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act of God

(Encyclopedia)act of God, in law, an accident caused by the operation of extraordinary natural force. The effect of ordinary natural causes (e.g., that rain will leak through a defective roof) may be foreseen and a...

Ribičič, Mitja

(Encyclopedia)Ribičič, Mitja mēˈtyä rĭbĭchĭˈch [key], 1919–2013, Yugoslav politician. A Slovenian, he participated in the revolutionary student movement and joined the Communist party in 1941. He was a m...

Chrétien, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Chrétien, Jean (Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien) zhōsĕfˈ zhäk zhäN krātyăNˈ [key], 1934–, Canadian politician and prime minister (1993–2003), b. Quebec. He received his legal education at Q...

Herriot, Édouard

(Encyclopedia)Herriot, Édouard ādwärˈ ĕryōˈ [key], 1872–1957, French statesman and man of letters. After beginning an academic career he turned to politics. A moderate leftist, anticlerical, and antimilita...

Hezbollah

(Encyclopedia)Hezbollah [Arab., = Party of God], Lebanese Shiite political party and militia. Founded in 1982 with Iranian help to oppose Israeli forces occupying S Lebanon, Hezbollah launched guerrilla attacks...

Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich vyĕˌchĭsläfˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch môˈlətəf [key], 1890–1986, Soviet political leader. A Communist from 1906, he changed his name from Skriabin to Molotov [the ...

Paisley, Ian Richard Kyle

(Encyclopedia)Paisley, Ian Richard Kyle pāzˈlē [key], 1926–2014, Northern Irish religious and political leader. For many years a leading protagonist of militant Protestantism against Roman Catholicism in North...

Mahathir bin Mohamad

(Encyclopedia)Mahathir bin Mohamad mähäˈtĭr bĭn mōhämˈäd [key], 1925–, Malaysian political leader. A doctor by training, he first entered parliament in 1964 and rose in the United Malays National Organiz...

Thomas, Norman Mattoon

(Encyclopedia)Thomas, Norman Mattoon, 1884–1968, American socialist leader, b. Marion, Ohio; grad. Princeton (1905), Union Theological Seminary (1911). He served as pastor of several Presbyterian churches and did...

Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson

(Encyclopedia)Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson sĭrlēfˈ [key], 1938–, Liberian economist and political leader. Educated in the United States (M.P.A. Harvard, 1971), she worked in the Liberian government (1964–67, 1977...

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