99 Issue | Worldwide Events e-Newspaper | 25 Nov - 01 Dec 2012

Independence Day Suriname - Nov 25

Suriname officially the Republic of Suriname (Dutch: Republiek Suriname), is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as Dutch Guiana. Suriname achieved independence from the Netherlands on 25 November 1975.

At just under 165,000 km2 (64,000 sq mi) Suriname is the smallest sovereign state in South America (French Guyana comprises less territory, but is French territory and not sovereign). It has an estimated population of approximately 490,000, most of whom live on the country's north coast, where the capital Paramaribo is located.

Etymology The name Suriname may derive from a Taino (Arawak-speaking) group called "Surinen" who first inhabited the region prior to European arrival.

Originally, the country was spelled Surinam by English settlers who founded the first colony at Marshall's Creek, along the Suriname River, and was part of a group of colonies known as Dutch Guiana. Surinam can still be found in English. A notable example of this is Suriname's own national airline, Surinam Airways. The older English name is reflected in the English pronunciation, /ˈsʊrɨnæm/ or /ˈsʊrɨnɑːm/. In Dutch, the official language of Suriname, the pronunciation is with the main stress on the third syllable and and a lenthened 'ee' sound.

History

Colonial period:

Beginning in the 16th century, French, Spanish, and English explorers visited the area. A century later, plantation colonies were established by the Dutch and English along the many rivers in the fertile Guyana plains. The earliest documented colony in Guiana was along the Suriname River and called Marshall's Creek. The area was named after an Englishman. Disputes arose between the Dutch and the English. In 1667, the Dutch decided to keep the nascent plantation colony of Suriname conquered from the English, resulting from the Treaty of Breda. The English were left with New Amsterdam, a small trading post in North America, which later became New York.

In 1683, the Society of Suriname was founded by the city of Amsterdam, the Van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck family, and the Dutch West India Company. The society was chartered to manage and defend the colony. The planters of the colony relied heavily on African slaves to cultivate the coffee, cocoa, sugar cane and cotton plantations along the rivers. Treatment of the slaves by their owners was notoriously bad, and many slaves escaped the plantations.

With the help of the native South Americans living in the adjoining rain forests, these runaway slaves established a new and unique culture that was highly successful in its own right. Known collectively in English as the Maroons, in French as the Nèg'Marrons and in Dutch as "Bosnegers" (literally meaning "bush negroes"), they actually established several independent tribes, among them the Saramaka, the Paramaka, the Ndyuka or Aukan, the Kwinti, the Aluku or Boni, and the Matawai.

The Maroons would often raid the plantations to recruit new members, acquire women, weapons, food and supplies.

These attacks were often deadly for the planters and their families, and after several unsuccessful campaigns against the Maroons, the European authorities signed several peace treaties with them in the 19th century, granting the Maroons sovereign status and trade rights.

Abolition of slavery:

Slavery was abolished by the Netherlands in Suriname in 1863, but the slaves in Suriname were not fully released until 1873, after a mandatory 10 year transition period during which time they were required to work on the plantations for minimal pay and without state sanctioned torture. As soon as they became truly free, the slaves largely abandoned the plantations where they had suffered for several generations, in favour of the city, Paramaribo.

As a plantation colony, Suriname was still heavily dependent on manual labour, and to make up for the shortfall, the Dutch brought in contract labourers from the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia) and India (through an arrangement with the British). In addition, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, small numbers of mostly men were brought in from China and the Middle East. Although Suriname's population remains relatively small, because of this history it is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse countries in the world.

On 23 November 1941, under an agreement with the Netherlands government-in-exile, the United States occupied Dutch Guiana to protect bauxite mines. In 1954, the Dutch placed Suriname under a system of limited self-government, with the Netherlands retaining control of defense and foreign affairs. In 1973, the local government, led by the NPK (a largely Creole, meaning ethnically African or mixed African-European, party) started negotiations with the Dutch government leading towards full independence, which was granted on 25 November 1975. The severance package was very substantial, and a large part of Suriname's economy for the first decade following independence was fueled by foreign aid provided by the Dutch government.

Independence:

The first President of the country was Johan Ferrier, the former governor, with Henck Arron (the then leader of the Nationale Partij Suriname (Suriname's National Party)) as Prime Minister. Nearly one third of the population of Suriname at that time emigrated to the Netherlands in the years leading up to independence, as many people feared that the new country would fare worse under independence than it did as an overseas colony of the Netherlands.

Suriname's diaspora therefore includes more than a quarter of a million people of Suriname origin living in the Netherlands today, including several recent members of the Dutch national football team.

On 25 February 1980, a military coup overthrew the democratic government and declared a socialist republic. On 8 December 1982, the military, then under the leadership of Dési Bouterse, rounded up several prominent citizens who were accused of plotting against the government. They were executed during the night, and the Netherlands quickly suspended all foreign aid to Suriname after this event. Bouterse is currently standing trial for the December murders of 1982, when a number of his political opponents were assassinated, and he has been convicted in absentia in the Netherlands for drug smuggling. Elections were held in 1987 and a new constitution was adopted, which among other things allowed Bouterse to remain in charge of the army. Dissatisfied with the government, Bouterse summarily dismissed them in 1990, by telephone. This event became popularly known as "the telephone coup".

Bouterse's power began to wane after the 1991 elections however, and an ongoing brutal civil war between the Suriname army and the Maroons that had begun in 1986, loyal to the rebel leader Ronnie Brunswijk, further weakened his position during the 1990s.

Suriname's democracy gained some strength after the turbulent 1990s, and its economy became more diversified and less dependent on Dutch financial assistance. Bauxite (aluminium ore) mining continues to be a strong revenue source, but the discovery and exploitation of oil and gold has added substantially to Suriname's economic independence. Agriculture, especially of rice and bananas, remains a strong component of the economy, and ecotourism is providing new economic opportunities. More than 80% of Suriname's land-mass consists of unspoiled rain forest, and with the establishment of the Central Suriname Nature Reserve in 1998, Suriname signalled its commitment to conservation of this precious resource. The Central Suriname Nature Reserve became a World Heritage Site in 2000.

Violent riots broke out in Albina in 2009 between the local Maroon population and Brazilian gold diggers. In July 2010, Desi Bouterse was elected president despite charges against him for the 1982 killings, and despite having been convicted for drug smuggling in the Netherlands, and sentenced to 11 years.

Mangé Yam (fête de la moisson) Haiti - Nov 25

Like the NEW YAM FESTIVALS held in some African countries, Manger Yam is a harvest celebration of the yam crop observed in Haiti, a country mainly comprised of descendants of slaves from west Africa. Because Haitians, too, depend upon the yam crop, they hold the Manger Yam, named after the French manger, which means "to eat."

It is considered taboo to eat any of the new yams before the festival for fear of falling ill or bringing ruin to the yam crop. This is also an occasion on which families reunite to celebrate together. In Voodoo, or more properly, Vodoun, belief, it is very important for people to maintain relationships with the dead, as well as with each other and the gods, so the deceased are included in the Manger Yam as well as in other ceremonies and festivals.

In the Voodoo service, the priest or priestess leads prayers to the dead and to the gods and offers the first yams to them. After the ceremony, people feast on yam dishes and enjoy music and dancing.

St. Catherine's Day-Nov 25 Great Britain, Canada, Estonia, France

St. Catherine's Day (Estonian: Kadripäev) is on 25 November each year. It has retained its popularity throughout the centuries and is still widely celebrated in modern-day Estonia. It marks the arrival of winter and is one of the more important and popular autumn days in the Estonian folk calendar. It is a day of celebration for the women of the culture, though different meanings come from each culture itself of this day.

Historical meaning of Kadripäev St. Catherine’s Day commemorates the martyrdom of St.

Catherine. St. Catherine was beheaded by Emperor Maximinus II in approximately305 AD in Alexandria. November 25 became the commemoration date in the 10th century, and many churches and particularly nunneries inEurope were dedicated to St. Catherine. In Lutheran countries, including Estonia, this day has also been associated with Catherine, the wife of Henry VIII. In Estonia, five parish churches and at least as many chapels have been dedicated to St. Catherine.

Similar to St. Martin's Day on November 10, St. Catherine’s Day also marks the arrival of winter, but it holds less importance for Estonians than for some other Baltic Sea peoples (particularly the Germans). Also like St. Martin’s Day, St. Catherine’s Day is basically a secular holiday and is even somewhat pagan. Generally, St. Martin’s Day and St. Catherine’s Day are described by their differences: St. Martin’s Day is primarily a holiday associated with men and St. Catherine’s Day is associated with women, which means that the latter day has acquired a strongly feminine meaning.

Customs

Great Britain:

The custom of lighting a revolving pyrotechnic display (a 'Catherine Wheel firework') to celebrate the saint's feast day is assisted by the ready supply of such fireworks during the month of November, due to the secular celebration of Guy Fawkes Night earlier in the month.

A traditional celebration of St Catherine's Day, which has seen something of a revival in modern times, is the baking of 'Cattern Cakes' in honour of St Catherine. The rise of the internet has assisted in this process, as recipes have become more readily available. The key ingredients are bread dough, egg, sugar, lard or butter, and carraway seeds.

Canada:

Slavery was abolished by the Netherlands in Suriname in 1863, but the slaves in Suriname were not fully released until 1873, after a mandatory 10 year transition period during which time they were required to work on the plantations for minimal pay and without state sanctioned torture. As soon as they became truly free, the slaves largely abandoned the plantations where they had suffered for several generations, in favour of the city, Paramaribo.

As a plantation colony, Suriname was still heavily dependent on manual labour, and to make up for the shortfall, the Dutch brought in contract labourers from the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia) and India (through an arrangement with the British). In addition, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, small numbers of mostly men were brought in from China and the Middle East. Although Suriname's population remains relatively small, because of this history it is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse countries in the world.

On 23 November 1941, under an agreement with the Netherlands government-in-exile, the United States occupied Dutch Guiana to protect bauxite mines. In 1954, the Dutch placed Suriname under a system of limited self-government, with the Netherlands retaining control of defense and foreign affairs. In 1973, the local government, led by the NPK (a largely Creole, meaning ethnically African or mixed African-European, party) started negotiations with the Dutch government leading towards full independence, which was granted on 25 November 1975. The severance package was very substantial, and a large part of Suriname's economy for the first decade following independence was fueled by foreign aid provided by the Dutch government.

Estonia:

The customs for the Estonian St. Catherine’s Day are generally associated with the kadrisants (kadri beggars) or kadris, which give the whole day a unique quality, although it is similar to the traditions practised on St. Martin’s Day. Both require dressing up and going from door to door on the eve of the holiday to collect gifts, such as food, cloth and wool, in return for suitable songs and blessings.

On Estonian farms, minding the herds and flocks were primarily the responsibility of women and therefore, St. Catherine’s Day involves customs pertaining more to herd keeping than farming. In addition, both men and women may dress up as women. In comparison to the mardisants, who were generally dressed in a masculine and rough manner and often wore animal masks, the kadris wear clean and light-coloured clothing, which is in reference to the coming snow.

As with mardi eve (the evening before St. Martin’s Day), when the village youth chose a mardiisa (father), the main player on kadri eve is kadriema (mother).

Regarding the songs for St. Martin’s Day and St. Catherine’s Day, the main content difference is that the former songs wished the visited families harvest luck and the latter songs luck with the herds and flocks, particularly with the sheep. On St. Catherine’s Day, in order to protect the sheep, shearing and weaving were forbidden and sewing and knitting were also occasionally banned.

St. Catherine’s Day has retained its popularity throughout the centuries, including the half-century of Soviet occupation, during which no direct official obstructions to the celebrations were made, probably due to the apolitical nature of the holiday. Thus, St. Catherine’s Day is still widely celebrated in modern-day Estonia. It is particularly popular among students and the rural population.

France:

On St. Catherine's Day, it is customary for unmarried women to pray for husbands, and to honour women who've reached 25 years of age but haven't married—called "Catherinettes" in France. Catherinettes send postcards to each other, and friends of the Catherinettes make hats for them—traditionally using the colours yellow (faith) and green (wisdom), often outrageous—and crown them for the day. Pilgrimage is made to St. Catherine's statue, and she is asked to intercede in finding husbands for the unmarried lest they "don St. Catherine's bonnet" and become spinsters. The Catherinettes are supposed to wear the hat all day long, and they are usually feted with a meal among friends. Because of this hat-wearing custom, French milliners have big parades to show off their wares on this day.

The French say that before a girl reaches 25, she prays: "Donnez-moi, Seigneur, un mari de bon lieu! Qu'il soit doux, opulent, libéral et agréable!" (Lord, give me a well-situated husband. Let him be gentle, rich, generous, and pleasant!") After 25, she prays: "Seigneur, un qui soit supportable, ou qui, parmi le monde, au moins puisse passer!"

(Lord, one who's bearable, or who can at least pass as bearable in the world!") And when she's pushing 30: "Un tel qu'il te plaira Seigneur, je m'en contente!" ("Send whatever you want, Lord; I'll take it!"). An English version goes, St Catherine, St Catherine, O lend me thine aid, And grant that I never may die an old maid.

Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women Worldwide - Nov 25

Women's activists have marked November 25 as a day to fight violence against women since 1981. On December 17, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women(Resolution 54/134). The UN invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities designated to raise public awareness of the problem on this day as an international observance.

Women around the world are subject to rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence, and the scale and true nature of the issue is often hidden.

This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960 of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930–1961).

There is more information about the history of this day, and UN publications relating to violence against women, at the UN's Dag Hammarskjöld Library . The UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women) also has a regular observance of the day, and offers suggestions for others to observe it.

Proclamation Day Mongolia - Nov 26

On November 26, 1924, the first State Ikh Khural adopted the first Constitution and declared the People’s Republic of Mongolia, dismissing monarchism. This historical day is an official public holiday and State top officials paid tribute to Chinggis Khaan statue the previous day. Early in the 20th century, Mongolia was exacerbated with foreign powers and tyrannies. The domestic political situation failed and the economic crisis worsened. Some leading patriotic people who have progressive ideas protested this situation and made revolutionary struggle in 1921, bringing victory and taking the nation’s destiny under their power.

As a result of the revolution, Mongolia reinstated its independence. According to Mongolia’s first Constitution adopted on November 26, 1924, the State Baga Khural was established with a composition of 30 members, which was the basis for parliament. Although the State Baga Khural did not have a permanent function, like the modern parliament of the 1990s, it was a kind of representative organization responsible for holding State power, legislating and resolving important issues of national development.

Independence Day Albania- Nov 28 Albania officially known as the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipërisë pronounced Gheg Albanian: Republika e Shqipnísë), is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west, and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. It is less than 72 km (45 mi) from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea. Albania is a member of the UN, NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Council of Europe, World Trade Organisation, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and one of the founding members of the Union for the Mediterranean. Albania has been a potential candidate for accession to the European Union since January 2003, and it formally applied for EU membership on 28 April 2009. Along with Kosovo, Albania has the distinction of being the only Muslim-majority sovereign countries wholly within Europe, although the population is largely secular.

Albania is a parliamentary democracy with a transition economy. The Albanian capital, Tirana, is home to approximately 600,000 of the country's 3,000,000 people. Free-market reforms have opened the country to foreign investment, especially in the development of energy and transportation infrastructure. Albania was chosen as the No.1 Destination in Lonely Planet's list of ten top countries to visit for 2011.

Etymology Albania is the Medieval Latin name of the country which is called Shqipëri by its people. In Medieval Greek, the

country's name is Albania (Greek: Ἀλβανία) besides variants Albanitia,Arbanitia.

The name may be derived from the Illyrian tribe of the Albani recorded by Ptolemy, the geographer and astronomer from Alexandria who drafted a map in 150 AD that shows the city of Albanopolis (located northeast of Durrës).

The name may have a continuation in the name of a medieval settlement called Albanon and Arbanon, although it is not certain this was the same place. In his History written in 1079–1080, Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates was the first to refer to Albanoi as having taken part in a revolt against Constantinople in 1043 and to the Arbanitai as subjects of the Duke of Dyrrachium. During the Middle Ages, the Albanians called their country Arbër or Arbën and referred to themselves as Arbëresh or Arbnesh.

As early as the 16th century the placename Shqipëria and the ethnic demonym Shqiptarëgradually replaced Arbëria and Arbëresh. While the two terms are popularly interpreted as "Land of the Eagles" and "Children of the Eagles", they derive from the adverb shqip, which means "understanding each other".

Under the Ottoman Empire Albania was referred to officially as Arnavutluk and its inhabitants as Arnauts (officially, Arnavutlar). These terms remain the same officially and in common usage in the current Republic of Turkey. The word is considered to be a metathesis from the word Arvanite, which was the Medieval Greek name for the Albanians.

History

The history of Albania emerged from the prehistoric stage from the 4th century BC, with early records of Illyria in Greco-Roman historiography. The modern territory of Albania has no counterpart in antiquity, comprising parts of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia (southern Illyricum), Macedonia (particularly Epirus Nova), and Moesia Superior.

The territory remained under Roman (Byzantine) control until the Slavic migrations of the 7th century, and was integrated into the Bulgarian Empire in the 9th century.

The territorial nucleus of the Albanian state formed in the Middle Ages, as the Principality of Arbër and the Kingdom of Albania. The first records of the Albanian people as a distinct ethnicity also date to this period. In 15th century there was a series of confrontations between Albanians led by Scanderbeg and the advancing Ottoman Empire.

Soon after the death of Scanderbeg the organized resistance ceased and the country became part of Ottoman Empire. It remained under Ottoman control as part of the Rumelia province until 1912, when the first independent Albanian state was declared. The formation of an Albanian national consciousness dates to the latter 19th century and is part of the larger phenomenon of rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire. A short-lived monarchy (1914– 1925) was succeeded by an even shorter-lived first Albanian Republic (1925–1928), to be replaced by another monarchy (1928–1939), which was annexed by Fascist Italy during World War II. After the collapse of the Axis powers, Albania became a communist state, the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, which was dominated by Enver Hoxha (d. 1985). Hoxha's political heir Ramiz Alia oversaw the disintegration of the "Hoxhaist" state during the wider collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the later 1980s.

The communist regime collapsed in 1990, and the Republic of Albania was founded in 1991. The old communist party was routed in the elections of March 1992, amid economic collapse and social unrest. An economic crisis spread in the late 1996 following the failure of some Ponzi schemes operating in the country, peaking in 1997 in an armed rebellion, that led to another mass emigration of Albanians, mostly to Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Germany and North America.

In 1999 the country was affected by the Kosovo War, when a great number of Albanians from Kosovo found refuge in Albania.

Albania became a full member of NATO in 2009. The country is applying to join the European Union.

Republic Day Chad- Nov 28 Every year on November 28, Chad celebrates Proclamation of the Republic Day. Chad was part of the many colonies of France in Africa until 1960, the year they gained independence from France and were constituted as a Republic. But Chad has been left torn by civil wars and rebellions, often with clandestine support from the French power.

History In 1900, the French named Chad as a military

territory and its protectorate in Africa. By 1920, France achieved full control of Chad and incorporated it into what was called French Equatorial Africa. For France, Chad wasn’t worth much and was primarily exploited for its cheap untrained labor and cotton. France began a mass production of cotton using the citizens as laborers in 1929. Chad never was much of an investment for the French; they left the whole country almost abandoned without modernizing it or investing in education. After World War II, France gave Chad the status of overseas territory and conceded some liberties to its people. For example, France allowded for the creation of political parties and election of representatives to the Chadian Assembly. Finally, Chad was granted independence from France in August 11, 1960, and François Tombalbaye was named its first president.

Celebrations

Chad has been affected by a humanitarian crisis since 2001. According to the United Nations, there are hundreds of thousands of refugees in the country from Darfur and Central Africa Republic along with 170,000 internally displaced Chadians. Even so, holidays in Chad are celebrated with fun and joy. Republic Day is celebrated in a traditional way, and people from the different religions—from Christians to Muslims—are united in the celebration of Chad’s proclamation as a free Republic. The day may be celebrated by local communities with political assemblies and sports like football.

Liberation Day Albania - N o v 2 9

The Liberation Day (Albanian: Dita e Çlirimit) is commemorated as the day, November 29, 1944, in which Albania was liberated from Nazi Germany forces after the Albanian Resistance of World War II.

Background Germany occupied Albania in September 1943,

dropping paratroopers into Tirana before the Albanian guerrillas could take the capital, and the German army soon drove the guerrillas into the hills and to the south. Berlin subsequently announced it would recognize the independence of a neutral Albania and organized an Albanian government, police, and military. Many Balli Kombëtar units collaborated with the Germans against the communists, and several Balli Kombëtar leaders held positions in the German-sponsored regime.

The partisans entirely liberated Albania from German occupation on November 29, 1944. The National Liberation Army, which in October 1944 consisted of 70,000 regulars, also took part in the war alongside the antifascist coalition.

The Albanian partisans also liberated Kosovo, and assisted Tito's communist forces in liberating part of Montenegro and southern Bosnia and Herzegovina. By that time, the Soviet Army was also entering neighboring Yugoslavia, and the German Army was evacuating from Greece into Yugoslavia.

Controversy There is controversy in Albania in regards to the date: several opinion makers think that the date was chosen by the

Communist Party of Albania fictitiously in order to have the same liberation date as Yugoslavia's.

Unity Day Vanuatu - Nov 29

The nation of Vanuatu is an archipelago of 83 islands, 113 languages, and a host of different tribal groups. To celebrate the unification of differing groups into one nation, Unity Day was established on November 29. On that day in 1977, unrest in the islands, then under French-British administration, caused a great loss of life. Such internal division is something that present-day Vanuatu citizens do not want to see repeated.

To celebrate this day, representatives from all of Vanuatu's peoples come to the capital city of Port Vila. High chiefs from all the islands attend the festivities, which include performances by native dancers in their traditional dress and a parade. Music concerts and sporting events are also part of the celebration. Ordinary citizens usually observe the day with picnics or by camping. In 2004 President Kalkot Mataskelekele asked that church leaders spend an hour or two that day in special prayer for national unity.

Computer Security Day Worldwide- N o v 3 0

Computer Security Day is an annual event that is observed worldwide. It was started in 1988 to help raise awareness of computer related security issues. The goal of Computer Security Day is to remind people to protect their computers and information. Officially, Computer Security Day is November 30th. However, some some organizations choose to have functions on the next business day or week if CSD falls on a weekend.

Computer Security Day is a great opportunity for information security professionals and their organizations to raise the level of awareness within their users. We can help by providing ideas for CSD activities, posters and other resources.

For 2008 the theme for CSD will be "A Good Defense " The poster has yet to be designed but will include an image and text portraying the idea that we must be proactive and active for security to work. Each individual is responsible and plays a part in protecting information assets and resources. These include: Viruses, PC security, Firewalls, Using strong passwords, Social engineering, Physical security of information resources and assets

Independence Day Mauritania - Nov 28 Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa.

It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest. It is named after the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, which later became a province of the Roman Empire, even though the modern state covers a territory far to the southwest of the old kingdom. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast.

The government of Mauritania was overthrown on 6 August 2008, in a military coup d'état led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. On 16 April 2009, General Aziz resigned from the military to run for president in the 19 July elections, which he won. In Mauritania about 20% of the population live on less than US$1.25 per day.

History

Ancient history:

The Bafours were primarily agriculturalist, and among the first Saharan people to abandon their historically nomadic lifestyle. With the gradual desiccation of the Sahara, they headed south.

Following them came a migration of not only Central Saharans into West Africa, but in 1076, Moorish Islamic warrior monks (Almoravid or Al Murabitun) attacked and conquered the ancient Ghana Empire. Over the next 500 years, Arabs overcame fierce resistance from the local population (Berber and non-Berber alike) and came to dominate Mauritania. The Mauritanian ThirtyYear War (1644–74) was the unsuccessful final effort to repel the Yemeni Maqil Arab invaders led by the Beni Hassan tribe.

The descendants of the Beni Hassan warriors became the upper stratum of Moorish society. Berbers retained Nouakchott is the capital and the largest city influence by producing the majority of the region's Marabouts—those who preserve and teach Islamic tra- of Mauritania. It is one of the largest cities dition. Many of the Berber tribes claimed Yemeni (and in the Sahara sometimes other Arab) origin: there is little evidence to suggest this, though some studies do make a connection between the two. Hassaniya, a Berber-influenced Arabic dialect that derives its name from the Beni Hassan, became the dominant language among the largely nomadic population.

Modern history:

Imperial France gradually absorbed the territories of present-day Mauritania from the Senegal river area and upwards, starting in the late 19th century. In 1901, Xavier Coppolani took charge of the imperial mission. Through a combination of strategic alliances with Zawiya tribes, and military pressure on the Hassane warrior nomads, he managed to extend French rule over the Mauritanian emirates: Trarza, Brakna and Tagant quickly submitted to treaties with the colonial power (1903–04), but the northern emirate of Adrar held out longer, aided by the anticolonial rebellion (or jihad) of shaykh Maa al-Aynayn. It was finally defeated militarily in 1912, and incorporated into the territory of Mauritania, which had been drawn up in 1904. Mauritania would subsequently form part of French West Africa, from 1920.

French rule brought legal prohibitions against slavery, and an end to interclan warfare. During the colonial period, the population remained nomadic, but many sedentary peoples, whose ancestors had been expelled centuries earlier, began to trickle back into Mauritania. As the country gained independence in 1960, the capital city Nouakchott was founded at the site of a small colonial village, the Ksar, while 90% of the population was still nomadic.

The great Sahel droughts of the early 1970s caused massive problems in Mauritania. With independence, larger numbers of indigenous Sub-Saharan African peoples (Haalpulaar, Soninke, and Wolof) entered Mauritania, moving into the area north of the Senegal River. Educated in French language and customs, many of these recent arrivals became clerks, soldiers, and administrators in the new state. This occurred as France militarily suppressed the most intransigent Hassane tribes of the Moorish north, shifting old balances of power, and creating new cause for conflict between the southern populations and Moors. Between these groups stood the Haratin, a very large population of Arabized slaves of sub-Saharan African origins, who lived within Moorish society, integrated into a low-caste social position. Modern-day slavery is still a common practice in this country. According to some estimates, up to 600,000 Mauritanians, or 20% of the population, are still enslaved. This social discrimination concerns mainly the "black Moors" (Haratin) in the northern part of the country, where tribal elites among “white Moors” (Beidane) hold sway, but low-caste groups within the sub-Saharan African ethnic groups of the south are also affected by similar practices.

Moors reacted to the change, and to Arab nationalist calls from abroad, by increasing pressure to Arabize many aspects of Mauritanian life, such as law and language. A schism developed between those Moors who consider Mauritania to be an Arab country and those who seek a dominant role for the non-Moorish peoples, with various models for containing the country's cultural diversity suggested, but none implemented successfully.

This ethnic discord was evident during intercommunal violence that broke out in April 1989 (the “1989 Events” and “Mauritania–Senegal Border War”), but has since subsided. Some 70,000 sub-Saharan African Mauritanians were expelled from Mauritania in the late 1980s.The ethnic tension and the sensitive issue of slavery – past and, in some areas, present – is still a powerful theme in the country's political debate. A significant number from all groups, however, seek a more diverse, pluralistic society.

The government bureaucracy is composed of traditional ministries, special agencies, andparastatal companies. The Ministry of Interior spearheads a system of regional governors and prefects modeled on the French system of local administration. Under this system, Mauritania is divided into thirteen regions (wilaya), including the capital district, Nouakchott. Control is tightly concentrated in the executive branch of the central government, but a series of national and municipal elections since 1992 have produced limited decentralization.

Mauritania, along with Morocco, annexed the territory of Western Sahara in 1976, with Mauritania taking the lower one-third at the request of former imperial power Spain. After several military losses to the Polisario – heavily armed and supported by Algeria, the local hegemon and rival to Morocco – Mauritania retreated in 1979, and its claims were taken over by Morocco. Due to economic weakness, Mauritania has been a negligible player in the territorial dispute, with its official position being that it wishes for an expedient solution that is mutually agreeable to all parties.

While most of Western Sahara has been occupied by Morocco, the UN still considers the Western Sahara a territory that needs to express its wishes with respect to statehood: a referendum is still supposed to be held sometime in the future, under UN auspices, to determine whether or not the indigenous Sahrawis wish to be independent as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, or to be part of Morocco. The Moroccan government has thus far blocked such a referendum from taking place.

Ould Daddah era (1960–78):

After independence, President Moktar Ould Daddah, originally installed by the French, formalized Mauritania into a one-party state in 1964 with a new constitution, which set up an authoritarian presidential regime. Daddah's own Parti du Peuple Mauritanien (PPM) became the ruling organization in a single-party system. The President justified this decision on the grounds that he considered Mauritania unready for western-style multi-party democracy. Under this one-party constitution, Daddah was reelected in uncontested elections in 1966, 1971 and 1976. He was ousted in a bloodless coup on 10 July 1978, after bringing the country to near-collapse through a disastrous war to annex the southern part of Western Sahara, in an attempt to create a “Greater Mauritania”.

CMRN and CMSN military governments (1978–84):

Col. Mustafa Ould Salek's CMRN junta proved incapable of either establishing a strong base of power or extracting the country from its destabilizing conflict with the Sahrawi resistance movement, the Polisario Front. It quickly fell to be replaced by another military government, the CMSN. The energetic Colonel Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah soon emerged as its main strongman, and by giving up all claims to Western Sahara, he found peace with the Polisario and improved relations with its main backer, Algeria – but relations with the other party to the conflict, Morocco, and its European ally France, deteriorated. Instability continued, and Haidallah's ambitious reform attempts foundered. Not only was his regime plagued by attempted coups and intrigue within the military establishment, but it also became increasingly contested because of his harsh and uncompromising line against opponents and political and military dissidents, of whom many were jailed and some were executed.

Ould Taya’s rule (1984–2005):

In 1984 he was deposed by Colonel Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, who relaxed the political climate somewhat, without relinquishing military control. Ould Taya moderated Mauritania's previous pro-Algerian stance, and reconnected with Morocco during the late 1980s. Relations with Morocco deepened during the late 1990s and early first decade of the 21st century, as part of Mauritania's drive to attract support from Western states and Western-aligned Arab states. However, Mauritania has not rescinded its recognition of Polisario's Western Saharan exile government, remaining on good terms with Algeria. Its position on the Western Sahara conflict is, since the 1980s, one of strict neutrality.

The Parti Républicain Démocratique et Social (PRDS), formerly led by President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, dominated Mauritanian politics after the country's first multi-party elections in April 1992 following the approval by referendum of the current constitution in July 1991. President Taya won elections in 1992 and 1997.

Political parties, illegal during the military period, were legalized again in 1991. By April 1992, as civilian rule returned, 16 major political parties had been recognized; 12 major political parties were active in 2004. Most opposition parties boycotted the first legislative election in 1992, and for nearly a decade the parliament was dominated by the PRDS. The opposition participated in municipal elections in January–February 1994 and subsequent Senate elections, most recently in April 2004, and gained representation at the local level and three seats in the Senate.

Ethnic violences and human rigthts abuses:

Mauritania’s people is composed of several ethnics groups : the Moors (White in Arab) or Beidane, the Haratines who are black-skinned descendant of freed slaves still attached to their former masters’ culture, the Wolof , the Soninke , and the Hal-pulaar or Peuls which includes settled farmers called Toucouleur and nomadic stock-breeders . Since its creation in 1960 by the colonial France, Mauritania’s society has been characterised by a constant discrimination towards black population, Peuls and Soninké which are seen as contesting the political, economic and social dominance of Moors.. Mauritanian blacks faced discrimination in employment in the civil service, the administration of justice before the regular and religious courts, access to loans and credits from banks and state owned enterprise, and opportunity for education and vocational training . Between 1990 and 1991, a campaign of extreme violence particularly took place, across a process of arabisation, interference with blacks’ association rights, expropriation, expatriation and slavery, slaves being only black. In April 1986, the Manifesto of the Oppressed Black Mauritanian (Manifeste du négro-mauritanien opprimé) was published by the African Liberation Forces of Mauritania FLAM (Force pour la Liberation Africaine de Mauritanie) which documented discriminations against Mauritania's black populations in every sector of public life. In response, in September 1986, thirty to forty black intellectuals were arrested, suspected to be involved in the publication of the Manifesto and were subjected to brutal interrogations.

They were not allowed to have any visit until November 1987 . In the meantime, the authorities cracked down on black communities, using mass arrests as a form of intimidation.

In October 1987, the government allegedly discovered a tentative of coup d’Etat by a group of black army officers, backed by Senegalaccording to the authorities. Fifty one officers were arrested, and subjected to interrogation and torture without access to their lawyer.. The torture consisted in “beatings, burns, electric shocks, applied to the genitals, stripping prisoners naked and pouring cold water over them, burying prisoners in sand to their necks, and subjected prisoners to jaguar, which consist in tying a victim’s hand and feet, suspending him upside down from a bar, and beating him particularly on the sole of the feet”. They were accused of “endangering the security of the State by participating in a conspiracy to overthrow the government and to provoke killing and devastation among the inhabitants of the country” and tried following a special summary procedure.. Three of the officers arrested in October were sentenced to death; eighteen were sentenced to life imprisonment (including two who died in detention in 1988 due to prison conditions); nine were sentenced to twenty years; five were sentenced to ten years; three were given five years; six were given five-year suspended sentences with heavy fines; and seven were acquitted. None of those convicted were permitted to appeal. These ethnic tensions were catalysis for the events of 1989 which started as a result of a conflict in Diawara between Mauritanian Herders and Senegalese farmers over grazing rights during which Mauritanian guards crossed the rivers, killed 2 Senegalese and took 13 other hostages into Selibaby , Mauritania on April 9, 1989 . This incident has resulted in several events which provoked series of ethnic violence, expulsions of blacks from Mauritania, expropriation extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, torture, rape, and confiscation of property. Following the incident several riots erupted in Bakel, Dakar and other towns in Senegal directed against Mauritanians which dominated the retails. A feature of this conflict is the tendency of Beydanes to see black Mauritanians as Senegalese which lead the latter to response to the attacks by attacking black Mauritanians. Therefore, anti-Mauritanese riots, added to the already existing tensions, lead to a campaign of terror against black Mauritanian. The voluntary confusion between black Mauritanian and Senegalese culminated during the international airlift agreed by Senegal and Mauritania under international pressure to prevent further violence. The Mauritanian Government used it as a way to extradite black Mauritanian, pretending they were Senegalese. It included intellectuals, civil servants, professionals, businessmen, militant trade unionists, those suspected of opposition, as well as farmers and cattle-herders from the Sénégal River Valley.

Expulsion:

The main reason for expulsions and expropriation was economic. Indeed, Moors, usually nomadic, had lost their main source of revenue with the drought of 19681985 which decimated their camel, goats and other cattle and had lost their retails during the anti-Mauritanian riots in Senegal. Moreover, the Mauritanian part of the Senegalese river valley is the most fertile part of the country and, finally, the creation of the Organisation for the Development of the Senegal river ( OMVS , on March 11, 1972 by Mali, Mauritania and Senegal, enhanced the potential value of the valley, with the construction of dams which permitted to increase the territory irrigated. In villages of the South, blacks were indiscriminately expelled by security forces which forced them to cross the Senegalese River to Senegal, taking their identity card and their belongings. Those who resisted or who tried to flee with their belongings were arrested, imprisoned and sometimes executed. Chinguetti was a center of Islamic scholarIn the larger towns and cities, the authorities targeted ship in West Africa black civil servants, employees of private institutions, trade unionists, former political prisoners and, in some instances, the wives of political prisoners.

However Peuls were mainly among those targeted. According to a study conducted by Christian Santoir for a French research company (ORSTOM who became the Institute for research on Development in 1998) some 21,500 Peuls were expelled, which accounts for at least 57 per cent of the Peuls.

Expulsions were accompanied by many violations, such as: arbitrary arrest , rape, confiscation of belongings and of all identity papers. Furthermore, Peuls' liberty of movement was restricted, as they were subjected to harassment at checkpoints, being obliged to show their identity papers and sometimes detained.

The exact number of expulsions is not known but the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR) estimates that, as of June 1991, there were 52,995 Mauritanian refugees in Senegal; in June 1993, 52,945 were registered. A smaller number of refugees have also fled into Mali; the official figure for those who have been registered there is about 13,000, but again, the real number is undoubtedly much higher because of the ease of integration into the life of local communities in Mali.

Expropriation:

Starting from 1983, exportation started to be institutionalised through the Ordinance 83.127 of June 5, 1983 which nationalised the all land in the country, abolishing the traditional system of land tenure. The potential nationalisation of the land was based on the concept of dead land , being a land which has not being developed or which development cannot be seen. The Ordinance also made impossible any collective law suit regarding property rights which rendered impossible any law suit based on traditional rights of tenure. Indeed traditional systems of tenure were based on community rights that make them justiciable only collectively. Several methods were used for expropriation . Confiscations are the most used methods. Moors exploited Article 9 of the Ordinance, which provides that registered property rights take precedence, by registering their rights using their relations, in order to prevent blacks from claiming it. Moors also established fake cooperative by which they could become members of previously black cooperative, which were the only registered black rights of property, getting ownership of the whole property of the cooperative.

Massacre of 1990-1991:

From November 1990 to February 1991, between 500 and 600 Peuls and Soninke political prisoners were executed or tortured to death by government forces. They were part of the between 3000 and 5000 blacks arrested between October 1990 and mid-January 1991 and rounded up, detained and tortured, allegedly because they were involved in an attempt to overthrow the government. There were first black officers of the military but then civil servants.

The severity of the torture, combined with the complete lack of medical care, ensured a high death toll, between 500-600 deaths from torture or summary execution is widely accepted. In addition, an unknown number of blacks found death by extrajudicial execution by security forces.

A military investigation was put in place by the government and the results were never made public. However several officials were reportedly involved: Colonel Sid'AhmedOuldBoilil, Colonel CheikhOuld Mohamed Salah, Major Mohamed CheikhOuld El Hadi, and Major Ely Fall .

In order to guarantee immunity for those responsible and to block any attempts at accountability for past abuses, an amnesty was declared by the Parliament in June 1993 covering all crimes committed by the armed forces, security forces as well as civilians, between April 1989 and April 1992. The Government offered compensations to the families of victims but a very few accepted in absence of settlement.

Despite of this amnesty, some have had the courage to denounce the involvement of the government in the arrests and killings. In 1991 an opened letter was sent to President Taya , by 50 prominent Mauritanians, including former ministers, lawyers, doctors, and professors denouncing "the magnitude of the repression that was brought down upon the blacks civilians and military in the last months of 1990” and listing several hundred extrajudicial executions, atrocities, and disappearances. The Mauritanian Workers Union also called for an independent inquiry into the detentions. Women’s also played a role into denouncing the atrocities committed: in April 1991, more than seventyfive women - wives, sisters, nieces, and mothers of some of those presumed to have been killed in the detentions signed a petition addressed to President Taya calling to the government to provide for the family left behind and break the silence.

Discrimination via arabisation:

Since many years and particularly since 1986, Arabisation has been a way to discriminate de facto black Mauritanians. Indeed, "[Arabisation] is the key to the dispossession of blacks in terms of political power, economic opportunities, and employment possibilities.”

Arabisation has been put in practice by a policy of interference with blacks’ rights of association, particularly by out righting private and public black gatherings. Although the law did not prohibit gathering and association to black people, the system of authorisation created by the Government and discriminately applied only to blacks, resulted in a prohibition.

Arabisation was also sought by the way of education. Since January 1966 study in Arabic were compulsory for student at secondary school. This provoked strike among students, which were supported by civil servants. These strikes lead to the issuing of the Manifesto of Nineteen which listed grievance against the Moors’ domination.

The process of making Arabic the primary language of the country culminated in a new constitution, passed by referendum in July 1991 which set Arabic as the official language of the Country, without any reference to French.

Mauritanian international relationship under Ould Taya’s rule:

During the late 1980s, Ould Taya had established a close co-operation with Iraq, and pursued a strongly Arab nationalist line. At the same time, bloody clashes erupted with Senegal in 1989, during which both countries expelled ethnic minorities to the other country. Mauritania grew increasingly isolated internationally, and tensions with Western countries grew dramatically after it took a pro-Iraqi position during the1991 Gulf War. During the mid-to late 1990s, Mauritania shifted its foreign policy to one of increased co-operation with the US and Europe, and was rewarded with diplomatic relaxation and aid projects.

In 1999, Mauritanian Foreign Minister Ahmed Sid’Ahmed and his Israeli counterpart David Levy signed an agreement in Washington DC, USA, on 28 October, establishing full diplomatic relations with Mauritania. The signing ceremony was held at the U.S. State Department in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Mauritania thereby joined Egypt, Palestine, and Jordan as the only members of the Arab League to officially recognize Israel.

Ould Taya also started co-operating with the United States in antiterrorism activities, which was criticized by human rights NGOs, who talked of an exaggeration and instrumentation of alleged terrorist activities for geopolitical aims.(See also Foreign relations of Mauritania.)

A group of current and former Army officers launched a bloody but unsuccessful coup attempt on 8 June 2003. The leaders of the attempted coup were never caught. Mauritania's presidential election, its third since adopting the democratic process in 1992, took place on 7 November 2003. Six candidates, including Mauritania's first female and first Haratine (former slave family) candidates, represented a wide variety of political goals and backgrounds. Incumbent President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya won reelection with 67.02% of the popular vote, according to the official figures, with Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla finishing second.

W.V.S. Tubman`s Birthday Liberia - N o v 2 9

William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman (November 29, 1895 – July 23, 1971) was a Liberian politician. He was the 19th President of Liberia from 1944 until his death in 1971.

He is regarded as the "father of modern Liberia"; his presidency was marked by the influx of foreign investment in his country and its modernization. During his tenure, Liberia experienced a period of prosperity. He also led a policy of national unity in order to reduce the social and political differences between his fellow Americo-Liberians and the indigenous Liberians. However, further into his years in power, his way of governing became increasingly dictatorial.

Youth and early political career Tubman was born November 29, 1895, in

Harper, Liberia. William Tubman's father, the Reverend Alexander Tubman, was a stonemason, general in the Liberian army and a former Speaker of the Liberian House of Representatives, as well as a Methodist preacher. Alexander Tubman's parents, Sylvia and William Shadrach Tubman, were part of a group of 69 slaves freed and sent to Liberia by Emily Tubman, a philanthropic widow living in Augusta, Georgia, in 1844. Emily Tubman had been instrumental in the manumission and repatriation of African slaves in theantebellum South. They took the name Tubman after arriving in the country, naming their community Tubman Hill. His mother, Elizabeth Rebecca Barnes Tubman, came from Atlanta,Georgia. His father required him and his other four children to attend daily family prayer services and sleep on the floor because, he thought, beds were too soft and therefore "degrading to character development."

Tubman, the second son, went to primary school in Harper, then the Methodist Cape Palmas Seminary, and finally Harper County High School. He participated in several military operations from 1910 and 1917, rising from a private to become an officer. Tubman first planned to be a preacher and was named, at age 19, a Methodist lay pastor.

After studying law under various private tutors, he passed the bar examination and became a lawyer in 1917. Subsequently, he served as a recorder in the Maryland County Monthly and Probate Court a tax collector, teacher, and even a colonel in a militia. He also attended Freemason lodges of the Prince Hall Freemasonry sect.

Having joined the True Whig Party (TWP), the dominating party of Liberia since 1878, Tubman began his career in politics. In 1923, aged 28, he was elected to the Senate of Liberia from Maryland County, holding the record as the youngest senator in the history of Liberia.Labeling himself the "Convivial Cannibal from the Downcoast Hinterlands," he fought for constitutional rights for the indigenous tribal groups that were the majority of Liberians.

Re-elected to his post in 1929, Tubman became, while a Senator, the legal adviser to then-vice president Allen Yancy. He resigned from the Senate in 1931 to defend Liberia before the League of Nations amid allegations that his country was using slave labor. However, Tubman was reelected to the national legislature in 1934, though he resigned in 1937 when President Edwin Barclay appointed him associate justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, a post he held until 1943. An official biography speculates that Tubman's elevation to the Liberian Supreme Court was created to remove him from actively seeking the presidency.

The new president of Liberia In December 1942, Liberia was faced with the

question of the succession of President Edwin Barclay. Six candidates then applied, including two favorites: Tubman and Foreign Minister Clarence L. Simpson. Without much opposition from Simpson, Tubman was elected president on May 4, 1943, at the age of 48, and was inaugurated January 3, 1944.

While Liberia's ally, the United States, had already used Liberia as a military base, it was not until January 27, 1944, that Liberia renounced its neutrality and declared war on Germany and Japan. In April 1944, Liberia signed the Declaration by United Nations.

Severing diplomatic relations with Germany and expelling all German citizens from Liberia was a difficult decision for Liberia to make for several reasons: (1) German merchants in Liberia ran the Liberian economy; (2) Germany was Liberia's major trading partner; and (3), most of the doctors in Liberia were Germans. Despite the fact that Liberia found itself between a rock and a hard place, it agreed to expel all German residents and declare the full might of the Liberian economy against Nazi Germany and the Axis powers.

In foreign policy, Tubman aligned himself with the US (in June, 1944 he and Edwin Barclay traveled to the White House to be guests of President Franklin D. Roosevelt — the first African heads of state to have this happen) while strengthening ties among fellow Africans by participating in the Asian-African Conference of 1955 and the First Conference of Independent African States in Accra, organized by Kwame Nkrumah in 1958. In 1959, Tubman organized the Second Conference of African States.

In 1961, following a Pan-African conference held in Monrovia, Tubman helped in the founding of the group of Monrovia. This association of "moderate" African leaders worked for gradual unification of Africa, unlike the "revolutionary" group of Casablanca.

The "father of modern Liberia" The modernizer of Liberia:

Upon Tubman's succession to the Supreme Court, infrastructure in Liberia was virtually non-existent. Tubman explained this situation by the fact that Liberia never received "benefits of colonization". To remedy this problem, he decided to set up an economic policy, called the "porte ouverte" ("open door") policy. Working to facilitate and encourage foreign businesses to locate in Liberia, this policy was very successful, and between 1944 and 1970, the value of foreign investments, mainly American, increased two hundredfold. From 1950-1960, Liberia experienced an average annual growth of 11.5%.

This economic success for Liberia allowed Tubman to begin its modernization: the streets of Monrovia were paved, a sanitation system was created, hospitals were built, and a literacy program was launched in 1948. Tubman built several thousand kilometers of roads and established a railway line to connect the iron mines to the coast. During this period, he transformed the Port of Monrovia into a free port.

Economic prosperity:

In early 1960, Liberia began to experience its first real era of prosperity, thanks in part to Tubman's modernization of infrastructure.

Regarded as a pro-Western, stabilizing influence in West Africa, Tubman was courted by many Western politicians, notably U.S. PresidentLyndon B. Johnson. Meanwhile, Tubman courted Amy Ashwood Garvey, and had a long-term relationship with her.

A gunman attempted to assassinate Tubman in 1955 at the behest of his political opponents, after which he cracked down brutally on any known opposition politicians.

Legacy:

Tubman's term is best known for the policies of National Unification and the economic Open Door. He tried to reconcile the interests of the native tribes with those of the Americo-Liberian elite, and increased foreign investment in Liberia to stimulate economic growth. These policies led to the crowning achievement of the Liberian economy during the 1950s, when it had the second largest rate of economic growth in the world. At his death in 1971 in a London clinic, Liberia had the largest mercantile fleet in the world, the world's largest rubber industry, the third largest exporter of iron ore in the world and had attracted more than US$1 billion in foreign investment. He was succeeded as President by his long-time vice president William Tolbert. The economic prosperity of Liberia at this time would unleash political dissent with the autocratic rule of Tubman and the True Whig Party, leading to the overthrow of the True Whig oligarchy in 1980 by Samuel Doe. This would also destroy the economic prosperity of Liberia's golden age.

Bonifacio Day Philippines - N o v 3 0

Among the legal holidays in the Philippines is Bonifacio Day, traditionally celebrated every November 30. This was changed, however, under Republic Act 9492 (an Act rationalizing the celebration of national holidays), which moved the official holiday to the Monday nearest November 30 (which is why December 1, 2008, a Monday, is a holiday).

Andres Bonifacio was born to the couple Santiago Bonifacio and Catalina de Castro on November 30, 1863. Holidays in honor of heroes or very important figures in the Philippines are usually fixed on the date of death. Rizal Day, in honor of the national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, is traditionally celebrated on the day of his execution — December 30. (See the rest of official/declared Philippine holidays for 2008,2009 and 2010) Bonifacio is considered as the “Father of the Philippine Revolution”. He is the founder and “Supremo” (leader) of the independence movement against Spain, the Kataastaasan Kagalang-galang na Katipunan nang nga Anak ng Bayan(KKK), or simply known as the Katipunan.

He is also a member of La Liga Filipina, just like Jose Rizal. La Liga is a movement to achieve reforms in the Philippines through peaceful means. When these efforts did not bear fruit, Bonifacio subsequently came to believe that independence could be achieved through an armed revolution, thus creating the Katipunan in 1892.

Bonifacio died on May 10, 1897, upon orders of the first President of the Philippine Republic, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo.

Bonifacio then was considered an enemy of the state, charged with treason, although the circumstances surrounding Bonifacio’s death remain unresolved to this day.

Festival of Freedom and Democracy Chad- D e c 0 1

Freedom and Democracy Day is a national holiday in Chad, falling on 1 December.

Government offices and businesses close. The holiday commemorates the overthrow of Hissène Habré by Idriss Déby in 1990.

Independence day (from Spain) Panama - Nov 28

Panama is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered

by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The capital is Panama City. Explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, Panama broke with Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela – named the Republic of Gran Colombia. When the latter dissolved in 1830, Panama and Nueva Granada stayed joined. Nueva Granada later became the Republic of Colombia.

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

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

History

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

Pre-Columbian period:

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

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

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

The earliest traces of these indigenous peoples include fluted projectile points. Central Panama was home to some of the first pottery-making villages in the Americas, such as the Monagrillo culture dating to about 2500–1700 BC. These evolved into significant populations that are best known through the spectacular burials of the Conte site (dating to c.

AD 500–900) and the beautiful polychrome pottery of the Coclé style. The monumental monolithic sculptures at the Barriles (Chiriqui) site were another important clue of the ancient isthmian cultures.

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

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

Conquest era:

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

Panama was part of the Spanish Empire for 300 years (1538–1821). From the outset, Panamanian identity was based on a sense of "geographic destiny", and Panamanian fortunes fluctuated with the geopolitical importance of the isthmus. The colonial experience also spawned Panamanian nationalism as well as a racially complex and highly stratified society, the source Vasco Núñez de Balboa, a recof internal conflicts that ran counter to the unifying force of nationalism. ognized and popular figure of In 1538, the Real Audiencia de Panama was established, initially with ju- Panamanian history. risdiction from Nicaragua to Cape Horn before the conquest of Peru. A Real Audiencia (royal audiency) was a judicial district that functioned as an appeals court. Each audiencia had oidores (Spanish: hearer, a judge).

Spanish authorities exercised little control over much of the territory of Panama, large sections managing to resist conquest until very late in the colonial era. Because of this, indigenous people of the area were often referred to as "indios de guerra" (war Indians), and resisted Spanish attempts to conquer them or missionize them. However, Panama was enormously important to Spain strategically because it was the easiest way to transship silver mined in Peru to Europe.

Silver cargos were landed at Panama, and then taken overland to Portobello or Nombre de Dios on the Caribbean side of the isthmus for further shipment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 1717, the viceroyalty of New Granada (northern South America) was created in response to other Europeans trying to take Spanish territory in the Caribbean region. The Isthmus of Panama was placed under its jurisdiction. However, the remoteness of Santa Fe de Bogotá proved a greater obstacle than the Spanish crown anticipated as the authority of New Granada was contested by the seniority, closer proximity, previous ties to the viceroyalty of Lima and even Panama's own initiative. This uneasy relationship between Panama and Bogotá would persist for a century or two.

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

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

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

1800s:

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

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

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

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

Post-colonial Panama:

In the first eighty years following independence from Spain, Panama was a department of Colombia, since voluntarily becoming part of it at the end of 1821. The people of the isthmus made several attempts to secede and came close to success in 1831, and again during the Thousand Days War of 1899–1902. When the Senate of Colombia rejected the Hay-Herran Treaty, the United States decided to support the Panamanian independence movement. In November 1903, Panama proclaimed its independence and concluded the Hay/Bunau-Varilla Treaty with the United States. The treaty granted rights to the United States "as if it were sovereign" in a zone roughly 10 miles (16 km) wide and 50 miles (80 km) long. In that zone, the U.S. would build a canal, then administer, fortify, and defend it "in perpetuity." In 1914, the United States completed the existing 83 km (52 mi) canal. The early 1960s saw the beginning of sustained pressure in Panama for the renegotiation of this treaty.

From 1903 until 1968, Panama was a constitutional democracy dominated by a commercially oriented oligarchy. During the 1950s, the Panamanian military began to challenge the oligarchy's political hegemony.

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

Arias, who had promised to respect the hierarchy of the National Guard, broke the pact and started a large restructuring of the Guard. To preserve the Guard's interests, Lieutenant Colonel Omar Torrijos Herrera and Major Boris Martínez commanded the first coup of a military force against a civilian government in Panamanian republican history.

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

Post-1970:

During Omar Torrijos's control, the military regime transformed the political and economic structure of the country by initiating massive coverage of social security services and expanding public education. The constitution was changed in 1972. For the reform to the constitution, the military created a new organization, the Assembly of Corregimiento Representatives, which replaced the National Assembly. The new assembly, also known as the Poder Popular ("Power of the People"), was composed of 505 members selected by the military without the participation of political parties, which had been eliminated by the military. The new constitution proclaimed Omar Torrijos the "Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution," and conceded him unlimited power for six years, although, to keep a façade of constitutionality, Demetrio B. Lakas was appointed president for the same period (Pizzurno Gelós and Araúz, Estudios sobre el Panamá republicano 541). In 1981, Torrijos died in a planecrash. It has been widely speculated that his death was a CIA assassination due to his resistance to renegotiate the Panama Canal Treaty, negotiated under the Carter administration, with President Ronald Reagan. Torrijos' death altered the tone of Panama's political evolution. Despite the 1983 constitutional amendments, which proscribed a political role for the military, the Panama Defense Forces (PDF), as they were then known, continued to dominate Panamanian political life. By this time, General Manuel Noriega was firmly in control of both the PDF and the civilian government.

In the 1984 elections, the candidates were Nicolás Ardito Barletta Vallarino, supported by the military in a union called UNADE; Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid, for the Santo Domingo Church. opposition union ADO; the ex-General Rubén Darío Paredes, who had been forced to an early retirement by Noriega, running for Partido Nacionalista Popular PNP ("Popular Nationalist Party"), and Carlos Iván Zúñiga, running for Partido Acción Popular (PAPO) meaning "Popular Action Party". Nicolás Ardito Barleta was declared the winner of elections that had been clearly won by Arnulfo Arias Madrid.

Ardito Barletta inherited a country in economic ruin and hugely indebted to the IMF and the World Bank. Amidst the economic crisis and Barletta's efforts to calm the country's creditors, street protests arose, and so did military repression.

Meanwhile, Noriega's regime had fostered the development of a well-hidden criminal economy that operated as a parallel source of income for the military and their allies, providing revenues from drugs and money laundering. Towards the end of the military dictatorship, a new wave of Chinese migrants arrived on the isthmus in the hope of migrating to the United States. The smuggling of Chinese became an enormous business, with revenues of up to 200 million dollars for Noriega's regime (see Mon 167).

The military dictatorship, at that time supported by the United States, perpetrated the assassination and torture of more than one hundred Panamanians and forced into exile at least another hundred dissidents (see Zárate 15). Noriega also began playing a double role in Central America under the supervision of the CIA. While the Contadora group conducted diplomatic efforts to achieve peace in the region, Noriega supplied the Nicaraguan Contras and other guerrillas in the region with weapons and ammunition (Pizzurno Gelós and Araúz, Estudios sobre el Panamá republicano 602).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The U.S. troops involved in Operation Just Cause achieved their primary objectives, and Noriega eventually surrendered to U.S. authorities. He completed his sentence for drug trafficking charges in September 2007. In August 2007, a U.S. federal court in Miami found Noriega extraditable to France, where he was convicted in absentia for money laundering. Noriega was extradited to France on April 26, 2010 and his trial started on June 28, 2010 in Paris, France.

On July 7, 2010, Noriega was convicted by the 11th chamber of the Tribunal Correctionnel de Paris, and sentenced to seven years in jail. The prosecutor in the case had sought a ten-year prison term. In addition, €2.3 million (approximately US$3.6 million) that has long been frozen in Noriega's French bank accounts was ordered to be seized.

Post-invasion era:

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

During its five-year term, the often-fractious government struggled to meet the public's high expectations. Its new police force was a major improvement over its predecessor but was not fully able to deter crime. Ernesto Pérez Balladares was sworn in as President on September 1, 1994, after an internationally monitored election campaign.

Perez Balladares ran as the candidate for a three-party coalition dominated by the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), the erstwhile political arm of military dictatorships. Perez Balladares worked skillfully during the campaign to rehabilitate the PRD's image, emphasizing the party's populist Torrijos roots rather than its association with Noriega.

He won the election with only 33% of the vote when the major non-PRD forces splintered into competing factions. His administration carried out economic reforms and often worked closely with the U.S. on implementation of the Canal treaties.

On September 1, 1999, Mireya Moscoso, the widow of former President Arnulfo Arias Madrid, took office after defeating PRD candidate Martin Torrijos, son of Omar Torrijos, in a free and fair election. During her administration, Moscoso attempted to strengthen social programs, especially for child and youth development, protection, and general welfare.

Moscoso's administration successfully handled the Panama Canal transfer and was effective in the administration of the Canal.

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

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

St. Andrew's Day Haiti, Scotland, UK - N o v 3 0

St. Andrew's Day is the feast day of Saint Andrew. It is celebrated on 30 November.

Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, and St. Andrew's Day (Scottish Gaelic: Latha Naomh Anndra) is Scotland's official national day. In 2006, the Scottish Parliament designated St. Andrew's Day as an official bank holiday.

Although most commonly associated with Scotland, Saint Andrew is also the patron saint of Greece, Romania, Russia and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

In Germany, the feast day is celebrated as Andreasnacht ("St. Andrew's Night"), in Austria with the custom of Andreasgebet ("St. Andrew's Prayer"), and in Poland as Andrzejki ("Andrews").

Traditions and celebrations in Scotland In 2006, the Scottish Parliament passed the St An-

drew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007, which designated the Day as an official bank holiday. If 30 November falls on a weekend, the next Monday is a bank holiday instead.

The notion that the day should be an official bank holiday was first proposed by Dennis Canavan, Independent Member of the Scottish Parliament for Falkirk West in 2003. However, the Bill he introduced to the Parliament was initially rejected as the Executive did not support it. A compromise deal was reached whereby the holiday would not be an additional entitlement. Then First Minister, Jack McConnell, stated that he believed that employers and employees should mark the day with a holiday, but that this should be as a substitute for an existing local holiday, rather than an additional one.

Although it is a bank holiday, banks are not required to close and employers are not required to give their employees the day off as a holiday. St Andrew's Day is an official flag day in Scotland. The Scottish Government's flag-flying regulations state that the Flag of Scotland (The Saltire) shall fly on all its buildings with a flagpole. The Union Flag is also flown if the building has more than one flagpole. The arrangements for the United Kingdom Government in Scotland are the opposite. They fly the Union Flag, and will only fly the Saltire if there is more than one flagpole.

The flying of the Saltire on St Andrew's Day is a recent development.

Prior to 2002, the Scottish Government followed the UK Government's flag days and would only fly the Union Flag on St Andrew's Day. This led to Members of the Scottish Parliament complaining that Scotland was the only country in the world that could not fly its national flag on its national day. The regulations were updated to state that the Union Flag would be removed and replaced by the Saltire on buildings with only one flagpole.

The flying of the Union Flag from Edinburgh Castle on all days, including St Andrew's Day causes anger among some Scottish National Party politicians who have argued that the Saltire should fly on 30 November instead. However, the Union Flag is flown by the British Army at the Castle as it still is an official British Army flag flying station, and all Army installations fly the Union Flag at ratio 3:5. Historic Scotland, a Scottish Government agency, lease part of the Castle to the British Army. The British Army has been criticised for refusing to fly the Saltire above Edinburgh Castle, but dropping the Union Flag in its recruitment campaigns in Scotland instead preferring the Saltire, a decision branded hypocritical by SNP politicians.

The University of St Andrews gives the day for all the students as a free holiday.

Related traditions in continental Europe

In parts of Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Romania, superstitious belief exists that the night before St. Andrew's Day is specially suitable for magic that reveals a young woman's future husband or that binds a future husband to her. Many related customs exist: for example, the pouring of hot lead into water (in Poland, one usually pours hot wax from a candle through a key hole into cold water), divining the future husband's profession from the shape of the resulting piece (related divinations using molten metals are still popular in Germany on Hogmanay). In some areas in Austria, young women would drink wine and then perform a spell, called Andreasgebet(Saint Andrew's prayer), while nude and kicking a straw bed. This was supposed to magically attract the future husband. Yet another custom is to throw a clog over one's shoulder: if it lands pointing to the door, the woman will get married in the same year.

In some parts of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, young women would write down the names of potential husbands on little pieces of paper and stick these into little pieces of dough, called Halusky.

When cooked, the first one to float to the surface of the water would reveal the name of their future husband.

In Poland, some women put pieces of paper (on which they have written potential husbands) under the pillow and first thing in the morning they take one out, which allegedly reveals their future husband.

In Romania, it is customary for young women to put 41 grains of wheat beneath their pillow before they go to sleep, and if they dream that someone is coming to steal their grains that means that they are going to get married next year. Also in some other parts of the country the young women light a candle from the Easter and bring it, at midnight, to a fountain. They ask St. Andrew to let them glimpse their future husband. St. Andrew is also the national saint of Romanians and Romanian Orthodox Church.

Barbados

Saint Andrew's Day is celebrated as the national day of Independence in Barbados. As the patron saint of Barbados, Saint Andrew is celebrated in a number of Barbadian symbols including the cross formation of the Coat of Arms, and the nation's national honours system which styles persons as Knights or Dames of St. Andrew.

National Day Romania - D e c 0 1

Great Union Day (Romanian: Ziua Marii Uniri, also called Unification Day) occurring on December 1, is the national holiday of Romania. It commemorates the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia, which declared the Union of Transylvania with Romania.

This holiday was set after the 1989 Romanian Revolution and it marks the unification of Transylvania, but also of the provinces of Bessarabia and Bukovina with the Romanian Kingdom, in 1918.

Prior to 1918, the national holiday of Romania was set to be on May 10, which had a double meaning: it was the day on which Carol I set foot on the Romanian soil (in 1866), and it was the day on which the prince ratified the Declaration of Independence (from the Ottoman Empire) in 1877.

In Communist Romania, the date of the national holiday was set to August 23 to mark the 1944 overthrow of the pro-fascist government of Marshal Ion Antonescu.

Alba Iulia National Assembly

On December 1, 1918 (November 18 Old Style), the National Assembly of Romanians of Transylvania and Hungary, consisting of 1,228 elected representatives of the Romanians in Transylvania, Banat, Crişana and Maramureş, convened in Alba Iulia and decreed (by unanimous vote) the unification of those Romanians and of all the territories inhabited by them with Romania.

The Resolution voted by the National Assembly stipulated also the "fundamental principles for the foundation of the new Romanian State". It was conditional, and demanded the preservation of a democratic local autonomy, the equality of all nationalities and religions.

The Assembly also formed from 200 of its members, plus 50 co-opted members aHigh National Romanian Council of Transylvania, the new permanent parliament of Transylvania.

The next day, on December 2, 1918 the High National Romanian Council of Transylvania formed a government under the name of Directory Council of Transylvania (Consiliul Dirigent al Transilvaniei), headed by Iuliu Maniu.

On December 11, 1918, King Ferdinand signed the Law regarding the Union of Transylvania, Banat, Crişana, the Satmar and Maramureş with the Old Kingdom of Roma- The National Assembly in Alba Iulia (December 1, 1918) nia, decreeing that The lands named in the resolution of the Alba-Iulia National Assembly of the 18th of November 1918 are and remain forever united with the Kingdom of Romania.

Independence Day Barbados - Nov 30

Restoration Day Portugal - D e c 0 1

Portuguese Restoration War (Portuguese: Guerra da Restauração) was the name given by nineteenth-century 'romantic' historians to the war between Portugal and Spain that began with the Portuguese revolution of 1640 and ended with the Treaty of Lisbon (1668). The revolution of 1640 ended the sixty-year period of dual monarchy in Portugal and Spain under the Spanish Habsburgs. The period from 1640 to 1668 was marked by periodic skirmishes between Portugal and Spain, as well as short episodes of more serious warfare, much of it occasioned by Spanish and Portuguese entanglements with non-Iberian powers.

In the seventeenth century and afterwards, this period of sporadic conflict was simply known, in Portugal and elsewhere, as the Acclamation War. The war established the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza, by deposing a foreign king, Philip IV of Spain, and acclaiming another one, João IV of Portugal, who was more legitimate and suitable to the Portuguese. This ended the so-called Iberian Union.

Events leading to revolution When Philip II of Portugal (known as Philip III in Spain) died, he was succeeded by Philip III (Philip IV of Spain) who

had a different approach to Portuguese issues. Taxes on the Portuguese merchants were raised, the Portuguese nobility began to lose its influence at the Spanish Cortes, and government posts in Portugal were increasingly occupied by Spaniards. Ultimately, Philip III tried to make Portugal a Spanish province, and Portuguese nobles stood to lose all of their power.

This situation culminated in a coup d'état organized by the nobility and bourgeoisie, executed on 1 December 1640, sixty years after the crowning of Philip I (Philip II of Spain), the first "dual monarch". The plot was planned

by Antão Vaz de Almada, Miguel de Almeida, and João Pinto Ribeiro. They, together with several associates, killed the Secretary of State, Miguel de Vasconcelos, and imprisoned the king's cousin, Margaret of Savoy, who had been governing Portugal in his name. The moment was well chosen; Philip's troops were, at the time, fighting the Thirty Years' War and also facing a revolution in Catalonia which became known as the Reapers' War. The support of the people became apparent almost immediately, and, within a matter of hours, John, 8th Duke Acclamation of John IV as King of Portugal, of Braganza was acclaimed as King John IV of Portugal; painting by Veloso Salgado in the Military the news spread like wildfire throughout the country. By Museum, Lisbon.)

2 December 1640, the day following the coup, John IV, acting in his capacity as sovereign of the country, had already sent a letter to the Municipal Chamber of Évora.

The ensuing conflict with Spain brought Portugal into the Thirty Years War as, at least, a peripheral player. From 1641 to 1668, the period during which the two nations were at war, Spain sought to isolate Portugal militarily and diplomatically, and Portugal tried to find the resources to maintain its independence through savvy political alliances and maintenance of its colonial income.

Preparations for war

Immediately after assuming the Portuguese throne, João IV took several steps to strengthen his position. On 11 December 1640, a 'Council of War' was created to organize all of the operations. Next, the king created the 'Junta of the Frontiers' to take care of the fortresses near the border, the hypothetical defense of Lisbon, and the garrisons and sea ports. A year later, in December 1641, he created a tenancy to assure that all of the country's fortresses would be upgraded and that the improvements would be financed with regional taxes. João IV also organized the army, re-established the 'Military Laws of King Sebastian', and undertook a diplomatic campaign focused on restoring good relations with England.

After gaining several small victories, João tried to make peace quickly. However, his demand that Philip recognize the new ruling dynasty in Portugal was not fulfilled until the reign of his son, Afonso VI, during the regency of Peter of Braganza (another of his sons who later became King Peter II of Portugal.) Difficulties with Spain lasted twentyeight years.

Context: relations among the European powers Relations between France and Spain:

In 1640, Cardinal Richelieu, then chief adviser to Louis XIII of France, was fully aware of the fact that France was operating under strained circumstances. She was at war with Castile at that time; she had to control rebellions within France that were supported and financed by Madrid; and she had to send French armies to fight the Spanish Habsburgs on three different fronts. In addition to their shared frontier at the Pyrenees, Philip IV of Spain, formerly Philip III of Portugal as well, reigned, under various titles, in Flanders and Franche-Comté, to the north and east of France.

In addition, Philip IV controlled large territories in Italy, where he could, at will, impose a fourth front by attacking French-controlled Savoy. (In Savoy, Christine Marie of France was acting as regent on behalf of her young son, Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy.)

Spain enjoyed a reputation as having the most formidable military force in Europe, a reputation they had gained with the introduction of the arquebus. Therefore, the consummate statesman, Richelieu, decided to force Philip IV to look to his own internal problems. In order to divert the Spanish troops besieging France, Louis XIII, on the advice of Richelieu, supported the claim of João IV of Portugal during the Acclamation War. This was done on the reasoning that a Portuguese war would drain Spanish resources and manpower.

Relations between Portugal and France:

To fulfill the common foreign-policy interests of Portugal and France, a treaty of alliance between the two countries was concluded at Paris on 1 June 1641. It lasted eighteen years before Richelieu's successor as unofficial foreign minister, Cardinal Mazarin, broke the treaty and abandoned his Portuguese and Catalan allies to sign a separate peace with Madrid. The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed in 1659, under the terms of which France received the portion of Catalonia north of the Pyrenees, known as the Roussillon, and part of the Cerdanya (French Cerdagne).

Most important to the Portuguese, the French recognised Philip IV of Spain as the legitimate king of Portugal.

Seven years later, in the late stages of the Portuguese Restoration War, relations between the two countries thawed to the extent that the young (but sickly) Afonso VI of Portugal married a French princess, Marie Françoise of Nemours.

Relations between Portugal and the Netherlands:

At the time of the coup in Lisbon (December 1640), the Portuguese had been at war with the Dutch for nearly forty years. A good deal of the conflict can be attributed to the fact that Spain and the Netherlands were concurrently engaged in the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648), and, ever since hostilities between Portugal and the Netherlands erupted in 1602, Portugal had been ruled by a Spanish monarch.

The Dutch-Portuguese War was fought almost entirely overseas, with the Dutch mercantile surrogates, the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, repeatedly attacking Portugal's colonial possessions in the Americas, in Africa, in India, and in the Far East. Portugal was in a defensive posture throughout, and it received very little military help from Spain.

After the acclamation of João IV, this pattern persisted all over the Portuguese Empire until the final expulsion of the Dutch from Angola (1648), São Tomé and Príncipe (1649), and Brazil (1654). The Dutch signed a European truce with Portugal, helping each other somewhat against their common enemy, Castile. The Dutch resumed buying salt in the Setúbal salt factories, restarting commerce between the two countries for the first time since 1580, when the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs, against whom the Dutch were in revolt, had assumed the Portuguese throne.

Relations between Portugal and England:

England was, at this time, embroiled in its own civil war. Portuguese problems in dealing with England arose from the fact that the English Parliament fought and won its anti-royalist war while, at the same time, Portugal's royal court continued to receive and recognize English princes and nobles. These strained relations persisted during the short-lived Commonwealth period in the British Isles, when the republican government that had deposed Charles I ruled the country.

After the restoration of the Stuart dynasty in England (as well as Scotland and Ireland), it became possible for Portugal to compensate for the loss of limited French support by renewing its traditional alliance with England. This took the form of a dynastic marriage between Charles II and Afonso VI's sister, Catherine of Braganza, which assured Portugal of outside support in its conflict with Castile. It was largely due to the English alliance that peace with Spain became possible at war's end; Spain had been drained by the Thirty Years' War, and it had no stomach for further warfare with other European powers, especially a resurgent England.

The war

Militarily, the Portuguese Restoration War consisted mainly of border skirmishes and cavalry raids to sack border towns, combined with occasional invasions and counter-invasions, many of them half-hearted and under-financed. There were only five major set-piece battles during twenty-eight years of hostilities.

The war may be considered to have had three periods: • first, an early stage (1640-1646) when a few major engagements demonstrated that the Portuguese could not be easily returned to submission to Spain; • second, a long period (1646–1660) of military standoffs, characterized by small-scale raiding, while Spain concentrated on its military commitments elsewhere in Europe; and, • third, a final period (1660–1668) during which the Spanish king, Philip IV, unsuccessfully sought a decisive victory that would bring an end to hostilities.

The first stage: skirmishes:

Hoping for a quick victory in Portugal, Spain immediately committed seven regiments to the Portuguese frontier, but delays by the count of Monterrey, a commander with more interest in Acclamation of John IV as King of Porthe comforts of life at camp than the battlefield, squandered any immediate advantage. A Portuguese counter-thrust in late 1641 tugal, painting by Veloso Salgado in the Military Museum, Lisbon.) failed, and the conflict soon settled into a stalemate.

The battle of Montijo:

On 26 May 1644, a large column of Spanish troops and mercenaries, commanded by the Neapolitan marquis of Torrecusa, was stopped at the Battle of Montijo by the Portuguese, who were led by the Brazilian-trained Matias de Albuquerque, one of a number of experienced Portuguese colonial officers who rose to prominence during the war.

The siege of Elvas:

Shortly thereafter, in November 1644, Torrecusa crossed from Badajoz, in a rare winter campaign, to attack the Portuguese town of Elvas, which he besieged for nine days. He suffered heavy losses and was forced back across the border.

Atrocities:

The war now took on a peculiar character. It became a frontier confrontation, often between local forces, neighbors who knew each other well, but this familiarity did not moderate the destructive and blood-thirsty impulses of either side. The wanton nature of the combat was often exacerbated by the use of mercenaries and foreign conscripts; incidents of singular cruelty were reported on both sides. The Portuguese settled old animosities that had festered during sixty years of Spanish domination, and the Spanish often took the view that their opponents were disloyal and rebellious subjects, not an opposing army entitled to respectful treatment under the rules of combat.

Scope of the war:

HUNGARY

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is 34 kilometres (21 mi) in length and as much as 23 kilometres (14 mi) in width, amounting to 431 square kilometres (166 sq mi). It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about 168 kilometres (104 mi) east of the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and 400 kilometres (250 mi) north-east of Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados is outside of the principal Atlantic hurricane belt.

Barbados was initially visited by the Spanish around the late 1400s to early 1500s and first appears on a Spanish map from 1511. The Spanish explorers may have plundered the island of whatever native peoples resided therein to become slaves. Thereafter, the Portuguese in 1536 then visited, but they too left it unclaimed, with their only remnants being an introduction of wild hogs for a good supply of meat whenever the island was visited. The first English ship, the Olive Blossom, arrived in Barbados in 1625. They took possession of it in the name of 'James I, King of England'. Two years later in 1627 the first permanent settlers arrived from England and it became an English and later British colony.

Barbados has an estimated population of 284,589 people, with around 80,000 living in or around Bridgetown, the largest city and the country's capital. In 1966, Barbados became an independent state and Commonwealth realm, retaining Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State. Barbados is one of the Caribbean's leading tourist destinations and is one of the most developed islands in the region, with an HDI number of 0.788. In 2010 Barbados also ranked in the top 3 in The Americas on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index beating out Chile in 3rd, and coming after Canada in the top spot.

Etymology

According to accounts by descendants of the indigenous Arawakan-speaking tribes in other regional areas, the original name for Barbados was Ichirouganaim, with possible translations including "Red Land with White Teeth","Redstone island with teeth outside (reefs)", or simply "Teeth".

The reason for the later name Barbados is controversial. According to some sources The Portuguese, en route to Brazil, were the first Europeans to come upon the island, while others say it was the Spanish which gave the Spanish name "Los Barbudos". The word Barbadosmeans "bearded ones", but it is a matter of conjecture whether "bearded" refers to the long, hanging roots of the bearded fig-tree (Ficus citrifolia), indigenous to the island; to allegedly bearded Caribs once inhabiting the island; or, more fancifully, to the foam spraying over the outlying reefs giving the impression of a beard. In 1519, a map produced by the Genoese mapmaker Visconte Maggiolo showed and named Barbados in its correct position.

Other names or nicknames associated with Barbados include "Bim", "Bimshire" and "da Rock". The origin is uncertain but several theories exist. The National Cultural Foundation of Barbados says that "Bim" was a word commonly used by slaves and that it derives from the phrase "bi mu" or either ("bem", "Ndi bem", "Nwanyi ibem" or "Nwoke ibem") from an Igbo phrase meaning "my people". In colloquial or literary contexts, "Bim" can also take a more deific tone, referring to the "goddess" Barbados.

The word Bim and Bimshire are recorded in the Oxford English Statue of Lord Nelson in National HeDictionary and the Chamber's Twentieth Century Dictionaries.

Another possible source for "Bim" is reported to be in the Agri- roes Square which predates the more cultural Reporter of 25 April 1868, The Rev. N Greenidge (fa- famous Nelson's Column by some 27 ther of one of the island's most famous scholars, Abel Hendy years.

Jones Greenidge) suggested the listing of Bimshire as a county of England. Expressly named were "Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire and Bimshire". Lastly in the Daily Argosy (of Demerara i.e. Guyana) of 1652 it referred to Bim as a possible corruption of the word "Byam", who was a Royalist leader against the Parliamentarians. That source suggested the followers of Byam became known as Bims and became a word for all Barbadians.

History

Early history:

Amerindian settlement of Barbados dates to about the 4th to 7th century AD, by a group known as the SaladoidBarrancoid. In the 13th century, the Caribs arrived from South America.

The Portuguese briefly claimed Barbados from the mid-16th to the 17th centuries, and may have seized the Arawaks on Barbados and used them as slave labour. Other Arawaks are believed to have fled to neighbouring islands. Apart from possibly displacing the Caribs, the Portuguese left little impact and by the 1610s left for South America, leaving the island uninhabited. Some Arawaks arrived from Guyana in the 1800s and continue to live in Barbados.

Colonial rule:

From about 1600 the English, French and Dutch began to found colonies in North America and the smaller Caribbean islands. Barbados was the third major English settlement in the Americas (1607: Jamestown, 1620:Plymouth Colony, 1627: Barbados. The British Leeward Islands were occupied at about the same time as Barbados: 1623: St Kitts, 1628: Nevis, 1632: Montserrat, 1632: Antigua.) In the period 1640–60 the West Indies attracted over two thirds of English emigrants to the New World. By 1650 there were 44,000 English in the Caribbean, 12,000 on the Chesapeake and 23,000 in New England. The population of Barbados was estimated at 30,000. Most emigrants arrived as indentured servants. After five years of labor they were given 'freedom dues' of about ₤10, usually in goods.

Before the mid-1630s they also received 5 to 10 acres of land but after that time the island filled up and there was no more free land. Around the time of Cromwell a number of rebels and criminals were also transported. The death rate was very high (Parish registers from the 1650s show, for the white population, four times as many deaths as marriages.) The main export was tobacco, but tobacco prices fell in the 1630s as Chesapeake production expanded.

From the 1640s the introduction of sugar from Dutch Brazil completely transformed society and the economy. A workable sugar plantation required a large investment and a great deal of heavy labor. White smallholders were bought out and the island was filled up with large slave-worked sugar plantations. At first, Dutch traders supplied the equipment, finance and slaves and carried most of the sugar to Europe. In 1644 there were about 800 slaves on the island. By 1660 there were 27,000 blacks and 26,000 whites. By 1666 at least 12,000 white smallholders had been bought out, died or left the island. Many of the remaining whites were increasingly poor. By 1680 there were seventeen slaves for every indentured servant. By 1700 there were 15,000 free whites and 50,000 enslaved blacks. In 1680 over half the arable land was held by 175 large planters who held at least 60 slaves. The great planters had connections with the English aristocracy and great influence on Parliament. (In 1668 the West Indian sugar crop sold for £180,000 after customs of £18,000. Chesapeake tobacco earned £50,000 after customs of £75,000). So much land was devoted to sugar that most food had to be imported from New England. The poorer whites that were squeezed off the island went to the British Leeward Islands or, especially, Jamaica. In 1670 South Carolina was founded from Barbados.

By 1660 Barbados generated more trade than all the other English colonies combined. It was surpassed by Jamaica in 1713. Even though, in 1730–31 the estimated value of the colony of Barbados was as much as ₤5,500,000.

Bridgetown, the capital, was one of the three largest cities in British America (the other two were Boston, Massachusetts and Port Royal, Jamaica.) By 1700 the English West Indies produced 25,000 tons of sugar, compared to 20,000 for Brazil, 10,000 for the French islands and 4,000 for the Dutch islands.

English sailors who landed on Barbados in 1625 arrived at the site of present-day Holetown. The English then took possession of Barbados in the name of James I. From the arrival of the first English settlers in 1627–1628 until independence in 1966, Barbados was under uninterrupted British governance (and was the only Caribbean island that did not change hands during the colonial period). Nevertheless, Barbados always enjoyed a large measure of local autonomy. Its House of Assembly began meeting in 1639. Among the initial important figures was Anglo-Dutchman Sir William Courten.

Fighting during the War of the Three Kingdoms and the Interregnum spilled over into Barbados and Barbadian territorial waters. The island was not involved in the war until after the execution of Charles I, when the island's government fell under the control of Royalists (ironically the Governor, Philip Bell, remained loyal to Parliament while the Barbadian House of Assembly, under the influence of Humphrey Walrond, supported Charles II). To try to bring the recalcitrant colony to heel, the Commonwealth Parliament passed an act on 3 October 1650 which prohibited trade between England and the island, and because the island also traded with the Netherlands, further navigation acts were passed prohibiting any but English vessels trading with Dutch colonies. These acts were a precursor to the First Anglo-Dutch War. The Commonwealth of England sent an invasion force under the command of Sir George Ayscue which arrived in October 1651. After some skirmishing, the Royalists supporters in the Barbados House of Assembly led by Lord Willoughby surrendered. The conditions of surrender were incorporated into the Charter of Barbados (Treaty of Oistins), which was signed in the Mermaid's Inn, Oistins, on 17 January 1652.

With the increased implementation of slave codes, which created differential treatment between Africans and the white workers and planters, the island became increasingly unattractive to poor whites. Black or slave codes were implemented in 1661, 1676, 1682, and 1688. In response to these codes, several slave rebellions were attempted or planned during this time, but none succeeded. Nevertheless, poor whites who had or acquired the means to emigrate often did so. Planters expanded their importation of African slaves to cultivate sugar cane.

Barbados eventually had one of the world's biggest sugar industries after starting sugar cane cultivation in 1640.

One group which was instrumental for ensuring the early success of the sugar cane industry were the Sephardic Jews, who originally been expelled from the Iberian peninsula to end up in Dutch Brazil. This quickly replaced tobacco plantations on the islands which were previously the main export. As the sugar industry developed into its main commercial enterprise, Barbados was divided into large plantation estates that replaced the smallholdings of the early English settlers. Some of the displaced farmers moved to other English colonies in the Americas, most notably North and South Carolina, and British Guiana, as well as Panama. To work the plantations, planters imported enslaved West Africans to Barbados and other Caribbean islands.

The British abolished the slave trade in 1807 but not the institution itself. In 1816, slaves rose up in the largest major slave rebellion in the island's history. Twenty thousand slaves from over 70 plantations rebelled. They drove whites off the plantations, but widespread killings did not take place. This was later termed “Bussa's Rebellion” after the slave ranger, Bussa, who with his assistants hated slavery, found the treatment of slaves on Barbados to be “intolerable”, and believed the political climate in the UK made the time ripe to peacefully negotiate with planters for freedom (Davis, p. 211; Northrup, p. 191). Bussa's Rebellion failed. One hundred and twenty slaves died in combat or were immediately executed; another 144 were brought to trial and executed; remaining rebels were shipped off the island (Davis, pp. 212–213).

Slavery was finally abolished in the British Empire 18 years later in 1834. In Barbados and the rest of the British West Indian colonies, full emancipation from slavery was preceded by an apprenticeship period that lasted four years.

In 1884, the Barbados Agricultural Society sent a letter to Sir Francis Hincks requesting his private and public views on whether the Dominion of Canada would favourably entertain having the then colony of Barbados admitted as a member of the Canadian Confederation. Asked of Canada were the terms of the Canadian side to initiate discussions, and whether or not the island of Barbados could depend on the full influence of Canada in getting the change agreed to by the United Kingdom. Then in 1952 the Barbados Advocate newspaper polled several prominent Barbadian politicians, lawyers, businessmen, the Speaker of the Barbados House of Assemblyand later as first President of the Senate, Sir Theodore Branker, Q.C. and found them to be in favour of immediate federation of Barbados along with the rest of the British Caribbean with complete Dominion Status within five years from the date of inauguration of the West Indies Federation with Canada.

However, plantation owners and merchants of British descent still dominated local politics, owing to the high-income qualification required for voting. More than 70% of the population, many of them disenfranchised women, were excluded from the democratic process. It was not until the 1930s that the descendants of emancipated slaves began a movement for political rights. One of the leaders of this movement, Sir Grantley Adams, founded the Barbados Labour Party in 1938, then known as the Barbados Progressive League.

Adams and his party demanded more rights for the poor and for the people, and staunchly supported the monarchy.

Progress toward a more democratic government in Barbados was made in 1942, when the exclusive income qualification was lowered and women were given the right to vote. By 1949 governmental control was wrested from the planters and, in 1958, Adams became Premier of Barbados.

From 1958 to 1962, Barbados was one of the ten members of the West Indies Federation, an organisation doomed by nationalistic attitudes and by the fact that its members, as British colonies, held limited legislative power. Adams served as its first and only "Premier", but his leadership failed in attempts to form similar unions, and his continued defence of the monarchy was used by his opponents as evidence that he was no longer in touch with the needs of his country. Errol Walton Barrow, a fervent reformer, became the new people's advocate. Barrow had left the BLP and formed the Democratic Labour Party as a liberal alternative to Adams' conservative government. Barrow instituted many progressive social programmes, such as free education for all Barbadians and the school meals system.

By 1961, Barrow had replaced Adams as Premier and the DLP controlled the government.

With the Federation dissolved, Barbados reverted to its former status, that of a self-governing colony. The island negotiated its own independence at a constitutional conference with Britain in June 1966. After years of peaceful and democratic progress, Barbados finally became an independent state on 30 November 1966, with Errol Barrow its first Prime Minister, although Queen Elizabeth II remained the monarch. Upon independence Barbados maintained historical linkages with Britain by establishing membership to the Commonwealth of Nations grouping. A year later Barbados' international linkages were expanded by obtaining membership to the United Nations and the Organization of American States.

Three theaters of warfare were eventually opened, but most activity focused on the northern front, near Galicia, and on the central frontier between Portuguese Alentejo and Spanish Extremadura. The southern front, where the Portuguese Algarve abuts Spanish Andalusia, was a logical target for Portugal, but it was never the focus of a Portuguese attack, probably because the Portuguese queen, Luisa de Guzmán, was the sister of the duke of Medina Sidonia, the leading noble of Andalusia.

Attrition and corruption:

The war was also expensive. In the 1650s, there were over 20,000 Spanish troops in Extremadura alone, compared to 27,000 in Flanders. Between 1649 and 1654, about 29 percent (over six million ducats) of Spanish defence spending was appropriated for fighting Portugal, a figure that rose during the major campaigns of the 1660s. Portugal was able to finance its war effort because of its ability to tax the spice trade with Asia and the sugar trade from Brazil, and it received some support from the European opponents of Spain, particularly Holland, France, and England.

The 1650s were indecisive militarily but important on the political and diplomatic fronts. The death of João IV in 1656 signalled the beginning of the regency of his wife, followed by a succession crisis and a palace coup (1662). Despite these domestic problems, the expulsion of the Dutch from Brazil (1654) and the signing of a treaty with England (also in 1654) improved Portugal's diplomatic and financial position temporarily and gave it needed protection against a naval raid on Lisbon.

Nonetheless, the overriding goal, a formal pact with France continued to evade Portugal, whose weakness and isolation had been driven home by its virtual exclusion at the negotiations for the European settlement-ofsettlements, the new realpolitik of the peace of Westphalia(1648).

With this treaty and the end of hostilities in Catalonia in 1652, Spain was again ready to direct its efforts against Portugal, but it faced a lack of men, resources, and, especially, good military commanders.

The third stage: Portuguese victory:

The five major battles of the war were: the Battle of Montijo on 26 May 1644; • the Battle of the Lines of Elvas on 14 January 1659; • the Battle of Ameixial on 8 June 1663; • the Battle of Castelo Rodrigo on 7 July 1664; and • the Battle of Montes Claros on 17 June 1665.

• The Portuguese were victorious in all of these engagements, and peace was concluded, with the help of English mediation, by the Treaty of Lisbon in 1668.

Timeline:

1640: A small group of conspirators stormed the royal palace in Lisbon and deposed the Spanish • vicereine, the Duchess of Mantua, Margaret of Savoy on 1 December 1640. She, famously, tried to calm the Portuguese people during demonstrations in the Terreiro do Paço, at the time, Lisbon's main square, but her efforts failed. The Duke of Bragança, head of the senior family among the Portuguese nobility, accepted the throne as João IV of Portugal later the same day. João IV's entire reign was dominated by the struggle to establish and maintain independence from Spain.

1641: A counter-revolution mounted by the Inquisition failed. It was quelled by Francisco de Lucena, • who had its leaders executed. Miguel Luís de Menezes II, 2nd Duke of Caminha, was executed for continuing to support the Habsburgs' claim to the Portuguese throne.

1641: Portugal signed alliances with France (1 June 1641) and Sweden (August 1641).

• 1641: Portugal and the Dutch Republic signed a 'Treaty of Offensive and Defensive Alliance', otherwise • known as the Treaty of The Hague, on 12 July 1641. The treaty was not respected by either party; as a consequence, it had no effect on the Portuguese dependencies of Brazil and Angola that were under Dutch occupation.

1641: The Dutch began their occupation of São Tomé and of Ano Bom on 16 October 1641, where • they remained until 6 January 1649. This was clearly a violation of the agreement made with Portugal only three months earlier.

1641: Portugal was ousted from Malacca by the Dutch.

• 1642: The Dutch took over all of the Portuguese Gold Coast (now Ghana).

• 1643: At the Battle of Rocroi (19 May 1643), in the Ardennes, the French defeated the Spanish.

• 1644: The Battle of Montijo near Badajoz, between the Portuguese and the Spanish, was fought on • 26 May 1644.

1644: The Portuguese city of Elvas withstood a nine-day siege by Spanish troops.

• 1648: The Sultan of Oman, in alliance with the Dutch, captured Muscat, which had been a Portuguese • trading outpost on the Arabian peninsula.

1648: Colonial Brazilian troops under Salvador Correia de Sá landed in Angola, took Luanda, and ex• pelled the Dutch, thereby restoring the African colony to Portugal.

1649: The Dutch were ousted from São Tomé and Príncipe.

• 1654: The Anglo-Portuguese treaty between João IV and Oliver Cromwell was signed atWestminster.

• João agreed to prevent the molestation of English traders in Portugal and its possessions; they were allowed to use their own bible and to bury their dead according to Protestant rites even though they were on Catholic soil.

1654: Colonial Brazilian troops drove the Dutch out of the great plantation colonies of northeastern • Brazil, re-establishing the territorial integrity of Portugal’s South American holdings.

1656: Portugal lost control of Colombo in Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) to the Dutch.

• 1656: João IV died on 6 November 1656 after a reign of fifteen years. His queen, who was bornLuisa • de Guzman (1613-1666), the eldest daughter of the Spanish grandee, the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, then reigned as regent for their son, Afonso VI of Portugal. She began seeking an accommodation with Spain.

1658: The Dutch took Jaffnapatam, Portugal's last colony in Sri Lanka.

• 1659: The Battle of the Lines of Elvas was fought on 14 January 1659. Portuguese troops, under the • command of the marquis of Marialva, António Luís de Meneses, and Sancho Manoel de Vilhena, scored a resounding victory over the Spanish.

1659: The Spanish besieged the Portuguese town of Monção, on the northern frontier with Galicia, • but they were driven off.

1659: The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed on 7 November 1659, ending Spain's long war with • France, and Spanish troops were free once more to suppress the Portuguese 'rebellion'. The Spaniards besieged Elvas, and they were driven off by António Luís de Menesesonce again.

1660: Upon the restoration of Charles II in England, the Queen-Re• gent re-negotiated the treaty of 1654. Portugal was allowed to recruit soldiers and horses in England for the fight against Spain, to seek the conscription of four thousand mercenaries in Scotland and Ireland, and to charter twenty-four English ships to carry them. The expeditionary force was issued English weapons upon arrival in Portugal and guaranteed freedom of worship.

1660: The English began to dominate the trade in port wine from Por• tugal after a political spat with the French denied them Bordeaux wines. Brandy was added to the Portuguese wines to fortify them for the Atlantic voyage. Together with the restoration of Charles II in England, the "port connection" had an increasingly positive influence on Anglo-Portuguese relations.

1661: Bombay and Tangier were ceded to England on 23 June 1661 • as a dowry for Afonso's sister, Catherine of Braganza, who had married King Charles II of England on 25 May 1661. In addition to the deeds to Bombay and Tangier, Catherine arrived in London, where she introduced the practice of drinking afternoon tea, with a dowry of two million gold pieces. Servicing this wedding debt burdened the Portuguese exchequer for the next half-century. The marriage with a Protestant monarch was deeply unpopular with those among the Portuguese nobility who favored alliance with France. An anglophile party and a francophile party developed at the Portuguese court.

Johan de Wit, Grand 1661: English mediation induced the Netherlands to acknowledge, Pensionary of Holland.

• on 6 August 1661, Portuguese rule in Brazil, in return for uncontested control of Sri Lanka and eight million guilders. This agreement was formalized in the Treaty of The Hague (1661).

1662: Shortly after Afonso VI's coming-of-age, Luís de Vasconcelos e Sousa, 3rd Count of Castelo • Melhor, saw an opportunity to gain power at court by befriending the mentally-deficient king. He managed to convince the king that his mother, Luisa of Medina-Sidonia, was plotting to steal his throne and exile him from Portugal. As a result, Afonso asserted his right to rule and dispatched his mother to a convent. The king appointed Castelo Melhor his secret notary (escrivão da puridade), a position in which Castelo Melhor was able to exercise the functions of first minister. Because of the weakness of the king, Castelo Melhor became the virtual "dictator of Portugal".

1662: Castelo Melhor commenced the final (successful) phase of the Portuguese Acclamation War • with the aid of the Franco-German Marshal Schomberg, who brilliantly commanded the international mercenary army that had been assembled with the assistance of England.

1663: The Battle of Ameixial was fought on 8 June 1663. After they had spent nearly all spring over• running the south of Portugal, the Spanish army, under John of Austria the Younger, took the Portuguese city of Évora. Less than three weeks later, they were soundly defeated by Sancho Manoel de Vilhena and Schomberg.

1663: The Dutch ousted the Portuguese from the Malabar coast, even though this was a clear violation • of their 1661 treaty.

1663: The Siege of Évora occurred when the Portuguese army led by Sancho Manoel de Vilhena and • by the Duke of Schomberg retook the city from the Spanish occupiers, with little to no casualties. The entire Spanish garrison surrendered.

1664: The Battle of Castelo Rodrigo was fought on 7 July 1664. A regional military commander, Pedro • Jacques de Magalhães, defeated the Duke of Osuna.

1664: The Siege of Valencia de Alcántara results in the successful conquest of the Spanish town of • Valencia de Alcántara by Portugal in July 1664.

1665: Portugal was again victorious at the Battle of Montes Claros (on 17 June 1665), in which António • Luís de Meneses and Schomberg defeated the Spanish army under the Marquis of Caracena; Spain ceased hostilities, but a true peace treaty was not signed for another three years. Montes Claros is considered one of the most important battles in Portuguese history.

1666: In an attempt to establish an alliance with France, Castelo Melhor arranged for Afonso VI to • marry Marie Françoise of Nemours, the daughter of the Duke of Nemours, but this marriage would not last long.

1666: The ambitious Castelo Melhor planned to prosecute the war to the extent of taking Galicia and • presenting it to the Portuguese crown as a war indemnity, but he was dissuaded.

1667: Marie Françoise petitioned for an annulment of her marriage to Afonso VI, based on the impo• tence of the king. The Church granted her the annulment.

1667: King Afonso VI, Castelo Melhor, and his francophile party were overthrown by the king's younger • brother, Pedro, Duke of Beja, (who later ruled as Pedro II of Portugal.) Pedro first installed himself as his brother's regent and then arranged Afonso's exile to the island ofTerceira in the Azores on the pretense that he was incapable of governing. Castelo Melhor fled into exile; ironically, he chose to live in England.

1667: The French alliance had been imperilled by the annulment of Afonso's marriage, but Pedro • strengthened his political position by marrying his brother’s estranged queen.

1668: The Treaty of Lisbon with Spain ended twenty-eight years of war. Spain finally recognized the • restoration of Portuguese independence and the legitimacy of its monarch. Portugal kept all of its remaining overseas colonies, with the exception of Ceuta on the north African coast, who didn't recognize the Bragança Dinasty during the war.

Results of the war:

Happily for Portugal, its restoration of independence from Spain was clearly established, and it proved that it could fend for itself, albeit with difficulty. Its victories on the battlefield had re-awakened Portuguese nationalism.

Nonetheless, Portugal remained economically weak, agriculturally underdeveloped, dependent on English grain, and hungry for foreign trade goods in general, especially woven cloth. Luís de Meneses, the Count of Ericeira, economic adviser to the prince regent, advocated the development of a native textile industry based on a Flemish model.

Factories were established at Covilhã, in an area of central Portugal where there was easy access to flocks of sheep and clean mountain water, but they were highly unpopular with both local consumers and traditional weavers. Meanwhile, Portuguese attempted to develop a silk industry, but this was undercut by the French, who wanted to monopolize that market.

AIDS Day Worldwide - Dec 01

World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. It is common to hold memorials to honor persons who have died from HIV/AIDS on this day. Government and health officials also observe the event, often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an official proclamation on World AIDS Day. Governments of other nations have followed suit and issued similar announcements.

AIDS has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007, and an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide live with HIV as of 2007, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 2 million lives in 2007, of which about 270,000 were children.

History

World AIDS Day was first conceived in August 1987 by James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter, two public information officers for the Global Programme on AIDS at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Bunn and Netter took their idea to Dr. Jonathan Mann, Director of the Global Programme on AIDS (now known as UNAIDS). Dr. Mann liked the concept, approved it, and agreed with the recommendation that the first observance of World AIDS Day should be 1 December, 1988.

Bunn, a broadcast journalist on a leave-of-absence from his reporting duties at K PIX-TV in San Francisco, recommended the date of 1 December believing it would maximize coverage by western news media. Since 1988 was an election year in the U.S., Bunn suggested that media outlets would be weary of their post-election coverage and eager to find a fresh story to cover.

Bunn and Netter determined that 1 December was long enough after the election and soon enough before the Christmas holidays that it was, in effect, a dead spot in the news calendar and thus perfect timing for World AIDS Day. On 18 June, 1986 K PIX'S “AIDS Lifeline," a community education project, was honored with a Presidential Citation for Private Sector Initiatives presented by President Ronald Reagan. Because of his role as a co-creator of "AIDS Lifeline" Bunn was asked by Dr. Mann, on behalf of the U.S. government, to take a two-year leave-of-absence to join Dr. Mann, an epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control, and assist in the creation of the Global Programme on AIDS for the United Nations' World Health Organization. Mr. Bunn accepted and was named the first Public Information Officer for the Global Programme on AIDS. Along with Mr. Netter Bunn conceived, designed, and implemented the inaugural World AIDS Day observance – now the longest-running disease awareness and prevention initiative of its kind in the history of public health.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) became op- Russian stamp, 1993 erational in 1996, and it took over the planning and promotion of World AIDS Day. Rather than focus on a single day, UNAIDS created the World AIDS Campaign in 1997 to focus on year-round communications, prevention and education.

In its first two years, the theme of World AIDS Day focused on children and young people. These themes were strongly criticized at the time for ignoring the fact that people of all ages may become infected with HIV and suffer from AIDS. But the themes drew attention to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, helped alleviate some of the stigma surrounding the disease, and helped boost recognition of the problem as a family disease.

In 2004, the World AIDS Campaign became an independent organization.

Each year, Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have released a greeting message for patients and doctors on World AIDS Day.

Choosing the theme From its inception until 2004, UNAIDS spearheaded the World AIDS Day campaign, choosing annual themes in con-

sultation with other global health organizations.

As of 2008, each year's World AIDS Day theme is chosen by the World AIDS Campaign's Global Steering Committee after extensive consultation with people, organizations and government agencies involved in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. For each World AIDS Day from 2005 through 2010, the theme will be "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.", with a yearly sub-theme. This overarching theme is designed to encourage political leaders to keep their commitment to achieve universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care, and support by the year 2010.

This theme is not specific to World AIDS Day, but is used year-round in WAC's efforts to highlight HIV/AIDS awareness within the context of other major global events including the G8 Summit. World AIDS Campaign also conducts "in-country" campaigns throughout the world, like the Student Stop AIDS Campaign, an infection-awareness campaign targeting young people throughout the UK.

AIDS Awareness Month Different governments and organizations have declared different months as AIDS Awareness Month. The most popular choices are October and December. December is chosen to coincide with World AIDS Day.

panded labour force to which end not only structural rehave forms implebeen but mented, Hungary has been renewed and revitalised as well. The Eurozone crisis has underlined Europe that cannot live in the same way as it has so far, he added.

Last Friday, at Slovakthe Hungarian Economic Forum held in Buthe dapest, Prime Minister pointed also out that instead of endeavouring to build a welfare society, a so-called workfare society should be created.

He also emphasized the importance of Central European cooperation and keeping close ties with Germany, furthermore, he envisioned Central Europe as the fastest growing region on the continent during the next decade.

János Martonyi on the continu i n g s i g n i f i c a n c e o f N AT O (Online 23 Nov) The Hungarian Parliament hosted the conference entitled „NATO After the Chicago Summit” on November 22. Foreign Minister János Martonyi spoke about the relevance of the Atlantic Alliance and about the importance of maintaining NATO’s „Open Doors” policy.

M i n i s t e r Martonyi emphasized that reNATO mained the corof Photo: Noémi Bruzák, MTI nerstone and security He declared that the Chicago summit that the solidarity among NATO defined properly the objectives of the member states must be preserved.

a Alliance: and modern well-trained military, coopand eration partnership. He that added though Europe’ responsibility had grown, the resources for defense had diminished.

M i n i s t e r Martonyi also stated that the reinforcement NATO’s of „Open Doors” policy was one of the major achievements of the Chicago He summit. that claimed continuing the process of NATO enlargement also enhances the Alliance’s credibility.

Tax system to settle into a transparent, continuous structure by 2013 The European (Online 23 Nov) Commission’s appeal to Hungary regarding retail trade and telecommunication taxes was unnecessary, Government Spokesperson András Giró-Szász stated in an interview on Thursday, as Hungary had already decided to abolish them a week earlier.

These extra taxes, levied temporarily, will be abolished entirely as of 1 January 2013.

The European Commission has officially requested that Hungary amend its legislation on the special taxes applied to the retail and the telecommunication sectors within two months or, failing to comply, the case will be referred to the European Union Court of Justice.

The Government Spokesperson added that from 1 January 2013 the extra taxes in question will be abolished and the tax system will settle into a transparent, continuous structure that is sustainable in the longterm, adding that the new public utility taxes will also be part of it.

The Spokesperson underlined that “Hungary will respect all EU initiatives that stem from European law”, but also raised the issue of national sovereignty, regarding the Commission’s request to lift restrictions on the Cafeteria voucher system. He stated that when the Government introduced the Erzsébet voucher system, it was not to restrict competition, but to serve a social purpose.

Previously only French companies

operating on market economy principles were providing these types of vouchers, while the current system is state-owned and based on social principles.

The Erzsébet Programme is an innovative European approach to the goal of social solidarity. Its essence is that the revenue derived from the distribution Erzsébet vouchers is used by the state solely for the purposes of social holiday schemes, offering disadvantaged groups the chance of going on holiday. This year more than 14 thousand disadvantaged children and 75 thousand disadvantaged individuals were the beneficiaries of the programme.

International solidarity is required to protect agricultural interests "EU member (Online 22 Nov) states with significant agriculture must cooperate and act jointly to protect the interests of the agricultural sector", Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development Gyula Budai told Hungarian news agency MTI on Wednesday in Berlin.

Assessing the series of meetings he has been holding in the German capital, the State Secretary stressed that "the views and interests of Hungarian and German farmers are in agreement on the most important current issues such as EU agricultural funding and the conversion of active farmland into so-called ecological target areas, otherwise known as "greening".

"The largest German agricultural advocacy group, the German Farmers' Association (DBV) has the same

standpoint on these issues as the Hungarian Government and the National Association of Hungarian Farmers Societies and Co-operatives (Magosz), the State Secretary added. Following his meting with Helmut Born, the Secretary-General of the DBV, Gyula Budai emphasises that solidarity is required between those roughly 14 EU member states in which agriculture is of strategic importance. "Alone we are weak; together we are strong", he said, stressing that he supports the idea of cooperation and solidarity not just in his role as State Secretary, but also as an association director of Magosz.

"There is a great need for cooperation at discussion regarding the European Union's next seven-year Multiannual Financial Framework", he surmised. "Both German and Hungarian farmers are making a

stand for the preservation of agricultural funding at the current level, and with regard to the issue of greening, they feel that a maximum of 3-4 percent of active farmland should be converted into ecological target areas, in contrast to the European Commission's proposal according to which 7 percent of agricultural land must be removed from production"?, he explained.

With relation to the provision of support to help farmers who have suffered damages as a result of drought, he told the press that he had informed his German partner of the Minister of Rural Development's earlier proposal that the proportion of 2013 direct area-based funding that may be paid out in advance should be increases to 80 percent from the current level of 50 percent.

Gov t ha s s igne d it s f if t h s t r a t e gic pa r t ne r s hip a gr e e m e nt t his y e a r (Online 21 Nov) The Hungarian Government signed a strategic partnership agreement with the local unit of the Japanese automobile manufacturer Suzuki on 21 November.

In a speech delivered at the signing ceremony in the Hungarian Parliament, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán assured of Hungary’s unbroken support to the free agreetrade signed Photó: Pelsőczy Csaba ment the between The Prime Minister has also anEuropean Union and Japan. He nounced that on the initiative of the stressed that the Hungarian Suzuki Japanese company, the bridge conplant was of particular significance necting Slovakia with Hungary in for the country since after the fall of Komárom will be widened, which will communism, it has contributed to the help accommodate deliveries to the integration of the Hungarian econ- Suzuki's plant based in Esztergom. omy into the new world economic Viktor Orbán put forward that the order. He also informed that as a re- Government had also decided to sult of the Government’s successful build a connection between the city negotiations in Japan, Japanese in- and the Hungarian M1 motorway. vestors may come to Hungary in the Hungarian Suzuki Ltd. Chief Execuupcoming one or two years.

Officer tive H i s a s h i Takeuchi said at the cerethat mony Suzuki wished to give further to impetus Hungarian economic growth and plans are envisaged for the creation of a new model within the framework of a 200 million euros investment.

The Government is committed to creating an investmentf r i e n d l y environment for international companies. With such an aim, similar agreements has been signed with industrial giants like Coca-Cola, pharmaceutical firm Gedeon Richter, aluminium company Alcoa-Kofem and German car manufacturer Daimler. Furthermore, the Parliament’s recently adopted legislation on the setting up of priority areas eligible for tax relief for investments also serves this endeavour.

Zsolt Németh: Hate speech against Jews, Roma “outrage against the nation” State Secretary Zsolt Nemeth told an international conference marking the birth centenary of Raoul Wallenberg in Samorin (Somorja), Slovakia.

“All forms of anti-Semitism, racism and prejudice divide a nation, as these differentiate among human and human in an unacceptable way,” he said at the event organized by the Slovakian Forum Minority Research Institute and Hungary’s Raoul Wallenberg Committee to commemorate the Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Jews during the

last year of the Second World War. Alexander Ben-Zvi, Israel's Ambassador to Bratislava, said Wallenberg had been an outstanding man who had risked his life to save Jews.

Minister of State Németh laid a wreath at the Wallenberg memorial plaque in Bratislava along with Israeli Ambassador Ben-Zvi, Hungarian Ambassador Csaba Balogh, and Swedish Honorary Consul Vladimir Kestler.

Hungary has performed excell e n t l y o n t w o N AT O e x e r c i s e s

The second stage: defensive stand-off:

Recapitulation:

(Online 22 Nov) the Within framework of a financial conin ference orFrankfurt by ganised Sberbank, the largest bank in and Russia EuEastern Prime rope, Minister Viktor Orbán participated in the discussion enti“New tled in Economy BeEurope: tween a Rock and a Hard Place.”

The event was also attended, among others, Photo: Prime Minister's Office by former GerSouth-Eastern European countries, man Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, as well as the region’s future develSerbian Head of Government Ivica opment.

Dacic, Prime Minister of Republika In his presentation, Viktor Orbán exSrpska entity of Bosnia and Herze- plained that the period of welfare govina Milorad Dodik, and Václav states in Europe has come to an end, Klaus, President of the Czech Re- and Hungary has a clear response to public. this situation, that is, to create a The participants exchanged views on work-based society. He stated that the current state of the Eurozone, its the crisis can only be overcome by impact on Central, Eastern and creating the conditions for an ex-

(Online 21 Nov) Anyone who incites hatred against people of Jewish, Roma origin or any other members of the nation of a different identity or origin commit an outrage against the whole Hungarian nation by dividing it, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zsolt Németh told a conference November 21, 2012.

Hungary’s Government declared 2012 Wallenberg Year not only to commemorate the diplomat but to demonstrate clearly that it firmly rejects any form of anti-Semitism,

Spain, at first, made the war a defensive one. Portugal, for its part, felt no need to take Spanish territory in order to win, and it too was willing to make the war a defensive contest. Campaigns typically consisted of correrias (cavalry raids) to burn fields, sack towns, and steal large herds of enemy cattle and sheep. Soldiers and officers, many of them mercenaries, were primarily interested in booty and prone to desertion. For long periods, without men or money, neither side mounted formal campaigns, Louis XIII of France. and when actions were taken, they were often driven as much by political considerations, such as Portugal's need to impress potential allies, as by clear military objectives. Year after year, given the problems of campaigning in the winter, and the heat and dry conditions of summer, most of the serious fighting was confined to two relatively-short "campaign seasons" in the spring and fall.

The war settled into a pattern of mutual destruction. As early as December 1641, it was common to hear Spaniards throughout the country lament that "Extremadura is finished." Tax collectors, recruiting officers, billeted soldiers, and depredations by Spanish and foreign troops were loathed and feared by the Spanish population as much as raids by the enemy. In Extremadura, local militias bore the brunt of the fighting until 1659, and the absence of these parttime soldiers was extremely harmful to agriculture and local finances. Since there was often no money to pay or support the troops (or to reward their commanders), the Spanish crown turned a blind eye to the smuggling, contraband, profiteering, disorder, and destruction that had become rampant on the frontier. Similar conditions also existed among the Portuguese.

By 1662, Spain had committed itself to a major effort to end the rebellion.

John of Austria the Younger, Philip IV's illegitimate son, led 14,000 men into Alentejo, and, the following year, they succeeded in taking Évora, the major city of the region. The Portuguese, under António Luís de Meneses, 1st Marquess of Marialva and the German soldier of fortune, Friedrich Hermann von Schönberg, the duke of Schomberg, who had been contracted, along with other foreign officers and over 2,000 English troops to bolster the leadership of Portuguese forces, were able to turn the tide.

They defeated the Spanish in a major engagement at Ameixial on 8 June Cardinal Mazarin 1663, and this forced John of Austria to abandon Évora and retreat across the border.

The Portuguese now had some 30,000 troops in the Alentejo-Extremadura theater, but they could not draw the Spanish into a major engagement until June 1665, when a new Spanish commander, the marquis of Caracena, took over Vila Viçosa with about 23,000 men, including recruits from Germany and Italy. The Portuguese relief column under António Luís de Meneses and Schomberg met them atMontes Claros on 17 June 1665. The Portuguese infantry and gun emplacements broke the Spanish cavalry, and the Spanish force lost over 10,000 men, including casualties and prisoners. Shortly thereafter, the Portuguese retook Vila Viçosa. These were the last major engagements of the war.

Both sides returned to skirmishing campaigns. Portugal, with the intercession of its English ally, had sought a truce, but after the decisive Portuguese victory at Montes Claros and with the signing of a Franco-Portuguese treaty in 1667, Spain finally agreed to recognize Portugal's independence on 13 February 1668.

PM Orbán attended Sberbank’s financial conference

It is crucial to strengthen relations with China (Online 21 Nov) Opening towards the east and, in particular, strengthening relations with China is a strategic question, Péter Szijjártó, the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations said in an interview on 21 November.

The politician said, after the current shift of generations in the Chinese elite, Chinese-Hungarian relations may receive further impetus. He stressed, a financial-strategic agreement has to be concluded as a supplement to the existing economic-operative agreement. He also added, Hungary would wish to

become one of China’s most important European partners and we have already signed a number of cooperation agreements and declarations of intent with such an aim.

As he said, they are searching for projects, which can be financed from funds created by China; these are of both national and regional nature.

According to the State Secretary, we have been late to enter the race to forge alliances, because former governments performed in a particularly bad manner and they did not recognise that after the crisis nothing will be as it was before, and so new al-

liances should be built.

In the interview, with regard to the strategy of Eastern opening he said that one of its firmest pillars is constituted by cooperation with the Caucasus republics. He pointed out, the greatest progress has been reached with Azerbaijan, and serious consultations are under way in concrete fields. With Kazakhstan, talks are under way on support provided to small and medium-sized enterprises, while in Georgia the setting up of joint economic committees has begun.

D ia logue be t we e n Ge r m a ny a nd H unga r y c ont inue s Parliamentary (Online 21 Nov) State Secretary Gyula Budai, Peter Bleser, as Parliamentary well as disState Secretary cussing further of the Ministry German-Hunof Rural Develgarian cooperaopment, will be with tion continuing and to relation taking part in bithese topics. lateral talks on He will also November 20hold talks with 21 at the Hunthe Secretarygarian Harvest General of Raifevent organfeisen Verband, ised by the Volker J. PeHungarian Emtersen. bassy in Berlin.

He will also be During the offidiscussing iscial visit, he will sues of interest discuss the acrepresentation tual issues reand the establating to the of lishment Common Agricloser relations cultural Policy with the Naand the more Photo: Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development tional Associaimportant tasks mann. He will also review consumer relating to the upcoming 2014-2020 protection issues with Parliamentary tion of Hungarian Farmers Societies budgetary period with the Chairman State Secretary for Food and Con- MAGOSZ with Secretary-General of of the Federal Parliament's Agricul- sumer Protection Gerd Müller and the German Farmers Federation Helmut Born. tural Committee Hans-Michael Gold-

New border crossing points could be opened between Hungary and Romania (Online 20 Nov) According to plans, 57 further road border crossing points may be opened between Hungary and Romania, Pál Völner, Secretary of State responsible for Infrastructure announced after negotiations with representatives of the related Romanian ministry on 16 November in Szatmárnémeti.

In the wake of bilateral public road and railroad talks held with Romanian Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Ovidiu Silaghi and Secretary of State for Transport Septimiu Buzasu, an agreement has

been reached according to which Romania will start talks on a framework agreement allowing the construction of more than fifty new public border crossing points to be designated on the common border. The Romanian party has appointed a Secretary of State of the Ministry of Interior as chief negotiator, while Hungary will be represented by Pál Völner, Secretary of State responsible for Infrastructure. At the meeting, decisions must also be made on the setting up of three further commissions.

A similar agreement has been con-

cluded with Slovakia, which will serve as a model for the proposed Hungarian-Romanian framework agreement.

The Hungarian-Romanian border is 448 km long and it currently provides 10 border crossing points for read traffic at an average distance of 45 km. Surveys suggest that there is public demand for the establishment of a further 57 border crossings. If are built, there will be a border crossing point at every 6,7 kilometres, which is considered as satisfactory even according to Western-European standards.

Te n E U c o u n t r i e s j o i n t l y d e v e l o p air refueling capability (Online 20 Nov) On Monday, November 19 ten European countries, including Hungary, reached an agreement in Brussels on cooperation in the development of military air refueling capability. At the meeting of EU Defence Ministers, Parliamentary State Secretary Tamás Vargha represented the Hungarian Ministry of Defence.

The ten countries – that is, besides Hungary the EU members Belgium, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain as well as the non-EU member Norway – signed a letter of intent on

the topic at the meeting of EU Defence Ministers. Norway, which does not belong to the EU but is a member of NATO, had earlier actively cooperated with the European Defence Agency (EDA) in other projects too.

The lessons learned in last year’s Libyan air operations have made military-political decision-makers in Europe fully realize the importance of air refueling capability. Although the European participants of the operation had the sufficient number of modern aircraft, they had to use US assistance to refuel them in the air, while it was necessary to keep them air-

borne for as long as possible.

Under the newly signed letter of intent, they will jointly procure – either buy or lease – air refueling tanker aircraft. They have not decided on the type and other details as yet. The cooperation of the ten countries illustrates a model that the EU countries are trying to develop in the present period of financial crisis: they are economizing on the resources, and several member states form groups of different composition to generate certain common military capabilities in an efficient and at the same time cost-effective way.

Closer cooperation between Brazil and Hungary (Online 20 Nov) On 12 November 2012 Brasília hosted the first meeting of the Hungarian-Brazilian Economic Joint Committee (HBEJC). The delegation headed by the co-chairman of HBEJC, Minister of State for Economic Regulation Kristóf Szatmáry, conducted negotiations with representatives of the Brazilian Government in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Among the issues on the agenda the development of trade, investment stimulation, education, innovation and agricultural co-operation must be emphasized as they were highlighted by agreements and letters of intent.

Business and investments forums were held in São Paolo and Rio de Janeiro and the visit was concluded by meeting with representatives of the local Hungarian communities in Nova Friburgo as the next stage of the Hungarian delegation’s tour to Brazil, Brazil has been the most significant trade partner of Hungary in SouthAmerica. In the past couple of years bilateral trade has been constantly expanding, especially Hungarian exports to Brazil have been growing outstandingly, having increased by almost 55 percent in 2011 compared to the previous year. In the initial eight months of 2012 Hungarian exports (206.4 million USD) and imports (104.4 million USD) were up by 33 percent and 16 percent, respectively, in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous year.

The Government also regards Brazil as a key investment destination.

At the HBEJC session several coop-

eration agreements were signed. The Ministry of Rural Development and the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply adopted a declaration of intent regarding cooperation in agriculture and the food industry, including cooperation within the fields of ecological farming, biodiversity, gene preservation, viticulture and viniculture, forestry, food safety, aquaculture and education.

In order to strengthen HungarianBrazilian bilateral economic relationships, the Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency concluded a cooperation agreement on stimulating investments and developing trade with its relevant partner organization, ApexBrasil. The agreement covers mutual assistance in organizing exhibitions, trade fairs, business delegations and other export-promoting programmes; organizing business forums; exchanging publications and business information as well as helping establish business partnerships.

Representatives of the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (Capes) and the Hungarian Rectors’ Conference concluded a framework memorandum on Hungary’s joining the Science without Borders programme.

The cooperation agreement concluded between the Brazilian Development Bank and the Hungarian Eximbank is expected to significantly contribute to boosting economic and financial relationships between the two countries. The framework agreement provides the opportunity for financing projects selected mutually by the two parties. The Brazilian De-

velopment Bank may spearhead efforts to promote Hungarian projects of Brazilian enterprises which could be co-financed via a new product of Eximbank, a special investment credit facility related to exports. On the other hand, in order to aid Hungarian enterprises enter Brazil, refinancing by the Brazilian Development Bank can underpin activities of the Hungarian Eximbank.

In São Paolo, the financial capital of Brazil, the Hungarian delegation was the guest of the city’s National Association of Manufacturers (FIESP) and its president, Mr. Paulo Skaf, an alumnus of the Santo Américo College established by Hungarians. For the outstanding role Mr. Paulo Skaf had been playing in promoting bilateral trade relationships, at the event he was awarded the Order of Merit of Hungary by Minister of State Kristóf Szatmáry which had been bestowed by the President of Hungary. At the event, the Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the FIESP concluded a cooperation agreement.

On 13 November, in the Santo Américo College of São Paolo, Minister of State Kristóf Szatmáry handed over a Hungarian national flag to the representative of the College as a present for the institution by the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament László Kövér. In addition, two Honorary Foreign Economic Counselor titles have also been awarded.

Representatives of the Hungarian community could taste Hungarian wines and enjoy contemporary paintings at a wine and art exhibition.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomes Middle Eastern ceasefire (Online 22 Nov) The Hungarian Foreign Ministry welcomes the ceasefire between forces in the Gaza Strip and Israel, and greatly appreciates the efforts of those working to

secure it.

We regard full compliance of the agreement as important. Hungary has consistently maintained and continues to maintain the position that

the resumption of direct negotiations between the sides affected could lead to settlement in the Middle East based on the two-state solution.

Central European cooperation is exemplary (Online 23 Nov) Minister of Defence Csaba Hende urged the development of transatl a n t i c cooperation in connection with NATO’s partnership network and capability development at an international conference held in Budapest on Thursday, November 22.

In his welcome speech delivered at the conference “NATO Beyond the Csaba Hende (photo: MTI, Noémi Bruzák) Chicago Sumthe training of helicopter pilots, and in mit”, Speaker of Parliament László pooling and sharing the capabilities Kövér referred to the continuously of CBRN defence and operational loexpanding defence cooperation gistics, which may strengthen deamong the Visegrád countries – Hun- fence in the long run. gary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic Minister Hende called a national inand Poland – as a favorable example terest the admission to NATO of the for the North Atlantic Treaty Organi- candidate member countries of the zation.

Western Balkans. He said that withIn connection with NATO’s partner- out this, lasting peace cannot be esship network and capability develop- tablished in the region. He stressed ment, Minister of Defence Csaba that Hungary is committed to supHende urged the development of porting these countries and impletransatlantic cooperation. At the menting their reform processes. same time, he reasserted that the fi- The Minister of Defence also talked nancial crisis affects military spend- about the importance of countering ing as well. The Minister referred to cyber attacks, which, as he said, rethe Central European cooperation quire the involvement of civil society and the relations of the Visegrád as well. countries as good examples of part- NATO Assistant Secretary General nership. Speaking about the former, for Public Diplomacy Kolinda Grabarhe said that it had achieved results in

Kitarovic pointed out that the main goal of the member states is global security, which forms the basis of economic development too. Security cannot be taken for granted in the member states either, as even today, they need to tackle a lot of challenges to be able to maintain it, she pointed out, adding that the Alliance has been successful in overcoming these

challenges.

In her opinion, the transatlantic relations are very strong even today, and the United States’ turning to Asia strengthens NATO as well. She also noted that after their withdrawal from Afghanistan, the NATO member states would not let the people down and would continue to provide assistance for state-building and the development of the country.

Foreign Minister János Martonyi stressed that NATO’s Chicago Summit reasserted that the Alliance remains the cornerstone of security and that solidarity among the member states should not become an empty idea. Nobody can see the organization as if it were going back on its former commitments, he said.

The Kayser Automotive Hungária Ltd. has doubled the size of its factory (Online 21 Nov) Kayser Automotive Ltd. has opened a new 3200 m2 plant facility in the Komárom Industrial Park on Wednesday. The expansion has created more than 50 new workplaces in the plant specialized in producing plastic car components, fuel cables, air channels, pressure regulating valves and other plastic components.

At the opening ceremony, Péter Szijjártó, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations, declared that „The fact that large, international automobile coproations are present and producing in Hungary, as well as the expansion of domestic supplier companies, prove that Hungary has become the most competitive country in Europe” adding that the plant expansion of Kayser is recent proof that the Hungarian economy cooperates very closely with the German industry.

The State Secretary emphasized that the automobile industry constitutes 16 percent of the industrial performance and 25 percent of the industrial export within the Hungarian economy, and this is in line with the goal of the Hungarian government to make Hungary the production centre of the European Union.

The managing director of the Kayser Hungária announced that the company received 108.2 million HUF support towards the 700 million HUF investment from the European Regional Development Fund and the central budget.

According to Ivó Nemes, the company had reached its full potential with regard to production capacity and the satisfaction of increased customer demand has now become possible through the complex development project.

Because of the automobile plants’

proximity, more emphasis will be put on the Hungarian base in the company group in future. According to the plans of the company, it will be necessary to increase the producing capability by 60-70 percent to meet increased demand. The Hungarian affiliate was established in 2003 as a greenfield investment.

The parent company, the Germanbased A. Kayser Automotive Systems GmbH, is situated among the 5 largest European production companies in terms of plastic cable production. Kayser GmbH has 7 plants worldwide, the revenue of the company group in 2011 reached 155 million euros. Dvelopment takes place in Germany (1100 persons) and factories may be found in China (70 persons), Poland (240 persons),Hungary (140 persons), Mexico (250 persons) an Spain (55 persons).

Hungary open to co-op with the next Romanian govt (Online 20 Nov) Hungary is open to cooperation with the Romanian Government to be formed after the elections in December, Hungarian Foreign Affairs State Secretary Zsolt Németh said after meeting Tibor Toró, leader of the Transylvanian Hungarian People's Party on 19 November.

Zsolt Németh stated at the joint news conference with Tibor Toró that Hungary could

work together with the new Romanian Government towards implementing several common goals, such as enforcing basic human and minority rights or creating a strong Central Europe. The Hungarian Foreign Affairs State Secretary stressed that it was a great success that the domestic political squabble in Romania did not disturb the process of granting citizenship to the ethnic Hungarians in the

country.

Zsolt Németh urged the ethnic Hungarians in Transylvania to take part and vote at the upcoming parliamentary elections in December since it was the only way to ensure a robust representation for the Hungarian minority in the Romanian legislation. He expressed his hope that both ethnic Hungarian political parties would make it to the Romanian Parliament.

(Online 21 Nov) Hungary has performed excellently on the annual NATO Crisis Management Exercise (CMX 12) and the cyber defence exercise Cyber Coalition 2012 as well – Brig.-Gen. Dr. (Eng.) J ó z s e f Tokovicz, the Director-General of the Ministry of Defence Defence Administration Office and Mihály Zala, the President of the National Security Photo: Veronika Dévényi Authority anbe paid to the system operators too, nounced in Budapest. the director-general said, adding that At the press conference held on No- the results of the exercise will be asvember 19, József Tokovicz said that sessed in detail over the coming around 2,500 men – 27 NATO mem- weeks, and a decision will be made ber and two PfP countries – had par- on taking the necessary steps. ticipated in the crisis management Mihály Zala said that for the first time exercise which ended on last week- this year, the CMX 12 was being conend. Iceland did not participate in the ducted jointly with the cyber defence exercise. exercise Cyber Coalition 2012, which Hungary has passed the simulation had been prepared with Hungary’s with flying colors – the authorities participation. According to the sceand organizations were able to coop- nario, the banking system and the air erate very well, but the capacity of traffic control of the country came the IT systems needs to be ex- under attack and collapsed as a repanded and more attention should sult. The experts modeled the sce-

nario on the 2007 cyber atagainst tack he Estonia, added.

The president of the National AuSecurity thority stressed that in the case of attacks of this kind, first of all they must strive to prevent them because it is almost impossible to prepare for pre-planned and targeted He attacks. noted that the present occasion was the first time when they had opportunity to invoke Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty during a cyber attack on the exercise, which means that the member states took joint action to respond to the attack and restore the systems.

He added that in reality, this situation may arise for example, if the basic infrastructure were attacked with IT assets. Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, NATO’s founding document states that an armed attack against one or more of the Parties in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.

Ministry of Interior’s reply to the petition of the refugees and protected people living in Bicske (Online 21 Nov) Refugees and protected people living in the refugee camp of Bicske handed over a petition to the Ministry of Interior on Tuesday. In connection with this the Ministry states the following: In Hungary internationally protected refugees receive extended support by the Office of Nationality and Immigration (BÁH) in order to help their social integration in line with operative regulations.

After the acceptance of their claims, refugees can spend six months at the integration centre, which can further be extended by another six months.

During this period, they can are entitled to numerous services, such as receiving meals three times a day, free medical service, tools and

clothes for personal use, and regular monthly financial support that can be used freely. They can take up work as well, for which they receive monthly compensation.

In accordance with the actions of previous years, the Office of Nationality and Immigration (BÁH), complying with humanitarian considerations, makes it possible to stay at the integration centre until 31 March for those who are not able to move out during the legally regulated period of time.

The refugees are entitled to 520 hours of free Hungarian language lessons and the Office of Nationality and Immigration reimburses the fee of the language exams as well. The authorities make constant efforts in order to help the integration of the in-

ternationally protected people, by enabling them to become self-supporting as soon as possible. Therefore the refugees are provided help in seeking accommodation, completing basic education and taking part in professional training.

In order to facilitate moving out of the integration centre, refugees can use further support, such as: financial aid for moving and accommodation, interest-free loans to buy property and regular financial support for sustenance. Concerning children, the Office of Nationality and Immigration provides financial support for education and travel.

In 2012 more than 1 billion forints were spent on refugees, out of which 220 million forints were granted to them as financial support.

H e a v y a ir lif t wing of Pá pa r e a c he s f ull ope r a t iona l c a pa bilit y (Online 21 Nov) On November 14, 2012, the Pápa-based Heavy Airlift Wing (HAW) reached Full Operational Capability (FOC) – Col. Keith P. Boone, the commander of the unit made this statement in Tallin. Press release.

The reaching of Full Operational Capability is a significant milestone in the history of the HAW. From the arrival of the first Boeing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft in Pápa to the present day (July 2009 – November 2012) the unit has flown over 8,000 flight hours, delivered more than 53 000 tons of cargo and transported over 32,000 passengers for the SAC nations to 6 continents and dozens of countries, including Haiti, Afghanistan, Pakistan, South Africa

and Europe.

The Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) is a program running at the Hungarian Defence Forces Pápa Air Base, which is based on the close cooperation of twelve nations operating three C-17 aircraft. The participating nations are Bulgaria, Estonia, Norway, Hungary, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Finland, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden and the United States of America.

The Wing was activated on July 27, 2009; it reached Initial Operational Capability (IOC) on May 25, 2010.

The Wing can safely and effectively conduct the entire range of missions assigned to it with three C-17 aircraft, full manning, sufficient infrastructure and logistical sustainment. By reach-

ing the full operational capability, the HAW is able to produce the annual flight hours required by the SAC participating nations.

The 12 participating nations of the program have built a special team in Pápa, which provides a worldwide textbook example of pooling and sharing resources. The SAC participating nations are thankful to those organizations providing support to the HAW, especially Hungary, the host nation and the NATO Support Organization.

The statement was made during the semi-annual meeting of the SAC Steering Board and the NATO Airlift Management Programme Board held in Tallin, Estonia.

145 billion forints will be spent on public employment next year (Online 19 Nov) billion 145 forints will be spent on public employment next year, the goal is to provide work for 300 thousand people in 2013 and 2014 – Sándor said Pintér, Minister of Interior on Friday in Budapest at the celebratory event held in order to praise the work of those local governments that have performed exceptionally well in Photo: Pál Csattos organizing and realizing public employment programs.

Minister Pintér also pointed out that along with the agricultural works that can be done between March and October, programs providing all-yearl o n g employment should be established as well.

The minister mentioned that agricultural public employment programs are the most s u c c e s s f u l . Photo: Pál Csattos Fruits and vegbudget 132 billion forints were earetables produced serve as social aid marked for public employment this for schools, kindergartens and retire- year which meant employment for ment homes – he added.

270 thousand people.

He also mentioned that as part of the Minister Pintér emphasized the im-

portance of the further development along with the bigger He sources. also mentioned that they collect good practical experience, ideas and possibilities. He rethe peated: goal is to establish social cooperatives that can be selfsupporting.

He reminded that the goal of the renewal of the public employment system was to prevent people from living on financial aid so that it becomes apparent for their children as well that they need to work in order to make a living.

The minister handed over honours for 22 local governments.

The local governments receive further financial support of up to 2 million forints in order to carry on their public employment organizing work.

Local governments can ask for financial support via formal request; the program starts on 1 December 2012.

EU enlargement a “two-way street” benefiting both parties (Online 23 Nov) Internal stability values and by shared member states are what the European Union should "export" in exchange for "imp o r t i n g " diversity, natural resources, innovation potential and the prospect of economic growth, the Hungarian Foreign Minister János Martonyi said in Berlin on Friday.

Addressing a conference of Photo: MTI/EPA/Kay Nietfeld Southeast Euand social cohesion," he added. ropean foreign ministers at the Hun- Addressing the conference, German garian embassy, Minister Martonyi Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said that the EU's further enlarge- said the "next chapter in the EU's hisment was a "two-way street" tory" was the integration of the process, benefitting not only the Balkans. He stated that the region's newly accessed but the entire bloc. future was within the EU and its inteHe described the EU as being an ex- gration would not only benefit them, ceptionally successful "enterprise" but was also in the basic interest of and a bloc that a number of countries the EU 27. aspire to join.

The conference was attended by the "The EU is probably the best synthe- foreign ministers of Albania, Bosnia sis of democracy, market economy

and HerzegovCroatia, ina, Kosovo, Maceand donia, Montenegro and senior foreign affairs offic i a l s representing Serbia and Turkey.

Vesna Pusic, the foreign minister of Croatia, slated to become a fullfledged EU member in mid2013, said that political sides in an aspirant country must not protract the d o m e s t i c process of reaching a consensus on the integration. In Croatia this process went on for 14 years, which is too long, she added.

Nikola Popovski, the Macedonian Foreign Minister, said that the EU was less about money and more about common values and norms to which each and every member states must adhere.

"That is why the EU is the best peace project," he said.

Enterprises can utilize tax relief on contributions for researchers (Online 22 Nov) The draft version of the National Research, Development and Innovation Strategy published on 6 November focuses on enterprises and production of higher added value. One of the new elements of tax regulations adopted on Monday, tax relief on contributions for researchers, is fully consistent with this concept.

The tax relief on contributions for researchers taking effect as of 1 January 2012 basically provides tax relief which the employer can utilize for employing researchers with at least a PhD title at a research center, up to gross wage of 500 thousand forints.

The tax relief equals the entire amount of social contribution tax which means that enterprises can reckon with a tax rate of 0 percent instead of 27 percent, and they are also exempt of paying the 1.5 percent vocational training contribution.

The effect of this measure on the budget balance is estimated at 2bn HUF, considering that almost 1300 PhD researchers active at enterprises constitute its target group.

Example: the total monthly wage expenses for a medical researcher earning a gross wage of 400 000HUF payable by the employer will be 400 000HUF in 2013, instead of 514 000HUF in 2012. This will result in annual savings of 1 368 000HUF for the employer.

In addition, the tax act includes another favourable amendment: as of 1 January enterprises which conclude a cooperation agreement on research and development with a research institution operating as a central budgetary institution or as an economic entity majority owned directly or indirectly by the state can also utilize corporate tax base deduction of up to 50 million forints. The

estimated effect of this measure on the budget is about 1.5bn HUF. The Government expects that the measure will significantly increase the number of PhD researchers and research teams headed by them which work at research centers of enterprises. As an indirect effect of the measure, it will make more financial sense for research centers of enterprises to employ highly educated researchers of special professional knowledge, as liabilities payable for them will significantly decline. Yet another impact of introducing the tax relief on contributions will be that career prospects of researchers with academic grades will improve. The measure provides outstanding advantages for innovative SMEs, as in the future they can conduct in-house R&D.

Vik t or Or bá n's Spe e c h on Eur ope a n C hr is t ia nity (Online 19 Nov) Vi k tor Orbán held a speech on Saturday at Madrid's Saint Paul University e n t i t l e d "Hope and a Christian Response to the Crisis". Communiqué.

"The Spani sh , l i ke th e Hungarians, are a people who value freedom, who look back at Photo: congreso.ceu.es th e i r o w n h i sto ry w i th p ri d e , c r e d i t h a v e b e c o m e u n c e r and who will not allow the tain in economic life." With work with which their grand- r e g a rd to th e i ssu e o f cre d i t f a t h e r s r e b u i l t t h e i r h o m e - Vi kto r Orb á n e xp l a i n e d th a t land after the civil war be "A Europe that professes put at risk once again by Christian values would perb u r e a u c r a t s a n d f i n a n c i a l h a p s n o t h a ve a l l o w e d p e o speculators" – the Hungar- ple to waste away their ian Prime Minister said. family's future by taking on "Pe o p l e w h o a r e c o mmi tte d l o a n s ." to C h r i s ti a n tr a d i ti o n s, b o th O n t h e s u b j e c t o f a u s t e r i t y laics and clerics, Catholics measures, he said that "In and Protestants alike, are the long term, it is neither connected by a common in the interests of the peogovernments or feeling: dutiful responsibil- ple, i t y. I n E u r o p e t o d a y, s u c h l e n d e r s, b e c a u se i f o rd e r i s f o r m s o f h u m a n c o h a b i t a - loosened as a result of such t i o n h a v e b e c o m e o p e n t o m e a s u re s, so c i a l sta b i l i ty i s question as the nation and reduced and the framework the family", warned the of economic life becomes P r i m e M i n i s t e r, a d d i n g t h a t u n c e r t a i n , t h e n w h o w i l l "Similarly, the true and orig- th e re b e to w o r k fo r e a c h o f inal object of work and those borrowed Euros?"

With reference to the new Fundamental Law o f H u n g a r y, he told his audience that " We have chosen the first line of our National Prayer as the first sentence of our Nat i o n a l C r e d o : 'Lord God, Bless the Hungarians!'

Our "sin" is that in the 21st century we have dared to include in our constitution the fact that faith, the church, the nation and the family belong not to our p a st b u t to o u r fu tu r e . Wh a t we believe is this: politics based on Christian values w i l l , fo r th e u mp te e n th ti me during the course of history, once again renew Europe", th e Pri m e Mi n i ste r sta te d .

Th e Pri m e Mi n s te r 's sp e e c h was listened to by several hundred people at the venue on large screens, and by some three thousand people online. After h i s s p e e c h , Vi k t o r O r b á n also took time to reply to several questions from the a u d i e n ce .