Regions and territories: Ajaria

A mountainous semi-autonomous region of Georgia, Ajaria is situated on the Black Sea coast on Georgia's southwestern border with Turkey.

Its narrow band of coastal lowland has a lush sub-tropical climate while high in the mountains there can be snow for six months of the year.

The port in the capital, Batumi, is used for the shipment of oil from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Its oil refinery handles Caspian oil from Azerbaijan which arrives by pipeline to Supsa port and is transported from there to Batumi by rail.

Batumi is also an important gateway for the shipment of goods heading into Georgia, Azerbaijan and landlocked Armenia. The Ajarian capital is a centre for shipbuilding and manufacturing. Ajaria has good land for growing tea, citrus fruits and tobacco.

History

The people of Ajaria are overwhelmingly Georgians. Under Ottoman rule from the 17th until the 19th century Islam predominated. The word Ajarian came to mean a Georgian Muslim.

Tensions erupt on the internal border between Georgia and Ajaria

In 1878 Ajaria was annexed by Russia and, following the Bolshevik revolution, incorporated into Georgia as an autonomous republic within the USSR. Under Stalin, Islam, like Christianity, was ruthlessly repressed. Nowadays over 60% of the population are Georgian Orthodox Christians, and about 30% continue to profess Islam.

Unlike the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Ajaria has been spared major violence and ethnic unrest since Georgia became independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The region was led between 1991 and May 2004 by Aslan Abashidze, who maintained close ties with Moscow. Election results gave him at least 90% of the vote every time and he ruled in an autocratic style.

Aslan Abashidze ousted

Former Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze stepped down and fled

After Eduard Shevardnadze was overthrown as Georgian president and the results of the November 2003 Georgian parliamentary elections were annulled, a state of emergency was declared in Ajaria. Its leadership refused to recognise the full authority of Mikhail Saakashvili as Georgian president.

In May 2004, Mr Abashidze claimed that Georgian forces were preparing to invade. His own forces blew up bridges connecting the region with the rest of Georgia. Mr Saakashvili ordered the Ajarian leader to comply with the Georgian constitution and start disarming or face removal.

Large numbers of demonstrators took to the streets of Batumi. In an echo of events in Tbilisi the previous autumn, Mr Abashidze resigned. Levan Varshalomidze, a close ally of President Saakashvili, took over as head of government.

Russia then agreed to close its military base at Batumi in 2007. The base was a source of great tension between Moscow and Georgia.

As a sign of Ajaria's reconnection with the central Georgian government the Constitutional Court was moved from Tbilisi to Batumi the same year.

Territory: AjariaStatus: Autonomous region within GeorgiaPopulation: 400,000 Capital: Batumi Major languages: Georgian, Russian Major religions: Christianity, Islam Natural resources: Citrus fruit, tobacco, tea Industry: Oil refining, shipping, manufacturing, wine-making

When former autocratic leader Aslan Abashidze left the country following a showdown with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, his post was abolished.

In subsequent elections to the Ajarian assembly Mr Saakashvili's party won 28 of the 30 seats. Their campaign promises included working to improve living standards and stamp out corruption. There were allegations of vote-rigging from Mr Saakashvili's former allies, the Republican Party, after they won less than 15 per cent of the vote.

Legislation passed by the Georgian parliament after the elections gives the assembly powers over local affairs. It states that the head of the region's government is nominated by the Georgian president, who also has powers to dissolve the assembly and government and to overrule the local authorities in the event of contravention of the Georgian constitution.

Since 2004 an ally of President Saakashvili, Levan Varshalomidze, has been chairman of the regional council of ministers.

The Ajarian authorities operate TV and radio networks in the region.

Television

Adjara TV - operated by Ajarian authorities Channel 25 - private

Radio

Radio Adjara - operated by Ajarian authorities

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Regions and territories: Ceuta, Melilla

12 September 2012 Last updated at 08:30 GMT Ceuta and Melilla, fragments of Europe on north Africa's Mediterranean coast, came under Spanish control around 500 years ago.

Madrid says the urban enclaves are integral parts of Spain. They are surrounded by Morocco, which views the Spanish presence as anachronistic and claims sovereignty.

But improving relations were jeopardised in November 2007 by Spanish King Juan Carlos' II first visit to the territories in more than 30 years, which King Mohammed VI strongly condemned.

Spain also controls a scattering of islets along the north African coast, including uninhabited Perejil, which was at the centre of a spat in 2002 when Moroccan soldiers occupied it before being removed by the Spanish army.

Moroccan youths survey Ceuta: The enclaves have been used as staging posts for immigration to Europe

More recently, differences over Ceuta and Melilla have not prevented a warming of relations between Morocco and Spain, particularly economic ones. Morocco's premier has advocated "neighbourly" talks on the issue.

With its rebuilt 15th century cathedral, shipyards and a fish-processing plant, Ceuta is viewed by Spain as the more strategically-valuable enclave. The town is a 90-minute ferry ride from mainland Spain.

Melilla, conquered in 1497, is a modern town with a distinctive old quarter.

The enclaves are surrounded by fences, intended to deter illegal immigrants. But Ceuta and Melilla are nonetheless used by many Africans as stepping-stones to Iberia. Many migrants are caught and some drown while attempting to make the sea crossing. People trafficking is common.

After a series of increasingly-desperate attempts by would-be immigrants to surmount the barriers in 2005, Spain and Morocco agreed to deploy extra troops to try to secure the borders.

Ceuta and Melilla are linked to Spain by ferry services to Malaga, Algeciras and Almeria. Borders and defence are controlled by Madrid. Tourism is an important money-earner with duty-free goods being a big draw for visitors.

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Regions and territories: Corsica

A rugged, unspoilt region of France known as the scented isle, Corsica has a distinctive character moulded by centuries of invasion and occupation.

The Mediterranean island has also suffered three decades of political violence involving separatist paramilitaries.

Corsica is largely mountainous; high cliffs and rocky inlets characterise much of its coast. The interior boasts deep forests, glacial lakes, gorges, maquis-covered slopes and snow-capped granite peaks. Wilderness areas attract walkers and nature-lovers.

Calvi - a tourism hotspot on the north-west coast

Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of the French, was born in Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica's southern departement. The Maison Bonaparte in the town is now a museum. The island's architectural features include Genoese fortresses, watchtowers and baroque churches.

Local culture finds expression in folk music and handicrafts. The Tuscan-influenced Corsican language is taught in the island's schools.

The island is studded with standing stones and other monuments, evidence of human occupation in neolithic times. The Greeks, Carthaginians and Romans all left their mark. Vandals, Goths and Moors were among the later invaders.

The Genoese from Italy ruled Corsica from the 1400s-1700s, and occasionally came to blows with the local aristocracy, nationalists and the French. A nationalist rebellion led to the foundation of a Corsican republic in 1755. But independence was short-lived; the Genoese ceded the island to France, whose troops invaded in 1769.

Nationalist groups seek independence from France

Corsica is one of France's least-developed regions and receives large subsidies from Paris. Tourism is an important part of the island's economy, but large stretches of the seaboard remain undeveloped. Much of the population is concentrated in the main towns of Bastia and Ajaccio.

Separatist groups seeking greater autonomy for the island carried out bombing campaigns from the mid-1970s, often targeting police stations and administrative buildings. In 1998 France's top official on the island was assassinated.

A referendum organised by the French government to consolidate the two administrative divisions of Corsica into a single region with enhanced powers narrowly failed to win approval in 2003.

In March 2005 the main separatist faction - the FLNC-Union of Combatants - broke off an open-ended ceasefire that it had declared in late 2003. There was a spate of minor bomb attacks around the time of the presidential elections in April and May 2007.

Territory: Corsica Status: Part of France, separatists seek greater autonomy Population: 260,000 Regional capital: Ajaccio Major languages: French (official), Italian, Corsican Major religion: Christianity Monetary unit: euro Main exports: Cheese, fruit, wine, olive oil, tobacco

Corsica has a regional assembly - the Assemblee de Corse - which sits in Ajaccio. The regional prefect is the top representative of the French central government on the island.

The island is divided into two departments - Haute Corse and Corse du Sud. Each has an elected assembly, based in Bastia and Ajaccio respectively.

The regional networks of French public radio and TV provide programmes tailored for the island. Some programmes and news bulletins are presented in the Corsican language.

The press

Television

Radio

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Regions and territories: Kalmykia

The Republic of Kalmykia is a constituent republic of the Russian Federation situated south of the Volga on the north-western shores of the Caspian Sea. It shares its south-eastern border with Dagestan.

Kalmyks account for about 53% of the population. The rest are mostly ethnic Russians.

The Kalmyk people are descended from nomadic Mongol herdsmen who travelled westwards in the 16th and 17th centuries in search of pasture land, eventually settling around the Volga river. After an oath of allegiance to the tsar they were granted a khanate in exchange for services in guarding Russia's eastern frontier land.

Ethnic Kalmyks are traditionally Buddhist

Their fortunes were less favourable in the 18th century and many set off eastwards again. The word Kalmyk is derived from the Turkish for remnant and refers to those who remained.

The Kalmyks live in the only Buddhist nation in Europe and revere the Dalai Lama, who visited the republic in 2004.

In 1943 Stalin accused the Kalmyks of collaboration with the Nazis and deported them en masse to Siberia where around half of them died. They were only allowed to return home in 1957 after Khrushchev came to power in the Kremlin.

Now one of Europe's poorest and most underdeveloped regions with a crumbling infrastructure, Kalmykia was once a land of fertile if fragile steppe whose black soil was cherished by the herdsmen.

Soviet times changed all that. The land was ploughed and intensive grazing became the norm. Much of the steppe has now turned to desert.

Livestock raising remains the main economic activity and there is also some fishing and arable farming.

Territory: Kalmykia Status: Semi-autonomous region of Russia Population: 289,464 (2000) Area: 76,150 sq km (29,400 sq miles) Capital: Elista Status: Republic within Russian Federation Main ethnic groups: Kalmyks, Russians Languages: Kalmyk, Russian Religions: Buddhism, Christianity Resources: Agriculture, wool, caviar

Head of the republic: Alexei Orlov

Alexei Orlov became president of Kalmykia in October 2010, succeeding eccentric millionaire Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who had ruled the region virtually unchallenged since 1993.

Mr Ilyumzhinov has said he would not seek another term when his mandate ran out on 24 October, in line with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's policy of reshuffling regional leaders. He later declined an offer by Mr Orlov to head the region's cabinet of ministers.

In line with the usual Russian process for choosing regional governors, Mr Orlov - an ethnic Kalmyk - was proposed by President Medvedev and approved by the Kalmyk parliament.

Born in 1961, Mr Orlov worked as a trade union official under Soviet rule, later becoming a businessman. In 1995, he was appointed the Russian president's permanent representative in Kalmykia, and is a member of the governing United Russia party.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was elected president at the age of just over 30 after promising voters $100 each, and pledging to introduce what he called an "economic dictatorship" in the republic.

During his authoritarian 17-year rule, Mr Iyumzhinov was frequently accused of diverting the republic's resources for his own use as well as of human rights abuses and of suppressing media freedom - accusations he denied.

Months before resigning, he courted controversy by claimed claiming in a TV interview that he had been abducted by aliens and taken aboard their spaceship back in 1997.

President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) since 1995, Mr Ilyumzhinov was enthusiastic about attracting international tournaments to Kalmykia. His flamboyant plans to build an extravagant Chess City in the republic led to protests by its impoverished citizens.

Kalmykia's local state radio and TV broadcasters are affiliated to the All-Russia State TV and Radio Company, VGTRK. Russia's main state-owned and private radio and TV networks, including NTV, Channel One and Centre TV, are relayed in the territory. The private press and broadcasters have to contend with a limited advertising market.

The Kalmyk press is virtually unanimous in its support for President Ilyumzhinov. An opposition paper, Sovetskaya Kalmykia, is printed in neighbouring Volgograd Region. The paper's founding editor, Larisa Yudina, was murdered in 1998.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders has said the Kalmyk authorities "are among the most repressive towards the media in the entire Russian Federation".

The press

Izvestiya Kalmykii - private daily Sovetskaya Kalmykia - opposition Khalm Unn - state-run, Kalmyk-language Elistinskaya Panorama - twice-weekly, official organ of Elista city administration Delovaya Kalmykia - business weekly

Television

GTRK Kalmykia TV - state-run, operates two networks, programmes in Russian and Kalmyk

Radio

GTRK Radio Kalmykia - state-run, programmes in Russian and Kalmyk Radio URA - private FM station in Elista, programmes in Russian

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