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• 
  Aragon
  Aragon ( /ˈærəɡɒn/ or /ˈærəɡən/), also known in Spanish and Aragonese as Aragón ([aɾaˈɣon]) and in Catalan as Aragó ([əɾəˈɣo] or [aɾaˈɣo]), is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to south): Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza (also called Saragossa in English). The current Statute of Autonomy declares Aragon a nationality of Spain.
  Aragon's northern province of Huesca borders France and is positioned in the middle of the Pyrenees. Within Spain, the community is flanked by Catalonia on the east, Valencia and Castile–La Mancha to the south, and Castile and León, La Rioja, and Navarre to the west.
  Covering an area of 47,719 km² (18,424 sq mi), the region's terrain ranges diversely from permanent glaciers to verdant valleys, rich pasture lands and orchards, through to the arid steppe plains of the central lowlands. Aragon is home to many rivers—most notably, the river Ebro, Spain's largest river in volume, which runs west-east across the entire region through the province of Zaragoza. It is also home to the Aneto, the highest mountain in the Pyrenees.
  
  wn.com/Aragon
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  Balearic islands
  The Balearic Islands (English /ˌbæliˈærɨk ˈaɪləndz/; Catalan: Illes Balears [ˈiʎəz βəɫəˈas]; Spanish: Islas Baleares [ˈizlaz βaleˈaɾes]) are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.
  The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain, with Palma as the capital city. The co-official languages in the Balearic Islands are Catalan and Castillan Spanish. The current Statute of Autonomy declares the Balearic Islands as one nationality of Spain.
  The official name of the Balearic Islands is in Catalan, Illes Balears, while in Spanish they are known as the Islas Baleares. The term "Balearic" derives from Greek (Γυμνησίαι/Gymnesiae and Βαλλιαρεῖς/Balliareis) and Latin (Baleares).
  There are various theories on the origins of the two ancient Greek and Latin names for the islands — Gymnasiae and Baleares. Two survive in classical sources.
  According to the Lycophron's Alexandra verses, the islands were called Gymnesiae Γυμνησίαι (gymnos γυμνός, meaning naked in Greek) because its inhabitants were often nude, probably because of the year-long benevolent climate.
  
  wn.com/Balearic_islands
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  Belgrade
  Belgrade ( /ˈbɛlɡreɪd/; Serbian: Београд; [beǒɡrad] ( listen); names in other languages) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. Its name in English translates to White city. The city proper has a population of over 1.1 million, while its metropolitan area has over 1.6 million people, making it one of the largest cities in Southeast Europe.
  One of the largest prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved around the area Belgrade in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region, and after 279 BC Celts conquered the city, naming it Singidūn. It was conquered by the Romans during the reign of Augustus, and awarded city rights in the mid 2nd century. It was settled by the Slavs in the 520s, and changed hands several times before it became the capital of King Stephen Dragutin (1282–1316). In 1521 Belgrade was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and became the seat of a the Sanjak of Smederevo. It frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Austro-Ottoman wars. Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841. The north of Belgrade remained a Habsburg outpost until 1918, when it was merged into the capital city. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars and razed to the ground 44 times. Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia (in various forms of governments) from its creation in 1918, to its final dissolution in 2006.
  
  wn.com/Belgrade
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  Bordeaux
  Coordinates: 44°50′19″N 0°34′42″W / 44.8386°N 0.5783°W / 44.8386; -0.5783
  Bordeaux (French pronunciation: [bɔʁdo]; Gascon: Bordèu; Basque: Bordele) is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.
  The Bordeaux metropolitan area has a population of 1,105,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department. Its inhabitants are called Bordelais.
  Bordeaux is the world's major wine industry capital. It is home to the world's main wine fair, Vinexpo, while the wine economy in the metro area moves 14.5 billion euros each year.Bordeaux wine has been produced in the region since the 8th century. The historic part of the city is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble" of the 18th century.
  Between 30,000 and 20,000 years ago the area of Bordeaux was inhabited by the Neanderthal, whose remains have been found at a famous cave known as Pair-non-Pair, near Bourg sur Gironde, just north of Bordeaux. In historical times, around 300 BC it was the settlement of a Celtic tribe, the Bituriges Vivisci, who named the town Burdigala, probably of Aquitainian origin. The name Bourde is still the name of a river south of the city.
  
  wn.com/Bordeaux
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  Brussels
  Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl] ( listen); Dutch: Brussel, pronounced [ˈbrʏ.səɫ] ( listen); German: Brüssel, pronounced [ˈbʁyː.səl]), officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region (French:  Région de Bruxelles-Capitale (help·info), Dutch:  Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (help·info)), is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union (EU). It is also the largest urban area in Belgium, comprising 19 municipalities, including the municipality of the City of Brussels, which is the de jure capital of Belgium, in addition to the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.
  Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants. The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.
  Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main centre for international politics. Hosting principal EU institutions as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the city has become the polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.
  
  wn.com/Brussels
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  Budapest
  Budapest ( /ˈbuːdəpɛst/, /ˈbuːdəpɛʃt/ or /ˈbʊdəpɛst/; Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈbudɒpɛʃt] ( listen); names in other languages) is the capital and the largest city of Hungary, the largest in East-Central Europe and the seventh largest in the European Union. It is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre, sometimes described as the primate city of Hungary. According to 2011 Census, Budapest had 1.74 million inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2.1 million due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter Area is home to 3.3 million people. The city covers an area of 525 square kilometres (202.7 sq mi) within the city limits. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with a unification on 17 November 1873 of west-bank Buda and Óbuda with east-bank Pest.
  The history of Budapest began with Aquincum, originally a Celtic settlement that became the Roman capital of Lower Pannonia.Hungarians arrived in the territory in the 9th century. Their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241-42. The re-established town became one of the centres of Renaissance humanist culture in the 15th century. Following the Battle of Mohács and nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, development of the region entered a new age of prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Budapest became a global city after the 1873 unification. It also became the second capital of Austria-Hungary, a great power that dissolved in 1918. After the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, when Hungary lost 72% of its former territory, culturally and economically the country became wholly Budapest-dominated. The capital dominates the country both by the size of its population—which dwarfs those of Hungary's other cities Budapest was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919, Operation Panzerfaust in 1944, the Battle of Budapest of 1945, and the Revolution of 1956.
  
  wn.com/Budapest
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  Bundestag
  The Bundestag (Federal Diet; pronounced [ˈbʊndəstaːk]) is a legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag was established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier Reichstag. Norbert Lammert is the current President of the Bundestag.
  With the dissolution of the German Confederation in 1866 and the founding of the German Empire (Deutsches Reich) in 1871, the Reichstag was established as the German parliament in Berlin. Two decades later, the current parliament building was erected. The Reichstag delegates were elected by direct and equal male suffrage (and not the three-class electoral system prevailing in Prussia until 1918). The Reichstag did not participate in the appointment of the Chancellor until the parliamentary reforms of October 1918. After the Revolution of November 1918 and the establishment of the Weimar Constitution, women were given the right to vote for (and serve in) the Reichstag, and the parliament could use the no-confidence vote to force the chancellor or any cabinet member to resign. In March 1933, one month after the Reichstag fire, the then president, Paul von Hindenburg, a retired war hero, gave Hitler ultimate power through Enabling Act of 1933, he remained at the post of Federal Government Chancellor (though he called himself the Führer). After this the Reichstag met only rarely to unanimously rubber-stamp the decisions of the government. It last convened on 26 April 1942.
  
  wn.com/Bundestag
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  Canberra
  Canberra ( /ˈkænbᵊrə/ or /ˈkænbɛrə/) is the capital city of Australia. With a population of 358,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), 280 km (170 mi) south-west of Sydney, and 660 km (410 mi) north-east of Melbourne. A resident of Canberra is known as a "Canberran".
  The site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nation's capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's two largest cities. It is unusual among Australian cities, being an entirely planned city. Following an international contest for the city's design, a blueprint by the Chicago architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was selected and construction commenced in 1913. The Griffins' plan featured geometric motifs such as circles, hexagons and triangles, and was centred around axes aligned with significant topographical landmarks in the Australian Capital Territory.
  
  wn.com/Canberra
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  Catalonia
  Catalonia (English /kætəˈloʊniə/, /kætəˈloʊnjə/; Catalan: Catalunya [kətəˈɫuɲə] or [kataˈluɲa]; Spanish: Cataluña [kataˈluɲa]; Occitan: Catalonha [kataˈluɲɔ]) is an autonomous region of Spain in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula, with the official status of a "nationality". Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona which is the second largest Spanish city by population after Madrid. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,535,251. Its borders essentially reflect those of the former Principality of Catalonia. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the east (580 km coastline). The official languages are Catalan, Spanish and Aranese (Occitan).
  The name Catalunya (Catalonia) began to be used in the late 11th century in reference to the group of counties that comprised the Marca Hispanica. The origin of the term is subject to diverse interpretations. A theory suggests that Catalunya derives from the term "Land of Castles", having evolved from the term castlà, the ruler of a castle (see castellan). This theory therefore suggests that the names Castile and Catalonia have the same etymology.
  
  wn.com/Catalonia
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  Crown of Castile
  The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne. It continued to exist as a separate entity after the personal union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon with the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs in 1469 and wasn't formally abolished until the unification policies of Philip V of Spain in the early 18th century. During its existence, the Spanish colonies in the Americas and the Philippines were also considered part of the Crown of Castile.
  The Kingdom of León arose out of the Kingdom of Asturias. The Kingdom of Castile appeared initially as a county of the Kingdom of León. From the second half of the 10th century to the first half of the 11th century it changed hands between León and the Kingdom of Navarre. In the 11th century it became a kingdom in its own right.
  
  wn.com/Crown_of_Castile
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  Danelaw
  The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (also known as the Danelagh; Old English: Dena lagu; Danish: Danelagen), is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. It is contrasted with "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to be geographical. The areas that comprised the Danelaw are in northern and eastern England. The origins of the Danelaw arose from the Viking expansion of the 9th century, although the term was not used to describe a geographic area until the 11th century. With the increase in population and productivity in Scandinavia, Viking warriors, having sought treasure and glory in the nearby British Isles, "proceeded to plough and support themselves", in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, for the year 876.
  Danelaw is also used to describe the set of legal terms and definitions created in the treaties between the English king, Alfred the Great, and the Danish warlord, Guthrum, written following Guthrum's defeat at the Battle of Edington in 878. In 886, the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum was formalised, defining the boundaries of their kingdoms, with provisions for peaceful relations between the English and the Vikings.
  
  wn.com/Danelaw
• Duma
  A Duma (Russian: Ду́ма, Russian pronunciation: [ˈdumə]) is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed during the reign of the last Tsar, Nicholas II. It is also the term for a council to early Russian rulers (Boyar Duma), as well as for city councils in Imperial Russia ('Municipal dumas'), and city and regional legislative bodies in the Russian Federation.
  The term comes from the Russian word думать (dumat’) meaning "to think" or "to consider", cognate with the English words "doom" and "deem" which connote a judgment or decision (usually negative). The Boyar Duma was an advisory council to the grand princes and czar of Russia. The Duma was discontinued by Peter the Great, who transferred its functions to the Governing Senate in 1721.
  Since the year 1 the municipalities in European, Russia have had institutions like those of the zemstvos. All owners of houses, tax-paying merchants and workmen are enrolled on lists in a descending order according to their assessed wealth. The total valuation is then divided into three equal parts, representing three groups of electors very unequal in number, each of which elects an equal number of delegates to the municipal duma. The executive is in the hands of an elective mayor and an uprava, which consists of several members elected by the duma. Under Alexander III, however, by laws promulgated in 1892 and 1894, the municipal dumas were subordinated to the governors in the same way as the zemstvos. In 1894 municipal institutions, with still more restricted powers, were granted to several towns in Siberia, and in 1895 to some in Caucasia.
  
  wn.com/Duma
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  Edinburgh
  Edinburgh (ⁱ/ˈɛdɪnbʌrə/ ED-in-burr-ə; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann) is the capital city of Scotland and the seat of the Scottish Parliament. It is the second largest city in Scotland and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a 30 square miles (78 km²) rural area. Located in the south-east of Scotland, Edinburgh lies on the east coast of the Central Belt, along the Firth of Forth, near the North Sea.
  The city was one of the historical major centres of the Enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh, helping to earn it the nickname Athens of the North. The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 in recognition of the unique character of the Medieval Old Town and the planned Georgian New Town. It covers both the Old and New Towns together with the Dean Village and the Calton Hill areas. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city. In May 2010, it had a total of 40 conservation areas covering 23% of the building stock and 23% of the population, the highest such ratios of any major city in the UK. In the 2011 mid-year population estimates, Edinburgh had a total resident population of 495,360.
  
  wn.com/Edinburgh
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  England
  England ⁱ/ˈɪŋɡlənd/ is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, while the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separate it from continental Europe. Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. The country also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
  The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law—the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England's Royal Society laid the foundations of modern experimental science.
  
  wn.com/England
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  European Parliament
  The European Parliament (abbreviated as Europarl or the EP) is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU). Together with the Council of the European Union (the Council) and the European Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world. The Parliament is currently composed of 754 Members of the European Parliament, who represent the second largest democratic electorate in the world (after the Parliament of India) and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world (375 million eligible voters in 2009).
  It has been directly elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979. However, turnout at European Parliament elections has fallen consecutively at each election since that date, and has been under 50% since 1999. Turnout in 2009 stood at 43% of all European voters, ranging from 90% in Luxembourg and Belgium (where compulsory voting is used) to 20% in Slovakia. Turnout was under 50% in 18 out of 27 member states.
  
  wn.com/European_Parliament
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  Flanders
  Flanders (Dutch:  Vlaanderen (help·info)) is the (political) community of the Flemings, one of the communities of Belgium, and also a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
  "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp. Over the course of history, the geographical territory that was called "Flanders" has varied. In the second half of the twentieth century, there has been a gradual shift of political and economic power from French-speaking Wallonia (which was industrialized earlier) to the Flemish.
  To the English-speaking peoples, Flanders meant historically (from circa 1000 AD) the land situated along the North Sea from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary. The southern borders were generally ill-defined. Over the last millennium, it was mostly the southern and western borders that receded to give the present day borders within northern Belgium.
  Flanders has figured prominently in European history. Between the early 17th century and 1945, the political outcomes of modern Spain, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria were often decided by battles on the plains of Flanders. Even earlier in British and Irish history, the Flemings (or Flemish) were important allies of the Normans in their conquest of England (1066) and invasion of Ireland (1169–71).
  
  wn.com/Flanders
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  Flemish Parliament
  The Flemish Parliament (Dutch:  Vlaams Parlement (help·info), and formerly called Flemish Council or Vlaamse Raad) constitutes the legislative power in Flanders, for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic region and a cultural community of Belgium (unlike the French-speaking community and Wallonia, which each have separate legislatures - the PCF and the Walloon Parliament).
  The Flemish Parliament approves decrees, which are Flemish laws, applicable to all persons in the Flemish Region, and to Flemish institutions in Brussels, it appoints and supervises the Flemish Government, and approves the Flemish budget. The Flemish Parliament meets in the Flemish Parliament building in central Brussels, its members and staff are housed in the House of the Flemish Representatives.
  From 1830 until 1970 Belgium was a unitary state with a single two chamber parliament and a single government. The laws issued by Parliament applied to all Belgians, and government ministers exercised their authority across the length and breadth of the country. Between 1970 and 2001 the Belgian Parliament approved five successive constitutional reforms. Slowly they changed Belgium from a unitary into a federal state. Part of this was to give the communities and later the regions their own parliamentary assemblee.
  
  wn.com/Flemish_Parliament
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  Grenoble
  Coordinates: 45°12′01″N 5°43′20″E / 45.2002°N 5.7222°E / 45.2002; 5.7222
  Grenoble (French pronunciation: [ɡʁə.nɔbl]; Arpitan: Grenoblo) is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère. The proximity of the mountains has led to the city being known as the "Capital of the Alps."
  Grenoble's history goes back more than 2,000 years, and it has been the capital of the Dauphiné since the 11th century. It experienced a period of economic expansion in the nineteenth and 20th centuries, symbolized by the holding of the X Olympic Winter Games in 1968. The city is now a significant scientific centre in Europe.
  The population of the city (commune) of Grenoble at the 2008 census was 156,659. The population of the Grenoble metropolitan area (French: aire urbaine de Grenoble) at the 2008 census was 664,832. The residents of the city are called "Grenoblois".
  Among the numerous communes that make up Grenoble are the city's largest suburbs, Saint-Martin-d'Hères, Échirolles, and Fontaine, each with a population exceeding 20,000.
  
  wn.com/Grenoble
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  Hellenic Parliament
  The Hellenic Parliament (Greek: Βουλή των Ελλήνων; transliterated Vouli ton Ellinon), also the Parliament of the Hellenes, is the Parliament of Greece, located in the Parliament House (Old Royal Palace), overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece.
  It is a unicameral legislature of 300 members, elected for a four-year term. During 1844-1863 and 1927-1935 the parliament was bicameral with an upper house, the Senate and a lower house, which retained the name Vouli. Several important Greek statesmen served as Speakers of the Hellenic Parliament. The List of Speakers of the Hellenic Parliament comprises all the Speakers from 1844 till today.
  Although during the Greek Revolution a number of National Assemblies had been held, the first national parliament of the independent Greek state was established only in 1843, after the September 3rd Revolution, which forced King Otto to grant a constitution. In 1911, a revision of the constitution resulted in stronger human rights, the reinforcement of the Rule of Law and the modernization of institutions, among them the parliament. After seven years of military dictatorship, on 8 December 1974, a referendum was conducted to decide about the nature of the form of government. By a majority of 69.18%, the Greeks decided against a constitutional monarchy and for a parliamentary republic. As detailed in the following section, Members of Parliament are immune from criminal prosecution, arrest or detention while in office.
  
  wn.com/Hellenic_Parliament
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  House of Lords
  The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster.
  The House of Lords is independent from, and complements the work of, the House of Commons – they share responsibility for making laws and checking government action. Bills can be introduced into either the House of Lords or the House of Commons and members of the Lords may also take on roles as Government Ministers.
  Unlike the House of Commons, most new members of the House of Lords are appointed. Membership of the House of Lords is made up of Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal. There are currently 26 Lords Spiritual, who sit in the Lords by virtue of their ecclesiastical role in the established Church of England. The Lords Temporal make up the rest of the membership; of these, the majority are life peers who are appointed by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, or on the advice of the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
  Membership was once a right of birth to hereditary peers but, following a series of reforms, only 92 members (as of 1 July 2011 (2011 -07-01)^[update]) sitting by virtue of a hereditary peerage remain. The number of members is not fixed; as of 1 April 2012 (2012 -04-01)^[update] the House of Lords has 786 members (plus 21 who are on leave of absence or otherwise disqualified from sitting), as against the fixed 650-seat membership of the House of Commons.
  
  wn.com/House_of_Lords
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  Kingdom of Aragon
  The Kingdom of Aragon (Aragonese: Reino d'Aragón, Catalan: Regne d'Aragó, Latin: Regnum Aragonum, Spanish: Reino de Aragón) was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain. It should not be confused with the larger Crown of Aragon, of which the Kingdom of Aragon became a member along with other territories such as the Kingdom of Valencia or the County of Provence, all of them under the rule of the King of Aragon.
  This kingdom was originally a Frankish feudal county around the city of Jaca, which in the first half of the 8th century became a vassal state of the kingdom of Pamplona (later Navarre), its own dynasty of counts ending without male heir in 922.
  On the death of Sancho III of Navarre in 1035, the Kingdom of Navarre was divided in to three parts: (1) Navarre with some Basque lands, (2) Castile and (3) Sobrarbe, Ribagorza and Aragon. As the most important Christian monarch in Iberia and the King of All Spain, each of his three lands were converted into a Kingdom. Sancho's son Gonzalo inherited Sobrarbe and Ribargorza, but Gonzalo was killed soon after and all the land he owned went to his illegitimate brother Ramiro, creating the future Kingdom of Aragon.
  
  wn.com/Kingdom_of_Aragon
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  Kingdom of León
  The Kingdom of León (Asturian: Reinu de Llión, Spanish: Reino de León, Galician: Reino de León, Portuguese: Reino de Leão, Latin: Regnum Legionense) was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León. The County of Portugal separated to become the independent Kingdom of Portugal in 1139 and the eastern, inland part of León was joined to the Kingdom of Castile in 1230.
  From 1296 to 1301, the Kingdom of León was again independent and after the re-union with Castile remained a kingdom until 1833, but as part of a united Spain. In the Royal Decree of 30 November 1833, the Kingdom of León was considered one of the Spanish regions and divided into the provinces of León, Zamora and Salamanca. In 1978, these three provinces of the region of León were included along with six provinces of the historic region of Old Castile to create the autonomous community of Castile and León.
  
  wn.com/Kingdom_of_León
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  Kingdom of Navarre
  The Kingdom of Navarre (Basque: Nafarroako Erresuma, Spanish: Reino de Navarra, French: Royaume de Navarre, Latin: Regnum Navarrae), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean.
  The kingdom of Navarre was formed when local Basque leader Íñigo Arista was elected or declared King in Pamplona (traditionally in 824) and led a revolt against the regional Frankish authority.
  The southern part of the kingdom was conquered by the Crown of Castile in 1513, and thus became part of the unified Kingdom of Spain. The northern part of the kingdom remained independent, but it was joined with France in a personal union in 1589 when King Henry III of Navarre inherited the French throne as Henry IV of France, and in 1620 it was merged into the Kingdom of France.
  There are similar earlier toponyms but the first documentation of Latin navarros appears in Eginhard's chronicle of the feats of Charles the Great. Other Royal Frankish Annals give nabarros. There are two proposed etymologies for the name of Navarra/Nafarroa/Naparroa:
  
  wn.com/Kingdom_of_Navarre
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  Kirkliston
  Coordinates: 55°57′N 3°24′W / 55.95°N 3.4°W / 55.95; -3.4
  Kirkliston is a village and civil parish within the City of Edinburgh in Scotland. It sits on the historic route between Edinburgh and Queensferry, the gateway to Fife and the north. Today, it is bypassed by the A90. It lies close to the Forth Road Bridge and Forth Rail Bridge and to Edinburgh Airport.
  Kirkliston was the location of the first recorded Parliament in Scottish history; the Estates of Scotland met there in 1235, during the reign of Alexander II of Scotland.
  The oldest house in the village is Castle House which contains a marriage lintel dated 1683.
  Until May 1975 Kirkliston was, for local government purposes, part of the old County of West Lothian. Under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 it then became part of Lothian Region and the City of Edinburgh District. Further local government reorganisation in 1996 saw the village become part of the City of Edinburgh Council area. The City of Edinburgh Council has a small office in the local library, as well as running the library, primary school and leisure centre.
  
  wn.com/Kirkliston
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  Knesset
  The Knesset (Hebrew: הַכְּנֶסֶת‎ [haˈkneset] ( listen); lit. the gathering or assembly; Arabic: الكنيست‎) is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.
  The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister (although the latter is ceremonially appointed by the President), approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government. In addition, it also recommends a candidate for the State Comptroller to the President, who appoints someone to the post. It also has the power to waive the immunity of its members, remove the President and the State Comptroller from office, remove a Prime Minister convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, and to dissolve itself and call new elections. The Prime Minister may dissolve the Knesset. However, until an election is completed, the Knesset maintains authority in its current composition.
  Knesset members annually convene for plenary assemblies, or plenums, for two annual sittings of at least eight months' duration. The two sittings together form a session. The Knesset may be convened at any other time if thirty or more members demand this in writing or if the government requests. As well as approving or rejecting proposed legislation, the plenum also elects the Speaker and one or more Deputy Speakers.
  
  wn.com/Knesset
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  Kuwait City
  Kuwait City (Arabic: مدينة الكويت, transliteration: Madīnat al-Kuwayt), is the capital of Kuwait. It has a population of 2.38 million in the metropolitan area. Located at the heart of the country on the shore of the Persian Gulf, and containing Kuwait's parliament (Majlis Al-Umma), most governmental offices, the headquarters of most Kuwaiti corporations and banks, it is the political, cultural and economic center of the emirate.
  Kuwait City’s trade and transportation needs are served by Kuwait International Airport, Mina Al-Shuwaik (Shuwaik Port) and Mina Al Ahmadi (Ahmadi Port) 50 kilometers to the south, on the Persian Gulf coast.
  Kuwait City was first settled in the early 18th century by the Al-Sabāh clan, later the ruling family of Kuwait and a branch of the Al-Utūb tribe (that also included the Al-Khalīfah clan, the ruling family of Bahrain), and their leader, Sheikh Sabāh I. Its name may have derived from an earlier abandoned fort located there, called "Kūt" (كوت) – Arabic for a fortress by the sea.
  
  wn.com/Kuwait_City
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  Languedoc
  Languedoc (/ˌlɒŋɡəˈdɒk/; French: [lɑ̃ɡdɔk]; Occitan: Lengadòc [ˌleŋɡɔˈðɔ]) is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² (16,490 sq. miles).
  The traditional provinces of the kingdom of France were not formally defined. A province was simply a territory of common traditions and customs, but it had no political organization. Today, when people refer to the old provinces of France, they actually refer to the gouvernements as they existed in 1789. Gouvernements were military regions established in the middle of the 16th century and whose territories closely matched those of the traditional provinces. However, in some cases, small provinces had been merged with a large one into a single gouvernement, so gouvernements are not exactly the same as the traditional provinces.
  Historically, the region was called the county of Toulouse, a county independent from the kings of France. The county of Toulouse was made up of what would later be called Languedoc, but it also included the province of Quercy (now département of Lot and northern half of the département of Tarn-et-Garonne) and the province of Rouergue (now département of Aveyron), both to the northwest of Languedoc. At some times it even included the province of Agenais (now eastern half of the département of Lot-et-Garonne) to the west of Languedoc, the province of Gévaudan (now département of Lozère), the province of Velay (now the central and eastern part of the département of Haute-Loire), the southern part of the province of Vivarais (now the southern part of the département of Ardèche), and even all the northern half of Provence. After the French conquest the entire county was dismantled, the central part of it being now called Languedoc.
  
  wn.com/Languedoc
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  Lok Sabha
  Coordinates: 28°37′3″N 77°12′30″E / 28.6175°N 77.20833°E / 28.6175; 77.20833
  The Lok Sabha (Hindi: लोक सभा) or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India. The Constitution limits the Lok Sabha to a maximum of 552 members, including no more than 20 members representing people from the Union Territories, and two appointed non-partisan members to represent the Anglo-Indian community (if the President feels that that community is not adequately represented).
  Each Lok Sabha is formed for a five-year term, after which it is automatically dissolved, unless extended by a proclamation of emergency. In such cases, the term may be extended by one-year increments. The 15th Lok Sabha was formed in May 2009.
  An exercise to redraw Lok Sabha constituencies' boundaries has been carried out by the Delimitation Commission based on the Indian census of 2001. This exercise, which was supposed to be carried out after every census, was suspended in 1976 following a constitutional amendment to avoid adverse effects of the family planning program which was being implemented. Today, the Lok Sabha has its own TV channel, Lok Sabha TV, head-quartered within the premises of Parliament.
  
  wn.com/Lok_Sabha
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  New Delhi
  New Delhi ⁱ/ˈnjuː dɛli/ is the capital city of India. As the national capital, New Delhi is the seat of executive, legislative, and judiciary branches of the Government of India. It also serves as the centre of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi and is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory.
  The definition of New Delhi is unclear and the differentiation between Delhi and New Delhi is blurry. Even administratively, the demarcation between Delhi and New Delhi is not clear. Government of India and Government of Delhi have not clearly defined the area and boundaries of New Delhi. The boundaries of areas of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and New Delhi district of Delhi do not completely overlap. In 1920s, when British constructed New Delhi, there were only two Delhis' – the old walled city called Old Delhi and the new city designed by Edwin Lutyens to serve as capital of British India, which was called 'New Delhi'. The rest of Delhi was rural. But after independence as more and more areas around New Delhi urbanized they also became a part of New Delhi as they were also a part of Delhi which was 'new'. Now, almost all of National Capital Territory of Delhi, with exceptions of the old city called Old Delhi, Civil Lines area, Trans-Yamuna region, some rural areas and some underdeveloped parts of Delhi (e.g. Ashok Vihar, Timarpur, Nangloi, Sultanpuri, Mangolpuri, Badarpur etc.), is designated as 'New Delhi' in postal addresses. Especially, almost all the places in South, South-west, Central and West districts of Delhi are designated as New Delhi. Most of the time, the terms Delhi and New Delhi are used interchangeably.
  
  wn.com/New_Delhi
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  Oireachtas
  The Oireachtas (Irish pronunciation: [ɛrʲaxt̪ˠasˠ]), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the "national parliament" or legislature of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of:
  The Houses of the Oireachtas sit in Leinster House in Dublin, an eighteenth-century ducal palace. The directly elected Dáil is by far the most powerful branch of the Oireachtas.
  Dáil Éireann, the lower house, is directly elected under universal suffrage of all Irish and United Kingdom citizens who are resident and at least eighteen years of age. An election is held at least once in every five years as required by law. However the house can usually be dissolved at any time at the request of the Taoiseach (head of government). Dáil elections occur under the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. The Dáil has had 166 members since 1981. The Seanad is not directly elected but consists of a mixture of members selected in a number of ways. 43 senators are elected by councillors and parliamentarians, 11 are appointed by the Taoiseach, and six are elected by two university constituencies, giving a total of 60 members. The President of Ireland is directly elected once in every seven years, for a maximum of two terms. However if, as has occurred on a number of occasions, a consensus among the larger political parties can result in only a single candidate being nominated, then no actual ballot occurs.
  
  wn.com/Oireachtas
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  Ottawa
  Ottawa (ⁱ/ˈɒtəwɑː/ or /ˈɒtəwə/) is the capital of Canada. It is the second largest city in Ontario and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, located on the north bank of the Ottawa River; together they form the National Capital Region (NCR).
  Founded in 1826 as Bytown and incorporated as "Ottawa" in 1855, the city has evolved into a political and technological centre of Canada. Its original boundaries were expanded through numerous minor annexations and ultimately replaced by a new city incorporation and major amalgamation in 2001 which significantly increased its land area. The name "Ottawa" is derived from the Algonquin word adawe, meaning "to trade". Initially an Irish and French Christian settlement, Ottawa has become a multicultural city with a diverse population.
  The 2011 census had the city's population as 883,391, and the metropolitan population as 1,236,324.Mercer ranks Ottawa with the second highest quality of living of any large city in the Americas, and 14th highest in the world. It is also rated the second cleanest city in Canada, and third cleanest city in the world. In 2012, the city was ranked for the third consecutive year as the best community in Canada to live in by MoneySense.
  
  wn.com/Ottawa
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  Parliament of Canada
  The Parliament of Canada (French: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and organization. The governor general summons and appoints each of the 105 members of the upper house on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada, while the 308 members of the lower house are directly elected by eligible voters in the Canadian populace, with each Member of Parliament representing a single electoral district, commonly referred to as a riding.
  By constitutional convention, the House of Commons is the dominant branch of parliament, the Senate and Crown rarely opposing its will. The Senate, thus, reviews legislation from a less partisan standpoint, and the monarch and viceroy provide the necessary Royal Assent to make bills into law and summon, prorogue, and dissolve parliament in order to call an election, as well as reading the Throne Speech. The current parliament, summoned by Governor General David Johnston on 2 June 2011, is the 41st since Confederation.
  
  wn.com/Parliament_of_Canada
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  Parliament of India
  Coordinates: 28°37′2″N 77°12′29″E / 28.61722°N 77.20806°E / 28.61722; 77.20806
  The Parliament of India (Hindi: भारत संसद) is the supreme legislative body in India. Founded in 1919, the Parliament alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all political bodies in India. The Parliament of India comprises the President of India and the two Houses, Lok Sabha (House of the People) and Rajya Sabha (Council of States). The President has the power to summon and prorogue either House of Parliament or to dissolve Lok Sabha.
  The parliament is bicameral, with an upper house called as Council of States or Rajya Sabha, and a lower house called as House of People or Lok Sabha. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Sansad Bhavan (located on the Sansad Marg), in New Delhi. The Members of either house are commonly referred to as Members of Parliament or MP. The MPs of Lok Sabha are elected by direct election and the MPs of Rajya Sabha are elected by the members of the State Legislative Assemblies and Union territories of Delhi and Pondicherry only in accordance with proportional voting. The Parliament is composed of 790 MPs, who serve the largest democratic electorate in the world (714 million eligible voters in 2009).
  
  wn.com/Parliament_of_India
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  Parliament of Nauru
  The Parliament of Nauru has 18 members, elected for a three year term in multi-seat constituencies. The President of Nauru is elected by the members of the Parliament.
  The members of the Parliament of Nauru are elected by a positional voting system.
  On 22 March 2010 Radio New Zealand International reported that President Marcus Stephen had dissolved Parliament in readiness for elections on 24 April 2010. The election saw all 18 MPs returned, but by this stage nine of them formed the Opposition, resulting in a deadlocked Parliament. After two weeks of uncertainty, the deadlock was resolved when the Opposition agreed to have one of its own, Godfrey Thoma, elected as Speaker. President Stephen then suggested that the number of MPs should be expanded to 19, to prevent future deadlocks.
  Following the April 2008 election, Riddell Akua was appointed Speaker of the Parliament of Nauru. He replaced David Adeang.
  Two weeks after the April 2010 election, Godfrey Thoma was elected Speaker.
  Coordinates: 0°32′50″S 166°55′00″E / 0.54722°S 166.9166667°E / -0.54722; 166.9166667
  
  wn.com/Parliament_of_Nauru
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  Parliament of Sweden
  The Riksdag (officially Swedish: riksdagen or Sveriges riksdag) is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members (Swedish: riksdagsledamöter), who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years. It is located in the Parliament House (Riksdagshuset), on the island of Helgeandsholmen in Stockholm. 175 seats are needed to make-up a majority.
  Riksdag is the direct Swedish equivalent of the German Reichstag. In the Swedish constitution, the word is written with a lower-case “r”, thus marking that it is actually not a name of the parliament, but that it is just “the parliament”.
  A precise English translation of this German-Nordic word does not actually exist, but "Meeting of the Realm" may serve as a literal translation, though perhaps "Diet of the Realm" would be more accurate (dag literally means "day", and is thus either cognate to the use of German tag for a Diet, or even a direct borrowing; the former comes from Latin dies with the same meaning). The word is also used by Swedish speakers for the parliaments of Finland (it is the official term used by the Swedish-speaking minority there) and Estonia, and for the old Reichstag of Germany as well as the parliament building in Berlin (reciprocally, "Reichstag" is the standard German translation of "riksdag").^{[clarification needed]} In Sweden riksdag is today also frequently used to refer to the contemporary parliament house of Germany per se (but the Bundestag is called förbundsdag), and sometimes for national parliaments of other countries as well. The word is also used by Norwegian speakers with the same spelling; in Danish it is spelled rigsdag. However, the term is not used for the parliaments of Norway and Denmark, which are called Stortinget and Folketinget respectively (based on the Germanic þing instead of dag).
  
  wn.com/Parliament_of_Sweden
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  Piotrków Trybunalski
  Piotrków Trybunalski [ˈpʲɔtrkuf trɨbuˈnalskʲi] (also known by alternative names) is a city in central Poland with 80,738 inhabitants (2005). It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship (since 1999), and previously was the capital of Piotrków Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Piotrków County.
  According to tradition, but not confirmed by historical sources, Piotrków was founded by Piotr Włostowic, a powerful 12th century magnate from Silesia. The name of the city comes from the Polish version of the name Peter (Piotr), in a diminutive form (Piotrek, or "Pete"). The town has been known in Yiddish as פּעטריקעװ or Petrikev, in German as Petrikau, and in Russian as Петроков or Petrokov.
  Piotrków Trybunalski is situated in the middle-west part (Piotrków Uplands) of the Łódź Uplands. The population of the city is approximately 80,000 and its area is nearly 68 km². The scenery of the Piotrków region and its geological structure were formed during the glaciation of 180,000–128,000 years ago. There are hardly any forests across the Piotrków Plains.
  
  wn.com/Piotrków_Trybunalski
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  Queensland
  Coordinates: 23°0′S 143°0′E / 23°S 143°E / -23; 143 Queensland is the second-largest and third-most populous state of Australia, located in the northeast of the country. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, southwest and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. Queensland has a population of 4,580,700, concentrated along the coast and particularly in the state's South East. The state is the world's sixth largest subnational entity, with an area of 1,852,642 km2. The capital and largest city in the state is Brisbane, Australia's third largest city. Referred to as the 'Sunshine State', Queensland is home to 10 of Australia's 30 largest cities and is the nation's third largest economy.
  Queensland was first occupied by Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, who arrived at least 40,000 years ago. The first European to land in Queensland was Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1607. In 1770, Lieutenant James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for the Kingdom of Great Britain. The colony of New South Wales was founded in 1788 by Governor Arthur Phillip at Sydney; New South Wales at that time included all of what is now Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. Queensland was explored in subsequent decades until the establishment of a penal colony at Brisbane in 1824 by John Oxley. Penal transportation ceased in 1839 and free settlement permitted in 1842. Queensland was separated from New South Wales, forming a self-governing colony, on 6 June 1859, a date now celebrated state-wide as Queensland Day. Queensland achieved statehood with the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901.
  
  wn.com/Queensland
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  Rajya Sabha
  Coordinates: 28°37′0″N 77°12′30″E / 28.616667°N 77.20833°E / 28.616667; 77.20833
  The Rajya Sabha (Hindi: राज्य सभा) or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means state and Sabha means "assembly" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature, science, and social services. These members are known as nominated members. The remainder of the body is elected by the state and territorial legislatures. Terms of office are six years, with one third of the members retiring every two years.
  The Rajya Sabha meets in continuous sessions and, unlike the Lok Sabha, is not subject to dissolution. The Rajya Sabha has equal footing in all areas of legislation with Lok Sabha, except in the area of supply, where the Lok Sabha has overriding powers. In the case of conflicting legislation, a joint sitting of the two houses is held.
  However, since the Lok Sabha has twice as many members as the Rajya Sabha, it would normally hold the greater power in such joint sessions. Only three joint sessions have been held; the last one was for the passage of the anti-terror law POTA in 2002.
  
  wn.com/Rajya_Sabha
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  Reichstag building
  The Reichstag building (German: Reichstagsgebäude; officially: Plenarbereich Reichstagsgebäude) is a historical edifice in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the Reichstag, parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire. After World War II, the building fell into disuse, since the parliament of the German Democratic Republic met in the Palace of the Republic in East Berlin and the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany met in the Bundeshaus in Bonn.
  The ruined building was made safe against the elements and partially refurbished in the 1960s, but no attempt at full restoration was made until after German reunification on October 3, 1990, when it underwent a reconstruction led by internationally renowned architect Norman Foster. After its completion in 1999, it once again became the meeting place of the German parliament: the modern Bundestag.
  The term Reichstag, when used to connote a parliament, dates back to the Holy Roman Empire. The body meeting in this building -- the Reichstag of the German Empire, then the Weimar Republic and finally Nazi Germany -- ceased to act as a true parliamentary assembly in the years of the Nazi regime (1933–1945). In today's usage, the German word Reichstag refers mainly to the building, while Bundestag refers to the institution.
  
  wn.com/Reichstag_building
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  Reykjavík
  Reykjavík (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈreiːcaˌviːk] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city in Iceland.
  Its latitude, at 64°08' N, makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay. With a population of around 120,000 (and over 200,000 in the Greater Reykjavík Area), it is the heart of Iceland's economic and governmental activity.
  Reykjavík is believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, which Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have established around 870 C.E. Until the 18th century, there was no urban development in the city location. The city was founded in 1786 as an official trading town and grew steadily over the next decades, as it transformed into a regional and later national centre of commerce, population, and governmental activities.
  The first permanent settlement in Iceland by Norsemen is believed to have been established in Reykjavík by Ingólfur Arnarson around AD 870; this is described in Landnámabók, or the Book of Settlement. Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have decided the location of his settlement using a traditional Viking method; by casting his high seat pillars (Öndvegissúlur) into the ocean when he saw the coastline, then settled where the pillars came to shore. Steam from hot springs in the region is said to have inspired Reykjavík's name, which loosely translates to Smoke Cove (the city is often referred to as the Bay of Smokes or Bay of Smoke) The original name was Reykjarvík with an additional "r" that vanished around 1300.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Reykjavík
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  Saeima
  Saeima is the parliament of the Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the popular vote. Elections are scheduled to be held once every four years, normally on the first Saturday of October. The most recent elections were held in September 2011.
  The President of Latvia can dismiss the Saeima and request early elections. The procedure for dismissing it involves substantial political risk to the president, including a risk of loss of office. On May 28, 2011, president Valdis Zatlers decided to initiate the dissolution of the current Saeima, which was to be decided in a referendum. The Saeima was dissolved on 23 July 2011.
  The current Speaker of the Saeima is Solvita Āboltiņa.
  The word "Saeima" meaning "a gathering, a meeting, a council" was constructed by the Young Latvian Juris Alunāns. It stems from the archaic Latvian word eima meaning "to go" (derived from the PIE *ei "to go" and also a cognate with the Ancient Greek eimi, Gaulish eimu among others)
  
  wn.com/Saeima
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  Scotland
  Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba ([ˈalˠ̪apə]  listen (help·info))) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland constitutes over 790 islands including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
  Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres. Edinburgh was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which transformed Scotland into one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, was once one of the world's leading industrial cities and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third largest city in Scotland, the title of Europe's oil capital.
  
  wn.com/Scotland
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  Scottish Parliament
  The Scottish Parliament (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid na h-Alba; Scots: The Scots Pairliament) is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Members are elected for four-year terms under the mixed member proportional representation system. As a result, 73 MSPs represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the plurality ("first past the post") system, with a further 56 returned from eight additional member regions, each electing seven MSPs. The most recent general election to the Parliament was held on 5 May 2011.
  The original Parliament of Scotland (or "Estates of Scotland") was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland, and existed from the early 13th century until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. As a consequence, the Parliament of Scotland merged with the Parliament of England to form the Parliament of Great Britain, which sat at Westminster in London.
  
  wn.com/Scottish_Parliament
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  Slovenian Parliament
  The Slovenian Parliament (Slovene: Slovenski parlament) is the informal designation of the general representative body of the Slovenian nation and the legislative body of the Republic of Slovenia.
  According to the Constitution of Slovenia, the general representative body of the Slovenian nation is the National Assembly. The general public in Slovenia often designates the National Assembly as the Slovenian Parliament. However, a minor part of the legislative power resides also in the National Council, the representative body of basic social groups.
  The opinions of experts and general Slovenian public on whether the Slovenian Parliament is bicameral or unicameral differ, although the majority considers it distinctively incompletely bicameral. In 2008, the Constitutional Court of Slovenia recognized the Slovenian Parliament as incompletely bicameral.
  The National Assembly and the National Council convene in a modernist palace named "Slovenian Parliament" in the Republic Square, Ljubljana. It was built between 1954 and 1959 by the architect Vinko Glanz. An unrealized project for the Slovenian Parliament, designed by the architect Jože Plečnik in the late 1940s, features on the Slovenian euro coins.
  
  wn.com/Slovenian_Parliament
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  São Bento Palace
  The Palácio de São Bento (Portuguese pronunciation: [pɐˈlasiu dɨ sɐ̃w̃ ˈbẽtu]), "Saint Benedict's Palace", is the home of the Assembly of the Republic, the Portuguese parliament. It is located in Lisbon. Close to Bairro Alto, the Palace of São Bento was formerly known as the seat of the National Assembly (Assembleia Nacional) during the Estado Novo regime. Nearby is the official residence of Portugal’s Prime Minister.
  The Palace has its origin in the first Benedictine monastery of Lisbon, established in 1598. In 1615, the monks settled in the area of the Casa da Saúde (Health House), that housed people sick with the plague. The new monastery was built during the 17th century following a Mannerist project by Jesuit architect Baltazar Álvares, later followed by João Turriano. The large building, of rectangular shape, had a church flanked by two towers, four cloisters, dormitories, kitchen, etc. When the construction works of the new building were almost finished, the destructive 1755 Lisbon earthquake damaged it.
  
  wn.com/São_Bento_Palace
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  Tokyo
  Tokyo (東京, Tōkyō^?, "Eastern Capital") [toːkʲoː], English /ˈtoʊki.oʊ/; officially Tokyo Metropolis (東京都, Tōkyō-to^?), is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of the world. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family. Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture (東京府, Tōkyō-fu^?) and the city of Tokyo (東京市, Tōkyō-shi^?).
  The Tokyo Metropolitan government administers the 23 special wards of Tokyo (each governed as a city), which cover the area that was the city of Tokyo, as well as 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the special wards is over 8 million people, with the total population of the prefecture exceeding 13 million. The prefecture is part of the world's most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 35 million people and the world's largest urban agglomeration economy with a GDP of US$1.479 trillion at purchasing power parity in 2008, ahead of New York City metropolitan area, which ranks second on the list. The city hosts 47 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest amount of any city.
  
  wn.com/Tokyo
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  Toulouse
  Coordinates: 43°36′16″N 1°26′38″E / 43.6045°N 1.444°E / 43.6045; 1.444
  Toulouse (French pronunciation: [tuluz] ( listen), locally: [tuˈluzə] ( listen); Occitan: Tolosa [tuˈluzɔ], medieval Tholoza) is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. It lies on the banks of the River Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, and 590 km (366 mi) away from Paris. With 1,202,889 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008, the Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in France, after Paris (12.1 million), Lyon (2.1 million), and Marseille (1.7 million).
  Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite system, and CNES's Toulouse Space Centre (CST), the largest space centre in Europe.Thales Alenia Space, and Astrium Satellites, EADS's satellite system subsidiary, also have a significant presence in Toulouse. Its world renowned university is one of the oldest in Europe (founded in 1229) and, with more than 97,000 students, is with Lille the third-largest university campus of France after Paris and Lyon.
  
  wn.com/Toulouse
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  Tynwald
  The Tynwald (Manx: Tinvaal), or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald (Manx: Ard-whaiyl Tinvaal) is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It is claimed to be the oldest continuous parliamentary body in the world, consisting of the directly elected House of Keys and the indirectly chosen Legislative Council.
  The Houses sit jointly, for largely ceremonial purposes, on Tynwald Day at St John's, and usually once a month in the Legislative Buildings in Douglas. Otherwise, the two Houses sit separately, with the House of Keys originating most legislation, and the Legislative Council acting as a revising chamber.
  The name Tynwald, like the Icelandic Þingvellir, is derived from the Old Norse word Þingvǫllr meaning the meeting place of the assembly, the field of the thing.
  When Tynwald meets annually (normally on 5 July) at an open air ceremony at Tynwald Hill at St John's, the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man presides, unless HM The Queen as Lord of Mann, or a member of the Royal Family representing Her Majesty, is present. Here, all laws are promulgated and special petitions are received.
  
  wn.com/Tynwald
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  Venice
  Venice (Italian: Venezia [veˈnɛttsja] ( listen), Venetian: Venexia [veˈnɛsja]; (Latin: Venetia) is a city in northeast Italy sited on a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges. It is located in the marshy Venetian Lagoon which stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Venice is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. The city in its entirety is listed as World Heritage Site, along with its lagoon.
  Venice is the capital of the Veneto region. In 2009, there were 270,098 people residing in Venice's comune (the population estimate of 272,000 inhabitants includes the population of the whole Comune of Venezia; around 60,000 in the historic city of Venice (Centro storico); 176,000 in Terraferma (the Mainland), mostly in the large frazioni of Mestre and Marghera; 31,000 live on other islands in the lagoon). Together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) (population 1,600,000).
  
  wn.com/Venice
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  Verkhovna Rada
  Coordinates: 50°26′50.3″N 30°32′12.6″E / 50.447306°N 30.536833°E / 50.447306; 30.536833
  The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Верховна Рада України (English: Supreme Council of Ukraine)) is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman (speaker). It meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capital Kiev.
  The Verkhovna Rada was first established in 1938 as the national parliament of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic after the reorganization of Central Executive Committee of Ukrainian SSR. Since then, 17 convocations (sessions) of the Verkhovna Rada were held. The Verkhovna Rada of the 14th convocation officially changed the numbering of sessions, proclaiming itself the Verkhovna Rada of the third convocation. The sixth convocation is the latest convocation of the parliament.
  In the Verkhovna Rada elections, the seats are divided among all parties that achieved a minimum 3% nationwide vote tally, using the Hamilton method of apportionment. The latest elections to the Verkhovna Rada were held on September 30, 2007. On October 8, 2008, President Viktor Yushchenko dissolved the parliament and called early elections, however these never took place.
  
  wn.com/Verkhovna_Rada
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  Vienna
  Vienna ( /viːˈɛnə/; German:  Wien (help·info) [viːn]) is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million (2.4 million within the metropolitan area, more than 25% of Austria's population), and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 9th-largest city by population in the European Union. Until the beginning of the 20th century it was the largest German speaking city in the world, and before the first world war and the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian empire the city had 2 million inhabitants. Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city lies in the east of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region. Along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  
  wn.com/Vienna
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  Wallonia
  Wallonia (French: Wallonie [wa.lɔ.ni], German: Wallonie(n), Dutch: Wallonië [wɐˈloːnɪə] ( listen) or [βɐˈloːnɪə], Walloon: Walonreye) is the predominantly French-speaking southern region of Belgium. It is governed as the Walloon Region, which makes up 55% of the territory of Belgium but with only a third of its population. Contrary to the situation in Flanders, the Walloon Region was not merged with the French Community of Belgium, a political level responsible for matters related mainly to culture and education. The small German-speaking minority in the east forms the German-speaking Community of Belgium, which has its own government and parliament for culture-related issues. The demonym for Wallonia is Walloon.
  During the industrial revolution, Wallonia trailed only the United Kingdom in industrialization, capitalizing on its extensive deposits of coal and iron. This brought the region wealth, and, from the beginning of the 19th to the middle of the 20th centuries, Wallonia was the more prosperous half of Belgium. Since World War II, however, the importance of heavy industry has greatly declined, and the Flemish Region surpassed Wallonia in wealth as Wallonia economically declined. Wallonia now suffers from high unemployment and has a significantly lower GDP per capita than Flanders. The economic inequalities and linguistic divide between the two are major sources of political conflict in Belgium.
  
  wn.com/Wallonia
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  Walloon Parliament
  Coordinates: 50°27′50.31″N 4°52′24.64″E / 50.463975°N 4.8735111°E / 50.463975; 4.8735111
  The Walloon Parliament (French: Parlement wallon), formerly the Walloon Regional Council (Conseil régional wallon), is the Parliament of the Walloon Region, commonly called Wallonia, one of the self-governing Regions of Belgium with Flanders and the Brussels-Capital Region. The parliament building, the former Hospice Saint-Gilles, is situated in Namur, the capital of the Walloon Region, at the symbolic confluence of the Meuse and the Sambre, the two main rivers of the most inhabited parts of the country, the Sillon industriel. On the other side of the Meuse, facing the Parliament, is the Élysette, the seat of the Walloon government.
  All members of the Walloon Parliament are also members of the Parliament of the French Community, except for Monika Dethier-Neumann who represents the German-speaking population and is an advisory member of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community.
  This is the composition of the Walloon Parliament following the 2009 regional election. The PS, Ecolo and CDH formed together a government.
  
  wn.com/Walloon_Parliament
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  Yorkshire
  Yorkshire (/ˈjɔːkʃə/) is a historic county of Northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Due to its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as a geographical territory and cultural region. The name is familiar and well understood across the United Kingdom and is in common use in the media and the military, and also features in the titles of current areas of civil administration, such as North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and East Riding of Yorkshire. The county's name is commonly abbreviated as Yorks.
  Within the borders of the historic county of Yorkshire are areas which are widely considered to be among the greenest in England, due to the vast stretches of unspoiled countryside in the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors and to the open aspect of some of the major cities. Yorkshire has sometimes been nicknamed God's Own County. The emblem of Yorkshire is the white rose of the English royal House of York, and the most commonly used flag representative of Yorkshire is the White Rose on a dark blue background, which after years of use, was recognised by the Flag Institute on 29 July 2008.Yorkshire Day, held on 1 August, is a celebration of the general culture of Yorkshire, ranging from its history to its own dialect.
  
  wn.com/Yorkshire

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  Danelaw
  The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (also known as the Danelagh; Old English: Dena lagu; Danish: Danelagen), is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. It is contrasted with "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to be geographical. The areas that comprised the Danelaw are in northern and eastern England. The origins of the Danelaw arose from the Viking expansion of the 9th century, although the term was not used to describe a geographic area until the 11th century. With the increase in population and productivity in Scandinavia, Viking warriors, having sought treasure and glory in the nearby British Isles, "proceeded to plough and support themselves", in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, for the year 876.
  Danelaw is also used to describe the set of legal terms and definitions created in the treaties between the English king, Alfred the Great, and the Danish warlord, Guthrum, written following Guthrum's defeat at the Battle of Edington in 878. In 886, the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum was formalised, defining the boundaries of their kingdoms, with provisions for peaceful relations between the English and the Vikings.
  
  wn.com/Danelaw
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  Edward I of England
  Edward I (17 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (from Latin: Malleus Scottorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons. In 1259, he briefly sided with a baronial reform movement, supporting the Provisions of Oxford. After reconciliation with his father, however, he remained loyal throughout the subsequent armed conflict, known as the Second Barons' War. After the Battle of Lewes, Edward was hostage to the rebellious barons, but escaped after a few months and joined the fight against Simon de Montfort. Montfort was defeated at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, and within two years the rebellion was extinguished. With England pacified, Edward left on a crusade to the Holy Land. The crusade accomplished little, and Edward was on his way home in 1272 when he was informed that his father had died. Making a slow return, he reached England in 1274 and he was crowned king at Westminster on 19 August.
  
  wn.com/Edward_I_of_England
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  Gallus Anonymus
  Gallus Anonymus (Polonized variant: Gall Anonim) is the name traditionally given to the anonymous author (fl. 11th–12th centuries) of Gesta principum Polonorum (Deeds of the Princes of the Poles), composed in Latin about 1115.
  Gallus is generally regarded as the first historian to have described Poland. His Chronicles are an obligatory text for university courses in Poland's history. Very little is known of the author himself.
  The only source for Gallus' existence is a note made by Prince-Bishop of Warmia Marcin Kromer (1512–89) in the margin of folio 119 of the "Heilsberg manuscript." It reads: Gallus hanc historiam scripsit, monachus, opinor, aliquis, ut ex proemiis coniicere licet qui Boleslai tertii tempore vixit (Gallus wrote this history, some monk, in my opinion, who lived in the time of Bolesław III, as can be conjectured from the preface.') It is not known whether Kromer intended the word "Gallus" as a proper name or as a reference to the author's nationality (Gallus in this period normally means, "a Frenchman"), nor what he based his identification on.
  
  wn.com/Gallus_Anonymus
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  Henry III of England
  Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272) was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready. England prospered during his reign and his greatest monument is Westminster, which he made the seat of his government and where he expanded the abbey as a shrine to Edward the Confessor. He is the first of only five monarchs to reign in the Kingdom of England or its successor states for 50 years or more, the others being Edward III (1327–1377), George III (1760–1820), Victoria (1837–1901) and Elizabeth II (1952–present).
  He assumed the crown under the regency of the popular William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, but the England he inherited had undergone several drastic changes in the reign of his father. He spent much of his reign fighting the barons over Magna Carta and the royal rights, and was eventually forced to call the first "parliament" in 1264. He was also unsuccessful on the Continent, where he endeavoured to re-establish English control over Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitaine.
  
  wn.com/Henry_III_of_England
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  John Bright
  John Bright (16 November 1811 – 27 March 1889), Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League. He was one of the greatest orators of his generation, and a strong critic of British foreign policy. He sat in the House of Commons from 1843 to 1889.
  Bright was born at Rochdale, in Lancashire, England — one of the early centres of the Industrial Revolution. His father, Jacob Bright, was a much-respected Quaker, who had started a cotton mill at Rochdale in 1809. Jacob's father, Abraham, was a Wiltshire yeoman, who, early in the 18th century, moved to Coventry, where his descendants remained. Jacob Bright was educated at the Ackworth School of the Society of Friends, and apprenticed to a fustian manufacturer at New Mills, Derbyshire. John Bright was his son by his second wife, Martha Wood, daughter of a Quaker shopkeeper of Bolton-le-Moors. Educated at Ackworth School, she was a woman of great strength of character and refined taste. There were eleven children of this marriage, of whom John was the eldest surviving son. His younger brother was Jacob Bright, an MP and mayor. His sisters included Priscilla Bright (whose husband was Duncan McLaren MP) and Margaret Bright Lucas. John was a delicate child, and was sent as a day pupil to a boarding school near his home, kept by William Littlewood. A year at the Ackworth School, two years at Bootham School, York, and a year and a half at Newton, near Clitheroe, completed his education. He learned, he himself said, but little Latin and Greek, but acquired a great love of English literature, which his mother fostered, and a love of outdoor pursuits. In his sixteenth year, he entered his father's mill, and in due time became a partner in the business.
  
  wn.com/John_Bright
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  Mary I of England
  Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558) was the Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death. Her Protestant political opponents gave her the sobriquet of "Bloody Mary".
  She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547. By 1553, Edward was mortally ill and because of religious differences between them, he attempted to remove Mary from the line of succession. On his death, their cousin Lady Jane Grey was at first proclaimed queen. Mary assembled a force in East Anglia, and successfully deposed Jane, who was ultimately beheaded. In 1554, Mary married Philip of Spain, and as a result became queen consort of Habsburg Spain on his accession in 1556.
  As the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, Mary is remembered for her restoration of Roman Catholicism after the short-lived Protestant reign of her half-brother. During her five year reign, she had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian Persecutions. Her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was reversed after her death in 1558 by her successor and younger half-sister, Elizabeth I.
  
  wn.com/Mary_I_of_England
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  Philip II of Spain
  Philip II of Spain (Spanish: Felipe II; Portuguese: Filipe I ; 21 May 1527 – 13 September 1598) was the King of Castile, Aragon, and Portugal. He was also king of Sicily and Naples as Philip I. During his marriage to Mary I, he was King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count.
  Also known as Philip the Prudent (Felipe el Prudente), he ruled one of the world's largest empires which included territories in every continent then known to Europeans.
  Philip was born in Valladolid, the son of Charles I of Spain, and his consort, Isabella of Portugal. During his reign, Spain was the foremost Western European power. Under his rule, Spain reached the height of its influence and power, directing explorations all around the world and settling the colonization of territories in all the known continents. He was described by the Venetian ambassador Paolo Fagolo in 1563 as "slight of stature and round-faced, with pale blue eyes, somewhat prominent lip, and pink skin, but his overall appearance is very attractive." The Ambassador went on to say "He dresses very tastefully, and everything that he does is courteous and gracious."
  
  wn.com/Philip_II_of_Spain
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  Philip V of Spain
  Philip V (Spanish: Felipe V; French: Philippe de France; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 15 January 1724, when he abdicated in favor of his son Louis, and from 6 September 1724, when he assumed the throne again upon his son's death, to his death.
  Before his reign, Philip occupied an exalted place in the royal family of France as a grandson of King Louis XIV. His father, Louis, the Grand Dauphin, had the strongest genealogical claim to the throne of Spain when it became vacant in 1700. However, since the Grand Dauphin and Philip's older brother, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, could not be displaced from their place in the succession to the French throne, King Charles II of Spain named Philip as his heir in his will. It was well-known that the union of France and Spain under one monarch would upset the balance of power in Europe, such that other European powers would take steps to prevent it. Philip was the first member of the House of Bourbon to rule as king of Spain. The sum of his two reigns, 45 years and 21 days, is the longest in modern Spanish history.
  
  wn.com/Philip_V_of_Spain
• Stephen Haliczer
  Stephen Haliczer is an American Jewish historian of Spain, Italy, and the Catholic Church during the Early Modern era. He is a professor of history at Northern Illinois University. Haliczer's undergraduate work was done at Bard College and his graduate work at St. Andrews University. His study of Early Modern Spain has received praise from a variety of other historians, such as Joseph Perez. In his books, Haliczer holds to the functionalist school of historical thought.
  In 2006, he released an educational board game Vatican: Unlock the Secrets of How Men Become Pope. Based on his research, the game attempts to show the process of selecting a Pope as players first maneuver for position, then vie to be named the new Pope upon the previous Pope's death.
  Books:
  The books concerning the history of Spain have had Spanish-language editions published. Haliczer has written a variety of articles in journals as well.
  
  wn.com/Stephen_Haliczer
• The Parliaments
  The Parliaments were a doo-wop quintet from Plainfield, New Jersey, formed in the back room of a barbershop in the late 1950s and named after the cigarette brand. After some early personnel changes their lineup solidified with George Clinton, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas. Clinton was group leader and manager, and part owner of the barbershop where the group convened to entertain customers.
  The group was originally based on Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, but by the 1960s had developed a unique sound based on emerging styles of soul and funk music, with a notable penchant for bizarre lyrics. The group struggled for hits during most of the 1960s, recording singles on a variety of small record labels. They switched labels many times, and released several double-sided singles without success, including "Poor Willie" (on Apt Records), "Lonely Island" (on Flipp) and "Heart Trouble" (on Golden World Records). Eventually, Clinton gained employment at Motown Records as a songwriter and producer, making weekly trips to Detroit to produce for The Pets, Roy Handy, and other acts. In 1967 the Parliaments released "(I Wanna) Testify" on Revilot and finally achieved a hit single, with the song reaching #3 R&B and #20 Pop on the Billboard charts. In reality, Clinton was the only member of the Parliaments to appear in the song, as the other members were unable to travel to Detroit for the recording session (session singers and musicians rounded out the recording). To capitalize on the single's success, Clinton put together a backing band for a tour, expanding the Parliaments to the five singers plus five backing musicians.
  
  wn.com/The_Parliaments
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  Thomas Cromwell
  Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex (c. 1485 – 28 July 1540) was an English statesman who served as chief minister of King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540.
  Cromwell was one of the strongest advocates of the English Reformation, the English church's break with the papacy in Rome. Cromwell helped engineer an annulment of the King's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, so that Henry could marry his mistress Anne Boleyn. Supremacy over the Church of England was officially declared by Parliament in 1534, and Cromwell supervised the Church from the unique posts of vicegerent for spirituals and vicar general.
  Cromwell's rise to power made him many enemies, especially among the conservative faction at court. He fell from Henry's favour after arranging the King's marriage to a German princess, Anne of Cleves, which turned out to be a disaster. He was subjected to a bill of attainder and executed for treason and heresy on Tower Hill on 28 July 1540. The King later expressed regret at having lost his great minister.
  
  wn.com/Thomas_Cromwell
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  Thomas Wolsey
  Thomas Wolsey (c. March 1473 – 29 November 1530; sometimes spelled Woolsey) was an English political figure and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. When Henry VIII became king of England in 1509, Wolsey became the King's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figure in virtually all matters of state and was extremely powerful within the Church. The highest political position he attained was Lord Chancellor, the King's chief adviser, enjoying great freedom and often depicted as an alter rex (other king). Within the Church he became Archbishop of York, the second most important seat in England, and then was made a cardinal in 1515, giving him precedence over even the Archbishop of Canterbury. His main legacy is from his interest in architecture, in particular his old home of Hampton Court Palace, which stands today.
  Thomas Wolsey was born circa 1473, the son of Robert Wolsey of Ipswich and his wife Joan Daundy. His father was widely thought to have been a butcher and a cattle dealer, but sources indicate that Robert Wolsey died at the Battle of Bosworth Field and was a significant casualty.^{[citation needed]} Robert may have been a respected and wealthy cloth merchant, and the butcher story was perhaps invented to demean Wolsey and show how high he had climbed in terms of status.
  
  wn.com/Thomas_Wolsey

• Up for the Down Stroke
• Testify
• All Your Goodies Are Gone
• Chocolate City
• Ride On
• P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)
• Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)
• Mothership Connection (Star Child)
• Handcuffs
• Do That Stuff
• Dr. Funkenstein
• Funkin' for Fun
• Dr. Funkenstein's Supergroovalistic-Prosifunkstication Medley: Let's Take It to the Stage / Take Your Dead Ass Home (Say Som'n Nasty) (live)
• Fantasy Is Reality

• Chocolate City
• Ride On
• Together
• Side Effects
• What Comes Funky
• Let Me Be
• If It Don't Fit (Don't Force It)
• I Misjudged You
• Big Footin'
• If It Don't Fit (Don't Force It) (alternate)
• I Misjudged You (alternate)
• Common Law Wife

• Up for the Down Stroke
• Testify
• The Goose
• I Can Move (If You Let Me)
• I Just Got Back From the Fantasy, Ahead of Our Time in the Four Lands of Ellet
• All Your Goodies Are Gone
• Whatever Makes Baby Feel Good
• Presence of a Brain
• Up for the Down Stroke (alternate mix)
• Testify (alternate mix)
• Singing Another Song

• P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)
• Mothership Connection (Star Child)
• Unfunky UFO
• Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication
• Handcuffs
• Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)
• Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples
• Star Child (Mothership Connection) (Promo Radio version)

• Up for the Down Stroke
• All Your Goodies Are Gone
• Ride On
• Chocolate City
• Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)
• P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)
• Mothership Connection (Star Child)
• Do That Stuff
• Dr. Funkenstein
• Let's Take It to the Stage (live)
• Fantasy Is Reality
• Bop Gun (Endangered Species)
• Flash Light
• Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)
• Theme From the Black Hole
• Agony of Defeet

• I Call My Baby Pussycat
• Put Love in Your Life
• Little Ole Country Boy
• Moonshine Heather
• Oh Lord, Why Lord--prayer
• My Automobile
• Nothing Before Me but Thang
• Funky Woman
• Livin' the Life
• The Silent Boatman
• Red Hot Mama
• Breakdown
• Come in Out of the Rain
• Fantasy Is Reality
• Unfinished Instrumental
• Loose Booty
• Breakdown (mono 45 version)

• Up for the Down Stroke
• Tesitfy
• Chocolate City
• Ride On
• Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)
• Mothership Connection (Star Child)
• Do That Stuff
• Dr. Funkenstein
• Bop Gun (Endangered Species)
• Flashlight
• Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)
• Rumpofsteelskin
• Party People
• Theme From the Black Hole
• The Big Bang Theory

• P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)
• Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)
• Flash Light
• Dr. Funkenstein
• Up for the Down Stroke
• Chocolate City
• Bop Gun (Endangered Species)
• Testify ('74 version)
• Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalaphdiscobetabioaquadoloop)
• Mothership Connection (Star Child)
• Agony of Defeet
• Do That Stuff
• Ride On

• P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)
• Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)
• Flash Light
• Dr. Funkenstein
• Up for the Down Stroke
• Chocolate City
• Bop Gun (Endangered Species)
• Testify ('74 version)
• Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)
• Mothership Connection (Star Child)
• Agony of Defeet

• Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)
• Flash Light
• Agony of Defeet
• Ridin' High
• Oh I
• Up for the Down Stroke
• Testify
• Theme From the Black Hole - The Big Bang Theory

• Red Hot Mama
• Come in Out of the Rain
• Fantasy Is Reality
• Breakdown
• Loose Booty
• Unfinished Instrumental
• I Call My Baby Pussycat
• Put Love in Your Life
• Little Old Country Boy
• Moonshine Heather [Takin' Care of Business]
• Oh Lord, Why Lord/Prayer
• My Automobile
• There Is Nothing Before Me but Thang
• Funky Woman
• Livin' the Life
• The Silent Boatmen

• Let's Take It to the Stage
• Do That Stuff
• Undisco Kidd
• Children of Production
• Into You
• Give Up the Funk
• Maggot Brain
• Comin' Round the Mountain
• Red Hot Mama

• Flash Light
• Bop Gun (Endangered Species)
• P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)
• Mothership Connection (Star Child)
• Do That Stuff
• Theme From the Black Hole
• Ride On
• Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)
• Up for the Down Stroke
• Agony of Defeet
• Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)
• Dr. Funkenstein
• Chocolate City
• Let's Play House

• Erotic City (single vs.)
• Stomp
• Tear the Roof Off the Sucker '94 (Give Up the Funk)
• Erotic City (extended Sweat mix)
• Stomp (Sir Nose Goes Off)
• Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (You Know the Words)
• Erotic City (Super Groovestrumental)

• P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)
• Up for the Down Stroke
• Bop Gun (Endangered Species)
• Let's Take It to the Stage - Take Your Dead Ass Home (Say Som'n Nasty)
• Mothership Connection (Star Child)
• Dr. Funkenstein
• Testify
• Mr. Wiggles
• Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)
• All Your Goodies Are Gone
• Do That Stuff
• Party People

• P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)
• Dr. Funkenstein's Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication Medley: Let's Take It to the Stage / Take Your Dead Ass Home
• Do That Stuff
• The Landing (Of the Holy Mothership)
• The Undisco Kidd (The Girl Is Bad!)
• Children of Productions
• Mothership Connection (Star Child)
• Swing Down, Sweet Chariot
• This Is the Way We Funk With You
• Dr. Funkenstein
• Gamin' on Ya!
• Tear the Roof Off the Sucker Medley: Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker) / Get Off Your Ass and Jam
• Night of the Thumpasorus People

• Mr. Wiggles
• Rumpofsteelskin
• (You're a Fish and I'm A) Water Sign
• Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)
• One of Those Funky Things
• Liquid Sunshine
• The Motor-Booty Affair
• Deep

• Prelude
• Gamin' on Ya
• Dr. Funkenstein
• Children of Production
• Getten' To Know You
• Do That Stuff
• Everything Is on the One
• I've Been Watching You (Move Your Sexy Body)
• Funkin' for Fun

• Bop Gun (Endangered Species)
• Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk (Pay Attention-B3M)
• Wizard of Finance
• Funkentelechy
• Placebo Syndrome
• Flash Light

• Prologue
• (Gloryhallastoopid) Pin the Tail on the Funky
• Party People
• The Big Bang Theory
• The Freeze (Sizzaleenmean)
• Colour Me Funky
• Theme From the Black Hole
• May We Bang You?

• Breakdown
• I Call My Baby Pussycat
• Put Love in Your Life
• Little Ole Country Boy
• Moonshine Heather
• Oh Lord, Why Lord/Prayer
• Red Hot Mama
• My Automobile
• Nothing Before Me but Thang
• Funky Woman
• Livin' the Life
• Come in Out of the Rain
• The Silent Boatman

• Up for the Down Stroke
• Chocolate City
• P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)
• Mother Ship Connection (Star Child)
• Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)
• Do That Stuff
• Bop Gun (Endangered Species)
• Flash Light
• Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)
• Theme From the Black Hole

• Crush It
• Trombipulation
• Long Way Around
• Agony of Defeet
• New Doo Review
• Let's Play House
• Body Language
• Peek-A-Groove

• Red Hot Mama
• Come in Out of the Rain
• Fantasy Is Reality
• Breakdown
• Loose Booty
• Unfinished Instrumental
• I Call My Baby Pussycat
• Put Love in Your Life
• Little Old Country Boy
• Moonshine Heather [Takin' Care of Business]
• Oh Lord, Why Lord/Prayer
• My Automobile
• There Is Nothing Before Me but Thang
• Funky Woman
• Livin' the Life
• The Silent Boatmen

• timeline:
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001

• timeline:
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001