Gabrovo Province

Gabrovo Province ( (Oblast Gabrovo), former name Gabrovo okrug) is a small province lying at the geographical centre of Bulgaria. It is named after its main town - Gabrovo. In 2009 the total population of the area is 130,001.
Municipalities.
The Gabrovo province (област, "oblast") contains four municipalities (singular: община, "obshtina" - plural: общини, "obshtini"). The following table shows the names of each municipality in English and Cyrillic, the main town (in bold) or village, and the population of each as of 2009.
Population.
The Gabrovo province had a population of 144,150 (144,125 also given) according to a 2001 census, of which were male and were female.
As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 130,001 of which are inhabitants aged over 60 years.
The following table represents the change of the population in the province after World War II:
Total population (2011 census): 122 702
Ethnic groups (2011 census):
Identified themselves: 115 358 persons:
Religion.
Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:
Main city.
Gabrovo is the main city of the Province of Gabrovo. Long known for producing leather articles and textiles that earned the town the sobriquet of the “Manchester of Bulgaria”, Gabrovo is a charmingly laid-back provincial place.
To the Bulgarians, Gabrovo is mainly known as the home of Humour and Satire, which opened on Aprils Fool’s Day 1972 in recognition of the position traditionally occupied by the town in the Bulgarian humour. People in every country tell jokes about the supposed miserliness of a particular community, and in Bulgaria the butt of the jokes has always been Gabrovo.
A Festival of Humour and Satire takes place in May, comprising masked actors, folk music, animated cartoons and the giving of prizes. There are plenty of restaurants in the city itself but the local people will recommend that you go out of town and visit Bozhentsi and the Etara complex.
Bozhentsi and Etara.
Bozhentsi is preserved as an old village museum. There is an ethnographic open-air museum, Etara, nearby. Strung out along the valley, with its clear bubbling stream and rich bird-life, the Etara complex has the look and feel of a film set, and even though it is artificial, it is nonetheless convincing and a joy to explore.
Traditionally crafts were inseparable from the charshya (bazaar), and the reconstructed bazaar of the type once common in Bulgarian towns forms the heart of the open-air museum. Throughout much of the day artisans are at work here, hammering blades, throwing pots, carving bowls and the like, and everything they make is for sale. Note that many of the artisans leave an hour or so before the complex officially closes.
Even if your interest in crafts is minimal it’s difficult not to admire the interiors of the old houses, which achieve great beauty through the skilful use of simple materials. Besides dwellings and workshops, the bazaar includes a couple of places for grabbing a quick drink, including a traditional café, and a bakery selling Turkish Delight and many other sweet treats.
An hour or so walk southwest from Etara, Sokolsky Monastery perches on a crag above the village of Voditsi. During Ottoman times the monks offered succour to Bulgarian outlaws and an assembly point during the uprising against the Turks in 1876. Nowadays it is a discreet, little-visited place, with rosebushes and privet shrubs laid out in a courtyard dominated by an octagonal stone fountain.
Tourism.
Places of interest in Gabrovo province include architectural reserve Bozhentsi. Hiking is widely available in the Central Balkan National Park and in the Bulgarka Nature Park, itself home to Etar Architectural-Ethnographic Complex, Dryanovo Monastery, Sokolski Monastery, Shipka Pass, and the Uzana area. For admirers of historical tourism the Shipka Freedom Memorial is a must-see.


Province of Viterbo

Viterbo () is a province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Viterbo.
Geography.
Viterbo is the most northerly of the provinces of Lazio. It is bordered to the south by the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital and to the south-east by the Province of Rieti. It is also bordered by the regions of Tuscany (Province of Grosseto) to the north and by Umbria (Province of Terni) to the east. The Tyrrhenian Sea is located to the west.
As of 2017, the province has a total population of 318,163 inhabitants over an area of , giving it a population density of 89.05 inhabitants per square kilometre. The provincial president is Marcello Meroi and the province contains 60 "comuni".
History.
The area of the province of Viterbo contained a number of Etruscan cities including Tuscania, Vetralla, Tarquinia, and Viterbo. Viterbo was conquered by the Roman Republic in 310 BCE; despite this, minimal information is known of Viterbo until it was utilised in 773 CE by King of the Lombard Kingdom Desiderius as a base against the Holy Roman Empire. Matilda of Tuscany gifted the city to the papacy in the 11th century. Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor was based in Viterbo as he planned to invade Rome in 1153, and Frederick I conquered the city in 1160 while preparing to attack Rome.
After a period as a free commune, in the early 13th century Viterbo became part of the Papal States. The Knights of Saint John were expelled from Rhodes in the 16th century and were temporarily granted refuge in Viterbo before they could travel to Malta. Pope Paul III described himself as a citizen of Viterbo and formed a university in the city. It joined the Kingdom of Italy on 12 September 1870 and during World War II, Viterbo was heavily bombed.


Prague-East District

Prague-East District () is a district ("okres") within the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Its administrative seat is in Prague. The most populated town of the district is Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav.
Complete list of municipalities.
Babice -
Bašť -
Borek -
Bořanovice -
Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav -
Brázdim -
Březí -
Čelákovice -
Černé Voděrady -
Čestlice -
Dobročovice -
Dobřejovice -
Doubek -
Dřevčice -
Dřísy -
Herink -
Hlavenec -
Horoušany -
Hovorčovice -
Hrusice -
Husinec -
Jenštejn -
Jevany -
Jirny -
Kaliště -
Kamenice -
Káraný -
Klecany -
Klíčany -
Klokočná -
Konětopy -
Konojedy -
Kostelec u Křížků -
Kostelec nad Černými lesy -
Kostelní Hlavno -
Kozojedy -
Křenek -
Křenice -
Křížkový Újezdec -
Kunice -
Květnice -
"Lázně Toušeň" -
Lhota -
Líbeznice -
Louňovice -
Máslovice -
Měšice -
Mirošovice -
Mnichovice -
Modletice -
Mochov -
Mratín -
Mukařov -
"Nehvizdy" -
Nová Ves -
Nový Vestec -
Nučice -
Nupaky -
Odolena Voda -
Oleška -
Ondřejov -
Oplany -
Panenské Břežany -
Pětihosty -
Petříkov -
Podolanka -
Polerady -
Popovičky -
Předboj -
Přezletice -
Prusice -
Radějovice -
Radonice -
Říčany -
Sedlec -
Senohraby -
Šestajovice -
Sibřina -
"Škvorec" -
Sluhy -
Sluštice -
Strančice -
Struhařov -
Stříbrná Skalice -
Sudovo Hlavno -
Sulice -
Štíhlice -
Svémyslice -
Světice -
Svojetice -
Tehov -
Tehovec -
Úvaly -
Veleň -
Veliká Ves -
Velké Popovice -
Větrušice -
Vlkančice -
Vodochody -
Všestary -
Vyšehořovice -
Výžerky -
Vyžlovka -
"Zápy" -
Záryby -
Zdiby -
Zeleneč -
Zlatá -
Zlonín -
Zvánovice


Tulcea County

Tulcea County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the historical region Dobruja, with the capital city at Tulcea.
Demographics.
In 2011, Tulcea County had a population of 201,462. The population density was 23.7/km², the lowest among the counties of Romania.
In the Danube Delta there is an important community of Russians and Lipovans. In the south of the county there are communities of Turks. The region once was a centre of Islam in Romania.
Geography.
The county has a total area of .
The most significant feature of Tulcea County is the Danube Delta, which occupies about 1/3 of the entire surface and is located in the North-East side of the county. The Delta has three main branches: the Sulina branch (the only one navigable by large ships) in the middle, the Chilia branch in the North (the border with Ukraine) and the Sfântu Gheorghe branch (Saint George) in the South.
In the South-East of the county there are two lagoons: Razelm Lake and Sinoe Lake. In the Danube Delta and in the South—in the area between the Sfântu Gheorghe Channel and Razelm Lake—there are countless channels and small lakes. The entire area is included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites and Biosphere reserves.
The Danube River flows around the county in the West and North side. In the West, there is the Măcin Branch which flows on the East side of the Great Brăila Island. From Smârdan (on the opposite side from Brăila) to Pătlăgeanca (close to Tulcea), the Danube has only one big flow of water, around which there are an immense number of lakes and small channels.
In the center of the county, there is the Casincea Plateau and the Măcin Mountains—the remains of a prehistorical mountains range (more than 400 million years old), with the greatest height at about 400 m.
Economy.
Agriculture and fishing are the main occupations, involving about 48% of the population. Industry is concentrated in the large towns only.
The predominant industries in the county are:
Tourism.
Tourism is an important activity in the county, the Danube Delta being one of the most visited areas in Romania.
The main destinations for tourists are:
Politics.
The Tulcea County Council, renewed at the 2020 local elections, consists of 30 counsellors, with the following party composition:
Administrative divisions.
Tulcea County has 1 municipality, 4 towns and 46 communes.
Historical county.
Historically, the county was located in the southeastern part of Greater Romania, in the region of north Dobruja. The borders of the historic county coincide with those of the present county. It bordered on the west with Brăila County, northwest with Covurlui County, to the north with Ismail County, to the south by Constanța County, and to the east and south-east with the Black Sea.
Administration.
The county was originally divided administratively into four districts ("plăṣi"):
As in the present day there were five towns (cities): Tulcea (county headquarters), Babadag, Măcin, Isaccea and Sulina.
Population.
According to the 1930 census data, the county population was 184,038 inhabitants, ethnically divided as follows: 62.6% Romanians, 12.2% Russians, 10.6% Bulgarians, 2.5% Turks, 1.7% Greeks, 1.3% Germans, as well as other minorities. From the religious point of view, the population was 85.8% Eastern Orthodox, 8.3% Old-Rite Lipovan Orthodox, 2.8% Muslim, 1.5% Roman Catholic, 0.6% Lutheran, as well as other minorities.
Urban population.
In 1930, the county's urban population was 41,632 inhabitants, comprising 64.7% Romanians, 12.8% Russians, 5.5% Turks, 4.4% Greeks, 3.3% Bulgarians, 2.5% Jews, 0.8% Germans, as well as other minorities. Mother tongues among the urban population were Romanian (69.4%), followed by Russian (15.0%), Turkish (5.5%), Greek (3.9%), Yiddish (1.5%), as well as other minorities. From the religious point of view, the urban population was composed of 87.5% Eastern Orthodox, 5.7% Muslim, 2.6% Jewish, 1.9% Roman Catholic, as well as other minorities.


Frederikshavn Municipality

Frederikshavn municipality is the northernmost Danish municipality, located in Region Nordjylland.
As a result of "Kommunalreformen" ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007), it is a merger between the previous municipalities of Frederikshavn, Skagen and Sæby. The new municipality has an area of 642 km² and a total population of 59,987 (2019).
The first mayor of the new municipality was Erik Sørensen (Social Democrats). Since 2014 it has been Birgit Hansen which governs by a broad coalition with the rest of all the parties.
Towns.
The following is a list of settlements within the municipality by population.
Mayor.
For a list of mayors in Skagen and Sæby before the 2007 merger, see below.
Politics.
Municipal council.
Frederikshavn's municipal council consists of 29 members, elected every four years.
Below are the municipal councils elected since the Municipal Reform of 2007.
Twin towns – sister cities.
Frederikshavn is twinned with:


List of regions of Hungary

There are seven statistical regions of Hungary created in 1999 by the Law 1999/XCII amending Law 1996/XXI. Regions are groupings of the 19 counties and the capital city.
Euroregions.
Hungary belongs into the following euroregions:


Scotch (adjective)

Scotch is an adjective in English, meaning "of or from Scotland". Many Scots dislike the term "Scotch" and some consider it offensive. The modern usage in Scotland is "Scottish" or "Scots", and the word "Scotch" is now only applied to specific products, mostly food or drink, such as Scotch whisky, Scotch pie, Scotch broth and Scotch eggs.
The verb "to scotch" is unrelated to the adjective. Middle English "scocchen" derives from Anglo-French "escocher" meaning "to notch, nick or pierce", from "coche", "a notch, groove".
Usage.
The adjective or noun "Scotch" is an early modern English (16th century) contraction of the English word "Scottish" which was later adopted into the Scots language It more or less replaced "Scottish" as the prevailing term in England in the 17th century. The English playwright William Shakespeare used the word "Scotch" to describe a jig, but always employed the term "Scottish" when people were the subject. "Scots" (the modern Scots language form of early Scots "Scottis") predominated in Scotland until the 18th century when anglicisation became fashionable and "Scotch" came to be used in both England and Scotland. A 1788 letter by Robert Burns says in part: "Apropos, is not the Scotch phrase "Auld lang syne" exceedingly expressive? There is an old song and tune which has often thrilled through my soul. You know I am an enthusiast in old Scotch songs." ("Auld Lang Syne" in "The Burns Encyclopedia", at robertburns.org). Burns wrote of himself in 1787, "The appellation of a Scotch Bard, is by far my highest pride; to continue to deserve it is my most exalted ambition."
From the early 19th century, however, "Scots" or "Scottish" increasingly became the preferred usages among educated Scottish people, "Scotch" being regarded as an anglicised affectation. By 1908, this was described by "The New York Times" as a "long-established… preference" (see article). In modern usage in Scotland, "Scotch" is rarely used, other than as described in the following paragraph for certain articles; it has gathered patronising and faintly offensive connotations ("frugal with one's money").
In modern current British usage, in England as in Scotland, the general term for things from or pertaining to Scotland is "Scottish". "Scots" is used for the Scots language and Scots law, although one increasingly hears it used of people and organisations, especially in newspaper articles. "Scotch" remains in use in only a few specific cases. 'Scotch terrier' was once one of these legacy uses, but has increasingly been replaced with Scottish terrier. Only in Ulster, especially in County Donegal (chiefly in East Donegal and Inishowen) and County Tyrone (especially in rural West Tyrone), is the term "Scotch" still widely used.
Scotland was one of the first countries in the world to introduce compulsory education for all children in 1696, administered in each parish by the Kirk. When the British government eventually chose to centralise and regulate the system in 1872, the Scottish school system was initially placed under a "Scotch Education Department" with offices in London. In 1918, as a result of objections from within Scotland, the department was moved to Edinburgh and renamed the Scottish Education Department. This reflects the linguistic preferences of modern Scotland.
In 1965, the historian A.J.P. Taylor wrote in his "Preface to English History 1914–1945": "Some inhabitants of Scotland now call themselves "Scots" and their affairs "Scottish". They are entitled to do so. The English word for both is "Scotch", just as we call les français the French and Deutschland Germany. Being English, I use it."
"Scots" is the modern preferred usage in all levels of society in Scotland, but occasional use of "Scotch" in varieties of the Scots language continues with terms such as "Scotch and English" (a game), "Scotch fiddle" (itchiness), "Scotch mile and ell" (measures) and many other examples (see the Scots Dialect Dictionary compiled by Alexander Warrack M.A. (1911) republished by Waverley Books 2000). There are other good indicators that the use of "Scotch" has been "whitewashed out" and become a shibboleth. Early versions of dictionaries produced in Burns' wake in the 19th century had titles such as "A Dictionary of the Scotch Dialect of the Lowlands" and modern place names now written as "Scots" e.g., Scotstarvit and Scotscalder existed in previous incarnations as "Scotch". Scotch Corner survives as a place-name in England.
In a reminiscence on his early training as an advocate in Edinburgh, Sir Walter Scott describes the law as "Scotch Law" some four times and as "Scots Law" just once. By the 1840s, other writers were using the phrase "Scots law", and this usage is now standard (although not universal) world-wide. Scots law reports in the nineteenth century show frequent judicial usage of 'Scotch' as referring to people; by the turn of that century, and since, practically no examples (other than by English judges) can be discovered.
In 1978, the song "Scotch Machine" by the pan-European group Voyage was released in the UK as "Scots Machine".
In the 1937 film "Storm in a Teacup", the Scottish/Scotch debate is a running joke. In one scene, Vicky (Vivien Leigh) is mixing cocktails. She explains to Frank (Rex Harrison) that her father, Provost Gow (Cecil Parker), who is standing for Parliament as a member of the "Caledonia League", "...wants to be prime minister of the first Scotch parliament." "Scottish, Vicky, Scottish!" her father pompously corrects her. "Well then, fix yourself a scottish and soda!" she replies, and flounces out the door. In another scene, one of Gow's Caledonia League minions says to him "I've never seen the like in thirty years of Scotch politics!", with the same stern rebuke from the provost.
In the chorus of his song "I Love a Lassie", music hall comedian and singer Sir Harry Lauder sings "I love a lassie, a bonny hieland lassie, Mary ma Scotch blue bell."
The first edition of John Kenneth Galbraith's "The Scotch" was published in the UK under two alternative titles: as "Made to Last" and "The Non-potable Scotch: A Memoir of the Clansmen in Canada". It was illustrated by Samuel H. Bryant. Galbraith's account of his boyhood environment in Elgin County in southern Ontario was added in 1963. He considered it his finest piece of writing.


Dobrich Municipality


Vidin Province

Vidin Province () is the northwesternmost province of Bulgaria. It borders Serbia to the west and Romania to the northeast. Its administrative centre is the city of Vidin on the Danube river. The area is divided into 11 municipalities. As of December 2009, the province has a population of 108,067 inhabitants.
There are remains of many castles, including Baba Vida, one of the last Bulgarian strongholds during the Ottoman invasion and the Belogradchik fortress.
Municipalities.
The Vidin Province contains 11 municipalities (singular: община, "obshtina" - plural: общини, "obshtini"). The following table shows the names of each municipality in English and Cyrillic, the main town (in bold) or village, and the population of each as of December 2009.
Geography.
The territory of the province includes the most western parts of the Danubian Plain and Stara Planina, while the Danube forms the border with Romania. The slopes of Stara Planina are covered with dense forests, lush meadows and boasts the majestic rock phenomena, the Belogradchik Rocks. There are around 80 caves situated close to the border with Serbia, the most famous being the Magura Cave, which known with its cave painting from 10,000 BC. There is also a lake in the proximity of the cave.
Population.
The Vidin province had a population of 130,074 according to a 2001 census, of which were male and were female.
As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 108,067 of which are inhabitants aged over 60 years.
Vidin is the oldest province in Bulgaria, with 28.9% of its population 65 years or older at the end of 2016. There is a big difference between the percentage elderly living in urban and rural areas: in urban areas 21.1% of the population is 65 years or older while that percentage is 42.8% in rural areas. The percentage of children up to 15 years is 13.5% in urban areas and only 9.8% in rural areas.
The following table represents the change of the population in the province after World War II:
Ethnic groups.
Total population (2011 census): 101 018
Ethnic groups (2011 census):
Identified themselves: 95 126 persons:
Religion.
Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:
Towns and villages.
The place names in bold have the status of town (in Bulgarian: град, transliterated as "grad"). Other localities have the status of village (in Bulgarian: село, transliterated as "selo"). The names of localities are transliterated in Latin alphabet followed in parentheses by the original name in Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet (which links to the corresponding Bulgarian Wikipedia article).
Belogradchik Municipality.
The Belogradchik municipality has one town (in bold) and 17 villages:
Boynitsa Municipality.
The Boynitsa municipality has 9 villages:
Bregovo Municipality.
The Bregovo municipality has one town (in bold) and 9 villages:
Vidin Municipality.
The Vidin municipality has two towns (in bold) and 33 villages:
Gramada Municipality.
The Gramada municipality has one town (in bold) and 7 villages:
Dimovo Municipality.
The Dimovo municipality has one town (in bold) and 22 villages:
Kula Municipality.
The Kula municipality has one town (in bold) and 8 villages:
Makresh Municipality.
The Makresh municipality has 7 villages:
Novo Selo.
The Novo Selo municipality has 5 villages:
Ruzhintsi Municipality.
The Ruzhintsi municipality has 10 villages:
Chuprene Municipality.
The Chuprene municipality has 9 villages:


Equalization Payments in Germany

Equalization payments (, literally "financial conciliation of (federal) states") are a mechanism in Germany to redistribute financial resources both between the federation and states, and between the states themselves. They are to be abolished in 2020 and will be replaced by new regulations.
Overview.
Equalization payments are the most commonly known system for the redistribution of revenue in Germany and are an important tool for the financing of regional development. Levels of awareness are high due to public disagreements between the states; various states have taken legal actions over the allocation of payments in the Federal Constitutional Court on many occasions including 1952, 1986, 1992, 1999 and 2006. A legal action by the states of Bavaria and Baden Würtemberg is pending in 2016. For many years the equalization payments have accounted for 2% to 3% of state income; in 2015 they amounted to €9.6bn compared to state and local tax revenues of €306bn. The aim, as laid out in the German constitution, is to balance the differing financial strengths of the federal states. In this way all states are in the position to be able to comply with the responsibilities assigned to them by the constitution. Through this process the funding requirements of the federation and states are coordinated with the aim of agreeing equalization payments, this ensures that tax payers are not overburdened and maintains consistency in the standard of living across Germany.
In order to ensure that this process guaranteed a unified budgetary policy, and to avoid the free rider problem, the federation and states budgets have been reviewed by a Stabilitätsrat or Stability Council since 2009. This council is a joint committee of the federal government and states, established to monitor budgetary management and adherence to European standards of budgetary discipline. Its establishment originated in the Federalism Reform II, a change to the constitution concerning the relationship between the federation and the states, and is regulated by the constitution. The State and Federal Finance Ministers, as well as the Federal Minister of Economics are all members of the Stability Council.
For many years the equalization payments have opened up a gap between financially strong and financially weak states that was greatly intensified by the incorporation of the new states of Germany after reunification, with their initially especially weak economic and financial power. In 2015 only four states paid into the mechanism; Bavaria €5.5bn, Baden Württemberg €2.3bn, Hesse €1.7bn and Hamburg €112m. The biggest recipient state was the capital Berlin with €3.6bn. The rural east German states between them received €3.2bn with Saxony alone receiving €1bn.
History of the equalization payments.
German Empire.
With the establishment of the North German Confederation in 1867, revenue sharing became necessary between the newly formed group of states. In Bismark's Imperial Constitution it was determined that the states would support the empire with Member States Contributions when its own income from tolls and excise duties was not sufficient. This was often the case and the federal government became financially dependent on the states.
Weimar Republic.
In the Weimar constitution the relationship was reversed; according to the Weimar constitution the central government was granted legislative power and control of income and expenditure. The regionally fragmented financial administration was consolidated into a single entity and the states became financially dependent on the federal government. They basically received a proportional allocation of tax receipts divided among the states based on regional income and population. Any remaining differences in financial strength between the states were compensated for through a supplement guarantee made by the central government in accordance with state tax law (1920), which ensured that no state received less than 80% of the average state tax income.
Finances in National Socialist Germany were also managed by a centralized state.
Federal Republic of Germany.
In the consultations of the Parliamentary Council over the future constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany such financial dependency was to be avoided. The federation and the states should have equal rights and be financially independent of one another. With regard to a common economic region there was agreement on standardized taxes governed by federal law, a system of dividing tax income with the exclusive and concurrent legislative power of the federal parliament, financial administration shared between the federation and the states, and a system of equalization payments between the states. In practice a revenue sharing mechanism was introduced which was laid down in the constitution in 1955.
Finance Reform 1969.
After years of consultation a finance reform was passed in 1969 which forms the basis of the finance element of today's constitution. Article 106 of the constitution regulates the allocation of tax revenue between the federation and the states. A revenue sharing system covering income, corporation and value added tax, the three largest taxes in terms of revenue making up around three quarters of total tax revenues, was set up between the federation and the states, the allocation ratios determined by statute. The states' share of the combined taxes is pre-determined, there is an advance adjustment of value added taxes for especially weak states, and various subsequent supplementary federal grants are also available. At the same time, the whole area of mixed financing which was constitutionally questionable was given a new constitutional basis with the introduction of common responsibilities, and provisions for payment law and federal investment support. Additionally planning elements were introduced into the constitution including middle term financial planning and law relating to budgetary principles.
Equalization payments between the states.
Article 107 of the constitution regulates the horizontal payments between the states. Tax revenues assigned to a state are no longer allocated based on the location in which the tax arises, but instead based on the number of residents; so income tax revenue belongs to the state in which the resident lives and corporation tax revenue belongs to the state in which the taxable economic performance arises. An exception to this rule is a state's share of value added tax revenue; up to a quarter of a state's tax revenue can be assigned to especially weak states in advance. The equalization payments are being stepped up, the states entitled to payment adjustments should now receive 95% of the average of all states' revenue compared to 91% in the past.
In hindsight the split according to place of residence disadvantages city states with their high proportion of commuters because the proportion of income tax grew especially in the first half of the 1970s due to the "cold" progression where the parameters in a progressive tax system are not adjusted for inflation and so the taxpayer pays an ever-greater proportion of income in taxes. During the 1950s income tax made up around a fifth of total tax revenue and value added tax a quarter, by 1973 income tax made up two fifths of revenue and value added tax only a sixth. Today the proportion is around a third and a quarter respectively. The residence basis provides a certain amount of compensation. The clause relating to up front value added tax adjustments, which was introduced into the constitution in 1969, gained in importance after reunification with the introduction of equalization payments for all the states in 1995. As part of the provisions of the first solidarity pact the federation allocated an extra seven percent of value added tax which flowed especially to the weaker former east German states.
Owing to various legal actions individual parts of the financial constitution have been adjusted many times, but the reforms have held true for more than 40 years and have allowed the fiscal integration of the new states after reunification.


Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London

The Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London is the personal representative of the monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, in Greater London.
Each Lord-Lieutenant is assisted in, largely ceremonial, duties by Deputy Lieutenants whom he appoints; the Lieutenancy Office is based at Whitehall, London SW1.
The Lord-Lieutenant is also assisted by a Lord-Lieutenant's Cadet, one from each branch of the main cadet forces, Army Cadet Force, Air Training Corps and Sea Cadet Corps. The cadet is selected by the Lord-Lieutenant. The Lord-Lieutenant's Cadet's are from the county of the Lord-Lieutenant.
Created under the Administration of Justice Act (1964), this office merged those of Lord-Lieutenant of the County of London ("cr." 1889) and the ancient Lord-Lieutenancy of Middlesex.
From 1965, the following have served as HM Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London :
The ceremonial county of Greater London does not include the City of London, which has its own Commission of Lieutenancy.


Municipalities with language facilities

There are 27 municipalities with language facilities in Belgium which must offer linguistic services to residents in either Dutch, French, or German in addition to their single official languages. All other municipalities – with the exception of those in the bilingual Brussels region – are unilingual and only offer services in their official languages, either Dutch or French.
Belgian law stipulates that:
History.
1921–1962.
There were three language areas as from the 31 July 1921 law: the Dutch-speaking Flemish area, the French-speaking Walloon area, and the bilingual area of Brussels (capital city). These language areas of 1921 actually had no institutional translation in the structure of the Belgian state, then still constitutionally divided into provinces and municipalities. Thence a French-speaking unilingual municipality could, for instance, be part of the province of West Flanders.
The Belgian law of 28 June 1932, on the use of languages for administrative matters based the language status of every Belgian municipality on the decennial census that included, since 1846, several language questions about the knowledge as well as the day-to-day practice. The criterion to belong to the Flemish- or Walloon-language area was a threshold of 50%; whereas with a threshold of 30% the municipal authorities had to offer services in the minority language as well. A municipality could ask the government to change its linguistic status by a royal decree only after a census showed a passage over the 30% or 50% threshold.
The German- and Luxembourgish-speaking minorities in Eastern Wallonia were not mentioned in the 1921 or 1931 laws. The German-speaking minority was mostly settled in the 'Eastern Cantons', several Prussian municipalities ceded to Belgium by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and administered from 1920 to 1925 by a Belgian military High Commissioner. There was, and still is, a Luxembourgish-speaking minority in some municipalities bordering the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
The 1932 law was implemented only once, as the invasion of Belgium by Nazi Germany in 1940 prevented the organization of the decennial census, which was organized in 1947 and applied only on 2 July 1954, when an ad hoc law modifying the law of 28 June 1932 on the use of languages for administrative matters transferred three previously unilingual Flemish municipalities with language facilities to the French-speaking minority (Evere, Ganshoren, and Sint-Agatha-Berchem) to the bilingual region of Brussels, thus and introduced language facilities for the French-speaking minority in four previously unilingual Flemish municipalities (Drogenbos, Kraainem, Wemmel, and Linkebeek).
1962 onwards.
In 1962–1963 four language areas were formally determined: the Dutch-language area (now also corresponding with the Flemish Region), the bilingual area of Brussels-Capital, (whose borders came to determine those of the present Brussels-Capital Region), the French-language area, and the German-language area (together coinciding with Wallonia).
The situation around Brussels (in the "rim municipalities", see below) differs from the situation along the border between Flanders and Wallonia, and between the German- and French-speaking areas in Wallonia, where certain municipalities have had linguistic minorities for several centuries. The language border appears quite stable and peaceful, except for the municipalities of Voeren (French: "Fourons") and, to a much lesser extent, Mouscron (Dutch: "Moeskroen") and Comines-Warneton (Dutch: "Komen-Waasten").
During the 1970s, many municipalities were merged into a bigger municipality in order to lessen administrative overhead. However, the difficult situation of the municipalities with language facilities had the effect that no other municipalities liked to merge with those (unless they had the same facilities already). As a result, many of the smallest municipalities in Belgium today are municipalities with language facilities. S.a. the least populated municipality (Herstappe) and the smallest municipality with a city title (Mesen).
In the early 1990s, a revision of the Belgian Constitution made it more difficult to change the language status of the concerned municipalities by requiring that any such change had to gain a majority in each of the two language groups in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Previously, an overall majority would have been enough, which could have in theory allowed a near unanimity of Flemish representatives to impose an abolition of the facilities against the unanimous wish of the French-speaking representatives. This revision of the Constitution was widely seen by French speakers as a recognition that language facilities had permanent status.
Implementation.
Currently, both Dutch and French speakers complain about poor or absent respect by certain authorities for their linguistic rights. Belgian and European courts are frequently solicited to arbitrate. Related political debates often take place in the various Belgian assemblies i.e. the federal, regional and community Parliaments.
Schools.
In accordance with Article 6 of the Act on linguistic arrangements in educational matters promulgated on 30 July 1963 and Article 3 of the Royal Decree of 14 March 1960 (implementing Article 4 of the law of 29 May 1959 to which it refers): nursery and primary education may be organised in another national language than the official language of the linguistic area under the condition that:
Since the 1988 reform which transferred educational matters from the federal government's level to the Communities’ level, the hosting Community is responsible for financing schools that meet the above criteria. However, the finances come from a special federal fund, which is shared between Communities according to the number of schools/pupils they respectively have in charge under the above legal arrangements. Annual subvention: nearly 10 million Euros.
In conformity with the above legal arrangements:
In addition, the Decree of the Belgian French-speaking Community of 13 July 1998 and subsequent decrees and circulars on the organisation of education authorise schools which are funded by the French-speaking Community to offer language immersion education. In 2011, the French-speaking Community finances 152 nursery and primary schools and 101 secondary schools providing such type of education in Wallonia and Brussels. Out of them, 118 nursery and primary schools and 76 secondary schools use Dutch as language of immersion and 16 are located in municipalities with language facilities for Dutch speakers:
Apart from the above, there are also:
In 2011, Dutch-speaking schools in Wallonia and French-speaking schools in Flanders are respectively inspected by Dutch- and French-speaking school inspectors. In 2007, the Flemish government decided that French-speaking schools in Flanders should be inspected by Flemish inspectors but the Constitutional Court canceled this decision in 2010 for the municipalities with language facilities around Brussels and confirmed its judgment in 2011 while extending it to all Flemish municipalities with language facilities for French speakers.
Communication and translation.
The language facilities are regulated by the Belgian laws promulgated on 8 November 1962 and 2 August 1963. The administration of municipalities with facilities is internally monolingual (the administration works in one language) and externally bilingual (it communicates with the population in two languages). Until the 1990s, these laws were implemented in addressing the local residents in their own respective languages and in publishing public notices in both languages.
In the late 1990s, two Flemish ministers (Leo Peeters and Luc Vandenbrande) proposed a stricter interpretation of the above laws and instructed the Flemish municipalities with facilities for the French speakers to send all documents only in Dutch and to provide a French translated version only to people who would place an individual formal request which should be renewed for every document. These instructions sharpened the practice until then condoned by the Permanent Commission for Language Control, a joint commission set up by the law to control the correct application of the language laws in Belgium.
French speakers asked the Council of Europe to advise on the general situation of protection of national minorities in Belgium and petitioned for the Flemish Region to restore the previous practice. In 2002, after having sent various representatives to investigate the situation, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted Resolution 1301 (2002) on Protection of minorities in Belgium supporting French speakers' claim to be recognised as a "national minority" in the Flemish region, like Dutch speakers and German speakers in Wallonia. However, this assembly has a moral advisory role and not authority to impose rules on its members.
Until now, neither the French-speaking authorities nor the German-speaking authorities have taken any formal step to restrict language facilities in a similar way for the Dutch/French/German speakers living in Walloon municipalities with language facilities. However, in 2005 the Flemish newspaper De Tijd pointed out that the documents sent to the residents of the Walloon municipality of Enghien were generally written only in French while including just a small note in Dutch asking the receiver to inform whether he/she wished to get a Dutch copy. Since then, the municipality has corrected this practice.
Courts.
Belgian courts are extremely reluctant to arbitrate in all matters related to the linguistic and ethnic rights of the various ethnic and language groups in Belgium. An attempt was made in Belgium's highest administrative court: in 2004, in a rare case of disavowing the recommendation of its Auditor, the 12th Flemish Chamber of the Belgian Council of State judged that the Flemish interpretation of the linguistic laws did not contradict the aforementioned laws. French speakers have generally considered that this ruling was politically motivated and legally unsound; and have kept demanding that the Flemish interpretation of linguistic laws be softened and that Belgium ratifies the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities as per the Council of Europe's recommendations (a demand presently blocked by most Flemish political parties).
Recent trends.
Over time, Flemings have become dissatisfied by the continued and growing presence of French speakers in the "rim" municipalities around Brussels. As a result, there is now a strong and growing reaction in Flanders demanding that the current language facilities should be phased out, especially for the recent 'migrants' around Brussels. For the facilities in the municipalities with historic minorities on the Walloon–Flemish border, there is still a willingness to consider maintaining them on condition of reciprocity (that these facilities are also properly implemented in Wallonia).
French speakers want to maintain all current facilities in Flanders, the more militant wing wanting to extend them in scope and/or area. French-speaking political parties, especially, protested against the Flemish ministerial circular letters from the socialist minister Leo Peeters (see supra). These circular letters, various additional restrictions put on the use of French in those municipalities, and the claims made by more and more Flemish politicians for the abolition of the facilities have caused a radicalisation of part of the French speakers, many of whom now think their linguistic rights would be better protected if the "rim" municipalities joined the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region. At the same time, French speakers from the civil society like Professor Philippe Van Parijs and French speakers among the members of the Brussels Enterprises Commerce and Industry Association (BECI) made proposals meant at addressing these issues (among others) while addressing at the same time Flemish concerns and demand for respect of the Flemish 'principle of territoriality':
List.
Flanders.
Dutch-speaking municipalities with facilities for French speakers.
In Flanders, there are two kinds of municipalities with facilities. Rim municipalities are situated in the Flemish rim around the Brussels-Capital Region and form part of Flemish Brabant. The other municipalities are called language border municipalities because they lie close to the border with Wallonia.
Rim municipalities:
Wezembeek-Oppem and Kraainem are sometimes referred to as the "oostrand" (eastern rim). A survey published in "Le Soir" on 14 February 2005, indicated that in all six rim municipalities, the majority of the population was French-speaking (the study was unofficial since the public authorities refuse to undertake a census). More precisely, the survey claimed that the French-speaking population amounts to 55% of the population in Drogenbos, 78% in Kraainem, 79% in Linkebeek, 58% in Sint-Genesius-Rode, 54% in Wemmel, and 72% in Wezembeek-Oppem.
Language border municipalities:
Although Sint-Genesius-Rode also borders Wallonia, it is considered a rim municipality rather than a border municipality.
Wallonia.
German-speaking municipalities with facilities for French speakers.
All municipalities in the German-language community have French-language facilities:


County Governors of Estonia

The Governor () is the leader of a county ("maakond") in Estonia. Here is the list of governors of Estonian counties.


North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia (, ; Low Franconian: "Noordrien-Wesfale"; Low German: "Noordrhien-Westfalen"; Kölsch: "Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale"), commonly shortened to NRW () in both written and spoken language, is a German state ("Land") in Western Germany. With more than 17.9 million inhabitants, it is the most populous state of Germany. Covering an area of , it is the fourth-largest German state by size. Apart from the city-states, it is also the most densely populated state in Germany.
North Rhine-Westphalia features 30 of the 81 German municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants, including Cologne (over 1 million), the state capital Düsseldorf, Dortmund and Essen (all about 600,000 inhabitants) and other cities predominantly located in the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area, the largest urban area in Germany and the third-largest on the European continent. The location of the Rhine-Ruhr at the heart of the European Blue Banana makes it well connected to other major European cities and metropolitan areas like the Randstad, the Flemish Diamond and the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Region.
North Rhine-Westphalia was established in 1946 after World War II from the Prussian provinces of Westphalia and the northern part of Rhine Province (North Rhine), and the Free State of Lippe by the British military administration in Allied-occupied Germany and became a state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. The city of Bonn served as the federal capital until the reunification of Germany in 1990 and as the seat of government until 1999.
Culturally, North Rhine-Westphalia is not a uniform area; there are significant differences, especially in traditional customs, between the Rhineland region on the one hand and the regions of Westphalia and Lippe on the other. The state has always been Germany's powerhouse with the largest economy among the German states by GDP figures.
History.
Creation.
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia was established by the British military administration's "Operation Marriage" on 23 August 1946, by merging the province of Westphalia and the northern parts of the Rhine Province, both being political divisions of the former state of Prussia within the German Reich. On 21 January 1947, the former state of Lippe was merged with North Rhine-Westphalia. The constitution of North Rhine-Westphalia was then ratified through a referendum.
Rhineland.
The first written account of the area was by its conqueror, Julius Caesar, the territories west of the Rhine were occupied by the Eburones and east of the Rhine he reported the Ubii (across from Cologne) and the Sugambri to their north. The Ubii and some other Germanic tribes such as the Cugerni were later settled on the west side of the Rhine in the Roman province of Germania Inferior. Julius Caesar conquered the tribes on the left bank, and Augustus established numerous fortified posts on the Rhine, but the Romans never succeeded in gaining a firm footing on the right bank, where the Sugambri neighboured several other tribes including the Tencteri and Usipetes. North of the Sigambri and the Rhine region were the Bructeri.
As the power of the Roman empire declined, many of these tribes came to be seen collectively as Ripuarian Franks and they pushed forward along both banks of the Rhine, and by the end of the fifth century had conquered all the lands that had formerly been under Roman influence. By the eighth century, the Frankish dominion was firmly established in western Germany and northern Gaul, but at the same time, to the north, Westphalia was being taken over by Saxons pushing south.
The Merovingian and Carolingian Franks eventually built an empire which controlled first their Ripuarian kin, and then the Saxons. On the division of the Carolingian Empire at the Treaty of Verdun, the part of the province to the east of the river fell to East Francia, while that to the west remained with the kingdom of Lotharingia.
By the time of Otto I (d. 973), both banks of the Rhine had become part of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Rhenish territory was divided between the duchies of Upper Lorraine on the Moselle and Lower Lorraine on the Meuse. The Ottonian dynasty had both Saxon and Frankish ancestry.
As the central power of the Holy Roman Emperor weakened, the Rhineland split into numerous small, independent, separate vicissitudes and special chronicles. The old Lotharingian divisions became obsolete, although the name survives for example in Lorraine in France, and throughout the Middle Ages and even into modern times, the nobility of these areas often sought to preserve the idea of a preeminent duke within Lotharingia, something claimed by the Dukes of Limburg, and the Dukes of Brabant. Such struggles as the War of the Limburg Succession therefore continued to create military and political links between what is now Rhineland-Westphalia and neighbouring Belgium and the Netherlands.
In spite of its dismembered condition and the sufferings it underwent at the hands of its French neighbours in various periods of warfare, the Rhenish territory prospered greatly and stood in the foremost rank of German culture and progress. Aachen was the place of coronation of the German emperors, and the ecclesiastical principalities of the Rhine bulked largely in German history.
Prussia first set foot on the Rhine in 1609 by the occupation of the Duchy of Cleves and about a century later Upper Guelders and Moers also became Prussian. At the peace of Basel in 1795, the whole of the left bank of the Rhine was resigned to France, and in 1806, the Rhenish princes all joined the Confederation of the Rhine.
After the Congress of Vienna, Prussia was awarded the entire Rhineland, which included the Grand Duchy of Berg, the ecclesiastic electorates of Trier and Cologne, the free cities of Aachen and Cologne, and nearly a hundred small lordships and abbeys. The Prussian Rhine province was formed in 1822 and Prussia had the tact to leave them in undisturbed possession of the liberal institutions to which they had become accustomed under the republican rule of the French. In 1920, the districts of Eupen and Malmedy were transferred to Belgium (see German-speaking Community of Belgium).
Westphalia.
Around AD 1, numerous incursions occurred through Westphalia and perhaps even some permanent Roman or Romanized settlements. The Battle of Teutoburg Forest took place near Osnabrück and some of the Germanic tribes who fought at this battle came from the area of Westphalia. Charlemagne is thought to have spent considerable time in Paderborn and nearby parts. His Saxon Wars also partly took place in what is thought of as Westphalia today. Popular legends link his adversary Widukind to places near Detmold, Bielefeld, Lemgo, Osnabrück, and other places in Westphalia. Widukind was buried in Enger, which is also a subject of a legend.
Along with Eastphalia and Engern, Westphalia ("Westfalahi") was originally a district of the Duchy of Saxony. In 1180, Westphalia was elevated to the rank of a duchy by Emperor Barbarossa. The Duchy of Westphalia comprised only a small area south of the Lippe River.
Parts of Westphalia came under Brandenburg-Prussian control during the 17th and 18th centuries, but most of it remained divided duchies and other feudal areas of power. The Peace of Westphalia of 1648, signed in Münster and Osnabrück, ended the Thirty Years' War. The concept of nation-state sovereignty resulting from the treaty became known as "Westphalian sovereignty".
As a result of the Protestant Reformation, there is no dominant religion in Westphalia. Catholicism and Lutheranism are on relatively equal footing. Lutheranism is strong in the eastern and northern parts with numerous free churches. Münster and especially Paderborn are thought of as Catholic. Osnabrück is divided almost equally between Catholicism and Protestantism.
After the defeat of the Prussian Army at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 made the Westphalian territories part of the Kingdom of Westphalia from 1807 to 1813. It was founded by Napoleon and was a French vassal state. This state only shared the name with the historical region; it contained only a relatively small part of Westphalia, consisting instead mostly of Hessian and Eastphalian regions.
After the Congress of Vienna, the Kingdom of Prussia received a large amount of territory in the Westphalian region and created the province of Westphalia in 1815. The northernmost portions of the former kingdom, including the town of Osnabrück, had become part of the states of Hanover and Oldenburg.
Flags and coat of arms.
The flag of North Rhine-Westphalia is green-white-red with the combined coats of arms of the Rhineland (white line before green background, symbolizing the river Rhine), Westfalen (the white horse) and Lippe (the red rose). After the establishment of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1946, the tricolor was first introduced in 1948, but was not formally adopted until 1953. The plain variant of the tricolor is considered the civil flag and state ensign, while government authorities use the state flag ("Landesdienstflagge") which is defaced with the state's coat of arms. The state ensign can easily be mistaken for a distressed flag of Hungary, as well as the former national flag of Iran (1964–1980).
The same flag was used by the Rhenish Republic (1923–1924) as a symbol of independence and freedom.
According to legend, the horse in the Westphalian coat of arms is the horse that the Saxon leader Widukind rode after his baptism. Other theories attribute the horse to Henry the Lion. Some connect it with the Germanic rulers Hengist and Horsa.
Geography.
North Rhine-Westphalia encompasses the plains of the Lower Rhine region and parts of the Central Uplands ("die Mittelgebirge") up to the gorge of Porta Westfalica. The state covers an area of and shares borders with Belgium (Wallonia) in the southwest and the Netherlands (Limburg, Gelderland and Overijssel) in the west and northwest. It has borders with the German states of Lower Saxony to the north and northeast, Rhineland-Palatinate to the south and Hesse to the southeast.
Approximately half of the state is located in the relative low-lying terrain of the Westphalian Lowland and the Rhineland, both extending broadly into the North German Plain. A few isolated hill ranges are located within these lowlands, among them the Hohe Mark, the Beckum Hills, the Baumberge and the Stemmer Berge. <br>
The terrain rises towards the south and in the east of the state into parts of Germany's Central Uplands. These hill ranges are the Weser Uplands – including the Egge Hills, the Wiehen Hills, the Wesergebirge and the Teutoburg Forest in the east, the Sauerland, the Bergisches Land, the Siegerland and the Siebengebirge in the south, as well as the left-Rhenish Eifel in the southwest of the state. The Rothaargebirge in the border region with Hesse rises to height of about 800 m above sea level. The highest of these mountains are the Langenberg, at 843.2 m above sea level, the Kahler Asten (840.7 m) and the Clemensberg (839.2 m).
The planimetrically-determined centre of North Rhine-Westphalia is located in the south of Dortmund-Aplerbeck in the Aplerbecker Mark (51° 28' N, 7° 33' Ö). Its westernmost point is situated near Selfkant close to the Dutch border, the easternmost near Höxter on the Weser. The southernmost point lies near Hellenthal in the Eifel region. The northernmost point is the NRW-Nordpunkt near Rahden in the northeast of the state. The Nordpunkt has located the only 100  km to the south of the North Sea coast. The deepest natural dip is arranged in the district Zyfflich in the city of Kranenburg with 9.2 m above sea level in the northwest of the state. Though, the deepest point overground results from mining. The open-pit Hambach reaches at Niederzier a deep of 293 m below sea level. At the same time, this is the deepest man-made dip in Germany.
The most important rivers flowing at least partially through North Rhine-Westphalia include: the Rhine, the Ruhr, the Ems, the Lippe, and the Weser. The Rhine is by far the most important river in North Rhine-Westphalia: it enters the state as Middle Rhine near Bad Honnef, where still being part of the Mittelrhein wine region. It changes into the Lower Rhine near Bad Godesberg and leaves North Rhine-Westphalia near Emmerich at a width of 730 metres. Almost immediately after entering the Netherlands, the Rhine splits into many branches.
The Pader, which flows entirely within the city of Paderborn, is considered Germany's shortest river.
For many, North Rhine-Westphalia is synonymous with industrial areas and urban agglomerations. However, the largest part of the state is used for agriculture (almost 52%) and forests (25%).
Subdivisions.
The state consists of five government regions ("Regierungsbezirke"), divided into 31 districts ("Kreise") and 23 urban districts ("kreisfreie Städte"). In total, North Rhine-Westphalia has 396 municipalities (1997), including the urban districts, which are municipalities by themselves. The government regions have an assembly elected by the districts and municipalities, while the "Landschaftsverband" has a directly elected assembly.
The five government regions of North Rhine-Westphalia each belong to one of the two "Landschaftsverbände":
Borders.
The state's area covers a maximum distance of 291 km from north to south, and 266 km from east to west. The total length of the state's borders is 1,645 km. The following countries and states have a border with North Rhine-Westphalia:
Demographics.
North Rhine-Westphalia has a population of approximately 17.5 million inhabitants (more than the entire former East Germany, and slightly more than the Netherlands) and is centred around the polycentric Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, which includes the industrial Ruhr region with the largest city of Dortmund and the Rhenish cities of Bonn, Cologne and Düsseldorf. 30 of the 80 largest cities in Germany are located within North Rhine-Westphalia. The state's capital is Düsseldorf; the state's largest city is Cologne. In 2015, there were 160,478 births and 204,373 deaths. The TRF reached 1.52 (2015) and was highest in Lippe (1.72) and lowest in Bochum (1.29).
The following table shows the ten largest cities of North Rhine-Westphalia:
Historical population.
The following table shows the population of the state since 1930. The values until 1960 are the average of the yearly population, from 1965 the population at year end is used.
Religion.
, 37.7% of the population of the state adhered to the Roman Catholic Church, 24.0% to the Evangelical Church in Germany and 38.4% of the population is irreligious or adheres to other religions.
North Rhine-Westphalia ranks first in population among German states for both Roman Catholics and Protestants.
In 2016, the interior ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia reported that the number of mosques with a salafist influence had risen from 30 to 55, which indicated both an actual increase and improved reporting. According to German authorities, Salafism is incompatible with the principles codified in the Constitution of Germany, in particular, democracy, the rule of law and a political order based on human rights.
Politics.
The politics of North Rhine-Westphalia takes place within a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic. The two main parties are, as on the federal level, the centre-right Christian Democratic Union and the centre-left Social Democratic Party. From 1966 to 2005, North Rhine-Westphalia was continuously governed by the Social Democrats or SPD-led governments.
The state's legislative body is the Landtag ("state diet"). It may pass laws within the competency of the state, e.g. cultural matters, the education system, matters of internal security, i.e. the police, building supervision, health supervision and the media; as opposed to matters that are reserved to Federal law.
North Rhine-Westphalia uses the same electoral system as the Federal level in Germany: "Personalized proportional representation". Every five years the citizens of North Rhine-Westphalia vote in a general election to elect at least 181 members of the Landtag. Only parties who win at least 5% of the votes cast may be represented in parliament.
The Landtag, the parliamentary parties and groups consisting of at least 7 members of parliament have the right to table legal proposals to the Landtag for deliberation. The law that is passed by the Landtag is delivered to the Minister-President, who, together with the ministers involved, is required to sign it and announce it in the Law and Ordinance Gazette.
List of Ministers-President.
These are the Ministers-president of the Federal State of North-Rhine Westphalia:
For the current state government, see Cabinet Laschet.
Latest election results.
CDU became the largest party, whereas the ruling SPD and Greens lost votes. The Pirates were ousted from the Landtag, whereas the AfD gained parliamentary representation. FDP got their best result in history. Die Linke narrowly failed to get parliamentary representation. Voter turnout was higher than in the previous election.
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!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left colspan="2" rowspan="2" width=400 |Party
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="3" |Popular vote
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="3" |Seats
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right width=60|Votes
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right width=40|%
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right width=50|+/–
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right width=30|Seats
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right width=30|+/–
 || 2,796,683 || 33.0 || 6.7 || 72 || 5
 || 2,649,205 || 31.2 || 7.9 || 69 || 30
 || 1,065,307 || 12.6 || 4.0 || 28 || 6
 || 626,756 || 7.4 || 7.4 || 16 || 16
 || 539,062 || 6.4 || 4.9 || 14 || 15
 || 415,936 || 4.9 || 2.4 || – || –
 || 80,780 || 1.0 || 6.8 || – || 20
Culture.
Architecture and building monuments.
The state is known for the most castles and fortresses in Germany.
North Rhine-Westphalia has a high concentration of museums, cultural centres, concert halls and theatres.
World Heritage Sites.
The state has Aachen Cathedral, the Cologne Cathedral, the Zeche Zollverein in Essen, the Augustusburg Palace in Brühl and the Imperial Abbey of Corvey in Höxter which are all World Heritage Sites.
Festivals.
North Rhine-Westphalia hosts film festivals in Cologne, Bonn, Dortmund, Duisburg, Münster, Oberhausen and Lünen.
Other large festivals include Rhenish carnivals, Ruhrtriennale.
Every year GamesCom is hosted in Cologne. It is the largest video game convention in Europe.
Economy.
North Rhine-Westphalia has always been Germany's powerhouse with the largest economy among the German states by GDP figures.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Westphalia was known as "Land von Kohle und Stahl" ("Land of Coal and Steel"). In the post-World War II recovery, the Ruhr was one of the most important industrial regions in Europe, and contributed to the German Wirtschaftswunder. As of the late 1960s, repeated crises led to contractions of these industrial branches. On the other hand, producing sectors, particularly in mechanical engineering and metal and iron working industry, experienced substantial growth. Despite this structural change and an economic growth which was under national average, the 2018 GDP of 705 billion euro (1/4 of the total German GDP) made NRW the economically strongest state of Germany by GRP figures, as well as one of the most important economical areas in the world. Of Germany's top 100 corporations, 37 are based in North Rhine-Westphalia. On a per capita base, however, North Rhine-Westphalia remains one of the weaker among the Western German states.
North Rhine-Westphalia attracts companies from both Germany and abroad. In 2009, the state had the most foreign direct investments (FDI) anywhere in Germany. Around 13,100 foreign companies from the most important investment countries control their German or European operations from bases in North Rhine-Westphalia.
There have been many changes in the state's economy in recent times. Among the many changes in the economy, employment in the creative industries is up while the mining sector is employing fewer people. Industrial heritage sites are now workplaces for designers, artists and the advertising industry. The Ruhr region has – since the 1960s – undergone a significant structural change away from coal mining and steel industry. Many rural parts of Eastern Westphalia, Bergisches Land and the Lower Rhine ground their economy on "Hidden Champions" in various sectors.
As of June 2014, the unemployment rate is 8.2%, second highest among all western German states. In October 2018 the unemployment rate stood at 6.4% and was higher than the national average.
Transport.
With its central location in the most important European economic area, high population density, strong urbanization and numerous business locations, North Rhine-Westphalia has one of the densest transport networks in the world.
Regional rail network.
The regional rail network is organised around the main in towns in Rhein-Ruhr: Bonn, Cologne, Wuppertal, Düsseldorf, Essen and Dortmund. Some public transport companies in this region are run under the umbrella of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr, which provides a uniform ticket system valid for the entire area. The Ruhr region is well-integrated into the national rail system, the Deutsche Bahn, for both passenger and goods services, each city in the region has at least one or more train stations. The bigger central stations have hourly direct connections to the bigger European cities as Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Vienna or Zürich.
The Rhein-Ruhr area also contains the longest tram system in the world, with tram and Stadtbahn services from Witten to Krefeld as well as the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn network. Originally the system was even bigger, it was possible to travel from Unna to Bad Honnef without using railway or bus services.
, the VRR network consists of 978 lines, of which there are:
Road.
North Rhine-Westphalia has the densest network of Autobahns in Germany and similar Schnellstraßen (expressways). The Autobahn network is built in a grid network, with five east–west (A2, A4, A40, A42, A44) and eight north–south (A1, A3, A43, A45, A52, A57, A59, A61) routes. The A1, A2, A3, A4 and A61 are mostly used by through traffic, while the other autobahns have a more regional function.
Both the A44 and the A52 have several missing links, in various stages of planning. Some missing sections are currently in construction or planned to be constructed in the near future.
Additional expressways serve as bypasses and local routes, especially around Dortmund and Bochum. Due to the density of the autobahns and expressways, Bundesstraßen are less important for intercity traffic. The first Autobahns in the Region opened during the mid-1930s. Due to the density of the network, and the number of alternative routes, traffic volumes are generally lower than other major metropolitan areas in Europe. Traffic congestion is an everyday occurrence, but far less so than in the Randstad in the Netherlands, another polycentric urban area. Most important Autobahns have six lanes.
Airports.
The region benefits from the presence of several airport infrastructure. The main airport is Düsseldorf Airport, world class, which hosts 24.5 million passengers per year and offers flights to many destinations.Düsseldorf is the third largest airport in Germany after Frankfurt and Munich; It is a hub for Eurowings and a focus city for several more airlines. The airport has three passenger terminals and two runways and can handle wide-body aircraft up to the Airbus A380.
The second airport is the international airport of Germany's fourth-largest city Cologne, and also serves Bonn, former capital of West Germany. With around 12.4 million passengers passing through it in 2017, it is the seventh-largest passenger airport in Germany and the third-largest in terms of cargo operations. By traffic units, which combines cargo and passengers, the airport is in fifth position in Germany. As of March 2015, Cologne Bonn Airport had services to 115 passenger destinations in 35 countries. It is named after Konrad Adenauer, a Cologne native and the first post-war Chancellor of West Germany.
Third airport in the region, Dortmund Airport is a minor international airport located east of Dortmund. It serves the eastern Rhine-Ruhr area, the largest urban agglomeration in Germany, and is mainly used for low-cost and leisure charter flights. In 2019 the airport served 2,719,563 passengers.
Then the airport of Münsterland Münster Osnabrück International Airport, hosting nearly 986,260 passengers per year and Airport Weeze with 693,404 passengers.
Waterways.
The Rhine flows through North Rhine-Westphalia. Its banks are usually heavily populated and industrialized, in particular the agglomerations Cologne, Düsseldorf and Ruhr area. Here the Rhine flows through the largest conurbation in Germany, the Rhine-Ruhr region. Duisburg Inner Harbour (Duisport) and Dortmund Port are large industrial inland ports and serve as hubs along the Rhine and the German inland water transport system. The country is crossed by many canals like Rhine–Herne Canal (RHK), der Wesel-Datteln-Kanal (WDK), der Datteln-Hamm-Kanal (DHK) and Dortmund-Ems-Kanal (DEK) an important role for inland navigation.
Education.
 RWTH Aachen is one of Germany's leading universities of technology and was chosen by DFG as one of the German Universities of Excellence in 2007 and again in 2012.
North Rhine-Westphalia is home to , with a total of over 500,000 students. Largest and oldest university is the University of Cologne "(Universität zu Köln)", founded in 1388 AD, since 2012 also one of Germany's eleven Universities of Excellence. University of Duisburg-Essen (Universität Duisburg-Essen), is also well known and is one of the largest universities in Germany.
Sports.
Football.
NRW is home to several football clubs of the Bundesliga including Arminia Bielefeld, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach, FC Schalke 04, 1. FC Köln and the 2. Bundesliga including Fortuna Düsseldorf, VfL Bochum and SC Paderborn 07. Since the formal establishment of the German Bundesliga in 1963, Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Mönchengladbach have been the most successful teams with both winning 5 titles. FC Köln won 2 titles, including the first in 1963. Before the league's establishment, North Rhine-Westfalian teams competed for the title of Deutscher Fußballmeister (German Football Champion). Here, FC Schalke 04 brought home 7 titles, while Dortmund and Köln won an additional 3 and 1 title(s), respectively. Fortuna Düsseldorf and Rot-Weiß Essen have each been German Champion once. North Rhine-Westphalia has been a very successful footballing state having a combined total of 25 championships, fewer only than Bavaria.
Other divisions:
Basketball.
The state is also home to several professional basketball teams that currently either compete in the Basketball Bundesliga or have competed there in the recent past. These teams include Telekom Baskets Bonn, Bayer Giants Leverkusen, Paderborn Baskets and Phoenix Hagen.
Ice hockey.
North Rhine-Westphalia is home to DEL teams Düsseldorfer EG, Kölner Haie, Krefeld Pinguine, and Iserlohn Roosters.


Central Ostrobothnia

Central Ostrobothnia (; ) is a region in Finland. It borders the regions of Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, Central Finland and South Ostrobothnia.
Municipalities.
The region of Central Ostrobothnia is made up of eight municipalities, of which two have city status (marked in bold).
Kaustinen sub-region:
Kokkola sub-region:
Politics.
Results of the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election in Central Ostrobothnia:


Thesprotia

Thesprotia (; , ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region. Its capital and largest town is Igoumenitsa. Thesprotia is named after the Thesprotians, an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region in antiquity.
History.
In antiquity, Thesprotia was inhabited by the ancient Greek tribe of Thesprotians and was bordered by the neighboring regions of Molossia to the north and Chaonia to the east. Thesprotia became part of the Epirote League before it was annexed by Rome where it became part of the Roman province of Epirus. After the fragmentation of the Roman Empire into East and West, Thesprotia, along with the rest of the region, became part of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, until its fall to the Ottomans.
The territory of Thesprotia remained under Ottoman rule until 1913, when it was annexed by the Greek state after the First Balkan War. Until 1937, when the separate prefecture of Thesprotia was established, the area was part of the Ioannina Prefecture.
Geography and climate.
Thesprotia borders Albania to the north, the regional unit of Ioannina to the east and Preveza to the south. The Ionian Sea lies to the west. Much of the regional unit is mountainous. Most farmland is located in the valleys in the central, southern and the western part. Two of Thesprotia's rivers are legendary: the Thyamis and the Acheron of Greek mythology, lined with reedbeds and plane trees.
Thesprotia's coastal climate is Mediterranean. Cold winters of a semi-alpine climate dominate the eastern part and higher elevations.
Administration.
The regional unit Thesprotia is subdivided into three municipalities (numbered as in the map in the infobox):
Prefecture.
Thesprotia was established as a prefecture in 1937 (). As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Thesprotia was created out of the former prefecture Thesprotia. The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.
Provinces.
"Note:" Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece.
Economy.
Thesprotia is traditionally one of the poorest and most remote regional units of Greece. The main economic activities are agriculture and tourism, with agriculture as historically the main economic activity.
The main tourist attractions of the region are its numerous beaches, particularly the resort of Syvota. Other tourist attractions are the remains of ancient cities such as Gitani.
Infrastructure.
In 1996, construction began on Motorway 2, officially called "Egnatia Odos". The road, which links the Ionian coast at Igoumenitsa to Thessaloniki and further to Alexandroupoli the Greek Turkish borders, was opened to traffic in 2009. Other important roads in Thesprotia include the Greek National Road 6 (Igoumenitsa - Ioannina - Larissa) and Greek National Road 18 (Filiates - Paramythia - Preveza).
In 2009, construction began for a new highway that will connect Igoumenitsa and Saranda, passing by Sagiada and Konispol.
The port of Igoumenitsa serves ferry routes to the islands of Corfu and Paxoi (includes Antipaxoi), as well as Italy.


List of current presidents of regions of Italy

This is the list of current presidents of regions of Italy.


Aetolia-Acarnania

Aetolia-Acarnania (, "Aitoloakarnanía", ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the geographic region of Central Greece and the administrative region of West Greece. A combination of the historical regions of Aetolia and Acarnania, it is the country's largest regional unit. Its capital is Missolonghi for historical reasons, with its biggest city and economic centre at Agrinio. The area is now connected with the Peloponnese peninsula via the Rio-Antirio Bridge. The surrounding regional units take in Arta in Epirus, a narrow length bordering Karditsa of Thessaly, Evrytania to the northeast, and Phocis to the east.
Geography.
Mountains dominate the north, northeast, west and southeast, especially the Acarnanian Mountains. The longest and main river is the Acheloos, which ends as a delta in wetlands to the southwest on a rich fertile valley. The second longest is Evinos; others include the Ermitsa, the Inachos, and the Mornos (on the border with Phocis). The regional unit excludes the islands lying to its west, since they belong to the Kefalonia and Ithaca regional units. There is one reservoir and a lake in its central part. The many mountains of the area span the Panaitoliko toward the northeast and the Acarnanian Mountains, the Valtou and the Makrynoros mountains in the north, the Nafpaktia Mountains in the southeast, the Arakynthos and Kravara in the south.
Lakes include the Amvrakia, the Lysimachia, Ozeros, and Trichonida, and artificial lakes and reservoirs include Kastraki, Kremasta, the largest lake in Greece since its creation in 1970, and Stratos. Two lagoons are found in the southern part of the regional unit: the Messolongi and the Aitoliko. The lowest altitude in Greece is found in west Aetolia-Acarnania at about -10 meters from the sea level.
Climate.
Its climate ranges from hot and humid summers, with temperatures often surpassing 40 °C, to mild and short winters in the low-lying areas, with cool winters dominating in the mountain areas. At the highest elevations, summers are cool, and snow and cold weather dominate the winter months in the Panaitoliko.
History.
Ottoman era.
During the Ottoman period, between the 16th century until the Greek War of Independence, the region was called Karleli and formed a province ("sanjak") in the Rumelia Eyalet.
Modern Aetolia-Acarnania.
Aetolia and Acarnania became a prefecture and merged to form Aetolia-Acarnania after the Greek War of Independence in the late-1820s; the prefecture included Evrytania at the time, and it ranked second largest in Greece. Evrytania separated from the prefecture in 1948. In the 20th century, ferry services between Rio and the Peloponnese began. and in the 1950s and the 1960s ferry services began to incorporate vehicles. Following World War II and the Greek Civil War a number of buildings needed to be repaired.
A drawbridge linking the island of Lefkada began in the 1960s. The prefecture's first reservoir, the Acheloos Dam over the Acheloos was under construction in 1967 and completed in the early 1970s delivering water and hydro to western part of Greece, villages were relocated at the time. Two more dams were added, the Stratos Hydroelectric Dam in the 1980s and another in the late-1980s.
Transportation.
The following years, GR-5 bypassed Messolonghi and Agrinion and GR-38 became connected with paved road with Eurytania and Phthiotida. In the late-1980s, the by-pass of Naupaktos began construction but after paving the road, the signs did not appear and until 1998, it was left unopened. In 1999, the road was re-repaired and finally opened to traffic. In 2000, the construction of the Rio-Antirio or the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge connecting the Peloponnese began construction and was opened to traffic in August 2004. The superhighway, the Ionia Odos (Ionian Motorway) which will run centrally bypassing communities began construction in 2001 at a part between Messolonghi and the curve, this section remains to be unpaved, the rest of the highway is in plan but the opening date is not yet set.
A railway formally served the places from Kryoneri and Agrinio and served with the ferry with Rio. In the 1980s, the service came to an end.
Administration.
The regional unit Aetolia-Acarnania is subdivided into 7 municipalities. These are (number as in the map in the infobox):
Prefecture.
As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Aetolia-Acarnania was created out of the former prefecture Aetolia-Acarnania (). The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.
Provinces.
"Note:" Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece.


Province of Vicenza

The Province of Vicenza () is a province in the Veneto region in northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza.
The province has an area of 2,722.53 km², and a total population of 865,082 (as of 2017). There are 199 "comuni" (municipalities) in the province. Towns in the province include Bassano del Grappa, Schio, Arzignano, Montecchio Maggiore, Thiene, Torri di Quartesolo, Noventa Vicentina, Marostica, Lonigo and Valdagno.
Population is unevenly spread throughout the province. More than 60% of the populace resides in densely industrialised areas in the eastern, western, and northern (known as Alto Vicentino) conurbations, as well as the area surrounding Bassano del Grappa. The remaining 40% reside in predominantly rural areas in the southern part of the province (the Colli Berici and Basso Vicentino) or the Asiago plateau.
Economic development in some areas is hindered by industrial and agricultural depression. Towns in the western section such as Valdagno and Montecchio Maggiore suffer from high unemployment, following a decline in steel and textile industries. The Colli Berici and Basso Vicentino remain overwhelmingly agricultural and present high levels of unemployment. The heavily industrial Alto Vicentino area alone accounts for half of the province's GDP.
Federico Faggin, an Italian physicist/electrical engineer principally responsible for the design of the first microprocessor, was born in Vicenza.
Comunes.
There were 116 "comuni" (singular: "comune") in the province (dati: Istat 01/01/2018):
Economy.
The industrial sector plays a primary role and over the last half century has supplanted the predominant agricultural sector: since the second post-war period, the province has in fact been one of the major interpreters of the remarkable economic and industrial development of the North-East of Italy. The most important economic activities in the province are textile, tanning, marble extraction, ceramics, furniture, but above all jewelry.
Small and medium-sized enterprises predominate on the territory, making the province of Vicenza one of the most important on a national level, and which have developed, giving rise to mainly 4 industrial districts:
Other activities typically linked to the territory are:


Haderslev Municipality

Haderslev () is a town and municipality on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in the Region of Southern Denmark. It includes the island of Årø as well as several other smaller islands in the Little Belt. The municipality covers and has a population of 56,414 (2008). Its mayor is Jens Christian Gjesing, representing the Social Democratic Party. Due to "Kommunalreformen" ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007), Haderslev municipality was merged on January 1 of that year with the former municipalities of Gram and Vojens, as well as Bjerning, Hjerndrup, and Fjelstrup parishes of Christiansfeld Municipality and Bevtoft parish of Nørre Rangstrup Municipality.
The municipality is part of Triangle Region and of the East Jutland metropolitan area, which had a total population of 1.378 million in 2016.
The waters of Haderslev Fjord cut into the municipality from the Little Belt, dividing the city north-to-south, becoming Haderslev Dam west of the city centre. Årø Strait ("Årøsund") separates the bulk of the municipality from the island of Årø, and the two are connected by ferry service between the town of Årøsund on the mainland and the town of Årø on the island.
Locations.
The city of Haderslev.
The main town and the site of the municipal council is the city of Haderslev.
North Schleswig Germans.
Haderslev Municipality is home to the only officially recognised ethno-linguistic minority of Denmark proper, the North Schleswig Germans. This minority makes up about 6% of the total population of the municipalities of Aabenraa/Apenrade, Haderslev/Hadersleben, Sønderborg/Sonderburg and Tønder/Tondern. In these four municipalities, the German minority enjoys certain linguistic rights in accordance with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
Politics.
Haderslev's municipal council consists of 31 members, elected every four years. The municipal council has nine political committees.
Municipal council.
Below are the municipal councils elected since the Municipal Reform of 2007.
Twin towns – sister cities.
Haderslev is twinned with:


Torres Vedras

Torres Vedras () is a municipality in the Portuguese district of Lisbon, approximately north of the capital Lisbon in the Oeste region, in the Centro of Portugal. The population was 79,465, in an area of .
History.
In 1148, Afonso I took the town of Torres Vedras from the Moors, in the then region of Estremadura, an area encircled by gentle hills and valleys. Situated in the former district of Lisbon, Torres Vedras is a strong agricultural region linked with its vineyards and intense commercial and industrial life, resulting in a dynamic pole in the western subregion of Portugal. King Afonso III conceded a foral ("charter") in 1250, which was later confirmed by King Manuel I in 1510. This latter decree conferred on the town many of the municipal privileges that it held for 729 years.
While travelling through this district, King Afonso III and Queen Beatrice, ordered the construction of a municipal hall, alongside the ancient castle (which today no longer exists). For his part, King Denis, his successor, was captivated by local Gracia Frois, fathering an illegitimate son, who would go on to be Count of Barcelos. Later, the municipality was donated to the Queens of the realm, and in particular, under the Aviz dynasty, the Infanta Eleonor (daughter of King Edward and Queen Eleanor), who would later marry Frederick III of Germany, was born in Torres Vedras (18 September 1434).
Torres Vedras continued to be a place of importance: in 1413, King John I met with his council after legitimizing his expedition to Ceuta (marking the beginning of Portuguese maritime expansion); the Regent Peter, convened the Cortes in 1411, to deliberate over the wedding of his daughter Isabel with his nephew Afonso; and the place where King John II received the ambassadors of the Kingdom of Naples, and later the Republic of Venice, in 1496.
At the same time, intrigues and confrontations were fermented in Torres Vedras by local alcaides, such as in 1384 when the Master of Aviz encircled the town in order to force the Castilian alcalde Juan Duque to surrender. It was for the same reason, that King John IV was forced to take city in 1640, when the Portuguese alcaide João Soares de Alarcão, aligned himself with the Philippine monarchs.
In comparison, the loyalty and sympathies of the Portuguese of the region were tested with the French invasions of the Peninsular Wars (1808–1810). Anticipating the final defeat of the French, General Delaborde's forces were defeated on 21 August 1808, at the battles of Roliça and Vimeiro, by the Anglo-Portuguese Army that had landed at Porto Novo. Junot, who had installed himself in the town, signed a truce and left the town, retreating towards Lisbon, but not before sacking the churches and convents along the way.
Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington and Marquess of Torres Vedras, would begin the construction (1809–1810) of the Lines of Torres Vedras that would extend to the sea. This fortified system, which included 152 forts and 628 redoubts, was marked by the Fort of São Vicente, in Torres Vedras. Ironically, the fort only saw battle after the French were removed from Portugal, when Cabralist forces (those supporting politician Costa Cabral) under the Duke of Saldanha, evicted Setembrist forces of the Count of Bonfim. Over 10,000 troops were involved in the bloody Battle of Torres Vedras, which resulted in the surrender of the Count's forces on 23 December 1846. The deaths of 400 men and 500 wounded, that included Lieutenant-Colonel Luís Mouzinho de Albuquerque, a liberal officer who disembarked in Mindelo and was later buried in the Church of São Pedro.
Following much of its history in battle, Torres Vedras lapsed into years of progress and development, supported by the expansion of the rail-lines in 1886, the installation of the electrical grid in 1912, and finally the canalization of waters to the town by 1926. These changes helped support a growth, construction of new barrios and roadways, resulting in the town's reclassification as a city in 1979.
Geography.
Fronting the Atlantic Ocean, Torre Vedres is bordered by the municipalities of Lourinhã (to the north), Alenquer (to the east), Sobral de Monte Agraço (to the southeast) and Mafra (to the south). A dispersed population, Torres Vedras includes 21 urban agglomerations, of which most have less than 200 inhabitants. Altogether the municipality has a population of 79,465.
The municipality covers an area of . Administratively, the municipality is divided into 13 civil parishes ("freguesias"):
The resident population of the city of Torres Vedras (approximately 20,000 inhabitants in two largest urban parishes) represents about 25% of the population of the municipality.
Economy and tourism.
In 2011, Torres Vedras received the QualityCoast Gold Award for its efforts to become a sustainable tourist destination, and was selected for inclusion in the global atlas for sustainable tourism DestiNet.
The Leonel Trindade Municipal Museum is an archaeological and historical museum in the town, located in a former convent (Convento da Graça) on the southern edge of the city centre. In addition to an extensive archaeological section dating back to late- Palaeolithic times, the museum contains works of art from local churches as well as an exhibition relating to the Lines of Torres Vedras. Much of the archaeological collection comes from the Chalcolithic, fortified settlement known as the Castro of Zambujal (3rd millennium BC) and from the Tholos do Barro, a Chalcolithic tomb, both of which are in the municipality.


Hauts-de-France

Hauts-de-France (; ; ) is the northernmost region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its prefecture is Lille. The new region came into existence on 1 January 2016, after regional elections in December 2015. The Conseil d'État approved Hauts-de-France as the name of the region on 28 September 2016, effective the following 30 September.
With 6,009,976 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2015) and a population density of 189 inhabitants/km2, it is the third most populous region in France and the second most densely populated in metropolitan France after its southern neighbour Île-de-France. It is bordered by Belgium to the north.
Toponymy.
The region's interim name "Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie" was a hyphenated placename, created by hyphenating the merged regions' names—"Nord-Pas-de-Calais" and "Picardie"—in alphabetical order.
On 14 March 2016, well ahead of the 1 July deadline, the regional council decided on "Hauts-de-France" as the region's permanent name. The provisional name of the region was retired on 30 September 2016, when the new name of the region, Hauts-de-France, took effect.
Geography.
The region covers an area of more than . It borders Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia) to the northeast, the North Sea to the north, the English Channel to the west, as well as the French regions of Grand Est to the east-southeast, Île-de-France to the south, and Normandy to the west-southwest. It is connected to the United Kingdom (England) via the Channel Tunnel.
Departments.
Hauts-de-France comprises five departments: Aisne, Nord, Oise, Pas-de-Calais, and Somme.
Economy.
The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 161.7 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 6.9% of French economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 24,200 euros or 80% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 101% of the EU average.
French sartorial heritage.
The region was a pivotal center of mulquinerie.


Province of Rieti

The Province of Rieti () is a province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Rieti. Established in 1927, it has an area of with a total population of 157,887 people as of 2017. There are 73 "comuni" in the province.
Geography.
A large area of its territory corresponds to the historical-geographical region of Sabina. Rieti is located in the north-east Lazio. It is bordered to the west, along the river Tiber by the Province of Viterbo and to the south-west by the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. It is also bordered by the regions of Umbria to the north and by Marche to the east.
The province is mostly mountainous with the Monti della Duchessa and the Monti del Cicolano ranges in the south with Monte Nuria and Monte Giano, the Monti Reatini range with Monte Terminillo (2217 m) in the north in part of the Abruzzese Apennines, and Monti della Laga (2458 m) to the east on the border with Abruzzo. Of particular importance are the two artificial lakes in the Valle del Salto: Lago del Salto and Lago del Turano, which were both created during the Fascist period. Lago del Salto, also known as Del Salto Lake is the largest in the Lazio region and is situated at an altitude of .
There are several protected areas in the province. To the south lies the Parco regionale naturale dei Monti Lucretili, to the southeast the Riserva regionale Montagne della Duchessa, and a small part of the Parco regionale naturale del Sirente - Velino. Between the two areas is the Riserva naturale Monte Navegna e Monte Cervia (between the lakes of Salto and Turano. In the east, in the Monti della Laga range is the Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga. Also of note is the Riserva parziale naturale dei Laghi Lungo e Ripasottile on the Rieti plain, and the Riserva naturale di Nazzano, Tevere-Farfa to the west. Riserva parziale naturale dei Laghi Lungo e Ripasottile contains the lakes of Lungo and Ripasottile, which support a diversity of wildlife, particularly birds such as herons and little grebes. There are numerous natural oases, castles, fortresses and Franciscan sanctuaries dotted about Rieti Province.