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Souvanna Phouma, Prince

(Encyclopedia)Souvanna Phouma, Prince so͞oväˈnä fo͞oˈmä [key], 1901–84, government official of Laos. Of royal descent, he was trained as an engineer. From 1950 he held a variety of key government posts, in...

Beach, Moses Yale

(Encyclopedia)Beach, Moses Yale, 1800–1868, American journalist, b. Wallingford, Conn. As a young man he invented a rag-cutting machine and a gunpowder engine. In 1838 he bought the New York Sun from his brother-...

Young Men's Christian Association

(Encyclopedia)Young Men's Christian Association, (the Y or YMCA), organization having as its objective the development of values and behaviors that are consistent with Christian principles. Despite its name, member...

Bethlen, Count Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Bethlen, Count Stephen, 1874–1947?, Hungarian premier (1921–31). A Transylvanian, he entered the Hungarian parliament in 1901, and in 1919 he was a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference. Called t...

global warming

(Encyclopedia)global warming, the gradual increase of the temperature of the earth's lower atmosphere as a result of the increase in greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution. Global warming and its effects,...

Atomic Energy Agency, International

(Encyclopedia)Atomic Energy Agency, International (IAEA), independent intergovernmental organization established in 1957 under the aegis of the United Nations to promote safe, secure, and peaceful uses of atomic e...

Locarno Pact

(Encyclopedia)Locarno Pact, 1925, concluded at a conference held at Locarno, Switzerland, by representatives of Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. The request of Gustav Stre...

Giraud, Henri Honoré

(Encyclopedia)Giraud, Henri Honoré äNrēˈ ōnôrāˈ zhērōˈ [key], 1879–1949, French general. He served in World War I and in the campaign in Morocco (1925–26). A commander in World War II, he was capture...

Alliance for Progress

(Encyclopedia)Alliance for Progress, Span. Alianza para el Progreso, U.S. assistance program for Latin America begun in 1961 during the presidency of John F. Kennedy. It was created principally to counter the appea...

Tyson, Mike

(Encyclopedia)Tyson, Mike (Michael Gerald Tyson), 1966–, American boxer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. At the age of 12, Tyson was sent to reform school, where he began to box. In a whirlwind career begun in 1985 when he tur...