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Newport News

(Encyclopedia)Newport News, independent city (1990 pop. 170,045), SE Va., on the Virginia peninsula, at the mouth of the James River, off Hampton Roads, near Norfolk; inc. 1896. It is a port for transatlantic and i...

Pawtucket

(Encyclopedia)Pawtucket pətəkˈət [key], city (1990 pop. 72,644), Providence co., NE R.I., on the Blackstone River at Pawtucket Falls; settled 1671, inc. 1885 after the eastern section (which was part of Massach...

Bank for International Settlements

(Encyclopedia)Bank for International Settlements (BIS), international financial institution est. (1930) in Basel, Switzerland, by bankers and diplomats from Europe, the United States, and Japan. It was originally s...

Reston, James Barrett

(Encyclopedia)Reston, James Barrett (Scotty Reston), 1909–95, American journalist, b. Clydebank, Scotland. His family emigrated to the United States in 1920. After working briefly for the Springfield (Ohio) Daily...

Reykjavík

(Encyclopedia)Reykjavík rāˈkyävēk, rāˈkävēk [key], city (1993 pop. 101,824), capital of Iceland, SW Iceland, on the Faxaflói. It is the center of the cod-fishing industry and the chief commercial and indu...

Bandaranaike, Sirimavo

(Encyclopedia)Bandaranaike, Sirimavo sērēmäˈvō bändränīˈkē [key], 1916–2000, Sri Lankan political leader, b. Sirimavo Ratwatte. She and her husband, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, converted to Buddhism from ...

Babangida, Ibrahim

(Encyclopedia)Babangida, Ibrahim ēbräˈhēm bäbänˈgēdä [key], 1941–, Nigerian military and political leader. After graduating (1963) from Nigeria's military college, he joined the army and received further...

Awami League

(Encyclopedia)Awami League, political organization in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was founded in 1949 as an opposition party in Pakistan and had a moderately socialist ideology. The Awami [people's] League, with co...

Organization of African Unity

(Encyclopedia)Organization of African Unity (OAU), former international organization, established 1963 at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by 37 independent African nations to promote unity and development; defend the sovere...

Bodin, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Bodin, Jean zhäN bôdăNˈ [key], 1530?–1596, French social and political philosopher. He studied and taught at Toulouse and enjoyed a successful legal career. His most notable book, Six livres de ...

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