Worldwide events; zarb e jamhoor newspaper; 148 issue; 03 09 nov, 2013

Culture Day Japan - Nov 03

Culture Day (文化の日 Bunka no hi) is a national holiday held annually in Japan on November 3 for the purpose of promoting culture, the arts, and academic endeavour. Festivities typically include art exhibitions, parades, and award ceremonies for distinguished artists and scholars.

History Culture Day was first held in 1948, to commemorate the

announcement of the post-war Japanese constitution on November 3, 1946.

November 3 was first celebrated as a national holiday in 1868, when it was called Tenchō-setsu(天長節), a holiday held in honor of the birthday of the reigning emperor—at that time, the Meiji Emperor. With the death of the Meiji Emperor in 1912, November 3 ceased to be a holiday until 1927, when his birthday was given its own specific holiday, known as Meiji-setsu (明治節). As Meiji-setsu was discontinued with the announcement of Culture Day in 1948, some see Culture Day as a continuation of this tradition as well—a mere renaming of Meiji-setsu— although they are ostensibly unrelated.

Current practice

As Culture Day exists to promote the arts and various fields of academic endeavor, local and prefectural governments typically choose this day to hold art exhibits, culture festivals, and parades. For example, Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture holds the annual Feudal Lord's Parade(箱根大名行列 Hakone Daimyō Gyōretsu?) to exhibit Edo Period clothing and costumes. It is common for universities to present new research and projects on Culture Day. Since 1937, the award ceremony for the prestigious Order of Culture has been held on this day. Given by the Emperor himself to those who have significantly advanced science, the arts or culture, it is one of the highest honors bestowed by the Imperial Family. The prize is not restricted to Japanese citizens, and for instance was awarded to the Apollo 11 astronauts upon their successful return from the moon.

Culture Day is statistically one of the clearest days of the year. Between 1965 and 1996, there have only been three years with rain occurring in Tokyo on Culture Day.

Festivity of San Martin de Porres Peru - Nov 03

Saint Martin de Porres (December 9, 1579 – November 3, 1639) was a lay brother of the Dominican Order who was beatified in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI and canonized in 1962 by Pope John XXIII. He is the patron saint of mixed-race people and all those seeking interracial harmony.

He was noted for work on behalf of the poor, establishing an orphanage and a children's hospital. He maintained an austere lifestyle, which included fasting and abstaining from meat. Among the many miracles attributed to him were those of levitation, bilocation, miraculous knowledge, instantaneous cures, and an ability to communicate with animals.

of his Life Account Juan Martin de Porres was born in the city of Lima, in the Viceroyalty of Peru, on December 9, 1579, the illegitimate

son of a Spanish nobleman and a black former slavewho was born in Panama. He had a sister named Juana, born three years later in 1581. He grew up in poverty and, when his mother could not support him, Martin was confided to a primary school for two years, and then placed with a surgeon-barber to learn the medical arts. He spent hours of the night in prayer, a practice which increased as he grew older. At the age of 15 he asked for admission to the Dominican Convent of the Rosary in Lima and was received first as a servant boy, and as his duties grew he was promoted to almoner. Eventually he felt the call to enter the Dominican Order, and he was received as a tertiary.

Years later, his piety and miraculous cures led his superiors to drop the racial limits on admission to the friars, and he was made a full Dominican. It is said that when his conventwas in debt, he implored them: "I am only a poor mulatto, sell me." Martin was deeply attached to the Blessed Sacrament, and he was praying in front of it one night when the step of the altar he was kneeling on caught fire. Throughout all the confusion and chaos that followed, he remained where he was, unaware of what was happening around him.

When he was 34, after he had been given the habit of a coadjutor brother, Martin was assigned to the infirmary, where he was placed in charge and would remain in service until his death at the age of fifty-nine. His superiors saw in him the virtues necessary to exercise unfailing patience in this difficult role. It was not long before miracles were attributed to him. Saint Martin also cared for the sick outside his convent, often bringing them healing with only a simple glass of water. One day an aged beggar, covered with ulcers and almost naked, stretched out his hand, and Martin took him to his own bed. One of his brethren reproved him. Martin replied: “Compassion, my dear Brother, is preferable to cleanliness."

When an epidemic struck Lima, there were in this single Convent of the Rosary sixty friars who were sick, many of them novices in a distant and locked section of the convent, separated from the professed. Martin is said to have passed through the locked doors to care for them, a phenomenon which was reported in the residence more than once. The professed, too, saw him suddenly beside them without the doors having been opened. Martin continued to transport the sick to the convent until the provincial superior, alarmed by the contagion threatening the religious, forbade him to continue to do so. His sister, who lived in the country, offered her house to lodge those whom the residence of the religious could not hold. One day he found on the street a poor Indian, bleeding to death from a dagger wound, and took him to his own room until he could transport him to his sister’s hospice. The superior, when he heard of this, reprimanded his subject for disobedience. He was extremely edified by his reply: “Forgive my error, and please instruct me, for I did not know that the precept of obedience took precedence over that of charity. The superior gave him liberty thereafter to follow his inspirations in the exercise of mercy.

Martin did not eat meat. He begged for alms to procure necessities the convent could not provide. In normal times Martin succeeded with his alms to feed 160 poor persons every day, and distributed a remarkable sum of money every week to the indigent.

Martin founded in the city of Lima a residence for orphans and abandoned children. This lay brother had always wanted to be a missionary, but never left his native city; yet even during his lifetime he was seen elsewhere, in regions as far distant as Africa, China,Algeria and Japan. An African slave who had been in irons said he had known Martin when he came to relieve and console many like himself, telling them of heaven. When later the same slave saw him in Peru, he was very happy to meet him again and asked him if he had had a good voyage; only later did he learn that Saint Martin had never left Lima. A merchant from Lima was in Mexico and fell ill; he said aloud: “Oh, Brother Martin, if only you were here to care for me!” and immediately saw him enter his room. And again, this man did not know until later that he had never been in Mexico.

Death and commemoration

Martin was a friend of both Saint John de Massias and Saint Rose of Lima. When he died in Lima on November 3, 1639, Martin was known to the entire city. Word of his miracles had made him known as a saint throughout the region. As his body was displayed to allow the people of the city to pay their respects, each person snipped a tiny piece of his habit to keep as a relic. It is said that three habits were taken from the body. His body was then interred in the grounds of the monastery.

After he died, the miracles and graces received when he was invoked multiplied in such profusion that his body was exhumed after 25 years and said to be found intact, and exhaling a fine fragrance. Letters to Rome pleaded for his beatification; the decree affirming the heroism of his virtues was issued in 1763 by Pope Clement XIII. Pope Gregory XVI beatified Martin de Porres in 1837. Nearly 125 years later, Blessed Martin was canonized in Rome by Pope John XXIII on May 6, 1962. His feast day is November 3. He is the patron saint of people of mixed race, and of innkeepers, barbers, public health workers and more.

He is commemorated in the Calendar of Saints of the Church of England on 3 November.

In iconography, Martin de Porres is often depicted as a young mulatto friar (he was a Dominican brother, not a priest, as evidenced by the black scapular and capuce he wears, while priests of the Dominican order wear all white) with a broom, since he considered all work to be sacred no matter how menial. He is sometimes shown with a dog, a cat and a mouse eating in peace from the same dish.

Today, Martin is commemorated by, among other things, a school building that houses themedical, nursing, and rehabilitation science schools of the Dominican University of Santo Tomasin the Philippines. A programme of work is also named after him at the Las Casas Institute atBlackfriars Hall, University of Oxford. He is also the titular saint of the St. Martin de Porres Marianist elementary school in Uniondale, New York.

He is also notably mentioned in popular culture. In the 1980 novel A Confederacy of Dunces, Ignatius Reilly contemplates praying to Porres for aid in bringing social justice to the black workers at the New Orleans factory where he works. In music, the first track of jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams's album Black Christ of the Andes is titled "St. Martin De Porres."

There are several Spanish and Mexican works regarding his life in cinema and television, starred by Cuban actor Rene Muñoz, the most of them referring to his mulatto origin, his miracles and his life of humilty. The most known movies are Fray Escoba (Friar Broom) (1963) and Un mulato llamado Martin (A mulatto called Martin) (1975).

Independence Day Dominicia - Nov 03

Dominica officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of theCaribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is 750 square kilometres (290 sq mi) and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of 1,447 metres (4,747 ft). The Commonwealth of Dominica has an estimated population of 72,500.

The capital is Roseau.

Dominica has been nicknamed the "Nature Isle of the Caribbean" for its unspoiled natural beauty. It is the youngest island in the Lesser Antilles, still being formed bygeothermal-volcanic activity, as evidenced by the world's second-largest boiling lake. The island features lush mountainous rainforests, home of many rare plant, animal, and bird species. There are xeric areas in some of the western coastal regions, but heavy rainfall can be expected inland.

The Sisserou Parrot (also known as the Imperial Amazon), the island's national bird, is featured on the national flag. Dominica's economy is heavily dependent on both tourism and agriculture.

Christopher Columbus named the island after the day of the week on which he spotted it, a Sunday (dominica in Latin), November 3, 1493. In the next hundred years after Columbus' landing, Dominica remained isolated, and even more Caribs settled there after being driven from surrounding islands as European powers entered the region. France formally ceded possession of Dominica to the United Kingdom in 1763. The United Kingdom then set up a government and made the island a colony in 1805.

The emancipation of African slaves occurred throughout the British Empire in 1834, and, in 1838, Dominica became the first British Caribbean colony to have a legislature controlled by a black majority. In 1896, the United Kingdom reassumed governmental control of Dominica, turning it into a Crown colony. Half a century later, from 1958 to 1962, Dominica became a province of the short-lived West Indies Federation. In 1978, Dominica became an independent nation.

Etymology

The name Dominica comes from the Spanish word for Sunday (domingo), which was the day on which it was spotted

by Christopher Columbus. Its pre-Columbian name was "Wai'tu kubuli", which means "Tall is her body". The indigenous people of the island, the Caribs, have theCarib Territory, a territory similar to the Indian reserves of North America. The official language is English in consequence of its history as a British colony, territory, and state, though aFrench creole is spoken by many, especially people of older generations. The demonym or adjective is "Dominican" in English, same as that for the Dominican Republic, but unlike the Dominican Republic, in which the stress is on the first "i", the stress is on the second "i".

History In 1635 France claimed Dominica along with all the other 'Petite Antilles' but no settlement was attempted. Between

1642 and 1650 a French missionary Raymond Breton became the first regular European visitor to the island. In 1660 the French and English agreed that both Dominica and St. Vincent should not be settled, but instead left to the Caribs as neutral territory. Dominica was officially neutral for the next century, but the attraction of its resources remained; rival expeditions of English and French foresters were harvesting timber by the start of the 18th century.

In 1715 the French established their first permanent settlements in Dominica following a revolt of "poor white" smallholders in the north ofMartinique, known as La Gaoulé, which caused an exodus of them to southern Dominica. In 1727 the first French commander, M. Le Grand, took charge of the island with a basic French government thus making Dominica formally a colony of France and the island was divided into districts or "quarters". As part of the 1763 Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years' War, the island became a British possession. In 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, the French mounted a successful invasion with the active cooperation of the population.

The 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, returned the island to Britain. French invasions in 1795 and 1805 ended in failure.

In 1763, the British established a legislative assembly, representing only the white population. In 1831, reflecting a liberalization of official British racial attitudes, the Brown Privilege Bill conferred political and social rights on free non-whites. Three African people were elected to the legislative assembly the following year. Following the abolition of slavery, in 1838 Dominica became the only British Caribbean colony to have an African-controlled legislature in the 19th century. Most African legislators were smallholders or merchants who held economic and social views diametrically opposed to the interests of the small, wealthy English planter class. Reacting to a perceived threat, the planters lobbied for more direct British rule.

In 1865, after much agitation and tension, the colonial office replaced the elective assembly with one that had onehalf of members who were elected and one-half who were appointed. Planters allied with colonial administrators outmanoeuvred the elected legislators on numerous occasions. In 1871, Dominica became part of the Leeward Island Federation. The power of the African population progressively eroded. Crown Colony government was re-established in 1896. All political rights for the vast majority of the population were effectively curtailed. Development aid, offered as compensation for disenfranchisement, proved to have a negligible effect.

20th century:

Following World War I, an upsurge of political consciousness throughout the Caribbean led to the formation of the Representative Government Association. Marshalling public frustration with the lack of a voice in the governing of Dominica, this group won one-third of the popularly elected seats of the legislative assembly in 1924 and one-half in 1936. Shortly thereafter, Dominica was transferred from the Leeward Island Administration and was governed as part of the Windwards until 1958, when it joined the short-lived West Indies Federation.

After the federation dissolved, Dominica became an associated state of the United Kingdom in 1967 and formally took responsibility for its internal affairs. On November 3, 1978, the Commonwealth of Dominica was granted independence by the United Kingdom.

Independence did little to solve problems stemming from centuries of economic underdevelopment, and in mid1979, political discontent led to the formation of an interim government. It was replaced after the 1980 elections by a government led by the Dominica Freedom Party under Prime Minister Eugenia Charles, the Caribbean's first female prime minister. Chronic economic problems were compounded by the severe impact of hurricanes in 1979 and in 1980.

In 1981 Dominica was threatened with a takeover by mercenaries. In 1981, a group of "mercenaries" led by Mike Perdue of Houston andWolfgang Droege of Toronto, attempted to overthrow the government of Eugenia Charles.

The North America mercenary group was to aid ex-Prime Minister Patrick John and his Dominica Defence Force in regaining control of the island in exchange for control over the island's future development. The entire plan failed and the ship hired to transport the men of Operation Red Dog never even made it off the dock as the FBI was tipped off. The self-titled mercenaries lacked any formal military experience and/or training and the majority of the crew had been misled into joining the armed coup by the con-man ringleader Mike Perdue. White supremacist Don Black was also jailed for his part in the attempt, which violated US neutrality laws. The book Bayou of Pigs, written by Stewart Bell, details the story of this missguided attempt to turn Dominica into a criminal paradise.

By the end of the 1980s, the economy recovered, but weakened again in the 1990s because of a decrease in banana prices.

In the January 2000 elections, the Edison James United Workers Party (UWP) was defeated by the Dominican Labour Party (DLP), led by Roosevelt P. "Rosie" Douglas. Douglas died after only a few months in office and was replaced by Pierre Charles, who died in office in January 2004. Roosevelt Skerrit, also of the DLP, replaced Charles as Prime Minister. Under Prime Minister Skerrit's leadership, the DLP won elections in May 2005 that gave the party 12 seats in the 21-member Parliament to the UWP's 8 seats. An independent candidate affiliated with the DLP won a seat as well. Since that time, the independent candidate joined the government and one UWP member crossed the aisle, making the current total 14 seats for the DLP and 7 for the UWP.

Victory Day M a ldiv e s - N ov 0 3

The Maldives’ Victory Day is centered on the day that a terrorist group from Sri Lanka attacked the Maldives government on November 3, 1988. They attempted to overthrow the government, but failed and fled the country, hence the celebration.

The Maldives is an island country in the Indian ocean consisting on 19 atolls made up of more than 2,000 coral islands southwest of Sri Lanka. The Maldives islands were colonized more the 800 years ago and became a self-governing British protectorate in 1887 and achieved independence in 1965. Maldives is one of the world’s poorest countries, but that is slowly changing because of the increasing number of tourists that make the Maldives their vacation destination. Maldives has a very small population of around 370,000.

History Since 1965, the Maldives have been independent and free from foreign rule. However, the coup attempt in the Mal-

dives in November 1988 was one of the most perilous times in the country’s history. Many people were caught in the crossfire and many lives were lost. The act of treason was committed by a few treacherous Maldivians who threatened the country’s independence. Called on by the government of the Maldives, India provided swift and decisive aid to supress the coup. It is said that eight soldiers and eleven civilians died on that day.

While there is some debate on whether ‘Victory Day” was obtained on the 3rd or 4th of November, what matters is that the Maldives was victorious and the aggressors were apprehended. November 3rd is still remember by the natives from the Maldives to this day.

Celebrations The Maldives are a 100% Islamic country which means alcohol is not permitted in public places. Many resorts have

licenses that exempt them from the law, so those who wish to honor the fallen on Victory Day with a drink can do so privately.

Constitution Day Tonga - N ov 0 4

The Tongan Constitution was enacted by King George Tupou I on 4 November 1875. It stipulates the makeup of the Tongan Government and the balance between its executive, legislature, and judiciary. The anniversary of its passage is celebrated annually as Tonga's Constitution Day. Tonga is a constitutional monarchy in which the King exercises executive power through his Cabinet. Legislative power is vested in the Legislative Assembly. The King can legislate through the Privy Councilwhen the Assembly is not in session, but such ordinances must be subsequently confirmed by the Assembly in order to become law.

The constitution can be amended by the Legislative Assembly, provided this does not affect the "law of liberty", the monarchical succession, or the titles or estates of the nobles. Amendments must pass the Legislative Assembly three times, and be unanimously supported by the Privy Council.

Flag Day Pa na m a - N ov 0 4

Panama’s Flag Day commemorates the adoption of the national flag of Panama on November 4, 1925.

History Panama’s flag was designed by Maria Ossa de Amador

who began secretly making it on November 1, 1903. De Amador made three separate flag designs, including one design adapted from a sketch made by Manual Amador Guerrero. The design of the flag reflected the political situation in Panama at the time. Each designed section of the flag had a special meaning. The blue represented the Conservative Party while the red represented the Liberal Party, and the white sections of the flag stood for both purity and peace. The work of designing and making the new flag had to be done in secret so the Columbian army would not find it. After Panama declared independence from Columbia on November 3, 1925, the flag designed by de Amador was officially adopted on November 4, 1925.

Celebrations Flag Day is celebrated is Panama each year on November 4. The holiday is observed with parades and celebrations throughout the country.

Unity Day Russia - Nov 04

Unity Day, Day of People’s Unity (or National Unity Day; Russian: День народного единства) was celebrated in the Russian Empire until 1917 and in Russia from 2005. Held on November 4 (October 22, Old Style), it commemorates the popular uprising which expelled the Polish-Lithuanian occupation force from Moscow in November 1612, and more generally the end of the Time of Troubles and foreign intervention in Russia in the Polish-Muscovite War (1605–1618). Its name alludes to the idea that all the classes of Russian society willingly united to preserve Russian statehood when its demise seemed inevitable even though there was neither Tsar nor Patriarch to guide them.

In 1613 tsar Mikhail Romanov instituted a holiday named Day of Moscow’s Liberation from Polish Invaders. The holiday, held in October, was abandoned in 1917. November 4 is also the feast day for Our Lady of Kazan, the holy icon which the Russian Orthodox Church probably venerates most.

Popularity

According to a recent poll (2007), only 23 percent of Russians know the name of the holiday, up from 8 percent in 2005. 22 percent identified the holiday as the Day of Accord and Reconciliation, the name of the Nov. 7 holiday in the 1990s. Only 4 percent knew that the holiday commemorates the liberation of Moscow from Polish invaders, down from 5 percent in 2005.

Controversy

President Vladimir Putin reestablished the holiday in order to replace the commemoration of the October Revolution, known as The Day of Great October Socialist Revolution during Soviet period and as The Day of Accord and Conciliation in post-Soviet times, which formally took place on November 7. His decision angered some sections of the public, particularly the Communist Party, who pressed on with celebrations on Nov. 7. Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin took a limited action of changing the name of the holiday; by completely removing it, Putin has sparked a controversy that continues today.

There have been concerns about the manifestations of ultranationalism during the celebrations of the National Unity Day. In November 2005 and 2006, rallies were held in Moscow at which demonstrators shouted "Russia for Russians!", made neo-Nazi salutes, and held placards with swastikas, anti-semitic and anti-immigration slogans. While President Putin and the former mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, have condemned such slogans and sentiments, xenophobic rhetoric is increasingly being adopted and manipulated by some politicians and officials.

Green March Day Morocco - Nov 06 The Green March was a strategic mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government, to force Spain to hand over the disputed, autonomous semimetropolitan Spanish Province of Sahara to Morocco.

Background Morocco, to the north of the Spanish

Sahara, had long claimed that the territory was historically an integral part of Morocco. Mauritania to the south argued similarly that the territory was in fact Mauritanian. Since 1973, a Sahrawi guerrilla war led by the Polisario Front had challenged Spanish control, and in October 1975 Spain had quietly begun negotiations for a handover of power with leaders of the rebel movement, both in El Aaiún, and with foreign minister Pedro Cortina y Mauri meeting El Ouali in Algiers.

Morocco intended to vindicate its claims by demanding a verdict from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which was issued on Oct. 16, 1975. The ICJ stated that there were historical legal ties of allegiance between "some, but only some" Sahrawi tribes and the Sultan of Morocco, as well as ties including some rights relating to the land between Mauritania and other Sahrawi tribes. However, the ICJ stated also that there were no ties of territorial sovereignty between the territory and Morocco, or Mauritania, at the time of Spanish colonization; and that these contacts were not extensive enough to support either country's demand for annexation of the Spanish Sahara. Instead, the court argued, the indigenous population (the Sahrawis) were the owners of the land, and thus possessed the right of self-determination. This meant that regardless of which political solution was found to the question of sovereignty (integration with Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, partition, or independence), it had to be explicitly approved by the people of the territory. Complicating matters, a UN visiting mission had concluded on October 15, the day before the ICJ verdict was released, that Sahrawi support for independence was "overwhelming".

However, the reference to previous Moroccan-Sahrawi ties of allegiance was presented by Hassan II as a vindication of his position, with no public mention of the court's further ruling on self-determination. (Seven years later, he formally agreed to a referendum before theOrganisation of African Unity). Within hours of the ICJ verdict's release, he announced the organizing of a "green march" to Spanish Sahara, to "reunite it with the Motherland".

In order to prepare the terrain and to riposte to any potential counter-invasion from Algeria(according to Morocco) or in order to invade militarily the land and kill or deport the Sahrawi population (according to the Polisario Front), the Moroccan Army entered the northeast of the region on October 31, where it met with hard resistance from the Polisario, by then a two-year-old independence movement.

The Green March

The Green March was a well-publicized popular march of enormous proportions. On November 6, 1975, approximately 350,000 unarmed Moroccans converged on the city of Tarfaya in southern Morocco and waited for a signal from King Hassan II to cross into Western Sahara. They brandished Moroccan flags, U.S.A. flags, Saudi Arabia flags & Jordan flags; banners calling for the "return of the Moroccan Sahara," photographs of the King and the Qur'an; the color green for the march's name was intended as a symbol of Islam. As the marchers reached the border, theSpanish Armed Forces were ordered not to fire to avoid bloodshed. The Spanish troops also cleared some previously mined zones.

The Moroccan arguments for sovereignty

According to Morocco, the exercise of sovereignty by the Moroccan state was characterized by official pledges of allegiance to the sultan. The Moroccan government was of the opinion that this allegiance existed during several centuries before the Spanish occupation and that it was a legal and political tie. The sultan Hassan I, for example, had carried out two expeditions in 1886 in order to put an end to foreign incursions in this territory and to officially invest several caids and cadis. In its presentation to the ICJ, the Moroccan side also mentioned the levy of taxes as a further instance of the exercise of sovereignty. The exercise of this sovereignty had also appeared, according to the Moroccan government, at other levels, such as the appointment of local officials (governors and military officers), and the definition of the missions which were assigned to them.

The Moroccan government further pointed to several treaties between it and other states, such as withSpain in 1861, the United States of America in 1786, and 1836 and with Great Britain in 1856 .

The court, however, found that "neither the internal nor the international acts relied upon by Morocco indicate the existence at the relevant period of either the existence or the international recognition of legal ties of territorial sovereignty between Western Sahara and the Moroccan State. Even taking account of the specific structure of that State, they do not show that Morocco displayed any effective and exclusive State activity in Western Sahara."

The Madrid Accords

Spain feared that the conflict with Morocco could lead to war, and with its government in disarray (thedictator, Franco, lay dying), it was in no mood for trouble in the colonies. Only the year before, thePortuguese government had been toppled, after becoming bogged down in colonial wars in Angola andMozambique. Therefore, following the Green March, and with a view to preserving as much as possible of its interest in the territory, Spain agreed to enter direct bilateral negotiations with Morocco, bringing in also Mauritania, who had made similar demands. This resulted in the November 14 Madrid Accords, a treaty which divided Spanish Sahara between Mauritania and Morocco.

Spain received a 35% concession in the phosphate mines of Bou Craa, and offshore fishing rights . Morocco and Mauritania then formally annexed the parts they had been allotted in the Accords. Morocco claimed the northern part, i.e. Saguia el-Hamra and approximately half of Río de Oro, while Mauritania proceeded to occupy the southern third of the country under the name Tiris al-Gharbiyya. Mauritania later abandoned all claims to its portion in August 1979 and ceded this area to Popular Army of Saharwi Liberation but it was instead promptly occupied by Morocco.

The Polisario, now with heavy Algerian backing, refused the Madrid Accords, and demanded that the ICJ's opinion on Sahrawi self-determination be respected; it turned its weapons on the new rulers of the country, sticking to its demand for independence outright, or a referendum on the matter. The conflict has still not been resolved. Currently, there is a cease-fire in effect, after a Moroccan-Polisario agreement was struck in 1991 to solve the dispute through the organization of a referendum on independence. A UN peace-keeping mission (MINURSO) has been charged with overseeing the cease-fire and organizating the referendum, which has still not taken place as of 2007. Morocco has rejected the idea of the referendum as not workable in 2000 and is suggesting an autonomy for Western Sahara within Morocco. That proposal been rejected by Polisario, and also by its Algerian backers; according to the Moroccan government, it will be presented to the UN in April 2007.

Independence Day (from Colombia) Panama - Nov 03

Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes Day) U.K. - Nov 05

Panama officially the Republic of Panama(Spanish: República de Panamá [reˈpuβlika ðe panaˈma]), is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The capital is Panama City.

Explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, Panama broke with Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela – named the Republic of Gran Colombia. When the latter dissolved in 1830, Panama and Nueva Granada stayed joined. Nueva Granada later became the Republic of Colombia.

With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing thePanama Canal to be built by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. In 1977, an agreement was signed for the complete transfer of the Canal from the United States to Panama by the end of the century.

Revenue from Canal tolls represent today a significant portion of Panama's GDP. Panama has the third or fourth largest economy in Central America and it is also the fastest growing economy and the largest per capita consumer in Central America. In 2010 Panama ranked 4th among Latin American countries in terms of the Human Development Index, and 54th in the world in 2010. As of 2010, Panama is the second most competitive economy in Latin America as well according to the Global Competitiveness Index from the World Economic Forum (WEF). Panama has the largest rainforest in the Western Hemisphere outside the Amazon Basin and its jungle is home to an abundance of tropical plants, animals and birds – some of them to be found nowhere else in the world.

Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day and Bonfire Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords. Celebrating the fact that King James I had survived the attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London, and months later the introduction of theObservance of 5th November Act enforced an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure.

Within a few decades Gunpowder Treason Day, as it was known, became the predominant English state commemoration, but as it carried strong religious overtones it also became a focus for antiCatholic sentiment.Puritans delivered sermons regarding the perceived dangers of popery, while during increasingly raucous celebrations common folk burnt effigies of popular hate-figures, such as the pope. Towards the end of the 18th century reports appear of children begging for money with effigies of Guy Fawkes and 5 November gradually became known as Guy Fawkes Day. Towns such as Lewes and Guildford were in the 19th century scenes of increasingly violent class-based confrontations, fostering traditions those towns celebrate still, albeit peaceably. In the 1850s changing attitudes eventually resulted in the toning down of much of the day's anti-Catholic rhetoric, and in 1859 the original 1606 legislation was repealed. Eventually, the violence was dealt with, and by the 20th century Guy Fawkes Day had become an enjoyable social commemoration, although lacking much of its original focus. The present-day Guy Fawkes Night is usually celebrated at large organised events, centred around a bonfire and extravagant firework displays.

Settlers exported Guy Fawkes Night to overseas colonies, including some in North America, where it was known as Pope Day. Those festivities died out with the onset of the American Revolution, although celebrations continue in some Commonwealth nations. Claims that Guy Fawkes Night was a Protestant replacement for older customs like Samhain are disputed, although another old celebration, Halloween, has lately increased in popularity, and according to some writers, may threaten the continued observance of 5 November.

a commonly found species of trees. Others believe that the first settlers arrived in Panama in August, when butterflies abound, and that the name means "many butterflies" in an indigenous language.

The best known version is that a fishing village and its nearby beach bore the name "Panamá", which meant "an abundance of fish". Captain Antonio Tello de Guzmán, while exploring the Pacific side in 1515, stopped in the small indigenous fishing town. This was communicated to the Crown and in 1517 Don Gaspar De Espinosa, a Spanish lieutenant, decided to settle a post there. In 1519, Pedrarias Dávila decided to establish the Empire's Pacific city in this site. The new settlement replaced Santa María La Antigua del Darién, which had lost its function within the Crown's global plan after the beginning of the Spanish exploitation of the riches in the Pacific.

Blending all of the above together, Panamanians believe in general that the word Panama means "abundance of fish, trees and butterflies". This is the official definition given in Social Studies textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education in Panama. However, others believe the word Panama comes from the Kuna word "bannaba" which means "distant" or "far away".

Guy Fawkes Night originates from the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a failed conspiracy by a group of provincial English Catholics to assassinate the Protestant King James I of England and replace him with a Catholic head of state. In the immediate aftermath of the arrest of Guy Fawkes, caught guarding a cache of explosives placed beneath the House of Lords, James's Council allowed the public to celebrate the king's survival with bonfires, so long as they were "without any danger or disorder", making 1605 the first year the plot's failure was celebrated. Days before the surviving conspirators were executed in January 1606, Parliament passed the Observance of 5th November Act 1605, commonly known as the "Thanksgiving Act". It was proposed by a Puritan Member of Parliament, Edward Montagu, who suggested that the king's apparent deliverance by divine intervention deserved some measure of official recognition, and kept 5 November free as a day of thanksgiving while in theory making attendance at Church mandatory. A new form of service was also added to the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, for use on 5 November.

Little is known about the earliest celebrations.

In settlements such as Carlisle, Norwich and Nottingham, corporations provided music and artillery salutes. Canterbury celebrated 5 November 1607 with 106 pounds of gunpowder and 14 pounds of match, and three years later food and drink was provided for local dignitaries, as well as music, explosions and a parade by the local militia. Even less is known of how the occasion was first commemorated by the general public, although records indicate that in ProtestantDorchester a sermon was read, the church bells rung, and bonfires and fireworks lit.

Etymology There are several theories about the origin of the name "Panama". Some believe that the country was named after

History

The earliest known inhabitants of Panama were the Cuevas and the Coclé tribes, but they were wiped out by disease and fighting when the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century.

Pre-Columbian period:

The Isthmus of Panama was formed in a very long process that started 20 million years ago, up to about 3 million years ago when the isthmus finally closed and plants and animals gradually crossed it in both directions (Mayo 2004: 9–10). Dolores Piperno (1984) has located the human occupancy of the isthmus at around the Late Glacial Period (cited in Mayo 2004: 13). Olga Linares (1979: 21– 43)points out in turn that the existence of the isthmus had an impact on the dispersal of people, agriculture and technology throughout the American continent from the appearance of the first hunters and collectors to the era of villages and cities (cited in Cooke and Santo Domingo Church.

Sánchez 2004: 3).

Richard Cooke and Luis Sánchez (2004: 4, 41–42) emphasize the permanence of peoples in the terrestrial bridge of Western America, and the higher probability that Pre-Columbian peoples in the isthmus satisfied their needs by the exchange of goods, by commercial exchange and through social relationships with neighbouring communities, rather than by long distance exchanges (Cooke and Sánchez 2004: 41).

Dendrograms proposed by genetists and linguists and available information about styles and iconography of ceramic and stone objects point to a successively complex dispersal of a population of millenary permanence in the isthmus and neighbouring areas (see, for example, Corrales 2000, cited in Cooke and Sanchez 2004: 39). Cooke and Sánchez (2004: 4) argue therefore that Panama is a singular example of diversity and endemism, and that Christopher Columbus' observations (1501–02) that "although dense, every (village) has a different language and they don't understand one another" (quoted in Jane 1988) describe the ethnographic phenomenon of scattering and diversification of peoples that had inhabited the isthmus for several thousands of years.

The earliest traces of these indigenous peoples include fluted projectile points. Central Panama was home to some of the first pottery-making villages in the Americas, such as the Monagrillo culture dating to about 2500–1700 BC. These evolved into significant populations that are best known through the spectacular burials of the Conte site (dating to c. AD 500–900) and the beautiful polychrome pottery of the Coclé style. The monumental monolithic sculptures at the Barriles (Chiriqui) site were another important clue of the ancient isthmian cultures.

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Panama was widely settled by Chibchan, Chocoan, and Cueva peoples, among whom the largest group were the Cueva (whose specific language affiliation is poorly documented). There is no accurate knowledge of the size of the indigenouspopulation of the isthmus at the time of the European conquest. Estimates range as high as two million people, but more recent studies place that number closer to 200,000.

Archeological finds as well as testimonials by early European explorers describe diverse native isthmian groups exhibiting cultural variety and suggesting people already conditioned by regular regional routes of commerce.

Conquest era:

Rodrigo de Bastidas, sailing westward from Venezuela in 1501 in search of gold, was the first European to explore the isthmus of Panama. A year later, Christopher Columbus visited the isthmus and established a short-lived settlement in the Darien. Vasco Núñez de Balboa's tortuous trek from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1513 demonstrated that the Isthmus was, indeed, the path between the seas, and Panama quickly became the crossroads and marketplace of Spain's empire in the New World. Gold and silver were brought by ship from South America, hauled across the isthmus, and loaded aboard ships for Spain. The route became known as the Camino Real, or Royal Road, although it was more commonly known as Camino de Cruces (Road of the Crosses) because of the abundance of gravesites along the way.

Panama was part of the Spanish Empire for 300 years (1538–1821). From the outset, Panamanian identity was based on a sense of "geographic destiny", and Panamanian fortunes fluctuated with the geopolitical importance of the isthmus. The colonial experience also spawned Panamanian nationalism as well as a racially complex and highly stratified society, the source of internal conflicts that ran counter to the unifying force of nationalism.

In 1538, the Real Audiencia de Panama was established, initially with jurisdiction from Nicaragua to Cape Horn before the conquest of Peru. A Real Audiencia (royal audiency) was a judicial district that functioned as an appeals court. Each audiencia had oidores (Spanish: hearer, a judge).

Spanish authorities exercised little control over much of the territory of Panama, large sections managing to resist conquest until very late in the colonial era. Because of this, indigenous people of the area were often referred to as "indios de guerra" (war Indians), and resisted Spanish attempts to conquer them or missionize them. However, Panama was enormously important to Spain strategically because it was the easiest way to transship silver mined in Peru to Europe. Silver cargos were landed at Panama, and then taken overland to Portobello or Nombre de Dios on the Caribbean side of the isthmus for further shipment.

Because of the incomplete Spanish control, the Panama route was vulnerable to attack from pirates (mostly Dutch and English) and from 'new world' Africans called cimarrons who had freed themselves from enslavement and lived in communes or palenques around the Camino Real in Panama's Interior, and on some of the islands off Panama's Pacific coast. One such famous community amounted to a small kingdom under Bayano, which emerged in the 1552 to 1558. Sir Francis Drake's famous raids on Panama in 1572–73 were aided by Panama cimarrons, and Spanish authorities were only able to bring them under control by making an alliance with them that guaranteed their freedom in exchange for military support in 1582.

Panama was the site of the ill-fated Darien scheme, which set up a Scottish colony in the region in 1698. This failed for a number of reasons, and the ensuing debt contributed to the union of England and Scotland in 1707.

When Panama was colonized, the indigenous peoples who survived many diseases, massacres and enslavement of the conquest ultimately fled into the forest and nearby islands. Indian slaves were replaced by Africans.

The prosperity enjoyed during the first two centuries (1540–1740) while contributing to colonial growth; the placing of extensive regional judicial authority (Real Audiencia) as part of its jurisdiction; and the pivotal role it played at the height of the Spanish Empire -the first modern global empire- helped define a distinctive sense of autonomy and of regional or national identity within Panama well before the rest of the colonies.

In 1744, Bishop Francisco Javier de Luna Victoria DeCastro established the College of San Ignacio de Loyola and on June 3, 1749 founded La Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Javier. By this time, however, Panama's importance and influence had become insignificant as Spain's power dwindled in Europe and advances in navigation technique increasingly permitted to round Cape Horn in order to reach the Pacific. While the Panama route was short it was also labor intensive and expensive because of the loading and unloading and laden-down trek required to get from the one coast to the other.

During the last half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, migrations to the countryside decreased Panama City's population and the isthmus' economy shifted from the tertiary to the primary sector.

In 1717, the viceroyalty of New Granada (northern South America) was created in response to other Europeans trying to take Spanish territory in the Caribbean region. The Isthmus of Panama was placed under its jurisdiction.

However, the remoteness of Santa Fe de Bogotá proved a greater obstacle than the Spanish crown anticipated as the authority of New Granada was contested by the seniority, closer proximity, previous ties to the viceroyalty of Lima and even Panama's own initiative. This uneasy relationship between Panama and Bogotáwould persist for a century or two.

Modern Panamanian history has been shaped by its transisthmian canal, which had been a dream since the beginning of Spanish colonization. From 1880 to 1890, a French company under Ferdinand de Lesseps attempted unsuccessfully to construct a sea-level canal on the site of the present Panama Canal.

On the other hand, the Panamanian movement for independence can be indirectly attributed to the abolishment of the encomienda system in Azuero, set forth by the Spanish Crown, in 1558 because of repeated protests by locals against the mistreatment of the native population. In its stead, a system of medium and smaller-sized landownership was promoted, thus taking away the power from the large landowners and into the hands of medium and small sized proprietors.

The end of the encomienda system in Azuero, however, sparked the conquest of Veraguas in that same year. Under the leadership of Francisco Vázquez, the region of Veraguas passed into Castillan rule in 1558. In the newly conquered region, the old system of encomienda was imposed.

1800s:

On November 10, 1821, the Grito de La Villa de Los Santos (Cry From the Town of Saints) occurred. It was a unilateral decision by the residents of Azuero (without backing from Panama City) to declare their separation from the Spanish Empire. In both Veraguas and the capital this act was met with disdain, although on differing levels. To Veraguas, it was the ultimate act of treason, while to the capital, it was seen as inefficient and irregular, and furthermore forced them to accelerate their plans.

The Grito was an event that shook the isthmus to the core. It was a sign, on the part of the residents of Azuero, of their antagonism towards the independence movement in the capital, who in turn regarded the Azueran movement with contempt, since the separatists in Panama believed that their counterparts in Azuero were fighting President Carter shakes hands selfishly for their right to rule, once the peninsulares(Spaniards born with General Torrijos of Panama in the Iberian peninsula) were long gone.

It was an incredibly brave move on the part of Azuero, which lived in after signing the Panama Canal fear of Colonel José de Fábrega, and with good reason: the Colonel Treaty. was a staunch loyalist, and had the entirety of the isthmus' military supplies in his hands. They feared quick retaliation and swift retribution against the separatists.

What they had counted on, however, was the influence of the separatists in the capital. Ever since October 1821, when the former Governor General, Juan de la Cruz Murgeón, left the isthmus on a campaign in Quito and left the Veraguan colonel in charge, the separatists had been slowly converting Fábrega to the separatist side. As such, by November 10, Fábrega was now a supporter of the independence movement. Soon after the separatist declaration of Los Santos, Fábrega convened every organization in the capital with separatist interests and formally declared the city's support for independence. No military repercussions occurred because of the skillful bribing of royalist troops.

Post-colonial Panama:

In the first eighty years following independence from Spain, Panama was a department of Colombia, since voluntarily becoming part of it at the end of 1821. The people of the isthmus made several attempts to secede and came close to success in 1831, and again during the Thousand Days War of 1899–1902. When the Senate of Colombia rejected the Hay-Herran Treaty, the United States decided to support the Panamanian independence movement. In November 1903, Panama proclaimed its independence and concluded the Hay/Bunau-Varilla Treaty with the United States.

The treaty granted rights to the United States "as if it were sovereign" in a zone roughly 10 miles (16 km) wide and 50 miles (80 km) long. In that zone, the U.S. would build a canal, then administer, fortify, and defend it "in perpetuity."

In 1914, the United States completed the existing 83 km (52 mi) canal. The early 1960s saw the beginning of sustained pressure in Panama for the renegotiation of this treaty.

From 1903 until 1968, Panama was a constitutional democracy dominated by a commercially oriented oligarchy.

During the 1950s, the Panamanian military began to challenge the oligarchy's political hegemony.

Amidst negotiations for the Robles-Johnson treaty, Panama held elections in 1967. The candidates were Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid, Antonio González Revilla, and Engineer David Samudio, who had the government's support. Samudio was the candidate of Alianza del Pueblo ("People's Alliance"), Arias Madrid was the candidate of Unión Nacional ("National Union"), and González Revilla was the candidate ofDemocracia Cristiana ("Christian Democrats") (see Pizzurno Gelós and Araúz, Estudios sobre el Panamá republicano 508). Arias Madrid was declared the winner of elections that were marked by violence and accusations of fraud against Alianza del Pueblo. On October 1, 1968, Arias Madrid took office as president of Panama, promising to lead a government of "national union" that would end the reigning corruption and pave the way for a new Panama. A week and a half later, on October 11, 1968, the National Guard (Guardia Nacional) ousted Arias and initiated the downward spiral that would culminate with the United States' invasion in 1989. Arias, who had promised to respect the hierarchy of the National Guard, broke the pact and started a large restructuring of the Guard. To preserve the Guard's interests, Lieutenant ColonelOmar Torrijos Herrera and Major Boris Martínez commanded the first coup of a military force against a civilian government in Panamanian republican history (see Pizzurno Gelós and Araúz, Estudios sobre el Panamá republicano 523).

The military justified itself by declaring that Arias Madrid was trying to install a dictatorship, and promised a return to constitutional rule. In the meantime, the Guard began a series of populist measures that would gain support for the coup. Amongst them were the freezing of prices on food, medicine and other goods until January 31, 1969, the freezing of renting prices, and the legalization of the permanence of squatting families in boroughs surrounding the historic site of Panama Viejo. Parallel to this, the military began a policy of repression against the opposition, who were labeled communists. The military appointed a Provisional Government Junta that would arrange new elections.

However, the National Guard would prove to be very reluctant to abandon power and soon began calling itself El Gobierno Revolucionario ("The Revolutionary Government").

Post-1970:

During Omar Torrijos's control, the military regime transformed the political and economic structure of the country by initiating massive coverage of social security services and expanding public education.

The constitution was changed in 1972. For the reform to the constitution, the military created a new organization, the Assembly of Corregimiento Representatives, which replaced the National Assembly.

The new assembly, also known as the Poder Popular ("Power of the People"), was composed of 505 members selected by the military without the participation of political parties, which had been eliminated by the military. The new constitution proclaimed Omar Torrijos the "Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution," and conceded him unlimited power for six years, although, to keep a façade of constitutionality, Demetrio B. Lakas was appointed president for the same period (Pizzurno Gelós and Araúz, Estudios sobre el Aftermath of urban warfare during Panamá republicano 541). In 1981, Torrijos died in a planecrash. It the U.S. invasion of Panama. has been widely speculated that his death was a CIA assassination due to his resistance to renegotiate the Panama Canal Treaty, negotiated under the Carter administration, with President Ronald Reagan. Torrijos' death altered the tone of Panama's political evolution. Despite the 1983 constitutional amendments, which proscribed a political role for the military, the Panama Defense Forces (PDF), as they were then known, continued to dominate Panamanian political life. By this time, General Manuel Noriega was firmly in control of both the PDF and the civilian government.

In the 1984 elections, the candidates were Nicolás Ardito Barletta Vallarino, supported by the military in a union called UNADE; Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid, for the opposition union ADO; the ex-General Rubén Darío Paredes, who had been forced to an early retirement by Noriega, running for Partido Nacionalista Popular PNP ("Popular Nationalist Party"), and Carlos Iván Zúñiga, running for Partido Acción Popular (PAPO) meaning "Popular Action Party". Nicolás Ardito Barleta was declared the winner of elections that had been clearly won by Arnulfo Arias Madrid. Ardito Barletta inherited a country in economic ruin and hugely indebted to the IMF and the World Bank. Amidst the economic crisis and Barletta's efforts to calm the country's creditors, street protests arose, and so did military repression.

Meanwhile, Noriega's regime had fostered the development of a well-hidden criminal economy that operated as a parallel source of income for the military and their allies, providing revenues from drugs and money laundering. Towards the end of the military dictatorship, a new wave of Chinese migrants arrived on the isthmus in the hope of migrating to the United States. The smuggling of Chinese became an enormous business, with revenues of up to 200 million dollars for Noriega's regime.

The military dictatorship, at that time supported by the United States, perpetrated the assassination and torture of more than one hundred Panamanians and forced into exile at least another hundred dissidents (see Zárate 15).

Noriega also began playing a double role in Central America under the supervision of the CIA. While the Contadora group conducted diplomatic efforts to achieve peace in the region, Noriega supplied the Nicaraguan Contras and other guerrillas in the region with weapons and ammunition (Pizzurno Gelós and Araúz, Estudios sobre el Panamá republicano 602).

On June 6, 1987, the recently retired Colonel Roberto Díaz Herrera, resentful for Noriega's violation of the "Torrijos Plan" of succession that would turn him into the chief of the military after Noriega, decided to denounce the regime.

He revealed details of the electoral fraud, accused Noriega of planning Torrijos's death, declared that Torrijos had received 12 million dollars from the Shah of Iran so that Panama would give the exiled Iranian leader asylum, and blamed Noriega for the assassination by decapitation of opposition leader Dr. Hugo Spadafora (Pizzurno Gelós and Araúz, Estudios sobre el Panamá republicano 618).

On the night of June 9, 1987, the Cruzada Civilista ("Civic Crusade") was created and began organizing actions of civil disobedience. The Crusade called for a general strike. In response, the military suspended constitutional rights and declared a state of emergency in the country. On July 10, the Civic Crusade called for a massive demonstration that was violently repressed by the "Dobermans," the military's special riot control unit. That day, later known as El Viernes Negro ("Black Friday"), left six hundred people injured and another six hundred detained, many of whom were later tortured and raped.

United States President Ronald Reagan began a series of sanctions against the military regime. The United States froze economic and military assistance to Panama in the summer of 1987 in response to the domestic political crisis in Panama and an attack on the U.S. Embassy. Yet these sanctions did little to overthrow Noriega but instead severely damaged Panama's economy. The sanctions hit the Panamanian population hard and caused the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to decline almost 25 percent between 1987–1989 (see Acosta n.p.).

On February 5, 1988, General Manuel Antonio Noriega was accused of drug trafficking by federal juries in Tampa and Miami.

In April 1988, the U.S. President Ronald Reagan invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, freezing Panamanian government assets in all U.S. organizations. In May 1989 Panamanians voted overwhelmingly for the anti-Noriega candidates. The Noriega regime promptly annulled the election and embarked on a new round of repression.

On 19 December, President George H. W. Bush decided to use force against Panama, declaring that the operation was necessary to safeguard the lives of U.S. citizens in Panama, defend democracy and human rights, combat drug trafficking, and secure the functioning of the Canal as required by the Torrijos-Carter Treaties (New York Times, A Transcript of President Bush's Address n.p.).

Operation Just Cause was justified by the United States as necessary to secure the functioning of the Canal and reestablish democracy in the country. Although described as a surgical maneuver, the action led to civilian deaths whose estimated numbers range from 400 to 4,000 during the two weeks of armed activities in the largest United States military operation since the end of theVietnam War. For some commentators, the action was not intended only to rid Panama of the dictatorship but served also to reinforce United States authority over the region right at the end of the Cold War, as well as use Panama as practice field for weapons and strategies that would shortly after be used in the Gulf War (Cajar Páez 22).

The urban population, living below the poverty level, was greatly affected by the 1989 invasion, becoming the ‘collateral cost’ of thedemocratization of the country. As pointed out in 1995 by a UN Technical Assistance Mission to Panama, the bombardments during the invasion caused the displacement of 20,000 persons. The most stricken district was El Chorrillo where several blocks of apartments were completely destroyed. El Chorrillo had been since Canal construction days a series of wooden barracks; these easily caught fire under the United States attack. According to the Technical Mission, the displaced were segregated to unfinished USAID dwellings, far from communications and basic services, or were sent back to live in El Chorrillo's new low-standard multi-family buildings constructed hastily by the Panamanian government in replacement of their lost homes (see Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, n.p.). As stated by respondents in a 2005 survey conducted in El Chorrillo, after the invasion, crime and drug trafficking increased, and living conditions in the neighborhood worsened. Coleen Acosta points out that "the intervention added further to (Panama's) economic decline. Some sections of Panama City were heavily damaged, leaving thousands homeless, and subsequent looting left businesses with damages in the hundreds of millions. The economic damage caused by the invasion and subsequent civil disobedience has been estimated to be between 1.5 and 2 billion dollars (...) Unemployment rose to record highs as the government infrastructure was left in chaos. According to the Chamber of Commerce, 10,000 employees lost their jobs in the aftermath of the war (n.p.).

The U.S. troops involved in Operation Just Cause achieved their primary objectives, and Noriega eventually surrendered to U.S. authorities. He completed his sentence for drug trafficking charges in September 2007. In August 2007, a U.S. federal court in Miami found Noriega extraditable to France, where he was convicted in absentia for money laundering. Noriega was extradited to France on April 26, 2010 and his trial started on June 28, 2010 in Paris, France. On July 7, 2010, Noriega was convicted by the 11th chamber of the Tribunal Correctionnel de Paris, and sentenced to seven years in jail. The prosecutor in the case had sought a ten-year prison term. In addition, €2.3 million (approximately US$3.6 million) that has long been frozen in Noriega's French bank accounts was ordered to be seized.

Post-invasion era:

Panama's Electoral Tribunal moved quickly to rebuild the civilian constitutional government, reinstated the results of the May 1989 election on December 27, 1989, and confirmed the victory of President Guillermo Endara and Vice Presidents Guillermo Ford and Ricardo Arias Calderon.

During its five-year term, the often-fractious government struggled to meet the public's high expectations.

Its new police force was a major improvement over its predecessor but was not fully able to deter crime.

Ernesto Pérez Balladares was sworn in as President on September 1, 1994, after an internationally monitored election campaign.

Though Panama suffered heavy economic upPerez Balladares ran as the candidate for a three-party coalition dominated by the Democratic Revolutionary heavals because of military warfare, it has Party (PRD), the erstwhile political arm of military dic- managed to rebuild its economy as one of the tatorships. Perez Balladares worked skillfully during the fastest growing in the world. campaign to rehabilitate the PRD's image, emphasizing the party's populist Torrijos roots rather than its association with Noriega. He won the election with only 33% of the vote when the major non-PRD forces splintered into competing factions. His administration carried out economic reforms and often worked closely with the U.S. on implementation of the Canal treaties.

On September 1, 1999, Mireya Moscoso, the widow of former President Arnulfo Arias Madrid, took office after defeating PRD candidateMartin Torrijos, son of Omar Torrijos, in a free and fair election. During her administration, Moscoso attempted to strengthen social programs, especially for child and youth development, protection, and general welfare. Moscoso's administration successfully handled the Panama Canal transfer and was effective in the administration of the Canal.

The PRD's Martin Torrijos won the presidency and a legislative majority in the National Assembly in 2004. Torrijos ran his campaign on a platform of, among other pledges, a "zero tolerance" for corruption, a problem endemic to the Moscoso and Perez Balladares administrations. After taking office, Torrijos passed a number of laws which made the government more transparent. He formed a National Anti-Corruption Council whose members represented the highest levels of government, as well as civil society, labor organizations, and religious leadership. In addition, many of his closest Cabinet ministers were non-political technocrats known for their support for the Torrijos government's anti-corruption aims. Despite the Torrijos administration's public stance on corruption, many high-profile cases, particularly involving political or business elites, were never acted upon.

Conservative supermarket magnate Ricardo Martinelli was elected to succeed Martin Torrijos with a landslide victory at the May 2009 presidential election. Mr. Martinelli's business credentials drew voters worried by slowing growth due to the world financial crisis. Standing for the four-party opposition Alliance for Change, Mr. Martinelli gained 60% of the vote, against 37% for the candidate of the governing left-wing Democratic Revolutionary Party.

October Revolution Day - Nov 07 Ukraine, Belarus, Russia The October Revolution (Russian: Октябрьская революция, Oktyabr'skaya revolyutsiya), also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (Russian:Великая Октябрьская социалистическая революция, Velikaya Oktuabr'skaya sotsialistichkaya revolyutsiya), Red October, the October Uprising or theBolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917. It took place with an armed insurrection in Petrograd traditionally dated to 25 October 1917 Old Style Julian Calendar (O.S.), which corresponds with 7 November 1917 New Style (N.S.). Gregorian Calendar.

It followed and capitalized on the February Revolution of the same year. The October Revolution in Petrograd overthrew the Russian Provisional Government and gave the power to the local soviets dominated by Bolsheviks. As the revolution was not universally recognized outside of Petrograd there followed the struggles of theRussian Civil War (1917– 1922) and the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922.

The revolution was led by the Bolsheviks, who used their influence in the Petrograd Soviet to organize the armed forces. Bolshevik Red Guards forces under the Military Revolutionary Committee began the takeover of government buildings on 24 October 1917 (O.S.). The following day, the Winter Palace (the seat of the Provisional government located in Petrograd, then capital of Russia), was captured.

Etymology

Initially, the event was referred to as the October coup (Октябрьский переворот) or the Uprising of 25th, as seen in contemporary documents (for example, in the first editions of Lenin's complete works). With time, the term October Revolution came into use. It is also known as the "November Revolution" having occurred in November according to the Gregorian Calendar.

The Great October Socialist Revolution (Russian: Великая Октябрьская Социалистическая Революция, Velikaya Oktyabr'skaya sotsialisticheskaya revolyutsiya) was the official name for the October Revolution in the Soviet Union after the 10th anniversary of the Revolution in 1927.

Background Nationwide crisis had developed in Russia affect-

ing social, economic, and political relations. Disorder in industry and transport had intensified, and difficulties in obtaining provisions had increased. Gross industrial production in 1917 had decreased by over 36 percent from what it had been in 1916. In the autumn, as much as 50 percent of all enterprises were closed down in the Urals, the Donbas, and other industrial centers, leading to mass unemployment. At the same time, the cost of living increased sharply. The real wages of the workers fell about 50 percent from what they had been in 1913. Russia's national debt in October 1917 had risen to 50 billion rubles. Of this, debts to foreign governments constituted more than 11 billion rubles. The country faced the threat of financial bankruptcy.

In September and October 1917, there were strikes by the Moscow and Petrograd workers, the miners of the Donbas, the metalworkers of the Urals, the oil workers ofBaku, the textile workers of the Central Industrial Region, and the railroad workers on 44 different railway lines. In these months alone more than a million workers took part in mass strike action. Workers established control over production and distribution in many factories and plants in a social revolution.

By October 1917 there had been over four thousand peasant uprisings against landowners.

When the Provisional Government sent out punitive detachments it only enraged the peasants.

The garrisons in Petrograd, Moscow, and other cities, the Northern and Western fronts, and the sailors of the Baltic Fleet in September openly declared through their elected representative body Tsentrobalt that they did not recognize the authority of the Provisional Government and would not carry out any of its commands.

In a diplomatic note of the 1 May, the minister of foreign affairs, Pavel Milyukov, expressed the Provisional Government's desire to carry the war against the Central Powers through "to a victorious conclusion", arousing broad indignation. On 1–4 May about 100,000 workers and soldiers of Petrograd, and after them the workers and soldiers of other cities, led by the Bolsheviks, demonstrated under banners reading "Down with the war!" and "all power to the soviets!" The mass demonstrations resulted in a crisis for the Provisional Government.

1 July saw more demonstrations, as about 500,000 workers and soldiers in Petrograd demonstrated, again demanding "all power to the soviets", "down with the war", and "down with the ten capitalist ministers". The Provisional Government opened an offensive against them on 1 July but it soon collapsed. The news of the offensive and its collapse intensified the struggle of the workers and the soldiers. A new crisis in the Provisional Government began on 15 July.

On 16 July spontaneous demonstrations of workers and soldiers began in Petrograd, demanding that power be turned over to the soviets. The Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party provided leadership to the spontaneous movements. On 17 July, over 500,000 people participated in a peaceful demonstration in Petrograd, the so-called July Days. The Provisional Government, with the support of the Socialist-Revolutionary PartyMenshevik leaders of the All-Russian Executive Committee of the Soviets, ordered an armed attack against the demonstrators. Fifty-six people were killed and 650 were wounded.

A period of repression followed. On 5–6 July attacks were made on the editorial offices and printing presses of Pravda and on the Palace of Kshesinskaia, where the Central Committee and the Petrograd Committee of the Bolsheviks were located. On 7 July a government decree ordering the arrest and trial of Vladimir Lenin was published.

He was forced to go underground, just as he had been under the Tsarist regime. Bolsheviks began to be arrested, workers were disarmed, and revolutionary military units in Petrograd were disbanded or sent off to the front. On 12 July the Provisional Government published a law introducing the death penalty at the front. The formation of the second coalition government, with Alexander Kerensky as chairman, was completed on 24 July.

Another problem for the government centered around General Lavr Kornilov, who had been Commander-in-Chief since 18 July. In response to a Bolshevik appeal, Moscow’s working class began a protest strike of 400,000 workers.

The Moscow workers were supported by strikes and protest rallies by workers in Kiev, Kharkov, Nizhny Novgorod, Ekaterinburg, and other cities.

In what became known as the Kornilov Affair, Kornilov directed an army under Aleksandr Krymov to march toward Petrograd with Kerensky's agreement. Although the details remain sketchy, Kerensky appeared to become frightened by the possibility of a coup and the order was countermanded (historian Richard Pipes is quite adamant that the whole episode was engineered by Kerensky himself). On 27 August, feeling betrayed by the Kerenksy government who had previously agreed with his views on how to restore order to Russia, Kornilov pushed on towards Petrograd.

With few troops to spare on the front, Kerensky was forced to turn to the Petrograd Soviet for help. Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries confronted the army and convinced them to stand down. The damage was already done, however. Right-wingers felt betrayed, and the left wing was resurgent.

With Kornilov defeated, the Bolsheviks' popularity with the soviets significantly increased. During and after the defeat of Kornilov a mass turn of the soviets toward the Bolsheviks began, both in the central and local areas. On 31 August the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies and on 5 September the Moscow Soviet Workers Deputies adopted the Bolshevik resolutions on the question of power. The Bolsheviks won a majority in the Soviets of Briansk, Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn, Minsk, Kiev, Tashkent, and other cities. In one day alone, 1 September, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets received demands from 126 local soviets urging it to take power into its own hands.

Origins and history in Engla

Religious significance:

Festivities in Windsor Castle by Paul Sandby, c. 1776

According to historian and author Antonia Fraser, a study of the earliest sermons preached demonstrates an anti-Catholic concentration "mystical in its fervour".

Delivering one of five 5 November sermons printed in A Mappe of Rome in 1612, Thomas Taylor spoke of the "generality of his [a papist's] cruelty," which had been "almost without bounds". Such messages were also spread in printed works like Francis Herring's Pietas Pontifica (republished in 1610 as Popish Piety), and John Rhode's A Brief Summe of the Treason intended against the King & State, which in 1606 sought to educate "the simple and ignorant ... that they be not seduced any longer by papists". By the 1620s 5 November was honoured in market towns and villages across the country, though it was some years before it was commemorated throughout England. Gunpowder Treason Day, as it was then known, became the predominant English state commemoration. Some parishes made the day a festive occasion, with public drinking and solemn processions. Concerned though about James's pro-Spanish foreign policy, the decline of international Protestantism, and Catholicism in general, Protestant clergymen who recognised the day's significance called for more dignified and profound thanksgivings each 5 November.

What unity English Protestants had shared in 1606 began to fade when in 1625 James's son, the future Charles I, married the CatholicHenrietta Maria of France. Puritans reacted to the marriage by issuing a new prayer to warn against rebellion and Catholicism, and on 5 November that year, effigies of the pope and the devil were burnt, the earliest such report of this practice and the beginning of centuries of tradition. During Charles's reign Gunpowder Treason Day became increasingly partisan. Between 1629 and 1640 he ruled without Parliament, and he seemed to support Arminianism, regarded by Puritans like Henry Burton as a step toward Catholicism. By 1636, under the leadership of the Arminian Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud, the English church was trying to use 5 November to denounce all seditious practices, and not just popery. Puritans went on the defensive, some pressing for further reformation of the Church.

Bonfire Night, as it was occasionally known, assumed a new fervour during the events leading up to the English Interregnum. Although Royalists disputed their interpretations, Parliamentariansbegan to uncover or fear new Catholic plots. Preaching before the House of Commons on 5 November 1644, Charles Herle claimed that Papists were tunnelling "from Oxford, Rome, Hell, to Westminster, and there to blow up, if possible, the better foundations of your houses, their liberties and privileges". A display in 1647 at Lincoln's Inn Fields commemorated "God's great mercy in delivering this kingdom from the hellish plots of papists", and included fireballs burning in the water (symbolising a Catholic association with "infernal spirits") and fireboxes, their many rockets suggestive of "popish spirits coming from below" to enact plots against the king. Effigies of Fawkes and the pope were present, the latter represented by Pluto, Greek god of the underworld.

Following Charles I's execution in 1649, the country's new republican regime remained undecided on how to treat 5 November. Unlike the old system of religious feasts and State anniversaries, it survived, but as a celebration of parliamentary government and Protestantism, and not of monarchy. Commonly the day was still marked by bonfires and miniature explosives, but formal celebrations resumed only with the Restoration, when Charles II became king.

Courtiers, High Anglicans and Tories followed the official line, that the event marked God's preservation of the English throne, but generally the celebrations became more diverse. By 1670 London apprentices had turned 5 November into a fire festival, attacking not only popery but also "sobriety and good order", demanding money from coach occupants for alcohol and bonfires. The burning of effigies, largely unknown to the Jacobeans, continued in 1673 when Charles's brother, the Duke of York, converted to Catholicism. In response, accompanied by a procession of about 1,000 people, the apprentices fired an effigy of the Whore of Babylon, bedecked with a range of papal symbols. Similar scenes occurred over the following few years. In 1677 elements of Queen Elizabeth's Accession Day celebration of 17 November were incorporated into the Fifth, with the burning of large bonfires, a large effigy of the pope—his belly filled with live cats "who squalled most hideously as soon as they felt the fire"—and two effigies of devils "whispering in his ear". Two years later, as the exclusion crisis was reaching its zenith, an observer noted the "many bonfires and burning of popes as has ever been seen". Violent scenes in 1682 forced London's militia into action, and to prevent any repetition the following year a proclamation was issued, banning bonfires and fireworks.

Fireworks were also banned under James II, who became king in 1685. Attempts by the government to tone down Gunpowder Treason Day celebrations were, however, largely unsuccessful, and some reacted to a ban on bonfires in London (born from a fear of more burnings of the pope's effigy) by placing candles in their windows, "as a witness against Catholicism". When James was deposed in 1688 by William of Orange—who importantly, landed in England on 5 November—the day's events turned also to the celebration of freedom and religion, with elements of anti-Jacobitism.

While the earlier ban on bonfires was politically motivated, a ban on fireworks was maintained for safety reasons, "much mischief having been done by squibs".

Guy Fawkes Daye:

William's birthday fell on 4 November, and for orthodox Whigs the two days therefore became an important double anniversary. He ordered that the thanksgiving service for 5 November be amended to include thanks for his "happy arrival" and "the Deliverance of our Church and Nation". In the 1690s he re-established Protestant rule An effigy of Guy Fawkes, burnt on 5 in Ireland, and the Fifth, occasionally marked by the ringing of church November 2010 at Billericay in bells and civic dinners, was consequently eclipsed by his birthday Essex commemorations. From the 19th century, 5 November celebrations there became sectarian in nature, and to this day its celebration in Northern Ireland remains controversial. In England though, as one of 49 official holidays, for the ruling class 5 November became overshadowed by events such as the birthdays of Admiral Edward Vernon, or John Wilkes, and under George II and George III, with the exception of the Jacobite Rising of 1745, it was largely "a polite entertainment rather than an occasion for vitriolic thanksgiving". For the lower classes, however, the anniversary was a chance to pit disorder against order, a pretext for violence and uncontrolled revelry. At some point, for reasons that are unclear, it became customary to burn Guy Fawkes in effigy, rather than the pope. Gradually, Gunpowder Treason Day became Guy Fawkes Day. In 1790 The Timesreported instances of children "...begging for money for Guy Faux", and a report of 4 November 1802 described how "a set of idle fellows ... with some horrid figure dressed up as a Guy Faux" were convicted of begging and receiving money, and committed to prison as "idle and disorderly persons". The Fifth became "a polysemous occasion, replete with polyvalent cross-referencing, meaning all things to all men". Lower class rioting continued, with reports in Lewes of annual rioting, intimidation of "respectable householders" and the rolling through the streets of lit tar barrels. In Guildford, gangs of revellers who called themselves "guys" terrorised the local population; proceedings were concerned more with the settling of old arguments and general mayhem, than any historical reminiscences. Similar problems arose in Exeter, originally the scene of more traditional celebrations. In 1831 an effigy was burnt of the new Bishop of Exeter Henry Phillpotts, a High Church Anglican and High Tory who opposed Parliamentary reform, and who was also suspected of being involved in "creeping popery". A local ban on fireworks in 1843 was largely ignored, and attempts by the authorities to suppress the celebrations resulted in violent protests and several injured constables.

On several occasions during the 19th century The Times reported that the tradition was in decline, being "of late years almost forgotten", but in the opinion of historian David Cressy, such reports reflected "other Victorian trends", including a lessening of Protestant religious zeal—not general observance of the Fifth. Civil unrest brought about by the union of the Kingdoms of Great Britainand Ireland in 1800 resulted in Parliament passing the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, which afforded Catholics greater civil rights, continuing the process of Catholic Emancipation in the two kingdoms. The traditional denunciations of Catholicism had been in decline since the early 18th century, and were thought by many, including Queen Victoria, to be outdated, but the pope's restoration in 1850 of the English Catholic hierarchy gave renewed significance to 5 November, as demonstrated by the burnings of effigies of the new Catholic Archbishop of Westminster Nicholas Wiseman, and the pope. At Farringdon Market 14 effigies were processed from the Strand and over Westminster Bridge to Southwark, while extensive demonstrations were held throughout the suburbs of London. Effigies of the twelve new English Catholic bishops were paraded through Exeter, already the scene of severe public disorder on each anniversary of the Fifth. Gradually, however, such scenes became less popular. The thanksgiving prayer of 5 November contained in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer was abolished, with little resistance in Parliament, and in March 1859 the Anniversary Days Observance Act repealed the original 1606 Act. As the authorities dealt with the worst excesses, public decorum was gradually restored. The sale of fireworks was restricted, and the Guildford "guys" were neutered in 1865, although this was too late for one constable, who died of his wounds.

Violence continued in Exeter for some years, peaking in 1867, when incensed by rising food prices and banned from firing their customary bonfire, a mob was twice in one night driven from Cathedral Close by armed infantry. Further riots occurred in 1879, but there were no more bonfires in Cathedral Close after 1894. Elsewhere, sporadic instances of public disorder persisted late into the 20th century, accompanied by large numbers of firework-related accidents, but a national Firework Code and improved public safety has in most cases brought an end to such things.

Similarities with other customs:

Historians have often suggested that Guy Fawkes Day served as a Protestant replacement for the ancientCeltic and Nordic festivals of Samhain, pagan events that the church absorbed and transformed into All Hallow's Eve and All Souls' Day. In The Golden Bough, the Scottish anthropologist James George Frazersuggested that Guy Fawkes Day exemplifies "the recrudescence of old customs in modern shapes". David Underdown, writing in his 1987 work Revel, Riot, and Rebellion, viewed Gunpowder Treason Day as a replacement for Hallowe'en: "just as the early church had taken over many of the pagan feasts, so did Protestants acquire their own rituals, adapting older forms or providing substitutes for them". While the use of bonfires to mark the occasion was most likely taken from the ancient practice of lighting celebratory bonfires, the idea that the commemoration of 5 November 1605 ever originated from anything other than the safety of James I is, according to David Cressy, "speculative nonsense". Citing Cressy's work, Ronald Hutton agrees with his conclusion, writing, "There is, in brief, nothing to link the Hallowe'en fires of North Wales, Man, and central Scotland with those which appeared in England upon 5 November." Further confusion arises in Northern Ireland, where some communities celebrate Guy Fawkes Night; the distinction there between the Fifth, and Halloween, is not always clear. Despite such disagreements, in 2005 David Cannadine commented on the encroachment into British culture of late 20th-century American Hallowe'en celebrations, and their effect on Guy Fawkes Night: Nowadays, family bonfire gatherings are much less popular, and many once-large civic celebrations have been given up because of increasingly intrusive health and safety regulations. But 5 November has also been overtaken by a popular festival that barely existed when I was growing up, and that is Halloween ... Britain is not the Protestant nation it was when I was young: it is now a multi-faith society. And the Americanised Halloween is sweeping all before it—a vivid reminder of just how powerfully American culture and American consumerism can be transported across the Atlantic.

Another celebration involving fireworks, the five-day Hindu festival of Diwali (normally observed between midOctober and November), in 2010 began on 5 November.

This led The Independent to comment on the similarities between the two, its reporter Kevin Rawlinson wondering "which fireworks will burn brightest".

In other countries

Gunpowder Treason Day was exported by settlers to Revellers in Lewes, 5 November 2010 colonies around the world. Although initially the commemoration was paid scant attention, the arrest of two boys caught lighting bonfires on 5 November 1662 in Boston suggests, in historian James Sharpe's view, that "an underground tradition of commemorating the Fifth existed". In parts of North America it was known as Pope Day, celebrated mainly in colonial New England, but also as far south as Charleston. In Boston, founded in 1630 by Puritan settlers led by John Winthrop, an early celebration was held in 1685, the same year that James II assumed the throne. Fifty years later, again in Boston, a local minister wrote "a Great number of people went over to Dorchester neck where at night they made a Great Bonfire and plaid off many fireworks", although the day ended in tragedy when "4 young men coming home in a Canoe were all Drowned." Ten years later the raucous celebrations were the cause of considerable annoyance to the upper classes and a special Riot Act was passed, to prevent "riotous tumultuous and disorderly assemblies of more than three persons, all or any of them armed with Sticks, Clubs or and kind of weapons, or disguised with vizards, or painted or discolored faces, on in any manner disgused, having any kind of imagery or pageantry, in any street, lane, or place in Boston." With inadequate resources, however, Boston's authorities were powerless to enforce the Act. In the 1740s gang violence became common, with groups of Boston residents battling for the honour of burning the pope's effigy. By the mid-1760s the riots had subsided, and as colonial America moved towards revolution, the class rivalries featured during Pope Day gave way to anti-British sentiment.

The passage in 1774 of the Quebec Act, which guaranteed French Canadians free practice of Catholicism in the Province of Quebec, provoked complaints from some Americans that the British were introducing "Popish principles and French law" to Quebec. These fears were bolstered by the opposition from the Church in Europe to American independence, threatening a revival of Pope Day. Commenting in 1775, George Washington was less than impressed by the thought of any such resurrections, forbidding any under his command from participating:

As the Commander in Chief has been apprized of a design form'd for the observance of that ridiculous and childish custom of burning the Effigy of the pope— He cannot help expressing his surprise that there should be Officers and Soldiers in this army so void of common sense, as not to see the impropriety of such a step at this Juncture; at a Time when we are solliciting, and have really obtain'd, the friendship and alliance of the people of Canada, whom we ought to consider as Brethren embarked in the same Cause. The defence of the general Liberty of America: At such a juncture, and in such Circumstances, to be insulting their Religion, is so monstrous, as not to be suffered or excused; indeed instead of offering the most remote insult, it is our duty to address public thanks to these our Brethren, as to them we are so much indebted for every late happy Success over the common Enemy in Canada.

Generally, following Washington's complaint, American colonists stopped observing Pope Day, although according to The Bostonian Society some citizens of Boston celebrated it on one final occasion, in 1776. The tradition continued in Salem as late as 1817, and was still observed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1892. In the late 18th century, effigies of prominent figures such as two Prime Ministers of Great Britain, the Earl of Bute and Lord North, and the American traitor General Benedict Arnold, were also burnt. In the 1880s bonfires were still being burnt in some New England coastal towns, although no longer to commemorate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot. In the area around New York, stacks of barrels were burnt on election day eve, which after 1845 was a Tuesday early in November.

Revolution Day Bangladesh - Nov 07 In Bangladesh, November 7 was celebrated as the National Revolution and Solidarity Day. This commemorates the 1975 uprising formed by the people and soldiers. The uprising, led by Colonel Abu Taher and his political group Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal, ended the three day coup organised by selfproclaimed Major General Khaled Mosharraf. It helped Major General Ziaur Rahman, founder of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, to grab power in the long run.

Aftermath

On this day the first Chief Justice of Bangladesh Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem was made the President of Bangladesh and Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) by Bangladesh Army and Major General Zia was made Deputy CMLA. Justice Sayem was not elected by Jatiyo Sangshad nor an acting president. Months later Justice Sayem stepped down on health reason, and Zia took the both posts of president and CMLA. Within the next year Major General Zia hanged Colonel Taher, along with several freedom fighters of the Liberation War of Bangladeshof 1971, through hasty military tribunal.

Actually this day is in the series of coups and counter-coups those occurred after the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founderPresident of Bangladesh on 15 August 1975.

Today

Ruling Awami League government recognize it neither as a revolutionary nor a solidarity day, as they denounce it as Freedom Fighters Killing Day. November 7 was a national holiday in Bangladesh during the rules of autocrat Lieutenant General Hossain Mohammad Ershad and prime minister Khaleda Zia. In November 2007, caretaker government of Fakhruddin Ahmed scrapped this holiday.

Thanksgiving Day Libe r ia - N ov 0 7

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in Liberia on the first Thursday of November. It follows the same traditions as Thanksgiving Day in the United States, since Liberians do have several holidays in common with or to honor the United States, besides Thanksgiving Liberians also have the Independence Day in July, and Pioneer’s day that honors the American pioneers in Liberia’s colonization.

History Liberia was founded in the XIX century by freed slaves from

the United States, Liberia never knew the colonial power of European countries like other African countries. Liberia’s name comes from Latin word Liber, meaning free. Liberia was founded as a colony by the American Colonization Society between 1821 and 1822, it was intended to be a place for slaves freed in the United States and that wanted to immigrate to Africa in search of more personal freedom and equality as citizens. Also the capital city of Liberia, Monrovia was named after the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, supporter of the colonization of Liberia by free slaves. And so the free men brought with them many of the United States traditions and kept them as to honor their humble beginnings. Thanksgiving Day is one of them, and Liberians still celebrate it, same way as Americans do it, but of course with Liberians unique cultural touches.

Celebrations

Thanksgiving is celebrated to give thanks to God and Americans for freeing the slaves and granting them Liberia in Africa to live as free men. Thanksgiving is also an opportunity for Liberians to recognize the good things that life has to offer them, even though the country has been troubled by internal conflicts. It is a day celebrated with families’ gatherings and eating chicken roasting and green bean casserole and mashed cassavas. Liberians like their food hot and spicy, so cayenne and other peppers may be added to Liberian Thanksgiving dishes. As with all Liberian celebrations, there is plenty of music, song, and dance during Thanksgiving Day.

Constitution Day Pohnpe i - N ov 0 8

Pohnpei Constitution Day is a holiday that is celebrated in Micronesia as a day of remembrance, pride, joy, and strength for the Federated States of Micronesia.

History

Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising of hundreds of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines and Indonesia lie to the west. Micronesia comprises of approximately 650 islands, which gives this region a tropical existence.

Even though this region comprises of many small islands, the region is called the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) because the islands are divided into what is known as the four states of Micronesia-Yap, Chuuk, Kosrae, and Pohnpei.

The Federated States of Micronesia became a US-administered Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) in 1947. This followed successive colonization by the Portuguese, Spanish, and Germans, and also included Japanese rule between the two World Wars, under a mandate from the League of Nations (forerunners to the United Nations). In November 1986, the Federated States signed a Compact of Free Association with the USA, allowing for near-independence with US defense support. This marked an important time in history and has been celebrated as a national holiday.

The locally drafted constitution occurred in 1979 and provided separate legislature for each of the four states of FSM. Kosrae, Yap, Chuuk, and Pohnpei technically had their own constitution, a reason to take pride in this day as separate states. Each state elects one senator for a four-year term; these four are known as the ‘senators-at-large’. The other 10 senators are elected for two years and their representation is allocated according to the population of each state.

The president and vice-president are elected by the congress senators-at-large.

Celebrations

Pohnpei’s Constitution Day is celebrated on November 8 of each year. The people residing in Pohnpei celebrate this day as a public holiday, with banks, schools, post offices, and other public facilities closing in observance. This day is remembered and reflected upon with pride and strength for Pohnpei and the FSM as a whole.

Mitrovdan (Orthodox)- Nov 08 Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia

Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki (Greek: Άγιος Δημήτριος της Θεσσαλονίκης) was a Christianmartyr, who lived in the early 4th century.

During the Middle Ages, he came to be revered as one of the most important Orthodox military saints, often paired with Saint George. His feast day is 26 October for Christians following theGregorian calendar and 8 November for Christians following the Julian calendar.

Name

The spelling "Demetrius" is a romanization of the ancient Greek pronunciation; the Byzantine and Modern Greekpronunciation is romanized as Dimitrios. See Demetriosfor more on the etymology of the name.

In Russian, he is called Димитрий Солунский ([dimitri solunski] 'Dimitri of Saloniki') and was a patron saint of the ruling Rurikid family from the late 11th century on.Izyaslav I of Kiev (whose Christian name was Dimitry) founded the first East Slavic monastery dedicated to this saint. The name Dimitry is in common use.

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Bulgarian people revere St. Demetrius on 26 October as Димитровден(Dimitrovden).

The Serbian Orthodox Church reveres St. Demetrius asMitar, having a feast of Mitrovdan on 8 November. He is known in Lebanon as Mar Dimitri or Mitri for short, which is a common name among Christian Lebanese.

He is known in the Coptic Church as "St. Demetrius of Thessalonica". He is venerated in the Coptic Church on 8 November.

Life The earliest written accounts of his life were compiled in the 9th century, although 15th-century

icon of St.

there are earlier images of him, and accounts from the 7th century of his miracles. Demetrius (Russian State The biographies have Demetrius as a young man of senatorial family who was Museum, Saint Petersrun through with spears in around 306 ADin Thessaloniki, during the Christian burg). persecutions of the emperor Diocletian or Galerius, which matches his depiction in the 7th century mosaics.

Veneration of Sainthood The origins of his veneration are obscure; the first evidence comes

about 150 years after hismartyrdom. Therefore some modern scholars question the historicity of the man.

One theory is that his veneration was transferred from Sirmium when Thessaloniki replaced it as the main military base in the area in 441/442 AD. His very large church in Thessaloniki, the Hagios Demetrios, dates from the mid-5th century, so he clearly had a large following by then.

Thessaloniki remained a centre of his veneration, and he is the patron saint of the city.

After the growth of his veneration as saint, the city of Thessaloniki suffered repeated attacks and sieges from the Slavic peoples who moved into the Balkans, and Demetrius was credited with many miraculous interventions to defend the city. Hence later traditions about Demetrius regard him as a soldier in the Roman army, and he came to be regarded as an important military martyr. Unsurprisingly, he was extremely popular in the Middle Ages, and along with Saint George, was the patron of the Crusades.

Some scholars believe that for four centuries after his death, St. Demetrius had no physical relics, and in their place an unusual empty shrine called the "ciborium" was built inside Hagios Demetrios. What is currently purported as His remains subsequently appeared in Thessaloniki, but the local archbishop (John of Thessaloniki, 7th century) was publicly dismissive of their authenticity. These are now also kept in Hagios Demetrios. According to believers, these relics were ascertained to be genuine after they started emitting a liquid and strong scented myrrh. This gave the saint the epithet "Myrovlētēs" (Greek: Μυροβλήτης, the Myrrh-streamer). This has been attested in modern times, as well, and the relics continually stream myrrh which has to be collected constantly in order to prevent the reliquary from overflowing. If ever visiting Hagios Demetrius church, one can see a sarcaphagus that is worn down in several areas from the myrrh streaming from his relics. In the Russian Orthodox Church, the Saturday before the Feast of St. Demetrius is a memorial day commemorating the soldiers who fell in the Battle of Kulikovo (1380), under the leadership of St. Demetrius of the Don. This day is known as Demetrius Saturday.

Iconography St. Demetrius was initially depicted in icons and mosaics as a young man in pat-

terned robes with the distinctive tablion of the senatorial class across his chest.

Miraculous military interventions were attributed to him during several attacks on Thessaloniki, and he gradually became thought of as a soldier: a Constantinopolitan ivory of the late 10th century shows him as an infantry soldier (Metropolitan Museum of Art). But an icon of the late 11th century in Sinai shows him as before, still a civilian. This may be due to iconic depiction customs on how saints are depicted.

Another Sinai icon, of the Crusader period and painted by a French artist working in the Holy Land in the second half of the 12th century, shows what then became the most common depiction. Demetrius, bearded, rather older, and on a dark horse, rides together with St George, unbearded and on a white horse. Both are dressed as cavalrymen. Also, while St. George is often shown spearing a dragon, St. Demetrius is depicted spearing the gladiator Lyaeos, who according to story was responsible for killing many Christians. Lyaeos is commonly depicted below Demetrius and lying supine, having already been defeated; Lyaeos is traditionally drawn much smaller than Demetrius. In traditional hagiography, Demetrius did not directly kill Lyaeos, but rather through his prayers the gladiator was defeated

by Demetrius' disciple, Nestor.

A modern Greek iconographic convention depicts Demetrius with the Great White Tower in the background. The anachronistic White Tower acts as a symbolic depiction of the city of Thessaloniki, despite having been built in the 16th century, Fresco icon of St. Nestor of centuries after his life, and the exact architecture of the older tower that stood at Thessaloniki,disciple of St. the same site in earlier times is unknown. Again, iconography often depicts saints Demetrius. holding a church or protecting a city that did not even exist when they were alive.

Relic

On June 28, 2007, police recovered a silver box said to contain Demetrius' ankle bone. The relic had been stolen from a Greek Orthodox cathedral that shares his name in Astoria, Queens.

HUNGARY Town Planning Day Wor ldwide - N ov 0 8

H unga r y we lc om e s Sa udi inv e s tm e nt in a gr ic ult ur e s e c t or

Government provides funding for the development of hiking in Hungary

The World Town Planning Day is a day of action, the public attention on the goals and ideas of the city - and regional planning to direct. It was in 1949 by Carlos Maria della Paolera , a professor at the University of Buenos Aires , and will be launched annually on 8 November in more than 30 countries organized. This action will be arranged by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).

With the help of the World Town Planning Days aims to urban developments and human settlements are shown. In all participating countries held lectures, events and exhibitions. There are also illustrated ways in which urban planning can make a positive impact on the global climate and have the prospects that the cities and municipalities in the future.

Iqbal Day Pakistan - Nov 09

Sir MuhamIqbal mad (November 9, 1877 – April 21, 1938) was a Muslim poetand philosopher born in Sialkot, British India (now in Pakistan), whose poetry in Urdu and Persian is considered to be the among greatest of the modern era.

He is commonly referred to as Allama (‫ہمالع‬ Iqbal ‫لابقا‬‎, Allama lit. Scholar).

After studying England in and Germany, Iqbal established a law practice, but concentrated primarily on writing scholarly works on politics, economics, hist o r y , philosophy and religion.

He is best known for his poetic works, including A s r a r - e Khudi—which a brought knighthood— Rumuz-eBekhudi, and the Bang-eDara, with its enduring patriotic song Tarana-e-Hind. InAfghanistan and Iran, where he is known as Iqbāl-e Lāhorī (‫یروهال لابقا‬‎ Iqbal of Lahore), he is highly regarded for his Persian works.

Iqbal was a strong proponent of the political and spiritual revival of Islamic civilization across the world, but specifically in India; a series of famous lectures he delivered to this effect were published as The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. One of the most prominent leaders of the All-India Muslim League, Iqbal encouraged the creation of a "state in northwestern India for Indian Muslims" in his 1930 presidential address. Iqbal encouraged and worked closely with Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and he is known as Muffakire-Pakistan ("The Thinker of Pakistan"), Shair-e-Mashriq ("The Poet of the East"), and Hakeem-ul-Ummat ("The Sage of theUmmah"). He is officially recognised as the "national poet" in Pakistan. The anniversary of his birth (‫لابقا دمحم تدالو موی‬‎ – Yōm-e Welādat-e Muḥammad Iqbāl) on November 9 is a holiday in Pakistan.

Early life

Muhammad Iqbal was born on November 9, 1877 in Sialkot, in the Punjab province of British India in what is now Pakistan. During the reign of Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan— Iqbal in Spain, according to scholar Bruce Lawrence—Iqbal's Kashmiri Pandit ancestors from Kashmir 1933 had converted to Islam. According to some sources: "The family had migrated from Kashmir where Iqbal's Brahmin ancestors had been converted to Islam." Iqbal often wrote about his being "a son of Kashmiri-Brahmins but (being) acquainted with the wisdom of Rûm and Tabriz."

Iqbal's father, Nur Muhammad, was a tailor, who lacked formal education, but who had great devotion to Islam and Sufism and a "mystically tinged piety." Iqbal's mother was known in the family as a "wise, generous woman who quietly gave financial help to poor and needy women and arbitrated in neighbor's disputes." After his mother's death in 1914, Iqbal wrote an elegy for her: Who would wait for me anxiously in my native place?

Who would display restlessness if my letter fails to arrive I will visit thy grave with this complaint: Who will now think of me in midnight prayers?

All thy life thy love served me with devotion— When I became fit to serve thee, thou hast departed.

At the age of four, young Iqbal was sent regularly to a mosque, where he learned how to read the Qu'ran in Arabic.

The following year, and for many years thereafter, Iqbal became a student of Syed Mir Hassan, who was then the head of the Madrassa in Sialkot, and later to become a widely known Muslim scholar. An advocate of secular European education for the Muslim's of British India—in the tradition of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan—Hassan convinced Iqbal's father to send him to Sialkot's Scotch Mission College, where Hassan was professor of Arabic. Two years later, in 1895, Iqbal obtained the Faculty of Arts diploma from the college.

That year Iqbal's family arranged for him to be married to Karim Bibi, the daughter of an affluent Gujrati physician.

The couple had two children: a daughter, Mi'raj Begum (born 1895) and a son, Aftab (born 1899). Iqbal's third child, a son, died soon after birth. Husband and wife were unhappy in their marriage and eventually divorced in 1916.

Later the same year, Iqbal entered the Government College in Lahore where he studied philosophy, English literature and Arabic and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating cum laude. He won a gold medal for placing first in the examination in philosophy. While studying for his masters degree, Iqbal came under the influence of Sir Thomas Arnold, a scholar of Islam and modern philosophy at the college. Arnold exposed the young man to Western culture and ideas, and served as a bridge for Iqbal between the ideas of East and West. Iqbal was appointed to a readership in Arabic at the Oriental College in Lahore, and he published his first book in Urdu, The Iqbal with Muslim political acKnowledge of Economics in 1903. In 1905 Iqbal published the patri- tivists. otic song, Tarana-e-Hind (Song of India).

(L to R): Mohammad Iqbal (third), At Sir Thomas's encouragement, Iqbal travelled to Europe and spent Syed Zafarul Hasan (sixth) (at Alimany years studying there. Before leaving for London he visited garh Muslim University, Aligarh, theDargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi and wrote a famous poem to acknowledge the great Sufi and by doing so he confirmed India) his own lifelong association with Sufism. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College at Cambridge in 1907, while simultaneously studying law at Lincoln's Inn, from where he qualified as a barrister in 1908. In Europe, he started writing his poetry in Persian as well. Throughout his life, Iqbal would prefer writing in Persian as he believed it allowed him to fully express philosophical concepts, and it gave him a wider audience. It was while in England that he first participated in politics. Following the formation of the All-India Muslim League in 1906, Iqbal was elected to the executive committee of its British chapter in 1908. Together with two other politicians, Syed Hassan Bilgramiand Syed Ameer Ali, Iqbal sat on the subcommittee which drafted the constitution of the League. In 1907, Iqbal travelled to Germany to pursue a doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität at Munich. Working under the supervision of Friedrich Hommel, Iqbal published a thesis titled: The Development of Metaphysics in Persia.

Literary career

Upon his return to India in 1908, Iqbal took up an assistant professorship at Government College in Lahore, but for financial reasons he relinquished it within a year to practice law. During this period, Iqbal's personal life was in turmoil.

He divorced Karim Bibi in 1916, but provided financial support to her and their children for the rest of his life.

While maintaining his legal practice, Iqbal began concentrating on spiritual and religious subjects, and publishing poetry and literary works. He became active in the Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Islam, a congress of Muslim intellectuals, writers and poets as well as politicians. In 1919, he became the general secretary of the organisation. Iqbal's thoughts in his work primarily focus on the spiritual direction and development of human society, centred around experiences from his travels and stays in Western Europe and the Middle East. He was profoundly influenced by Western philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Henri Bergson and Goethe. He soon became a strong critic of Western society's separation of religion from state and what he perceived as its obsession with materialist pursuits.

The poetry and philosophy of Mawlana Rumi bore the deepest influence on Iqbal's mind. Deeply grounded in religion since childhood, Iqbal began intensely concentrating on the study of Islam, the culture and history of Islamic civilization and its political future, while embracingRumi as "his guide." Iqbal would feature Rumi in the role of guide in many of his poems. Iqbal's works focus on reminding his readers of the past glories of Islamic civilization, and delivering the message of a pure, spiritual focus on Islam as a source for socio-political liberation and greatness. Iqbal denounced political divisions within and amongst Muslim nations, and frequently alluded to and spoke in terms of the global Muslim community, or the Ummah.

Works in Persian:

Iqbal's poetic works are written primarily in Persian rather than Urdu. Among his 12,000 verses of poetry, about 7,000 verses are in Persian. In 1915, he published his first collection of poetry, the Asrar-e-Khudi (Secrets of the Self) in Persian. The poems emphasise the spirit and self from a religious, spiritual perspective. Many critics have called this Iqbal's finest poetic work In Asrar-e-Khudi, Iqbal explains his philosophy of "Khudi," or "Self." Iqbal's use of the term "Khudi" is synonymous with the word "Rooh" mentioned in the Quran. "Rooh" is that divine spark which is present in every human being, and was present in Adam, for which God ordered all of the angels to prostrate in front of Adam. One has to make a great journey of transformation to realize that divine spark which Iqbal calls "Khudi".

A similitude of this journey can be understood by the relationship between fragrance and seed. Every seed has the potential for fragrance within it, but to reach its fragrance the seed must go through all the different changes and stages: First breaking out of its shell. Then breaking the ground to come into the light, developing roots at the same time. Then fighting against the elements to develop leaves and flowers. Finally reaching its pinnacle by attaining the fragrance that was hidden within it. Similarly, in order to reach one's khudi or rooh, one needs to go through the multiple spiritual stages which Iqbal himself went through, and encourages others to travel. Not all seeds reach the level of fragrance; many die along the way – incomplete. In this same way, only a few people can climb this Mount Everest of spirituality; most get consumed along the way by materialism.

The same concept was used by Farid ud Din Attar in his "Mantaqul-Tair". He proves by various means that the whole universe obeys the will of the "Self." Iqbal condemns self-destruction. For him, the aim of life is self-realization and self-knowledge. He charts the stages through which the "Self" has to pass before finally arriving at its point of perfection, enabling the knower of the "Self" to become a viceregent of God. In his Rumuz-e-Bekhudi (Hints of Selflessness), Iqbal seeks to prove the Islamic way of life is the best code of conduct for a nation's viability. A person must keep his individual characteristics intact, but once this is achieved he should sacrifice his personal ambitions for the needs of the nation. Man cannot realise the "Self" outside of society. Also in Persian and published in 1917, this group of poems has as its main themes the ideal community, Islamic ethical and social principles, and the relationship between the individual and society. Although he is true throughout to Islam, Iqbal also recognises the positive analogous aspects of other religions. The Rumuz-e-Bekhudi complements the emphasis on the self in the Final Years Asrar-e-Khudi and the two collections are often put in the same volume under the title Asrar-e-Rumuz (Hinting Secrets). It is addressed to the world's Muslims.

Iqbal sees the individual and his community as reflections of each other. The individual needs to be strengthened before he can be integrated into the community, whose development in turn depends on the preservation of the communal ego. It is through contact with others that an ego learns to accept the limitations of its own freedom and the meaning of love. Muslim communities must ensure order in life and must therefore preserve their communal tradition. It is in this context that Iqbal sees the vital role of women, who as mothers are directly responsible for inculcating values in their children.

Iqbal's 1924 publication, the Payam-e-Mashriq (The Message of the East) is closely connected to the West-östlicher Diwan by the famous German poet Goethe. Goethe bemoans the West having become too materialistic in outlook, and expects the East will provide a message of hope to resuscitate spiritual values. Iqbal styles his work as a reminder to the West of the importance of morality, religion and civilization by underlining the need for cultivating feeling, ardour and dynamism. He explains that an individual can never aspire to higher dimensions unless he learns of the nature of spirituality. In his first visit to Afghanistan, he presented his book "Payam-e Mashreq" to King Amanullah Khan in which he admired the liberal movements of Afghanistan against the British Empire. In 1933, he was officially invited to Afghanistan to join the meetings regarding the establishment of Kabul University.

The Zabur-e-Ajam (Persian Psalms), published in 1927, includes the poems Gulshan-e-Raz-e-Jadeed (Garden of New Secrets) and Bandagi Nama (Book of Slavery). In Gulshan-e-Raz-e-Jadeed, Iqbal first poses questions, then answers them with the help of ancient and modern insight, showing how it affects and concerns the world of action. Bandagi Nama de- Street named in Iqbal's honour in Heidelberg, nounces slavery by attempting to explain the spirit be- Germany. hind the fine arts of enslaved societies. Here as in other books, Iqbal insists on remembering the past, doing well in the present and preparing for the future, while emphasising love, enthusiasm and energy to fulfill the ideal life.

Iqbal's 1932 work, the Javed Nama (Book of Javed) is named after and in a manner addressed to his son, who is featured in the poems. It follows the examples of the works of Ibn Arabi and Dante's The Divine Comedy, through mystical and exaggerated depictions across time. Iqbal depicts himself as Zinda Rud ("A stream full of life") guided

by Rumi, "the master," through various heavens and spheres, and has the honour of approaching divinity and coming in contact with divine illuminations. In a passage re-living a historical period, Iqbal condemns the Muslim who were instrumental in the defeat and death of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula of Bengal and Tipu Sultan of Mysore respectively by betraying them for the benefit of the British colonists, and thus delivering their country to the shackles of slavery. At the end, by addressing his son Javid, he speaks to the young people at large, and provides guidance to the "new generation."

Works in Urdu:

Iqbal's first work published in Urdu, the Bang-e-Dara (The Call of the Marching Bell) of 1924, was a collection of poetry written by him in three distinct phases of his life. The poems he wrote up to 1905, the year Iqbal left for England imbibe patriotism and imagery of landscape, and includes the Tarana-e-Hind (The Song of India), popularly known as Saare Jahan Se Achcha and another poem Tarana-e-Milli (Anthem of the (Muslim) Community), which was composed in the same metre and rhyme scheme as Saare Jahan Se Achcha. The second set of poems date from between 1905 and 1908 when Iqbal studied in Europe and dwell upon the nature of European society, which he emphasized had lost spiritual and religious values. This inspired Iqbal to write poems on the historical and cultural heritage of Islamic culture and Muslim people, not from an Indian but a global perspective. Iqbal urges the global community of Muslims, addressed as the Ummah to define personal, social and political existence by the values and teachings of Islam. Poems such as Tulu'i Islam (Dawn of Islam) and Khizr-e-Rah (Guide of the Path) are especially acclaimed.

Iqbal preferred to work mainly in Persian for a predominant period of his career, but after 1930, his works were mainly in Urdu. The works of this period were often specifically directed at the Muslim masses of India, with an even stronger emphasis on Islam, and Muslim spiritual and political reawakening. Published in 1935, the Bal-e-Jibril (Wings of Gabriel) is considered by many critics as the finest of Iqbal's Urdu poetry, and was inspired by his visit to Spain, where he visited the monuments and legacy of the kingdom of the Moors. It consists of ghazals, poems, quatrains, epigrams and carries a strong sense religious passion.

The Pas Cheh Bayed Kard ai Aqwam-e-Sharq (What are we to do, O Nations of the East?) includes the poem Musafir (Traveler). Again, Iqbal depicts Rumi as a character and an exposition of the mysteries of Islamic laws and Sufi perceptions is given. Iqbal laments the dissension and disunity among the Indian Muslims as well as Muslim nations.

Musafir is an account of one of Iqbal's journeys to Afghanistan, in which the Pashtun people are counseled to learn the "secret of Islam" and to "build up the self" within themselves. Iqbal's final work was theArmughan-e-Hijaz (The Gift of Hijaz), published posthumously in 1938. The first part contains quatrains in Persian, and the second part contains some poems and epigrams in Urdu. The Persian quatrains convey the impression as though the poet is travelling through the Hijazin his imagination. Profundity of ideas and intensity of passion are the salient features of these short poems. The Urdu portion of the book contains some categorical criticism of the intellectual movements and social and political revolutions of the modern age.

Political career

While dividing his time between law and poetry, Iqbal had remained active in the Muslim League. He supported Indian involvement in World War I, as well as the Khilafat movement and remained in close touch with Muslim political leaders such as Maulana Mohammad Ali and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He was a critic of the mainstream Indian National Congress, which he regarded as dominated by Hindus and was disappointed with the League when during the 1920s, it was absorbed in factional divides between the pro-British group led by Sir Muhammad Shafi and the centrist group led by Jinnah.

In November 1926, with the encouragement of friends and supporters, Iqbal contested for a seat in the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the Muslim district of Lahore, and defeated his opponent by a margin of 3,177 votes. He supported the constitutional proposals presented by Jinnah with the aim of guaranteeing Muslim political rights and influence in a coalition with the Congress, and worked with the Aga Khan and other Muslim leaders to mend the factional divisions and achieve unity in the Muslim League.

Revival of Islamic polity:

Photo: Ministry of Rural Development Press Office Photo: Károly Árvai (Online 31 Oct) The Ministry of Rural Development's Minister of State for Public Administration Géza Poprády and Managing Director of Hungarian National Trading House Co. Vilmos Skultéti are on a visit to Saudi Arabia to promote investment opportunities in Hungarian agriculture.

Following their meeting, Saudi Minister of Agriculture Fahd Bin Abdul Rahman Balghunaim said that he greatly appreciates Hungary's avid interest in the Kingdom of Suadi Arabia and encouraged Hungarian agricultural businesses to come to the country. The development of mutual cooperation with Hungary is a strategic issue for Saudi Arabia in the interests of food security and in view of the lack of water and farmland, he explained.

Minister of State for Public Administration

Géza Poprády said that Hungary met all the criteria for agricultural investment posed by the Saudi party and the average 50 percent crop surplus was clear proof of the stable performance of Hungarian agriculture. However, he also drew his negotiating partner's attention to the fact that many enterprises are struggling because of a lack of capital, in addition to which the expertise required to market produce on the Saudi market it often also lacking, something which cooperation with Saudi partners could do much to support. A study on the state of Hungarian agriculture will be prepared in the near future to facilitate cooperation. The Minister of State trusts that the official visit of the Hungarian Prime Minister in 2014, the next session of the HungarianSaudi Joint Economic

Committee and the upcoming HungarianSaudi business forum will provide further impetus to agricultural relations.

Géza Poprády also held talks with the Director of the Saudi food safety authority regarding procedures for importing Hungarian agricultural and food industry products and on special requirements related to Halal meat processing. He later met the head of the Saudi Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Investment Association, with whom he discussed the opportunities inherent in forming Hungarian joint venture agricultural enterprises. The leaders of the delegation also met with representatives of the Saudi and Rijaf chambers of commerce and with the directors of the country's largest food and catering industry company, the Munajem Group.

H unga r y - Slov a k ia pipe line t o be c om e ope r a t iona l in 2 0 1 4

Photo: Csaba Krizsán, MTI (Online 30 Oct) The gas link connecting the pipelines of Hungary and Slovakia will start a trial run in the middle of next year and will be used in regular distribution from 2015 on, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary's State Secretary in charge of external economy, said on

Wednesday.

He spoke after a meeting of the Hungary-Slovakia economic joint committee in Bratislava, and said that the 115 kilometrelong connection linking the gas networks of the two countries was key for the security of energy supplies for both Hungary and

the whole of Central Europe.

At the meeting, a cooperation agreement on energy, car production, and building more border crossings was also signed by representatives of Hungary and Slovakia.

Hungary staunchly espouses the protection of human rights and privacy (Online 30 Oct) The Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expects an immediate explanation from the United States in connection with a WikiLeaks report showing Budapest on a map of surveillance stations deployed by the National Security Agency (NSA). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) stated that it was concerned about the surveillance and relay stations and expected the US to clarify the situation and provide an explanation about what happened as soon as possible, as previously requested from the US Ambassador in Budapest.

The MFA declared that Hungary staunchly espouses the protection of human rights, including the protection of privacy.

The issue will be on the agenda of upcoming talks between For-

eign Minister János Martonyi and US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, who will be visiting Hungary to attend a meeting of foreign affairs officials of the Visegrad Group (V4) and of the Central European Initiative (CEI) which takes place on Thursday. However, the issue has grown beyond bilateral relations and Hungary will also seek a solution within the EU and other forums.

The EU heads of state and government underlined the importance of Trans-Atlantic cooperation and the fight against terrorism at their October 25 meeting; at the same time, they pointed out that lack of trust may undermine the effectiveness of collaborative work. The EU leaders acknowledged

the German-French initiative that initiated talks aimed at reaching an agreement with the United States on secret service cooperation before the end of the year. This initiative is also open to other member countries and Hungary will formulate its position on whether to join the initiative later this year, when concrete proposals will be submitted.

In addition to the EU framework, Hungary is also taking part in multilateral cooperation under the aegis of the UN Human Rights Council and of the UN General Assembly in order to facilitate a solution. Hungary has joined an initiative launched by Germany in Geneva this July that proposed adding an optional protocol to Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Forum initiated by Hungary helps connect natural gas markets in the region (Online 30 Oct) The V4 Forum for Gas Market Integration held its first session in Budapest on 29 October 2013. At the meeting organised by the Ministry of National Development, Minister of State for Energy Affairs Pál Kovács welcomed representatives of the responsible ministries of the V4 member regulatory states, bodies, delivery system operators as well as of the European Commission.

The Hungarian presidency continues the development of the natural gas market integration of the region along the path set by Poland, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs underlined in his opening address.

Implementing infrastructure developments, establishing the North-South corridors and harmonising regulations are all necessary elements for the imple-

mentation of an interconnected natural gas market in the EU, he added. The cooperation of countries in the Central European Region is furthermore required for the diversification of natural gas resources and the exploitation of shale gas stock available the member in states.

Following the decision of the Shah Consortium Deniz this summer to reject the Nabucco West Project, member states of the region embarked upon tighter energy cooperation, Pál Kovács reminded participants of the forum.

“It became clear to us that the Central European natural gas market integration, which would also help the implementation of the European Gas Target Model, should be set up as a regional initiative. Together we would find an efficient solution not

only for the problem of the characteristically unilateral energy dependence of the region but also for the high-level stabilisation of the security of energy supply as well. The V4 Forum for Gas Market Integration will serve as an efficient tool to achieve these goals”, the Minister of State said.

The forum was set up at a Hungarian initiative, by signing the Road Map towards the regional gas market among V4 countries at the prime ministerial summit in Warsaw, in June 2013. The organisation aims to create, by providing political support and an institutional background, efficient coordination among Visegrád countries for the coordinated transposition of EU regulations and the soonest possible implementation of market integration.

Cambodia, officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of theIndochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total landmass of 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 sq mi), it is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.

With a population of over 14.8 million, Cambodia is the 69th most populous country in the world. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism which is practiced by around 95% of the Cambodian population. The country minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and 30 various hill tribes. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh, the political, economical, and cultural center of Cambodia.

The kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Norodom Sihamoni, an elected monarch chosen by the Royal Throne Council, as head of state. The head of government is Hun Sen, who is currently the longest serving leader in South East Asia and has ruled Cambodia for over 25 years.

In 802 AD Jayavarman II declared himself king which marked the beginning of the Khmer Empire. Successive kings flourished which marked the Khmer empire's immense power and wealth who dominate much of South East Asia for over 600 years. Cambodia was ruled as a vassal between its neighbors, until it was colonized by the French in mid-19th century. Cambodia gained independence in 1953. The Vietnam War extended into Cambodia, giving rise to the Khmer Rouge, which took Phnom Penh in 1975. Cambodia reemerged several years later within a socialistic sphere of influence as the People's Republic of Kampuchea until 1993. After years of isolation, the war-ravaged nation was reunited under the monarchy in 1993.

Rebuilding from decades of civil war, Cambodia has seen rapid progress in the economical andhuman resource areas.

The country has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with economic growth growing an average 6.0% for the last 10 years. Strong textiles, agriculture, construction, garments, and tourism sectors led to foreign investments and international trade. In 2005, oil and natural gas deposits were found beneath Cambodia's territorial waters, and once commercial extraction begins in 2011, the oil revenues could profoundly affect Cambodia's economy.

He was also the first patron of the historical, political, religious, cultural journal of Muslims of British India and Pakistan. This journal played an important part in the Pakistan movement. The name of this journal is The Journal Tolue-Islam. In 1935, according to his instructions, Syed Nazeer Niazi initiated and edited, a journal Tolu-e-Islam named after the famous poem of Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Tulu'i Islam. He also dedicated the first edition of this journal to Sir Muhammad Iqbal. For a long time Sir Muhammad Iqbal wanted a journal to propagate his ideas and the aims and objective of Muslim league. It was Syed Nazeer Niazi, a close friend of his and a regular visitor to him during his last two years, who started this journal. He also made Urdu translation of The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, by Sir Muhammad Iqbal.

In the first monthly journal of Oct. 1935, an article "Millat Islamia Hind" The Muslim nation of India was published. In this article Syed Nazeer Niazi described the political conditions of British India and the aims and objectives of the Muslim community. He also discussed the basic principles of Islam which were aims and objective of Sir Muhammad Iqbal' concept of an Islamic State.

The early contributors to this journal were eminent Muslim scholars like Maulana Aslam Jairajpuri, Ghulam Ahmed Pervez, Dr. Zakir Hussain Khan, Syed Naseer Ahmed, Raja Hassan Akhtar, Maulvi Ghulam Yezdani, Ragheb Ahsan, Sheikh Suraj ul Haq, Rafee ud din Peer, Prof. fazal ud din Qureshi, Agha Muhammad Safdar, Asad Multani, Dr. Tasadaq Hussain, Prof. Yusuf Saleem Chisti.

Afterward, this journal was continued by Ghulam Ahmed Pervez, who had already contributed many articles in the early editions of this journal. After the emergence of Pakistan, the mission of the journal Tolu-e-Islam was to propagate the implementation of the principle which had inspired the demand for separate Muslim State according to the Quran.

This journal is still published by Idara Tolu-e-Islam, Lahore.

Pre-history:

Relationship with Muhammad Ali Jinnah Ideologically separated from Congress Muslim leaders, Iqbal had also been disillusioned with the politicians of the

Muslim League owing to the factional conflict that plagued the League in the 1920s. Discontent with factional leaders like Sir Muhammad Shafi and Sir Fazl-ur-Rahman, Iqbal came to believe that only Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a political leader capable of preserving this unity and fulfilling the League's objectives on Muslim political empowerment.

Building a strong, personal correspondence with Jinnah, Iqbal along with Moulana Abdur Raheem Dard (Resident missionary of the Ahmadiyya movement in London) were influential forces in convincing Jinnah to end his self-imposed exile in London, return to India and take charge of the League. Iqbal firmly believed that Jinnah was the only leader capable of drawing Indian Muslims to the League and maintaining party unity before the British and the Congress: "I know you are a busy man but I do hope you won't mind my writing to you often, as you are the only Muslim in India today to whom the community has right to look up for safe guidance through the storm which is coming to North-West India and, perhaps, to the whole of India."

There were significant differences between the two men — while Iqbal believed that Islam was the source of government and society, Jinnah was a believer in secular government and had laid out a secular vision for Pakistan where religion would have "nothing to do with the business of the state." Iqbal had backed the Khilafat struggle; Jinnah had dismissed it as "religious frenzy." And while Iqbal espoused the idea of Muslim-majority provinces in 1930, Jinnah would continue to hold talks with the Congress through the decade and only officially embraced the goal of Pakistan in 1940. Some historians postulate that Jinnah always remained hopeful for an agreement with the Congress and never fully desired the partition of India. Iqbal's close correspondence with Jinnah is speculated by some historians as having been responsible for Jinnah's embrace of the idea of Pakistan. Iqbal elucidated to Jinnah his vision of a separate Muslim state in a letter sent on June 21, 1937: "A separate federation of Muslim Provinces, reformed on the lines I have suggested above, is the only course by which we can secure a peaceful India and save Muslims from the domination of Non-Muslims. Why should not the Muslims of North-West India and Bengal be considered as nations entitled to self-determination just as other nations in India and outside India are."

Iqbal, serving as president of the Punjab Muslim League, criticised Jinnah's political actions, including a political agreement with Punjabi leader Sir Sikandar Hyat Khan, whom Iqbal saw as a representative of feudal classes and not committed to Islam as the core political philosophy. Nevertheless, Iqbal worked constantly to encourage Muslim leaders and masses to support Jinnah and the League. Speaking about the political future of Muslims in India, Iqbal said: "There is only one way out. Muslims should strengthen Jinnah's hands. They should join the Muslim League. Indian question, as is now being solved, can be countered by our united front against both the Hindus and the English.

Without it, our demands are not going to be accepted. People say our demands smack of communalism. This is sheer propaganda. These demands relate to the defense of our national existence.... The united front can be formed under the leadership of the Muslim League. And the Muslim League can succeed only on account of Jinnah. Now none but Jinnah is capable of leading the Muslims."

Final years & death In 1933, after returning from a trip to Spain and Afghanistan, Iqbal began suffering from a mysterious throat illness.

He spent his final years helping Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan establish the Dar ul Islam Trust Institute at the latter's Jamalpur estate near Pathankot, an institution where studies in classical Islam and contemporary social science would be subsidised, and advocating the demand for an independent Muslim state. Iqbal ceased practising law in 1934 and he was granted pension by the Nawab of Bhopal. In his final years he frequently visited theDargah of famous Sufi Hazrat Ali Hujwiri in Lahore for spiritual guidance. After suffering for months from his illness, Iqbal died in Lahore on 21 April 1938. His tomb is located in Hazuri Bagh, the enclosed garden between the entrance of the Badshahi Mosque and the Lahore Fort, and official guards are maintained there by the Government of Pakistan.

Iqbal is commemorated widely in Pakistan, where he is regarded as the ideological founder of the state. His Taranae-Hind is a song that is widely used in India as a patriotic song speaking of communal harmony. His birthday is annually commemorated in Pakistan as Iqbal Day, a national holiday. Iqbal is the namesake of many public institutions, including the Allama Iqbal Medical College in Faisalabad, Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad, Allama Iqbal Open University, theAllama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore, and Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town in Karachi. Government and public organizations have sponsored the establishment of colleges and schools dedicated to Iqbal, and have established the Iqbal Academy to research, teach and preserve the works, literature and philosophy of Iqbal. Allama Iqbal Stamps Society established for the promotion of Iqbaliyat in philately and in other hobbies. His son Javid Iqbal has served as a justice on the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Javaid Manzil was the last residence of Allama Iqbal.

Influence and legacy

History

A gold-lotus bowl dating back to 1200CE.

The sparse evidence for a Pleistocene human occupation of present day Cambodia are quartz andquartzite pebble tools found in terraces along the Mekong River, in Stung Treng and Kratiéprovinces, and in Kampot Province, but their dating is unreliable.

Some slight archaeological evidence shows communities of hunter-gatherers inhabited Cambodia during Holocene: the most ancient Cambodian archeological site is considered to be the cave ofL'aang Spean, in Battambang Province, which belongs to the so-called Hoabinhian period. Excavations in its lower layers produced a series of radiocarbon dates as of 6000 BC. Upper layers in the same site gave evidence of transition to Neolithic, containing the earliest dated earthenware ceramics in Cambodia Archeological records for the period between Holocene and Iron Age remain equally limited. Other prehistoric sites of somewhat uncertain date are Samrong Sen (not far from the ancient capital ofUdong), where the first investigations began in 1877, and Phum Snay, in the northern province of Banteay Meanchey. Prehistoric artifacts are often found during mining activities inRatanakiri.

The most outstanding prehistoric evidence in Cambodia however are probably various "circularearthworks", discovered in the red soils near Memot and in the adjacent region of Vietnam as of the end of the 1950s. Their function and age are still debated, but some of them possibly date from 2nd millennium BC at least.

A pivotal event in Cambodian prehistory was the slow penetration of the first rice farmers from the north, which began in the late 3rd millennium BC. Iron was worked by about 500 BC, with supporting evidence coming from the Khorat Plateau, in modern day Thailand. In Cambodia, some Iron Age settlements were found beneath Angkorian temples, like Baksei Chamkrong. Others were circular earthworks, like Lovea, a few kilometers north-west of Angkor. Burials, much richer, testify to improvement of food availability and trade (even on long distances: in the 4th century BC trade relations with India were already opened) and the existence of a social structure and labor organization.

Virgen de la Almudenay Spain- N o v 0 9

La Virgen de la Almudena is a Marian devotion of the Virgin Mary. It is the patron saint of Madrid. Its name comes from the Arabic Al Mudayna (the citadel).

History There are several traditions

about the origin of the name and image. The first account in the 712 , before the alleged capture of Madrid by the Arabs, the villagers boarded up an image of the Virgin Mary on the walls of the wall to hide it from the Muslims.

With the return of the city in the eleventh century by King Alfonso VI , set out to find the hidden picture. After days of prayer, and as the procession passed through the Cuesta de la Vega, the fragment of wall which was crumbling down, showing the image, which remained intact and the two candles which had been boarded up despite still burning of the centuries.

Another tradition says that the Castilian hero Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar , El Cid, he would have appeared the Virgin, asking her to take the strength of Mayrit (‫)طيرجم‬. Approaching El Cid and his companions to the village, he would loose the piece of wall where was the figure, and so could have come in and take the city.

These legends have little relation to history as the city of Madrid, with its walls, was not founded until the mid-ninth century by the Emir of Cordoba Mohamed I , and there is not any documentary evidence that aqueológica suggesting the existence of a population before. On the other hand, there are no evidence that crstianos take Madrid by force, but the city could have been delivered with all the Taifa kingdom of Toledo.

It seems more likely therefore that the original image was carved in the late Middle Ages, during the Christian repopulation of the city, to be placed on the altar of the old mosque, now converted into a cathedral of the city (the old church of Santa Maria de la Almudena ). At that time it was common for certification of major Christian churches with generic invocations of the Virgin, Christ and the saints, so that church is called Santa Maria. Probably to distinguish it from other churches that were springing up in the suburbs of the early Islamic city, the temple became known as Santa Maria de la Almudena , because in Arabic Al-mudayna means "citadel", being locked in the first perimeter walls of Arab origin, which, like a citadel, was locked in the later Christian wall. That is, they would put this name to distinguish it from other churches in Madrid, with the connotation of being, so to speak, St. Mary of the walled city .

Picture of Santa Maria de la Centuries later, the legend would emerge to explain the origin of the likes Almudena in the interior of Mary, whose age was immemorial for both locals and no longer have news of when it was carved. In a society superstitious, deeply religious and given the Cathedral. to to fuel any legend, it was easy to fit this myth. It is not an isolated legend, is actually very common in Spain, to explain the devotion of many shrines and churches, which were intended to roll back to before the Muslim conquest. The truth is that it is unlikely that any of these legends is true, as Muslims respected the Christian churches and allowed the Mozarabic Christian under his rule, to practice their religion. It is in the twelfth century the Almoravids and the Almohads, to invade Al-Andalus , in the conquered territories impose a fierce religiosity, which led to the conversion of many Mozarabic and Jewish, or fleeing to other places, and concealment of their pictures, paintings and sculptures. In Andalusia and Levante itself that might have some basis in reality these legends, which later spread throughout Spain to explain the importance of virgins and saints who were venerated in many towns and cities. They are always found in caves and unspoilt places dingy, and often puts popular inventiveness found with lighted candles.

walkers every 30km along Hungary's official walking trails.

The Hungarian Government signed an agreement with the President of the Hungarian Association of Hikers (MTSZ), the umbrella organisation of Hungarian social organisations involved in hiking activities, in July with a view to enhancing the standards of hiking tourism in Hungary.

Under the terms of the agreement, the association may receive territory and facilities from public property, the renovation and maintenance of which would be supported by the Government.

Hungary hosted annual CEI foreign ministers meeting (Online 31 Oct) The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Member States of the Central Initiative European (CEI) held their annual meeting in Gödöllő (Hungary) on 31 October 2013. The meeting was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, the 2013 Hungarian CEI Presidency, in cooperation with the CEI ExSecretariat. ecutive The event was held back to back with the Visegrad Group + Western Balkans (WB) Ministers Foreign Meeting organised on October in 30-31 Gödöllő. meeting was The chaired by H.E. Mr. János Martonyi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary and was attended by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Albania, Bosnia and BulHerzegovina, garia, the Czech ReMacedonia, public, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. The Deputy Ministers, State Secretaries of Foreign Affairs and high representatives of Austria, Belarus, Italy, Croatia, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Ukraine attended the also meeting. The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Lithuania in the capacity of the President of the Council of the European Union, the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs of the USA and the representative of the EuBank for ropean Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) were present at the meeting as Special Guests. Ms Margit Waestfelt, Alternate Secretary General of CEI and the Deputy Secretaries General also participated in the meeting.

The Ministers had a fruitful discussion on “The Mission of the CEI on the Eve of its 25th Anniversary”. In this context, they praised the role of the CEI as an important political forum for regional cooperation which contributes to strengthening the relations among its Member States.

The Ministers welcomed a number of important developments regarding the progress of respective countries on their European path. In this regard, they supported and encouraged the relevant non-EU CEI Member States to ensure further steps forward in meeting the criteria required in the process of the EU Enlargement and to develop further the partnership with the EU. At the same time, the Ministers asked the CEI Member States, which are also EU Member States, to continuously contribute to the European integration process of the CEI countries aspiring to EU membership and closer relations with the EU, through the EU institutions. To this end, the Ministers affirmed that “Regional

Cooperation for European Integration” remains CEI’s basic aim and mission. They reiterated the need for the CEI to closely cooperate with other regional bodies in this endeavour. Furthermore, the Ministers supported the idea to strengthen the role of the CEI as “a Bridge Macrorebetween gions”. In this context, acknowledged they the particular attention paid to existing and future EU macro-regional strategies as as initiatives well which could have a favourable impact on the whole CEI region.

The Ministers praised the CEI’s project-oriented cooperation approach, thanks to its various funds and instruments of cooperawhich has tion, provided support for the creation of a successful model for recooperation gional needed for the support of the dialogue and economic growth of the countries of the region, especially of the non-EU CEI Member States. In particular, the Ministers stressed that the CEI Fund at the EBRD, financed by Italy, had played a key role in this process and represented a considerable asset for cooperation throughout the entire region.

Ministers exThe pressed their gratitude to the Italian Government for granting a new replenishment to the Fund of 1 million Euro for 2013, regardless of the national budgetary constraints.

The Ministers also praised the importance of the CEI Know-How Exchange Programme (KEP), financed by the Italian CEI Fund at the EBRD and the Austrian Development Cooperation, aimed at supporting the transfer of know-how and best practices from EU to non-EU CEI Member States. The Ministers also expressed their satisfaction with the results of the CEI Cooperation Fund and adopted the scale of national contributions of the Member States for 2014, remaining on the level of the previous year. Moreover, the Ministers acknowledged the important results achieved by the CEI EU funded projects implemented or under implementation and look forward to starting newly approved projects. According to the Ministers, the continuous activities in this context would bring about strengthened relations with the European Commission (EC), with the final aim of reaching a cooperation agreement.

The Ministers expressed their support to the new CEI Plan of Action 2014-2016, to be adopted by the Heads of Government.

They were particularly pleased with the clear definition of CEI’s mission and strategic objectives, including measures for its structural and financial

strengthening as well as for enhancing its visibility. They believed that this document, which is aligned with the entry into force of the next EU Multiannual Financial 2014Framework 2020, could enhance cooperation in a number of areas in order to make a contribution towards a knowledgesustainable based, and inclusive economy, in line with the provisions of the EU 2020 Strategy and would be conducive to the EU Enlargement.

The Ministers commended the efforts made by the CEI ExSecretariat, ecutive the 2013 Hungarian CEI Presidency and CEI Member the States in developing a new concept for the CEI Business Dimension. The Ministers agreed upon revisiting the CEI Business Dimension and introducing a new approach, aimed at addressing the specific needs of the SMEs on the one hand and those of the Large Industry on the other. The renewed CEI Business Dimension shall be an effective tool meeting the needs of the business within communities the CEI region and shall serve to promote growth through enhanced business interaction.

The Ministers highly appreciated the priorities (visibility, sustainable growth, mobility and inclusion) and the programme of the 2013 Hungarian CEI Presidency. Stepping up efforts in order to clear the regulatory and infrastructural bottlenecks hampering closer economic interactions and more extensive human contacts, represents a strategic objective within the wider Central Europe region.

Moreover, providing higher CEI-visibility and attention to the Organization also in countries outside the CEI-region is an aspiration shared by all CEI Member States.

The Ministers extended their best wishes to the incoming 2014 Austrian CEI Presidency.

They pledged their full cooperation and support to Austria.

The Ministers noted with satisfaction that under the newly elected management, the CEI Executive Secretariat could and was eager to play a decisive role in the fulfilment of the tasks of the Organisation. In this regard, full support of the Member States was expressed to the new Secretary General, Alternate and Deputy Secretary Generals in executing their important duties.

The Ministers also expressed their gratitude to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary and the CEI Executive Secretariat for the excellent organisation of the Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the CEI Member States in Gödöllő.

Cooperation between state and church should be strengthened

Photo: Gergely Botár (Online 31 Oct) Prime Minister Viktor Orbán signed a cooperation agreement with the Hungarian Lutheran Church at the Deák Square Lutheran Secondary School in central Budapest.Under the agreement 300 million forints (EUR 10m) would be provided for the upgrade of the Deák Square building and 4.7 billion (EUR 1.6m) for the development of facilities in Győr in north-western Hungary. The refurbishment will be completed expectedly by 2017, the year marking the 500th anniversary of the

Lutheran Church.

In his speech provided at the event marking the Reformation Day, the Prime Minister called for strengthening cooperation between state and church to better serve the public. The funds provided to churches by the state in fact support the Hungarian people since they help broadening knowledge through education in church schools, and providing care in social-welfare institutions run by churches, Orbán said. The Prime Minister called it a constitutional obligation of the Hungarian

state to strengthen cooperation with churches in the interest of public good, with simultaneous respect for the principle of the separation of state and church.

Viktor Orbán evoked that Martin Luther had proclaimed his NinetyFive Theses in Wittenberg on this day in 1517 when Europe had been in deep crisis. He said Luther's message with his deed had been that the only way for Europe, and for the Christian faith, was to survive by returning to their roots.

New logistic centre at airport will bring hundreds of workplaces

Pre-Angkorian and Angkorian eras:

During the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries, the Indianised states of Funan and Chenla coalesced in present-day Cambodia and southwestern Vietnam. For more than 2,000 years, Cambodia absorbed influences from India, passing them on to other Southeast Asian civilizations that are now Thailand and Laos. The Khmer Empire flourished in the area from the 9th to the 13th centuries. Around the 13th century, Theravada Buddhism was introduced to the area through monks from Sri Lanka. From then on, Theravada Buddhism grew and eventually became the popular religion.

The Khmer Empire was Southeast Asia's largest empire during the 12th century and it remained very powerful. The empire declined yet remained powerful in the region until the 15th century. The empire's centre of power was Angkor, where a series of capitals was constructed during the empire's zenith.

In 2007 an international team of researchers using satellite photographs and other modern techniques concluded that Angkor had been the largest pre-industrial city in the world with an urban sprawl of 1,150 square miles. The city could have supported a population of up to one million people and Angkor Wat, the most famous and best-preserved religious temple at the site, are reminders of Cambodia's past as a major regional power.

Dark ages of Cambodia:

Prasat Bayon

After a long series of wars with neighboring kingdoms, Angkor was sacked by the Ayutthaya Kingdom and abandoned in 1432 because of ecological failure and infrastructure breakdown. This led to a period of economic, social, and cultural stagnation when the kingdom's internal affairs came increasingly under the control of its neighbors. By this time, the Khmer penchant for monument building had ceased. Older faiths such as Mahayana Buddhism and the Hindu cult of the god-king had been supplanted by Theravada Buddhism.

The court moved the capital to Longvek where the kingdom sought to regain its glory through maritime trade. Portuguese and Spanish travelers described the city as a place of flourishing wealth and foreign trade. The attempt was short-lived however, as continued wars with the Ayutthaya and the Vietnamese resulted in the loss of more territory and Longvek being conquered in 1594. With the capturing of Longvek by the Siamese, the nation never fully recovered. During the next three centuries, the Khmer kingdom alternated as a vassal state of the Ayutthaya Kingdom and Vietnamese kings, as well as short-lived periods of relative independence.

A new Khmer capital was established at Udong south of Longvek, but its monarchs could survive only by entering into what amounted tovassal relationships with the Siamese and Vietnamese. A renewed struggle between Siam and Vietnam for control of Cambodia in the nineteenth century resulted in a period when Vietnamese officials attempted to force the Khmers to adopt Vietnamese customs. This led to several rebellions against the Vietnamese.

The Siamese–Vietnamese War (1841–1845) ended with an agreement to placed the country underjoint suzerainty.

This later led to the signing of a treaty for French Protection of Cambodia by King Norodom I.

French colonization:

In 1863 King Norodom, who had been installed by Thailand,sought the protection of France from the Thai and Vietnamese after tensions grew between them. In 1867 the Thai king signed a treaty with France, renouncing suzerainty over Cambodia in exchange for the control of Battambang and Siem Reap provinces which officially became part of Thailand. The provinces were ceded back to Cambodia by a border treaty between France and Thailand in 1906.

Cambodia continued as a protectorate of France from 1863 to 1953, administered as part of the colony of French Indochina, thoughoccupied by the Japanese empire from 1941 to 1945. Between 1874 and 1962, the total population increased from about 946,000 to 5.7 million. After King Norodom's death in 1904, France manipulated the choice of king, and Sisowath, Norodom's brother, was placed on the throne. The throne became vacant in 1941 with the death of Monivong, Sisowath's son, and France passed over Monivong's son, Monireth, feeling he was too independently minded. Instead, Norodom Sihanouk, a maternal grand-son of king Sisowath was enthroned. The French thought young Sihanouk would be easy to control. They were wrong, however, and under the reign of King Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia gained independence from France on November 9, 1953.

If we are resolved to describe Islam as a system of superior values, we are Independence and Vietnam War: became a constitutional monarchy under King Norodom obliged, first of all, to acknowledge that we are not the true representatives of Cambodia Sihanouk. When French Indochina was given independence, CamIslam.—Muhammad Iqbal bodia lost official control over the Mekong Delta as it was awarded Allama Iqbal's poetry has also been translated into several European languages where his works were famous during the early part of the 20th century. Iqbal’s Asrar-i-Khudi and Javed Nama were translated into English by R A Nicholson and A J Arberry respectively.

faithful to its promise, will secure funding for tourism and hiking-related developments such as the upgrading of walking trails. With such an aim, an eightpoint action plan has been elaborated for renovating some 22 thousand square metres of trails at a cost of 990 million forints.

An additional 150 million forints have been earmarked for rail, bicycle and waterway upgrades as well as signposting and trail markers. The Prime Minister also noted that the Government would deliver on its promise that there should be a facility for cheap, good quality accommodation for

Independence Day C a m bodia - N ov 0 9

Iqbal's second book in English, the Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, is a collection of his six lectures which he delivered atMadras, Hyderabad and Aligarh; first published as a collection in Lahore, in 1930. These lectures dwell on the role of Islam as a religion as well as a political and legal philosophy in the modern age. In these lectures Iqbal firmly rejects the political attitudes and conduct of Muslim politicians, whom he saw as morally misguided, attached to power and without any standing with Muslim masses. Iqbal expressed fears that not only would secularism weaken the spiritual foundations of Islam and Muslim society, but that India's Hindu-majority population would crowd out Muslim heritage, culture and political influence. In his travels to Egypt, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, he promoted ideas of greater Islamic political co-operation and unity, calling for the shedding of nationalist differences. He also speculated on different political arrangements to guarantee Muslim political power; in a dialogue with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Iqbal expressed his desire to see Indian provinces as autonomous units under the direct control of the British government and with no central Indian government. He envisaged autonomous Muslim provinces in India.

Under one Indian union he feared for Muslims, who would suffer in many respects especially with regard to their existentially separate entity as Muslims. Sir Muhammad Iqbal was elected president of the Muslim League in 1930 at its session inAllahabad, in the United Provinces as well as for the session in Lahore in 1932. In his presidential address on December 29, 1930, Iqbal outlined a vision of an independent state for Muslim-majority provinces in northwestern India: "I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistanamalgamated into a single state.

Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated Northwest Indian Muslim state appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of Northwest India."

In his speech, Iqbal emphasised that unlike Christianity, Islam came with "legal concepts" with "civic significance," with its "religious ideals" considered as inseparable from social order: "therefore, the construction of a policy on national lines, if it means a displacement of the Islamic principle of solidarity, is simply unthinkable to a Muslim." Iqbal thus stressed not only the need for the political unity of Muslim communities, but the undesirability of blending the Muslim population into a wider society not based on Islamic principles. He thus became the first politician to articulate what would become known as the Two-Nation Theory — that Muslims are a distinct nation and thus deserve political independence from other regions and communities of India. However, he would not elucidate or specify if his ideal Islamic state would construe a theocracy, even as he rejected secularism and nationalism. The latter part of Iqbal's life was concentrated on political activity. He would travel across Europe and West Asia to garner political and financial support for the League, and he reiterated his ideas in his 1932 address, and during the Third Round-Table Conference, he opposed the Congress and proposals for transfer of power without considerable autonomy or independence for Muslim provinces. He would serve as president of the Punjab Muslim League, and would deliver speeches and publish articles in an attempt to rally Muslims across India as a single political entity. Iqbal consistently criticised feudal classes in Punjab as well as Muslim politicians averse to the League. He fell prey to Punjabi dominated Muslims of region. Muslims across Indian subcontinent opposed the idea of two nation theory. Many unnoticed account of Iqbal's frustration toward Congress leadership were also pivotal of visioning the two nation theory. He also wanted to prove that defeat of Muslim ummat can be at least saved in this region by dividing the societies within British India in the name of Islam.

Patron of The Journal Tolu-e-Islam

(Online 29 Oct) A tourist hostel in Pilisszentkereszt, a favoured tourist destination north of Budapest, was inaugurated today by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The hostel was refurbished at a cost of 70 million forints (EUR 240,000) with support from Pilis Park Forestry Company Ltd (Pilisi Parkerdő Zrt.) and the Hungarian Development Bank (MFB) within the framework of the agreement the Government signed with the Hungarian Hiking Association this summer.

At the ceremony, the Prime Minister said that the Government,

to Vietnam. The area had been controlled by the Vietnamese since 1698 with King Chey Chettha II granting Vietnamese permission to settle in the area decades before.

In 1955, Sihanouk abdicated in favour of his father in order to participate in politics and was elected prime minister. Upon his father's death in 1960, Sihanouk again became head of state, taking the title of prince. As the Vietnam War progressed, Sihanouk adopted an official policy of neutrality in the Cold War, although he was widely considered to be sympathetic to the communist cause. While visiting Beijing in 1970 he was ousted by a military coup led by Prime Minister General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, who had the support of the United States. The king urged his followers to help in overthrowing this government, hastening the onset of civil war. Soon the Khmer Rouge rebels began using him to gain support.

Between 1969 and 1973, Republic of Vietnam forces and U.S. forces bombed and briefly invaded Cambodia in an effort to disrupt the Viet Cong and Khmer Rouge. Some two million Cambodians were made refugees by the war and fled to Phnom Penh. Estimates of the number of Cambodians killed during the bombing campaigns vary widely, as do views of the effects of the bombing. The U.S. Seventh Air Force argued that the bombing prevented the fall of Phnom Penh in 1973 by killing 16,000 of 25,500 Khmer Rouge fighters besieging the city. However, journalist William Shawcross King Norodom is credited for saving and Cambodia specialists Milton Osborne, David P. Chandler and Cambodia from disappearing altoBen Kiernan argued that the bombing drove peasants to join the gether.

Khmer Rouge. Cambodia specialist Craig Etcheson argued that the Khmer Rouge "would have won anyway", even without U.S. intervention driving recruitment despite the U.S. secretly playing a major role behind the leading cause of the Khmer Rouge.

Khmer Rouge regime:

As the Vietnam War ended, a draft USAID report observed that the country faced famine in 1975, with 75% of its draft animals destroyed, and that rice planting for the next harvest would have to be done "by the hard labour of seriously malnourished people". The report predicted that "Without large-scale external food and equipment assistance there will be widespread starvation between now and next February ... Slave labour and starvation rations for half the nation's people (probably heaviest among those who supported the republic) will be a cruel necessity for this year, and general deprivation and suffering will stretch over the next two or three years before Cambodia can get back to rice self-sufficiency".

The Khmer Rouge reached Phnom Penh and took power in 1975. The regime, led by Pol Pot, changed the official name of the country to Democratic Kampuchea. They immediately evacuated the cities and sent the entire population on forced marches to rural work projects. They attempted to rebuild the country's agriculture on the model of the 11th century, discarded Western medicine, and destroyed temples, libraries, and anything considered Western. At least a million Cambodians, out of a total population of 8 million, died from executions, overwork, starvation and disease.

Estimates as to how many people were killed by the Khmer Rouge regime range from approximately one to three million; the most commonly cited figure is two million (about one-third of the population).This era gave rise to the term Killing Fields, and the prison Tuol Sleng became notorious for its history of mass killing. Hundreds of thousands fled across the border into neighbouring Thailand. The regime disproportionately targeted ethnic minority groups.

The Cham Muslims suffered serious purges with as much as half of their population exterminated.

In the late 1960s, an estimated 425,000 ethnic Chinese lived in Cambodia, but by 1984, due to Khmer Rouge genocide and to emigration, only about 61,400 Chinese remained in the country. Forced repatriation in 1970 and deaths during the Khmer Rouge era reduced theVietnamese population in Cambodia from between 250,000 and 300,000 in 1969 to a reported 56,000 in 1984. Professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and teachers, were also targeted. According to Robert D. Kaplan, "eyeglasses were as deadly as the yellow star" as they were seen as a sign of intellectualism.

End of Khmer Rouge and transition:

In November 1978, Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia in response to border raids by the Khmer Rouge. The People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), a Pro-Soviet state led by the Salvation Front, a group of Cambodian leftists dissatisfied with the Khmer Rouge, was established. In opposition to the newly-created state, a government-in-exile referred to as the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK) was formed in 1981 from three factions.

This consisted of the Khmer Rouge, a royalist faction led by Sihanouk, and the Khmer People's National Liberation Front. The Khmer Rouge representative to the UN, Thiounn Prasith, was retained.

Throughout the 1980s the Khmer Rouge, supplied by China, Thailand, the United States and theUnited Kingdom continued to control much of the country and attacked territory not under their dominance. These attacks, led to economic sanctions by the U.S. and its allies, made reconstruction virtually impossible and left the country deeply impoverished.

Peace efforts began in Paris in 1989 under the State of Cambodia, culminating two years later in October 1991 in a comprehensive peace settlement. The UN was given a mandate to enforce a ceasefire and deal with refugees and disarmament known as the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia(UNTAC).

In 1993, Norodom Sihanouk was restored as King of Cambodia, making Cambodia the world's onlypostcommunist country which restored monarchy as the system of government. The stability established following the conflict was shaken in 1997 by a coup d'état but has otherwise remained in place. In recent years, reconstruction efforts have progressed and led to some political stability in the form of a multiparty democracy under a constitutional monarchy.

In July 2010 Kang Kek Iew was the first Khmer Rouge member found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in his role as the former commandant of the S21 extermination camp. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison but the sentence was reduced to 19 years taking into consideration the time he spent in custody before trial.

Photo: Agnes Bartolf (Online 31 Oct) Workplace creation and the reinforcement of social roots through employment are top priorities for the Hungarian Government and this occasion today is another step towards achieving these goals, Minister of State for Infrastructure Pál Völner said at the inauguration ceremony of the logistic base in Budapest Airport Business Park in Budapest, on 30 October, 2013.

Budapest Airport Ltd. is to establish a commercial business park at the southern part of Liszt Ferenc International Airport, easily accessible by road as well. It is in this, to be established, Budapest Airport Business Park where the newly inaugurated, up-to-date logistic site was

constructed, through an investment of some EUR 10 million (HUF 3 billion).

At the inauguration ceremony, Pál Völner emphasised that the favourable geographical location of Hungary and the excellent quality of Hungarian workforce had enabled Hungary to become one of the most attractive investment targets in Central Europe. The Minister of State opined that the inauguration of the new establishment was an example proving that the development of Budapest and its catchment area meant an upswing for the whole country at the same time.

In the past few years, Budapest Airport had implemented investments at the airport worth EUR 300 million

approximately (HUF 90 billion), whereby the company could become an employment creation centre in the South Pest Region.

The Business Park, having excellent air, road and railway connections – with twenty European countries lying within one thousand km referred to as a “transportation distance” – may become a promising development site for Hungarian and international enterprises.

It was the divisions of Deutsche Post DHL that first moved into the office and warehouse complex, occupying a total area of some 17 thousand square metres. This new site is to become the workplace for over 200 DHL employees.

Hungary’s foreign trade surplus continues to increase (Online 31 Oct) According to the latest data, in August 2013 the volume of exports and imports were up by 1.4 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Thus foreign trade posted a surplus of EUR 613 million in the eighth month of the year, exceeding the level of July. Between January and August 2013, exports and imports increased by 2.5 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively, compared to figures of 2012.

In August 2013, the value of exports and imports totalled EUR 6.4bn and some EUR 5.8bn, respectively, and thus foreign trade registered a surplus of EUR 613 million. In the initial eight months of 2013, the surplus of foreign trade was EUR 4.6bn, which is almost on a par with the level

registered in the same period of the previous year.

In January-August 2013, imports and exports of machinery and transport equipment, which constitute more than 45 percent of total imports and 53 percent of total exports, were up by 2.2 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively. Thanks to car industry investment, which is also supported by the Government, foreign trade regarding road vehicles – exports and imports alike -- soared by more than 10 percent each. As far as manufactured products are concerned, growth of 6.5 percent and 5.8 percent were recorded for exports and imports, respectively, in comparison to January-August 2012. New investment projects within the chemical industry which are being implemented in Hungary have continued to

exert positive influence: the trade of plastics in primary forms, essential oils, perfume materials and cleaning preparations show remarkable growth concerning both exports and imports.

With EU member states, which constitute a substantial share of total trade, in January-August 2013 Hungary’s foreign trade posted a surplus of some EUR 6.7bn, up by EUR 82.5 million, year-on-year. Visá-vis non-EU countries, the volume of exports improved by 4.7 percent, while imports increased by 6.6 percent.

Aforementioned data, which signal an upward trend regarding trade with countries inside and outside the EU, confirm the adequacy of the „keeping with the West, opening to the East" policy formulated

by Hungary’s foreign trade strategy.