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Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich bərēsˈ nyĭkəlīˈəvĭch yĕltˈsĭn [key], 1931–2007, Soviet and Russian politician, president of Russia (1991–99). Born in Yekaterinburg (then Sverdlovsk) and ed...

Ebert, Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Ebert, Friedrich frēˈdrĭkh āˈbərt [key], 1871–1925, first president (1919–25) of the German republic. A Social Democratic deputy in the Reichstag, in 1913 he became party leader, succeeding ...

Berisha, Sali

(Encyclopedia)Berisha, Sali sälēˈ bərĭˈshä [key], 1944–, Albanian political leader, b. Tropoja. A cardiologist and former Communist, he became involved in politics in the early 1990s, speaking publicly aga...

Shehu, Mehmet

(Encyclopedia)Shehu, Mehmet mĕmĕtˈ shĕˈho͞o [key], 1913–81, Albanian political leader, premier (1954–81). A member of the Communist party, he was active in the anti-Fascist resistance in Albania during Wo...

Ai Ch'ing

(Encyclopedia)Ai Ch'ing or Ai Qing both: īˈ chĭngˈ [key], pseud. of Chiang Hai-ch'eng or Jiang Haicheng, 1910–96, Chinese poet. After studying painting in France (1929–32), where he discovered realist liter...

Ba Jin

(Encyclopedia)Ba Jin or Pa Chin both: bäˈ jĭnˈ [key], pseud. of Li Yaotang (also Li Feigan), 1904–2005, one of China's most acclaimed modern novelists, b. Chengdu. Born into a wealthy family, he received a br...

Reed, John

(Encyclopedia)Reed, John, 1887–1920, American journalist and radical leader, b. Portland, Oreg. After graduating from Harvard in 1910, he wrote articles for various publications and from 1913 was attached to the ...

Jaruzelski, Wojciech Witold

(Encyclopedia)Jaruzelski, Wojciech Witold vōĭˈchĕkh vēˈtōld yäro͞ozĕlˈo͞oskē [key], 1923–2014, Polish military and political leader. His family fled the 1939 German invasion to Lithuania, and were de...

Triad Society

(Encyclopedia)Triad Society, name given to a number of Chinese antidynastic secret societies by 19th-century Western observers. Most of these groups claimed descent from the Heaven and Earth Society (Taendi hui) or...

Liberal Democrats, British political party

(Encyclopedia)Liberal Democrats, British political party created in 1988 by the merger of the Liberal party with the Social Democratic party; the party was initially called the Social and Liberal Democratic party. ...