Political system of Russia

The Russian Federation is a Presidential (or a constitutional) republic. The President is the head of the state and is elected directly by the people. In fact he has much power, he controls all the three branches of power: legislative, executive and juridical. The President can even dissolve the Duma. The President has his administration, but it's not part of the Federal Government. The President is involved in the work of the legislative and executive branches.

The Federal Assembly represents the Legislative branch of power. It's made up of the two houses: the Federation Counsel and the State Duma, which makes laws. The Federal Assembly is also called the Parliament, but it's not its official name. Both chambers are headed by chairmen sometimes called speakers. The Duma consists of 450 deputies (one half is elected personally by the population, and the other half consists of the deputies who are appointed by their parties after voting). There are 94 500 constituencies in Russian Federation.

The members of the Federation Counsel are elected on a different basis. There are two representatives of each subject of the RF (89 subjects). Every law to be adopted must be approved by the State Duma, the Counsel of Federation and signed by the President. The President can veto laws passed by the Federal Assembly, but if two-thirds of the Federal Assembly members supports a law it can be passed over the President's veto.

The Federal Government represents the executive branch of power. The President appoints its head, the Chainman of the Government, but the Duma must approve his appointment.

The juridical branch of power consists of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and lower Courts. The responsibility of the Constitutional Court is to analyse the new laws to make sure they correspond to the laws of the state. The Constitutional Court has the right to declare actions of the President, the Federal Assembly and the Federal Government unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is the highest instance for civil and criminal cases.

  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the official name of the country which consists of four main parts: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is situated to the north-west of the continent of Europe on 5500 islands. The largest islands are Great Britain and Ireland. The area of the country is about 244,100 square kilometers. The United Kingdom is washed by the Atlantic Ocean on the north-west and the North Sea on the East. It is separated from Europe by the English Channel (or La Manche) and the Straight of Dover (or Pas de Calais). No part of Great Britain lies more than one hundred miles from the coast. The main ports are London, Bristol, Southampton, Portsmouth, Dover, Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff.

Climate

  Great Britain has a very good geographical position. The Gulf Stream gives Britain a temperate climate. It is mild and damp: summers are not very hot and winters are not very cold. All over the world Britain is famous for its fogs. In old times when people used to heat their houses with coal the smoke from their fire places mixed with fog and formed so-called smog. An unusually thick smog in London in 1962 caused the death of more than 4, 000 people.

Geography

Geographically the island of Great Britain is subdivided into 2 main regions: Lowland Britain and Highland Britain. There are no high mountains in Great Britain. The highest mountain – Ben Nevis – is in Scotland. It is 1343 meters high. There are many rivers in Great Britain but they are not very long. The longest river is the Severn, the deepest and the most important river is the Thames.