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Enron Corporation

(Encyclopedia)Enron Corporation, U.S. company that in 2001 became the largest bankruptcy and stock collapse in U.S. history up to that time. The company was formed in 1985 when InterNorth purchased Houston Natural ...

affirmative action

(Encyclopedia)affirmative action, in the United States, programs to overcome the effects of past societal discrimination by allocating jobs and resources to members of specific groups, such as minorities and women....

Baker, Newton Diehl

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Newton Diehl, 1871–1937, U.S. Secretary of War (1916–21), b. Martinsburg, W.Va. He practiced law and politics in Cleveland as a protégé of Tom L. Johnson. As city solicitor (1902–12) he...

Slipher, Vesto Melvin

(Encyclopedia)Slipher, Vesto Melvin slīˈfər [key], 1875–1969, American astronomer, b. Mulberry, Ind. From 1901 he was at Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Ariz., where he served as director (1917–54). Much of h...

Blatter, Sepp

(Encyclopedia)Blatter, Sepp (Joseph S. Blatter), 1936–, Swiss sports executive, grad. Univ. of Lausanne, 1959. He served as general secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation and director of sports timing and p...

Sigsbee, Charles Dwight

(Encyclopedia)Sigsbee, Charles Dwight, 1845–1923, American naval officer, b. Albany, N.Y. He saw service in the Gulf of Mexico in the Civil War, was subsequently stationed with the Asian squadron, taught at Annap...

conspiracy

(Encyclopedia)conspiracy, in law, agreement of two or more persons to commit a criminal or otherwise unlawful act. At common law, the crime of conspiracy was committed with the making of the agreement, but present-...

Abbasi, Shahid Khaqan

(Encyclopedia)Abbasi, Shahid Khaqan, 1958–, Pakistani politician. Trained as an electrical engineer, he worked in the United States and Saudi Arabia before returning to Pakistan in 1988. A member of the Pakistan ...

school vouchers

(Encyclopedia)school vouchers, government grants aimed at improving education for the children of low-income families by providing school tuition that can be used at public or private schools. The idea behind schoo...

plagues of Egypt

(Encyclopedia)plagues of Egypt, in the Bible, the plagues and other troubles brought on Egypt by God through the hands of Moses, because Pharaoh would not let the people of Israel go out of Egypt. The account, in t...