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king of Poland and elector of Saxony (as Frederick Augustus I). Though he regained Poland’s former provinces of Podolia and the Ukraine, his reign marked the beginning of Poland’s decline as a European power

Augustus succeeded his elder brother John George IV as elector in 1694. After the death of John III Sobieski of Poland (1696), Augustus became one of 18 candidates for the Polish throne. To further his chances, he converted to Catholicism, thereby alienating his Lutheran Saxon subjects and causing his wife, a Hohenzollern princess, to leave him

the “Turkish War,” which had begun in 1683 and in which he had participated intermittently since 1695, was concluded; by the Treaty of Carlowitz in 1699, Poland received Podolia, with Kamieniec (Kamenets) and the Ukraine west of the Dnieper River from the Ottoman Empire.

Bernadotte, alone among the marshals of the Empire, was a man of independent political means. He survived Napoleon’s abdication and fall as his own master, which again distinguishes him from his former colleagues

Only Bernadotte, elected Crown Prince of Sweden in 1810—he became King in 1818—was spared the dilemma that faced the Marshals when in 1814 the French Senate decreed Napoleon’s overthrow and the Allied Sovereigns coupled promises of further employment with demands for immediate public submission to the brothers of Louis XVI

Allied backing of the Bourbons, quite content to devote his governmental talents to the prosperity of his adoptive country, which, by his alliance with Tsar Alexander I and an understanding with England, he had already launched on the road to political and economic recovery

Their reigns were crucial for the solid establishment of the constitutional and political conventions and practices known as the Revolution Settlement after James II and VII’s replacement by William III in 1689. The legislation that made it up (which included the 1701 Act of Settlement enshrining the claim to the British throne of Sophia of Hanover, mother of the future George I was passed from 1689, but much of the political settlement was not solidified until after 1714

Although the consequences of this new polity were less dramatic than those stemming from the personal union of England and Scotland under James VI and I in 1603, this had been by no means clear when the new dynastic personal union was created

Both George I and George II sought to use British resources to help secure gains for Hanover. George I sought to win territories  from the partition of the Swedish empire and to place a westward limit on the expansion of Russian power under Peter the Great. George II pursued Hanoverian territorial interests in neighbouring principalities, especially in Mecklenburg, East Friesland and Osnabrück

In the middle of the sixteenth century Poland was a wealthy country governed by the Jagiellon Kings, whose riches had been built upon a monopoly of the Baltic Sea trade around Gdansk. By the end of the eighteenth century, Russia, Prussia and Austria had divided the country between them and Poland was wiped off the map for 123 years.

The abolition of the hereditary monarchy placed the election of the king in the hands of the nobles. If no Polish heir to the throne was available, foreigners were eligible to stand.

After suffering several devastating defeats at the hands of the Swedes, including a period of five years, 1655-60, known as ‘the Deluge’, Poland was severely weakened and could offer little resistance to the combined power of Russia, Prussia and Austria

Charles, the only son of Charles X Gustav and Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp

they drew Sweden into the Dutch War of 1672–78 at the behest of King Louis XIV of France, with whom they had signed a treaty of alliance. Charles assumed control of the armies and the administration after the Swedish defeat

The alliance of the two nations in opposition to Dutch commercial influence in the Baltic was sealed by Charles XI’s marriage to Ulrika Eleonora (1680), sister of King Christian V of Denmark. By the treaties of Nijmegen (1678–79), which marked the end of the Dutch War, Sweden was able to keep nearly all of its German possessions

virtual ruler of Sweden

Charles in 1568 was one of the leaders of a rebellion against the rule of his half brother Erik XIV that placed his other brother on the throne as John III.

The brothers were reunited in 1587, however, when both opposed the nobles’ state council, which promoted the candidacy of John’s son Sigismund (king of Poland as Sigismund III Vasa) for the Polish throne.

king of Poland (1587–1632) and of Sweden (1592–99)

sought to effect a permanent union of Poland and Sweden but instead created hostile relations and wars between the two states lasting until 1660

The elder son of King John III Vasa of Sweden and Catherine, daughter of Sigismund I the Old of Poland, Sigismund belonged to the Vasa dynasty through his father and to the Jagiellon dynasty through his mother, who brought him up as a Catholic. He was elected king of Poland in August 1587, succeeding his uncle King Stephen Báthory.

Mohammed Barkindo, the secretary general of Opec, said there was a growing mass mobilisation of world opinion against oil, which was “beginning to … dictate policies and corporate decisions, including investment in the industry”

He said the pressure was also being felt within the families of Opec officials because their own children “are asking us about their future because … they see their peers on the streets campaigning against this industry”.

“Thank you! Our biggest compliment yet!” tweeted Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish initiator of the school student strike movement, which continues every Friday.

Budget airlines such as Ireland’s Ryanair and British easyJet revolutionized European travel two decades ago, when they first started offering to scoot people across the continent for as little as $20 a flight. That mode of travel, once celebrated as an opening of the world, is now being recognized for its contribution to global problems.

Tourists have been spooked by the realization that one passenger’s share of the exhaust from a single flight can cancel out a year’s worth of Earth-friendly efforts

“Now, when people tell me why they are taking the train, they say two things in the same breath: They say they are fed up with the stress of flying, and they want to cut their carbon footprint,

The theory was laid out almost 30 years ago by two Swedish economists, Torsten Persson and Lars EO Svensson.

they explained why a stubborn conservative legislator would intentionally run a big budget deficit.

It has to do with what economists call time inconsistency – the consequences of actions taken today may not appear until the future, when a different political party will be in power. Thus the credit or blame will accrue to that party rather than the one that implemented the policy, because voters tend to attribute whatever is happening today to the party in power today even if that party had nothing to do with it.

A researcher at a Swedish university says that Viking burial clothes bear the word “Allah”

Inspecting the woman’s silk burial clothes, Larsson noticed small geometric designs. She compared them to similar designs on a silk band found in a 10th-century Viking grave, this one in Birka, Sweden. It was then that she came to the conclusion that the designs were actually Arabic characters—and that they spelled out the name of God in mirror-image.

tendency of white supremacists to appropriate the symbols of Vikings, whom they claim constituted a pure-bred white race; in Charlottesville, for example, neo-Nazis were seen toting banners with Viking runes. The idea that Vikings were influenced by Muslims would likely be anathema to them. “The Vikings are every white supremacist’s favorite white guy.”

Volvo Cars one-upped larger rivals like General Motors and added momentum to the movement toward electric vehicles on Tuesday by saying it would convert its entire lineup to battery power by 2030, no longer selling cars with internal combustion engines.

The declaration by the Swedish carmaker is the latest attempt by a traditional auto company to break with its fossil fuels past. It is also one of the most ambitious proposals and ratchets up the pressure on others to follow suit.

BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz, German carmakers that target the same affluent buyers as Volvo, have not yet set expiration dates for internal combustion models. They may be fearful of unsettling buyers of gasoline vehicles

Tens of millions of doses of the coronavirus vaccine made by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca are sitting idly in American manufacturing facilities, awaiting results from its U.S. clinical trial while countries that have authorized its use beg for access.

“We understand other governments may have reached out to the U.S. government about donation of AstraZeneca doses, and we’ve asked the U.S. government to give thoughtful consideration to these requests,”

But although AstraZeneca’s vaccine is already authorized in more than 70 countries, according to a company spokesman, its U.S. clinical trial has not yet reported results, and the company has not applied to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization. AstraZeneca has asked the Biden administration to let it loan American doses to the European Union, where it has fallen short of its original supply commitments and where the vaccination campaign has stumbled badly.

This week, 3,234 pages of emails from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the President, were released through a Freedom Of Information Act request. I'm still trying to digest them all, as I expect many people are.

I also, of course, note what is missing -- namely, many details from the White House Task Force. We get just little hints: "Let us discuss this when we are together at the 4:00 PM TF Meeting," for example. That history will have to wait. Only occasionally does any frustration with the federal government's response show up in the emails, such as when he is commenting on current Covid-19 tests being "misleading" or defending his public presence to fellow public health scientists: "I genuflect to no one but science and always, always speak my mind when it comes to public health."

Fauci's emails reveal that by early April he was responding to a question about why face coverings were not being advised with: "That recommendation is in the works." I celebrate his willingness to say in March of 2020, "Will have to check," in response to a question from a follow doctor about post-infection immunity.

The European Commission said on Monday it had launched legal action against AstraZeneca (AZN.L) for not respecting its contract for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines and for not having a "reliable" plan to ensure timely deliveries.

the Anglo-Swedish company had committed to making its "best reasonable efforts" to deliver 180 million vaccine doses to the EU in the second quarter of this year, for a total of 300 million in the period from December to June.But AstraZeneca said in a statement on March 12 it would aim to deliver only one-third of that by the end of June, of which about 70 million would be in the second quarter. A week after that, the Commission sent a legal letter to the company in the first step of a formal procedure to resolve disputes.

The move follows months of rows with the company over supply issues and amid concerns over the efficacy and safety of the vaccine. Still, while the shot has been linked to very rare cases of blood clots, the EU drugs regulator has recommended its use to contain the spread of COVID-19."We had to send a message to (Pascal) Soriot,

Wanting to copy the happiest people in the world is an understandable impulse, but it distracts from a key message of the happiness rankings—that equitable, balanced societies make for happier residents.

In the process, a research-heavy, policy-oriented document gets mistaken, through a terrible global game of telephone, for a trove of self-help advice.

the World Happiness Report is more about contentment than exuberant, smiley happiness.

President Trump mocked Greta Thunberg, the Swedish 16-year-old climate activist, calling her distinction as Time magazine’s Person of the Year “ridiculous”

Trump’s advice, in a morning tweet, came a day after Thunberg, who has mobilized millions of people to fight climate change and condemned leaders’ inaction, became the youngest person to be dubbed Person of the Year by Time.

Thunberg, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, wasted little time in offering a rejoinder to Trump.

Spurred on by Swedish wunderkind Greta Thunberg - virtually unknown outside of her homeland a year ago but now a global star nominated for a Nobel prize - millions of young people took part in weekly demonstrations demanding climate action.

Although scientists have warned for decades about the risk to humanity and Earth posed by unfettered burning of fossil fuels, in 2019 - set to be the second hottest year in history - their message seems to have finally hit home.

A total of 66 nations now have plans to be carbon-neutral by 2050. The cities of London and Paris declared official ecological and climate emergencies.Yet there are fears meagre progress could be undermined as developing economies appear no closer to ditching fossil fuels and the United States - the largest historic emitter - looks poised to complete its Paris pullout.

The results propelled the Greens into second place in Germany and third place in France and elsewhere, amid a surge in excitement from young voters who faulted old-school parties for ignoring their concerns about the environment and offering few alternatives for a generation beset by economic pain following the global financial crisis

“This is confirmation for us that the topics we’ve been working on for years are the topics that matter to the public in their everyday life and for the future of their children,” said Sergey Lagodinsky, a newly elected Green member of the European Parliament from Germany. “We had times when we wondered: Is this a fringe agenda? Now we know it’s not. It’s the mainstream agenda.”

And they have been particularly successful at capturing energy from young voters. Fridays for Future, a global movement of students who skip school to protest climate inaction, has been active in Europe for months, inspired by a 16-year-old Swedish student, Greta Thunberg, who has become an influential activist

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has defended the country's armed forces after it admitted shooting down a passenger plane by mistake.He said the Revolutionary Guard - the elite unit responsible for the disaster - "maintained the security" of Iran.

The ayatollah called for "national unity" and said Iran's "enemies" - a reference to Washington and its allies - had used the shooting down of the plane to overshadow the killing of senior Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike.

The Iranian authorities initially denied responsibility but, after international pressure mounted, the Revolutionary Guard admitted that the plane had been mistaken for a "cruise missile" during heightened tensions with the US.Hours before it was shot down, and in response to the killing of Soleimani, Iranian missiles targeted two airbases in Iraq that housed US forces. Washington initially said no US troops had been injured, but it later reported that 11 people had been treated for concussion after they showed symptoms days after the missile strikes.