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mediation

(Encyclopedia)mediation, in law, type of intervention in which the disputing parties accept the offer of a third party to recommend a solution for their controversy. Mediation has long been a part of international ...

foreign aid

(Encyclopedia)foreign aid, economic, military, technical, and financial assistance given on an international, and usually intergovernmental level. U.S. foreign aid programs have included at least three different ob...

tallit

(Encyclopedia)tallit tälētˈ [key], in Judaism, four-cornered, fringed shawl worn by males during the morning prayers. It is donned before putting on the phylacteries, except on Yom Kippur when it is worn all thr...

Konaré, Alpha Oumar

(Encyclopedia)Konaré, Alpha Oumar, 1946–, Malian politcal leader. He served as Mali's youth, sports, and culture minister (1978–80); was a professor of history and archaeology; founded and edited a cultural re...

Cameron, Andrew Carr

(Encyclopedia)Cameron, Andrew Carr kămˈərən [key], 1834–90, American labor leader, b. Berwick-on-Tweed, England. He worked as a printer in Chicago, where he became interested in the labor movement. In the Wor...

Bern

(Encyclopedia)Bern or Berne bĕrn [key], canton, 2,658 sq mi (6,883 sq km), W central Switzerland. The seco...

Engels, Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Engels, Friedrich frēˈdrĭkh ĕngˈəls [key], 1820–95, German socialist; with Karl Marx, one of the founders of modern Communism (see communism). The son of a wealthy Rhenish textile manufacturer...

Ahtisaari, Martti Oiva Kalevi

(Encyclopedia)Ahtisaari, Martti Oiva Kalevi äkhˈtēsärrē [key], 1937–, Finnish diplomat, political leader, and international mediator; grad. Univ. of Oulu (1959). Joining (1965) the foreign affairs ministry, ...

social security

(Encyclopedia)social security, government program designed to provide for the basic economic security and welfare of individuals and their dependents. The programs classified under the term social security differ f...

Edgeworth, Maria

(Encyclopedia)Edgeworth, Maria, 1767–1849, Irish novelist; daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth. She lived practically her entire life on her father's estate in Ireland. Letters for Literary Ladies (1795), her fi...

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