the region from the beginning of the 19th century until the British annexed Lagos in 1851 and seized control of the rest of the region by 1886. It formally became the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914. During World War I, native troops of the West African frontier force joined with French forces to defeat the German garrison in the Cameroons.</p> <p>On Oct. 1, 1960, Nigeria gained independence, becoming a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and joining the United Nations. Organized as a loose federation of self-governing states, the independent nation faced the overwhelming task of unifying a country with 250 ethnic and linguistic groups.</p> <p>Rioting broke out in 1966, and military leaders, primarily of Ibo ethnicity, seized control. In July, a second military coup put Col. Yakubu Gowon in power, a choice unacceptable to the Ibos. Also in that year, the Muslim Hausas in the north massacred the predominantly Christian Ibos in the east, many of whom had been driven from the north. Thousands of Ibos took refuge in the eastern region, which declared its independence as the Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967. Civil war broke out. In Jan. 1970, after 31 months of civil war, Biafra surrendered to the federal government.</p> <p>Gowon's nine-year rule was ended in 1975 by a bloodless coup that made Army Brig. Muritala Rufai Mohammed the new chief of state. The return of civilian leadership was established with the election of Alhaji Shehu Shagari as president in 1979. An oil boom in the 1970s buoyed the economy and by the 1980s Nigeria was considered an exemplar of African democracy and economic well-being.</p> <p>The military again seized power in 1984, only to be followed by another military coup the following year. Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida announced that the country would be returned to civilian rule, but after the presidential election of June 12, 1993, he voided the results. Nevertheless, Babangida resigned as president in August. In November the military, headed by defense minister Sani Abacha, seized power again.</p> <p>Corruption and notorious governmental inefficiency as well as a harshly repressive military regime characterized Abacha's reign over this oil-rich country, turning it into an international pariah. A UN fact-finding mission in 1996 reported that Nigeria's “problems of human rights are terrible and the political problems are terrifying.” During the 1970s, Nigeria had the 33rd highest per-capita income in the world, but by 1997 it had dropped to the 13th poorest. The hanging of writer Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995 because he protested against the government was condemned around the world.</p> <p>As leader of the multination peacekeeping force ECOMOG, Nigeria established itself as West Africa's superpower, intervening militarily in the civil wars of Liberia and Sierra Leone. But Nigeria's costly war efforts were unpopular with its own people, who felt Nigeria's limited economic resources were being unnecessarily drained.</p> <p>Abacha died of a heart attack in 1998 and was succeeded by another military ruler, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, who pledged to step aside for an elected leader by May 1999. The suspicious death of opposition leader Mashood Abiola, who had been imprisoned by the military ever since he legally won the 1993 presidential election, was a crushing blow to democratic proponents. In Feb. 1999, free presidential elections led to an overwhelming victory for Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, a former member of the military elite who was imprisoned for three years for criticizing the military rule. Obasanjo's commitment to democracy, his anticorruption drives, and his desire to recover billions allegedly stolen by the family and cronies of Abacha initially gained him high praise from the populace as well as the international community. But within two years, the hope of reform seemed doomed as economic mismanagement and rampant corruption persisted. Obasanjo's priorities in 2001 were symbolized by his plans to build a $330–million national soccer stadium, an extravagance that exceeded the combined budget for both health and education. In April 2003, he was reelected.</p> <p>Nigeria's stability has been repeatedly threatened by fighting between fundamentalist Muslims and Christians over the spread of Islamic law (sharia) across the heavily Muslim north. One-third of Nigeria's 36 states is ruled by sharia law. More than 10,000 people have died in religious clashes since military rule ended in 1999.</p> <p>In 2003, after religious and political leaders in the Kano region banned polio immunization—contending that it sterilized girls and spread HIV—an outbreak of polio spread through Nigeria, entering neighboring countries the following year. The Kano region lifted its ten-month ban against vaccination in July 2004. On Aug. 24, there were 602 polio cases worldwide, 79% of which were in Nigeria.</p> <p>Since 2004, an insurgency has broken out in the Niger delta, Nigeria's oil-producing region. The desperately impoverished local residents of the delta have seen little benefit from Nigeria's vast oil riches, and rebel groups are fighting for a more equal distribution of the wealth as well as greater regional autonomy. Violence by rebel groups has disrupted oil production and reduced output by about 20%. Nigeria is one of the world's largest oil producers and supplies the U.S. with one-fifth of its oil.</p> <p>In Aug. 2006 Nigeria handed over the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon, in compliance with a 2002 World Court ruling.</p> <p>April 2007 national elections—the country’s first transition from one democratically elected president to another—were marred by widespread allegations of fraud, ballot stuffing, violence, and chaos. Just days before the election, the Supreme Court ruled that the election commission’s decision to remove Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a leading candidate and a bitter rival of President Olusegun Obsanjo, from the ballot was illegal. Ballots were reprinted, but they only showed party symbols rather than the names of candidates. Umaru Yar’Adua, the candidate of the governing party, won the election in a landslide, taking more than 24.6 million votes. Second-place candidate Muhammadu Buhari tallied only about 6 million votes. International observers called the vote flawed an illegitimate. The chief observer for the European Union said the results “cannot be considered to have been credible.” Many expected a prolonged legal battle to determine the next step in the process.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-40441755284294500132008-02-25T11:18:00.001-08:002008-02-25T11:18:23.583-08:00The Netherlands<h1 class="level3" id="A0107824">Netherlands</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Netherlands" id="A0202987" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/netherla.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Koninkrijk der Nederlanden</p><p class="other-leader"><b>Sovereign:</b> Queen Beatrix (1980)</p><p class="prime-mininster"><b>Prime Minister:</b> Jan Peter Balkenende (2002)</p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/netherlands.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 13,104 sq mi (33,939 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 16,033 sq mi (41,526 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 16,570,613 (growth rate: 0.5%); birth rate: 10.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 4.9/1000; life expectancy: 79.1; density per sq mi: 1,265</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Amsterdam (official), 737,900; The Hague (administrative capital), 465,900</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large cities:</b> Rotterdam, 600,700; Utrecht, 263,900; Eindhoven, 206,900</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Euro (formerly guilder)</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> Dutch, Frisian (both official)</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> Dutch 83%, other 17% (9% of non-Western origin, mainly Turks, Moroccans, Antilleans, Surinamese, and Indonesians) (1999 est.)</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Roman Catholic 31%, Dutch Reformed 13%, Calvinist 7%, Islam 6%, none 41% (2002)</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 99% (2000 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $501.6 billion; per capita $30,600. <b>Real growth rate:</b> 0.7%. <b>Inflation:</b> 1.7%. <b>Unemployment:</b> 6.5%. <b>Arable land: </b>22%. <b>Agriculture:</b> grains, potatoes, sugar beets, fruits, vegetables; livestock. <b>Labor force:</b> 7.53 million; agriculture 2%, industry 19%, services 79% (2004 est.). <b>Industries: </b>agroindustries, metal and engineering products, electrical machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum, construction, microelectronics, fishing. <b>Natural resources:</b> natural gas, petroleum, arable land. <b>Exports: </b>$365.1 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels; foodstuffs. <b>Imports:</b> $326.6 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, fuels, foodstuffs, clothing. <b>Major trading partners:</b> Germany, Belgium, UK, France, Italy, U.S., China (2004). </p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 9,132,400 (1999); mobile cellular: 4,081,891 (April 1999). <b>Radio broadcast stations:</b> AM 4, FM 58, shortwave 3 (1998). <b>Radios:</b> 15.3 million (1996). <b>Television broadcast stations:</b> 21 (plus 26 repeaters) (1995). <b>Televisions:</b> 8.1 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs):</b> 52 (2000). <b>Internet users:</b> 9.73 million (2002).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways: </b> total: 2,808 km (2002). <b>Highways:</b> total: 116,500 km; paved: 104,850 km (including 2,235 km of expressways); unpaved: 11,650 km (1999). <b>Waterways: </b>5,046 km, of which 47% is usable by craft of 1,000 metric ton capacity or larger. <b>Ports and harbors:</b> Amsterdam, Delfzijl, Dordrecht, Eemshaven, Groningen, Haarlem, Ijmuiden, Maastricht, Rotterdam, Terneuzen, Utrecht, Vlissingen. <b>Airports:</b> 28 (2002).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes:</b> none.</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p><p class="tocentry"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107828.html">Netherlands Autonomous Countries</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table><br /><h1 class="level3" id="A0107825">Geography</h1> <p>The Netherlands, on the coast of the North Sea, is twice the size of New Jersey. Part of the great plain of north and west Europe, the Netherlands has maximum dimensions of 190 by 160 mi (360 by 257 km) and is low and flat except in Limburg in the southeast, where some hills rise up to 322 m (1056 ft). About half the country's area is below sea level, making the famous Dutch dikes a requisite for the use of much of the land. Reclamation of land from the sea through dikes has continued through recent times. All drainage reaches the North Sea, and the principal rivers—Rhine, Maas (Meuse), and Schelde—have their sources outside the country.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107826">Government</h1> <p>Constitutional monarchy.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107827">History</h1> <p>Julius Caesar found the low-lying Netherlands inhabited by Germanic tribes—the Nervii, Frisii, and Batavi. The Batavi on the Roman frontier did not submit to Rome's rule until 13 <span class="small">B.C.</span>, and then only as allies.</p> <p>The Franks controlled the region from the 4th to the 8th century, and it became part of Charlemagne's empire in the 8th and 9th centuries. The area later passed into the hands of Burgundy and the Austrian Hapsburgs and finally in the 16th century came under Spanish rule.</p> <p>When Philip II of Spain suppressed political liberties and the growing Protestant movement in the Netherlands, a revolt led by William of Orange broke out in 1568. Under the Union of Utrecht (1579), the seven northern provinces became the United Provinces of the Netherlands. War between the United Provinces and Spain continued into the 17th century but in 1648 Spain finally recognized Dutch independence.</p> <p>The Dutch East India Company was established in 1602, and by the end of the 17th century Holland was one of the great sea and colonial powers of Europe.</p> <p>The nation's independence was not completely established until after the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), when the country's rise as a commercial and maritime power began. In 1688, the English parliament invited William of Orange, stadtholder, and his wife, Mary Stuart, to rule England as William III and Mary II. William then used the combined resources of England and the Netherlands to wage war on Louis XIV's France. In 1814, all the provinces of Holland and Belgium were merged into one kingdom, but in 1830 the southern provinces broke away to form the kingdom of Belgium. A liberal constitution was adopted by the Netherlands in 1848. The country remained neutral during World War I.</p> <p>In spite of its neutrality in World War I, the Netherlands was invaded by the Nazis in May 1940, and the Dutch East Indies were later taken by the Japanese. The nation was liberated in May 1945. In 1948, after a reign of 50 years, Queen Wilhelmina abdicated and was succeeded by her daughter Juliana.</p> <p>In 1949, after a four-year war, the Netherlands granted independence to the Dutch East Indies, which became the Republic of Indonesia. The Netherlands also joined NATO that year. The Netherlands joined the European Economic Community (later, the EU) in 1958. In 1999, it adopted the single European currency, the euro.</p> <p>In 1963, it turned over the western half of New Guinea to Indonesia, ending 300 years of Dutch presence in Asia. Attainment of independence by Suriname on Nov. 25, 1975, left the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba as the country's only overseas territories.</p> <p>The Netherlands has extremely liberal social policies: prostitution is legal, and it became the first nation in the world to legalize same-sex marriage (2000) and euthanasia (2002).</p> <p>Wim Kok's government resigned in April 2002 after a report concluded that Dutch UN troops failed to prevent a massacre of Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serbs in a UN safe haven near Srebrenica in 1995. Explaining his action, the popular prime minister said, “The international community is big and anonymous. We are taking the consequences of the international community's failure in Srebrenica.”</p> <p>The country's normally bland political scene was further rocked with the May 2002 assassination of Pim Fortuyn, a right-wing anti-immigrant politician. Days later, his party, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, placed second in national elections, behind Jan Peter Balkenende's Christian Democrats. Leading the country into a marked shift to the right, Balkenende formed a three-way center-right coalition government with his Christian Democrats, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. Balkenende became prime minister in July 2002.</p> <p>In 2005, just days after French voters rejected the EU constitution in a referendum, the Netherlands followed suit.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-7878059011427900712008-02-25T11:17:00.003-08:002008-02-25T11:17:52.711-08:00Mexico<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0107779">Mexico</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Mexico" id="A0202984" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/mexico.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>Official name:</b> Estados Unidos Mexicanos</p><p class="president"><b>President:</b> Felipe Calderón (2006)</p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/mexico.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 742,485 sq mi (1,923,039 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 761,602 sq mi (1,972,550 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 108,700,891 (growth rate: 1.2%); birth rate: 20.4/1000; infant mortality rate: 20.4/1000; life expectancy: 75.6; density per sq mi: 146</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Mexico City, 19,013,000 (metro. area), 8,591,309 (city proper)</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large cities:</b> Ecatepec, 1,731,900 (part of Mexico City metro. area); Guadalajara, 1,665,800; Puebla, 1,345,500; Nezahualcóyotl, 1,250,700 (part of Mexico City metro. area); Monterrey, 1,135,000</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Mexican peso</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%, Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%, white 9%, other 1%</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 6%, other 5%</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 92% (2003 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $1.068 trillion; per capita $10,100.<b> Real growth rate: </b> 3%. <b>Inflation:</b> 3.3%. <b>Unemployment: </b>3.6% plus underemployment of perhaps 25%. <b>Arable land: </b>13%. <b>Agriculture: </b>corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, beans, cotton, coffee, fruit, tomatoes; beef, poultry, dairy products; wood products. <b>Labor force:</b> 43.4 million; agriculture 18%, industry 24%, services 58% (2003). <b>Industries:</b> food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals, iron and steel, petroleum, mining, textiles, clothing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, tourism. <b>Natural resources:</b> petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber. <b>Exports:</b> $213.7 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): manufactured goods, oil and oil products, silver, fruits, vegetables, coffee, cotton. <b>Imports:</b> $223.7 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): metalworking machines, steel mill products, agricultural machinery, electrical equipment, car parts for assembly, repair parts for motor vehicles, aircraft, and aircraft parts. <b>Major trading partners: </b>U.S., Canada, Spain, China, Japan (2004). </p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 12.332 million (2000); mobile cellular: 2.02 million (1998). <b>Radio broadcast stations: </b>AM 851, FM 598, shortwave 16 (2000). <b>Radios:</b> 31 million (1997). <b>Television broadcast stations: </b>236 (plus repeaters) (1997). <b>Televisions: </b>25.6 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs): </b>51 (2000). <b>Internet users:</b> 3.5 million (2002).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways: </b> total: 19,510 km (2002). <b>Highways:</b> total: 329,532 km; paved: 108,087 km (including 6,429 km of expressways); unpaved: 221,445 km (1999 est.). <b>Waterways: </b>2,900 km navigable rivers and coastal canals. <b>Ports and harbors: </b>Acapulco, Altamira, Coatzacoalcos, Ensenada, Guaymas, La Paz, Lazaro Cardenas, Manzanillo, Mazatlan, Progreso, Salina Cruz, Tampico, Topolobampo, Tuxpan, Veracruz. <b>Airports: </b>1,823 (2002).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes: </b>prolonged regional drought in the border region with the U.S. has strained water-sharing arrangements.</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table><br /><h1 class="level3" id="A0107780">Geography</h1> <p>Mexico is bordered by the United States to the north and Belize and Guatemala to the southeast. Mexico is about one-fifth the size of the United States. Baja California in the west is an 800-mile (1,287-km) peninsula and forms the Gulf of California. In the east are the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Campeche, which is formed by Mexico's other peninsula, the Yucatán. The center of Mexico is a great, high plateau, open to the north, with mountain chains on the east and west and with ocean-front lowlands lying outside them.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107781">Government</h1> <p>Federal republic.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107782">History</h1> <p>At least three great civilizations—the Mayas, the Olmecs, and later the Toltecs—preceded the wealthy Aztec empire, conquered in 1519–1521 by the Spanish under Hernando Cortés. Spain ruled Mexico as part of the viceroyalty of New Spain for the next 300 years until Sept. 16, 1810, when the Mexicans first revolted. They won independence in 1821.</p> <p>From 1821 to 1877, there were two emperors, several dictators, and enough presidents and provisional executives to make a new government on the average of every nine months. Mexico lost Texas (1836), and after defeat in the war with the U.S. (1846–1848), it lost the area that is now California, Nevada, and Utah, most of Arizona and New Mexico, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In 1855, the Indian patriot Benito Juárez began a series of reforms, including the disestablishment of the Catholic Church, which owned vast property. The subsequent civil war was interrupted by the French invasion of Mexico (1861) and the crowning of Maximilian of Austria as emperor (1864). He was overthrown and executed by forces under Juárez, who again became president in 1867.</p> <p>The years after the fall of the dictator Porfirio Diaz (1877–1880 and 1884–1911) were marked by bloody political-military strife and trouble with the U.S., culminating in the punitive U.S. expedition into northern Mexico (1916–1917) in unsuccessful pursuit of the revolutionary Pancho Villa. Since a brief civil war in 1920, Mexico has enjoyed a period of gradual agricultural, political, and social reforms. The Partido Nacional Revolucionario (PNR; National Revolutionary Party), dominated by revolutionary and reformist politicians from northern Mexico, was established in 1929; it continued to control Mexico throughout the 20th century and was renamed the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI; Institutional Revolutionary Party) in 1946. Relations with the U.S. were disturbed in 1938 when all foreign oil wells were expropriated, but a compensation agreement was reached in 1941.</p> <p>Following World War II, the government emphasized economic growth. During the mid-1970s, under the leadership of President José López Portillo, Mexico became a major petroleum producer. By the end of Portillo's term, however, Mexico had accumulated a huge external debt because of the government's unrestrained borrowing on the strength of its petroleum revenues. The collapse of oil prices in 1986 cut Mexico's export earnings. In Jan. 1994, Mexico joined Canada and the United States in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which will phase out all tariffs over a 15-year period, and in Jan. 1996, it became a founding member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).</p> <p>In 1995, the U.S. agreed to prevent the collapse of Mexico's private banks. In return, the U.S. won virtual veto power over much of Mexico's economic policy. In 1997, in what observers called the freest elections in Mexico's history, the PRI lost control of the lower legislative house and the mayoralty of Mexico City in a stunning upset. To increase democracy, President Ernesto Zedillo said in 1999 that he would break precedent and not personally choose the next PRI presidential nominee. Several months later, Mexico held its first presidential primary, which was won by former interior secretary Francisco Labastida, Zedillo's closest ally among the candidates.</p> <p>In elections held on July 2, 2000, the PRI lost the presidency, ending 71 years of one-party rule. The new president, Vicente Fox Quesada of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), vowed tax reform, an overhaul of the legal system, and a reduction in power of the central government. By 2002, however, Fox had made little headway on his ambitious reform agenda. Disfavor with Fox was evident in 2003 parliamentary elections, when the PRI rebounded.</p> <p>In 2004, a two-year investigation into the “dirty war,” which Mexico's authoritarian government waged against its opponents in the 1960s and 1970s, led to an indictment—later dropped—against former president Luis Echeverria for ordering the 1971 shooting of student protesters.</p> <p>In 2005, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the enormously popular mayor of Mexico City, emerged as a presidential candidate for the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution. López Obrador seemed likely to defeat the party of the deeply unpopular incumbent, Vicente Fox. But in Oct. 2005, Felipe Calderón unexpectedly became the candidate of Fox's National Action Party (PAN), defeating Fox's chosen successor. By spring 2006, Felipe Calderón had caught up to López Obrador in opinion polls. In the July election, Calderón won 35.9% of the vote, a razor-thin margin over López Obrador, who received 35.3%. López Obrador appealed the election, but on Aug. 28 Mexico's top electoral court rejected López Obrador's allegations of fraud. His supporters held massive protest rallies before and after the verdict. Calderón was sworn in on Dec. 1.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-20313809573332060742008-02-25T11:17:00.001-08:002008-02-25T11:17:23.242-08:00South Korea<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0107690">Korea, South</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of South Korea" id="A0202974" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/skorea.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Taehan Min'guk</p><p class="president"><b>President:</b> Roh Moo Hyun (2003)</p><p class="prime-mininster"><b>Prime Minister:</b> Han Duck Soo (2006) </p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/korea-south.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 37,911 sq mi (98,189 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 49,044,790 (growth rate: 0.4%); birth rate: 9.9/1000; infant mortality rate: 6.1/1000; life expectancy: 77.2; density per sq mi: 1,294</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Seoul, 10,287,847 (city proper)</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large cities:</b> Pusan, 3,504,900; Inchon, 2,479,600 (part of Seoul metro. area); Taegu, 2,369,800</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Won</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> Korean, English widely taught</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> homogeneous (except for about 20,000 Chinese)</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> no affiliation 46%, Christian 26%, Buddhist 26%, Confucianist 1%, other 1%</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 98% (2003 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $965.3 billion; per capita $20,400. <b>Real growth rate: </b>3.9%. <b>Inflation: </b>2.6%. <b>Unemployment: </b>3.7%. <b>Arable land: </b>17%. <b>Agriculture:</b> rice, root crops, barley, vegetables, fruit; cattle, pigs, chickens, milk, eggs; fish. <b>Labor force:</b> 23.53 million; agriculture 6.4%, industry 26.4%, services 67.2%. <b>Industries:</b> electronics, telecommunications, automobile production, chemicals, shipbuilding, steel. <b>Natural resources:</b> coal, tungsten, graphite, molybdenum, lead, hydropower potential. <b>Exports:</b> $288.2 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): semiconductors, wireless telecommunications equipment, motor vehicles, computers, steel, ships, petrochemicals.<b> Imports: </b>$256 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery, electronics and electronic equipment, oil, steel, transport equipment, organic chemicals, plastics. <b>Major trading partners: </b>China, U.S., Japan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia (2004).</p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 24 million (2000); mobile cellular: 28 million (Sept. 2000). <b>Radio broadcast stations:</b> AM 104, FM 136, shortwave 5 (2001). <b>Radios:</b> 47.5 million (2000). <b>Television broadcast stations:</b> 121 (plus 850 repeater stations and the eight-channel American Forces Korea Network) (1999). <b>Televisions:</b> 15.9 million (1997). <b>Internet Service Providers (ISPs):</b> 11 (2000). <b>Internet users:</b> 25.6 million (2002).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 3,125 km (2002). <b>Highways:</b> total: 86,990 km; paved: 64,808 km (including 1,996 km of expressways); unpaved: 22,182 km (1999 est). <b>Waterways:</b> 1,609 km; use restricted to small native craft. <b>Ports and harbors:</b> Chinhae, Inch'on, Kunsan, Masan, Mokp'o, P'ohang, Pusan, Tonghae-hang, Ulsan, Yosu. <b>Airports:</b> 102 (2002).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes:</b> Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953; Liancourt Rocks (Take-shima/Tok-do) are disputed with Japan.</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="graphseg centered" border="0" width="250"> <tbody><tr> <td id="A0202910"> <br /> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107691">Geography</h1> <p>Slightly larger than Indiana, South Korea lies below the 38th parallel on the Korean peninsula. It is mountainous in the east; in the west and south are many harbors on the mainland and offshore islands.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107692">Government</h1> <p>Republic.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107693">History</h1> <p>South Korea came into being after World War II, the result of a 1945 agreement reached by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference, making the 38th parallel the boundary between a northern zone of the Korean peninsula to be occupied by the USSR and southern zone to be controlled by U.S. forces. (For details, <i>see</i> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0107686">Korea, North.</a>)</p> <p>Elections were held in the U.S. zone in 1948 for a national assembly, which adopted a republican constitution and elected Syngman Rhee as the nation's president. The new republic was proclaimed on Aug. 15 and was recognized as the legal government of Korea by the UN on Dec. 12, 1948.</p> <p>On June 25, 1950, North Korean Communist forces launched a massive surprise attack on South Korea, quickly overrunning the capital, Seoul. U.S. armed intervention was ordered on June 27 by President Harry S. Truman, and on the same day the UN invoked military sanctions against North Korea. Gen. Douglas MacArthur was named commander of the UN forces. U.S. and South Korean troops fought a heroic holding action, but by the first week of August they were forced back to a 4,000-square-mile beachhead in southeast Korea. There they stood off superior North Korean forces until Sept. 15, when a major UN amphibious assault was launched deep behind Communist lines at Inchon, the port of Seoul.</p> <p>By Sept. 30, UN forces were in complete control of South Korea. They then crossed the 38th parallel and pursued retreating Communist forces into North Korea. In late October, as UN forces neared the Sino-Korean border, several hundred thousand Chinese Communist troops entered the conflict, pushing MacArthur's forces back to the border between North and South Korea. By the time truce talks began on July 10, 1951, UN forces had crossed over the parallel again and were driving back into North Korea. Cease-fire negotiations dragged on for two years before an armistice was finally signed at Panmunjom on July 27, 1953, leaving a devastated Korea in need of large-scale rehabilitation. No official peace treaty has ever been signed between the former combatants.</p> <p>President Syngman Rhee, after 12 years in office, was forced to resign in 1960 amid rising discontent with his autocratic leadership. Po Sun Yun was elected to succeed him, but political instability continued. In 1961, Gen. Park Chung Hee seized power and subsequently began a program of economic reforms designed to stimulate the nation's economy. The U.S. stepped up military aid, strengthening South Korea's armed forces to 600,000 men. Park's assassination on Oct. 26, 1979, by Kim Jae Kyu, head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, brought a liberalizing trend as new president Choi Kyu Hah freed imprisoned dissidents.</p> <p>The release of opposition leader Kim Dae Jung in Feb. 1980 sparked antigovernment demonstrations that turned into riots, which were brutally suppressed by authorities. Kim, the most visible leader of the opposition, was imprisoned again. Choi resigned on Aug. 16. Chun Doo Hwan, head of a military Special Committee for National Security Measures, was the sole candidate when the electoral college confirmed him as president on Aug. 27. In 1986–1987, South Korea's opposition demanded that the president be selected by direct popular vote. After weeks of protest and rioting, Chun agreed to the demand. A split in the opposition led to Roh Tae Woo's election on Dec. 16, 1987.</p> <p>In Aug. 1996 Roh was convicted on bribery charges, and Chun was convicted for bribery as well as his role in the 1979 coup and the 1980 crackdown on rioters. In 1997, an accumulation of corrupt business practices and bad loans led to a series of bankruptcies and a massive devaluation of South Korea's currency. The political instability that followed helped former dissident Kim Dae Jung become the first South Korean president ever to be elected from the political opposition.</p> <p>In 1998 the Asian economic crisis bottomed out in South Korea. The nation began rebounding in 1999, the only sizable Asian economy to do so.</p> <p>In June 2000, President Kim Dae Jung met with North Korea's president, Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang. The summit marked the first-ever meeting of the countries' leaders. Kim Dae Jung won the Nobel Peace Prize in Oct. 2000 for his Sunshine Policy, which included initiating peace and reconciliation with North Korea.</p> <p>Roh Moo Hyun of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party became president in February 2003 and promptly faced daunting problems. His vow to pursue his predecessor's Sunshine Policy toward North Korea was put to the test as the North continued to taunt the world with boasts about its nuclear capabilities. In addition, many South Koreans had begun to resent U.S. influence over their country. In March 2004, the conservative national assembly voted overwhelmingly to impeach Roh, claiming he had violated election laws. More than 70% of the public, however, condemned the move; the constitutional court dismissed the impeachment in May; and Roh was reinstated as president.</p> <p>Researchers led by Hwang Woo-suk stunned the world in May 2005, when they announced they had devised a new procedure to produce human stem-cell lines from a cloned human embryo. The country's reign as the leader in the field of cloning was brief. In Jan. 2006, a Seoul National University panel reported that Hwang had fabricated evidence for his cloning research. His downfall was a blow to the entire nation. Indeed, he had become a national hero and had received millions in research money from the government.</p> <p>Prime Minister Lee Hae Chan resigned under pressure in March 2006, after facing intense criticism for playing golf rather than dealing with a national railway workers' strike. He was replaced by Han Duck Soo.</p> <p>For the first time in 56 years, trains passed between North and South Korea in May 2007. While the event was mostly symbolic, it was considered an important step toward reconciliation. South Korea hopes that eventually a trans-Korean railroad will provide easier access to other parts of Asia. Given North Korea's failing infrastructure, such a railroad, however, is years away from becoming a reality.</p> <p>In July, the Taliban kidnapped 23 South Korean missionaries from a Protestant church group while they were traveling by bus in Afghanistan. Two of the hostages were killed after the Taliban's demands for a prisoner exchange were not met with a positive response by the Afghan government.</p> <p>In October 2007, President Roh Moo Hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il met for their second ever inter-Korean summit. The leaders forged a deal to work together on several economic projects and agreed to move toward signing a treaty that would formally end the Korean War.</p> <p>Lee Myung-bak, of the opposition Grand National Party, won December's presidential elections, taking 48.7% of the vote. Chung Dong-yong, who was endorsed by outgoing president Roh Moo-hyun, took 26.1%. Lee has been dogged by allegations of ethical improprieties, and the National Assembly voted two days before the election to reopen an investigation into whether he manipulated the stock of an investment company. In January 2008, he named Han Seung Soo as his prime minister.</p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-60684395500610432882008-02-25T11:16:00.003-08:002008-02-25T11:16:51.277-08:00Japan<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0107666">Japan</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Japan" id="A0202972" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/japan.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Nippon</p> <p class="other-leader"><b>Emperor:</b> Akihito (1989)</p> <p class="prime-mininster"><b>Prime Minister:</b> Yasuo Fukuda (2007)</p> <p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/japan.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p> <p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 152,411 sq mi (394,744 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 145,882 sq mi (377,835 sq km)</p> <p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 127,467,972 (growth rate: 0.0%); birth rate: 9.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 3.2/1000; life expectancy: 81.4; density per sq mi: 836</p> <p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Tokyo, 35,327,000 (metro. area), 8,483,050 (city proper)</p> <p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large cities:</b> Yokohama, 3,494,900 (part of Tokyo metro. area); Osaka, 11,286,000 (metro. area), 2,597,000 (city proper); Nagoya, 2,189,700; Sapporo, 1,848,000; Kobe, 1,529,900 (part of Osaka metro. area); Kyoto, 1,470,600 (part of Osaka metro. area); Fukuoka, 1,368,900; Kawasaki, 1,276,200 (part of Tokyo metro. area); Hiroshima, 1,132,700</p> <p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Yen</p> <p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Language:</b> </a> Japanese</p> <p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> Japanese 99%; Korean, Chinese, Brazillian, Filipino, other 1% (2004)</p> <p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Shintoist and Buddhist 84%, other 16% (including Christian 0.7%)</p> <p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 99% (1995 est.)</p> <p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $3.914 trillion; per capita $30,700. <b>Real growth rate:</b> 2.4%. <b>Inflation:</b> –0.2%. <b>Unemployment:</b> 4.3%. <b>Arable land:</b> 12%. <b>Agriculture:</b> rice, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit; pork, poultry, dairy products, eggs; fish. <b>Labor force: </b>66.4 million; agriculture 4.6%, industry 27.8%, services 67.7% (2004). <b>Industries: </b>among world's largest and technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronic equipment, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemicals, textiles, processed foods. <b>Natural resources:</b> negligible mineral resources, fish. <b>Exports:</b> $550.5 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): transport equipment, motor vehicles, semiconductors, electrical machinery, chemicals. <b>Imports:</b> $451.1 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, fuels, foodstuffs, chemicals, textiles, raw materials (2001). <b>Major trading partners:</b> U.S., China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, Saudi Arabia, UAE (2004).</p> <p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 71.149 million (2002); mobile cellular: 86,658,600 (2003). <b>Radio broadcast stations:</b> AM 215 plus 370 repeaters, FM 89 plus 485 repeaters, shortwave 21 (2001). <b>Television broadcast stations:</b> 211 plus 7,341 repeaters; note: in addition, U.S. Forces are served by 3 TV stations and 2 TV cable services (1999). <b>Internet hosts:</b> 12,962,065 (2003). <b>Internet users:</b> 57.2 million (2002).</p> <p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 23,577 km (16,519 km electrified) (2004). <b>Highways:</b> total: 1,171,647 km; paved: 903,340 km (including 6,851 km of expressways); unpaved: 268,307 km (2001). <b>Waterways:</b> 1,770 km (seagoing vessels use inland seas) (2004). <b>Ports and harbors:</b> Chiba, Kawasaki, Kiire, Kisarazu, Kobe, Mizushima, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, Yohohama. <b>Airports:</b> 174 (2004 est.).</p> <p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes: </b>the sovereignty dispute over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, and Shikotan, and the Habomai group, known in Japan as the "Northern Territories" and in Russia as the "Southern Kuril Islands", occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia and claimed by Japan, remains the primary sticking point to signing a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities; Japan and South Korea claim Liancourt Rocks (Take-shima/Tok-do), occupied by South Korea since 1954; China and Taiwan dispute both Japan's claims to the uninhabited islands of the Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea, the site of intensive hydrocarbon prospecting.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p> <p class="tocentry"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0855080.html">Recent Rulers of Japan</a> </p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="graphseg centered" border="0" width="250"> <tbody><tr> <td id="A0202878"> <br /> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107667">Geography</h1> <p>An archipelago in the Pacific, Japan is separated from the east coast of Asia by the Sea of Japan. It is approximately the size of Montana. Japan's four main islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. The Ryukyu chain to the southwest was U.S.-occupied from 1945 to 1972, when it reverted to Japanese control, and the Kurils to the northeast are Russian-occupied.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107668">Government</h1> <p>Constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107669">History</h1> <p>Legend attributes the creation of Japan to the sun goddess, from whom the emperors were descended. The first of them was Jimmu, supposed to have ascended the throne in 660 <span class="small">B.C.</span>, a tradition that constituted official doctrine until 1945.</p> <p>Recorded Japanese history begins in approximately <span class="small">A.D.</span> 400, when the Yamato clan, eventually based in Kyoto, managed to gain control of other family groups in central and western Japan. Contact with Korea introduced Buddhism to Japan at about this time. Through the 700s Japan was much influenced by China, and the Yamato clan set up an imperial court similar to that of China. In the ensuing centuries, the authority of the imperial court was undermined as powerful gentry families vied for control.</p> <p>At the same time, warrior clans were rising to prominence as a distinct class known as samurai. In 1192, the Minamoto clan set up a military government under their leader, Yoritomo. He was designated shogun (military dictator). For the following 700 years, shoguns from a succession of clans ruled in Japan, while the imperial court existed in relative obscurity.</p> <p>First contact with the West came in about 1542, when a Portuguese ship off course arrived in Japanese waters. Portuguese traders, Jesuit missionaries, and Spanish, Dutch, and English traders followed. Suspicious of Christianity and of Portuguese support of a local Japanese revolt, the shoguns of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867) prohibited all trade with foreign countries; only a Dutch trading post at Nagasaki was permitted. Western attempts to renew trading relations failed until 1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry sailed an American fleet into Tokyo Bay. Trade with the West was forced upon Japan under terms less than favorable to the Japanese. Strife caused by these actions brought down the feudal world of the shoguns. In 1868, the emperor Meiji came to the throne, and the shogun system was abolished.</p> <p>Japan quickly made the transition from a medieval to a modern power. An imperial army was established with conscription, and parliamentary government was formed in 1889. The Japanese began to take steps to extend their empire. After a brief war with China in 1894–1895, Japan acquired Formosa (Taiwan), the Pescadores Islands, and part of southern Manchuria. China also recognized the independence of Korea (Chosen), which Japan later annexed (1910).</p> <p>In 1904–1905, Japan defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, gaining the territory of southern Sakhalin (Karafuto) and Russia's port and rail rights in Manchuria. In World War I, Japan seized Germany's Pacific islands and leased areas in China. The Treaty of Versailles then awarded Japan a mandate over the islands.</p> <p>At the Washington Conference of 1921–1922, Japan agreed to respect Chinese national integrity, but, in 1931, it invaded Manchuria. The following year, Japan set up this area as a puppet state, “Manchukuo,” under Emperor Henry Pu-Yi, the last of China's Manchu dynasty. On Nov. 25, 1936, Japan joined the Axis. The invasion of China came the next year, followed by the Pearl Harbor attack on the U.S. on Dec. 7, 1941. Japan won its first military engagements during the war, extending its power over a vast area of the Pacific. Yet, after 1942, the Japanese were forced to retreat, island by island, to their own country. The dropping of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 by the United States finally brought the government to admit defeat. Japan surrendered formally on Sept. 2, 1945, aboard the battleship <i>Missouri</i> in Tokyo Bay. Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands reverted to the USSR, and Formosa (Taiwan) and Manchuria to China. The Pacific islands remained under U.S. occupation.</p> <p>Gen. Douglas MacArthur was appointed supreme commander of the U.S. occupation of postwar Japan (1945–1952). In 1947, a new constitution took effect. The emperor became largely a symbolic head of state. The U.S. and Japan signed a security treaty in 1951, allowing for U.S. troops to be stationed in Japan. In 1952, Japan regained full sovereignty, and, in 1972, the U.S. returned to Japan the Ryuku Islands, including Okinawa.</p> <p>Japan's postwar economic recovery was nothing short of remarkable. New technologies and manufacturing were undertaken with great success. A shrewd trade policy gave Japan larger shares in many Western markets, an imbalance that caused some tensions with the U.S. The close involvement of Japanese government in the country's banking and industry produced accusations of protectionism. Yet economic growth continued through the 1970s and 1980s, eventually making Japan the world's second-largest economy (after the U.S.).</p> <p>During the 1990s, Japan suffered an economic downturn prompted by scandals involving government officials, bankers, and leaders of industry. Japan succumbed to the Asian economic crisis in 1998, experiencing its worst recession since World War II. These setbacks led to the resignation of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto in July 1998. He was replaced by Keizo Obuchi. In 1999, Japan seemed to make slight progress in an economic recovery. Prime Minister Obuchi died of a stroke in May 2000 and was succeeded by Yoshiro Mori, whose administration was dogged by scandal and blunders from the outset.</p> <p>Despite attempts to revive the economy, fears that Japan would slide back into recession increased in early 2001. The embattled Mori resigned in April 2001 and was replaced by Liberal Democrat Junichiro Koizumi—the country's 11th prime minister in 13 years. Koizumi enjoyed fleeting popularity; after two years in office the economy remained in a slump and his attempts at reform were thwarted.</p> <p>At an unprecedented summit meeting in North Korea in Sept. 2002, President Kim Jong Il apologized to Koizumi for North Korea's kidnapping of Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s, and Koizumi pledged a generous aid package—both significant steps toward normalizing relations.</p> <p>Koizumi was overwhelmingly reelected in Sept. 2003 and promised to push ahead with tough economic reforms.</p> <p>In April 2005, China protested the publication of Japanese textbooks that whitewashed the atrocities committed by Japan during World War II. Prime Minister Koizumi apologized for Japan's abuses, admitting that “Japan, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering.”</p> <p>In Aug. 2005, Koizumi called for early elections, when the upper house of parliament rejected his proposal to privatize the postal service—a reform he has long advocated. In addition to delivering mail, Japan's postal service also functions as a savings bank and has about $3 trillion in assets. Koizumi won a landslide victory in September, with his Liberal Democrat Party securing its biggest majority since 1986.</p> <p>Princesss Kiko gave birth to a boy in September. The child's birth spares Japan a controversial debate over whether women should be allowed to ascend to the throne. The child is third in line to become emperor, behind Crown Prince Naruhito, who has one daughter, and the baby's father, Prince Akishino, who has two daughters.</p> <p>In September, a week after becoming leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Shinzo Abe succeeded Junichiro Koizumi as prime minister. He promptly assembled a conservative cabinet and said he hoped to increase Japan's influence on global issues. Early into his term, Abe focused on nationalist issues, giving the military a more prominent role and paving the way to amend the country's pacifist constitution. He suffered a stunning blow in July 2007 parliamentary elections, however, when his Liberal Democratic Party lost control of the upper house to the opposition Democratic Party.</p> <p>Abe faced international criticism in early 2007 for refusing to acknowledge the military role in forcing as many as 200,000 Japanese women, known as comfort women, to provide sex to soldiers during World War II. In March, Abe did apologize to the women, but maintained his denial that the military was involved. "I express my sympathy for the hardships they suffered and offer my apology for the situation they found themselves in," he said.</p> <p>A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck in northwest Japan in July 2007, killing 10 people and injuring more than 900. The tremor caused skyscrapers in Tokyo to sway for almost a minute, buckled roads and bridges, and damaged a nuclear power plant. About 315 gallons of radioactive water leaked into the Sea of Japan.</p> <p>Prime Minister Abe abruptly announced his resignation in September just days into the parliamentary session, during which he stated his controversial plan to extend Japan's participation in a U.S.-led naval mission in Afghanistan. The move followed a string of scandals and the stunning defeat of his Liberal Democratic Party in July's parliamentary elections. The Libeal Democratic Party elected Yasuo Fukuda to succeed Abe. Fukuda, a veteran lawmaker, was elected to Parliament in 1990 and held the post as chief cabinet secretary under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. His father, Takeo Fukuda, served as prime minister from 1976 to 1978. </p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-38297089246179357782008-02-25T11:16:00.001-08:002008-02-25T11:16:22.867-08:00Italy<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0107658">Italy</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Italy" id="A0202970" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/italy.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Repubblica Italiana</p><p class="president"><b>President:</b> Giorgio Napolitano (2006)</p><p class="prime-mininster"><b>Prime Minister:</b> vacant</p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/italy.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 113,521 sq mi (294,019 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 116,305 sq mi (301,230 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 58,147,733 (growth rate: 0.0%); birth rate: 8.5/1000; infant mortality rate: 5.7/1000; life expectancy: 79.9; density per sq mi: 512</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Rome, 3,550,900 (metro. area), 2,455,600 (city proper)</p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large cities:</b> Milan, 1,180,700; Naples, 991,700; Turin, 856,000; Palermo, 651,500; Genoa, 602,500; Bologna, 369,300; Florence, 351,600; Bari, 311,900; Catania, 305,900; Venice, 265,700</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Euro (formerly lira)</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> Italian (official); German-, French-, and Slovene-speaking minorities</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian- and Greek-Italians in the south)</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Roman Catholic approx. 90%, Protestant, Jewish, Islamic</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 99% (2003 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $1.651 trillion; per capita $28,400. <b>Real growth rate: </b>0.2%. <b>Inflation:</b> 1.9%. <b>Unemployment: </b>7.9%. <b>Arable land: </b>28%. <b>Agriculture:</b> fruits, vegetables, grapes, potatoes, sugar beets, soybeans, grain, olives; beef, dairy products; fish. <b>Labor force:</b> 24.49 million; services 63%, industry 32%, agriculture 5% (2001). <b>Industries:</b> tourism, machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, motor vehicles, clothing, footwear, ceramics. <b>Natural resources:</b> coal, mercury, zinc, potash, marble, barite, asbestos, pumice, fluorospar, feldspar, pyrite (sulfur), natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, arable land. <b>Exports:</b> $371.9 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): engineering products, textiles and clothing, production machinery, motor vehicles, transport equipment, chemicals; food, beverages and tobacco; minerals, and nonferrous metals.<b> Imports: </b>$369.2 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): engineering products, chemicals, transport equipment, energy products, minerals and nonferrous metals, textiles and clothing; food, beverages, and tobacco. <b>Major trading partners: </b>Germany, France, U.S., Spain, UK, Switzerland, Netherlands, China (2004). </p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 26.596 million (2003); mobile cellular: 55.918 million (2003). <b>Radio broadcast stations:</b> AM about 100, FM about 4,600, shortwave 9 (1998). <b>Television broadcast stations:</b> 358 (plus 4,728 repeaters) (1995). . <b>Internet hosts:</b> 1,437,511 (2004). <b>Internet users:</b> 18.5 million (2003).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 19,319 km (2004). <b> Highways:</b> total: 479,688 km; paved: 479,688 km (including 6,621 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km (1999). <b>Waterways:</b> 2,400 km; note: used for commercial traffic; of limited overall value compared to road and rail (2004). <b>Ports and harbors:</b> Augusta, Genoa, Livorno, Melilli Oil Terminal, Ravenna, Taranto, Trieste, Venice. <b>Airports:</b> 134 (2004 est.).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes:</b> Italy's long coastline and developed economy entices tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from southeastern Europe and northern Africa.</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table class="graphseg centered" border="0" width="250"> <tbody><tr> <td id="A0202876"> <br /> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107659">Geography</h1> <p>Italy, slightly larger than Arizona, is a long peninsula shaped like a boot, surrounded on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea and on the east by the Adriatic. It is bounded by France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia to the north. The Apennine Mountains form the peninsula's backbone; the Alps form its northern boundary. The largest of its many northern lakes is Garda (143 sq mi; 370 sq km); the Po, its principal river, flows from the Alps on Italy's western border and crosses the Lombard plain to the Adriatic Sea. Several islands form part of Italy; the largest are Sicily (9,926 sq mi; 25,708 sq km) and Sardinia (9,301 sq mi; 24,090 sq km).</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107660">Government</h1> <p>Republic.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107661">History</h1> <p>The migrations of Indo-European peoples into Italy probably began about 2000 <span class="small">B.C.</span> and continued down to 1000 <span class="small">B.C.</span> From about the 9th century <span class="small">B.C.</span> until it was overthrown by the Romans in the 3rd century <span class="small">B.C.</span>, the Etruscan civilization dominated the area. By 264 <span class="small">B.C.</span> all Italy south of Cisalpine Gaul was under the leadership of Rome. For the next seven centuries, until the barbarian invasions destroyed the western Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries <span class="small">A.D.</span>, the history of Italy is largely the history of Rome. From 800 on, the Holy Roman Emperors, Roman Catholic popes, Normans, and Saracens all vied for control over various segments of the Italian peninsula. Numerous city-states, such as Venice and Genoa, whose political and commercial rivalries were intense, and many small principalities flourished in the late Middle Ages. Although Italy remained politically fragmented for centuries, it became the cultural center of the Western world from the 13th to the 16th century.</p> <p>In 1713, after the War of the Spanish Succession, Milan, Naples, and Sardinia were handed over to the Hapsburgs of Austria, which lost some of its Italian territories in 1735. After 1800, Italy was unified by Napoléon, who crowned himself king of Italy in 1805; but with the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Austria once again became the dominant power in a disunited Italy. Austrian armies crushed Italian uprisings in 1820–1821 and 1831. In the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini, a brilliant liberal nationalist, organized the Risorgimento (Resurrection), which laid the foundation for Italian unity. Disappointed Italian patriots looked to the House of Savoy for leadership. Count Camille di Cavour (1810–1861), prime minister of Sardinia in 1852 and the architect of a united Italy, joined England and France in the Crimean War (1853–1856), and in 1859 helped France in a war against Austria, thereby obtaining Lombardy. By plebiscite in 1860, Modena, Parma, Tuscany, and the Romagna voted to join Sardinia. In 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi conquered Sicily and Naples and turned them over to Sardinia. Victor Emmanuel II, king of Sardinia, was proclaimed king of Italy in 1861. The annexation of Venetia in 1866 and of papal Rome in 1870 marked the complete unification of peninsular Italy into one nation under a constitutional monarchy.</p> <p>Italy declared its neutrality upon the outbreak of World War I on the grounds that Germany had embarked upon an offensive war. In 1915, Italy entered the war on the side of the Allies but obtained less territory than it expected in the postwar settlement. Benito (“Il Duce”) Mussolini, a former Socialist, organized discontented Italians in 1919 into the Fascist Party to “rescue Italy from Bolshevism.” He led his Black Shirts in a march on Rome and, on Oct. 28, 1922, became prime minister. He transformed Italy into a dictatorship, embarking on an expansionist foreign policy with the invasion and annexation of Ethiopia in 1935 and allying himself with Adolf Hitler in the Rome-Berlin Axis in 1936. When the Allies invaded Italy in 1943, Mussolini's dictatorship collapsed; he was executed by partisans on April 28, 1945, at Dongo on Lake Como. Following the armistice with the Allies (Sept. 3, 1943), Italy joined the war against Germany as a cobelligerent. A June 1946 plebiscite rejected monarchy and a republic was proclaimed. The peace treaty of Sept. 15, 1947, required Italian renunciation of all claims in Ethiopia and Greece and the cession of the Dodecanese islands to Greece and of five small Alpine areas to France. The Trieste area west of the new Yugoslav territory was made a free territory (until 1954, when the city and a 90-square-mile zone were transferred to Italy and the rest to Yugoslavia).</p> <p>Italy became an integral member of NATO and the European Economic Community (later the EU) as it successfully rebuilt its postwar economy. A prolonged outbreak of terrorist activities by the left-wing Red Brigades threatened domestic stability in the 1970s, but by the early 1980s the terrorist groups had been suppressed. “Revolving door” governments, political instability, scandal, and corruption characterized Italian politics in the 1980s and 1990s.</p> <p>Italy adopted the euro as its currency in Jan. 1999. Treasury Secretary Carlo Ciampi, who is credited with the economic reforms that permitted Italy to enter the European Monetary Union, was elected president in May 1999. Italy joined its NATO partners in the Kosovo crisis. Aviano Air Base in northern Italy was a crucial base for launching air strikes into Kosovo and Yugoslavia.</p> <p>In June 2001, Silvio Berlusconi, a conservative billionaire, was sworn in as prime minister. He pledged to reduce unemployment, cut taxes, revamp the educational system, and reform the bureaucracy. His critics were alarmed by the apparent conflict of interest of a prime minister who also owned 90% of Italy's media. He was accused of Mafia connections and was under indictment for tax fraud and bribery. Found guilty in three out of four of his trials, he was acquitted in all of them on appeal. Several other cases are pending.</p> <p>In Nov. 2002, Giulio Andreotti, who served as Italy's prime minister numerous times between 1972 and 1992, was sentenced to 24 years for ordering the Mafia to murder a journalist in 1979. At 84, however, he was deemed too old for prison.</p> <p>At the end of 2003, Italian food giant Parmalat was accused of a massive accounting fraud scheme—$5 billion the company claimed was in fact nonexistent.</p> <p>In April 2005, regional elections had disastrous results for Berlusconi's center-right coalition. The dismal state of the economy was blamed for the poor showing. In parliamentary elections held April 2006, the center-left Union coalition led by Romano Prodi won 49.8% of the vote and Berlusconi's House of Liberties coalition won 49.7%—a mere 25,000 vote difference. Berlusconi refused to concede and called for a recount. He eventually relented, and Prodi was given the go-ahead by the newly installed president Giorgio Napolitano to form a government. Prodi served as prime minister once before (1996–98) and also as president of the European Union. Prodi's government proved fragile almost immediately. Indeed, he submitted his resignation in February 2007, just nine months into his term, after a key foreign-policy vote about the deployment of troops to Afghanistan and an expansion of a U. S. military base failed in the Senate. Days later, the Senate, facing the prospect of Silvio Berlusconi returning to power, narrowly passed a vote of confidence in Prodi's government. Prodi remained in office, surely to face similar obstacles in the near future. And he did. In January 2008, the Udeur party bolted from his coalition, costing Prodi his majority in the senate. He survived a no-confidence vote in the lower house of parliament, but lost in the senate, 161 to 156, forcing his government to resign. Parliament was dissolved, and elections were set for April. Berlusconi saw the crisis as an opportunity for a political comeback. </p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3702272123536064996.post-28213587396787507372008-02-25T11:15:00.001-08:002008-02-25T11:15:50.561-08:00Israel<h1 class="level3 tophead" id="A0107652">Israel</h1> <!--BodyText--> <table class="geosum" align="left" cellpadding="12" width="255"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td><img alt="Flag of Israel" id="A0202969" src="http://www.infoplease.com/images/israel.gif" height="154" width="250" /><p class="national-name"><b>National name:</b> Medinat Yisra'el</p><p class="president"><b>President:</b> Shimon Peres (2007)</p><p class="prime-mininster"><b>Prime Minister:</b> Ehud Olmert (2006)</p><p class="other-leader"> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/world/leaders/israel.html"> <b>Current government officials</b> </a> </p><p class="area"><b>Land area:</b> 7,849 sq mi (20,329 sq km); <b>total area:</b> 8,019 sq mi (20,770 sq km)</p><p class="population"><b>Population (2007 est.):</b> 6,426,679 (growth rate: 1.2%); birth rate: 17.7/1000; infant mortality rate: 6.8/1000; life expectancy: 79.6; density per sq mi: 819</p><p class="capital"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855603"> <b>Capital and largest city (2003 est.):</b> </a> Jerusalem, 695,500 Note: Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, but the U.S., like nearly all other countries, maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv. </p><p class="largest-cities"><b>Other large cities:</b> Tel Aviv, 365,300; Haifa, 280,200</p><p class="money-unit"><b>Monetary unit:</b> Shekel</p><p class="language"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855611"> <b>Languages:</b> </a> Hebrew (official), Arabic, English</p><p class="ethnic"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855617"> <b>Ethnicity/race:</b> </a> Jewish 80.1% (Europe/Americas/Oceania-born 32.1%, Israel-born 20.8%, Africa-born 14.6%, Asia-born 12.6%), non-Jewish 19.9% (mostly Arab) (1996 est.)</p><p class="religion"><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0855613"> <b>Religions:</b> </a> Judaism 77%, Islam 16%, Christian 2%, Druze 2% (2003)</p><p class="literacy-rate"><b>Literacy rate:</b> 95% (2003 est.)</p><p class="econsum"><b>Economic summary:</b> <b>GDP/PPP</b> (2005 est.): $140.1 billion; per capita $22,300. <b>Real growth rate: </b>4.7%. <b>Inflation:</b> 1.3%. <b>Unemployment: </b>8.9%. <b>Arable land:</b> 16%. <b>Agriculture:</b> citrus, vegetables, cotton; beef, poultry, dairy products. <b>Labor force: </b>2.42 million; public services 31.2%, manufacturing 20.2%, finance and business 13.1%, commerce 12.8%, construction 7.5%, personal and other services 6.4%, transport, storage, and communications 6.2%, agriculture, forestry, and fishing 2.6% (1996). <b>Industries:</b> high-technology projects (including aviation, communications, computer-aided design and manufactures, medical electronics, fiber optics), wood and paper products, potash and phosphates, food, beverages, and tobacco, caustic soda, cement, construction, metals products, chemical products, plastics, diamond cutting, textiles, footwear. <b>Natural resources: </b>timber, potash, copper ore, natural gas, phosphate rock, magnesium bromide, clays, sand. <b>Exports:</b> $40.14 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel.<b> Imports: </b>$43.19 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): raw materials, military equipment, investment goods, rough diamonds, fuels, grain, consumer goods. <b>Major trading partners: </b>U.S., Belgium, Hong Kong, Switzerland, UK (2004).</p><p class="communsum"><b>Communications: Telephones:</b> main lines in use: 3.006 million (2002); mobile cellular: 6.334 million (2002). <b>Radio broadcast stations:</b> AM 23, FM 15, shortwave 2 (1998). <b>Television broadcast stations:</b> 17 (plus 36 low-power repeaters) (1995). <b>Internet hosts:</b> 437,516 (2004). <b>Internet users:</b> 2 million (2002).</p><p class="transsumm"><b>Transportation: Railways:</b> total: 640 km (2004). <b>Highways: </b>total: 16,903 km; paved: 16,903 km (including 56 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km (2002). <b>Ports and harbors:</b> Ashdod, Elat (Eilat), Hadera, Haifa. <b>Airports:</b> 51 (2004 est.).</p><p class="conflicts"><b>International disputes:</b> West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation; Israel continues construction of a "seam line" separation barrier along parts of the Green Line and within the West Bank; Israel announced its intention to pull out Israeli settlers and withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the northern West Bank in 2005; Golan Heights is Israeli-occupied (Lebanon claims the Shab'a Farms area of Golan Heights); since 1948, about 350 peacekeepers from the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) headquartered in Jerusalem monitor ceasefires, supervise armistice agreements, prevent isolated incidents from escalating, and assist other UN personnel in the region.</p><p> <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/countryprofilenotes.html" onclick="return openpopup('/countryprofilenotes.html','profileNotes');" target="_blank">Major sources and definitions</a> </p></td> </tr> </tbody></table><br /><h1 class="level3" id="A0107655">Geography</h1> <p>Israel, slightly larger than Massachusetts, lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered by Egypt on the west, Syria and Jordan on the east, and Lebanon on the north. Its maritime plain is extremely fertile. The southern Negev region, which comprises almost half the total area, is largely a desert. The Jordan, the only important river, flows from the north through Lake Hule (Waters of Merom) and Lake Kinneret (also called Sea of Galilee or Sea of Tiberias), finally entering the Dead Sea, 1,349 ft (411 m) below sea level—the world's lowest land elevation.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107656">Government</h1> <p>Parliamentary democracy.</p> <h1 class="level3" id="A0107657">History</h1> <p>Palestine, considered a holy land by Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and homeland of the modern state of Israel, was known as Canaan to the ancient Hebrews. Palestine's name derives from the Philistines, a people who occupied the southern coastal part of the country in the 12th century <span class="small">B.C.</span></p> <p>A Hebrew kingdom established in 1000 <span class="small">B.C.</span> was later split into the kingdoms of Judah and Israel; they were subsequently invaded by Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Romans, and Alexander the Great of Macedonia. By <span class="small">A.D.</span> 135, few Jews were left in Palestine; most lived in the scattered and tenacious communities of the Diaspora, communities formed outside Palestine after the Babylonian exile. Palestine became a center of Christian pilgrimage after the emperor Constantine converted to that faith. The Arabs took Palestine from the Byzantine empire in 634–640. Interrupted only by Christian Crusaders, Muslims ruled Palestine until the 20th century. During World War I, British forces defeated the Turks in Palestine and governed the area under a League of Nations mandate from 1923.</p> <p>As part of the 19th-century Zionist movement, Jews had begun settling in Palestine as early as 1820. This effort to establish a Jewish homeland received British approval in the Balfour Declaration of 1917. During the 1930s, Jews persecuted by the Hitler regime poured into Palestine. The postwar acknowledgment of the Holocaust—Hitler's genocide of 6 million Jews—increased international interest in and sympathy for the cause of Zionism. However, Arabs in Palestine and surrounding countries bitterly opposed prewar and postwar proposals to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish sectors. The British mandate to govern Palestine ended after the war, and, in 1947, the UN voted to partition Palestine. When the British officially withdrew on May 14, 1948, the Jewish National Council proclaimed the State of Israel.</p> <p>U.S. recognition came within hours. The next day, Arab forces from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded the new nation. By the cease-fire on Jan. 7, 1949, Israel had increased its original territory by 50%, taking western Galilee, a broad corridor through central Palestine to Jerusalem, and part of modern Jerusalem. Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion became Israel's first president and prime minister. The new government was admitted to the UN on May 11, 1949.</p> <p>The next clash with Arab neighbors came when Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956 and barred Israeli shipping. Coordinating with an Anglo-French force, Israeli troops seized the Gaza Strip and drove through the Sinai to the east bank of the Suez Canal, but withdrew under U.S. and UN pressure. In the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel made simultaneous air attacks against Syrian, Jordanian, and Egyptian air bases, totally defeating the Arabs. Expanding its territory by 200%, Israel at the cease-fire held the Golan Heights, the West Bank of the Jordan River, Jerusalem's Old City, and all of the Sinai and the east bank of the Suez Canal.</p> <p>In the face of Israeli reluctance even to discuss the return of occupied territories, the fourth Arab-Israeli War erupted on Oct. 6, 1973, with a surprise Egyptian and Syrian assault on the Jewish high holy day of Yom Kippur. Initial Arab gains were reversed when a cease-fire took effect two weeks later, but Israel suffered heavy losses.</p> <p>A dramatic breakthrough in the tortuous history of Mideast peace efforts occurred on Nov. 9, 1977, when Egypt's president Anwar Sadat declared his willingness to talk about reconciliation. Prime Minister Menachem Begin, on Nov. 15, extended an invitation to the Egyptian leader to address the Knesset in Jerusalem. Sadat's arrival in Israel four days later raised worldwide hopes, but an agreement between Egypt and Israel was long in coming. On March 14, 1979, the Knesset approved a final peace treaty, and 12 days later, Begin and Sadat signed the document, together with President Jimmy Carter, in a White House ceremony. Israel began its withdrawal from the Sinai, which it had annexed from Egypt, on May 25.</p> <p>Although Israel withdrew its last settlers from the Sinai in April 1982, the fragile Mideast peace was shattered on June 9, 1982, by a massive Israeli assault on southern Lebanon, where the Palestinian Liberation Organization was entrenched. The PLO had long plagued Israelis with terrorist actions. Israel destroyed PLO strongholds in Tyre and Sidon and reached the suburbs of Beirut on June 10. A U.S.-mediated accord between Lebanon and Israel, signed on May 17, 1983, provided for Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. Israel eventually withdrew its troops from the Beirut area but kept them in southern Lebanon, where occasional skirmishes would continue. Lebanon, under pressure from Syria, canceled the accord in March 1984.</p> <p>A continual source of tension has been the relationship between the Jews and the Palestinians living within Israeli territories. Most Arabs fled the region when the state of Israel was declared, but those who remain now make up almost one-fifth of the population of Israel. They are about two-thirds Muslim, as well as Christian and Druze. Palestinians living on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip fomented the riots begun in 1987, known as the <i>intifada</i>. Violence heightened as Israeli police cracked down and Palestinians retaliated. Continuing Jewish settlement of lands designated for Palestinians has added to the unrest.</p> <p>In 1988, the leader of the PLO, Yasir Arafat, reversed decades of PLO polemic by acknowledging Israel's right to exist. He stated his willingness to enter negotiations to create a Palestinian political entity that would coexist with the Israeli state.</p> <p>In 1991, Israel was struck by Iraqi missiles during the Persian Gulf War. The Israelis did not retaliate in order to preserve the international coalition against Iraq. In 1992, Yitzhak Rabin became prime minister. He halted the disputed Israeli settlement of the occupied territories.</p> <p>Highly secretive talks in Norway resulted in the landmark Oslo Accord between the PLO and the Israeli government in 1993. The accord stipulated a five-year plan in which Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would gradually become self-governing. Arafat became president of the new Palestinian Authority. In 1994, Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan; Israel still has no formal agreement with Syria or Lebanon.</p> <p>On Nov. 4, 1995, Prime Minister Rabin was slain by a Jewish extremist, jeopardizing the tenuous progress toward peace. Shimon Peres succeeded him until May 1996 elections for the Knesset gave Israel a new hard-line prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, by a razor-thin margin. Netanyahu reversed or stymied much of the Oslo Accord, contending that it offered too many concessions too fast and jeopardized Israelis' safety.</p> <p>Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in 1997 were repeatedly undermined by both sides. Although the Hebron Accord was signed in January, calling for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Hebron, the construction of new Jewish settlements on the West Bank in March profoundly upset progress toward peace.</p> <p>Terrorism erupted again in 1997 when radical Hamas suicide bombers claimed the lives of more than 20 Israeli civilians. Netanyahu, accusing Palestinian Authority president Arafat of lax security, retaliated with draconian sanctions against Palestinians working in Israel, including the withholding of millions of dollars in tax revenue, a blatant violation of the Oslo Accord. Netanyahu also persisted in authorizing right-wing Israelis to build new settlements in mostly Arab East Jerusalem. Arafat, meanwhile, seemed unwilling or unable to curb the violence of extremist Arabs.</p> <p>An Oct. 1998 summit at Wye Mills, Md., generated the first real progress in the stymied Middle East peace talks in 19 months, with Netanyahu and Arafat settling several important interim issues called for by the 1993 Oslo Accord. The peace agreement, however, began unraveling almost immediately. By the end of April 1999, Israel had made 41 air raids on Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. The guerrillas were fighting against Israeli troops and their allies, the South Lebanon Army militia, who occupied a security zone set up in 1985 to guard Israel's borders. Public pressure in Israel to withdraw the troops grew.</p> <p>Labor Party leader Ehud Barak won the 1999 election and announced that he planned not only to pursue peace with the Palestinians, but to establish relations with Syria and end the low-grade war in southern Lebanon with the Iranian-armed Hezbollah guerrillas. In Dec. 1999, Israeli-Syrian talks resumed after a nearly four-year hiatus. By Jan. 2000, however, talks had broken down when Syria demanded a detailed discussion of the return of all of the Golan Heights. In Feb., new Hezbollah attacks on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon led to Israel's retaliatory bombing as well as Barak's decision to pull out of Lebanon. Israeli troops pulled out of Lebanon on May 24, 2000, after 18 consecutive years of occupation.</p> <p>Peace talks in July 2000 at Camp David between Barak and Arafat ended unsuccessfully, despite President Clinton's strongest efforts—the status of Jerusalem was the primary sticking point. In September, Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon visited the compound called Temple Mount by Jews and Haram al-Sharif by Muslims, a fiercely contested site that is sacred to both faiths. The visit set off the worst violence in years, killing around 400 people, mostly Palestinians. The violence (dubbed the Al-Aksa intifada) and the stalled peace process fueled growing concerns about Israeli security, paving the way for hard-liner Sharon's stunning landslide victory over Barak in Feb. 2001. Violence on both sides continued at an alarming rate. Palestinians carried out some of the most horrific suicide bombings and terrorist attacks in years (Hamas and the Al-Aksa Martyr Brigade claimed responsibility for the majority of them), killing Israeli civilians at cafés, bus stops, and supermarkets. In retaliation, Israel unleashed bombing raids on Palestinian territory and sent troops and tanks to occupy West Bank and Gaza cities.</p> <p>In 2003, in an attempt to restart the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Israel and the United States resolved to circumvent Arafat, whom Sharon called “irrelevant” and an obstacle. Under U.S. pressure, Arafat reluctantly appointed a prime minister in April, who was to replace him in negotiating the peace process, Mahmoud Abbas, formerly Arafat's second-in-command. On May 1, the “Quartet” (the U.S., UN, EU, and Russia) unfurled the “road map” for peace, which envisioned the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005. Although Sharon publicly acknowledged the need for a Palestinian state and Abbas committed himself to ending Palestinian violence, the road map quickly led nowhere by fall 2003, as Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians continued, and Israel stepped up its “targeted killings” of Palestinian militants. Sharon also persisted in building the highly controversial security barrier dividing Israeli and Palestinian areas.</p> <p>In May 2004, the UN Security Council condemned Israel's attack on the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, the largest Israeli military operation in Gaza in decades. In July, in response to a ruling by Israel's supreme court about the construction of the West Bank barrier, Israel revised the route so that it did not cut into Palestinian land. The UN estimated that the original route would have taken almost 15% of West Bank territory for Israel.</p> <p>Yasir Arafat's death in Nov. 2004 significantly altered the political landscape. Mahmoud Abbas was easily elected the Palestinian president in Jan. 2005, and at a summit in February, Abbas and Sharon agreed to an unequivocal cease-fire. A continued danger to this cease-fire were Palestinian militant groups, over whom Abbas had little control.</p> <p>On Aug. 15, the withdrawal of some 8,000 Israeli settlers began. The evacuation involved 21 Gaza settlements as well as 4 of the more isolated of the West Bank's 120 settlements. The majority of Israelis supported Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s unilateral plan—which he pushed through the Knesset in Oct. 2004—viewing it as Israel's just and humane response toward the Palestinians as well as a significant step toward real security for Israelis. But tens of thousands on the right protested that Sharon, an architect of the settlement movement, had become the agent of Gaza's dismantlement.</p> <p>While Sharon was lauded for what has arguably been the most significant step in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process since the Oslo peace accord, the prime minister’s unstated motives in conceding Gaza were generally assumed to be the strengthening of Israel's hold on the West Bank.</p> <p>Israel's political parties underwent a seismic shift in late Nov. 2005. The Labor Party elected left-leaning Amir Peretz as their new leader, a defeat for long-time leader Shimon Peres. Shortly thereafter Prime Minister Sharon quit the Likud Party—a party he helped found—and formed the new, more centrist Kadima (“Forward”) Party. The Likud Party had largely disapproved of the Gaza withdrawal Sharon sponsored, and he faced increasing discontent from the more right-wing members of the Likud Party. Former prime minister and hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu became Likud's new leader.</p> <p>In Jan. 2006, Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke that left him critically ill and unable to govern. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert became acting prime minister, and in general elections on March 28, Olmert's Kadima Party won the largest number of seats. In May he formed a coalition between the Kadima, Labor, ultra-orthodox Shas, and Pensioners parties.</p> <p>Israeli-Palestinian relations were thrown into further turmoil when the militant Hamas Party won a stunning and unexpected landslide victory in the January Palestinian parliamentary elections. Although Hamas had been engaged in a cease-fire with Israel for more than a year, it continued to call for Israel's destruction and refused to renounce violence.</p> <p>In April 2006, Hamas fired rockets into Israeli territory, effectively ending the cease-fire between them. After Hamas militants killed two Israeli soldiers and kidnapped another on June 25, Israel launched air strikes and sent ground troops into Gaza, destroying its only power plant and three bridges. Fighting continued over the summer, with Hamas firing rockets into Israel, and Israeli troops reoccupying Gaza.</p> <p>In early July, Israel was involved in war on a second front—which was soon to overshadow the fighting in Gaza—after Hezbollah fighters entered Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12. In response, Israel launched a major military attack, bombing the Lebanese airport and other major infrastructures, as well as parts of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah, led by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, retaliated by launching hundreds of rockets and missiles into Israel. After a week of fighting, Israel made it clear that its offensive in Lebanon would continue until Hezbollah was routed. Although much of the international community demanded a cease-fire, the United States supported Israel's plan to continue the fighting until Hezbollah was drained of its military power. Hezbollah was thought to have at least 12,000 rockets and missiles, most supplied by Iran, and proved a much more formidable foe than Israel anticipated. An Israeli opinion poll after the first two weeks of fighting indicated that 81% of Israelis supported the continued attack on Lebanon, and 58% wanted the offensive to continue until Hezbollah was destroyed. The UN brokered a tenuous cease-fire on August 14. About 1,150 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 150 Israelis, the majority of them soldiers, died in the 34 days of fighting.</p> <p>A commission that investigated 2006's war between Israel and Lebanon released a scathing report in April 2007, saying Prime Minister Olmert was responsible for "a severe failure in exercising judgment, responsibility, and prudence." It also said that Olmert rushed to war without an adequate plan. Defense Minister Amir Peretz and former army chief Dan Halutz were also rebuked in the report. Olmert resisted calls for his resignation and survived a no-confidence vote in parliament.</p> <p>In June 2007, President Moshe Katsav reached a plea deal with the government, agreeing to resign and plead guilty to committing indecent acts without consent, sexual harassment, and harassing a witness. In exchange, the government dropped rape charges against Katsav, who maintained his innocence and said he plead guilty to avoid a long and embarrassing trial. He was accused of raping and sexually assaulting several female coworkers.</p> <p>Former prime minister Ehud Barak returned to politics in June, having been elected head of the Labor Party. He defeated Parliament member Ami Ayalon. In addition, Shimon Peres, of the Kadima Party, was elected president in June by Parliament. The presidency is a mostly ceremonial post.</p> <p>Israeli jets fired on targets deep inside Syria in September 2007. American and Israeli intelligence analysts later said that Israel had attacked a partially built nuclear reactor. Several officials wondered aloud if North Korea had played a role in the development of the nuclear plant. Syria denied that any such facilities exist and protested to the United Nations, calling the attack a "violation of sovereignty."</p> <p>At a Middle East peace conference in November hosted by the United States in Annapolis, Md., Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas agreed to work together to broker a peace treaty by the end of 2008. "We agree to immediately launch good-faith bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty, resolving all outstanding issues, including all core issues without exception, as specified in previous agreements,” a joint statement said. “We agree to engage in vigorous, ongoing and continuous negotiations, and shall make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008.” Officials from 49 countries attended the conference.</p> <p>In January 2008, the Winograd Commission released its final report on Israel's 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. It called the operation a "large and serious" failure and criticized the country's leadership for failing to have an exit strategy in place before the invasion began. Prime Minister Olmert was spared somewhat, as the commission said that in ordering the invasion, he was acting in "the interest of the state of Israel." </p>-http://www.blogger.com/profile/01184450400464699597noreply@blogger.com0