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Brittan, Sir Leon

(Encyclopedia)Brittan, Sir Leon brĭtˈən [key], 1939–, British politician. Educated at Cambridge, he was elected to Parliament as a Conservative in 1974. Under Margaret Thatcher he served as home secretary (198...

Barrientos Ortuño, René

(Encyclopedia)Barrientos Ortuño, René rānāˈ bär-ryānˈtōs ōrto͞oˈnyō [key], 1919–69, Bolivian political leader. Commander of the Bolivian air force, he supported the National Revolutionary Movement (M...

Heseltine, Michael Ray Dibdin

(Encyclopedia)Heseltine, Michael Ray Dibdin hĕsˈəltīnˌ, hĕzˈ– [key], 1933–, British politician. After studying law at Oxford, he built a successful career in publishing before entering the House of Commo...

Quantico

(Encyclopedia)Quantico, town, (2000 pop. 561), Prince William Co., NE Va., on the Potomac River, 29 mi (47 km) SSW of Washington, D.C.; inc. 1927, reinc. 1934. It is now the site of the FBI training academy, and is...

Bryant, Kobe

(Encyclopedia)Bryant, Kobe brīˈənt [key], 1978–2020, American basketball player, b. Philadelphia. The ...

vertical takeoff and landing aircraft

(Encyclopedia)vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (VTOL), craft capable of rising and descending vertically from and to the ground, thus requiring no runway. While a balloon or an airship has obvious VTOL capabil...

dragonfly

(Encyclopedia)dragonfly, any insect of the order Odonata, which also includes the damselfly. Members of this order are generally large predatory insects and characteristically have chewing mouthparts and four membr...

sonar

(Encyclopedia)sonar sōˈnär [key], device used underwater for locating submerged objects and for submarine communication by means of sound waves. The term sonar is an acronym for sound navigation ranging. The mai...

Al Qaeda

(Encyclopedia)Al Qaeda or Al Qaida äl kīˈĕdə, käˈĭdä [key] [Arab.,=the base], Sunni Islamic terrorist organization with the stated goals of uniting all Muslims and establishing a transnational, strict-fund...

Macau

(Encyclopedia)Macau or Macao məkouˈ [key], Port. Macau, Mandarin Aomen, special administrative region of China, formerly administered by Portugal (2015 est. pop. 601,000), 10.8 sq mi (28.2 sq km), adjoining Guang...

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