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Valais

(Encyclopedia)Valais välāˈ [key], Ger. Wallis, canton (1993 pop. 262,400), 2,021 sq mi (5,234 sq km), S Switzerland. Sion is the capital. Bordering on France and Italy, the Valais extends from the Bernese Alps i...

Guatemala, city, Guatemala

(Encyclopedia)Guatemala, city (1994 est. pop. 823,301), S central Guatemala, capital of the republic. Its full name is La Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción. In a broad, fertile, highland valley, c.5,000 ft (1,520 m) ...

Khamenei, Ali

(Encyclopedia)Khamenei, Ali (Mohammad Ali Hoseyn Khamenei) mōhämädˈ älēˈ hōsānˈ khamānāēˈ [key], 1939–, Iranian religious and political leader, b. Mashhad. A Shiite Islamic cleric who was the son of...

Somaliland

(Encyclopedia)Somaliland, autonomous region and self-proclaimed independent state (2008 est. pop. 3,500,000), c.53,100 sq mi (137,600 sq km), NW Somalia. It is bordered on the N by the Gulf of Aden, on the E by the...

Moravia

(Encyclopedia)Moravia mərāˈvēə, mō– [key], Czech Morava, Ger. Mähren, region in the E Czech Republic. The region is bordered on the W by Bohemia, on the E by the Little and White Carpathian Mts., which div...

Garibaldi, Giuseppe

(Encyclopedia)Garibaldi, Giuseppe gărĭbôlˈdē, Ital. jo͞ozĕpˈpā gärēbälˈdē [key], 1807–82, Italian patriot and soldier, a leading figure in the Risorgimento. He remains perhaps the most popular of al...

Lerroux, Alejandro

(Encyclopedia)Lerroux, Alejandro älāhänˈdrō lāro͞oˈ [key], 1864–1949, Spanish politician. He first won prominence as a radical and virulently anticlerical demagogue in Barcelona. However, he gradually mov...

Liberec

(Encyclopedia)Liberec lĭˈbĕrĕts [key], Ger. Reichenberg, city (1991 pop. 101,967), N Czech Republic, in Bohemia, on the Lausitzer Neisse (Lužická Nisa) River and near the German and Polish borders. The city i...

Mintoff, Dominic

(Encyclopedia)Mintoff, Dominic, 1916–2012, Maltese political leader, prime minister of Malta (1955–58, 1971–84). An architect and engineer, he was educated at the Univ. of Malta and Oxford. He joined the Labo...

Laoighis

(Encyclopedia)Laoighis, Laois, or Leix all: lāsh, lēsh [key], county (1991 pop. 52,325), 664 sq mi (1,720 sq km), central Republic of Ireland. The county seat is Port Laoise (Maryborough). A part of the central ...