Believed to have been created by Charlemagne, the sixth-smallest nation in Europe is officially a Principality where the official language is Catalan, but Spanish, Portuguese, and French are also commonly spoken. What is the name of this microstate?
Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, is a sovereign landlocked microstate on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees, bordered by France to the north and Spain to the south. Believed to have been created by Charlemagne, Andorra was ruled by the count of Urgell until 988, when it was transferred to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Urgell. The present principality was formed by a charter in 1278. It is known as a principality as it is a diarchy headed by two princes: the Catholic bishop of Urgell in Catalonia, Spain, and the president of the French Republic.
Andorra is the sixth-smallest nation in Europe, having an area of 468 square kilometres (181 sq mi) and a population of approximately 77,006. The Andorran people are a Romance ethnic group of originally Catalan descent. Andorra is the 16th-smallest country in the world by land and the 11th-smallest by population. Its capital, Andorra la Vella, is the highest capital city in Europe, at an elevation of 1,023 metres (3,356 feet) above sea level. The official language is Catalan, but Spanish, Portuguese, and French are also commonly spoken.
Tourism in Andorra sees an estimated 10.2 million visitors annually. Andorra is not a member of the European Union, but the euro is its official currency. It has been a member of the United Nations since 1993. In 2013, Andorra had the highest life expectancy in the world at 81 years, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study.
Source
Mark. was first, and correct, with:
Andorra.
Randall wrote:
Andorra
Alan J answered:
Andorra.
mj replied:
I thought
It was a place populated by blue skinned people with little antennae.
Andorra.
Stephen F responded:
Luxembourg
zorch said:
Andorra.
Dave wrote:
Andorra. Unlike Monaco, Andorra isn't a jet setter destination/tax haven so its never in the US news, so I never heard of it. When WWI broke out, Andorra declared war on Imperial Germany, but didn't participate in the military struggle and wasn't represented or acknowledged in the Treaty of Versailles, so Andorra remained in a state of war with Germany until 1958. During WWII landlocked Andorra, bordered by neutral Spain and by unoccupied Vichy France, the principality was spared a German invasion even though it was still officially at war with Germany. Its unclear if the Germans knew about the state of war, or chose to ignore it?
Billy in Cypress U$A said:
Andora appears to be the answer today, but I have not heard of it before today.
Cal in Vermont wrote:
Andorra. Andorra has a total population of 77,000 which is slightly more than one-third the Burlington Vermont Metro Area at 214,796 out of a total state population of 630,000. The average life expectancy of the combined population is 83 years which suggests Andorrans like it there and, on average, refuse to die until they are good and damn ready.
Deborah wrote:
Took most of the day and a speedy bike ride to find the corner of my memory where World History class is stored. I'm pretty sure you're referring to Andorra.
We're doing a virtual happy hour with our favorite winery in Napa. This is the 3rd Friday we've participated, and it occurred to me that just two months ago it was the butt of jokes.
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• Duke Ellington died of lung cancer, and he knew he was dying. In the last days of his life, he sent his friends his final greeting. It was a card on which was a cross. In the middle of the cross was an O. Lettered vertically on the cross was the word LOVE. Lettered horizontally on the cross was the word GOD.
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• Thomas Beecham was a world-famous conductor, and he found it useful to know how to play various musical instruments. Occasionally, a musician would say that it was impossible to product an effect that Mr. Beecham wanted, so Mr. Beecham would take the musician's instrument and demonstrate that such an effect was possible. Learning the instruments, of course, took effort. When Mr. Beecham started to learn the trombone, his neighbors protested, and so he ended up practicing in a small boat in the middle of a lake.
• When pop singer/actress Mandy Moore was a little girl, her mother got her a voice teacher, but her mother told the teacher, "If she doesn't have any talent, tell me. I don't want to waste your time." In 1999, teenager Mandy got a hit with the single "Candy," which propelled her album So Real into a million-copy seller in only 12 weeks. Of course, Mandy quickly became a star. She said back then, "There are people selling 'What Mandy signed in my fifth grade yearbook' on the Internet and that's just scary."
• Throughout his life, Arturo Toscanini studied music. When he was an old man, he was found in his bed studying the scores of Beethoven's nine symphonies, although he had conducted the symphonies hundreds of times and had memorized the scores. When his son asked why he was studying scores that he so intimately knew, Toscanini replied, "Now that I am an old man, I want to come a little closer to the secrets of this music."
• Conductor Pierre Monteux taught at a school for conductors, where a young student tried to impress him while conducting Franz Schubert's Eighth Symphony. For 25 minutes, Mr. Monteux watched the young student wave his stick in all directions and show off with many expressions, then he told the student, "Now will you please play it again? And this time you will think of Franz Schubert - n'est-ce pas? - and not of yourself!"
• Famed conductor Sir Thomas Beecham once said to a young musician after tea, "I'm going to throw you out now." When the young musician asked why, Sir Thomas said, "I'm going to have a look at my scores." "But," the young musician said, "you always conduct from memory." Sir Thomas replied, "It is because I'm going to throw you out that I can look at my scores so that I can conduct from memory."
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'NCIS: The 3rd One', followed by a RERUN'SEAL Team', then '48 Hours'.
NBC starts the night with 'Dateline', followed by an old 'SNL'.
'SNL' is a RERUN, with Daniel Craig hosting, music by The Weeknd.
ABC opens the night with a RERUN'Shark Tank', followed by a RERUN'American Idol'.
The CW offers some local crap and some '2½ Men'.
Faux has a RERUN'9-1-1', followed by a RERUN'Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours To Hell & Back'.
MY recycles an old 'Major Crimes', followed by another old 'Major Crimes'.
A&E has 'Live PD', followed by a FRESH'Live PD: Rewind', then a FRESH'Live PD'.
AMC offers the movie 'Top Gun', followed by the movie 'GI Jane'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] PLANET EARTH: ONE AMAZING DAY
[8:00AM] NATURE'S GREAT EVENTS - The Great Flood
[9:00AM] NATURE'S GREAT EVENTS - The Great Feast
[10:00AM] NATURE'S GREAT EVENTS - The Great Melt
[11:00AM] NATURE'S GREAT EVENTS - The Great Salmon Run
[12:00PM] NATURE'S GREAT EVENTS - The Great Migration
[1:00PM] NATURE'S GREAT EVENTS - The Great Tide
[2:00PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Our Blue Planet
[3:00PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Green Seas
[4:00PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Coasts
[5:00PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - One Ocean
[6:00PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - The Deep
[7:00PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Coral Reefs
[8:00PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Big Blue
[9:00PM] LIFE STORY - Extended
[10:23PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Green Seas
[11:23PM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Coasts
[12:23AM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - One Ocean
[1:23AM] LIFE STORY
[2:46AM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - The Deep
[3:46AM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Coral Reefs
[4:46AM] PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II - Big Blue
[5:46AM] HIDDEN HABITATS - Yellowstone (ALL TIMES EST)
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[6:00A] Mystery Science Theater 3000 - City Limits
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SyFy has the movie 'The Hitman's Bodyguard', followed by the movie 'xXx: Return Of Xander Cage'.
The entertainment industry hasn't been immune from the coronavirus pandemic, with movie and television shoots put on indefinite hiatus while people quarantine. Some talk shows have even continued to run in a stripped-down format, including "The Daily Show," which host Trevor Noah has been broadcasting from his home since mid-March.
But despite the production being a one-man operation right now, a Variety article revealed that Noah has been paying the salaries of crew members while in-studio production of the show is halted. These 25 furloughed workers range from camera operators to audio engineers and stage managers.
"These are the people who have been on the show with Trevor from day one and help him put on the show," a source told Variety. "Trevor is personally covering their salaries until the production business opens again. He respects his crew tremendously and feels it's only right that they get through this together."
Since Noah has been hosting from home, this new iteration of the longstanding Comedy Central series has been renamed to "The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah." He's largely covered the pandemic and the government's response to it, while also interviewing people like Andrew Yang, NASA astronaut Christina Koch and disease expert Anthony Fauci.
James Corden has committed to paying the salaries of about 60 furloughed staffers on "The Late Late Show" after their paychecks from CBS come to an end this week.
Corden has been hosting and producing "The Late Late Show" from his garage in Los Angeles since April 14.
CBS covered eight weeks of salary for production staffers that were sidelined by the sudden shutdown of "Late Late Show" on March 15 as the coronavirus outbreak spurred social distancing mandates.
Last week, Corden informed some staffers that they would be furloughed as of May 4 and that he would cover the salaries going forward out of his own pocket. The total cost to Corden is unclear, but is likely to be at least mid-five figures a week.
Queen and Adam Lambert are honoring healthcare workers and first responders on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic with a new song: "You Are The Champions," a reworking of the band's 1977 classic "We Are The Champions."
Individually isolated in their homes, Queen founders Brian May and Roger Taylor along with Lambert recorded a "virtual jam" of the song with Brian May on guitar in one screen, with Roger Taylor on drums and Lambert in the middle. The completed, mixed and mastered "You Are The Champions," additionally featuring bass player Neil Fairclough, is available now on all streaming and download services.
"By each playing our part and addressing the difficult times we are all sharing we will win this challenge," the band said in a joint statement. "During this time our thoughts and thanks are with those dedicated medical heroes standing up to the battle daily on our behalf. They are the champions. You are the champions."
May, who turns 73 in July, made sure to mention previous generations' sacrifices during times of international strife: "Just like our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents who fought for us in two world wars, those brave warriors in the front line are our new champions. That means the doctors, nurses, cleaners, porters, drivers, tea-ladies and gentlemen, and all who are quietly risking their lives daily to save the lives of our kin. CHAMPIONS ALL!"
Proceeds raised from the track will benefit the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization (WHO), powered by the United Nations Foundation. The Fund provides tools and resources to health workers on the frontlines globally, including PPE, testing kits, trainings, and more. Additionally, the Fund supports the rapid development of a vaccine and therapeutics.
A local news station in Florida had a rather surprising guest on Friday afternoon: Death himself. During a story on the reopening of the state's beaches, ABC News' Panama City affiliate spoke with the Grim Reaper, who was busy protesting the loosening of coronavirus restrictions before the danger of COVID-19 had fully passed.
"I'm here today to try to make the point that it's premature that we open our beaches," the scythe-bearing harvester of souls explained. "I'm a huge proponent of public beaches, and I've been fighting for that for year, but I think the danger of bringing all the people here to our area and spreading the virus - I think it's going to prolong the recovery we have."
Florida is one of several states that have begun to loosen restrictions despite having recorded its highest single-day death toll this week. Watch the interview (which of course isn't actually with the Pale Rider himself, but with a Walton County attorney named Daniel W. Uhlfelder dressed as such) below.
Top U.S. health official Anthony Fauci will not testify next week to a congressional committee examining the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic, the White House said on Friday, calling it "counterproductive" to have individuals involved in the response testify.
The White House issued an emailed statement after a spokesman for the House of Representatives committee holding the hearing said the panel had been informed by Trump administration officials that Fauci had been blocked from testifying.
Fauci's testimony was being sought for a May 6 hearing by a House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees health programs, said spokesman Evan Hollander. The Washington Post first reported that Fauci would not testify.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been one of the leading medical experts helping to guide the U.S. response to the highly contagious virus that has swept across the United States.
President Donald Trump (R-Prevaricator) on Thursday said he had seen evidence that shows the coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab, but US intelligence sources and disease experts seem to be contradicting this claim.
At Thursday's White House daily coronavirus press briefing, Trump said US authorities were looking into the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has previously conducted extensive research on coronaviruses that originate in bats.
When a reporter asked him if he had seen "anything that gives you a high degree of confidence" that the coronavirus originated in this lab, Trump said: "Yes I have," but added he's "not allowed to tell" anyone about the intelligence.
Hours later, The Washington Post published a report that told a very different story.
American disease researchers and intelligence officials who spoke to the newspaper said that while a lab accident is a possible scenario, there's no evidence pointing in that direction.
A mosaic featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin will no longer be displayed in a grand military church being built outside Moscow after the leader objected, a cleric said on Friday.
Russian Orthodox Bishop Stefan of Klin told news agency Interfax the committee in charge of the church's interior decoration "decided not to display it" because it was "the wish of the head of the country".
The mosaic is still in a workshop and is likely to be dismantled, said the bishop, who will be the archpriest of the military church.
The Cathedral of the Armed Forces was due to open this month featuring wall mosaics depicting Putin's face along with officials including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in a panel glorifying Russia's annexation of Crimea.
The church's interior also depicts Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin at the victory parade at the end of World War II. It was not clear if this fragment has also been removed.
Infowars' Alex Jones sent himself trending on Twitter Friday after a clip of the conspiracy theorist surfaced of him admitting he would have no problem engaging in cannibalism. It was posted just after midnight Friday and had over 2.6 million views by late afternoon.
In the clip from Tuesday's show, Jones - who doesn't have a Twitter account of his own since being banned by the platform - says, "I will admit it: I would eat my neighbors. I'm not letting my kids die."
He went on, saying, "I'm just going to be honest. My superpower is being honest. I've extrapolated this out - and I won't have to for a few years because I got food and stuff - but I'm literally looking at my neighbors now and going, 'I'm ready to hang 'em up and gut 'em and skin 'em and chop 'em up.' My daughters aren't starving to death. I'll eat my neighbors. My superpower is being honest. I'll eat your a-."
Although he was pretty convincing in the declarations he will "do it" and would "eat your a-," he asked viewers, "You think I like sizing up my neighbor? I'm gonna haul him up by a chain and chop his a- up. I'll do it. My children aren't going hungry. I'll eat your a- and that's what I want the globalists to know: I will eat your a- first."
The monologue was part of a larger discussion on the coronavirus-related lockdowns that have stalled the economy.
A Milky Way magnetar called SGR 1935+2154 may have just massively contributed to solving the mystery of powerful deep-space radio signals that have vexed astronomers for years.
On 28 April 2020, the dead star - sitting just 30,000 light-years away - was recorded by radio observatories around the world, seemingly flaring with a single, millisecond-long burst of incredibly bright radio waves that would have been detectable from another galaxy.
In addition, global and space X-ray observatories recorded a very bright X-ray counterpart.
Work on this event is very preliminary, with astronomers madly scrambling to analyse the swathes of data. But many seem in agreement that it could finally point to the source of fast radio bursts (FRBs).
Fast radio bursts are one of the most fascinating mysteries in the cosmos. They are extremely powerful radio signals from deep space, galaxies millions of light-years away, some discharging more energy than 500 million Suns. Yet they last less than the blink of an eye - mere milliseconds in duration - and most of them don't repeat, making them very hard to predict, trace, and therefore understand.
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