Hungary :) by Mariana J.

I know.. late but here it is

Hungary

Country Name: Republic of Hungary.

Year Founded: Foundation of Hungary 896, recognized as Kingdom, first king: Stephen I of Hungary December 1000.

Population: 9,905,596 (July 2009 est.)

Primary Language: Hungarian (Magyar)93.6%, other or unspecified 6.4% (2001 census)

Ethnic Make-up: Hungarian 92.3%, Roma 1.9%, other or unknown 5.8% (2001 census).

Political System: Parliamentary Democracy.

Year Entered the European Union: Hungary voted in favour of joining the EU, and joined in 2004.

Representative of the European Union (include party):

Type of Economy: Hungary has made the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy. The private sector accounts for more than 80% of GDP.

Currency: Forint (HUF), The forint (sign: Ft; code: HUF) is the currency of Hungary. It is divided into 100 fillér.

Current Exchange rate for American Currency: At the middle of March 2009 the exchange rates were approximately 230 Ft for one United States dollar, and 295 Ft for one euro.

GDP: nominal (2008) estimate: Total $164,339 billion, Per capita $16,343 (IMF)

Percentage of Trade within the European Union:

Unemployment Rate: 8% (2008 est.)

Chief Exports: The country's chief exports include machinery and transport equipment, consumer goods, agricultural products, chemicals, apparel, textiles, iron and steel, paprika, and wine. The leading purchasers of Hungary's exports are Germany, Italy, Austria, Russia, and the United States.

Key Imports: mineral fuels, raw materials, semi-finished products, transport equipment, food products, consumer goods. Principal source: Germany 27.6% (2005) Arable land 49.6% (2006 est) Agricultural products wheat, maize, sugar beet, barley, potatoes, sunflowers, grapes; livestock and dairy products

Major Religions: Roman Catholic 51.9%, Calvinist 15.9%, Lutheran 3%, Greek Catholic 2.6%, other Christian 1%, other or unspecified 11.1%, unaffiliated 14.5% (2001 census)

Surrounding Countries: border countries: Austria 366 km, Croatia 329 km, Romania 443 km, Serbia 166 km, Slovakia 676 km, Slovenia 102 km, Ukraine 103 km

Literacy Rate: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99.4%
male: 99.5%
female: 99.3% (2003 est.)

One Interesting Fact:

Hungary is one of the oldest countries in Europe, founded way back in the year 896.

In 1989, Hungary became the first communist-block country to open its borders with Western Europe.

As per EU statistics, Hungary has the highest death rate by cancer in Europe and also the highest female suicide rate.

Greece

• Country Name : Conventional long form: Hellenic Republic, conventional short form: Greece.
• Year Founded: Greece wasn't founded. Greece was one of the oldest countries in the world.
• Population: According to the NSSG, Greece's total population in 2001 was 10,964,020, today the population is 10,722,816. 10, 737,428 (July 2009 est.)
• Primary Language: Greek 99% (official), other 1% (includes English and French)
• Ethnic Make-up: Greek 98%, other 2%
• Political System: Greece is parliamentary Republic.
• Year Entered the European Union: Greece became the tenth member of the European Union on 1 January 1981.
• Representative of the European Union (include party): Stavros Dimas-Greek Commissioner at the EU
• Type of Economy: Greece is member of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union since 2001.
• Currency: Euro
• Current Exchange rate for American Currency: $373.5 billion (2008 est.)
• GDP: $351.3 billion (2008 est.)
• Percentage of Trade within the European Union: I do not have the actual percentage but I know it is totally free from customs duties.
• Unemployment Rate: 8.3% (2007 est.)
• Chief Exports: I couldn’t find this but I found the export rate which is: $27.4 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
• Key Imports: machinery, transport equipment, fuels, chemicals, imports: $82.28 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
• Major Religions: Greek Orthodox 98%, Muslim 1.3%, other 0.7%
• Surrounding Countries: Turkey, Bulgaria, Albania and FYROM.
• Literacy Rate: 96% total population, male: 97.8%
female: 94.2%
• One Interesting Fact: An important percentage of Greece's income comes from tourism. In 2004 Greece welcomed 16.5 million tourists. According to a survey conducted in China in 2005, Greece was voted as the Chinese people's number one choice as a tourist destination, and 6,088,287 tourists visited only the city of Athens, the capital city.

By: Priscilla Grasman

GERMANY

• Country Name : Germany
• Year Founded:
• Population: 82,329,758 (July 2009 est.)
• Primary Language: German
• Ethnic Make-up: German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish)
• Political System: The German political system operates under a framework laid out in the 1949 constitutional document known as the Grundgesetz (Basic Law).
• Year Entered the European Union: West Germany was a founding member of the European Community (EC) in 1957, which became the European Union in 1993.
• Representative of the European Union (include party):
• Type of Economy: Industrial base.
• Currency: Euro
• Current Exchange rate for American Currency: 1 Euro = 1.3561 U.S. Dollars
• GDP: $2.863 trillion (2008 est.)
• Percentage of Trade within the European Union:.
• Unemployment Rate: 7.9%
note: this is the International Labor Organization's estimated rate for international comparisons; Germany's Federal Employment Office estimated a seasonally adjusted rate of 10.8% (2008 est.)
• Chief Exports: $1.354 trillion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
• Key Imports: raw materials, fuel (oil and gas) and food products.
• Major Religions: Protestant 34%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 3.7%, unaffiliated or other 28.3%
• Surrounding Countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland
• Literacy Rate: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99% (2003 est.)
• One Interesting Fact: German people are the second biggest consumers of beer in the world (after the Irish), with an average of 119 litres per person per year (or 0.32 l per day).

EUROPEAN UNION - CYPRUS

Country Name: conventional long form: Republic of Cyprus; conventional short form: Cyprus

Year Founded: i didn't found it, but i found that it became an independent country in 1960

Population: 796,740

Primary Language: Greek, Turkish, English

Ethnic Make-up: Greek 77%, Turkish 18%, other 5%

Political System: republic

Year Entered the European Union: May 1, 2004

Representative of the European Union: I didn't found it

Type of Economy: open, free-market, services-based economy with some light manufacturing. Tourism, clothing and craft exports and merchant shipping. Traditional crafts include embroidery, pottery and copperwork.

Currency: euro

Current Exchange rate for American Currency:
1 USD: 0.738062
IN USD: 1.3549

GDP:
PPP
Total $22.554 billion (107th)
Per capita $28,381 (30th)
NOMINAL
Total $25.585 (86th)
Per capita $32,195 (27th)

Percentage of Trade within the European Union: i didn't found it

Unemployment Rate: 3.8%

Chief Exports: citrus, potatoes, pharmaceuticals, cement, and clothing

Key Imports: consumer goods, petroleum and lubricants, intermediate goods, machinery, transport equipment

Major Religions: Most Greek Cypriots are members of the Greek Orthodox Church, whereas most Turkish Cypriots are Muslim.

Surrounding Countries: east of Greece, west of Lebanon, Syria and Israel, south of Turkey and north of Egypt

Literacy Rate: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 97.6%, male: 98.9%, female: 96.3%

Interesting Facts: the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily and Sardinia). One of the most popular tourist destinations, attracting over 2.4 million tourists per year

Defying Genocide

1. What did Damas Gisimba, Carl Wilkens, and Simon Weil Lipman value, and what risks did they take by holding onto their values?
   
2. What values did the children of the orphanage demonstrate?
   
3. As events unfolded, what were Damas Gisimba's concerns?
   
4. What does it mean - as both Simone Weil Lipman and Damas Gisimba state - to "see the other as yourself?"
   

Think back to the incidents that took place during the Rwandan genocide:

1. What role did the international community play during the genocide?
   
2. Does the international community have the responsibility of assisting countries threatened by genocide?
   
3. How can students get involved and make their voices heard against genocide? (For suggestions, visit www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/students/)

Think about challenges you face in your everday life:

1. Have you ever witnessed an incident by which a bystander took the responsibility of offering assistance to someone in need of help? What happened?
   
2. When someone needs help, do bystanders have the responsibility to offer assistance? What do bystanders risk when they intervene and when they do not get involved?
   

At the end of the film, Damas Gisimba stated that hatred must be "banished" to make the world a peaceful place. Reflect on that and answer the following:

1. What is "hatred?" When is it dangerous?
   
2. What are examples of different forms of hatred in the global community?
   
3. Can hatred be banished?
   
4. What would it take to banish hatred?
   
5. Whose responsibility is it to work to end hatred or to respond when hatred provokes violence?

Slumdog Millionaire

· The chaos and the constant noise and motion of Mumbai at the center of the film (supported by a fabulous soundtrack) are contrasted with a deeper silent seeking. Describe what each of the main characters is seeking
I liked the soundtrack! Each of the characters wanted different things, Jamal only wanted to be happy and everything to be right, Salim only cared for money even if it meant betraying his brother, Latika wanted to be with Jamal but told him to leave for his own good.

· In the final scene, we see Salim and the choice he makes - filling the bathtub with money, etc. Why does he make this choice?
Because he realized he had been doing wrong his whole life and he wanted to have no more regrets. He filled the bathtub with money because money was always like "the best" for him.

Slumdog Millionaire questions

-Compare and contrast three pivotal choices or decisions made by Jamal and Salim. How do their choices affect their respective paths in life or “destinies”?
The first decision can be when both decide to accept Latinka,that's when all started, theyr'e relationship. Then when Salim kicks out Jamal, well they lost contact for a long time, and Jamal is just not happy.And when Jamal decides to connect again with Salim, he searches again Latinka and sort of forgives Salim. Those 3 decisions affect the course of the movie, because without those decisions they would have never reunited again.

-Greed, corruption and the misuse of power are highlighted in the film through a variety of characters. How are those who have money and power glamorized in this film? What happens to the victims?

Those who have power and money are shown as the bad guys, the villans, first the guy who use kids to beg for money, and the other guy who was involved in the mafia that ends up with Latinka. They're bad persons who don't care about other, like his wife or the kids sufferment.

-Describe how loss, chance, luck, suffering, and street smarts are also characters behind the scenes. The film explores gain and loss side by side. Triumphs are tempered with loss. Where do you see this evident?

Almost all his life Jamal was with Salim, and then Salim kicks out Jamal, he starts to work witht he mafia guy and wins good money, while Jamal survives working. Then when they reunite again Jamal wins the game and is millionaire, while Salim is killed by people who worked by the mafia guy. Those are some comparissons I found, in the matter of money and loss.

By Mariana Jiménez B.