Mediterranean Region

29 July 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera, European Union, Living, Working, Building, Sport, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  28 minutes

Monaco © Tobi 87/cc-by-sa-3.0

Monaco © Tobi 87/cc-by-sa-3.0

In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin, also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea, is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and warm to hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub vegetation.   read more…

Victory in Europe Day

8 May 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

8 May 1945 - Winston Churchill waves to crowds in Whitehall in London © War Office official photographer, Major W. G. Horton

8 May 1945 – Winston Churchill waves to crowds in Whitehall in London © War Office official photographer, Major W. G. Horton

Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945. Russia and many former Soviet countries celebrate on 9 May, marking the end of World War II in Europe. Several countries observe public holidays on the day each year, also called Victory Over Fascism Day, Liberation Day or Victory Day. In the UK it is often abbreviated to VE Day, or V-E Day in the US, a term which existed as early as September 1944, in anticipation of victory. The end of all combat actions was specified as 23:01 Central European Time, which was already 9 May in eastern Europe, and thus several former Soviet bloc countries including Russia and Belarus, as well as some former Yugoslav countries like Serbia, celebrate on 9 May.   read more…

Transatlantic relations

2 June 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  633 minutes

Transatlanticism symbol: a hybrid out of the Europa and Stars and Stripes © Patrikpluhar/cc-by-sa-3.0

Transatlantic symbol: A hybrid of the European flag and the Stars and Stripes © Patrikpluhar/cc-by-sa-3.0

(Latest update: 23 August 2022) Transatlantic relations refer to the historic, cultural, political, economic and social relations between countries on both side of the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes specifically those between the United States, Canada and the countries in Europe, although other meanings are possible. There are a number of issues over which the United States and Europe generally disagree. Some of these are cultural, such as the U.S. use of the death penalty, some are international issues such as the Middle East peace process where the United States is often seen as pro-Israel and where Europe is often seen as pro-Arab (Arab–Israeli conflict), and many others are trade related. The current U.S. policies are often described as being unilateral in nature, whereas the European Union and Canada are often said to take a more multilateral approach, relying more on the United Nations and other international institutions to help solve issues. There are many other issues upon which they agree. This article refers to the relations between the EU (Culture of Europe, Economy of the European Union, History of Europe, and Politics of the European Union) and the USA (Culture of the United States, Economy of the United States, History of the United States, and Politics of the United States).   read more…

OSCE – Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

10 January 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© osce.org

© osce.org

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world’s largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control and the promotion of human rights, freedom of the press and fair elections. It has 550 staff at its headquarters in Vienna, Austria, and 2,300 field staff. It has its origins in the 1975 Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland.   read more…

Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center in Astana

13 September 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© building.co.uk

© building.co.uk

Khan Shatyr (“Royal Marquee”) is a giant transparent tent in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. The architectural project was unveiled by the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on December 9, 2006.   read more…

Knights Templar and Friday the 13th

11 June 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Order of Knights Templar in Europe around 1300 © Marco Zanoli/cc-by-sa-3.0

Order of Knights Templar in Europe around 1300 © Marco Zanoli/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici), commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple (French: Ordre du Temple or Templiers) or simply as Templars, were among the most wealthy and powerful of the Western Christian military orders and were among the most prominent actors of the Christian finance. The organization existed for nearly two centuries during the Middle Ages.   read more…

Marmaray: A tunnel connects Europe with Asia

13 November 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  6 minutes

Marmaray Project © R1410/cc-by-sa-3.0

Marmaray Project © R1410/cc-by-sa-3.0

Marmaray is a rail transport project in the Turkish city of Istanbul. It comprises an undersea rail tunnel under the Bosphorus strait, and the modernization of existing suburban railway lines along the Sea of Marmara from Halkalı on the European side to Gebze on the Asian side. The procurement of new rolling stock for suburban passenger traffic is also part of the project. Construction started in 2004, with an initial target opening date of April 2009. After multiple delays due to historical finds, the first phase of the project opened on October 29, 2013.   read more…

The Atlantropa Project

20 February 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin Reading Time:  8 minutes

Atlantropa project © Devilm25/cc-by-3.0

Atlantropa project © Devilm25/cc-by-3.0

Atlantropa, also referred to as Panropa, was a gigantic engineering and colonization project devised by the German architect Herman Sörgel in the 1920s and promulgated by him until his death in 1952. Its central feature was a hydroelectric dam to be built across the Strait of Gibraltar, which would have provided enormous amounts of hydroelectricity and would have led to the lowering of the surface of the Mediterranean Sea by up to 200 metres (660 ft), opening up large new lands for settlement, for example in a now almost totally drained Adriatic Sea.   read more…

2013 will be the European Year of Citizens

2 January 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  3 minutes

© europa.eu

© europa.eu

The better the men and women of Europe understand their rights as EU citizens, the more informed the decisions they can take in their personal lives, and the more vibrant democratic life in Europe can be at all levels.   read more…

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