Bringing new cases, the age will share the truth & knowledge. Depicting the endless corruption, debt, hate, control and battle that is conditioned into our everyday lives. It will exist for the years 2010 to 2020 (The information age). It will be as even sided & independent as possible as we go through the greatest transition age of power & energy the human race has ever experienced
"The world, nor the universe is a small place, its 1 natural consciousness aware of itself"
Earth's magnetic field (and the surface magnetic field) is approximately a magnetic dipole, with the magnetic field South pole near the Earth's geographic north pole (see Magnetic North Pole) and the other magnetic field N pole near the Earth's geographic south pole (see Magnetic South Pole). This makes the compass usable for navigation. The cause of the field can be explained by dynamo theory. A magnetic field extends infinitely, though it weakens with distance from its source. The Earth's magnetic field, also called the geomagnetic field, which effectively extends several tens of thousands of kilometres into space, forms the Earth's magnetosphere. A paleomagnetic study of Australian red dacite and pillow basalt has estimated the magnetic field to be at least 3.5 billion years old.
Magnetic poles and magnetic dipole
North Magnetic Pole and South Magnetic Pole
Magnetic declination from true north in 1700
The positions of the magnetic poles can be defined in at least two ways. Often, a magnetic (dip) pole is viewed as a point on the Earth's surface where the magnetic field is entirely vertical. Another way of saying this is that the inclination of the Earth's field is 90° at the North Magnetic Pole and -90° at the South Magnetic Pole. At a magnetic pole, a compass held in the horizontal plane points randomly, while otherwise it points nearly to the North Magnetic Pole or away from the South Magnetic Pole, though local deviations exist. The two poles wander independently of each other and are not at directly opposite positions on the globe. Magnetic dip pole can migrate rapidly: movements of up to 40 km per year have been observed for the North Magnetic Pole. The Earth's magnetic field can be closely approximated by the field of a magnetic dipole positioned near the centre of the Earth. A dipole's orientation is defined by an axis. The two positions where the axis of the dipole that best fits the geomagnetic field intersect the Earth's surface are called the North and South geomagnetic poles. For best fit the dipole representing the geomagnetic field should be placed about 500 km off the center of the Earth. This causes the inner radiation belt to skim lower in Southern Atlantic ocean, where the surface field is the weakest, creating what is called the South Atlantic Anomaly. If the Earth's magnetic field were perfectly dipolar, the geomagnetic and magnetic dip poles would coincide. However, significant non-dipolar terms in an accurate description of the geomagnetic field cause the position of the two pole types to be in different places.
To tax (from the Latin taxo; "I estimate") is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities. Taxes consist of direct tax or indirect tax, and may be paid in money or as its labour equivalent (often but not always unpaid labour). A tax may be defined as a "pecuniary burden laid upon individuals or property owners to support the government a payment exacted by legislative authority." A tax "is not a voluntary payment or donation, but an enforced contribution, exacted pursuant to legislative authority" and is "any contribution imposed by government whether under the name of toll, tribute, tallage, gabel, impost, duty, custom, excise, subsidy, aid, supply, or other name." The legal definition and the economic definition of taxes differ in that economists do not consider many transfers to governments to be taxes. For example, some transfers to the public sector are comparable to prices. Examples include tuition at public universities and fees for utilities provided by local governments. Governments also obtain resources by creating money (e.g., printing bills and minting coins), through voluntary gifts (e.g., contributions to public universities and museums), by imposing penalties (e.g., traffic fines), by borrowing, and by confiscating wealth. From the view of economists, a tax is a non-penal, yet compulsory transfer of resources from the private to the public sector levied on a basis of predetermined criteria and without reference to specific benefit received. In modern taxation systems, taxes are levied in money; but, in-kind and corvée taxation are characteristic of traditional or pre-capitalist states and their functional equivalents. The method of taxation and the government expenditure of taxes raised is often highly debated in politics and economics. Tax collection is performed by a government agency such as Canada Revenue Agency, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States, or Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the UK. When taxes are not fully paid, civil penalties (such as fines or forfeiture) or criminal penalties (such as incarceration) may be imposed on the non-paying entity or individual with consent.
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is a non-ministerial department of the UK Government owned by the crown responsible for the collection of taxes and the payment of some forms of state support. HMRC was formed by the merger of the Inland Revenue and Her Majesty's Customs and Excise which took effect on 18 April 2005. The department's logo is the St. Edward's Crown enclosed within a circle.
Contrary to popular myth, the income tax and the IRS are constitutional. That's what happens when you have your own constitutional amendment authorizing you. Nobody likes them though, so we should be able to get rid of that amendment. The 16th Amendment, ratified in 1913, is concise: "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration." According to information on the IRS website, President Lincoln and Congress created an income tax in 1862 to help pay for the Civil War. The income tax was repealed a decade later, then revived n 1894. But the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1895. Then came the 16th Amendment. In 1913, the first Form 1040 appeared after Congress levied a 1 percent tax on net personal incomes above $3,000 with a 6 percent surtax on incomes of more than $500,000. The IRS is part of the federal Department of Treasury.
HMRC and the IRS are turning the screw
Where HMRC have obtained information about potential liabilities e.g. offshore bank details , lists of medical practitioners, or, as in this case, details of registered gas installers, their aim is to offer an opportunity for those who have underpaid tax to come forward or run the risk of being readily identified and punished appropriately. This gives HMRC maximum coverage for the minimum input of manpower and resources. The PTSP should not be dismissed as applying only to a very narrow band of traders. Buried in the small print of the explanatory notes is an all but cast iron guarantee that its generous terms are available to anyone who has underpaid tax in the past. In certain circumstances tax underpaid will be recouped for a six year period only. As with all these initiatives, there is tight deadline to be met. Those who wish to take advantage of it must declare their intention to do so by 31 May 2011.
HMRC is not alone
HMRC is not the only tax authority aiming to flush out reluctant taxpayers. The IRS has just launched a second offshore disclosure arrangement. But it is questionable whether the terms are sufficiently attractive to tempt those who turned a blind eye to the amnesty of 2009 to come forward by 31 August 2011, despite the clear threat of criminal prosecution if they don’t and are subsequently found out. The terms include payment of tax unpaid for the eight years to 2010, interest, fixed and tax-geared penalties and, as if that weren’t enough, 25% of highest aggregate balance in the accounts held offshore and 25% of the value of foreign assets acquired with the undeclared funds.
Last October the Finance Ministry in Switzerland announced that it had entered into discussions with the UK government part of the aim of which is to ‘regularize’ undisclosed funds held in Switzerland by UK resident individuals and entities – presumably by payment of a percentage of the funds to HMRC. Unofficial estimates put the potential revenue at stake for the UK as high as £6bn. And it is likely that income arising in future from the remaining funds will be subject to a substantial withholding tax. However, the statement from Switzerland makes it clear that a core feature of whatever deal emerges, will be the retention of the jealously guarded Swiss bank secrecy. This leaves unanswered the question of how undisclosed funds held by the same entity in other jurisdictions could be ‘regularized’.
HMRC have stated that the impending deal with Switzerland will not be more favourable than that on offer under the deal with Liechtenstein (LDF). However, this is at odds with the Finance Ministry statement. Any deal even remotely resembling that outlined in the Swiss announcement would undoubtedly give rise to a storm of protest from those who have already made complete disclosures under the LDF and previous offshore disclosure arrangements.
Dark Days documentary by Marc Singer, music by DJ Shadow
Homelessness categorizes the condition of people without a regular dwelling because they are unable to acquire, maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country to country, or among different entities or institutions in the same country or region. The term homeless may also include people whose primary night-time residence is in a homeless shelter, a warming center, a domestic violence shelter or other ad hoc housing situation, even temporally family housing where whole families are housed in 1 room may be considered. Government homeless enumeration studies also include persons who sleep in a public or private place not designed for use as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings, as a 19 year old spent just a few nights on the streets and it wasn't pleasant.
Contributing causes
Major reasons and causes for homelessness as documented by many reports and studies include:
Unavailability of employment opportunities. Poverty, caused by many factors including unemployment and underemployment. Lack of accessible healthcare. People who have some kind of chronic and weakening disease but cannot get healthcare either because they don't have money to afford it or because the government will not give it to them are simply too weak to go and work every day so they remain poor and homeless. Abuse by government or by other people with power. War or armed conflict. Mental disorder, where mental health services are unavailable or difficult to access or as a result of deinstitutionalization. A United States Federal survey done in 2005 indicated that at least one-third of homeless men and women have serious psychiatric disorders or problems. Disability, especially where disability services are nonexistent or poor performing. Substance abuse Lack of affordable housing. An article in the November 2007 issue of Atlantic Monthly reported on a study of the cost of obtaining the "right to build" (i.e. a building permit, red tape, bureaucracy, etc.) in different U.S. cities. The "right to build" cost does not include the cost of the land or the cost of constructing the house. The study was conducted by Harvard economists Edward Glaeser and Kristina Tobio. According to the chart accompanying the article, the cost of obtaining the "right to build" adds approximately $600,000 to the cost of each new house that is built in San Francisco. Domestic violence. Relationship breakdown, particularly in relation to young people and their parents. Prison release and re-entry into society. Disasters, including but not limited to earthquakes and hurricanes. Forced eviction – In many countries, people lose their homes by government order to make way for newer upscale high rise buildings, roadways, and other governmental needs. The compensation may be minimal, in which case the former occupants cannot find appropriate new housing and become homeless. Mortgage foreclosures where mortgage holders see the best solution to a loan default is to take and sell the house to pay off the debt. The popular press made an issue of this in 2008; the real magnitude of the problem is undocumented. Foreclosures on landlords often lead to eviction of their tenants. "The Sarasota, Florida, Herald Tribune noted that,by some estimates, more than 311,000 tenants nationwide have been evicted from homes this year after lenders took over the properties." Criminality-- Some homeless may have committed crimes and are therefore hiding from the authorities. A substantial percentage of the U.S. homeless population are individuals who are chronically unemployed or have difficulty managing their lives effectively due to prolonged and severe drug and/or alcohol abuse. Substance abuse can cause homelessness from behavioral patterns associated with addiction that alienate an addicted individual's family and friends who could otherwise provide support during difficult economic times. Increased wealth disparity and income inequality causes distortions in the housing market that push rent burdens higher, making housing unaffordable. Dr. Paul Koegel of RAND Corporation, a seminal researcher in first generation homelessness studies and beyond, divided the causes of homelessness into structural aspects and then individual vulnerabilities.
Problems faced by people who are homeless
Main article: Discrimination against the homeless The basic problem of homelessness is the human need for personal shelter, warmth and safety, which can be literally vital. Other basic difficulties include: personal security, quiet, and privacy, especially for sleeping safekeeping of bedding, clothing and possessions, which may have to be carried at all times hygiene and sanitary facilities cleaning and drying of clothes obtaining, preparing and storing food in quantities keeping contacts, without a permanent location or mailing address hostility and legal powers against urban vagrancy. Homeless people face many problems beyond the lack of a safe and suitable home. They are often faced with many social disadvantages also, reduced access to private and public services and reduced access to vital necessities: Reduced access to health care and dental services. Limited access to education. Increased risk of suffering from violence and abuse. General rejection or discrimination from other people. Loss of usual relationships with the mainstream Not being seen as suitable for employment. Reduced access to banking services Reduced access to communications technology There is sometimes corruption and theft by the employees of a shelter as evidenced by a 2011 investigative report by FOX 25 TV in Boston wherein a number of Boston public shelter employees were found stealing large amounts of food over a period of time from the shelter's kitchen for their private use and catering.
Statistics for developed countries
In 2005, an estimated 100 million people worldwide were homeless. The following statistics indicate the approximate average number of homeless people at any one time. Each country has a different approach to counting homeless people, and estimates of homelessness made by different organizations vary wildly, so comparisons should be made with caution.
European Union: 3,000,000 (UN-HABITAT 2004)
United Kingdom: 10,459 rough sleepers, 98,750 households in temporary accommodation (Department for Communities and Local Government 2005)
Canada: 150,000 (National Homelessness Initiative – Government of Canada)
Australia: On census night in 2006 there were 105,000 people homeless across Australia, an increase from the 99,900 Australians who were counted as homeless in the 2001 census
United States: According to HUD's July 2008 3rd Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, in a single night in January 2007, single point analysis reported to HUD showed there were 671,888 sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons nationwide in the United States. Also, HUD reported the number of chronically homeless people (those with repeated episodes or who have been homeless for long periods, 2007 data) as 123,833. 82% of the homeless are not chronically homeless, and 18% are (6% Chronically Homeless Sheltered, 12% Chronically Homeless Unsheltered). Their Estimate of Sheltered Homeless Persons during a One-Year Period, October 2006 to September 2007, that about 1,589,000 persons used an emergency shelter and/or transitional housing during the 12-month period, which is about 1 in every 200 persons in the United States was in a homeless facility in that time period. Individuals accounted for 1,115,054 or 70.2% and families numbered 473,541 or 29.8%. The number of persons in sheltered households with Children was about 130,968. Japan: 20,000–100,000 (some figures put it at 200,000–400,000)[149] Reports show that homelessness is on the rise in Japan since the mid-1990s. There are more homeless men than homeless women in Japan because it is easier for women to get a job (they make less money than men do). Also Japanese families usually provide more support for women than they do for men.
Before the Spanish arrival in 1519, Mexico was occupied by a large number of Indian groups with very different social and economic systems. In general the tribes in the arid north were relatively small groups of hunters and gatherers who roamed extensive areas of sparsely vegetated deserts and steppes. These people are often referred to as Chichimecs, though they were a mixture of several linguistically distinctive cultural groups. In the rest of the country the natives were agriculturalists, which allowed the support of dense populations. Among these were the Maya of the Yucatan, Totonac, Huastec, Otomi, Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Tlaxcalans, Tarascans, and Aztecs. A number of these groups developed high civilizations with elaborate urban centers used for religious, political, and commercial purposes. The Mayan cities of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Palenque, the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, Tzintzuntzan of the Tarastec, and Monte Alban of the Zapotecs are examples.
By AD 1100 the Toltecs had conquered much of central and southern Mexico and had established their capital at Tula in the Mesa Central. They also built the city of Teotihuacan near present-day Mexico City. At about the same time, the Zapotecs controlled the Oaxaca Valley and parts of the Southern Highlands. The cities they built at Mitla and Monte Alban remain, though they were taken over by the Mixtecs prior to the arrival of the Spanish.
When the Spanish arrived in central Mexico, the Aztecs controlled most of the Mesa Central through a state tribute system that extracted taxes and political servility from conquered tribal groups. The Aztecs migrated into the Mesa Central from the north and fulfilled a tribal prophesy by establishing a city where an eagle with a snake in its beak rested on a cactus. This became the national symbol of Mexico and adorns the country's flag and official seal. The Aztecs founded the city of Tenochtitlan in the early 1300s, and it became the capital of their empire. The Tlaxcalans to the east, the Tarascans on the west, and the Chichimecs in the north were outside the Aztec domain and frequently warred with them. The nation's name derives from the Aztecs' war god, Mexitli.
Spanish Conquest
From the time of Hernando Cortez's conquest until 1821, Mexico was a colony of Spain. Cortez first entered the Valley of Mexico on the Mesa Central in 1519 after marching overland from Veracruz, the town he had founded on the Gulf Coastal Plain. With fewer than 200 soldiers and a few horses, the initial conquest of the Aztecs was possible only with the assistance of the large Indian armies Cortez assembled from among the Aztecs' enemies. After a brief initial success at Tenochtitlan, the Spanish were driven from the city on the Noche Triste but returned in 1521 to destroy the city and to overwhelm the Aztecs. Within a short time the rest of central and southern Mexico and much of Central America were conquered from Mexico City.
The Spanish usurped the Indian lands and redistributed them among themselves, first as encomiendas, a system of tribute grants, and later as haciendas, or land grants. During the early contact with Indians, millions died from such European diseases as measles and smallpox, for which the natives had no immunity. Central Mexico did not regain its pre-Columbian population numbers until perhaps 1900.
Independence
Along with other Spanish colonies in the New World, Mexico fought for and gained its independence in the early 1800s. On Sept. 16, 1810, in the town of Dolores Hidalgo, the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang his church's bells and exorted the local Indians to "recover from the hated Spaniards the land stolen from your forefathers. . ." This is celebrated as Mexican Independence Day. Padre Hidalgo was hanged in July 1811.
Hidalgo was succeeded by Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon, another parish priest but a more able leader than his predecessor. Morelos called a national congress, which on Nov. 6, 1812, officially declared Mexico to be independent from Spain. Morelos was executed by a Spanish firing squad in 1815, but his army, led by Vicente Guerrero, continued fighting until 1821. Because of weaknesses and political divisions in Spain, the revolutionary movement gained strength. Agustin de Iturbide, a royalist officer, joined forces with Guerrero and drafted the Plan of Iguala, which provided for national independence under a constitutional monarchy--the Mexican Empire. Not surprisingly, Iturbide was crowned emperor of Mexico in July 1822, and the newly formed empire lasted less than a year. Iturbide was exiled from the country but returned and was executed.
General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna then emerged as the dominant political force for some 30 years. Santa Anna was president of Mexico when Texas revolted and during the Mexican-American War of 1846.
Juarez Years
After nearly a half century of independence, Mexico had made relatively little economic or political progress, and the peasantry continued to suffer. In 1858 Benito Juarez, a Zapotec from Oaxaca, became president. He attempted to eliminate the role of the Roman Catholic church in the nation by appropriating its land and prerogatives. In 1859 the Ley Lerdo was issued--separating church and state, abolishing monastic orders, and nationalizing church property. Juarez had anticipated that Indians and peasants would reacquire the 50 percent of the nation's land formerly held by the church, but the properties were quickly purchased by the elite.
Because of the many years of economic and political chaos that had elapsed, Mexico was financially insolvent. In 1861 Juarez announced a suspension of payment on foreign loans, and the British, Spanish, and French occupied Veracruz in order to collect the Mexican debts. The British and Spanish quickly withdrew, but France overthrew the Mexican government and in 1864 declared Mexico an empire with Maximilian I of Austria as emperor. During the war with the French, the Mexican armies won a major battle on May 5, 1862, despite being severely outnumbered and underarmed. That victory is celebrated as Cinco de Mayo, a national holiday. Because of its own Civil War, the United States was unable to enforce its Monroe Doctrine, which prohibited European involvement in the Americas. At the close of the Civil War, however, the United States threatened to send troops into Mexico, and the French army withdrew from the country. Maximilian was executed by the Mexicans in 1867.
After the fall of the French and several years of turmoil, Porfirio Diaz emerged to become president in 1877 and, except for four years, ruled as an absolute dictator until 1910. During his reign Diaz encouraged foreign investment and attempted to modernize the nation. He helped to increase the GDP fivefold, expanded both exports and imports, saw gold and silver production increase from 25 million to 160 million dollars a year, and built more than 15,000 miles (24,000 kilometers) of railway. During this same period Diaz lined his pockets and gave away huge concessions of land to friends and foreign speculators. By 1910 more than 95 percent of rural families had become landless--debt peons because of government expropriation of communally held farm villages.
Mexican Revolution
Because Diaz had surrounded himself with friends and cronies who gained economic and political power, there was little opportunity for outsiders in the process even if they were upper-class Mexicans. Francisco Madero, born into a wealthy mining and ranching family of northern Mexico, is credited with instigating the Mexican Revolution. After the fraudulent election of 1910, Madero led a revolutionary movement that in 1911 captured the isolated border city of Ciudad Juarez. An old man in ill health, Diaz was forced to resign, and Madero was elected president on a platform promising social reform. Madero was idealistic but politically inept. As a result his presidency was short-lived and chaotic. Felix Diaz, Porfirio's nephew, and Gen. Victoriano Huerta joined together in a rebellion that ousted Madero. He and his vice-president, Pino Suarez, were executed by the military in February 1913.
Huerta became president, but counterrevolutions broke out in the north. They were led by Gen. Venustiano Carranza, a follower of Madero and governor of Coahuila, with Pancho Villa and Gen. Alvaro Obregon. Peasants in the south, disillusioned with Madero's ineffectiveness, rallied behind the charismatic Indian revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. While the northern revolutionaries were largely interested in access to power, Zapata and his followers, the zapatistas, demanded land and liberty for the peasantry.
During the next few years disorder and chaos reigned. In 1915 Carranza overthrew Huerta to became president, but in the process he alienated Villa, among others. Zapata was killed shortly after Carranza came to power, but his ideal of agrarian reform became a cornerstone of the revolution. Villa returned to Chihuahua and raided border towns in the southwest- ern United States, including Columbus, N.M., where a number of Americans were killed. American Gen. John J. Pershing was sent into Mexico to capture Villa but was unsuccessful. (See also Villa, Pancho; Zapata, Emiliano.) The major accomplishment of the Carranza period was the Constitution of 1917, which sought to destroy the feudalism that had existed in Mexico for 400 years. After Carranza's assassination in 1920, General Obregon ascended to the presidency. A strong individual, he was both willing and able to push through social reforms. His successor in 1924 was Gen. Plutarco Elias Calles, a longtime political ally. Calles was vigorously antichurch and was also unfriendly to foreign capital investment. Only through diplomatic intervention was Calles persuaded to reopen churches that had closed and to become less hostile to the foreign governments he had alienated. Obregon was elected to a second term in 1928 but was assassinated that same year. Calles, who had founded the National Revolutionary party, the predecessor of the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI) that still controls the nation, filled the office of interim president with three successive puppet presidents.
Peaceful Reforms
The election of Gen. Lazaro Cardenas in 1934 changed the politics of the nation. Cardenas expelled Calles and developed a vigorous six-year plan to modernize the country. He redistributed more land than did all of his predecessors combined, built rural schools, nationalized the petroleum industry and strengthened the unions.
Miguel Aleman Valdes, president from 1946 to 1952, was responsible for massive public-works projects, including irrigation schemes in the northwest and hydroelectric power in the south. Luis Echeverria Alvarez (1970-76) devalued the peso after nearly 25 years of parity with the United States dollar. Jose Lopez Portillo (1976-82) directed the frantic economic growth of the oil boom. Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado (1982-88) inherited an economy that had been transformed by a rapid decrease in international oil prices as well as huge foreign debts. In July 1988 the PRI candidate Carlos Salinas de Gortari was elected president in a vote marred by charges of widespread fraud. In 1991, President Salinas ordered the immediate closing of Mexico City's largest government-operated refinery in a move to combat the city's air-pollution crisis. The giant refinery would be replaced by public parks and green spaces. Salinas was succeeded in 1994 by Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, who was elected after the leading candidate, Luis Donaldo Colosio, was assassinated. In July 1996 Zedillo and the country's main opposition parties signed a landmark agreement toward political reform. The pact eliminated the PRI's control of election procedures and ballot counting and placed limits on campaign spending. The agreement added 17 new amendments to Mexico's constitution.
Sixty-eight years of uninterrupted legislative rule by PRI came to an end in July 1997 as Mexican voters handed control of the country's lower house of parliament to two opposition parties nominally allied against the PRI. While the PRI won the largest individual share of the vote, finishing with approximately 39 percent of the vote, it failed to win an independent majority in the lower house for the first time since 1929. The National Action party (PAN) finished second in the election, capturing 27 percent of the vote, and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) won nearly 26 percent of the vote. Political analysts were nearly unanimous in stating that the election results indicated that the Mexican political system had begun to move away from thinly veiled one-party rule and toward genuine multiparty democracy. Nowhere was the changing political atmosphere more evident than in Mexico City, where PRD leader Cuahtemoc Cardenas Solorzano won a landslide victory in the mayoral race.
Recent Relations with the United States, CIA and drug cartels
Relations between the United States and Mexico fluctuated in the 20th century. A long-standing border dispute was settled in 1963, and in 1992 the two countries, along with Canada, signed the broadest trade agreement ever reached between them. The continent-wide North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect in 1994. In addition, the United States and Mexico have worked cooperatively to deal with the flow of illegal narcotics traffic from Mexico to the United States. The question of illegal The question of illegal immigration and the treatment of illegals in the United States is also a source of irritation between the nations.
Unrest in Chiapas
Tensions between pro-government paramilitary forces and the anti-government Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) exploded during the first two weeks of January in 1994, when EZLN guerrillas staged an uprising throughout Chiapas in protest against the Mexican government's treatment of Mexico's large but impoverished Indian community. The 1994 uprising left at least 140 people dead, and it sparked an ongoing struggle that raged throughout the southern state of Chiapas and claimed between 300 and 600 lives in the ensuing years. In December 1997 the village of Acteal in Chiapas became the site of one of the bloodiest massacres in recent Mexican history, as an armed paramilitary group slaughtered at least 45 people and wounded dozens more. Although the motive for the attack, as well as the identities of the perpetrators, remained unclear, villagers from Acteal suggested that pro-government guerrillas had staged the attack to retaliate for Acteal's support of the EZLN, noting that Acteal's villagers had been strong supporters of the anti-government peasant rebellion that began in Chiapas in 1994.
Mexican history timeline http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/3148-mexico-history-time-line-overview-resource-page
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007. Raytheon is the world's largest producer of guided missiles. Established in 1922, the company reincorporated in 1928 and adopted its present name in 1959. The company has around 72,000 employees worldwide and annual revenues of approximately US$25 billion. More than 90% of Raytheon's revenues were obtained from military contracts and, as of 2007, it was the fifth-largest military contractor in the world, and is the fourth largest defense contractor in the United States by revenue. Raytheon Headquarters was moved from Lexington, Massachusetts to Waltham, Massachusetts on October 27, 2003. The company was previously headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1922–1928, Newton, Massachusetts from 1928–1941, Waltham from 1941–1961, Lexington from 1961–2003, and back to Waltham from 2003 onwards.
Businesses
Raytheon is composed of six major business divisions:
Integrated Defense Systems — based in Tewksbury, Massachusetts; Thomas A Kennedy, President Intelligence and Information Systems — based in Garland, Texas; Lynn Dugle, President Missile Systems — based in Tucson, Arizona; Taylor W. Lawrence, President Network Centric Systems — based in McKinney, Texas; Dan Crowley, President Raytheon Technical Services Company LLC — based in Dulles, Virginia; John Harris, President. Space and Airborne Systems — based in El Segundo, California; Rick Yuse, President.
Raytheon’s businesses are supported by several dedicated international operations including: Raytheon Australia (Managing Director, Michael Ward); Raytheon Canada Limited; operations in Japan; Raytheon Microelectronics in Spain; Raytheon UK (formerly Raytheon Systems Limited); and ThalesRaytheonSystems, France.
Strategic Business Areas
In recent years, Raytheon has expanded into other fields while redefining some of its core business activities. Raytheon has identified four key 'Strategic Business Areas' where it is focusing its expertise and resources, including: Homeland Security Missile Defense Precision Engagement Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) Process Improvement
Leadership
William H. Swanson is the Chairman and CEO. Other members of the board of directors of Raytheon are: Barbara Barrett, Vernon Clark, Ferdinand Colloredo-Mansfeld, John Deutch, Thomas Everhart, Frederic Poses, Warren Rudman, Michael Ruettgers, Ronald Skates, William Spivey, and Linda Stuntz. [edit]International In addition to its US domestic facilities, Raytheon has offices in countries worldwide, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. [edit]Products and services
Overview
See Raytheon products for products manufactured and sold by Raytheon Company Raytheon's electronics and defense-systems units produce air-, sea-, and land-launched missiles, aircraft radar systems, weapons sights and targeting systems, communication and battle-management systems, and satellite components. Air Traffic Control Systems FIRSTplus Air Traffic Control Simulator AutoTrac III ATM System
Radars and sensors
A PAVE PAWS Early Warning Radar System built by Raytheon, based at Clear AFS, Alaska Raytheon is a developer and manufacturer of radars (including AESAs), electro-optical sensors, and other advanced electronics systems for airborne, naval and ground based military applications. Examples include: APG-63/APG-70 radars for the F-15 Eagle APG-65/APG-73/APG-79 radars for the F/A-18 Hornet APG-77 radar for the F-22 Raptor (joint development with Northrop Grumman ) ALE-50 towed decoy ALR-67(V)3 and ALR-69A radar warning receivers AN/APQ-181 (AESA upgrade currently in development), for the B-2 Spirit bomber Integrated Sensor Suite (ISS) for the RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV ASQ-228 ATFLIR (Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared) pod TPQ-36/TPQ-37 Firefinder and MPQ-64 Sentinel mobile battlefield radars SLQ-32 shipboard EW system Large fixed-site radars such as PAVE PAWS, BMEWS, and the Missile Defense Agency X-band Radar (XBR)
Satellite sensors Raytheon, often in conjunction with Boeing, Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman, is also heavily involved in the satellite sensor business. Much of its Space and Airborne Systems division in El Segundo, CA is devoted to this, a business it inherited from Hughes. Examples of programs include: Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS), being developed for the Ballistic Missile Defense. Raytheon is building the sensor payload.[citation needed] Additionally, the El Segundo site is the company center of excellence for the development and production of laser products. Raytheon company's Navy Multiband Terminal (NMT) is the first advanced, next-generation satellite communications (SATCOM) system to successfully log on to and communicate with the U.S. government's Milstar SATCOM system using low and medium data rate waveforms. The system provides naval commanders and sailors with greater data capacity, as well as improved protection against enemy intercept and jamming.
Communications Raytheon's Universal Control System (UCS) is an unmanned aerial system (UAS) "cockpit" that improves operator awareness and efficiency, while providing the ability to control multiple unmanned aircraft, and reduce potential accidents. The company also makes several software radio and digital communication systems for military applications such as Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC), is participating in Navy-Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI), ECHELON and the Joint Tactical Terminal (JTT) programs.
Radioactive materials detection system As part of the company's growing homeland security business and strategic focus, Raytheon has teamed with other contractors to develop an Advance Spectroscopic Portal (ASP) to allow border officials to view and identify radioactive materials in vehicles and shipping containers more effectively. [edit]Semiconductors Raytheon also manufactures semiconductors for the electronics industry. In the late 20th century it produced a wide range of integrated circuits and other components, but as of 2003 its semiconductor business specializes in gallium arsenide (GaAs) components for radio communications. It is also making efforts to develop gallium nitride (GaN) components for next-generation radars and radios. [edit]Missile defense systems In the framework of Ground-Based Midcourse Defense, Raytheon is developing a Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) which includes a booster missile and a kinetic Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), along with several key radar components, such as the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX) and the Upgraded Early Warning Radars (UEWR). [edit]Missiles
Raytheon missiles on display at the Paris Air Show, 2005 Raytheon is a developer of missiles and related missile defense systems. These include: AGM-65 Maverick AGM-88 HARM AGM-129 ACM (Advanced Cruise Missile) AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon AIM-7 Sparrow AIM-9 Sidewinder AIM-120 AMRAAM BGM-109 Tomahawk MIM-23 Hawk MIM-104 Patriot RIM-7 Sea Sparrow RIM-162 ESSM Small Tactical Munition Hi-tech simulators Raytheon also produces and runs the ABACUS (Advanced BAttlespace CompUter Simulation) or Higher Formation Trainer (HFT) for training HQs from small specialist units up to corps level.
Training Services and Learning Outsourcing Raytheon Professional Services (RPS) is a global leader[citation needed] in training services and learning outsourcing for over 75 years.[citation needed] Clients are offered training tailored to their needs. The scope of each contract can vary from short-term training initiatives and projects to multi-year outsourcing engagements for some or all of a client’s training function. Services include: (1) Performance Consulting & Learning Strategy Development, (2)Training Design, Development & Delivery, (3) Learning Technologies and (4)Training Administration
As of 2011, according to commonly accepted knowledge, many newspapers, the UN, world bank and many others, there is no functioning global international military, executive, legislature, judiciary, or constitution, with jurisdiction over the entire planet, which is sort of true but at the same time rubbish, but it is clear to see that the UN, IMF, world bank and various other world organizations having their strings pulled by higher up personnel and are pushing for a 1 world government. Please check out CASE 235 - The Continental Superstates - CASE 070 - The new world order - CASE 013 - The United nations
The Earth is divided geographically and demographically into mutually-exclusive territories and political structures called states which are independent and sovereign in most cases. One may also make the case that political and economical independence, although related, are not the same, and even though former colonies have acquired political independence since World War II, they have become more dependent upon each other financially. There are numerous bodies, institutions, unions, coalitions, agreements and contracts between these units of authority, but, except in cases where a nation is under military occupation by another, all such arrangements depend on the continued consent of the participant nations. Thus the use of violence is unprohibited throughout the realm and is only checked by the threat of retaliatory violence or nonviolent sanctions (see Gene Sharp), so where no such threat exists a nation may use violence against another. Among the voluntary organizations and international arrangements the following are: The United Nations (UN) is the primary formal organization coordinating activities between states on a global scale and the only inter-governmental organization with a truly universal membership (192 governments). In addition to the main organs and various humanitarian programs and commissions of the UN itself, there are about 20 functional organizations affiliated with the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), such as the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, and International Telecommunications Union. Of particular interest politically are the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization.
Countries that don't have a Private central bank, part of the UN, IMF, world bank or WTO
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), were formed together at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States in July 1944, to foster global monetary cooperation and to fight poverty by financially assisting states in need. The World Trade Organization (WTO) sets the rules of international trade. It already has a semi-legislative body (The General Council, reaching decisions by consensus), and a judicial body (The Dispute Settlement Body). Another influential economical international organization is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with membership of 30 democratic members. G8, an association of the eight highest GDP Nations of the World. The leaders of the G8 countries meet annually in person to coordinate their policies in confronting global issues, such as poverty, terrorism, infectious diseases, and climate change. G20, an association of twenty developing and established nations and entities, including the European Union. Militarily, the UN deploys peacekeeping forces, usually to build and maintain post-conflict peace and stability. When a more aggressive international military action is undertaken, either ad-hoc coalitions (e.g., multinational force in Iraq), or regional military alliances (e.g., NATO) are used. International law encompasses international treaties, customs, and globally acceptable legal principles. With the exceptions of cases brought before the ICC and ICJ (see below), the laws are interpreted by national courts. Many violations of treaty or customary law obligations are overlooked. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) (also known as World Court) is the judiciary organ of the United Nations. It settles disputes submitted to it voluntarily by states (only), and gives advisory opinions on legal questions submitted to it by other organs of the UN, such as the General Assembly or Security Council. A recent development in international law is the International Criminal Court (ICC), the first ever permanent international criminal court, which was established to ensure that the gravest international crimes do not go unpunished. The ICC treaty was signed by 139 national governments, of which 100 ratified it into law by October 2005. In addition to the formal, or semi-formal, international organizations and laws mentioned above, many other mechanisms act to regulate human activities across national borders. In particular, international trade in goods, services and currencies (the "global market") has a tremendous impact on the lives of people in almost all parts of the world, creating deep interdependency amongst nations (see globalization). Trans-national (or multi-national) corporations, some with resources exceeding those available to most governments, govern activities of people on a global scale. The rapid increase in the volume of trans-border digital communications and mass-media distribution (e.g., Internet, satellite television) has allowed information, ideas, and opinions to rapidly spread across the world, creating a complex web of international coordination and influence, mostly outside the control of any formal organizations or laws.
The last "Turkish Islamic Union" was the great Ottoman Empire. Since its collapse, the Islamic world has been divided into many nation states that remained, some for a prolonged period of time, under colonial rule. From 1920 onward, most of the Middle East, North Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, and the Muslims of Southeast Asia came under the rule of European colonial powers, in particular France and Britain. Muslims of Central Asia and the Caucasus first fell under the rule of the Russians and later on, and even worse, the Soviets. The Balkan Muslims came under the rule of such non-Muslim people as the Serbs and Croatians, whose rulers, after the Second World War, accepted communism.
In short, the majority of Muslims lived under colonial rule. With the end of colonialism in the 1950s and 1960s, Muslims began to achieve their independence. Britain first withdrew from the Indian subcontinent and then the Middle East. In the Indian subcontinent, India, West and East Pakistan (later to become Bangladesh), were created. In the Middle East, the various Arab nations gained their independence. In Southeast, Malaysia and Indonesia declared their independence in 1965.
At the end of the 1980s the Eastern Bloc disintegrated, and in 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and many Muslim peoples won their independence. In Central Asia, the Muslim Turkish nations finally rid themselves of Russian/Soviet rule after 150 years and became independent republics. The end of communism also freed the Balkan Muslims. Bosnia-Herzegovina was freed from Serb-dominated Yugoslavia and emerged as a Muslim nation in central Europe, and Albania was freed from Enver Hoxha's oppressive and blood-thirsty communist regime. Except for Muslims living as minorities in various countries or under occupation (e.g., Palestine and Kashmir), Muslims now rule themselves. This great political change made it possible to speak of a Turkish Islamic Union. My opinion of this is good luck to them, but it could all be under false pretenses, backed by central banks, the UN and other corrupted organizations
http://www.theislamicunion.com/
Lots of info on the Islamic union http://www.theislamicunion.com/3.html
Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G, NYSE: PG) is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio that manufactures a wide range of consumer goods. It is 5th in Fortune's Most Admired Companies 2011 list. P&G is credited with many business innovations including brand management and the soap opera. Procter & Gamble is a leading member of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a Washington D.C.-based coalition of over 400 major companies and NGOs that advocates for a larger International Affairs Budget, which funds American diplomatic and development efforts abroad.
Operations
As of July 1, 2007, the company's operations are categorized into three "Global Business Units" with each Global Business Unit divided into "Business Segments" according to the company's March 2009 earnings release.
Beauty & Grooming Beauty segment Grooming segment
Household Care Baby Care and Family Care segment Fabric Care and Home Care segment
Health and Well-Being Health Care segment Snacks and Pet Care segment
List of Procter & Gamble brands
23 of P&G's brands have more than a billion dollars in net annual sales, and another 18 have sales between $500 million and $1 billion.
Billion dollar brands
Ariel is a brand of laundry detergent/liquid available in numerous forms and scents. Bounty is a brand of paper towel sold in the United States and Canada. Braun is a small-appliances manufacturer specializing in electric shavers, epilators, hair care appliances and blenders. CoverGirl is a brand of women's cosmetics. Crest/Oral B is a brand of toothpaste and teeth whitening products. Dawn/Fairy is a brand of dishwashing detergent. Downy/Lenor is a brand of fabric softener. Duracell is a brand of batteries and flashlights. Fusion is a brand of men's wet shave razors and is the quickest P&G brand to have reached $1 billion in annual sales. Gain is a brand of laundry detergent, fabric softeners and liquid dish soap. Gillette is a brand of safety razor and male grooming products. Head & Shoulders is a brand of anti-dandruff shampoo and conditioners. Olay is a brand of women's skin care products. Oral-B is a brand of toothbrush, and oral care products. Pampers is a brand of disposable diaper and other baby care products. Pantene is a brand of hair care products (conditioners/styling aids). Pringles is a brand of potato chips. Ace/Tide is a brand of laundry detergent. Wella is a brand name of hair care products (shampoo, conditioner, styling, and hair color). Always/Whisper is a brand of pantyliners sold primarily in Asian markets. Flash/Mister Clean is a brand of multi-purpose cleaner, and spray sold in the United States and Great Britain. Most of these brands, including Bounty, Crest, Pringles, and Tide, are global products available on several continents. Procter & Gamble products are available in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
The inner part of the earth is the core. This part of the earth is about 1,800 miles (2,900 km) below the earth's surface. The core is a dense ball of the elements iron and nickel. It is divided into two layers, the inner core and the outer core. The inner core - the center of earth - is solid and about 780 miles (1,250 km ) thick. The outer core is so hot that the metal is always molten, but the inner core pressures are so great that it cannot melt, even though temperatures there reach 6700ºF (3700ºC). The outer core is about 1,370 miles (2,200 km) thick. Because the earth rotates, the outer core spins around the inner core and that causes the earth's magnetism.
What does the core consist of?
Inner core: It is 3,200 - 3,960 miles (5,150-6,370 km) below the earth's surface and mainly consists of iron, nickel and some lighter elements (probably sulphur, carbon, oxygen, silicon and potassium. The temperature in the inner core is about 9032 - 10832 ºF (5000-6000 ºC). Because of the high pressure, the core is solid. The average density of the core is about 15g/cm³.
Outer core: The outer core is at 1,800 - 3,200 miles (2,890-5,150 km) below the earth's surface. The outer core is liquid and mainly consists of iron, some nickel and about 10% sulphur and oxygen. The temperature in the outer core is about 7200 - 9032 ºF (4000-5000ºC). The density of the outer core is between the 10g/cm³ and 12,3g/cm³. The outer core and inner core together cause the earth's magnetism.
What Influence does the Core have?
Because the core is so hot, it radiates a natural heat to the upper layers. Because of this a current of heat comes into being. Those are also known as the convection currents. The convection currents cause the movement of the tectonic plates. This movement is called plate tectonics. The outer core and the inner core together cause the earth's magnetism. Because the earth rotates, the outer core spins, the inner core doesn't spin because it's solid. This gives a kind of dynamo effect and causes the earth's magnetism. Magnetism has been used by sailors to find their way on earth for thousands and thousands of years. Magnetism also influences electro-particles outside the atmosphere of the earth, up to more than 37,000 miles (60,000 km) into space
Little is known of the earliest history of Nigeria. By c.2000 B.C. most of the country was sparsely inhabited by persons who had a rudimentary knowledge of raising domesticated food plants and of herding animals. From c.800 B.C. to c.A.D. 200 the neolithic Nok culture (named for the town where archaeological findings first were made) flourished on the Jos Plateau; the Nok people made fine terra-cotta sculptures and probably knew how to work tin and iron. The first important centralized state to influence Nigeria was Kanem-Bornu, which probably was founded in the 8th cent. A.D., to the north of Lake Chad (outside modern Nigeria). In the 11th cent., by which time its rulers had been converted to Islam, Kanem-Bornu expanded south of Lake Chad into present-day Nigeria, and in the late 15th cent. its capital was moved there.
Beginning in the 11th cent. seven independent Hausa city-states were founded in N Nigeria—Biram, Daura, Gobir, Kano, Katsina, Rano, and Zaria. Kano and Katsina competed for the lucrative trans-Saharan trade with Kanem-Bornu, and for a time had to pay tribute to it. In the early 16th cent. all of Hausaland was briefly held by the Songhai Empire. However, in the late 16th cent., Kanem-Bornu replaced Songhai as the leading power in N Nigeria, and the Hausa states regained their autonomy. In southwest Nigeria two states—Oyo and Benin—had developed by the 14th cent.; the rulers of both states traced their origins to Ife, renowned for its naturalistic terra-cotta and brass sculpture. Benin was the leading state in the 15th cent. but began to decline in the 17th cent., and by the 18th cent. Oyo controlled Yorubaland and also Dahomey. The Igbo people in the southeast lived in small village communities.
In the late 15th cent. Portuguese navigators became the first Europeans to visit Nigeria. They soon began to purchase slaves and agricultural produce from coastal middlemen; the slaves had been captured further inland by the middlemen. The Portuguese were followed by British, French, and Dutch traders. Among the Igbo and Ibibio a number of city-states were established by individuals who had become wealthy by engaging in the slave trade; these included Bonny, Owome, and Okrika.
The Nineteenth Century
There were major internal changes in Nigeria in the 19th cent. In 1804, Usuman dan Fodio (1754–1817), a Fulani and a pious Muslim, began a holy war to reform the practice of Islam in the north. He soon conquered the Hausa city-states, but Bornu, led by Muhammad al-Kanemi (also a Muslim reformer) until 1835, maintained its independence. In 1817, Usuman dan Fodio's son, Muhammad Bello (d.1837) established a state centered at Sokoto, which controlled most of N Nigeria until the coming of the British (1900–1906). Under both Usuman dan Fodio and Muhammad Bello, Muslim culture, and also trade, flourished in the Fulani empire. In Bornu, Muhammad al-Kanemi was succeeded by Umar (reigned 1835–80), under whom the empire disintegrated.
In 1807, Great Britain abandoned the slave trade; however, other countries continued it until about 1875. Meanwhile, many African middlemen turned to selling palm products, which were Nigeria's chief export by the middle of the century. In 1817 a long series of civil wars began in the Oyo Empire; they lasted until 1893 (when Britain intervened), by which time the empire had disintegrated completely.
In order to stop the slave trade there, Britain annexed Lagos in 1861. In 1879, Sir George Goldie gained control of all the British firms trading on the Niger, and in the 1880s he took over two French companies active there and signed treaties with numerous African leaders. Largely because of Goldie's efforts, Great Britain was able to claim S Nigeria at the Conference of Berlin (see Berlin, Conference of) held in 1884–85.
In the following years, the British established their rule in SW Nigeria, partly by signing treaties (as in the Lagos hinterland) and partly by using force (as at Benin in 1897). Jaja, a leading African trader based at Opobo in the Niger delta and strongly opposed to European competition, was captured in 1887 and deported. Goldie's firm, given (1886) a British royal charter, as the Royal Niger Company, to administer the Niger River and N Nigeria, antagonized Europeans and Africans alike by its monopoly of trade on the Niger; in addition, it was not sufficiently powerful to gain effective control over N Nigeria, which was also sought by the French.
Colonialism
In 1900 the Royal Niger Company's charter was revoked and British forces under Frederick Lugard began to conquer the north, taking Sokoto in 1903. By 1906, Britain controlled Nigeria, which was divided into the Colony (i.e., Lagos) and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria and the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria. In 1914 the two regions were amalgamated and the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria was established.
The administration of Nigeria was based on a system devised by Lugard and called “indirect rule”; under this system, Britain ruled through existing political institutions rather than establishing a wholly new administrative network. In some areas (especially the southeast) new African officials (resembling the traditional rulers in other parts of the country) were set up; in most cases they were not accepted by the mass of the people and were able to rule only because British power stood behind them. All important decisions were made by the British governor, and the African rulers, partly by being associated with the colonialists, soon lost most of their traditional authority. Occasionally (as in Aba in 1929) discontent with colonial rule flared into open protest.
Under the British, railroads and roads were built and the production of cash crops, such as palm nuts and kernels, cocoa, cotton, and peanuts, was encouraged. The country became more urbanized as Lagos, Ibadan, Kano, Onitsha, and other cities grew in size and importance. From 1922, African representatives from Lagos and Calabar were elected to the legislative council of Southern Nigeria; they constituted only a small minority, and Africans otherwise continued to have no role in the higher levels of government. Self-help groups organized on ethnic lines were established in the cities. A small Western-educated elite developed in Lagos and a few other southern cities.
In 1947, Great Britain promulgated a constitution that gave the traditional authorities a greater voice in national affairs. The Western-educated elite was excluded, and, led by Herbert Macaulay and Nnamdi Azikiwe, its members vigorously denounced the constitution. As a result, a new constitution, providing for elected representation on a regional basis, was instituted in 1951.
Three major political parties emerged—the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC; from 1960 known as the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens), led by Azikiwe and largely based among the Igbo; the Action Group, led by Obafemi Awolowo and with a mostly Yoruba membership; and the Northern People's Congress (NPC), led by Ahmadu Bello and based in the north. The constitution proved unworkable by 1952, and a new one, solidifying the division of Nigeria into three regions (Eastern, Western, and Northern) plus the Federal Territory of Lagos, came into force in 1954. In 1956 the Eastern and Western regions became internally self-governing, and the Northern region achieved this status in 1959.
Independence and Internal Conflict
With Nigerian independence scheduled for 1960, elections were held in 1959. No party won a majority, and the NPC combined with the NCNC to form a government. Nigeria attained independence on Oct. 1, 1960, with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of the NPC as prime minister and Azikiwe of the NCNC as governor-general; when Nigeria became a republic in 1963, Azikiwe was made president.
The first years of independence were characterized by severe conflicts within and between regions. In the Western region, a bloc of the Action Group split off (1962) under S. I. Akintola to form the Nigerian National Democratic party (NNDP); in 1963 the Mid-Western region (whose population was mostly Edo) was formed from a part of the Western region. National elections late in 1964 were hotly contested, with an NPC-NNDP coalition (called the National Alliance) emerging victorious.
In Jan., 1966, Igbo army officers staged a successful coup, which resulted in the deaths of Federal Prime Minister Balewa, Northern Prime Minister Ahmadu Bello, and Western Prime Minister S. I. Akintola. Maj. Gen. Johnson T. U. Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo, became head of a military government and suspended the national and regional constitutions; this met with a violent reaction in the north. In July, 1966, a coup led by Hausa army officers ousted Ironsi (who was killed) and placed Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon at the head of a new military regime. In Sept., 1966, many Igbo living in the north were massacred. Gowon attempted to start Nigeria along the road to civilian government but met determined resistance from the Igbo, who were becoming increasingly fearful of their position within Nigeria. In May, 1967, the Eastern parliament gave Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka O. Ojukwu, the region's leader, authority to declare the region an independent republic. Gowon proclaimed a state of emergency, and, as a gesture to the Igbos, redivided Nigeria into 12 states (including one, the East-Central state, that comprised most of the Igbo people). However, on May 30, Ojukwu proclaimed the independent Republic of Biafra, and in July fighting broke out between Biafra and Nigeria. Biafra made some advances early in the war, but soon federal forces gained the initiative. After much suffering, Biafra capitulated on Jan. 15, 1970, and the secession ended. The early 1970s were marked by reconstruction in areas that were formerly part of Biafra, by the gradual reintegration of the Igbo into national life, and by a slow return to civilian rule.
Modern Nigeria
Spurred by the booming petroleum industry, the Nigerian economy quickly recovered from the effects of civil war and made impressive advances. Nonetheless, inflation and high unemployment remained, and the oil boom led to government corruption and uneven distribution of wealth. Nigeria joined the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in 1971. The prolonged drought that desiccated the Sahel region of Africa in the early 1970s had a profound effect on N Nigeria, resulting in a migration of peoples into the less arid areas and into the cities of the south.
Gowon's regime was overthrown in 1975 by Gen. Murtala Muhammad and a group of officers who pledged a return to civilian rule. In the mid-1970s plans were approved for a new capital to be built at Abuja, a move that drained the national economy. Muhammad was assassinated in an attempted coup one year after taking office and succeeded by Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo. In a crisis brought on by rapidly falling oil revenues, the government restricted public opposition to the regime, controlled union activity and student movements, nationalized land, and increased oil industry regulation. Nigeria sought Western support under Obasanjo while supporting African nationalist movements.
In 1979 elections were held under a new constitution, bringing Alhaji Shehu Shagari to the presidency. Relations with the United States reached a new high in 1979 with a visit by President Jimmy Carter. The government expelled thousands of foreign laborers in 1983, citing social disturbances as the reason. The same year, Shagari was reelected president but overthrown after only a few months in office.
In 1985 a coup led by Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida brought a new regime to power, along with the promise of a return to civilian rule. A new constitution was promulgated in 1990, which set national elections for 1992. Babangida annulled the results of that presidential election, claiming fraud. A new election in 1993 ended in the apparent presidential victory of Moshood Abiola, but Babangida again alleged fraud. Soon unrest led to Babangida's resignation. Ernest Shonekan, a civilian appointed as interim leader, was forced out after three months by Gen. Sani Abacha, a long-time ally of Babangida, who became president and banned all political institutions and labor unions. In 1994, Abiola was arrested and charged with treason.
In 1995, Abacha extended military rule for three more years, while proposing a program for a return to civilian rule after that period; his proposal was rejected by opposition leaders, but five political parties were established in 1996. The Abacha regime drew international condemnation in late 1995 when Ken Saro-Wiwa, a prominent writer, and eight other human-rights activists were executed; the trial was condemned by human-rights groups and led to Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations. Also in 1995, a number of army officers, including former head of state General Obasanjo, were arrested in connection with an alleged coup attempt. In 1996, Kudirat Abiola, an activist on behalf of her imprisoned husband, was murdered.
Abacha died suddenly in June, 1998, and was succeeded by Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, who immediately freed Obasanjo and other political prisoners. Riots followed the announcement that Abiola had also died unexpectedly in July, 1998, while in detention. Abubakar then announced an election timetable leading to a return to civilian rule within a year. All former political parties were disbanded and new ones formed. A series of local, state, and federal elections were held between Dec., 1998, and Feb., 1999, culminating in the presidential contest, won by General Obasanjo. The elections were generally deemed fair by international monitors. The People's Democratic party (PDP; the centrist party of General Obasanjo) dominated the elections; the other two leading parties were the Alliance for Democracy (a Yoruba party of the southwest, considered to be progressive), and the All People's party (a conservative party based in the north).
Following Obasanjo's inauguration on May 29, 1999, Nigeria was readmitted to the Commonwealth. The new president said he would combat past and present corruption in the Nigerian government and army and develop the impoverished Niger Delta area. Although there was some progress economically, government and political corruption remained a problem and the country was confronted with renewed ethnic and religious tension. The latter was in part a result of the institution of Islamic law in Nigeria's northern states, and led to violence (continuing into 2004) in which an estimated 10,000 people have died since the end of military rule. Army lawlessness has also been a problem in some areas. A small success was achieved in Apr., 2002, when Abacha's family agreed to return $1 billion to the government; the government had sought an estimated $4 billion in looted Nigerian assets.
In Mar., 2003, the Ijaw, accusing the Itsekiri, government, and oil companies of economic and political collusion against them, began militia attacks against Itsekiri villages and oil facilities in the Niger delta, leading to a halt in the delta's oil production for several weeks and military intervention by the government. The presidential and earlier legislative elections in Apr., 2003, were won by President Obasanjo and his party, but the results were marred by vote rigging and some violence. The opposition protested the results, and unsuccessfully challenged the presidential election in court. The Ijaw-Itsekiri conflict continued into 2004, but a peace deal was reached in mid-June. The Ijaw backed out of the agreement, however, three weeks later. Christian-Muslim tensions also continued to be a problem in 2004, with violent attacks occurring in Kebbi, Kano, and Plateau states.
Obasanjo's government appeared to move more forcefully against government corruption in early 2005. Several government ministers were fired on corruption charges, and the senate speaker resigned after he was accused of taking bribes. A U.S. investigation targeted Nigeria's vice president the same year, and Obasanjo himself agreed to be investigated by the Nigerian financial crimes commission when he was accused of corruption by Orji Uzor Kalu, the governor of Abia and a target of a corruption investigation. Ijaw militants again threatened Niger delta oil operations in Sept., 2005, and several times in subsequent years, resulting in cuts in Nigeria's oil production as large as 25% at times. Since early 2006 the Niger Delta area has seen an increase in kidnappings of foreign oil workers and attacks on oil operations. In Oct., 2005, the government reached an agreement to pay off much of its foreign debt at a discount, a process that was completed in Apr., 2006.
The end of 2005 and early 2006 saw increased contention over whether to amend the constitution to permit the president and state governors to run for more than two terms. The idea had been rejected in July, 2005, by a national political reform conference, but senators reviewing the conference's proposals indicated they supported an end to term limits. The change was opposed by Vice President Atiku Abubakar, but other PDP leaders who objected were removed from their party posts. A census—a contentious event because of ethnic and religious divisions in Nigeria—was taken in Mar., 2006, but the head count was marred by a lack of resources and a number of violent clashes, and many Nigerians were believed to have been left uncounted. In May the Nigerian legislature ended consideration of a third presidential term when it became clear that there was insufficient support for amending the constitution. Nigeria agreed in June, 2006, to turn over the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon after a two-year transition period.
In July the vice president denied taking bribes from a U.S. congressman, but in September the president called for the Nigerian senate to remove the vice president from office for fraud, based on an investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The senate agreed to investigate the charges, and the PDP suspended the vice president, blocking him from seeking the party's presidential nomination. Abubakar counteraccused Obasanjo of corruption. The EFCC was also investigating most of Nigeria's state governors, but the commission itself was tainted by charges that it was used for political retaliation by Obasanjo and his allies. Several state governors were impeached by legally unsound proceedings, moves that were seen as an attempt by Obasanjo to tighten his control prior to the 2007 presidential election.
When the vice president accepted (Dec., 2006) the presidential nomination of a group of opposition parties, the president accused him of technically resigning and sought to have him removed, an action Abubakar challenged in court; the government backed down the following month, and the courts later sided with Abubakar. In Jan., 2007, the results of the 2006 census were released, and they proved as divisive as previous Nigerian censuses. The census showed that the largely Muslim north had more inhabitants that the south, and many southern political leaders vehemently rejected the results.
In February, the EFCC declared Abubakar and more than 130 other candidates for the April elections unfit due to corruption, and the election commission barred those candidates from running. Abubakar fought the move in court, but the ruling was not overturned until days before the presidential election. The state elections were marred by widespread and blatant vote fraud and intimidation, but the election commission certified nearly all the results, handing gubernatorial victories to the PDP in 27 states. In the presidential election, Umaru Yar'Adua, the relatively unknown governor of Katsina state who was hand-picked by Obasanjo to be the PDP candidate, was declared the winner with 70% of the vote, but fraud and intimidation were so blatant that EU observers called the election a “charade” and the president was forced to admit it was “flawed.” Nonetheless, Yar'Adua's inauguration (May) marked the first transition of power between two elected civilian presidents in Nigeria's post-colonial history. Yar'Adua subsequently moved to reorganize and reform the national petroleum company, and the federal government has not interfered with challenges in the courts to state elections. Also in April there was battling between the army and Islamic militants in Kano state after the militants attacked the police there.
