South Korea

South Korea is a semi-presidential republic in East Asia, located in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It borders North Korea to the north and closely neighbors China to the west and Japan to the east. Korea is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. South Korea is a developed country. It has the fourth-largest economy in Asia. South Korea is at the leading edge of the digital revolution. It is a trailblazer for high-speed and wireless internet services; in September 2008 officials said almost every household had a high-speed net connection.

Its capital is Seoul. The Government is a semi-presidential republic. The President Lee Myung-bak. He ended his five-year term on February 25, 2013, and was succeeded by Park Geun-hye . She is the first woman to be elected as President in South Korea.

According to the results of the census of 2015 more than half of the South Korean population (56.1%) declared themselves not affiliated with any religious organizations. In a 2012 survey, 52% declared themselves "religious", 31% said they were "not religious" and 15% identified themselves as "convinced atheists". Of the people who are affiliated with a religious organization, most are Christians and Buddhists. According to the 2015 census, 27.6% of the population were Christians (19.7% identified themselves as Protestants, 7.9% as Roman Catholics), and 15.5% were Buddhists. Other religions include Islam (130,000 Muslims, mostly migrant workers from Pakistan and Bangladesh but including some 35,000 Korean Muslims,the homegrown sect of Won Buddhism, and a variety of indigenous religions, including Cheondoism (a Confucianizing religion), Jeungsanism, Daejongism, Daesun Jinrihoe and others. Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution, and there is no state religion.

On December 9, 2016, Park was impeached by the National Assembly on charges related to influence peddling by a top aide. Her presidential powers and duties were suspended with the ratification of the impeachment proposal, and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn assumed those powers and duties as Acting President. The impeachment was upheld by the Constitutional Court on March 10, 2017, ending Park's presidency and forcing her out of office.

The Country profile .







Pope Francis has celebrated a huge open-air Mass in the center of Seoul to beatify 124 Korean martyrs who were killed in the 18th and 19th centuries for refusing to renounce Christianity. Per Wikipedia, Christianity is South Korea's largest religion, accounting for more than half of all South Korean religious adherents. There are approximately 13.7 million Christians in South Korea today, about 63% of Christians belong to Protestant churches, while about 37% belong to the Roman Catholic Church. The number of Protestant Christians have slowly decreased since the 1990s, while the number of Roman Catholics has rapidly increased since the 1980s. Presbyterian denominations are the biggest Christian denominations in South Korea.





11.29.16: Corruption charges

Prosecutors have said they want to speak to Park Geun-hye after naming her as a suspect in a corruption probe involving her confidante Choi Soon-sil and other aides.

Choi has been in prison for weeks after being indicted on charges of fraud, abuse of power and coercion, accused of extorting millions of dollars from big businesses for her foundations and personal use. Offices have been raided, top executives hauled in for questioning and two of Park's former Presidential aides, among others, have also been indicted.

As President, Park Geun-hye is currently immune from prosecution. Though her lawyers have said she is willing to cooperate with the investigation, this week she claimed to be too busy to meet with prosecutors.


12.9.16: South Korea's parliament has voted to impeach President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal.


3.12.17: Park Geun-hye left the presidential Blue House two days after the Constitutional Court issued a verdict removing her from office over a corruption scandal.

Hwang Gyo-an is a South Korean lawyer and is the Acting President of South Korea, having continued in that role following the impeachment and removal of President Park Geun-hye by the Constitutional Court of Korea on 10 March 2017. He had already taken over Park's presidential powers and duties on 9 December 2016 when impeachment proceedings were launched against her by the National Assembly and she was suspended from the powers and duties of the office.

Czech Republic

Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The Czech Republic has been a member of NATO since 1999 and of the European Union since 2004. The Czech Republic is also a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The Capital is Prague. The official language is Czech.

President Václav Klaus's term ended 3.7.2013. The current president is Miloš Zeman.

The Country profile , the CIA Factbook.



NBC's Savannah Guthrie reports: The President's speech on nuclear weapons took on a more urgent tone as he stated the United States has the moral responsibility to act in ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

President Obama spoke in Hradcanske Namesti Square before he met with a summit of European Union leaders. He spoke about the proliferation of nuclear weapons and his hopes that European nations would join the United States in confronting the threat.





"... Now, one of those issues that I'll focus on today is fundamental to the security of our nations and to the peace of the world -– that's the future of nuclear weapons in the 21st century.

The existence of thousands of nuclear weapons is the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War. No nuclear war was fought between the United States and the Soviet Union, but generations lived with the knowledge that their world could be erased in a single flash of light. Cities like Prague that existed for centuries, that embodied the beauty and the talent of so much of humanity, would have ceased to exist.

Today, the Cold War has disappeared but thousands of those weapons have not. In a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up. More nations have acquired these weapons. Testing has continued. Black market trade in nuclear secrets and nuclear materials abound. The technology to build a bomb has spread. Terrorists are determined to buy, build or steal one. Our efforts to contain these dangers are centered on a global non-proliferation regime, but as more people and nations break the rules, we could reach the point where the center cannot hold............. And as nuclear power –- as a nuclear power, as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it................ Now, let me describe to you the trajectory we need to be on. First, the United States will take concrete steps towards a world without nuclear weapons. To put an end to Cold War thinking, we will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and urge others to do the same. Make no mistake: As long as these weapons exist, the United States will maintain a safe, secure and effective arsenal to deter any adversary, and guarantee that defense to our allies –- including the Czech Republic. But we will begin the work of reducing our arsenal. To reduce our warheads and stockpiles, we will negotiate a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Russians this year. President Medvedev and I began this process in London, and will seek a new agreement by the end of this year that is legally binding and sufficiently bold. And this will set the stage for further cuts, and we will seek to include all nuclear weapons states in this endeavor. To achieve a global ban on nuclear testing, my administration will immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. After more than five decades of talks, it is time for the testing of nuclear weapons to finally be banned. And to cut off the building blocks needed for a bomb, the United States will seek a new treaty that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials intended for use in state nuclear weapons. If we are serious about stopping the spread of these weapons, then we should put an end to the dedicated production of weapons-grade materials that create them. That's the first step. Second, together we will strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a basis for cooperation. The basic bargain is sound: Countries with nuclear weapons will move towards disarmament, countries without nuclear weapons will not acquire them, and all countries can access peaceful nuclear energy....."

Russia

Russia , officially known as the Russian Federation, is a country in northern Eurasia. It is by far the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, spanning Eastern Europe and northern Asia.

The Country profile .



The capital is Moscow. The official language is Russian.

While Russians make up more than 80% of the population and Orthodox Christianity is the main religion, there are many other ethnic and religious groups. The ancestors of many of today's Russians practised Orthodox Christianity since the 10th century.

The president is Vladimir Putin. He succeeded Demitry Medvedev (3.2.08 to 5.2.12).

• KGB , the Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopanosti of the Soviet Union, was the world’s largest spy and state-security machine.


• USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (also known as the Soviet Union) was the new communist state established in 1922.


• The fall of the Soviet Union

4.19.10 Israel Won't Sign Non-Proliferation Treaty : Netanyahu will not go against "long standing policy" and sign treaty.




7.25.10 A Russian Milestone: 1st Black Elected to Office. Jean Gregoire Sagbo last month became the first black to be elected to office in Russia. In a country where racism is entrenched and often violent, Sagbo's election as one of Novozavidovo's 10 municipal councilors is a milestone. But among the town's 10,000 people, the 48-year-old from the West African country of Benin is viewed simply a Russian who cares about his hometown. Sagbo isn't the first black in Russian politics. Another West African, Joaquin Crima of Guinea-Bissau, ran for head of a southern Russian district a year ago but was heavily defeated. Crima was dubbed by the media "Russia's Obama." Now they've shifted the title to Sagbo, much to his annoyance.


Russia's black population hasn't been officially counted but some studies estimate about 40,000 "Afro-Russians." Many are attracted by universities that are less costly than in the West. Scores of them suffer racially motivated attacks every year — 49 in Moscow alone in 2009, according to the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy Task Force on Racial Violence and Harassment, an advocacy group.



12.24.10 START gets initial approval in Russia: The State Duma voted 350-58 in favor of it . The U.S. Senate approved the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, by a 71-26 vote on Wednesday 12.22.10. The U.S. Senate's approval of the treaty gave Obama a key victory on what has been considered one of his top foreign policy priorities.

U.S.-Russia Relations: "Reset” Fact Sheet.





March 2014 Russia-Ukraine conflict: The United States and its Western allies have imposed economic sanctions on Russian officials as a result of Crimea’s annexation. Russia responded by placing travel restrictions on U.S. officials.

Jul 17, 2014: The conflict dates back to before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Tensions between Ukraine and Russia escalated this past February, when protests for closer Ukrainian ties to the European Union drove out Ukraine's pro-Russian president,Viktor Yanukovych. He made the decision to suspend the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement and seek closer economic ties with Russia. This began a several-months-long wave of demonstrations and protests known as the Euromaidan, which later escalated into the 2014 Ukrainian revolution that ultimately resulted in the overthrowing of Yanukovych and the establishment of a new government. These events precipitated the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014.



7.25.14 Michael McFaul, a key architect of the reset policy who served as the American ambassador to Russia from 2012 until February of this year, was quoted as saying one of the reasons the reset initiative faded away ” was because “Putin decided it wasn’t in the interest of Russia the way he defines it.” Putin calculated demonizing the United States instead of cooperating would get him what he wanted: an economically and militarily strong Russia that would take its rightful place on the world stage, according to McFaul’s published comments.



8.3.16: Christians in Russia have said they are determined to preach the Gospel and fulfill the Great Commission despite tough new laws signed by President Vladimir Putin that ban evangelism outside of churches.



8.4.16: Franklin Graham Moves World Persecution Summit Out of Russia Over New Bans on Evangelism.



10.22.16: The U.S. government has formally accused Moscow of conducting cyber attacks on the Democratic National Committee to influence the elections in favor of Republican nominee Donald Trump. Russian President Vladimir Putin denies any meddling. That is just one issue, however, involving Russia where Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton bitterly disagree.



2.24.22: Why is Putin invading Ukraine? Put simply, it appears as if Russian President Vladmir Putin views Ukraine as traditionally part of Russia, and would very much like it back under his country’s control.

London

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. The Capital is London. The Government is Constitutional monarchy (a form of government in which supreme authority is vested in a single and usually hereditary figure, such as a king or queen ). The Monarch is Elizabeth II. The Prime Minister was Gordon Brown (June 27, 2007 – May 11, 2010). Effective 5.11.10 the new PM is David Cameron.

The Country profile .






Videos: Obamas in London

7.20.10 Pres. Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron blasted Scottish authorities' decision to release the convicted Lockerbie bomber last year and agreed on the need to push for a more transparent disclosure of the circumstances surrounding Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi's release. During a joint press conference at the White House they reaffirmed the "special relationship" between the US and UK. In their opening remarks at the press availability afterwards, the President and Prime Minister Cameron spoke about long term growth, long term stability and long term fiscal responsibility.

Their joint news conference:

Sudan and South Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan is a country in the Nile Valley of North Africa, bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west and Libya to the northwest. It is the third largest country in Africa.

Country profile

Sudan was the largest country in Africa and the Arab world until 2011, when South Sudan separated into an independent country, following an independence referendum. Sudan is now the third largest country in Africa (after Algeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and also the third largest country in the Arab world (after Algeria and Saudi Arabia).

The capital is Khartoum. The official languages are Arabic and English.

The president is Omar al-Bashir. From December 2018 onwards, Bashir faced large-scale protests which demanded his removal from power. On April 11, 2019, Bashir was ousted in a military coup d'état. Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan assumed office on 4.12.19.


Its predominant religion is Islam.

The politics of Sudan is regulated by a parliamentary organization called the National Assembly. The Sudanese legal system is based on Islamic law.

Sudan suffers from poor human rights, most particularly dealing with the issues of ethnic cleansing and slavery in the nation.











South Sudan becomes the world's newest nation on Saturday, 7.9.11, after a half-century struggle with their lack of autonomy, and the streets of the capital began to pulse with excitement as the clock ticked down toward history.

The capital is Juba. The official languages are English, Arabic (both official), Juba Arabic, Dinka. The president is Salva Kiir Mayardit .

Panning for gold in South Sudan.

There is a history of ethnic tension in the country that has spilled over into the political arena between the ethnic Dinka, which is the majority tribe of the president of the country, Salva Kiir. And his former vice president, Riek Machar, who represents the Nuer faction, which is the largest minority tribe in the country. There has often been conflict between the Dinka and Nuer going back centuries, really, because of different roles in society.

Just two years later, however, the country was engulfed by civil war when Mr Kiir sacked his entire cabinet and accused Vice-President Riek Machar of instigating a failed coup.

Under international pressure, the two sides signed a peace deal in May of 2014 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The deal paves the way for a permanent ceasefire followed by the formation of a transitional government, the drafting of a new constitution and, eventually, fresh elections.


  

Afghanistan and Pakistan

The president of Afghanistan was Hamid Karzai. His term ended on September 21, 2014. Afterwards the president was Ashraf Ghani ;he was the president from 9.29.14 to 8.15.21. Hibatullah Akhundzada assumed office as president on 8.15.21.

The capital is Kabul. Islam is their official religion; 99.7 percentage. The official languages are Pashto and Dari.

Quick guide and life of the Afghan country.

The plight of the Afghan woman

Sarkozy says burqas are 'not welcome' in France

The president of Pakistan is Asif Ali Zardari. His successor Mamnoon Hussain was elected on 30 July 2013. On 8 September 2013, Zardari became the country's first president to complete his constitutional term and handed over duties to a democratically elected successor.

The capital is Islamabad. CIA Factbook.


Who are the Taliban? They are islamic extremists/militants. It is commonly believed that they first appeared in religious seminaries - mostly paid for by money from Saudi Arabia - which preached a hard line form of Sunni Islam. Men are required to grow beards and women have to wear the all-covering burka. They show a similar disdain for television, music and cinema and disapproved of girls aged 10 and over from going to school. On October 9,2012, they shot a 15 year old girl name, Malala Yousafza, in the head for advocating education for girls in Swat Valley. In January 2009, militants took over her once-tranquil city in Swat Valley and ordered schools to stop educating girls. She blogged about the Taliban's efforts to scare girls away from learning institutions. She lives under constant threats for going to school in the conservative Swat Valley region in northwest Pakistan, where women are repressed under the militants' strict interpretation of Islam.

They emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. They first came to prominence in the autumn of 1994. Their leader was a village clergyman, Mullah Mohammad Omar , who lost his right eye fighting the occupying forces of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Their target was the feuding warlords known as the mujahideen who had forced Soviet troops out of the country. The Taliban was defeated November 21, 2001, but resurgent in 2003 after the United States shifted its military efforts to fighting the war in Iraq.


Pakistan's president is Asif Ali Zardari as of September 9, 2008. His election followed Pres. Pervez Musharraf's resignation on August 18, 2008. His successor Mamnoon Hussain was elected on 30 July 2013. The capital is Islamabad.

U.S.-Pakistan relations and Issue Guide. The U.S.-Afghanistan relations.


5.6.09 "Joined By a Common Goal"

What’s New in the Strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan , and A New Strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan , and Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan ,and The New Way Forward .

Pres. Obama assigned Richard Holbrooke as an envoy to both countries. He died on 12/13/2010 of a tear in his aorta.







FBI Chief says the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan are top terror threat







3.27.09 Video and Text: President Obama's comprehensive strategy


BBC reports: the plan has received a broad welcome from both countries




Zardari moves to end Pakistan political crisis





Karzai agrees with U.S. strategy, but says no al-Qaida bases in Afghanistan



NOTE: al qaeda leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said that he had personally beheaded Daniel Pearl, an American journalist who was the South Asia Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal, who was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Pakistan in early 2002, during the early months of the United States' War on Terror.




12.1.09 Pres. Obama is ordering 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Watch the video and read the transcript

Key points of Pres. Obama's strategy for Afghanistan.

• Send 30,000 additional U.S. troops. "So that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers," Pres. Obama said.

• Pursue a more effective civilian strategy. Pres. Obama said the U.S. would work to build up programs and institutions that will benefit Afghanistan's citizens.

• Have a more robust partnership with Pakistan. "We will strengthen Pakistan's capacity to target these groups [Taliban and al Qaeda] that threaten our countries. America is also providing substantial resources to support Pakistan's democracy and development." - Pres. Obama.






3.7.10 Adam Gadahn, America-born Jew converted to Islam is an al-qaeda spokesman. He's FBI most wanted terrorist who has been arrested in Karachi, Pakistan. Since 2004, he has been asking muslims in the U.S.A. to wage Jihad on Americans. Gadahn's arrest spells trouble for al-qaeda's regime and shows distrust in their inner circle. CNNs Amanpour interviews him.



3.8.10 VOANews: Al-Qaida suspect arrested in Pakistan is not Gadahn

3.16.10 Afghanistan-Pakistan Annual Review



Saving Aesha became a symbol of the oppression of women in Afghanistan, her war-torn country. Her Taliban husband and in-laws punished her for running away by hacking off her nose and ears and leaving her for dead.

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ) is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established on July 29, 1958, by the National Aeronautics and Space Act. It was created because on October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the world's first Earth-orbiting satellite. The launch of the 183-pound, beach ball-sized satellite caught the United States off guard while it was preparing to launch its own Earth-orbiting satellite. It took 98 minutes for Sputnik 1 to orbit the Earth, a single event that effectively launched the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, as well as the space age, including the creation of NASA in 1958.

In addition to the space program, it [NASA] is also responsible for long-term civilian and military aerospace research. Since February 2006 NASA's self-described mission statement is to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research."



Do faith in God and science contradict?
Learning more about the way God constructed our universe helps all of mankind appreciate the wonder of creation. Expanding our knowledge helps us to combat disease, ignorance, and misunderstanding. However, there is danger when scientists hold their faith in human logic above faith in our Creator. A Christian’s belief in science should never be like our belief in God. A Christian can have faith in God and respect for science, as long as we remember which is perfect and which is not.  We can count on science to do many great things, but we can also count on science to make mistakes. If we put faith in science, we depend on imperfect, sinful, limited, mortal men.  ..... Cursed is the one who trusts in man.... Jeremiah 17:5



The 9 planets : Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. Explore the planets .









3.24.09 President Obama's conversation with NASA Astronauts

Link



4.15.10 Pres. Obama's New plan for NASA .

African American Astronauts:

Guion Bluford Jr. was the first African American astronaut in space when he flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger on its night launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.




Robert Lawrence Jr. was the first African American appointed to the manned orbiting laboratory program, in June 1967, but he never made it into space. He was killed six months after his fighter jet crashed on the runway at an air force base in California.




Dr. Mae Jemison was on the space shuttle Endeavor when it left its launching pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida on September 12, 1992. She is the first African American woman to travel into space. She's a physician and a space engineer.




Bernard Harris Jr. was the first African American astronaut to walk in space. He is also a physician, and a businessman.




11.26.11 Mars rover, Curiosity, blasted off to search for life on Mars. Curiosity is expected to spend about two years roaming Mars, hunting things researchers say are essential for life to grow: liquid water, key chemicals used by living organisms and an energy source.