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Laurel, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Laurel. 1 Town (1990 pop. 19,438), Prince Georges co., central Md., about halfway between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore; patented in the late 1600s, inc. 1870. Primarily residential, Laurel has ligh...

World Meteorological Organization

(Encyclopedia)World Meteorological Organization (WMO), specialized agency of the United Nations; established in 1950 with headquarters at Geneva, it became affiliated with the United Nations a year later. It replac...

Pinkerton, Allan

(Encyclopedia)Pinkerton, Allan, 1819–84, American detective, founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, b. Glasgow, Scotland. A cooper by trade, he emigrated to the United States in 1842 and opened in We...

United Nations Industrial Development Organization

(Encyclopedia)United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), specialized agency of the United Nations. Headquartered in Vienna, it was organized in 1966 and made a specialized UN agency in 1985. UNIDO'...

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

(Encyclopedia)Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), officially the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, independent U.S. government agency responsible for most of the federal oversight and enforcement of...

Public Works Administration

(Encyclopedia)Public Works Administration (PWA), in U.S. history, New Deal government agency established (1933) by the Congress as the Federal Administration of Public Works, pursuant to the National Industrial Rec...

Greenpeace

(Encyclopedia)Greenpeace, international organization that promotes environmental awareness and addresses environmental abuse through direct, nonviolent confrontations with governments and companies. Founded in 1971...

UNICEF

(Encyclopedia)UNICEF yo͞oˈnĭsĕfˌ [key], the United Nations Children's Fund, an affiliated agency of the United Nations. The term UNICEF is an acronym for the original name of the agency, the United Nations Int...

inspector general

(Encyclopedia)inspector general, a government official tasked with independently overseeing an agency or department. Inspectors general are utilized by many countries, as well as regional and local governments and ...

Kennan, George Frost

(Encyclopedia)Kennan, George Frost, 1904–2005, U.S. diplomat and historian, b. Milwaukee, Wis., grad. Princeton, 1925. A brilliant strategist and among the most influential and intellectual Americans in the 20th-...