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Mečiar, Vladimír

(Encyclopedia)Mečiar, Vladimír, 1942–, Slovakian political leader. A member of the Communist party of Czechoslovakia, Mečiar was ousted in 1970 after having supported party reforms following the Warsaw Pact in...

Lott, Trent

(Encyclopedia)Lott, Trent (Chester Trent Lott), 1941–, American politician, b. Grenada, Miss. Lott attended college and law school at the Univ. of Mississippi, then briefly (1967) worked with a private law firm. ...

Borisov, Boiko

(Encyclopedia)Borisov, Boiko boiˈkō bōrēsˈŏf [key], 1959–, Bulgarian political leader, prime minister of Bulgaria (2009–13, 2014–16, 2017–). Trained as a firefighter, he joined the interior ministry i...

Slaughterhouse Cases

(Encyclopedia)Slaughterhouse Cases, cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1873. In 1869 the Louisiana legislature granted a 25-year monopoly to a slaughterhouse concern in New Orleans for the stated purpose of...

Renzi, Matteo

(Encyclopedia)Renzi, Matteo, 1975–, Italian political leader. Renzi was a member of the Italian People's party, which merged (2002) with other parties to form Democracy Is Freedom—The Daisy, which then merged (...

ostracism

(Encyclopedia)ostracism ŏsˈtrəsĭzˌəm [key], ancient Athenian method of banishing a public figure. It was introduced after the fall of the family of Pisistratus. Each year the assembly took a preliminary vote ...

Orbán, Viktor

(Encyclopedia)Orbán, Viktor vĭkˈôr ôrˈbän [key], 1963–, Hungarian political leader. A lawyer, Orbán was (1988) one of the founders of Fidesz, a liberal democratic youth group that under his leadership (19...

Organization of African Unity

(Encyclopedia)Organization of African Unity (OAU), former international organization, established 1963 at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by 37 independent African nations to promote unity and development; defend the sovere...

verdict

(Encyclopedia)verdict, in law, official decision of a jury respecting questions of fact that the judge has laid before it. In the United States, verdicts must be unanimous in federal courts; majority verdicts are c...

Bello, Sir Ahmadu

(Encyclopedia)Bello, Sir Ahmadu, 1910–66, Nigerian political, b. Rabbah (now in Sokoto State), NW Nigeria. A Fulani and descendent of Usuman dan Fodio, the founder of the Sokoto caliphate, he was a major figure i...