96 Issue | Worldwide Events e-Newspaper | 04 - 10 Nov, 2012

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.

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.

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

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 classbased 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.

and history in Engla Origins 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 Festivities in Windsor Castle by Paul Sandby, c. fireworks lit.

1776

Religious significance:

According to historian and author Antonia Fraser, a study of the earliest sermons preached demonstrates an antiCatholic 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 An effigy of Guy Fawkes, burnt on 5 two days therefore became an important double anniversary. He November 2010 at Billericay in ordered that the thanksgiving service for 5 November be amended Essex to include thanks for his "happy arrival" and "the Deliverance of our Church and Nation". In the 1690s he re-established Protestant rule in Ireland, and the Fifth, occasionally marked by the ringing of church bells and civic dinners, was consequently eclipsed by his birthday 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.

Revellers in Lewes, 5 November 2010 Another celebration involving fireworks, the five-day Hindu festival of Diwali (normally observed between mid-October 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 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:

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 affecting 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.

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.

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.

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 patterned 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 Fresco icon of St. Nestor of White Tower in the background. The anachronistic White Tower acts as a sym- Thessaloniki,disciple of St. bolic depiction of the city of Thessaloniki, despite having been built in the 16th Demetrius. century, centuries after his life, and the exact architecture of the older tower that stood at the same site in earlier times is unknown. Again, iconography often depicts saints 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.

World Town Planning Day Wor ldwide - N ov 0 8

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.

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.

Pre-history:

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 semi-metropolitan 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Independence and Vietnam War:

Cambodia became a constitutional monarchy under King Norodom Sihanouk. When French Indochina was given independence, Cambodia lost official control over the Mekong Delta as it was awarded 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:

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—according to scholar Bruce Lawrence—Iqbal's Kashmiri Pandit ancestors from Kashmir 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 af- Iqbal in Spain, fluent Gujrati physician. The couple had two children: a daughter, Mi'raj Begum (born 1895) 1933 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 Knowledge of Economics in 1903. In 1905 Iqbal published the patriotic song, Tarana-e-Hind (Song of India).

At Sir Thomas's encouragement, Iqbal travelled to Europe and spent many years studying there. Before leaving for London he visited theDargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi and wrote a famous poem to acknowledge the great Sufi and by doing so he confirmed 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.

career Literary Upon his return to India in 1908, Iqbal took up an assistant professor-

ship 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 de- Iqbal with Muslim political activists. velopment of human society, centred around experiences from his (L to R): Mohammad Iqbal (third), travels and stays in Western Europe and the Middle East. He was Syed Zafarul Hasan (sixth) (at Aliprofoundly influenced by Western philosophers such as Friedrich Ni- garh Muslim University, Aligarh, etzsche, Henri Bergson and Goethe. He soon became a strong critic of Western society's separation of religion from state and what he per- India) ceived 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 sociopolitical 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.

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 "Mantaq-ul-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 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 denounces slavery by attempting to explain the spirit behind 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. Final Years 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) Street named in Iqbal's honour in Heidelberg, Germany. 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

Independence Day C a m bodia - N ov 0 9

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.

Dark ages of Cambodia:

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.

icon of St.

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

History

Sir Muhammad Iqbal (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 among the greatest of the modern era. He is commonly referred to as Allama Iqbal (‫ہمالع‬ ‫لابقا‬‎, Allama lit. Scholar).

After studying in England and Germany, Iqbal established a law practice, but concentrated primarily on writing scholarly works on politics, economics, history, philosophy and religion. He is best known for his poetic works, including Asrar-e-Khudi— which brought a knighthood—Rumuz-eBekhudi, and the Bang-e-Dara, 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 Muffakir-ePakistan ("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.

Works in Persian:

Name The spelling "Demetrius" is a romanization of the ancient Greek pronunciation;

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

Allama Muhammad Iqbal Day Pakistan - Nov 09

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.

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:

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

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 Tolu-e-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.

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

If we are resolved to describe Islam as a system of superior values, we are obliged, first of all, to acknowledge that we are not the true representatives of Islam.— Muhammad Iqbal

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.

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 .

Centuries later, the legend would emerge to explain the origin of the likes 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 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 Picture of Santa Maria de la his rule, to practice their religion. It is in the twelfth century the Almoravids and Almudena in the interior of the Almohads, to invade Al-Andalus , in the conquered territories impose a fierce religiosity, which led to the conversion of many Mozarabic and Jewish, the Cathedral. 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.

Marine Corps Birthday U.S. - N o v 1 0

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States. In the civilian leadership structure of the United States military, the Marine Corps is a component of the United States Department of the Navy, often working closely with U.S. naval forces for training, transportation, and logistic purposes; however, in the military leadership structure the Marine Corps is a separate branch.

Captain Samuel Nicholas formed two battalions of Continental Marines on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as naval infantry. Since then, the mission of the Marine Corps has evolved with changing military doctrine and American foreign policy. The Marine Corps has served in every American armed conflict and attained prominence in the 20th century when its theories and practices of amphibious warfare proved prescient and ultimately formed the cornerstone of the Pacific campaign of World War II. By the mid-20th century, the Marine Corps had become the dominant theorist and practitioner of amphibious warfare. Its ability to rapidly respond on short notice to expeditionary crises gives it a strong role in the implementation and execution of American foreign policy.

As of 2010 the United States Marine Corps included just under 203,000 active duty marines and just under 40,000 reserve marines. It is the smallest of the United States' armed forces in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The United States Coast Guard is smaller, about one-fifth the size of the Marine Corps, but it does not normally operate under the DoD. The Marine Corps is nonetheless larger than the armed forces of many significant military powers; it is larger than the active duty Israel Defense Forces and the active duty British Army for example.

Csaba Hende holds discussions with US secretary of navy

HUNGARY PM signed an agreement on strategic partnership with Hungarian pharmaceuticals maker (Online 02 Nov) At a ment in Debrecen (E) in ceremony held in Parlia- April. The 25-billionment, the Prime Minister forint (EUR 88.3m) plant called Richter a success opened 120 new jobs in story and said the com- the city. pany played an out- The Prime Minister said standing role in the the government planned national economy. The to sign long-term strategovernment aimed to gic partnership pacts help Hungarian pharmaceutical production remain a global leader in the future and will support research and development of n e w drugs.

V i k t o r Photo: Gergely Botár Orban added that the with several other large government had a spe- firms which play an imcial responsibility to- portant role in the Hunwards Richter Gedeon garian economy. He said as the state was a the agreement was a shareholder. Richter is new innovative ecothe only Hungarian phar- nomic tool in Hungary, maceuticals firm which which helped the counoperates without foreign try stay afloat. The interinvestors and with Hun- ests of the companies garian management, involved will be guarded supplies over one hun- by the government, he dred countries world- said. wide and gives jobs directly to 5,000 and indirectly to 10,000 people, O r b a n noted.

It is Richter t h a t spends most on R + D a m o n g Hungarian c o m p a - Photo: Gergely Botár nies, Orban said, citing The current agreement as an example a is second in line after the biotechnology plant built one signed with Cocain a greenfield invest- Cola.

"The Hungarian government counts on successful companies, in a way that it tries to help embed them into the network of the Hungarian economy," Viktor Orban stated.

Erik Bogsch, CEO of Hungarian pharmaceutical manufact u r e r Richter Gedeon s a i d Richter Gedeon's aim was to be independent, that its decis i o n s should be made at the company headquarters in Hungary, while also keeping the interests of the Hungarian economy in mind to a maximum.

He said Richter was very committed to biotechnology and plans are to develop five new products at the Debrecen plant by 2020. He added that the company plans to spend 2025 billion forints on investments in Hungary, spending the most on R+D in the region.

The prese n t agreement was an acknowledgement of Richter's key role in the Hungarian economy.

St a t e Se c r e t a r y Szijjá r t ó c onc lude d s e v e r a l a gr e e m e nt s in Vie t na m (Online 31 Oct) State reconstruction of large Secretary for Foreign Af- systems”. fairs and External Eco- On Wednesday, two nomic Relations Péter Szijjártó, who is negotiating in Vietnam, c o n cluded several agreements on Wednesday.

As a result, a Photo: Prime Minister’s Office Hungarian comp a n y m a y begin the establishment of the Asian country's population registration system, another Hungarian enterp r i s e Photo: Prime Minister’s Office may develop the water-treat- agreements were signed ment system of one that will provide considprovince; furthermore erable market opportunifor Hungarian the Hungarian export of ties pig meat to Vietnam enterprises in the SouthEast Asian country. Acmay also begin. to one The State Secretary in- cording formed Hungarian news agreement, a Hungarian agency MTI of these de- company may begin to velopments after having establish the system of participated in the Hun- population registration garian-Vietnamese eco- which so far does not nomic joint committee exist in Vietnam. This is meeting in Hanoi, and a “huge informationinvestafter having met with technological Prime Minister Nguyen ment”. According to a Tan Dung, Deputy Minis- second agreement, a ter of Planning and In- Hungarian company will vestment Cao Viet Sinh, develop the water-treatMinister for Foreign Af- ment system of a Vietfairs Nguyen Phuong namese province. In Nga and Deputy Minis- addition, Hungarians will ter of Finance Truong build an oncology hospital. It was also agreed Chi Trung.

Within the framework of that cooperation on nuthe policy of opening to- clear energy will be wards the East, the Hun- broadened. At the mogarian government aims ment, Vietnamese nuto put more emphasis on clear energy experts are its relationship with being educated in HunAsian countries. Péter gary, and in the future State Secretary Szijjártó Hungarian enterprises said that “We consider may now deliver various Vietnam a strategic eco- equipment and transfer nomic partner due to its knowledge to Vietnam, economic performance”. as the Asian country is He added that the Viet- planning to establish two namese economic and nuclear power plants – social system is being said State Secretary Szmodernized, and for this ijjártó. reason “there is a great The State Secretary also need for Hungarian ex- revealed that an agreeperience regarding the ment was signed ac-

cording to which Hungarian food-processing enterprises have now been entered on the list that includes those fore i g n companies from which Vietnam imports pork and p o r k products.

F i n a l l y, a n agreem e n t was also reached on continuing strategic cooperat i o n within the field of t h e health ind u s t r y, so the development of the Vietnamese medical system may be carried out following the Hungarian example. The Hungarian partner plans the establishment of a health educational centre in Vietnam, and the way is clear for cooperation on the distribution of pharmaceuticals and the education of doctors and nurses.

State Secretary Szijjártó said that he and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had set as their goal to achieve progress in these fields of cooperation as soon as possible. „There are more opportunities in the relationship between Hungary and Vietnam than we currently make use of”, but the present negotiations may serve as a good basis for exploiting the economic possibilities” – said the State Secretary in closing, On Thursday, a HungarianVietnamese business forum will be held in Ho Chi Minh, which will be opened by State Secretary Szijjártó.

Foreign Minister Martonyi to participate at the ASEM Summit in Laos (Online 31 Oct) Minister Martonyi will be representing Hungary at the upcomi n g A S E M (Asia Eur o p e Meeting) Summit in Laos early next week – said Szabolcs Ta k á c s , Deputy S t a t e Secretary for Global Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a roundtable discussion with journalists.

The heads of state and government of ASEM countries meet for a consultation every second year, Deputy State Secretary Takács told the press. The foreign ministers meet every other year; the last time it was Hungary that hosted their meeting in Gödöllő during the Hungarian EU Presidency.

Deputy State Secretary Takács stressed that any kind of cooperation could be initiated under the aegis of ASEM, and

this is why the ministers scheduled to have bilatin charge of environment eral talks with his counprotection or health care terparts from Myanmar and Thailand as well as with the Deputy Foreign Minister from Singapore.

Following the summit Minister Martonyi will be flying to Sri Lanka – on the also had their meetings occasion of the fiftieth over the past years. He anniversary of the estabunderlined that Hungary lishment of diplomatic wanted to play an active relations between the role in ASEM coopera- two countries – where tion. he will be meeting his Foreign Minister counterpart, Minister Martonyi will be ad- Gamini Laksman Peiris. dressing the issue of Minister Martonyi will sustainable water man- also be meeting with agement at the summit Minister for Water Manin Laos. Economic, re- agement Affairs Dines gional, security policy, Gunavardena and Minissocial and cultural ques- ter for Economic Affairs tions will be on the Basil Rajapaksa. Hunagenda of the meeting, garian businessmen will and the challenges of be accompanying the disaster relief activity will Minister, and they will also be discussed. take part in the talks In the course of the sum- about bilateral cooperamit the Hungarian For- tion in water manageeign Minister is ment.

Pr ot e c t ion f or whis t le - blowe r s in t he f ight a ga ins t c or r upt ion (Online 31 Oct) Implementation is continuing on the Public Administration Anti-Corruption Programme, which was adopted by the Government in March, and for which the next stage is strengthening of protection for whistle-blowers.

On Wednesday an expert forum is taking place in the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice entitled ’How Can We Break Down the Walls of Silence in Cases of Corr u p t i o n ? ’ Representatives from Hungarian public administration and experts from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are taking part and sharing their experience from Hungarian and international contexts.

Numerous Hungarian and international studies have highlighted the deficiencies in protection for whistle-blowers in Hungary, and therefore the aim of the workshop is that the participants make recommendations for directives on Hungarian regulation in the light of Hungarian and international practices and experience.

The essence of protection for whistle-blowers is that appropriate channels and protection

should be provided for those who draw attention to abuses and inadequacies in the operation of any organisation. Whistle-blowers in the public sphere are not acting in their own interests, but in those of the public and of us all, and so they must be able to count on enhanced protection from possible reprisals.

In March the Government adopted the Public Administration Anti-Corruption Programme and also decided on measures necessary for its implementation. This is a significant move in the fight against corruption, as there has not been such a programme at government level since the political transition of 1989-90. The goal is to strengthen the state’s ability to combat corruption, and for that ability to attain a high level in public and state administration and governmental bodies. A public sphere should emerge in which the presence of corruption is recognised, condemned and eliminated. This will enable the strengthening of ethical values, through which public administration and its public services can provide an example to the private sphere, and thus be able to indirectly reduce cor-

ruption in the economy as a whole.

Several measures are linked to implementation of the programme. For example, in addition to the introduction of protection for whistle-blowers, training of public officials is to be launched, which will include an anti-corruption element. Hungary is planning to endorse the Open Government Declaration, which on 20th September 2011 was signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway and five other states. This will further broaden joint anti-corruption activities with international organisations.

According to the agreement between the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice and the OECD, which is jointly participating in this work, the Ministry will conduct expert dialogue with international organisations in five areas – one of them being the fight against corruption. The advice provided by the OECD in the course of the programme will take account of good practice at international level, and thus aid the Government in implementation of the reforms.

IMF-EU agreement no panacea on its own (Online 31 Oct) According to Minister of State for Economic Strategy at the Ministry for National Economy Zoltán Cséfalvay, it is obvious that an agreement with the IMF and the European Union can be no cure-all on its own.

Speaking at the 20th annual forum organized by the German-Hungarian Chamber for Industry and Commerce he concluded that yields of Hungarian sovereign securities may be lower and bond market confidence regarding Hungary may increase as a consequence of the deal. On the other hand, there are several issues which Hungary has to solve, as the agreement on its own will not result in higher growth, a more productive economy, higher payroll numbers or a more efficient public sector.

In the opinion of the Minister of State recent Hungarian macro-eco-

nomic achievements have met with a mixed reception: while financial and bond markets have appreciated them, reactions from Brussels were sometimes just the opposite. “It appears as if over there our economic situation was perceived to be much worse and that is aptly reflected in the excessive deficit procedure”, he said. However, certain progress has been made by the EU, as two years ago the implementation risks of economic policy measures were judged to be much higher, and the risk indicator of 50 percent at that time was reduced to close to 33 percent, he added.

In his speech he emphasized that the “sine qua non” of igniting growth is economic stability. Of equal importance, he added, is implementing reforms necessary for improving competitiveness.

The fiscal adjustment measures of the Gov-

ernment announced in October cover three fields: one-third of them are aimed at creating a more efficient public administration, another third target greater economic transparency and the last one-third are the tools for a more optimal sharing of risks and burdens. “What Brussels can comprehend of this all is that there are some additional revenues expected from greater transparency, but they are not precisely calculable,” he said.

Minister of State Cséfalvay said: Hungarian economic policy must maintain a declining debt path and it has to make efforts to create a smaller state apparatus and to achieve a lower redistribution rate and a more transparent economy. In addition, the taxation system must be stabilized and the economy needs demandside measures such as the Job Creation Action Plan.

Pla ns t o t a k e ov e r a pa r t of H unga r y 's loc a l gov e r nm e nt s ’ de bt t o be dis c us s e d on 7 N ov e m be r (Online 29 Oct) The Government will discuss its plans to take over a part of local gove r n ment’s debt at its session on 7 Nov e m b e r, Government Spokesman András Giró-Szász said on public television M1 on Monday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced on Saturday that the state will take over debt worth 612 billion forints (EUR 2.17bn) from 1956 municipalities.

The Government Spokesman noted that the annual debt service of that total was much lower, and the scheme would have no impact on Hungary's deficit or state debt, as it has been calculated with the municipal debt portfolio taken into consideration.

H e added that the s t a t e would have a better negotiating position with lenders, t h a n l o c a l governments would.

According to the Government's plans the state will take over the entire debt of local councils in towns with a population of 5000 or less, and a part of the debt accumulated by larger municipalities.

(Online 30 Oct) On role in missions in October 30 in the morn- Afghanistan and the ing, Hungarian Minister Balkans, and praised of Def e n c e Csaba Hende met with R a y Mabus, the US Secretary of Navy – who is on a visit to Hungary – at a bilateral d i s c u s - Photo: Mária Krasznai-Nehrebeczky sion.

At the meeting, the two the Hungarian contribupartners jointly con- tion to the operations. cluded that military co- During the discussion, operation is an Minister Hende stated outstanding field of the that the close transatHungarian–American lantic relations are of relations. The US Sec- fundamental importance retary pointed out the with regard to the secusignificance of the Hun- rity of Hungary and the garian Defence Forces’ whole Central European

region, and also talked about the operational role in Afghanistan and t h e Balkans, noting that our country spends 10 per cent of the def e n c e budget o n peacekeeping operations.

The two partners also discussed the large-scale joint crisis response and disaster relief exercise which is planned to take place in Hungary next year.

Deputy Prime Minister Semjén to hold talks in Moscow (Online 31 Oct) Deputy Prime Minister responsible for national policy and church affairs Zsolt Semjén is currently on a visit to Moscow.

In the Russian capital, the political victims of communism are being commemorated at this time, while for Christians in the west it is the time to remember the

dead. On Wednesday, in this spirit, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, Hungarian Ambassador to Moscow István Íjgyártó and Ministerial Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ernő Keskeny laid a wreath at the memorial to the incarceration and death of former Hungarian Prime Minister István Bethlen, in the

company of several other Hungarians currently in Moscow.

Zsolt Semjén is holding official talks in Moscow with leaders of the Pravoslav Church in preparation for the agreement that will be signed in Budapest in November between the Hungary and the Hungarian Russian Orthodox Church.

Hungary pays high price for pursuing conservative values (Online 30 Oct) Not everyone is pleased with the Hungarian Government pursuing conservative values, the Minister said in his interview, adding that Hungary does not reject others' views and only expects respect from them. One of the criticisms towards Hungary is that the constitution contains the line: “God bless the Hungarians”, even though several other countries’ constitutions include God as well.

Minister Martonyi was interviewed during an official visit to Madrid on 23 October, where he met with Foreign Minister José Manuel García Margallo, State Secretary for EU Affairs Inigo Méndez de Vigo, representatives of the Federation of Spanish Entrepreneurs and held a lecture at the foreign affairs institute Real Instituto Elcano.

Commenting on the popularity of far-right in Hungary, he said that they have their own in-

ternal problems, adding that the people "who do not belong to the extreme right and never will" are never mentioned in the press.

Talking about crisis management the Minister stated that Hungary was the first to raise fiscal pressure on banks.

He emphasised that even though the Hungarian political system and media are deeply divided, the country’s society is less divided than the European average.

The Government seeks deal with IMF/EU (Online 30 Oct) The Government desires a deal with the International Monetary F u n d (IMF) and the Europ e a n U n i o n ( E U ) , Hungary’s chief negotiator Mihály V a r g a stated in Hungarian television HírTV’s program, Rájátszás.

The Minister without portfolio responsible for the negotiations emphasised that the negotiations are following the regular course, which means that he tries to discuss the situation every day or at least every two days with the IMF’s representatives abroad and in Hungary.

The international organisations are currently assessing the Government’s fiscal adjustment measures announced in October and will probably announce which points need to be discussed or amended after the European Commission publishes its Autumn Forecast on 7 November.

Minister Varga stated that

Va r g a said that the Hungarian Government’s aim is to create a stable economy, where investors c o u l d bring their money a n d w h e r e economic a n d growth project i o n s make ina deal could help Hungary a lot, adding however that vestment worthwhile, he “not at any cost”. He high- added. lighted that the talks are Former Deputy Director of dragging on as getting the IMF John Lipsky said on loan is not urgent for Hun- 29 October, at the Univergary and a deal should sity of Pécs that Hunnot be made through gary’s crisis management hasty and desperate measures can be fruitful steps. He emphasized but success requires comthat Hungary can finance mitment, courage and a itself from the market, but clear vision. Hungary has it is impossible to say recovered from even what the situation will be more difficult situations in next spring or summer. If the past, he added. He the European markets dry projected slow growth for out, then an agreement Hungary and its neighwould come in handy, he bours in the years to come. Commenting on added.

The country’s chief nego- the preparations for talks tiator underlined that even between Hungary and the though it would be IMF about financial assischeaper to finance debt tance, Mr Lipsky said both with the help of funding sides are interested in from the IMF, however, making the economy sucthis must not be the Gov- cessful. ernment's aim. Minister

Reaction to the remarks of the European Court of Human Rights (Online 30 Oct) According to press information, the European Court of Human Rights has amerced Hungary in two cases in connection with taking three foreign asylum seekers into custody.

According to the Court, the custody was arbitrary in both cases; hence the Hungarian procedure violated the terms of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court’s point of view is that the Hungarian authorities should have provided the possibility of legal redress based on the operative law. Moreover, Hungarian authorities should have provided a written explanation on the causes for not initiating the ending of the foreign asylum seekers’ custody. The decision of the Court shows an understanding of the Hungarian national legal system that is different from the standpoint of the Hungarian public administration authorities and courts. It is important to point out that according to the court, it was not the custody itself that was illicit, but the lack of coherence between the regulation of the right of asylum and the actions of immigration services.

It needs to be emphasized that the legal instruction in question, according to which the legislative unit let the immigration authorities decide over the foreign asylum seekers, has not been operative since 1st January 2008.

The operative law governing refugees and asylum seekers came

into force on 1st January 2008. It was altered in 2010 exactly in order to provide for the diverse interpretations of the instruction.

The exact facts of the two cases need to be presented. The siblings arrived illegally from Iraq and asked for asylum. During the proceedings, the authorities appointed a reception base as accommodation for them.

The foreigners did not wait for the result of the proceedings and left for an unknown location, as a result of which the proceedings could not continue. The authorities stopped the procedure in connection with their asylum seeking.

One year later, the foreigners were brought back from the Netherlands according to the Dublin procedure. The authorities took into consideration the fact that the foreigners had declared their final destination to be the Netherlands.

There was a possibility of their disappearance, and so they were taken into custody. The authorities provided additional protection following the results of the procedure, the foreigners were recognized as protected and they were provided services and support corresponding to their legal status. In response to their request, they were given travel documents, which they used to leave to unknown destination.

The Palestinian client tried to enter the country from Ukraine with false travel documents, as a result of which the authorities, following

the legal directives, began proceedings and the client was taken into custody. His request for asylum was made only after he had bee taken into custody.

The authorities considered his request and made the decision that the conditions were not given for him to be recognized as a refugee.

At the same time, the authorities banned the possibility of sending him back. The foreigner asked for legal redress at the court.

Following the end of the administrative procedure, the client was taken to a reception base which he left more than a year ago without valid documents, illegally, to an unknown destination.

These facts have underlined the experience that most of the asylum seekers who arrive to our country do not consider Hungary to be their final destination, not even if we provide them protection and support. It should also be mentioned that while almost all of the asylum seekers reach the country illegally, the authorities only find it necessary to limit their personal freedom in very few cases. Parliament will soon decide on a bill that aims to change the law on asylum seekers and on foreigners in harmony with the criteria expressed by the European Court of Human Rights in connection with the custody of asylum seekers. As a result, the decision will provide coherence between the two legal fields.

New advanced legal status for Hungarian Red Cross (Online 29 Oct) Following an initiative from the Hungarian Red Cross, the Government has drafted new legislation to regulate the operational environment of the humanitarian organisation, as an acknowledgement of the exemplary activities the NGO has carried out in Hungary for very many years. The social debate on the proposal began on 27 October.

A law regulating the organisation and activities of the Hungarian Red Cross has

become highly desirable as the almost twenty-year-old current regulations have become obsolete and do not take into consideration recent social, economic and legal changes.

The proposal, which complies with the responsibilities undertaken by the state according to international law and takes into account international recommendations made with regard to the organisation, ensures an advanced legal status for the Hungarian Red

Cross. In order to facilitate a more efficient participation in public tasks taken over from the state, as well as creating state guarantees for the performance of public services, the advanced legal status would take the form of a public body.

The proposal also regulates further areas not included under current law, ensuring the guarantees required for the efficient functioning of the organisation.

Ministry of Human Resources to announce 860 mln forints tender for homeless care (Online 31 Oct) In a commodation for homemonths’ time, the Min- less people, training istry of Human Re- and finding jobs is open sources will call another tender for the integration and social support of t h e homeless, the S t a t e Secretary for Social, F a m i l y Photo: Gergely Botár a n d Youth Affairs stated on for regions other than Wednesday.

S t a t e Secretary Mikl ó s Soltész said that organisations can apply to receive support for providing complex services Photo: Gergely Botár to the central Hungary. homeless under the Under a previous scheme worth 860 mil- scheme the region of lion forints (EUR Central Hungary re3.03m). ceived 450 million He said the scheme for forints for homeless facilities providing ac- care and other regions

680 million, the State Secretary noted.

This year the Government has e a r marked 8.5 bill i o n forints ( E U R 30m) to spend on services for the homel e s s , S t a t e Secret a r y Soltész noted, adding that the "Heated Streets" project for their day and nighttime care h a d b e e n s u p ported with an a d d i tional 500 mill i o n forints.

During the winter, homeless shelters across the country are capable of providing accommodation to 10700 people, he said.

French Minister to continue encouraging investment in Hungary (Online 30 Oct) For- cians and leading inteleign Minister János lectuals were also presMartonyi held talks with ent.

French counterpart Laur e n t Fabius in Paris on 29 October and the two agreed on maintaining cooperation in e c o nomic and cul- Photo: Károly Árvai tural projThe monumental exhibiects.

Minister Martonyi stated tion, titled Allegro Barpresenting that last year 500-600 baro, million euros worth of Hungarian modernist French investment was painters in the Musée made in Hungary. As a d'Orsay next October result, the total amount will be co-patroned by of French investment in the two countries’ heads Hungary is currently up of states. The joint at 11 billion euros, he opening event will hopesaid, adding that sev- fully create the possibileral large projects are ity for a meeting President under preparation by between French firms including János Áder and PresiDalkia, Eloy, Epco, Eu- dent François Hollande. rotranspharma and As- Minister Martonyi undertrium. He said the lined that at the moFrench minister assured ment, nine Hungarian have him that he would "con- universities language tinue encouraging French French companies to in- courses and in the near future, with the coopervest in Hungary."

Minister Martonyi ation of the two counhanded Head of EU Af- tries, following the fairs at the French Min- example of Gyula Anistry of Foreign Affairs drássy German LanJean-Michel Casa the guage University of Hungarian Order of Budapest, a separate Merit, followed by a French language uniroundtable discussion at versity will open its the French Institute for doors in Szeged, based Foreign Affairs, where on the international relacompany CEOs, politi- tions course of the Eu-

ropean Affairs Centre of the Law Faculty (SZTE ÁJTK). The theoretical decision is already there as the Minister informed - and the Government decision is to be expected in the near future.

E u r o pean iss u e s were discussed as well and Minister János Martonyi presented the Hungarian position on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) leading point on the agenda of the November EU summit - and pointed out that a 30% loss of resources would be unacceptable for Hungary.

After the meeting, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said that the French side understood the Hungarian position and "will support us within its possibilities".

"Our interests do not coincide here; hence we can only ask that they understand that such a loss compared to the present amount would be unbearable for us ...

However it is evident that concerning the CAP we totally agree as in that case, our interests are almost the same" - he added.

H unga r ia n e c onom ic polic y will f oc us on inv e s t m e nt s a nd gr owt h (Online 29 Oct) In the non-conventional, new future Hungarian eco- instruments for reducnomic policy will con- ing general government centrate on debt and creating new investments and ignit- jobs. According to Mining economic growth – ister Matolcsy, in the Minister for National next couple of years Econo m y György M a tolcsy said in B u dapest at an event organized by t h e Americ a n Chamber of (Fotó: Imre Földi, MTI) C o m merce in Hungary (Am- these new measures Cham) on Monday. will also be deployed in The Minister empha- several EU countries. sized that growth can He emphasized that be based on a stable political stability could fiscal and political situ- be maintained throughation, highlighting that out this consolidation since the Government process, and this has took to office in 2010 it been mainly the result h a s achieved a breakthrough five in fields: t h e budget has been consolidated, general governm e n t debt reduction is u n d e r (Fotó: Imre Földi, MTI) way, the number of jobs has in- of unorthodox meascreased (due partly to ures. On the other public employment hand, the measures schemes) and the un- have put great burden employment rate has on certain economic declined. The Govern- stakeholders, such as ment has also achieved the energy and telecom a current account sur- sectors, he admitted.

In his words one of the plus.

He pointed out trans- key problems of Hunport equipment manu- garian economy is that facturing, electronic, the investment rate “green” and healthcare (FDI) is much lower industries; innovative than in other Central European industrial sectors, the Eastern services sector, agricul- countries. This is unacture and food industry; ceptable, but after taklogistics, bionics, cre- ing a second look at ative economic sectors investment structure it and tourism, as fields of can be concluded that great potential from the manufacturing industry have aspect of economic investments growth in the years to reached pre-crisis levcome. National devel- els. opment programs for With regard to eco2014-2020 will also nomic growth, in the opinion of the Minister a focus on these fields.

He also said that the trend reversal may take Cabinet utilized some place in the near future,

as after completing financial consolidation the Government can focus on igniting growth.

The Minister for National Economy said: Hungary has close relationships with all the t h r e e global economic centers – Asia, Europe and NorthAmerica.

Regarding access to major EU markets, Hungary enjoys a favourable position and the country aims for turning Central Europe into the growth engine of the EU. Speaking about Hungarian economic policy, Minister Matolcsy said that keeping the state budget deficit below 3 percent of GDP continues to be a key principle.

Structural reforms also will h e l p achieve this goal and, in addition, the Government aims for the highest possible employment rate in public work schemes and the private sector.

Speaking about the taxation system he said that in line with Government plans certain taxes on consumption will be increased, whereas taxes on income will decrease.

Parallel to declining government general debt, more money can be spent on investments and establishing an investor-friendly business environment.

Moreover, the Government expects that after the breakthrough in the second half of this year Hungarian CDSs will continue to decline – the Minister said.

Government spends 8.5 billion forints on homeless services (Online 29 Oct) By the end of the year the government will have spent 8.5 billion forints (EUR 30m) on services to homeless people, Miklós Soltész, State Secretary for Social, Family and Youth Affairs of the Ministry of Human Resources said on Saturday.

Speaking at a facility of the Hungarian Maltese Charity in Kecskemet (SE), State Secretary

Soltész said that government-assisted services ranged from providing care centres to permanent and temporary homes, as well as rehabilitation facilities. He stated that complex facilities were needed to assist homeless people in terms of accommodation, training and finding jobs, and referred to the Maltese Charity's home in Kecskemet, as an example.

Homeless shelters across the country can provide accommodation to 10,700 people, State Secretary Soltész said.

In the Central Hungarian region, where most homeless are to be found, 480 million forints were granted through the New Széchenyi Plan and further 680 million forints in the other regions of Hungary.

St a t e Se c r e ta r y N é m e t h c a lls e t hnic k in's a ut onom y na t iona l c a us e (Online 29 Oct) The autonomy of Transylvanian Hungarians is a cause for all Hungarians as the achievements of Romania's ethnic Hungarian minority have an impact on the entire Hungarian nation and Hungary itself, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zsolt Németh, told a conference, marking the 20th anniversary of the Cluj (Kolozsvár) Declaration.

The document issued by the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) made it clear

that Romania's Hungarian community is a political entity and a constituent factor, an equal partner to the Romanian nation, one that seeks to proceed on the road towards internal self-determination.

Addressing the event organised by the Hungarian National Council of Transylvania (EMNT) and the Transylvanian Hungarian People's Party (EMNP), State Secretary Németh said there was a social demand for the autonomy of Romania's Hungarian community and a

chance to reach that goal. He emphasised that the demand for autonomy should not divide but connect members of the community.

The State Secretary said that during his recent visit to Budapest Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean initiated a Romanian-Hungarian dialogue which covers even the "tough issues".

"During the talks, we should make it clear what we want and that what we have achieved is for, rather than against them," he added.

Pá pa a ir ba s e will be s uit a ble for r e c e iv ing c iv il a nd m ilit a r y a ir c r a f t (Online 29 Oct) In a opment program, of session held on which the road and rail Wednesday, October 24 network developments the government of Hungary – following coordination w i t h NATO – decided that the Pápa Air Base will be upgraded to a mixeduse, in- (fotó: www.nspa.nato.int) termodal logistic hub, under way in the region which will be suitable for and the establishment of receiving both civil and the connection to inland military transport aircraft. waters navigation on the Minister of Defence River Danube form an Csaba Hende an- important part. All these nounced the decision on infrastructural developFriday, October 26 at a ments will enable the repress conference held gion in every respect to near Hegyfalu, Vas attract further investCounty, along the M86 ments worth one billion main road under con- euros in the fields of automotive, electronics struction.

According to the Minis- and machinery induster, a road and rail net- tries, which would create work could be around 25,000 jobs. developed in the region Csaba Hende noted that to serve the intermodal the issue of establishing hub, including the a cargo airport was restoration and expan- dragging on for a long sion of main road No. time in the region.

83, which has been The Minister explained planned independently that the Pápa Air Base is as well. Csaba Hende currently a cargo airport stressed that the govern- which has so far served ment is committed to the exclusively military purimplementation of a re- poses. He told the press gional economic devel- that the necessary coor-

dination with NATO had taken place, and the town of Pápa welcomed the development concept too.

Speaking at a press conference held jointly with the mayor of the town in P á p a , Z o l t á n Kovács, the government representative of Veszprém County said that the installation was suitable for receiving any aircraft.

Many conditions are given for civil aviation, such as the air traffic control system, the border entry control and the customs administration facilities, which are all available. So far around HUF 15 billion has been spent on the military capability development of the air base, but the now announced investment “will certainly have a larger volume than that”.

The Pápa airport will be a forward base of European air refueling capability, as it will be suitable for receiving C-17 airlifters as well as Airbus A330-300 multi-role transport airplanes and C5 Galaxy strategic transport aircraft.

Information about the Hungarian-Australian social security agreement (Online 03 Nov) As the result of successful negotiations between Australia and Hungary, the Social Security Agree-

ment between the two countries, proclaimed in Hungary by the Act No. CXVII of 2011 has come into force on 1 October

2012 according to the communiqué of the ForMinister No. eign 39/2012. (VIII. 14.).

Hungarian cinema in the spotlight at the Spanish MUCE film festival (Online 31 Oct) Hungarian cinema will be at the center of the Spanish film festival MUCE (Muesde tra Cine Europeo Ciudad e d Segovia, City of Segovia Festival of Europ e a n C i n ema).

The program of the oneweeklong festival, which begins on 14 November, was presented in the Hungarian Embassy in Madrid.

The Ministry of Human Resources welcomes the fact that the MUCE festival provides the opportunity for people to learn about Hungarian cinema, and wishes success for the Hungarian films presented during

the program.

This year during the 7th MUCE festival, 96 films from 31 countries will be

presented. Each year, the festival concentrates on the movies of one European country, this time on the films of Hungary.

Besides the four Hungarian movies taking part in different sections of the film festival, 8 feature films from the history of Hungarian cinema will also be screened (among others, the works of Kornél

László Mundruczó, Krasznahorkai, István and Miklós Szabó Jancsó). Parallel with the film festival, a conference will be held on the state of contemporary Hung a r i a n cinema.

In addition, within the framework of the MUCE festival, the European Parliament will present the LUX Award to one film that deals with the subject of the universality of human rights or the cultural diversity of Europe. 10 films were nominated for the LUX Award, of which Bence Fliegauf’s Just the Wind has already got into the best three, and has a good chance of winning the award.

Consultations on developing the new model for the natural gas wholesale market (Online 31 Oct) The long-term contracts providing the backbone of Hungarian gas supply will expire in 2015. The possibility will open up in the meantime to develop

a less concentrated wholesale gas market with larger competition.

As a first step of preparing the process of change and with the aim of conducting

direct talks, a conference was held on 17 October 2012 with participants of the industry relating to future wholesale market model alternatives.

For e ign t r a de r e c or de d a s ignif ic a nt s ur plus a ga in in A ugus t (Online 31 Oct) According to the latest flash report of the Hungarian Central Statistical Off i c e (KSH), in Aug u s t 2012 the volume of exports increased by 1.7 percent c o m pared to the corr e sponding period of the previous year. Foreign trade surplus amounted to 162.87bn HUF (587.6 million EUR) which is 38.72bn HUF (133.1 million EUR) more than the surplus recorded in August.

Analyzing the initial eight months of 2012 it can be concluded that compared to the same period of the previous year the volume of exports and imports were up by 3.1 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively. In this period foreign trade recorded a surplus of 1 363.3bn HUF. In August 2012 overall imports declined by 0.3 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. In the same period, machinery and transport equipment imports, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, increased by 1.8 percent,

while exports were down imports were down by by 1.1 percent. Within 5.2 percent in this period this commodity group, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

The 76.1 percent of total Hung a r i a n euro-denominated exports headed to the member countries of the European U n i o n , whereas the export volume of the 71 percent of imports communication-, voice originated from these recording and reproduc- countries. The volume of ing equipments declined exports to the entire EU by the greatest extent, increased by 3 percent due mainly to lower de- in the initial eight months mand in Asia and Eu- of the year; imports were rope. On the other hand, higher by 4 percent. Forexports and imports of eign trade vis-à-vis motor vehicles, office- these countries recorded and automated data pro- a surplus of 1 773bn cessing equipments HUF in the observed pewere both significantly riod; the surplus with the higher. “old” EU states declined Regarding the category to 948bn HUF but it inof manufactured prod- creased by 55bn HUF to ucts, the volume of both 826bn HUF vis-à-vis the exports and imports in- new members. creased substantially by The export volume to 8.4 percent and 5.3 per- non-EU countries was cent, respectively. The higher by 3.2 percent in export volume of fuels the period of Januaryand electric energy – August 2012, while the parallel to a steep price volume of imports was increase – registered a lower by 3.9 percent decline of 4.5 percent. compared to the base The volume of exports of period. Consequently, food, beverages and to- foreign trade deficit modbacco products in- erated by 134bn HUF to creased robustly by 8.6 410bn HUF with these percent in the initial eight countries. months of the year, while

M inis te r M a r t ony i s pok e a t a c onf e r e nc e on t he f ut ur e of Eur ope (Online fairs Vo30 Oct) j t e c h Minister Belling, Martonyi Portugese spoke at Secretary an interof State national Assistant conferto the ence on Minister the fuand of Euture of ropean AfEurope, f a i r s held at Miguel the HunMorais garian Leitao Institute Photo: Károly Árvai and Hunof Intergarian European Parliament national Affairs, on 30 Committee on Foreign Minister of State on EuOctober.

Affairs Elmar Brok, ropean Affairs Enikő The event’s other Czech Secretary of Győri. prominent participants State for European Afwere Chairman of the