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Obama, Barack

(Encyclopedia)Obama, Barack (Barack Hussein Obama 2d), bəräkˈ ho͞osānˈ ōbäˈmə [key], 1961–, 44th president of the United States (2009–17), b. Honolulu, grad. Columbia (B.A. 1983), Harvard Law School ...

Persian literature

(Encyclopedia)Persian literature, literary writings in the Persian language, nearly all of it written in the area traditionally known as Persia, now Iran. The 15th cent. period of the second Turko-Tartar invasi...

National Guard

(Encyclopedia)National Guard, U.S. militia. The militia is authorized by the Constitution of the United States, which also defines the militia's functions and the federal and state role. Article 1, Section 8 provid...

Kouchner, Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Kouchner, Bernard bârnärˈ ko͞oshnârˈ [key], 1939–, French physician, diplomat, and politician. A gastroenterologist by training, he earned his medical degree in France in the late 1960s. He pr...

Schäuble, Wolfgang

(Encyclopedia)Schäuble, Wolfgang vôlfˈgäng shīˈblə [key], 1942–, German political leader. He studied law and economics at the Univ. of Freiburg and the Univ. of Hamburg and then worked as a tax lawyer (197...

Servan-Schreiber, Jean-Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Servan-Schreiber, Jean-Jacques, 1924–2006, French journalist, politician, and public intellectual, b. Paris, grad. École Polytechnique (1947). A political writer at Le Monde (1948–53), he moved o...

Cuomo, Andrew Mark

(Encyclopedia)Cuomo, Andrew Mark kwōˈmō [key], 1957–, American politician, b. Queens, N.Y., grad. Fordham ...

détente

(Encyclopedia)détente, relaxation of tensions between nations, applied particularly to a period of improved relations between the United States and Soviet Union in the 1960s and 70s that resulted as the hostilitie...

Energy, United States Department of

(Encyclopedia)Energy, United States Department of, executive department of the federal government responsible for coordinating national activities relating to the production, regulation, marketing, and conservation...

Van Zeeland, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Van Zeeland, Paul pōl vän zāˈlänt [key], 1893–1973, Belgian political leader. He was a professor of law and later director of the institute of economic science at the Univ. of Louvain and vice ...