Europe

Europe (ⁱ/ˈjʊərəp/ or /ˈjɜːrəp/) is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. To the east and southeast, Europe is generally considered as separated from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways of the Turkish Straits. Yet the borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary, as the primarily physiographic term "continent" also incorporates cultural and political elements.

Europe is the world's second-smallest continent by surface area, covering about 10,180,000 square kilometres (3,930,000 sq mi) or 2% of the Earth's surface and about 6.8% of its land area. Of Europe's approximately 50 countries, Russia is by far the largest by both area and population, taking up 40% of the continent (although the country has territory in both Europe and Asia), while Vatican City is the smallest. Europe is the third-most populous continent after Asia and Africa, with a population of 739–743 million or about 11% of the world's population. Europe has a climate heavily affected by warm Atlantic currents, tempering winters and enabling warm summers on most of the continent, even on latitudes that have severe climates in North America and Asia. Further from the Atlantic, seasonal differences increase, but the mildness of the climate remains.

Europa (mythology)

In Greek mythology Europa (/jʊˈroʊpə, jə-/; Greek: Εὐρώπη Eurṓpē) was the mother of King Minos of Crete, a woman with Phoenician origin of high lineage, and for whom the continent Europe was named. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull was a Cretan story; as Kerényi points out "most of the love-stories concerning Zeus originated from more ancient tales describing his marriages with goddesses. This can especially be said of the story of Europa".

Europa's earliest literary reference is in the Iliad, which is commonly dated to the 8th century B.C. Another early reference to her is in a fragment of the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, discovered at Oxyrhynchus. The earliest vase-painting securely identifiable as Europa, dates from mid-7th century B.C.

Etymology

The etymology of her Greek name (εὐρύς eurys "wide" or "broad" and ὤψ ops "eye(s)" or "face") suggests that Europa as a divine spirit represented the wide-faced cow Hathor, at least on some symbolic level. Metaphorically, at a later date her name could be construed as the intelligent or open-minded, analogous to glaukopis (γλαυκῶπις) attributed to Athena. However, Ernest Klein and Giovanni Semerano suggest a possible Semitic origin in Akkadian erebu "to go down, set" (in reference to the sun) which would parallel occident.

Europe (Paul Motian album)

Europe is an album by Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop Band released on the German Winter & Winter label in 2000. The album is the group's fifth release following Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop Band (1992), Reincarnation of a Love Bird (1995), Flight of the Blue Jay (1997) and Play Monk and Powell (1998).

Reception

The Allmusic review by Alex Henderson awarded the album 3 stars stating "Europe is essentially a straight-ahead hard bop/post-bop date, and yet, it isn't necessarily an album that jazz purists will be comfortable with. That's because Motian doesn't stick to the type of all-acoustic format that purists expect... Europe is a solid effort that will please those who admire Motian's flexibility and open-mindedness".

Track listing

Premier (South Africa)

In South Africa, a Premier

is the head of government of one of South Africa's nine provinces. The Premier of a province plays for that province a role similar to that played by the President for the country as a whole.

Election

Elections for the nine provincial legislatures are held every five years, simultaneously with the election of the National Assembly; the last such election occurred on 7 May 2014. At the first meeting of the provincial legislature after an election, the members choose the Premier from amongst themselves. The legislature can force the Premier to resign by a motion of no confidence. If the Premiership becomes vacant (for whatever reason) the legislature must choose a new Premier to serve out the period until the next election. One person cannot have serve more than two five-year terms as Premier; however, when a Premier is chosen to fill a vacancy the time until the next election does not count as a term.

Premier (cigarette)

Premier was a smokeless cigarette released in the United States in 1988 by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. It worked by heating and aerosolizing tobacco flavour and was intended to reduce or eliminate the unhealthy side effects associated with smoking, both to the smoker and to the people around the smoker.

While RJR itself questioned whether the device functioned adequately as a nicotine delivery device, activists derided it for its potential for use in delivery of other drugs. It never achieved popularity, as smokers complained about a charcoal-like aftertaste, and although it looked like a conventional cigarette, special instructions were required to teach smokers how to light it. RJR estimated that it would take two or three packs for a smoker to acquire a taste for Premier, but in practice many smokers only smoked one cigarette and shared the rest of the pack. It was withdrawn from the market in 1989, less than a year after its introduction.

It was launched in India in 2002 and failed in 2003.

Premiers of the Australian states

The Premiers of the Australian states are the de facto heads of the executive governments in the six states of the Commonwealth of Australia. They perform the same function at the state level as the Prime Minister of Australia performs at the national level. The territory equivalents to the Premiers are the Chief Ministers of the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. The Queen of Australia and the State Governors are the formal repositories of executive power, however, in practice they act only on the advice of State Premiers and Ministers.

Background

Each of the Australian states is governed under the Westminster system of parliamentary government. Each state has an elected legislature. Following a General Election, the State Governor appoints as Premier the Member of the lower house of the State legislature who can command a simple majority of votes on the floor of the house. The Governor is the head of Government, but in practice acts only on the advice of the Premier. The Premier must resign his or her commission to the Governor if he or she loses the confidence of the Legislative Assembly, either because his or her party is defeated at a General Election or because he or she loses a vote of confidence in the house. (Premiers may also resign for other reasons, such as losing the confidence of their own party).