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Mers-el-Kebir

(Encyclopedia)Mers-el-Kebir mĕrs-ĕl-kəbĭrˈ [key], town, NW Algeria, on the Gulf of Oran. Originally a Roman port, it has a long history of maritime importance. During the 15th cent. it was a center of activity...

Larissa, Greece

(Encyclopedia)Larissa läˈrēsä [key], city (1991 pop. 113,090), capital of Larissa prefecture, E Greece, in Thessaly on the Piniós River. It is an agricultural trade center and a transportation hub, linked by r...

Kirkuk

(Encyclopedia)Kirkuk kĭrko͞okˈ [key], city (1987 pop. 418,624), NE Iraq. It is a center of Iraq's oil industry and is connected by pipelines to ports on the Mediterranean Sea. Kirkuk is a market for the region's...

Kreisky, Bruno

(Encyclopedia)Kreisky, Bruno bro͞oˈnō krīˈskē [key], 1911–90, Austrian Socialist politician. He served as a diplomat and foreign affairs minister (1959–66). His goal of Austrian independence and neutralit...

Williams, Eric

(Encyclopedia)Williams, Eric, 1911–81, prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago (1961–81). He attended Oxford and taught at Howard Univ. in Washington, D.C. (1939–53). Returning to Trinidad, he founded (1955) th...

Wythe, George

(Encyclopedia)Wythe, George wĭth [key], 1726–1806, American lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Elizabeth City co., Va. Admitted to the bar in 1746, Wythe was a member (1754–55, 1758–68) an...

Westminster, Statute of

(Encyclopedia)Westminster, Statute of, 1931, in British imperial history, an act of the British Parliament that gave formal recognition to the autonomy of the dominions of the British Empire and was in effect the f...

Bendjedid, Chadli

(Encyclopedia)Bendjedid, Chadli shădˈlē bĕnjədēdˈ [key], 1929–2012, Algerian army officer and political leader, president of Algeria (1979–92). A noncommissioned officer in France's Algerian army, he fou...

Braganza

(Encyclopedia)Braganza brəgänˈzä [key], royal house that ruled Portugal from 1640 to 1910 and Brazil from 1822 to 1889. It took its name from the castle of Braganza or Bragança. The line was descended from Alf...

Afwerki, Isaias

(Encyclopedia)Afwerki or Afewerki, Isaias, 1945–, Eritrean political leader, president of Eritrea (1993–), b. Asmara. He studied engineering at the Univ. of Addis Ababa, leaving in 1966 to join the Eritrean Lib...