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Federal Bureau of Investigation

(Encyclopedia)Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), division of the U.S. Dept. of Justice charged with investigating all violations of federal laws except those assigned to some other federal agency. The FBI has j...

Owen Falls

(Encyclopedia)Owen Falls, on the Victoria Nile, SE Uganda, near Jinja, site of the Nalubaale Dam (formerly the Owen Falls Dam), completed 1954. The dam, which submerged the waterfall, controls the discharge from La...

Las Vegas

(Encyclopedia)Las Vegas läs vāˈgəs [key], city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United ...

Volta

(Encyclopedia)Volta vólˈtə [key], river, c.290 mi (470 km) long, formed in central Ghana, W Africa, by the confluence of the Black Volta (or Mouhon, c.840 mi/1,350 km long) and the White Volta (or Nakambe, c.450...

Little Tennessee

(Encyclopedia)Little Tennessee, river, c.135 mi (220 km) long, rising in the Blue Ridge, NE Ga., and flowing generally NW across SW N.C. and through E Tenn. to the Tennessee River opposite Lenoir City. On the river...

Benjamin, Park

(Encyclopedia)Benjamin, Park, 1809–64, American journalist, b. British Guiana (now Guyana). As owner and editor of the New England Magazine, he merged it (1835) with the American Monthly Magazine of New York and ...

Sarez, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Sarez, Lake, 37 mi (60 km) long, on the Murgab River, E central Tajikistan, in the Pamir 80 mi (129 km) NE of Khorugh. Sarez was formed (1911) when an earthquake caused a landslide that destroyed Usoi...

Work, Hubert

(Encyclopedia)Work, Hubert, 1860–1942, American cabinet officer, b. Marion Center, Pa. A practicing physician in Colorado, he became prominent in state and then in national Republican politics. He was Postmaster ...

Brown, Walter Folger

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Walter Folger fōlˈjər [key], 1869–1961, American cabinet officer, b. Massillon, Ohio. A lawyer of Toledo, Ohio, he became prominent in Republican politics and was (1927–29) Assistant Sec...

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