New election legislation raised the threshold for minor parties to join Parliament in 2008, pushing political groups to form two coalitions. The right-wing Pact for San Marino, led by the Christian Democratic Party of San Marino, and the left-wing Reforms and Freedom, led by the Socialists and Democrats.

Cambodia's New Year's celebrations (known as Choul Chnam Thmey in Khmer) take place in mid-April each year, marking the conclusion of the traditional harvest season. This is Cambodia's greatest celebration of the year.

Carl Barnes, an Oklahoma farmer, spent years selectively breeding the colourful corn as a way to reconnect with his heritage. Anyone can now purchase and plant the multicoloured cobs.

This horrific reality is the outcome of US airstrikes on Laos during the Vietnam War, when the US unleashed more than two million tonnes of bombs throughout Laos for nine years, from 1964 to 1973. Because 30% of these bombs did not explode, most of Laos' soil is unfit for agriculture. Hundreds of Laotians are still injured or murdered as a result of unintentionally finding bombs and grenades.

Girls, on the other hand, are more likely to be taught how to track and budget their spending. According to a GiftCards.com poll conducted in the United States, girls receive less money from their parents, whereas boys in high school and primary school receive around twenty dollars more on Christmas, three dollars more for chore completion, and one dollar more for allowance.

Yes, bamboo may be used to make fabric similar to linen. Bamboo fabric offers a variety of unique qualities that make it an excellent eco-friendly fabric for clothing. It has a natural sheen and smoothness, making it non-irritating and ideal for those with sensitive skin.

Each night more stars and constellations begin to appear in the eastern part of the sky at dusk before moving across and disappearing over the western horizon by dawn. Likewise, those constellations which we had been able to see low near the western horizon after sunset will vanish from our view only to be replaced by constellations that had been higher in the sky at sunset just a few weeks earlier. The constellations which appear in the east have a daily shift rate close to one degree per day, as completing a 360 degrees circular journey around the Sun in 365 days produces roughly that rate. One full year later, the stars subsequently return to the same position and rising time as the year before.

The North Rhine-Westphalia city of Cologne is home to the Cologne Cathedral. It is Northern Europe's largest Gothic church. The second-tallest spires are found there. The largest cathedral in the world is made up of these enormous spires. In the distant past, in 1248, construction on the Cologne Cathedral began. It took until 1880 for the cathedral's construction to be completed.

The Story of the Kelly Gang, an Australian film, was the world's first feature-length film. IMDB has information on the cast, box office, and budget. It lasted more than an hour, and the reel length was approximately 4,000 feet. To put that into perspective, a small 5-inch reel of film can hold up to 200 feet, a 6-inch can hold 300 feet, and a 7-inch can hold 400 feet. Depending on the size of the reel, that's at least 10 reels of 7-inch film and up to 20 reels of 5-inch film.

The term "Eskimo kiss" is well known, and it is not unusual to see non-Inuit couples express their love in this way. The Inuit do, nonetheless, employ a slightly different version of this gesture to greet their significant others, children, and parents. In fact, however, they do not rub their noses together in order to kiss. The Inuit are genuinely smelling each other's cheeks and hair, as opposed to what you have likely experienced while participating in a so-called Eskimo kiss. This behaviour is called kunik.

Despite enjoying widespread acceptance for many years, the "dominance" notion of dog training is gradually being exposed. "You should never try to dominate your dog," Hartstein says emphatically. The concept that you need to demonstrate your dog "who's alpha" by doing things like eating before them, making sure you're constantly in a higher position than them, or using punishing behaviour is obsolete and unhelpful. Of course, you should establish a schedule and ensure that your dog understands rules and boundaries, but ignore standard advice regarding dominance shows.

Barbie's official birthday commemorates her first public appearance at the American International Toy Fair in New York in 1959. In her black and white striped one-piece, she stood 11 inches tall and was dressed for a pool party. Barbie was instantly recognizable as the only toy in the doll aisle that wasn't modelled after a baby or a small child—having an adult woman as a plaything for children was a novel concept. One thing she lacked at first? A navel button. That was added to her design in 2000, more than 40 years later.

Hawaiian art and culture have a rich history of mythology and folklore, and one of their scariest tales is that of the Hukai’po, which translates to “Spirit Ranks.” Also known as Nightmarchers, the Hukai’po are thought to be ghosts of ancient Hawaiian warriors who come out on sacred nights to reenact old battles, toting archaic weapons, helmets, cloaks, and raised torches. Anyone in their path risks harm, though it is suggested that you may be spared if you show proper respect to the marchers.

Poland is the EU's top candle manufacturer as of 2018. All candles manufactured in the EU were worth €619 million to it, or 38% of the total. 10% of the value of candles produced in the EU in 2018 was produced by Germany, which comes in second, and Italy, which comes in third (source: Eurostat). 
Chinese, American, and Vietnamese candles were the most common imports from non-EU nations.

According to research. However, scientists will be unable to determine how long lobsters live because traps are not designed to catch the largest lobsters. "When we get a 20-30 pounder, it's because a claw got hooked in the trap's entry, not inside," explains Robert C. Bayer, executive director of The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine.

Motion pictures have been around since the 1890s, when the first moving picture cameras were invented. However, the very first moving picture, The Roundhay Garden Scene, was made in the 1880s. Louis Le Prince, a French inventor, filmed his family prancing around in a circle in a two-second clip in 1888. While this may appear insignificant at the time, it was the innovation that led to the commercialization of cameras and motion pictures.

Santa's way of expressing happiness and joy is 'Ho Ho Ho'; if he said 'Ha Ha Ha,' people might think he was laughing at them!

A fascinating part of Balinese society is that there are just four names: Wayan, Made, Nyoman, and Ketut, and people know the names of their children before they are born. The names are given in chronological sequence, therefore the first baby is Wayan, the second is Made, the third is Nyoman, and the fourth is Ketut. If there is a fifth child, they are renamed Wayan, and the cycle continues.

Because the International Space Station (ISS) has Russian-language modules and operations, all astronauts who travel to the ISS must be fluent in the language. According to some astronauts, learning this new language was the most difficult aspect of their training. English-speaking astronauts can expect to spend 1,100 class hours to reach a reasonable level of fluency in Russian, according to the US State Department Foreign Service Institute. That's twice as long as it takes to learn other languages such as French, Spanish, or Dutch.

Winter in the north of Sweden can be difficult, with fewer than 5 hours of daylight for months on end. Seasonal Affective Disorder is a kind of depression that occurs as a result of a lack of daylight and affects many people in Europe's far north. To remedy this, one Swedish city erected lightboxes in bus stops to provide passengers waiting for transportation with a little additional lighting during the gloomy winter days.

India was not conquered by Genghis Khan for the following reasons. Genghis Khan was aware of Iltutmish's military prowess. The Himalayas have shielded India from invasions by Central Asian tribes for countless years. Some historians, like the Juzjani, thought that the Khan's army, which was trained to fight in a cold environment, would be too vulnerable in India's hot climate.

Unfortunately, this is not good news for men. Depending on the species, the female spider may consume the male spider before, during, or after copulation! Did you know that this sexual cannibalism behaviour inspired the names of widow spiders like the black widow?

Defectors from North Korea sent the nation thousands of USB flash sticks between 2016 and 2017. These flash drives contained a sizable amount of prohibited items, such as Hollywood movies, South Korean soap operas, and world news articles.

Passport has been around for quite some time! In fact, it is mentioned in the Bible for the first time. It is found in The Book of Nehemiah, an Old Testament tome. Around 450BC, Nehemiah, an official in the service of King Artaxerxes I, the sixth King of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, granted passage to Judea via a royal missive addressed "to the governors of the province beyond the river." The permission to freely circulate, granted in response to the royal request, is the beginning of what will formally become the passport, this laissez-passer that we know today.

Milk is white due to its fat content. Although milk is mostly water, which is colorless, the fat and protein molecules floating inside it reflect all light wavelengths, giving it a white appearance.