Poland is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres (120,726 sq mi), making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. Poland has a population of over 38 million people, which makes it the 34th most populous country in the world and the sixth most populous member of the European Union, being its most populous post-communist member.
On 5.27.2011 Pres. Obama arrive in Poland. He and President Bronislaw Komorowski discuss Polish democracy; and he and Prime Minister Donald Tusk hold a joint press conference.
Yemeni anti-government demonstrators shout slogans during a demonstration demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sana'a, Yemen, February 18, 2011
Yemen: At least one person was killed and eight wounded after a car passenger threw a grenade at a crowd of anti-government demonstrators in the southwestern city of Taiz. The attack took place as demonstrators took part in one of the "day of rage" rallies.
Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh is accused by protesters of running a repressive regime.
Bahrain: Security forces fired shots as mourners leaving a funeral tried to return to a central square in the capital, in defiance of a government ban on protests. Witnesses say many people were wounded in the crackdown.
Jordan: Protests turned violent, as government supporters clashed with demonstrators calling for political reforms. Reports say at least eight people were injured when government supporters attacked the demonstrators with batons.
Iran: Thousands of government supporters called for the execution of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi during prayer services in Tehran.
Egypt: Tens of thousands of people packed Cairo's Tahrir Square for a day of celebration marking one week since President Hosni Mubarak stepped down.
The Algerian president has been in power since 1999. Many Algerians see him as an authoritarian leader who has failed to ease widespread poverty and high unemployment - factors that played a part in sparking recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Tensions have been high in Algeria since early January, when at least three people were killed in several days of riots over rising food prices.
Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali stepped down on January 14, 2011, after 23 years in power. Anti-government protests were sparked by unemployment and high food prices. On 2.17.11 News reports say he is in a grave condition in a hospital in Saudi Arabia. On 6.21.11 he was convicted and sentenced to 35 years in jail for theft and of illegally possessing jewelry and large sums of cash.
Protesters march during a protest in Rabat, Morocco, to demand a new constitution that would bring greater democracy in the North African kingdom, February 20, 2011
Anti-government activists in Morocco marched to demand political reforms limiting the power of King Mohammed - similar to protests elsewhere in the Arab world. At least 2,000 people rallied in the capital, Rabat answering a protest call issued on social networking site Facebook. Marchers shouted slogans demanding a new constitution, greater economic opportunities and a crackdown on corruption.
The resignation on Tuesday, 3.29.11 comes as tens of thousands of Syrians rallied in support of the government, as the nation awaited an expected address by President Bashar al-Assad following more than a week of anti-government protests.
Government supporters poured into the streets of the capital Damascus and other major cities to take part in Tuesday's government-sanctioned rallies. The demonstrators chanted and waved flags and pictures of the president.
News reports say President Assad could announce an end to Syria's nearly 50-year-old emergency laws when he addresses the nation in the coming days.
The opposition protests represent the most serious threat ever to President Assad's 11-year-rule and the long-standing authority of his family.
On 3.24.11, the Syrian government announced a series of reforms, including possibly ending the country's emergency law, in the wake of a series of deadly anti-government protests. Protesters have been demanding that Assad lift Syria's 50-year-old emergency law which prohibits demonstrations.
Libya: Human Rights Watch says Libyan security forces killed 24 protesters during Thursday's crackdown on anti-government demonstrations. The U.S.-based rights group, citing witnesses, says security forces shot and killed protesters in an effort to break up "Day of Rage" demonstrations across the country.
The oil-rich nation, Libya has a more equitable standard of living than neighboring countries, but it is Mr. Ghadafi's crushing, often arbitrary, political system in place more than 41 years that protesters want changed.
2.23.11 Pres. Obama condemns Libyan violence , calls for international response. The President says the violence in Libya is "outrageous" and "unacceptable," and that his Administration is looking at the "full range of options we have to respond to this crisis." His full remarks.
2.25.11 President Obama signed an Executive Order regarding Libya Sanctions.
2.26.11 U.N. Security Council slaps Sanctions on Libya.
After Christopher Columbus arrived in 1493, the island was colonized in 1508, and the capital city of San Juan founded in 1521.
As a result of the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was relinquished to the USA by Spain in 1898. Today it is a self governing (very independent-minded) territory of the USA, and enjoys much autonomy.
The climate is usually hot and humid, with some lower temperatures found in the higher elevations. Like most Caribbean islands, Puerto Rico is subject to an occasional hurricane warning (May - October).
Compared to other islands in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico has a high standard of living with a vibrant industrialized economy. More quick facts .
Hispanic, Afro-Caribbean and North American influences meld in Puerto Rico . It is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands.
The Capital is San Juan. The official language is Spanish and English.
The President is Barack Obama .
As of Nov. 2016, it's Donald Trump.
Puerto Ricans are by law natural-born citizens of the United States; they have been citizens of the U.S. since 1917, and may move freely between the island and the mainland. As it is not a state, Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the United States Congress, which governs the territory with full jurisdiction under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950. However, Puerto Rico does have one non-voting member of the House called a Resident Commissioner. As residents of a U.S. territory, American citizens residing on the island are disenfranchised at the national level and do not vote for president and vice president of the United States, and only some residents pay federal income tax. Like other territories and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico does not have U.S. senators. Congress approved a local constitution in 1952, allowing U.S. citizens of the territory to elect a governor.
Bahamas is a country consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets (rocks). It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States (nearest to the state of Florida).
The Capital is Nassau.
Bahamas government is Parliamentary democracy and Constitutional monarchy. The Head of state monarch is Elizabeth II
.
President Obama spoke at a conference for disabled veterans. He announced the next phase in the military’s withdrawal from Iraq . All U.S. combat troops are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of August 2010, with about 50,000 other troops staying behind.
Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with Haiti, making Hispaniola one of only two Caribbean islands, along with Saint Martin, that are shared by two sovereign states.
The native Taíno
(pronounced /tīnō/) people had inhabited Hispaniola before the arrival of the Europeans, dividing it into five chiefdoms. The Taíno people had eventually moved north over many years, and lived around the Caribbean islands.
The Taíno natives had done quite well for themselves and were on their way to being an organized civilization. Christopher Columbus explored and claimed the island, landing here on his first voyage in 1492.
The colony of Santo Domingo became the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, the oldest continuously inhabited city, and the first seat of the Spanish colonial rule in the New World.
Meanwhile, France occupied the western third of Hispaniola, naming their colony Saint-Domingue, which became the independent state of Haiti in 1804.
After more than three hundred years of Spanish rule the Dominican people declared independence in November 1821.
The Capital is Santo Domingo. Spanish is the official language.
7.14.10 NAACP passes resolution blasting Tea Party 'racism.' Ben Jealous explains why the resolution was passed. The resolution was passed to condemn extremist elements within the Tea Party, calling on Tea Party leaders to repudiate those in their ranks who use racist language in their signs and speeches. Tea party leader, Mark Williams, is trying to condemn the NAACP. Video showing racism within the tea party.
7.18.10 CNN's Don Lemon speaks with Rev. Al Sharpton who gives his views about the Tea Party movement.
7.18.10 New Developments: Mark Williams & Tea Party Express expelled ! The National Tea Party Federation, an organization that represents the Tea Party political movement around the country, has expelled conservative commentator Mark Williams and his Tea Party Express because of an inflammatory blog post he wrote, federation spokesman David Web.
7.18.10 The National Tea Party Federation's David Webb explains why his group expelled Mark Williams and his Tea Party Express.
7.18.10 Ben Jealous: "Getting rid of Williams is a good start."
7.19.10 Andrew Breitbart, a conservative blogger, published a video of a speech by USDA employee Shirley Sherrod in an attempt to show that the NAACP itself tolerates racist behavior within its ranks – a stinging accusation just one week after the civil rights group made a similar charge against the conservative Tea Party movement. The video clip showed Shirley Sherrod, who later became an Agriculture Department employee, seeming to say she had not done her utmost to help a white farmer save his farm 24 years ago was taken out of context, and fails to include the point of her story - that people need to move beyond race. The NAACP and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack rushed to judgment. Vilsack forced her to resign. But after the full video surfaced, it proved that Shirley Sherrod's message was taken out of context. The NAACP, and Vilsack, and the White House apologized to Sherrod and she was offered a new job in the Agriculture Department. Additionally, black farmers have yet to be paid by congress for a racial bias settlement they won in 1999.
NOTE: The lesson for the nation here is to not rush to judgment before having all of the facts. When Breitbart released the partial video (and remember he did it to get back at the NAACP for calling the tea party out on the racial elements within their group. And he wanted to take media attention off of Mark Williams' racial comments) the NAACP, Tom Vilsack, and the White House should have called Shirley Sherrod to hear her story before rushing to the wrong conclusions and firing her.
